________________
II, 8.
THE GENERAL GRIEF OF THE PALACE.
85
she thought, 'Alas! those glossy locks turning to the right, each hair produced from each orifice, 598
'Dark and pure, gracefully shining, sweeping the earth when loose", or when so determined, bound together in a heavenly crown, and now shorn and lying in the grass ! 599
Those rounded shoulders and that lion step! Those eyes broad as the ox-king's, that body shining bright as yellow gold; that square breast and Brahma voice; 600
*That you! possessing all these excellent qualities, should have entered on the sorrow-giving forest; what fortune now remains for the world, losing thus the holy king of earth ? 601
'That those delicate and pliant feet, pure as the lily and of the same colour, should now be torn by stones and thorns; O how can such feet tread on such ground! 602
'Born and nourished in the guarded palace, clad with garments of the finest texture, washed in richly-scented water, anointed with the choicest perfumes, 603
'And now exposed to chilling blasts and dews of night, O! where during the heat or the chilly morn can rest be found! Thou flower of all thy race ! Confessed by all the most renowned! 604
Thy virtuous qualities everywhere talked of and exalted, ever reverenced, without self-seeking! why hast thou unexpectedly brought thyself upon some morn to beg thy food for life! 605
Thou who wert wont to repose upon a soft and
1 This description of the prince's hair seems to contradict the head arrangement of the figures of Buddha, unless the curls denote the shaven head of the recluse.
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