Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 1

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 35

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members of the caravans stopped at every tree near a pond and, having entered every water-dispensary, drank much water, and fell (on the ground). The buffaloes' tongues hung out, as if impelled by breathing, and disregarding whips, they entered the mud of the rivers. The oxen, too, ignored their drivers, and even if the whips were falling, at every opportunity they went to trees off the road. Bodies melted completely, like balls of wax, from the sun's rays which were like hot needles. The sun assumed the full rôle of a hot plough-share, and the dust had the unbearableness of a dung-fire thrown on the road. The young women of the caravan entered the streams on the way, everywhere, and put on their necks lotus-stalks they had pulled up. The matrons of the caravan looked just as if they were wearing wet clothes (to keep cool) on the road, because of their garments wet from perspiration. The travelers alleviated the fatigue caused by the heat by fans made from the leaves of the palāśa, palmyra-palm, date-palm, lotus, and plantain.
Then arrived the season characterized by clouds that terminated the movements of travelers as well as the duration of the summer. With terror the caravan saw a cloud in the sky that was like a demon holding a bow and discharging arrows in the shape of rain. The cloud, repeatedly brandishing lightning like a firebrand, terrified the travelers very much, as if they were children. River-banks at once gave way, like the hearts of the travelers, from the high floods of the rivers pouring forth. All the high and low ground of the earth was made level by the waters. Alas! What discrimination can there be in the rise to prosperity of fools?" As a result of the impassability of the road from the water, thorns, and mud, two miles seemed like eight
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21 94. There is double meaning here. The words also mean 'at the rise of waters'.