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376
VAJJĀLAGGAM
[717
717)
82. The Section on the Swan and the Mānasa Lake
718) Oh swan, let the (Mānasa) lake be deserted by you. When fate is adverse, how can you have an abode (in the Mānasa lake) ? (Leave the lake) before the rascal crane now plants his feet on your head (literally : So long as the rascal crane does not plant his feet on your head).
719) Those swans are indeed lucky (happy), who went away (from the Mānasa lake), the very first at the advent of the clouds (i. e. of the rainy season), for they were spared the sight of the flock of wicked cranes, seated on a lofty (elevated) seat.
720) It is indeed not proper for the royal swans to dwell in a lake, where the surrounding regions of the sandy beach are marked with the lines of the foot-prints of other (lesser, inferior) birds.
721) After having seen the lotus-grove (lotus-bed) adorned with flocks of various birds, the royal swans, full of self-respect, deserted the Mānasa lake.
83. The Section on the Cakravāka Bird 722) That sorrow, (affliction), which overtakes the Cakravāka bird when the sun is half-set, may that sorrow befall your enemies, or rather, may it not befall even your enemies.
723) The Cakravāka bird on seeing the sun touching the ground (or horizon) (at the time of setting), did not cast aside the lotus-stalk (which it was eating), (but retained or held) it in the mouth), as if it were a barrier (for preventing life from leaving the body), placed (in the mouth) through fear (that life may otherwise escape from the body), by the Cakravāka bird afraid of its (impending) separation (from its female consort). · 724) The bed of red lotuses appeared to the Cakravāka bird in its separation from its beloved consort, as if it were a mass of glowing embers (fre). The lotus-plant appeared as if it were a funeral pyre. Its own self appeared as if it were a corpse; and the lotus-pond (lake) appeared as if it were a cremation-ground.
The sense of the Gathā is obscure.
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