DESCRIPTION OF SINDHU’S DOMINIONS.
Vasishtha said:—The loud cry that the king was killed in battle by the
rival monarch, struck the people with awe, and filled the realm with
dismay.
2. Carts loaded with utensils and household articles, were driving
through the streets; and women with their loud wailings, were running
away amidst the impassable paths of the city.
3. The weeping damsels that were flying for fear, were ravished on the
way by their captors; and the inhabitants were in danger of being
plundered of their properties by one another.
4. The joyous shouts of the soldiers in the enemy’s camp, resounded with
the roarings of loose elephants and neighings of horses, trampling down
the men to death on their way.
5. The doors of the royal treasury were broken open by the brave
brigands, the valves flew off and the vaults re-echoed to the strokes.
The warders were overpowered by numbers, and countless treasures were
plundered and carried away.
6. Bandits ripped off the bellies of the royal dames in the palace, and
the chandála free-booters hunted about the royal apartments.
7. The hungry rabble robbed the provisions from the royal stores; and
the soldiers were snatching the jewels of the weeping children trodden
down under their feet.
8. Young and beautiful maidens were dragged by their hair from the
seraglio, and the rich gems that fell from the hands of the robbers,
glistened all along the way.
9. The chiefs assembled with ardour with their troops of horses,
elephants and war-chariots, and announced the installation of Sindhu by
his minister.
10. Chief engineers were employed in making the decorations of the city
and its halls, and the balconies were filled by the royal party
attending at the inauguration.
11. It was then that the coronation of Sindhu’s son, took place amidst
the loud acclamations of victory; and titles and dignities, were
conferred upon the noblemen on the victor’s side.
12. The royal party were flying for life into the villages, where they
were pursued by the victorious soldiers; and a general pillage spread in
every town and village throughout the realm.
13. Gangs of robbers thronged about, and blocked the passages for
pillage and plunder; and a thick mist darkened the light of the day for
want of the magnanimous Vidúratha.
14. The loud lamentations of the friends of the dead, and the bitter
cries of the dying, mixed with the clamour raised by the driving cars,
elephants and horses, thickened in the air as a solid body of sound
(pindagráhya).
15. Loud trumpets proclaimed the victory of Sindhu in every city, and
announced his sole sovereignty all over the earth.
16. The high-shouldered Sindhu entered the capital as a second Manu
(Noah), for re-peopling it after the all-devastating flood of war was
over.
17. Then the tribute of the country poured into the city of Sindhu from
all sides; and these loaded on horses and elephants, resembled the rich
cargoes borne by ships to the sea.
18. The new king issued forthwith his circulars and royal edicts to all
sides, struck coins in his own name, and placed his ministers as
commissioners in all provinces.
19. His iron-rod was felt in all districts and cities like the
inexorable rod of Yama, and it overawed the living with fear of instant
death.
20. All insurrections and tumults in the realm, soon subsided to rest
under his reign; as the flying dust of the earth and the falling leaves
of trees, fall to the ground upon subsidence of a tempest.
21. The whole country on all sides was pacified to rest, like the
perturbed sea of milk after it had been churned by the Mandara mountain.
22. Then there blew the gentle breeze of Malaya, unfurling the locks of
the lotus-faced damsels of Sindhu’s realm, and wafting the liquid
fragrance of their bodies around, and driving away the unwholesome air
(of the carnage).