Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/13

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I THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [Jjjnj&RX, 1875- A handsome shape, a well-filled purse, a soul- illumined face, Are theirs on whom great Hari smiles, and sheds peculiar grace. Abstinence from sin of bloodshed, and from speech of others' wives, Truth and open-handed largess, love for men of holy lives, Freedom from desire and avarice, — such the path that leads to bibs, Path which every Beet may travel, and the simple cannot miss. Cowards shrink from toil ami peril, Vulgar souls attempt and fail ; Men of mettle, nothing daunted, Persevere till they px-evail. Not to swerve from truth or mercy, not for life to stoop to shame ; From the poor no gifts accepting, nor from men of evil fame ; Lofty faith and proud submission, — who on Fortune's giddy ledge Firm can tread this path of dnty, narrow as the sabre's edge ? (Here ends the section devoted lo the praise of tie u-ise man.) THIRD SECTION. Th>* protM of telf -respect and valour. Worn with hunger, faint and feeble, shorn of glory and of power, Still the king of beasts is kingly, even to his dying hour ; "Will he graze on hay like oxen ? No, he longs to meet once more Tusk-armed elephants in battle, and to drink their spouting gore. Fling a dry and gristly cow's-bone* to a low- bred cur to gnaw, Straight be wags Mb tail delighted, though it cannot fill his maw. Lions spare the prostrate jackal, but the forest- ninrmrrlis smite, E'en by fortune pressed the valiant scorns to waive his proper right.

  • Tho poet's mrauiirtt; certainly is that a Apr-rial im*

pnrity ait&bbea bo catnip the if-rah of Ami oow. IJfflra BJtjendni L/.la .Mirra has wowa Hint this notion ia of verv recent orisin. In fa'-t it did not preraiJ in tho time of Bhavabhfiti, who id generally placed is the Dogs fawn on those who bring them meat, And grovel whimpering at their feet With upturned throat, and wag their tails in gamesome mood, But the huge elephant erect Bates not one jot of self- respect, And after thousand coaxings deigns to taste his food* In this revolving world the dead Are ever born again, But he is truly born whose race By him doth praise attain. Two paths are open to the proud, As to the woodland flower?, Which flourish high above the crowd. Or wither in the bowers. Rahu spares the lesser planets, As unworthy of his might, But he wreaks Ids lawful vengeance On the lords of day and night. On his hood the serpent Sesha doth this triple world uphold, On the broad back of the tortoise he lies stretch- ed in many a fold, On the ocean's breast the tortoise like a speck eludes the sight : Who in thought can limit greatness, or set bounds to Nature's might ? Better had the mount Mainaka borne the brunt of Indra's ire, Than thus plunged beneath the ocean sevi-rc.l from his sorrowing sire rf [Though bo saved unharmed his pinions from the blazing thnnder-stone. Yet he mourns with all his waters for his self- abandoned throne. The suu-gem touched by Heaven's myB, Though void of sense, is all ablaze ; How then can men of spirit brook A fellow-mortal's scornful look ? A lion's whelp will boldly face th' earth-shaking monarch's rage, For valour dwells in valorous kind, withont re- gard of age. (Hero ends the -praise of tetf-reipeet iind vo : (To be con century. So that this *tanza at any rate mint have been composed at a far later date tlian that MBgnwfl bj IVofeteoT Lumen to the mnj^rity of Hluir t r i h n ri ' * ji.miiis. t Him al ay n— liia eon Mainaka vran th> mountain that escaped having it" wings elipjitd by Indr*.