YOGA VÁSISHTHA.

BOOK III.

UTPATTI KHANDA Section on Origination/Creation.

---

CHAPTER LI.

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 who 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 low-caste or outcast 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 harem or women's quarters, and the rich gems that fell from the hands of the robbers glistened all along the way.