Page:The Bengali Book of English Verse.djvu/123

Rh  Mark the kings, on softest cushion scarce the needed rest they found, How they lie in peaceful slumber on the hard and reddened ground! Mark the youths who morn and evening listed to the minstrel's song, In their ear the loathsome jackal doth his doleful wail prolong! Mark the chieftains with their maces and the swords of trusty steel, Still they grasp their well tried weapons,—do they still the life-pulse feel?"

 FUNERAL RITES.

Victor of a deathful battle, sad Yudhishthir viewed the plain, Friends and kinsmen, kings and chieftains, countless troops untimely slain, And he spake to wise Sudharman, pious priest of Kuru's race, Unto Sanjay, unto Dhaumya, to Vidura full of grace, Spake unto the brave Yujutsu, Kuru's last surviving chief, Spake to faithful Indrasena and to warriors sunk in grief; "Pious rites are due to foemen and to friends and kinsmen slain, None shall lack a fitting funeral, none shall perish on the plain." Wise Vidura and his comrades sped on sacred duty bound, Sandalwood and scented aloes, oil and ghee and perfumes found, Silken robes of costly splendour, fabrics by the artist wove, Dry wood from the thorny jungle, perfume from the scented grove, Shattered cane and splintered lances, hewed and ready for the fire, Piled and ranged in perfect order into many a funeral pyre. Kings and princes, noble warriors, were in rank and order laid, And with streams of melted butter were the rich libations made, 