Book 20: Hymn 127: A hymn in praise of the good Government of King Kaurama

HYMN CXXVII

A hymn in praise of the good Government of King Kaurama

1Listen to this, ye men, a laud of glorious bounty shall be sung.
Thousands sixty, and ninety we, O Kaurama, among the
Rusamas have received.
2Camels twice-ten that draw the car, with females by their side,
he gave.
Fain would the chariot's top bow down escaping from the stroke
of heaven.
3A hundred chains of gold, ten wreaths, upon thee Rishi he
bestowed,
And thrice-a-hundred mettled steeds, ten-times-a-thousand cows
he gave.
4Glut thee, O Singer, glut thee like a bird on a ripe-fruited tree.
Thy lips and tongue move swiftly like the sharp blades of a pair
of shears.
5Quickly and willingly like kine forth come the singers and their
hymns:
Their little maidens are at home, at home they wait upon the
cows.
6O Singer, bring thou forth the hymn that findeth cattle, findeth:
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Even as an archer aims his shaft address this prayer unto the
Gods.
7List to Parikshit's eulogy, the sovran whom all people love,
The King who ruleth over all, excelling mortals as a God.
8'Mounting his throne, Parikshit, best of all, hath given us peace
and rest,'
Saith a Kauravya to his wife as he is ordering his house.
9'Which shall I set before thee, curds, gruel of milk, or barley-
brew?'
Thus the wife asks her husband in the realm which King
Parikshit rules.
10Up as it were to heavenly light springs the ripe corn above the
cleft.
Happily thrive the people in the land where King Parikshit
reigns.
11Indra hath waked the bard and said, Rise, wander singing here
and there.
Praise me, the strong: each pious man will give thee riches in
return,
12Here, cows! increase and multiply, here ye, O horses, here, O
men.
Here, with a thousand rich rewards, doth Pūshan also seat him-
self.
13O Indra, let these cows be safe, their master free from injury.
Let not the hostile-hearted or the robber have control of them.
14Oft and again we glorify the hero with our hymn of praise, with
prayer, with our auspicious prayer.
Take pleasure in the songs we sing: let evil never fall on us.