Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace
Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace
Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace
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Translation 559 <strong>Vessantara</strong>-Jåtaka<br />
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 559]<br />
"The children, dusty, close to home, are wont to meet me here<br />
Like calves that seek the mother-cow, like birds above the mere.<br />
Like little deer, with prickt-up ear, they meet me on the way:<br />
With joy <strong>and</strong> happ<strong>in</strong>ess they skip <strong>and</strong> frolick <strong>in</strong> their play:<br />
But Jāli <strong>and</strong> Kaṇhāj<strong>in</strong>ā I cannot see to-day.<br />
As goat <strong>and</strong> lioness may leave their young, a bird her cage,<br />
To seek for food, so have I done their hunger to assuage:<br />
But Jāli <strong>and</strong> Kaṇhāj<strong>in</strong>ā I cannot see to-day.<br />
Here are their traces, close by home, like snakes upon the hill,<br />
The little heaps of earth they made all round, rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g still:<br />
But Jāli <strong>and</strong> Kaṇhāj<strong>in</strong>ā I cannot see to-day.<br />
All covered up with dust to me my children used to run,<br />
Spr<strong>in</strong>kled with mud, but now <strong>in</strong>deed I can see neither one.<br />
Like kids to welcome back their dam they ran from home away<br />
As from the forest I returned; I see them not to-day.<br />
Here they were play<strong>in</strong>g, here this yellow vilva fruit let fall:<br />
But Jāli <strong>and</strong> Kaṇhāj<strong>in</strong>ā I cannot see to-day.<br />
These breasts of m<strong>in</strong>e are full of milk, my heart will break withal:<br />
But Jāli <strong>and</strong> Kaṇhāj<strong>in</strong>ā I cannot see to-day.<br />
They used to cl<strong>in</strong>g about my hips, one hang<strong>in</strong>g from my breast:<br />
How they would meet me, dust-begrimed, at time of even<strong>in</strong>g rest!<br />
But Jāli <strong>and</strong> Kaṇhāj<strong>in</strong>ā I cannot see to-day.<br />
Once on a time this hermitage became our meet<strong>in</strong>g-ground:<br />
But now I see no children here, the whole place sp<strong>in</strong>s around.