The Buddha-Carita or The Life of Buddha by Ven. Aśvaghoṣa

Buddha-carita, or The Life of Buddha - 95
Book VIII: [Ataḥpuravilāpo]
[Lamentations in the Palace]
tatasturagāvacaraḥ sa durmanāstathā vana bhartari nirmame gate |
cakāra yatna pathi śokavigrahe tathāpi caivāśru na tasya cikṣipe || 8.1
1. Meanwhile the attendant of the horse, in deep distress, when his unselfish master
thus went into the forest, made every effort in the road to dissolve 1 his load of sorrow,
and yet in spite of it all not a tear dropped from him.
yamekarātreṇa tu bharturājñayā jagāma mārga saha tena vājinā |
iyāya bharturviraha vicitayastameva pathānamahobhiraṣṭabhiḥ || 8.2
2. But the road which by his lord’s command he had traversed in one night with that
horse, — that same road he now travelled in eight days, pondering his lord’s absence.
hayaśca saujasvi cacāra kathakastatāma bhāvena babhūva nirmadaḥ |
alaktaścāpi tathaiva bhūṣaṇairabhūdgataśrīriva tena varjitaḥ || 8.3
3. And the horse Kathaka, though he still went on bravely, flagged and had lost all
spirit in his heart; and decked though he was with ornaments, he had lost all his beauty
when bereft of his master.
nivtya caivābhimukhastapovana bhśa jiheṣe karuṇa muhurmuhuḥ |
kṣudhānvito ’pyadhvani śaṣpamabu vā yathā purā nābhinanada nādade || 8.4
4. And turning round towards that ascetic-grove, he neighed repeatedly with a
mournful sound; and though pressed with hunger, he welcomed not nor tasted any
grass or water on the road, as before. 2
tato vihīna kapilāhvaya pura mahātmanā tena jagaddhitātmanā |
krameṇa tau śūnyamivopajagmaturdivākareṇeva vinākta nabhaḥ || 8.5
5. Slowly they two at last came back to the city called after Kapila, which seemed
empty when deserted by that hero who was bent on the salvation of the world, — like
the sky bereft of the sun.
1 Vigraha seems here to be used in an unusual sense. Cf. Tennyson’s ‘Home they brought here
warrior dead, &c’.
2 I read nābhinananda, supposing na to have been written on the margin and inserted at the
wrong place, otherwise abhis must be used for abhi [This is confirmed by the Tibetan, which
translates abhinananda by mon·par ma dga. where mon·par is the usual translation of the
preposition abhi. H.W.]