The Emperor Faints for Water
Bala Kanda, Doha 157
Doha 157 · Movement 2 of 2
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King and horse move without direction beneath the heavy forest canopy. The chase has spent their strength. Hunger twists through the body, weariness drags at every step, and thirst grows more urgent than royal dignity or the lost hunt.
Pratapbhanu searches for the sound of a river or the open gleam of a lake. No water appears between trunks and tangled ground. The ruler who supplied wells and ponds across a continent cannot find one mouthful for himself.
Anguish replaces anger. His horse suffers beside him, and the king begins to faint. In this stripped condition, desperate for the simplest element of life, he approaches the meeting that will overturn his kingdom.
The builder of a thousand wells wanders faint beneath the trees, unable to find water.
Read the passage from the Manas
खेद खिन्न छुद्धित तृषित राजा बाजि समेत। खोजत ब्याकुल सरित सर जल बिनु भयउ अचेत।।157।।
The king, together with his horse, was sorrowful, weary, hungry, and parched with thirst. Searching in anguish for a river or a lake, he grew faint for want of water.