Unworthy of his mournful fate,
The mighty king, unfortunate,
Lay prostrate in unseemly guise,
As, banished from the blissful skies,
Yayáti, in his evil day.
His merit all exhausted, lay. 1
The queen, triumphant in the power
Won by her beauty's fatal dower,
Still terrible and unsubdued,
Her dire demand again renewed:
'Great Monarch,'twas thy boast till now
To love the truth and keep the vow;
Then wherefore would thy lips refuse
The promised boon 'tis mine to choose?'
King Das'aratha, thus addressed,
With anger raging in his breast,
Sank for a while beneath the pain,
Then to Kaikeyí spoke again:
106:1 Only the highest merit obtains a home
in heaven for ever. Minor degrees of
merit procure only leases of heavenly
mansions terminable after periods proportioned
to the fund which buys them. King
Yayáti went to heaven and when his term
expired was unceremoniously ejected, and
thrown down to earth.
