Madhurāvijayam of Gaṅgādevī /155

1
 
Canto: VIII
 

 
The condition of the Tamil country after the Muslim
occupation.
 

occupation.
 
... ... Verily has become the abode of tigers, true

to its name.... (incomplete).
 
to its name....
 

 
In Srirangam the lord of serpents is seen
īrangam the lord of serpents is seen
warding off the tumbling debris of brick with his hood

lest their fall disturb the sleep of yoōga in which Hari
is wrapped up there.
 

is wrapped up there.
 
When I look at the state of the temples of other

gods also, my distress knows no bounds. The foldings

of their door are eaten up by wood worms. The arches

over their inner sanctuaries are rent with wild growths

of vegetation.
 

 
Those temples which were once resonant with
the sounds of mridanga drums are now echoing the

the sounds of mridanga drums are now echoing the
fearful howls of jackals.
 

 
The river Kāvēri, uncurbed by proper bunds

or dams, has become deflected very much from her

time-honoured course, and flows in all sorts of wrong

directions as if imitating the Turuşṣkas in their actions.
 

 
The Braāhmin streets, where once the sacrifi-

cial smoke was ever seen rising, and the chanting of

Vēdās always greeted the ears, now exhude the musty

odour of meat, and resound with the lion-roars of

drunken Turuşṣkas.
 

 
I very much lament for what has happened to

the groves in Madhura. The cocoanut trees have all