This page has not been fully proofread.

133
 
Seeing the king who was like a burnt-
out fire and had gone to heaven, the
ministers then placed him in a vessel of
oil.
 
AYODHYAKANDA
 
न तु संकालनं राज्ञो विना पुत्रेण मन्त्रिणः ।
सर्वज्ञाः कर्तुमीपुस्ते ततो रक्षन्ति भूमिपम् ॥
 
The all-knowing ministers did not like
to have the funeral rites of the king per-
formed without his son. And so they
preserved the (body of the) king.
व्यतीतायां तु शर्वर्यामादित्यस्योदये ततः ।
समेत्य राजकर्तारः पृथग्वाचमुदीरयन् ।
वसिष्ठमेवाभिमुखाः श्रेष्ठं राजपुरोहितम् ॥
 
Then when the night was over and the
sun had arisen, the men who were experts
in the kingly matters, assembled together
and each spoke
facing the great
Vasishtha, the king's preceptor :
 
इक्ष्वाकृणा मिहाद्यैव कश्चिद्राज। विधीयताम् ॥
 
"Let some one from the Ikshvakus be
appointed immediately as king.
 
राजा सत्यं च धर्मश्च राजा कुलवतां कुलम् ।
राजा माता पिता चैव राजा हितकरो नृणाम् ॥