[Tappan Introduction] BHARTRIHARI was a ruler who lived at some time early in the Christian era. He abandoned the luxuries of his throne and made his home in the forest, where he could meditate at his will and be free from the honors and temptations of life in a palace.
ONE law there is: no deed perform
To others that to thee were harm;
And this is all, all laws beside
With circumstances alter or abide.Like as our outworn garments we discard,
And other new ones don;
So doth the Soul these bodies doff when marred
And others new put on.Fire doth not kindle It, nor sword divides,
Nor winds nor waters harm;
Eternal and unchanged the One abides,
And smiles at all alarm.Like as a goldsmith beateth out his gold
To other fashions fairer than the old,
So may the Spirit, learning ever more,
In ever nobler forms his life infold.
Source:
From: Eva March Tappan, ed., The World's Story: A History of the World in Story, Song and Art, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1914), Vol. II: India, Persia, Mesopotamia, and Palestine, p. 98.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by Prof. Arkenberg.
This text is part of the Internet Indian History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.
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© Paul Halsall November1998
halsall@fordham.edu