Downward they fall, then nimbly leaping upward, They overpower the man with hands, though handless. Cast on the board like magic bits of charcoal, Though cold themselves, they burn the heart to ashes.
It pains the gambler when he sees a woman, Another's wife, and their well-ordered household: He yokes these brown steeds early in the morning, And, when the fire is low, sinks down an outcast.
"Play not with dice, but cultivate thy cornfield; Rejoice in thy goods, deeming them abundant: There are thy cows, there is thy wife, O gambler." This counsel Savitri the kindly gives me.
We learn here that the dice (aksha) were made of the nut of the Vibhidaka tree (Terminalia bellerica), which is still used for the purpose in India.
The other three poems of this group may be regarded as the forerunners of the sententious poetry which flourished so luxuriantly in Sanskrit literature. One of them, consisting only of four stanzas (ix. 112), describes in a moralising strain of mild humour how men follow after gain in various ways:--
The thoughts of men are manifold, Their callings are of diverse kinds: The carpenter desires a rift, The leech a fracture wants to cure.
A poet I; my dad's a leech; Mama the upper millstone grinds: With various minds we strive for wealth, As ever seeking after kine.
Another of these poems (x. 117) consists of a collection of maxims inculcating the duty of well-doing and charity:--
Who has the power should give unto the needy, Regarding well the course of life hereafter: Fortune, like two chariot wheels revolving, Now to one man comes nigh, now to another.
Ploughing the soil, the share produces nurture; He who bestirs his feet performs his journey; A priest who speaks earns more than one who's silent; A friend who gives is better than the niggard.
The fourth of these poems (x. 71) is composed in praise of wise speech. Here are four of its eleven stanzas:--
Where clever men their words with wisdom utter, And sift them as with flail the corn is winnowed, There friends may recognise each other's friendship: A goodly stamp is on their speech imprinted.
Whoever his congenial friend abandons, In that man's speech there is not any blessing. For what he hears he hears without advantage: He has no knowledge of the path of virtue.