29. The winds were blowing hot amidst the burning woods and rocks, and drying up all things; and the heat of the fire below and the sunbeams above, together with the domestic calamities caused by influence of the planet Saturn, made this place a counterpart of this woeful world. CHAPTER CIX. MIGRATION OF THE CHANDÁLAS. Argument. The perilous journey through the Delusive World. The king continued:—As these calamities continued to rage in this place, by the displeasure of destiny; and the disasters of the last dissolution prematurely overtook the forest and mountaineers here:— 2. Some of these men went out from that place, with their wives and children, in search of some new abodes in foreign lands; as the clouds disperse and disappear from the sky, after the rainy season is over. 3. They were accompanied by their wives and children and close relatives, who clung to them as the members of their bodies; but the lean and infirm were left behind them, like the separated branches of trees. 4. Some of these emigrants were devoured by tigers, as they went out of their houses; as unfledged birds are caught by falcons, as they come out of their nests. 5. Some entered into the fire like moths, to put an end to their miserable lives; others fell into the pits, like fragments of rocks falling from the hills. 6. I separated myself from the connections of my father-in-law and others; and depending upon myself, I escaped narrowly from that distressed country, with my wife and children about me. 7. We passed the pit-falls and storms, and the wild beasts and snakes, without any harm; and came out of that forest safe from all the deadly perils of the way. 8. Having then arrived at the border of that forest, we got to the shade of some palm trees, where I lay down my children from my shoulders as burdens of my sin and woes.[11] 9. I halted here after my tiresome journey and lengthened troubles, as one who had fled from the confines of hell; and took my rest like the withering lotus, from the scorching sun-beams and heat of summer. 10. My Chandála wife also slept under the same tree, and my two boys lay fast asleep in each other’s embrace, under the cooling shade. 11. Afterwards my younger son Prach’chhaka, who was as dear to us as he was the less intelligent, rose up and stood before me. 12. He said with a depressed spirit, and tears gushing out of his eyes, “Papa give me soon some meat-food and drink or else I die”. 13. The little boy repeatedly made the same request, and said with tears in his eyes, that he was dying of hunger. 14. I told him I had no meat, and the more I said so, the more he repeated his foolish craving, which could neither be supplied with nor put down to silence. 15. I was then moved by paternal affection, and affliction of my heart, to tell him, “child, cut off a slice of my flesh, and roast and eat it.”