King and Victor Piyadasi,
Of the Gods beloved,
O'er the plains of broad Kalinga,
With his army moved.
Hundred thousand men were taken,--
Hundred thousand died;
Righteous sorrow wrung his bosom,
And the Victor cried;

'Brahmans pure and Sharmans holy,--
Men who toil in life,
Faithful fathers, loving children,--
Husband and the wife;
These to pain and separation,
Slavery and death,
I have doomed, and swept Kalinga
With destruction's breath!

Let me seek for other trophies,
Win the spoils of faith;
Peace and plenty, not disaster;.
Life and love, not death!
Speak then to my farthest frontiers,
To each distant soil:'
'Warfare ends, the work of mercy,
Henceforth is my toil!

Syria's monarch, Antiochus,--
Egypt's Ptolemy,--
Macedonian Antigonas,--
Cyrenean Magas, free,--
Alexander of Epiros,--
These five kings of West,
Have received my loving message,--
Gospel true and blest!

Cholas and the mighty Pandyas,--
Tamba-pannis, meek;
Henaraja-Vismavasis,
And the Bactrain Greek;
Nabhakas and Nabha-pantis,--
Bhojas only stirred;
Andhras and the brave Pulindas,
Have my tidings heard!

Messengers of Piyadasi
To these lands are sent,--
Grateful kings and listening nations
To his faith have bent;
Thus I win a brighter conquest,
And a holier fame;
And a more than earthly gladness
Thrills my mortal frame!

Rich and rare the golden fruitage
Of a life of faith;
Full and ample is the harvest
Gathered after death:
Hence, the monarch Piyadasi.
Carves his sacred line, --
That his royal sons and grandsons
May to faith incline!

That the kings of earth, hereafter,
May all conquest shun,
Wrought by rapine and by bloodshed,
Deeds of darkness done.
That the monarchs may, hereafter,
Conquer realms by faith;
Fame on earth awaits such conquest,
Glory after death!"

From the Translation of R. C. Dutt.

Note by Author--A workable scheme for the League of Nations.

The night approaches now; hold fast
The lamp of holy knowledge, bright
With ever slowly kindling light,
To guide thee till the gloom is past.

Mahabharata xii. 12064

Om! Om! Om!