It was the custom of the kings of the solar dynasty to resign in their extreme old age the kingdom to the heir, and spend the remainder of their days in holy meditation in the forest:
“For such through ages in their life's decline
Is the good custom of Ikshváku's line.”
Raghuraṅśa.
See [Book I, Canto XXXIX]. An Indian prince in more modern times appears to have diverted himself in a similar way.
It is still reported in Belgaum that Appay Deasy was wont to amuse himself “by making several young and beautiful women stand side by side on a narrow balcony, without a parapet, overhanging the deep reservoir at the new palace in Nipani. He used then to pass along the line of trembling creatures, and suddenly thrusting one of them headlong into the water below, he used to watch her drowning, and derive pleasure from her dying agonies.”—History of the Belgaum District. By H. J. Stokes, M. S. C.
“So in Homer the horses of Achilles lamented with many bitter tears the death of Patroclus slain by Hector:”
“Ἵπποι δ' Αἰακίδαο, μάχης ἀπάνευθεν ἐότες,
Κλᾶιον, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτα πυθέσθην ἡνιόχοιο
Ἐν κονίνσι πεσόντος ὑφ' Ἕκτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο”