Chapter
XXXIII
Then the
princess Kalingasená, who had deserted her own country and relations,
remembering her dear friend Somaprabhá who had left her, and finding the great
festival of her marriage with the king of Vatsa delayed, remained in Kauśámbí
like a doe that had strayed from the forest.
And the
king of Vatsa, feeling a little bitter against the astrologers, who were so
dexterous in deferring the marriage of Kalingasená, being despondent with
love-longing, went that day to divert his mind, to the private apartments of
Vásavadattá. There the queen, who had been tutored beforehand by the excellent
minister, let fall no sign of anger, but shewed especial sedulity in honouring
her husband with her usual attentions. And the king, wondering how it was that,
even though she knew the episode of Kalingasená, the queen was not angry, being
desirous of knowing the cause, said to her; “Do you know, queen, that a
princess named Kalingasená has come here to choose me for her husband?” The
moment she heard it, she answered, without changing the hue of her countenance,
“I know it; I am exceedingly delighted, for in her the goddess of Fortune has
come to our house; for by gaining her you will also get her father Kalingadatta
under your influence, and the earth will be more completely in your power. Now
I am delighted on account of his great power and your pleasure, and long ago
did I know this circumstance with regard to you. So am I not fortunate, since I
have such a husband as you, whom princesses fall in love with, that are
themselves sought by other kings?” When thus addressed by queen Vásavadattá,
who had been previously tutored by Yaugandharáyaṇa, the king rejoiced in his
heart. And after enjoying a drinking-bout with her, he slept that night in her
apartments, and waking up in the morning he reflected—“What, does the
magnanimous queen obey me so implicitly as even to acquiesce in having
Kalingasená for a rival? But how could this same proud woman endure her, since
it was owing to the special favour of destiny that she did not yield her
breath, even when I married Padmávatí? So, if anything were to happen to her,
it would be utter ruin; upon her hang the lives of my son, my brother-in-law,
my father-in-law, and Padmávatí, and the welfare of the kingdom; what higher
tribute can I pay her? So how can I marry that Kalingasená?” Thus reflecting
the king of Vatsa left her chamber at the close of night, and the next day went
to the palace of queen Padmávatí. She too, having been taught her lesson by
Vásavadattá, shewed him attentions after the very same fashion, and when
questioned by him, gave a similar answer. The next day the king, thinking over
the sentiments and speeches of the queens, which were completely in unison,
commended them to Yaugandharáyaṇa. And the minister Yaugandharáyaṇa, who knew
how to seize the right moment, seeing that the king was plunged in doubt, spake
slowly to him as follows—“I know well, the matter does not end where you think,
there is a terrible resolve here. For the queens spoke thus, because they are
steadfastly bent on surrendering their lives. Chaste women, when their beloved
is attached to another, or has gone to heaven, become careless about all
enjoyments, and determined to die, though their intentions are inscrutable on
account of the haughtiness of their character. For matrons cannot endure the
interruption of a deep affection; and in proof of this hear now, O king, this
story of Śrutasena.”
The
story of Śrutasena.
There lived
long ago in the Dekhan, in a city called Gokarṇa, a king named Śrutasena, who
was the ornament of his race, and possessed of learning. And this king, though
his prosperity was complete, had yet one source of sorrow, that he had not as
yet obtained a wife who was a suitable match for him. And once on a time the
king, while brooding over that sorrow, began to talk about it, and was thus
addressed by a Bráhman, named Agniśarman: “I have seen two wonders, O king, I
will describe them to you: listen! Having gone on a pilgrimage to all the
sacred bathing-places, I reached that Panchatírthí, in which five Apsarases
were reduced to the condition of crocodiles by the curse of a holy sage, and
were rescued from it by Arjuna, who had come there while going round the holy
spots. There I bathed in the blessed water, which possesses the power of
enabling those men, who bathe in it and fast for five nights, to become
followers of Náráyaṇa. And while I was departing, I beheld a cultivator in the
middle of a field, who had furrowed the earth with his plough, singing. That
cultivator was asked about the road by a certain wandering hermit, who had come
that way, but did not hear what he said, being wholly occupied with his song.
Then the hermit was angry with that cultivator, and began to talk in a
distracted manner; and the cultivator, stopping his song, said to him—‘Alas!
though you are a hermit, you will not learn even a fraction of virtue; even I,
though a fool, have discovered what is the highest essence of virtue.’ When he
heard that, the hermit asked him out of curiosity—‘What have you discovered?’ And
the cultivator answered him—‘Sit here in the shade, and listen while I tell you
a tale.’
Story
of the three Bráhman brothers.
In this
land there were three Bráhman brothers, Brahmadatta, Somadatta, and Viśvadatta
of holy deeds. Of these the two eldest possessed wives, but the youngest was
unmarried; he remained as their servant without being angry, obeying their
orders along with me; for I was their ploughman. And those elder brothers
thought that he was soft, and devoid of intellect, good, not swerving from the
right path, simple, and unenterprising. Then, once on a time, the youngest
brother Viśvadatta was solicited by his two brothers’ wives who fell in love
with him, but he rejected their advances as if each of them had been his
mother. Then they both of them went and said falsely to their own husbands,
“This younger brother of yours makes love to us in secret.” This speech made
those two elder brothers cherish anger against him in their hearts, for men
bewildered by the speeches of wicked women, do not know the difference between
truth and falsehood. Then those brothers said once on a time to Viśvadatta—“Go
and level that ant-hill in the middle of the field!” He said—“I will”—and went
and proceeded to dig up the ant-hill with his spade, though I said to him, “Do
not do it, a venomous snake lives there.” Though he heard what I said, he
continued to dig at the ant-hill, exclaiming—“Let what will happen, happen,”
for he would not disobey the order of his two elder brothers, though they
wished him ill. Then, while he was digging it up, he got out of it a pitcher
filled with gold, and not a venomous snake, for virtue is an auxiliary to the
good. So he took that pitcher and gave it all to his elder brothers out of his
constant affection for them, though I tried to dissuade him. But they sent
assassins, hiring them with a portion of that gold, and had his hands and feet
cut off, in their desire to seize his wealth. But he was free from anger, and
in spite of that treatment, did not wax wroth with his brothers, and on account
of that virtue of his, his hands and feet grew again.
‘After
beholding that, I renounced from that time all anger, but you, though you are a
hermit, have not even now renounced anger. The man who is free from anger has
gained heaven, behold now a proof of this.’ After saying this, the husbandman
left his body and ascended to heaven. “This is one wonder which I have seen,
hear a second, O king;”
After
saying this to king Śrutasena, the Bráhman continued, “Then, as I was roaming
about on the shore of the sea to visit sacred places, I reached the realm of
king Vasantasena. There, as I was about to enter an almshouse where cooked food
is distributed by the king, the Bráhmans said to me,—‘Bráhman, advance not in
that direction, for there the king’s daughter is present, she is called
Vidyuddyotá, and if even a hermit beholds her, he is pierced by the arrow of
love, and becoming distracted ceases to live.’ Then I answered them—‘This is
not wonderful to me, for I continually behold king Śrutasena, who is a second
god of love. When he leaves his palace on an expedition, or for some other
purpose, women of good family are removed by guards from any place whence they
may possibly see him, for fear they should infringe chastity.’ When I said
this, they knew I was a subject of your Majesty’s, and the superintendent of
the house of entertainment and the king’s chaplain took me into the presence of
the king, that I might share the feast. There I saw that princess Vidyuddyotá,
looking like the incarnation of the magic art with which the god of love
bewilders the world. After a long time I mastered my confusion at beholding
her, and reflected—‘If this lady were to become the wife of our sovereign, he
would forget his kingdom. Nevertheless I must tell this tale to my master,
otherwise there might take place the incident of Devasena and Unmádiní.’
The
story of Devasena and Unmádiní.
Once on a
time, in the realm of king Devasena, there was a merchant’s daughter, a maiden
that bewildered the world with her beauty. Her father told the king about her,
but the king did not take her in marriage, for the Bráhmans, who wished to
prevent his neglecting his duties, told him she had inauspicious marks. So she
was married to his prime minister. And once on a time she showed herself to the
king at a window. And the king, struck by her with a poisonous look from a
distance, as if she had been a female snake, fainted again and again, enjoyed
no pleasure, and took no food. And the righteous king, though entreated over
and over again to marry her by the ministers, with her husband at their head,
refused to do so, and devoted to her, yielded up his breath.
“Accordingly
I have come to-day and told you this wonderful tale, thinking that if a similar
distraction were to come upon you, I should be guilty of conspiring against
your life.”
When king
Śrutasena heard from that Bráhman this speech, which was like the command of
the god of love, he became ardently attached to Vidyuddyotá, so he immediately
sent off the Bráhman and took steps to have her brought quickly and married
her. Then the princess Vidyuddyotá became inseparable from the person of that
king, as the daylight from the orb of the sun.
Then a
maiden of the name of Mátṛidattá, the daughter of a very rich merchant,
intoxicated with the pride of her beauty, came to select that king for her
husband. Through fear of committing unrighteousness, the king married that
merchant’s daughter; then Vidyuddyotá, coming to hear of it, died of a broken
heart. And the king came and beheld that dearly loved wife lying dead, and took
her up in his arms, and lamenting, died on the spot. Thereupon Mátṛidattá, the
merchant’s daughter, entered the fire. And so the whole kingdom perished with
the king.
“So you
see, king, that the breaking off of long love is difficult to bear, especially
would it be so to the proud queen Vásavadattá. Accordingly, if you were to
marry this Kalingasená, the queen Vásavadattá would indubitably quit her life,
and queen Padmávatí would do the same, for their life is one. And then how
would your son Naraváhanadatta live? And, I know, the king’s heart would not be
able to bear any misfortune happening to him. And so all this happiness would
perish in a moment, O king. But as for the dignified reserve, which the queens
displayed in their speeches, that sufficiently shews that their hearts are
indifferent to all things, being firmly resolved on suicide. So you must guard
your own interests, for even animals understand self-protection, much more wise
men like yourself, O king.” The king of Vatsa, when he heard this at length
from the excellent minister Yaugandharáyaṇa, having now become quite capable of
wise discrimination, said—“It is so; there can be no doubt about it; all this
fabric of my happiness would be overthrown. So what is the use of my marrying
Kalingasená? Accordingly the astrologers did well in mentioning a distant hour
as auspicious for the marriage: and there cannot after all be much sin in
abandoning one who had come to select me as her husband.” When Yaugandharáyaṇa
heard this, he reflected with joy, “Our business has almost turned out
according to our wishes. Will not that same great plant of policy, watered with
the streams of expedient, and nourished with due time and place, truly bring
forth fruit?” Thus reflecting, and meditating upon fitting time and place, the
minister Yaugandharáyaṇa went to his house, after taking a ceremonious farewell
of the king.
The king
too went to the queen Vásavadattá, who had assumed to welcome him a manner
which concealed her real feelings, and thus spoke to her to console her: “Why
do I speak? you know well, O gazelle-eyed one, that your love is my life, even
as the water is of the lotus. Could I bear even to mention the name of another
woman? But Kalingasená came to my house of her own impetuous motion. And this
is well known, that Rambhá, who came to visit Arjuna of her own impetuous will,
having been rejected by him, as he was engaged in austerities, inflicted on him
a curse which made him a eunuch. That curse was endured by him to the end,
living in the house of the king of Viráṭa in the garb of a eunuch, though he
displayed miraculous valour. So I did not reject this Kalingasená when she
came, but I cannot bring myself to do anything without your wish.” Having
comforted her in these words, and having perceived by the flush of wine which
rose to her cheek, as if it were her glowing passionate heart, that her cruel
design was a reality, the king of Vatsa spent that night with the queen Vásavadattá,
delighted at the transcendent ability of his prime minister.
And in the
meanwhile that Bráhman-Rákshasa, named Yogeśvara, who was a friend of
Yaugandharáyaṇa, and whom he had commissioned beforehand to watch day and night
the proceedings of Kalingasená, came that very night of his own accord and said
to the prime minister: “I remain ever at Kalingasená’s house, either without it
or within it, and I have never seen man or god come there. But to-day I
suddenly heard an indistinct noise in the air, at the commencement of the
night, as I was lying hid near the roof of the palace. Then my magic science
was set in motion to ascertain the cause of the sound, but prevailed not; so I
pondered over it, and came to this conclusion: ‘This must certainly be the voice
of some being of divine power, enamoured of Kalingasená, who is roaming in the
sky. Since my science does not succeed, I must look for some opening, for
clever people who remain vigilant, find little difficulty in discovering holes
in their opponents’ armour. And I know that the prime minister said—“Divine
beings are in love with her”—moreover I overheard her friend Somaprabhá saying
the same. After arriving at this conclusion I came here to make my report to
you. This I have to ask you by the way, so tell me so much I pray you. By my
magic power I heard, without being seen, what you said to the king, ‘Even
animals understand self-protection.’ Now tell me, sagacious man, if there is
any instance of this.”—When Yogeśvara asked him this question, Yaugandharáyaṇa
answered. “There is, my friend, and to prove it, I will tell you this tale.
Listen!”
The
tale of the ichneumon, the owl, the cat, and the mouse.
Once on a
time there was a large banyan tree outside the city of Vidiśá. In that vast
tree dwelt four creatures, an ichneumon, an owl, a cat, and a mouse, and their
habitations were apart. The ichneumon and the mouse dwelt in separate holes in
the root, the cat in a great hollow in the middle of the tree: but the owl
dwelt in a bower of creepers on the top of it, which was inaccessible to the
others. Among these the mouse was the natural prey of all three, three out of
the four of the cat. The mouse, the ichneumon, and the owl ranged for food
during the night, the two first through fear of the cat only, the owl partly
because it was his nature to do so. But the cat fearlessly wandered night and
day through the neighbouring barley-field, in order to catch the mouse, while
the others went there by stealth at a suitable time out of desire for food. One
day a certain hunter of the Chaṇḍála caste came there. He saw the track of the
cat entering that field, and having set nooses all round the field in order to
compass its death, departed. So the cat came there at night to slay the mouse,
and entering the field was caught in one of the hunter’s nooses. The mouse, for
his part, came there secretly in search of food, and seeing the cat caught in
the noose, danced for joy. While it was entering the field, the owl and
ichneumon came from afar by the same path, and seeing the cat fast in the
noose, desired to capture the mouse. And the mouse, beholding them afar off,
was terrified and reflected—“If I fly to the cat, which the owl and the
ichneumon are afraid of, that enemy, though fast in the noose, may slay me with
one blow, but if I keep at a distance from the cat, the owl and the ichneumon
will be the death of me. So being compassed about with enemies, where shall I
go, what shall I do? Ah! I will take refuge with the cat here, for it is in
trouble, and may save me to preserve its own life, as I shall be of use to gnaw
through the noose.” Thus reflecting the mouse slowly approached the cat, and
said to it, “I am exceedingly grieved at your being caught, so I will gnaw
through your noose; the upright come to love even their enemies by dwelling in
their neighbourhood. But I do not feel confidence in you, as I do not know your
intentions.” When the cat heard that, he said “Worthy mouse, be at rest, from
this day forth you are my friend as giving me life.” The moment he heard this
from the cat, he crept into his bosom; when the owl and ichneumon saw that,
they went away hopeless. Then the cat, galled with the noose, said to the
mouse, “My friend, the night is almost gone, so quickly gnaw through my bonds.”
The mouse for its part, waiting for the arrival of the hunter, slowly nibbled
the noose, and protracted the business, making a continual munching with its
teeth, which was all pretence. Soon the night came to an end, and the hunter
came near; then the mouse, at the request of the cat, quickly gnawed through
the noose which held it. So the cat’s noose was severed, and it ran away,
afraid of the hunter; and the mouse, delivered from death, fled into its hole.
But when called again by the cat, it reposed no confidence in him, but
remarked, “The truth is, an enemy is occasionally made a friend by circumstances,
but does not remain such forever.”
“Thus the
mouse, though an animal, saved its life from many foes, much more ought the
same thing to take place among men. You heard that speech which I uttered to
the king on that occasion, to the effect that by wisdom he should guard his own
interests by preserving the life of the queen. And wisdom is in every exigency
the best friend, not valour, Yogeśvara; in illustration of this hear the
following story.”
The
story of king Prasenajit and the Bráhman who lost his treasure.
There is a
city named Śrávastí, and in it there lived in old time a king of the name of
Prasenajit, and one day a strange Bráhman arrived in that city. A merchant,
thinking he was virtuous, because he lived on rice in the husk, provided him a
lodging there in the house of a Bráhman. There he was loaded by him every day
with presents of unhusked rice and other gifts, and gradually by other great
merchants also, who came to hear his story. In this way the miserly fellow
gradually accumulated a thousand dínárs, and, going to the forest, he dug a
hole and buried it in the ground, and he went every day and examined the spot.
Now one day he saw that the hole, in which he had hidden his gold, had been
re-opened, and that all the gold had gone. When he saw that hole empty, his
soul was smitten, and not only was there a void in his heart, but the whole
universe seemed to him to be void also. And then he came crying to the Bráhman,
in whose house he lived, and when questioned, he told him his whole story: and
he made up his mind to go to a holy bathing-place, and starve himself to death.
Then the merchant, who supplied him with food, hearing of it, came there with
others, and said to him, “Bráhman, why do you long to die for the loss of your
wealth? Wealth, like an unseasonable cloud, suddenly comes and goes.” Though
plied by him with these and similar arguments, he would not abandon his fixed
determination to commit suicide, for wealth is dearer to the miser than life
itself. But when the Bráhman was going to the holy place to commit suicide, the
king Prasenajit himself, having heard of it, came to him and asked him,
“Bráhman, do you know of any mark by which you can recognize the place where
you buried your dínárs?” When the Bráhman heard that, he said: “There is a
small tree in the wood there, I buried that wealth at its foot.” When the king
heard that, he said, “I will find that wealth and give it back to you, or I
will give it you from my own treasury, do not commit suicide, Bráhman.” After
saying this, and so diverting the Bráhman from his intention of committing
suicide, the king entrusted him to the care of the merchant, and retired to his
palace. There he pretended to have a headache, and sending out the door-keeper,
he summoned all the physicians in the city by proclamation with beat of drum.
And he took aside every single one of them and questioned him privately in the
following words: “What patients have you here, and how many, and what medicine
have you prescribed for each?” And they thereupon, one by one, answered all the
king’s questions. Then one among the physicians, when his turn came to be
questioned, said this, “The merchant Mátṛidatta has been out of sorts, O king,
and this is the second day, that I have prescribed for him nágabalá. When the
king heard that, he sent for the merchant, and said to him—“Tell me, who
fetched you the nágabalá?” The merchant said—“My servant, your highness.” When
the king got this answer from the merchant, he quickly summoned the servant and
said to him—“Give up that treasure belonging to a Bráhman, consisting of a
store of dínárs, which you found when you were digging at the foot of a tree
for nágabalá.” When the king said this to him, the servant was frightened and
confessed immediately, and bringing those dínárs left them there. So the king
for his part summoned the Bráhman and gave him, who had been fasting in the
meanwhile, his dínárs, lost and found again, like a second soul external to his
body.
“Thus that
king by his wisdom recovered for the Bráhman his wealth, which had been taken
away from the root of the tree, knowing that that simple grew in such spots. So
true is it, that intellect always obtains the supremacy, triumphing over
valour, indeed in such cases what could courage accomplish? Accordingly,
Yogeśvara, you ought to bring it to pass by your wisdom, that some peccadillo
be discovered in Kalingasená. And it is true that the gods and Asuras are in
love with her. This explains your hearing at night the sound of some being in
the air. And if we could only obtain some pretext, calamity would fall upon her,
not on us; the king would not marry her, and yet we should not have dealt
unrighteously with her.” When the Bráhman-Rákshasa Yogeśvara heard all this
from the sagacious Yaugandharáyaṇa, he was delighted and said to him—“Who
except the god Vṛihaspati can match thee in policy? This counsel of thine
waters with ambrosia the tree of empire. I, even I, will investigate with
wisdom and might the proceedings of Kalingasená.” Having said this, Yogeśvara
departed thence.
And at this
time Kalingasená, while in her palace, was continually afflicted by beholding
the king of Vatsa roaming about in his palace and its grounds. Thinking on him,
she was inflamed with love, and though she wore a bracelet and necklace of
lotus fibres, she never obtained relief thereby, nor from sandal-ointment, or
other remedies.
In the
meanwhile the king of the Vidyádharas, named Madanavega, who had seen her
before, remained wounded by the arrow of ardent love. Though he had performed a
vow to obtain her, and had been granted a boon by Śiva, still she was not easy
to gain, because she was living in the land of another, and attached to
another, so the Vidyádhara prince was wandering about at night in the air over
her palace, in order to obtain an opportunity. But, remembering the order of
Śiva pleased with his asceticism, he assumed one night by his skill the form of
the king of Vatsa. And in his shape he entered her palace, saluted with praises
by the door-keepers, who said—“Unable to bear delay, the king has come here
without the knowledge of his ministers.” And Kalingasená, on beholding him,
rose up bewildered with agitation, though she was, so to speak, warned by her
ornaments which jingled out the sounds—“This is not the man.” Then she by
degrees gained confidence in him, and Madanavega, wearing the form of the king
of Vatsa, made her his wife by the Gándharva rite. At that moment Yogeśvara
entered, invisible by his magic, and, beholding the incident, was cast down,
supposing that he saw the king of Vatsa before him. He went and told
Yaugandharáyaṇa, who, on receiving his report, saw by his skill that the king
was in the society of Vásavadattá. So by the order of the prime minister he
returned delighted, to observe the shape of that secret paramour of
Kalingasená, when asleep. And so he went and beheld that Madanavega asleep in
his own form on the bed of the sleeping Kalingasená, a heavenly being, the
dustless lotus of whose foot was marked with the umbrella and the banner; and
who had lost his power of changing his form, because his science was suspended
during sleep. Then Yogeśvara, full of delight, went and told what he had seen
in a joyful mood to Yaugandharáyaṇa. He said—“One like me knows nothing, you
know everything by the eye of policy; by your counsel this difficult result has
been attained for your king. What is the sky without the sun? What is a tank
without water? What is a realm without counsel? What is speech without truth?”
When Yogeśvara said this, Yaugandharáyaṇa took leave of him, much pleased, and
went in the morning to visit the king of Vatsa. He approached him with the
usual reverence, and in course of conversation said to the king, who asked him
what was to be done about Kalingasená—“She is unchaste, O king, and does not
deserve to touch your hand. For she went of her own accord to visit Prasenajit.
When she saw that he was old, she was disgusted, and came to visit you out of
desire for your beauty, and now she even enjoys at her pleasure the society of
another person.” When the king heard this, he said—“How could a lady of birth
and rank do such a deed? Or who has power to enter my harem?” When the king
said this, the wise Yaugandharáyaṇa answered him, “I will prove it to you by
ocular testimony this very night, my sovereign. For the divine Siddhas and
other beings of the kind are in love with her. What can a man do against them?
And who here can interfere with the movements of gods? So come and see it with
your own eyes.” When the minister said this, the king determined to go there
with him at night.
Then Yaugandharáyaṇa
came to the queen, and said—“To-day, O queen, I have carried out what I
promised, that the king should marry no other wife except queen Padmávatí, and
thereupon he told her the whole story of Kalingasená. And the queen Vásavadattá
congratulated him, bowing low and saying—“This is the fruit which I have reaped
from following your instructions.”
Then, at
night, when folk were asleep, the king of Vatsa went with Yaugandharáyaṇa to
the palace of Kalingasená. And entering unperceived, he beheld Madanavega in
his proper form, sleeping by the side of the sleeping Kalingasená. And when the
king was minded to slay that audacious one, the Vidyádhara prince was roused by
his own magic knowledge, and when awake, he went out, and immediately flew up
into the heaven. And then Kalingasená awoke immediately. And seeing the bed
empty, she said, “How is this, that the king of Vatsa wakes up before me, and
departs, leaving me asleep?” When Yaugandharáyaṇa heard that, he said to the
king of Vatsa—“Listen, she has been beguiled by that Vidyádhara wearing your
form. He was found out by me by means of my magic power, and now I have
exhibited him before your eyes, but you cannot kill him on account of his
heavenly might.” After saying this, he and the king approached her, and
Kalingasená, for her part, seeing them, stood in a respectful attitude. But
when she began to say to the king—“Where, O king, did you go only a moment ago,
so as to return with your minister?”—Yaugandharáyaṇa said to her—“Kalingasená,
you have been married by some being, who beguiled you by assuming the shape of
the king of Vatsa, and not by this lord of mine.”
When
Kalingasená heard this, she was bewildered, and as if pierced through the heart
by an arrow, she said to the king of Vatsa with tear-streaming eyes,—“Have you
forgotten me, O king, after marrying me by the Gándharva rite, as Śakuntalá
long ago was forgotten by Dushyanta?” When the king was thus addressed by her,
he said with downcast face, “In truth you were not married by me, for I never came
here till this moment.” When the king of Vatsa had said this, the minister said
to him—“Come along”—and conducted him at will to the palace.
When the
king had departed thence with his minister, that lady Kalingasená, sojourning
in a foreign country, like a doe that had strayed from the herd, having
deserted her relations, with her face robbed of its painting by kissing, as a
lotus is robbed of its leaves by cropping, having her braided tresses
disordered, even as a bed of lotuses trampled by an elephant has its cluster of
black bees dispersed; now that her maidenhood was gone for ever, not knowing
what expedient to adopt or what course to pursue, looked up to heaven and spake
as follows—“Whoever that was that assumed the shape of the king of Vatsa and
married me, let him appear, for he is the husband of my youth.” When invoked in
these words, that king of the Vidyádharas descended from heaven, of divine
shape, adorned with necklace and bracelet. And when she asked him who he was,
he answered her;—“I, fair one, am a prince of the Vidyádharas, named
Madanavega. And long ago I beheld you in your father’s house, and by performing
penance obtained a boon from Śiva, which conferred on me the attainment of you.
So, as you were in love with the king of Vatsa, I assumed his form, and quickly
married you by stealth, before your contract with him had been celebrated.” By
the nectar of this speech of his, entering her ears, the lotus of her heart was
a little revived. Then Madanavega comforted that fair one, and made her recover
her composure, and bestowed on her a heap of gold, and when she had conceived
in her heart affection for her excellent husband, as being well suited to her,
he flew up into the heaven to return again. And Kalingasená, after obtaining
permission from Madanavega, consented to dwell patiently where she was,
reflecting that the heavenly home, the abode of her husband, could not be
approached by a mortal, and that through passion she had left her father’s
house.
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