Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/214

 neglect your health, though you are a wise man? For what object of desire is there that a resolute man cannot obtain, as long as he continues live? Hear in illustration of this truth the following wonderful story of Bhúnandana."

Story of Bhúnandana.:— There is here a region named Kaśmíra, the ornament of the earth, which the Creator made as a second heaven, after creating the first heaven, for men who have done righteous deeds. The difference between the two is that in heaven delights can only be seen, in Kaśmíra they can be actually enjoyed. The two glorious goddesses Śrí and Sarasvatí both frequent it, as if they vied with one another, saying— " I have the preeminence here"— " No, it is I."— The Himálaya encircles it with its embrace, as if to prevent Kali, the adversary of virtue, from entering it. The Vitastá adorns it, and repels sin with its waves, as if they were hands, and seems to say, " Depart far from this land which is full of waters sacred to the gods." In it the long lines of lofty palaces, whitened with silvery plaster, imitate the cliffs at the foot of the neighbouring Himálaya. In this land there lived a king, named Bhúnandana, who upheld as spiritual guide the system of the castes and the prescribed stages of life, learned in science and traditional lore, the moon that delighted his subjects. His valour was displayed in the kingdoms of his foes, on which he left the impress of his nails. He was a politic governor, and his people were ever free from calamity; he was exclusively devoted to Krishna, and the minds of his people took no pleasure in vicious deeds.*

Once on a time, on the twelfth day of the month, the king, after duly worshipping Vishnu, saw in a dream a Daitya maiden approach him. When he woke up, he could not see her, and in his astonishment he said to himself, " This is no mere dream ; I suspect she is some celestial nymph by whom I have been cajoled." Under this impression he remain- ed thinking of her, and so grieved at being deprived of her society, that gradually he neglected all his duties as a king. Then that king, not seeing any way of recovering her, said to himself; " My brief union with her was due to the favour of Vishnu, so I will go into a solitary place and propitiate Vishnu with a view to recovering her, and I will abandon this clog of a kingdom, which without her is distasteful." After saying this, king Bhúnandana informed his subjects of his resolution, and gave the kingdom to his younger brother named Sunandana.

But after he had resigned the kingdom, he went to a holy bathing, place named Kramasaras; which arose from the footfall of Vishnu, for it was made by him long ago in his Dwarf incarnation. It is attended by