Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/231

 darkened by a storm of tears, he divided the empire of the earth between his two sons. Then, having conceived the design of renouncing the world, he left his city, and turning back his subjects who followed him, he went to the forest to perform austerities.

There he lived on roots and fruits, and one day, as he was wandering about at will, he came near a banyan-tree. As soon as he came near it, two women of celestial appearance suddenly issued from it with roots and fruits in their hands, and they said to him, " King, take these roots and fruits which we offer." When he heard that, he said, " Tell me now who you are." Then those women of heavenly appearance said to him, " Well come into our house and we will tell you the truth." When he heard that, he consented, and entering with them, he saw inside the tree a splendid golden city. There he rested and ate heavenly fruits, and then those women said to him, " Now, king, hear."

"Long ago there dwelt in Pratishțhána a Bráhman, of the name of Kamalagarbha, and he had two wives, the name of the one was Pathyá, and the name of the other Abalá. Now in course of time all three, the husband and the wives, were worn out with old age, and at last they entered the fire together, being attached to one another. And at that time they put up a petition to Śiva from the fire, ' May we be connected together as husband and wives in all our future lives !' Then Kamalagarbha, owing to the power of his severe penances, was born in the Yaksha race as Diptaśikha, the son of the Yaksha Pradíptáksha, and the younger brother of Ațțahása. His wives too, Pathyá and Abalá, were born as Yaksha maidens, that is to say, as the two daughters of the king of the Yakshas named Dhúmaketu, and the name of the one was Jyotirlekhá, and the name of the other Dhúmalekhá.

" Now in course of time those two sisters grew up, and they went to the forest to perform asceticism, and they propitiated Śiva with the view of obtaining husbands The god was pleased and he appeared to them and said to them, ' That man with whom you entered the fire in a former birth, and who you asked might be your husband in all subsequent births, was born again as a Yaksha named Diptaśikha, the brother of Ațțahása, but he has become a mortal owing to the curse of his master, and has been born as a man named Śrídarśana, so you too must go to the world of men and be his wives there, but as soon as the curse terminates, you shall all become Yakshas, husband and wives together. When Śiva said this, those two Yaksha maidens were born on the earth as Padmisțhá and Anangamanjarí.' They became the wives of Śrídarśana, and after they had been his wives for some time, that Ațțahása, as fate would have it, came there in the form of a Bráhman, and by the device of employing an ambiguous speech, he managed to utter their names and remind them