Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/246

 the forest. Then the successful Bhímabhața, having obtained that kingdom, ruled it admirably with the help of those seven heroes, Chandradatta and the others. Then, in the course of some days, he heard from his spies, that his father king Ugrabhața had gone to Prayága and died there; and that, when he was intent on death, he had anointed his youngest son Samarabhața, the son of the dancing-girl, king of Rádhá. Then he mourned for his father, and performed his funeral ceremonies, and sent a messenger to that Samarabhața with a letter. And in the letter, he sent the following message to the pretender who was treating him unjustly, " Foolish son of a dancing-girl, what business have you to sit on my father's throne, for it belongs to me, though I have this kingdom of Láța; so you must not ascend it." And the messenger went, and after announcing himself, delivered the letter to that Samarabhața, when he was in the hall of assembly. And when Samarabhața read this letter of such an import, under his brother's sign manual, he was angry, and answered, " This baseless presumption is becoming in this ill-conducted man, who was long ago banished by my father from the country, because he was not fit to remain in it. Even the jackal apes the lion, when he is comfortably ensconced in his native cavern, but when he comes within view of the lion, he is discovered to be only a jackal." Such was the answer he roared forth, and he wrote to the same effect in a letter, and sent his return-messenger to carry it to Bhímabhața. So the return-messenger went, and gave, when introduced by the warder, that letter to the king of Láța. And when Bhímabhața had read that letter, he laughed loudly, and said to the return-messenger of his brother— " Go, messenger, and tell that dancing-girl's son from me, On that former occasion when you tried to seize the horse, I saved you from Śankhadatta, because you were a child and dear to my father, but I will no longer endure your insolence. I will certainly send you to my father who is so fond of you. Make ready, and know that in a few days I shall have arrived.' " With these words he dismissed the messenger, and then he began his expedition. When that moon of kings, glorious in his magnificence,* mounted his elephant which resembled a hill, the great sea of his army was agitated and surged up with a roar, and the horizon was filled with innumerable feudal chiefs and princes arrived for war,† and setting out with their forces; and the earth, swiftly trampled by the elephants and horses trooping along in great numbers, groaned and trembled under the weight, as if afraid of being cleft open. In this fashion Bhímabhața marched and came near Rádhá, eclipsing the light of the sun in the heavens with the clouds of dust raised by his army.