Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/273

 after worshipping the goddess Chandí, she addressed to her this prayer, " May my present husband be my husband also in a future birth ! And may the sacrifice of my life procure prosperity for the king his master !" When the virtuous woman had said this, she threw herself fearlessly into the burning pyre, from which the flames streamed up like hair.

Then the hero Víravara said to himself, " I have done what the king's interests required, as the celestial voice testified, and I have paid my debt to my master for his food which I have eaten: so, as I am now left alone, why should I thus cling to life? It does not look well for a man like me to nurse his own life only, after sacrificing all his dear family, which it is his duty to maintain. So why should I not gratify Durgá by sacrificing myself?" Having thus reflected, he first approached the goddess with this hymn of praise:

" Hail to thee, thou slayer of the Asura Mahisha, destroyer of the Dánava Ruru, trident-bearing goddess ! Hail to thee, best of mothers, that causest rejoicing among the gods, and upholdest the three worlds ! Hail thou whose feet are worshipped by the whole earth, the refuge of those that are intent on final beatitude ! Hail thou that wearest the rays of the sun, and dispellest the accumulated darkness of calamity ! Hail to thee, Kálí, skull-bearing goddess, wearer of skeletons ! Hail, Śiva ! Honour to thee ! Be propitious now to king Śúdraka on account of the sacrifice of my head !" After Víravara had praised the goddess in these words, he cut off his head with a sudden stroke of his sword. King Śúdraka, who was a witness of all this from his place of concealment, was full of bewilderment, sorrow, and astonishment, and said to himself, " This worthy man and his family have performed for my sake a wonderful and difficult exploit never seen or heard of anywhere else. Though the world is wide and various, where could there be found a man so resolute as secretly to sacrifice his life for his master, without proclaiming the fact abroad? And if I do not requite this benefit, what is the use of my sovereignty, and of my protracting my life, which would only be like that of an animal?"

When the heroic king had thus reflected, he drew his sword from the sheath, and approaching the goddess, prayed thus to her, " Be propitious to me now, goddess, on account of this sacrifice of my head, and confer a boon on me, thy constant votary. Let this Bráhman Víravara, whose acts are in accordance with his name, and who sacrificed his life for my sake, be resuscitated with his family !" After uttering this prayer, king Śúdraka was preparing to cut off his head with his sword, but at that moment a voice was heard from the air, " Do not act rashly; I am pleased with this courage of thine; let the Bráhman Víravara be restored to life, together with his wife and his children !"— Having uttered so much, the voice ceased,