Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/333

 said to his mother, " Mother, go back, and leave this terrible wilderness. Do you not see here this rock of execution, smeared with the clotted gore of snakes, awful as the luxurious couch of Death ! But I will go to the shore of the sea, and worship the lord Gokarna, and quickly return, before Garuda comes here." When Śankhachúda had said this, he took a respectful leave of his sadly-wailing mother, and went to pay his devotions to Gokarna. And Jímútaváhana made up his mind that, if Garuda arrived in the meantime, he would certainly be able to carry out his proposed self-sacrifice for the sake of another. And while he was thus reflecting, he saw the trees swaying with the wind of the wings of the approaching king of birds, and seeming, as it were, to utter a cry of dissuasion. So he came to the conclusion that the moment of Garuda's arrival was at hand, and determined to offer up his life for another, he ascended the rock of sacrifice. And the sea, churned by the wind, seemed with the eyes of its bright- flashing jewels to be gazing in astonishment at his extraordinary courage. Then Garuda came along, obscuring the heaven, and swooping down, struck the great-hearted hero with his beak, and carried him off from that slab of rock. And he quickly went off with him to a peak of the Malaya mountain, to eat him there; and Jímútaváhana's crest-jewel was torn from his head, and drops of blood fell from him, as he was carried through the air. And while Garuda was eating that moon of the Vidyádhara race, he said to himself; " May my body thus be offered in every birth for the benefit of others, and let me not enjoy heaven or liberation, if they are dissociated from the opportunity of benefiting my neighbour " And while he was saying this to himself, a rain of flowers fell from heaven. In the meanwhile his crest- jewel, dripping with his blood, had fallen in front of his wife Malayavatí. When she saw it, she recognized it with much trepidation as her husband's crest-jewel, and as she was in the presence of her father-in-law and mother-in-law, she shewed it them with tears. And they, when they saw their son's crest-jewel, were at once beside themselves to think what it could mean. Then king Jímútaketu and queen Kanakavati found out by their supernatural powers of meditation the real state of the case, and proceeded to go quickly with their daughter- in-law to the place where Garuda and Jímútaváhana were. In the mean- while Śankhachúda returned from worshipping Gokarna, and saw, to his dismay, that that stone of sacrifice was wet with blood. Then the worthy fellow exclaimed with tears, "Alas! I am undone, guilty creature that I am ! Undoubtedly that great-hearted one, in the fulness of his compassion, has given himself to Garuda in my stead. So I will find out to what place the enemy has carried him off in this moment. If I find him alive, I shall escape sinking in the mire of dishonour." While he said