Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/365

 Śiva, the refuge of the distressed, heard this prayer of her Ganas, she gave command that the three should return to life, free from passion. So they all, by her favour, immediately arose, as if awaking from sleep, free from the passion of love. Then all the people were full of joy, beholding that marvel; and Kamalákara went home, with his face downcast from shame; and Arthadatta, having recovered his daughter* Anangamanjarí, who looked thoroughly ashamed of herself, together with her husband, returned to his house in high spirits. When the Vetála had told this story that night on the way, he again put a question to king Trivikramasena. He said, " King, tell me, which of those three, who were blinded by passion, was the most infatuated? And remember, the curse before mentioned will take effect, if you know and do not say." When the king heard this question of the Vetála's, he answered him, " It seems to me that Manivarman was the most infatuated with passion of the three. For one can understand those two dying, as they were desperately in love with one another, and their amorous condition had been fully developed by lapse of time. But Manivarman was terribly infatuated, for when he saw his wife dead of love for another man, and the occasion called for indignation, he was so far from being angry that, in his great love, he died of grief." When the king had said this, the mighty Vetála again left his shoulder, and departed to his own place, and the king again went in pursuit of him.

Oesterley, page 217, gives a story which resembles this in its conclusion. A king finds a girl being carried off by robbers. He delivers her and places her in a temple promising to bring her food. But on his way he meets a kuțțini, who conducts him to another girl, with whom he falls desperately in love, and so forgets the girl he rescued. She is found by a merchant. He takes her to his house and sets food before her. He then kills a rat, and boasts of his valour; (see page 16 of this volume.) This conduct, contrasted with that of the king, makes the girl die of disgust. The merchant kills himself. The king, not finding the first girl where he left her, commits suicide. The kuțținí considers that she has caused the death of three persons, and kills herself in a fit of remorse. The Vetála asks, "Which of these four deaths was the most extraordinary?" The king answers, " That of the kuțținí, for the others died of excess of passion."