Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/447

 " So that wicked brother of mine made use of me, to try and talk her over; and I went to that lady, who could do nothing but talk of you. And in my conversation with her, that virtuous lady mentioned your name,* which was like a command from the god of Love, and thus my mind then became fixed upon you alone. And then I remembered an announcement which Párvatí made to me in a dream, much to the following effect, ' You shall be married to that man the mere hearing of whose name overpowers you with love.' When I had called this to mind, I cheered up Madanamanchuká, and came here in her form, and married myself to you by an artifice. So come, my beloved, I am filled with such compassion for your wife Madanamanchuká that I will take you where she is; for I am the devoted servant of my rival, even as I am of you, because you love her. For I am so completely enslaved by love for you, that I am rendered quite unselfish by it "

When Vegavatí had said this, she took Naraváhanadatta, and by the might of her science flew up with him into the sky during the night. And next morning, while she was slowly travelling through the heaven, the attendants of the husband and wife were bewildered by their disappearance. And when the king of Vatsa came to hear of it, he was immediately, as it were, struck by a thunderbolt, and so were Vasavadattá, Padmávatí and the rest. And the citizens, and the king's ministers Yaugandharáyana and the others, together with their sons Marubhúti and the rest, were altogether distracted.

Then the hermit Nárada, surrounded with a circle of light, descended there from heaven, like a second sun. The king of Vatsa offered him the arghya, and the hermit said to him, " Your son has been carried off by a Vidyádharí to her country, but he will soon return; and I have been sent by Śiva to cheer you up." And after this prelude he went on to tell the king of Vegavatí's proceedings, exactly as they took place; then the king recovered his spirits and the hermit disappeared.

In the meanwhile Vegavatí carried Naraváhanadatta through the air to the mountain Áshádhapura. And Manasavega, hearing of it, hastened there to kill them both. Then Vegavatí engaged with her brother in a struggle which was remarkable for a great display of magic power; for a woman values her lover as her life, and much more than her own relations. Then she assumed by the might of her magic a terrible form of Bhairava, and at once striking Mánasavega senseless, she placed him on the mountain of Agni. † And she took Naraváhanadatta, whom at the beginning of the