Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/450

 ears." Then lie played on it, and sang the hymn of Vishnu with such skill that the Gandharvas there became motionless as painted pictures.

Then Gandharvadattá herself threw on him a look tender with affection, as it were a garland of full-blown blue lotuses,* and therewith chose him as her husband. When the king saw it, and called to mind his promise of that import, he at once gave him his daughter Gandharvadattá in marriage. As for the wedding that thereupon took place, gladdened by the drums of the gods and other festal signs, to what could we compare it, as it served as the standard by which to estimate all similar rejoicings ? Then Naraváhanadatta lived there with his new bride Gandharvadattá in heavenly bliss.

And one day he went out to behold the beauty of the city, and after he had seen all kinds of places, he entered the park attached to it. There he saw a heavenly female descending from the sky with her daughter, like the lightning with the rain in a cloudless atmosphere. And she was saying to her daughter, as she descended, recognising him by her knowledge, "This, my daughter, is your future husband, the son of the king of Vatsa." "When he saw her alight and come towards him, he said to her, " Who are you, and why have you come?" And the heavenly female said to him, thus introducing the object of her desire:

" Prince, I am Dhanavatí, the wife of a chief of the Vidyádharas, named Sinha, and this is my unmarried daughter, the sister of Chandasinha, and her name is Ajinavati. You were announced as her future husband by a voice that came from heaven. Then, learning by my magic science, that you, the future emperor of the Vidyádharas, had been deposited here by Vegavatí, I came to tell you my desire. You ought not to remain in such a place as this which is accessible to the Vidyádharas, for they might slay you out of enmity, as you are alone, and have not obtained your position of emperor. So come, let us now take you to a land which is inaccessible to them. Does not the moon delay to shine, when the circle of the sun is eclipsed? And when the auspicious day arrives you shall marry this daughter of mine." When she had said this, she took him and flew up into the air with him, and her daughter accompanied them. And she took him to the city of Śrávastí, and deposited him in a garden, and then she disappeared with her daughter Ajinávatí. There king Prasenajit, who had returned from a distant hunting expedition, saw that prince of noble form and feature. The king approached him full of curiosity, and asked him his name and lineage, and then, being much delighted, courteously conducted him to his palace. It was