Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/467

 Then Dhanavatí, finding out by her power what had occurred, with his wives Vegavatí and the others, and her son Chandasinha, and king Pingalagándhara with Váyupatha, and Chitrángada with Ságaradatta, and Hemáprabha and the others came there, obscuring the sun with their armies; as if declaring beforehand that they would endure no fire and heat in their foes. When they arrived, they fell at the feet of that emperor, and he honoured them with a welcome as their rank deserved, but, out of great veneration, he himself fell at the feet of Dhanavatí, and she, being highly pleased, loaded that son-in-law of her's with blessings. And when he told the story of his obtaining magic powers, Chandasinha and the others were exceedingly gratified at their emperor's success. And the emperor, seeing that his wives had arrived in his presence, said to Dhanavatí, " Where are my ministers?" And she answered him, " When they had been flung in all directions by Mánasavega, I saved them by the help of a mighty science, and placed them in different spots." Then he had them brought by a science incarnate in bodily form; and they came and enquired after his welfare and clung to his feet, and then he said to them, " Why and how and where have you spent so many days? Tell me one by one your marvellous tale." Then Gomukha told his story first.

Gomukha's account of his adventures.:— When I was flung away by the enemy on that occasion, some goddess bore me up in her hands, and comforted me, and placed me in a distant forest, and disappeared. Then I was minded in my affliction to abandon the body by hurling myself from a precipice; but a certain ascetic came up to me and dissuaded me saying, " Do not act thus, Gomukha, you will again behold your master when he has gained his object." Then I said to him, " Who are you, and how do you know that?" He answered, " Come to my hermitage, and there I will tell you." Then I went with that man, who by his knowing my name had proved the greatness of his knowledge, to his hermitage, which was called Śivakshetra. There he entertained me and told me his story in the following words:

Story of Nágasvámin and the witches.:— I am a Bráhman named Nágasvámin, from a city called Kundina. When my father went to heaven, I went to Pațaliputra, and repaired to a teacher named Jayadatta, to acquire learning. But in spite of all the teaching that I got, I was so stupid that I did not manage to learn a single syllable; so all the pupils there made game of me. Then, being the victim of contempt, I set out on a pilgrimage to the shrine of the goddess Durgá in the Vindhya mountains; and when I had got halfway I came across a city named Vakrolaka.

I went into that city to beg; and in one house the mistress gave me