Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/501

 with the object of sense, and said to Yaugandharáyana and his other ministers, ' In this unreal cycle of mundane existence all objects are at the end insipid; and I have ruled my realm, I have enjoyed pleasures, I have conquered my enemies; I have seen my son in the possession of paramount away over the Vidyádharas; and now my allotted time has passed away together with my connections; and old age has seized me by the hair to hand me over to death; and wrinkles have invaded my body, as the strong invade the kingdom of a weakling; * so I will go to mount Kálinjara, and abandoning this perishable body, will there obtain the imperishable mansion of which they speak.' When the ministers had been thus addressed by the king, they thought over the matter; and then they all and queen Vásavadattá said to him with calm equanimity, ' Let it be, king, as it has pleased your highness; by your favour we also will try to obtain a high position in the next world.'

' When they had said this to the king, being like-minded with himself, he formed a deliberate resolution, and said to his elder brother-in-law Gopálaka, who was present, ' I look upon you and Naraváhanadatta as equally my sons; so take care of this Kauśámbí, I give you my kingdom.' When the king of Vataa said this to Gopálaka, he replied, " My destination is the same as yours, I cannot bear to leave you. This he asserted in a persistent manner, being ardently attached to his sister; whereupon the king of Vatsa said to him, assuming † an anger, that he did not feel, ' To-day you have become disobedient, so as to affect a hypocritical conformity to my will; and no wonder, for who cares for the command of one who is falling from his place of power.' When the king spoke thus roughly to him, Gopálaka wept, with face fixed on the ground, and though he had determined to go to the forest, he turned back tor a moment from his intention.

" Then the king mounted an elephant, and accompanied by the queens Vásavadattá and Padmávatí, set out with his ministers. And when he left Kauśámbí, the citizens followed him, with their wives, children, and aged sires, crying aloud and raining a tempest of tears. The king comforted them by saying to them, ' Gopálaka will take care of you,' and so at last he induced them to return, and passed on to mount Kálinjara. And he reached it, and went up it, and worshipped Śiva, and holding in his hand his lyre Ghoshavatí, that he had loved all Ids life, and accompanied by his queens that were ever at his side, and Yaugandharáyana and his other ministers, he hurled himself from the cliff. And even as they fell, a fiery chariot came and caught up the king and his companions, and they went in a blaze of glory to heaven."