Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/513

 "When the night had come to an end, the king ordered his execution; and he was led off to the place of execution through the middle of the market. And as he was being led along through that part of the town, a merchant's daughter saw him, and fell in love with him at first sight, and she immediately said to her father, "Know that if this man, who is being led off to execution preceded by the drum of death, does not become my husband, I shall die myself."

Then her father, seeing that she could not be dissuaded from her resolution, went and tried to induce the king to spare that thief's life by offering ten millions of coins. But the king, instead of sparing the thief's life, ordered him to be immediately impaled,* and was very angry with the merchant. Then the merchant's daughter, whose name was Vámadattá, took the corpse of that robber, and out of love for him entered the fire with it. " So, you see, creatures are completely dependent upon connexions in previous births, and this being the case, who can avoid a destiny that is fated to him, and who can prevent such a destiny's befalling anybody? Therefore, king, it is clear that this Suratamanjarí is some excellent being that was the wife of your son Avantivardhana in a previous birth, and is therefore destined to be his wife again; otherwise how could such a highborn prince have formed such an attachment for her, a woman of the Mátanga caste? So let this Mátanga, her father Utpalahasta, be asked to give the prince his daughter; and let us see what he says."

When I had said this to king Pálaka, he at once sent messengers to Utpalahasta to ask for his daughter. And the Mátanga, when entreated by those messengers to give her in marriage, answered them, " I approve of this alliance, but I must give my daughter Suratamanjarí to the man who makes eighteen thousand of the Bráhmans, that dwell in this city, eat in my house." When the messengers heard this speech of the Mátanga's, that contained a solemn promise, they went back and reported it faithfully to king Pálaka.

Thinking that there was some reason for this.† the king called together all the Bráhmans in the city of Ujjayiní, and telling them the whole story, said to them, " So you must eat here in the house of the Mátanga Utpalahasta, eighteen thousand of you; I will not have it otherwise." When the Bráhmans had been thus commanded by the king, being at the game time afraid of touching the food of a Chandála, and therefore at a loss what to do, they went to the shrine of Mahákála and performed self-torture. Then the god Śiva, who was present there in the form of Mahákála, com-