Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/520

 Then he assumed the form of a Bráhman, and went to Tárávaloka's hermi- tage, to prove him, and asked him for his only wife Mádrí. And Tárávaloka was preparing to give without hesitation, by the ceremony of pouring water over the hands,* that lady who had been his companion in the wild forest, when Indra, thus disguised as a Bráhman, said to him, " Royal sage, what object do you mean to attain by giving away a wife like this? " Then Tárávaloka said, " I have no object in view, Bráhman; so much only do I desire, that I may ever give away to Bráhmans even my life." "When Indra heard this, ho resumed his proper shape, and said to him, "I have made proof of thee, and I am satisfied with thee; so I say to thee, thou must not again give away thy wife; and soon thou shalt be made emperor over all the Vidyádharas." When the god bad said this, he disappeared. In the meanwhile that old Bráhman took with him those sons of Tárávaloka, whom he had received as a Bráhman's fee, and losing his way arrived, as Fate would have it, at the city of that king Chandrávaloka, and proceeded to sell those princes in the market. Then the citizens recognised those two boys, and went and informed king Chandrávaloka, and took them with the Bráhman into his presence. The king, when he saw his grandsons, shed tears, and after he had questioned the Bráhman, and had beard the state of the case from him, he was for a long time divided between joy and grief. Then, perceiving the exceeding virtue of his son, he at once ceased to care about a kingdom, though his subjects entreated him to remain, but with his wealth be bought those two grandsons from the Bráhman, and taking them with him, went with his retinue to the hermitage of his son Tárávaloka. There he saw him with matted hair, wearing a dress of bark, looking like a great tree, the advantages of which are enjoyed by birds coming from every quarter, for he in like manner had bestowed all he had upon expectant Bráhmans. † That son ran towards him, while still along way off, and fell at his feet, and his father bedewed him with tears, and took him up on his lap; and thus gave him a foretaste of his ascent of the throne, as emperor over the Vidyádharas, after the solemn sprinkling with water.

Then the king gave back to Tárávaloka his sons Ráma and Lakshmana, saying that he had purchased them, and while they were relating to one another their adventures, an elephant with four tusks and the goddess Lakshmi descended from heaven. And when the chiefs of the Vidyá-