Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/574

 tion from mouth to mouth, and therefore my mind is not convinced. But I cannot bear to listen to his sorrowful exclamations, so I will go to that temple of Gaurí: moreover it is the hour of worship for me there." When Padmávatí had said this, she went with her ladies-in-waiting to that hermitage of Ambiká, and after worshipping the goddess she offered this prayer, " If the man I have just seen in Siddhíśvara is really my former lover, bring about for me, goddess, my speedy reunion with him." And while Padmávatí was there, longing for her beloved, Muktáphaladhvaja, who had remained behind in Siddhíśvara, said to his friend Mahábuddhi, who had been in a former life his friend Samyataka, " I am convinced, my friend, that she has gone to her own haunt, that temple of Gaurí; so come, let us go there." When he had said this, he ascended that chariot of his, which went wherever the mind desired, and flew to that hermitage of Ambiká.

When Padmávatí's ladies-in-waiting saw him afar off, coming down in the chariot from the sky, they said to Padmávatí, " Princess, behold this marvel. He has come here also, travelling in an air-going chariot; how can he, a mere man, have such power?" Then Padmávatí said, " My friends, do you not remember that on Dridhavrata, who cursed him, I laid the following curse, ' When my beloved is incarnate as a man, you shall be his vehicle, assuming any desired shape, and moving in obedience to a wish.' So, no doubt, this is that hermit's pupil, his vehicle, wearing at present the form of an air-going chariot, and by means of it he roams everywhere at will."

When she said this, her ladies-in-waiting said to her, " If you know this to be the case, princess, why do you not speak to him ? What are you waiting for?" When Padmávatí heard this speech of her ladies', she went on to say, *' I think that this probably is the case, but I am not absolutely certain as yet. But, even supposing he really is my beloved, how can I approach him, now that he is not in his own body, but in another body? So, let us for a time watch his proceedings, being ourselves concealed." When the princess had said this, she remained there concealed, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting.

Then Muktáphaladhvaja descended from the chariot in that hermitage of Ambiká, and being full of longing, said to his friend, " Here I had my first interview with my beloved, when she had been terrified by the Rákshasís; and I again saw her in the garden here, when she came having chosen me for her own; and here I received the curse, and she wished to follow me by dying; but was, though with difficulty, prevented by that great hermit: and now, see, that very same lady flies out of reach of my eyes."

"When Padmávatí heard him speak thus, she said to her ladies-in-