Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/596

 of Nandana, he thought himself a god, and was highly delighted. And in the court of Indra, frequented by gods, he beheld the strange and delightful spectacle of Rambhá's dance, accompanied by the singing of all the nymphs of heaven. And he heard all the musical instruments played by Nárada and the other minstrels; for what is hard to obtain in this world if the supreme god* is favourable to one?

Then, at the end of the exhibition a mime, in the shape of a divine goat, rose up, and began to dance with heavenly † movements. And Thințhákarála, when he saw him, recognized him, and said to himself, " Why, I see this goat in Ujjayiní, figuring as a mere animal, and here he is dancing as a mime before Indra. Of a truth this must be some strange incomprehensible heavenly delusion." While Thințhákarála was going through these reflections in his mind, the dunce of the goat-mime came to an end, and then Indra returned to his own place. And then Kalávatí, in high spirits, also took back Thinthakarala to his own home, concealed in the lotus-ornament of her ear.

And the next day Thințhákarála beheld in Ujjayiní that goat-formed mime of the gods, who had returned there, and he insolently said to him, " Come, dance before me, as you dance before Indra. If you do not, I shall be angry with you; show off your dancing powers, you mime." When the goat heard this, he was astonished, and remained silent, saying to himself, " How can this mere mortal know so much about me?" But when, in spite of persistent entreaties, the goat refused to dance, Thințhákarála beat him on the head with sticks.

Then the goat went with bleeding head to Indra, and told him all that had taken place. And Indra by his supernatural powers of contemplation discovered the whole secret, how Kalávatí had brought Thințhákarála to heaven when Rambhá was dancing, and how that profane fellow had there seen the goat dancing. Then Indra summoned Kalávatí, and pronounced on her the following curse, " Since, out of love, thou didst secretly bring here the man who has reduced the goat to this state, to make him dance, depart and become an image on a pillar in the temple built by king Narasinha in the city of Nágapura."

When Indra had said this, Alambushá, the mother of Kalávatí, tried to appease him, and at last he was with difficulty appeased, and he thus fixed an end to the curse, " When that temple, which it m taken many years to complete, shall perish and be levelled with the ground, then shall her curse come to an end." So Kalávatí came weeping and told to Thințhákarála the curse Indra had pronounced, together with the end he had