Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/147

 assumed, out of fear, the form of a cat. Then Gautama said to Ahalyá; " Who is here?" She answered her husband ambiguously in the Prakrit dialect,— "Here forsooth is a cat," so managing to preserve verbal truth.* Then Gautama said, laughing, " It is quite true that your lover is here, and he inflicted on her a curse, but ordained that it should terminate because she had shewed some regard for truth." The curse ran as follows; " Woman of bad character, take for a long time the nature of a stone, until thou behold Kama wandering in the forest." And Gautama at the same time inflicted on the god Indra the following curse; "A thousand pictures of that which thou hast desired shall be upon thy body, but when thou shalt behold Tilottamá, a heavenly nymph, whom Viśvakarman shall make, they shall turn into a thousand eyes." When he had pronounced this curse, the hermit returned to his austerities according to his desire, but Ahalyá for her part assumed the awful condition of a stone. And Indra immediately had his body covered with repulsive marks; for to whom, is not immorality a cause of humiliation?

" So true is it that every man's evil actions always bear fruit in himself, for whatever seed a man sows, of that he reaps the fruit. Therefore persons of noble character never desire that, which is disagreeable to their neighbours, for this is the invariable observance of the good, prescribed by divine law. And you two were sister goddesses in a former birth, but you have been degraded in consequence of a curse, and accordingly your hearts are free from strife and bent on doing one another good turns." When they heard this from Vasantaka, Vásavadattá and Padmávatí dismissed from their hearts even the smallest remnants of mutual jealousy. But the queen Vásavadattá made her husband equally the property of both, and acted as kindly to Padmávatí as if she were herself, desiring her welfare. When the king of Magadha heard of that so great generosity of hers from the messengers sent by Padmávatí, he was much pleased. So on the next day the minister Yaugandharáyana came up to the king of Vatsa in the presence of the queen, the others also standing by, and said, " Why do we not go now to Kausámbá, my prince, in order to begin our enterprise, for we know that there is nothing to be feared from the king of Magadha, even though he has been deceived? For he has been completely gained over by means of the negotiation termed ' Giving of a daughter': and how could he make war and so abandon his daughter whom he loves more than life? He must keep his word; moreover he has not been deceived by you; I did it all myself; and it does not displease him; indeed I have learned from my spies that he will not act in a hostile way, and it was for this very purpose that we remained here for these days." While Yaugandharáyana, who had accomplished the task he had in hand, was speaking