Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/218

 in this or in a former birth, obtain by his favour the rank of Vidyádhara. And that rank, denoted by the insignia of supernatural knowledge, of sword, garland and so on, is of various kinds, but listen ! I will tell you how I obtained it. Having said this, Śaktivega told the following story, relating to himself, in the presence of the queen Vásavadattá.

Story of Śaktivega king of the Vidyádharas.:— There lived long ago in a city called Vardhamána,* the ornament of the earth, a king the terror of his foes, called Paropakárín. And this exalted monarch possessed a queen of the name of Kanakaprabhá, † as the cloud holds the lightning, but she had not the fickleness of the lightning. And in course of time there was born to him by that queen a daughter, who seemed to have been formed by the Creator to dash Lakshmi's pride in her beauty. And that moon of the eyes of the world was gradually reared to womanhood by her father, who gave her the name of Kanakarekhá suggested by her mother's name Kanakaprabhá. Once on a time, when she had grown up, the king, her father, said to the queen Kanakaprabhá, who came to him in secret: "A grown up daughter cannot be kept in one's house, accordingly Kanakarekhá troubles my heart with anxiety about a suitable marriage for her. For a maiden of good family, who does not obtain a proper position, is like a song out of tune; when heard of by the ears even of one unconnected with her, she causes distress. But a daughter, who through folly is made over to one not suitable, is like learning imparted to one not fit to receive it, and cannot tend to glory or merit but only to regret. So I am very anxious as to what king I must give this daughter of mine to, and who will be a fit match for her." When Kanakaprabhá heard this, she laughed and said, " You say this, but your daughter does not wish to be married; for to-day when she was playing with a doll and making believe it was a child, I said to her in fun, ' My daughter, when shall I see you married?' When she heard that, she answered me reproachfully: ' Do not say so, you must not marry me to any one; and my separation from you is not appointed, I do well enough as a maiden, but if I am married, know that I shall be a corpse; there is a certain reason for this.' As she has said this to me I have come to you, O king, in a state of distress; for, as she has refused to be married, what use is there in deliberating about a bridegroom?" When the king heard this from the queen, he was bewildered, and going to the private apartments of the princess he said to his daughter: " When the maidens of the gods and Asuras practise austerities in order to obtain a husband, why, my daughter, do you refuse to take one?' When the princess Kanakarekhá heard this speech of her father's, she fixed her eyes on the ground and said, Father, I do not desire to be married at present, so what object has my father in it, and why does he insist