Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/356

 curiosity. And in his train there came a servant of the name of Śilavatí, who was devoted to her husband; when she saw what had taken place, she said to him— " I will touch this elephant with my hand: and if I have not even thought in my mind of any other man than my husband, may it rise up." No sooner had she said this, than she came up and touched the elephant with her hand, whereupon it rose up in sound health and began to eat.* But when the people saw the elephant Śvetaraśmi rise up, they raised a shout and praised ŚilavatÍ, saying —" Such are these chaste women, few and far between, who, like Śiva, are able to create, preserve and destroy this world." The king Ratnádhipati also was pleased, and congratulated the chaste Śilavatí, and loaded her with innumerable jewels, and he also honoured her master, the merchant Harshagupta, and gave him a house near his own palace. And he determined to avoid all communication with his own wives, and ordered that henceforth they should have nothing but food and raiment.

Then the king, after he had taken his food, sent for the chaste Śilavatí, and said to her at a private interview in the presence of Harshagupta, " Śilavatí, if you have any maiden of your father's family, give her to me, for I know she will certainly be like you." When the king said this to her, Śilavatí answered— " I have a sister in Támraliptí named Rájadattá; marry her, O king, if you wish, for she is of distinguished beauty." When she said this to the king, he consented and said, " So be it," and having determined on taking this step, he mounted, with Śilavatí and Harshagupta, the elephant Śvetarasmí, that could fly though the air, and going in person to Tamralipti, entered the house of that merchant Harshagupta. There he asked the astrologers that very day, what would be a favourable time for him to be married to Rájadattá, the sister of Śilavatí. And the astrologers, having enquired under what stars both of them were born, said, " A favourable conjuncture will come for you, king, in three months from this time. But if you marry Rájadattá in the present position of the constellations, she will without fail prove unchaste." Though the astrologers gave him this response, the king, being eager for a charming wife, and impatient of dwelling long alone, thus reflected— " Away with scruples ! I will marry Rájadattá here this very day. For she is the sister of the blameless Śilavatí and will never prove unchaste. And I will place her in that uninhabited island in the middle of the sea, where there is one empty palace, and in that inaccessible spot I will

on the north, to the banks of the Kosai river on the south. (Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India, p. 604.)