Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/383

 Famous Mandapakshetra, and where is Uttaramánasa; when your sin has been washed away by a pilgrimage to these holy places, you shall behold my face again, but not till then."

"With this speech the king Vírabhuja dismissed the helpless Surakshita, sending him to a distance on the pretence of a pilgrimage to holy places. Then the king went into the presence of that queen Gunavará, full of love and anger and sober reflection. Then she, seeing that his mind was troubled, asked him anxiously, " My husband, why are you seized to-day with a sudden fit of despondency?" When the king heard that, he gave her this feigned answer— " To-day, queen, a great astrologer came to me and said— ' King, you must place the queen Gunavará for some time in a dungeon, and you must yourself live a life of chastity, otherwise your kingdom will certainly be overthrown, and she will surely die.' Having said this, the astrologer departed; hence my present despondency." When the king said this, the queen Gunavará, who was devoted to her husband, distracted with fear and love, said to him— " Why do you not cast me this very day into a dungeon, my husband? I am highly favoured, if I can benefit you even at the sacrifice of my life. Let me die, but let not my lord have misfortune. For a husband is the chief refuge of wives in this world and in the next." Having heard this speech of hers, the king said to himself -with tears in his eyes; " I think there is no guilt in her, nor in that Surakshita, for I saw that the colour of his face did not change, and he seemed without fear. Alas ! nevertheless I must ascertain the truth of that rumour." After reflecting thus, the king in his grief said to the queen— " Then it is best that a dungeon should be made here, queen !" She replied— "Very good"— so the king had a dungeon easy of access made in the women's apartments, and placed the queen in it. And he comforted her son Śringabhuja, (who was in despair and asked the reason,) by telling him exactly what he told the queen. And she, for her part, thought the dungeon heaven, because it was all for the king's good. For good women have no pleasure of their own; to them their husbands' pleasure is pleasure.* When this had been done, that other wife of the king's, named Ayaśolekháa, said of her own accord to her son, who was named Nirvásabhuja,— " So, our enemy Gunavará has been thrown into a dungeon, and it would be a good thing if her son were banished from this country. So, my boy, devise a scheme with the help of your other brothers by which Śringabhuja may be quickly banished from the country." Having been addressed in this language by his mother, the jealous Nirvásabhuja told his other brothers, and continued to ponder over a scheme.