Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/515

 intention of returning again, and took her daughter with her: and Naraváhanadatta, for his part, returned despondent to Kauśámbí.

Then, as he could not sleep at night, Gomukha said to him to amuse him— " Prince, hear this story of Prithvírúpa, which I will relate to you."

Story of the handsome king Prithvírúpa.:— There is in the Dekhan a city named Pratishthána, in it lived a very handsome king, named Prithvírúpa. Once on a time two discerning Buddhist hermits came to him, and seeing that that king was very handsome, they said to him, " King, we have travelled through the world, and we have nowhere seen a man or woman equal to you in beauty, except the daughter of king Rúpadhara and queen Hemalatá, in the isle of Muktipura, Rúpalatá by name, and that maiden alone is a match for you, and you alone are a match for her; if you were to be united in marriage, it would be well." With these words of the hermit, which entered by his ears, the arrows of Love entered also and stuck in his heart. Then king Prithvírúpa, being full of longing, gave this order to his admirable painter, Kumáridatta by name; " Take with you my portrait, accurately painted on canvas, and with these two mendicants go to the isle of Muktipura, and there shew it by some artifice to the king Rúpadhara and his daughter Rúpalatá. Find out if that king will give me his daughter or not, and take a likeness of Rúpalatá, and bring it back." When the king had said this, he made the painter take his likeness on canvas, and sent him with the mendicants to that island. And so the painter and the mendicants set out, and in course of time reached a city named Putrapura on the shore of the sea. There they embarked on a ship, and going across the sea, they reached in five days that island of Muktipura. There the painter went and held up at the gate of the palace a notice, to the effect that there was no painter like him in the world. When the king Rúpadhara heard of that, he summoned him, and the painter entered the palace, and bowing, he said: " king, though I have travelled all over the earth, I have never seen my match as a painter, so tell me, whom I am to paint of gods, mortals, and Asuras." When the king heard that, he summoned his daughter Rúpalatá into his presence, and gave him the following order: " Make a portrait of this daughter of mine, and shew it me." Then the painter Kumáridatta made a portrait of the princess on canvas and shewed it, and it was exactly like the original. Then king Rúpadhara was pleased, and thinking him clever, he asked that painter, in his desire to obtain a son-in-law, " My good fellow, you have travelled over the earth: so tell me if you have any where seen a woman or a man equal to my daughter in beauty." When the king said this, the painter answered him, " I have nowhere in the world seen a woman or a man equal to her, except a king in Pratishthána, named Prithvírúpa, who is a match for her; if she were married to him, it would be well. Since he has not found a