Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/546

 at night also. The spies reported to the king continually that daily practice of his, and then the king, being satisfied, ordered those spies to desist from observing him. And Víravara remained day and night at the gate of the king's palace, sword in hand, excepting only the time set apart for bathing and matters of that kind. Then there came a collection of clouds, bellowing terribly, as if determined to conquer that Víravara, being impatient of his valour. And then, though the cloud rained a terrible arrow-shower of drops, Víravara stood like a column and did not leave the palace-gate. And the king Vikramatunga, having beheld him from the palace in this position, went up to the roof of the palace at night to try him again. And he called out from above— " Who waits at the palace-gate?" And Víravara, when he heard that, answered— " I am here." The king hearing this, thought— " Surely this brave man deserves high rank, for he does not leave the palace-gate, though such a cloud is raining." While engaged in these reflections, the king heard a woman weeping bitterly in the distance; and he thought— " There is not an afflicted person in my dominions, so why does she weep?" Thereupon he said to Víravara, " Hark, Víravara, there is some woman weeping at some distance from this place, so go, and find out who she is, and what is her sorrow." "When Víravara heard that, he set out, brandishing his sword, with his dagger at his side. Then the king, seeing that he had set out when such a cloud was blazing with lightning, and when the interval between heaven and earth* was full of descending drops of rain, being moved with curiosity and pity, came down from the roof of his palace, and set out behind him, sword in hand, unobserved.

And Víravara, going in the direction of the wailing, † followed unperceived by the king, reached a lake outside the city. And he saw a woman lamenting in the midst of it; " Ah lord ! Ah merciful one ! Ah hero ! How shall I exist abandoned by thee?" He asked her; " Who are you, and what lord do you lament?" Then she said; " My son, know that I am this earth. At present Vikramatunga is my righteous lord, and his death will certainly take place on the third day from now. And how shall I obtain such a lord again? For with divine foresight I behold the good and evil to come, as Suprabha, the son of a god, did, when in heaven."

Story of Suprabha.:— For he. possessing divine foresight, foresaw that in seven days he would fall from heaven on account of the exhaustion of his merits, and be conceived in the body of a sow. Then that son of a god, reflecting on the misery of dwelling in the body of a sow, regretted with himself those heavenly enjoyments : " Alas for heaven ! Alas for the Apsarases ! Alas for the arbours of Nandana ! Alas ! how shall I live in the body of a sow,