Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/578

 he began to enquire there, the merchants, who lived there, said to him; " It is true that a merchant named Kanakavarman did come here, with two beautiful Bráhman children, whom he found in a wood. But he has now gone with them to the island of Katáha. When the Bráhman heard that, he went in a ship with the merchant Dánavarman to the island of Katáha. There he heard that the merchant Kanakavarman had gone from that island to an, island named Karpúra. In the same way he visited in turn the islands of Karpúra, Suvarna, and Sinhala with merchants, but he did not find the merchant whom he was in search of. But from the people of Sinhala he heard that that merchant Kanakavarman had gone to his own city, named Chitrakúta. Then Chandrasvámin went with a merchant, named Kotíśvara, to Chitrakúta, crossing the sea in his ship. And in that city he found the merchant Kanakavarman, and longing for his children, he told him the whole story. Then Kanakavarman, when he knew the cause of his grief, showed him the children, whom he had found in the forest and brought away. But when Chandrasvámin looked at those two children, he saw that they were not his, but some other children. Then he, being afflicted with tears and grief, lamented in desperate mood— " Alas ! though I have wandered so far, I have not found my son or my daughter. Malignant Providence, like a wicked master, has held out hopes to me but has not fulfilled them, and has made me wander far and wide on a false surmise." While he was indulging in such lamentations, he was at last, though with difficulty, consoled by Kanakavarman, and exclaimed in his grief, " If I do not find those children in a year, by wandering over the earth, I will abandon the body by austerities on the bank of the river Ganges. When he said this, a certain seer there said to him, " Go, you will recover your children by the favour of Náráyaní. When he heard that, he was delighted, remembering the compassion shown him by the sun, and he departed from that city, honoured by the merchants. Then, searching the lands which were royal grants to Bráhmans, and the villages and the towns, he reached one evening a wood with many tall trees in it. There he made a meal on fruits and water, and climbed up into a tree to spend the night there, dreading the lions, and tigers, and other noisome beasts. And being sleepless, he saw in the night at the foot of the tree a great body of divine Mothers assembled, with Náráyaní at their head; waiting for the arrival of the god Bhairava, having brought with them all kinds of presents suited to their resources. And thereupon the Mothers asked Náráyaní why the god delayed, but she laughed and gave no reason. And being persistently questioned by them, she answered—"He has stopped to curse a Guhyaka who has incurred his displeasure."* And on account of that business some delay has taken place