Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/95

 my grief. If you do this, there will be a happy issue both for you and me." When the king said this to her, she promised him that she would do what he wished. And that Asura maiden, apprehending misfortune, placed the king in concealment, and went near her sleeping father. Then the Daitya woke up, and she began to weep. And then he said to her, "Why do you weep, my daughter?" She with affected grief said to him, "If some one were to slay thee, what would become of me?" Then he burst out laughing and said;—"Who could possibly slay me, my daughter, for I am cased in adamant all over, only in my left hand is there an unguarded place, but that is protected by the bow." In these words the Daitya consoled his daughter, and all this was heard by the king in his concealment. Immediately afterwards the Danava rose up and took his bath, and proceeded in devout silence to worship the god S'iva; at that moment the king appeared with his bow bent, and rushing up impetuously towards the Daitya, challenged him to light. He, without interrupting his devout silence, lifted his left hand towards the king and made a sign that he must wait fora moment. The king for his part, being very quick of hand, immediately smote him with an arrow in that hand which was his vital part. And that great Asura Angaraka, being pierced in a vital spot, immediately uttered a terrible cry and fell on the ground, and exclaimed, as his life departed,—"If that man, who has slain me when thirsty, does not offer water to my manes every year, then his five ministers shall perish." After he had said this, that Daitya died, and the king, taking his daughter Angaravati as a prize, returned to Ujjayini. There the king Chandamahasena married that Daitya maiden, and two sons were born to him, the first named Gopalaka, and the second Palaka; and when they were born, he held a feast in honour of Indra on their account. Then Indra, being pleased, said to that king in a dream, "By my favour thou shalt obtain a matchless daughter." Then in course of time a graceful daughter was born to that king, like a second and more wonderful shape of the moon made by the Creator. And on that occasion a voice was heard from heaven;—"She shall give birth to a son, who shall be a very incarnation of the god of love, and king of the Vidyadharas." Then the king gave that daughter the name of Vasavadatta, because she was given by Indra being pleased with him. And that maiden still remains unmarried in the house of her father, like the goddess of prosperity in the hollow cavity of the ocean before it was churned. That king Chandamahasena cannot indeed be conquered by you, king, in the first place because he is so powerful, and in the next place because his realm is situated in a difficult country. Moreover he is ever longing to give you that daughter of his in marriage, but being a proud monarch, he desires the triumph of himself and his adherents. But, 1 think, you must certainly marry that Vasavadatta. When he heard this, that king of Yatsa immediately lost his heart to Vasavadatta.