Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/209

Rh the season and the charming odours of the flowers around, and maddened also by the delicious breeze, the king could not keep away from his mind, the thoughts of the beautiful Girika. ''Ibique in silvis semen suum continere non potuit. Rex autem, illud frustra profundi nolens, ut excidit, in folium recepit. Agnovit etiam tempes liviam cojugis suæ horam adventam esse. Itaque rex rem multa cogitatione iterum atque iterum rovelvens, (scivit enim semen suum frustra perdi non posse et tempus jam adesse in quo conjux illius egeret), carmina super illo recitavit''. And beholding that a swift hawk was resting very near to him, the king, acquainted with the subtle truths of Dharma and Artha, went unto him and said, 'Amiable one, carry thou this seed for my wife Girika and give it unto her. Her season hath arrived.'

"And the hawk, swift of speed, took it from the king and rapidly coursed through the air. And while thus passing, the hawk was seen by another of his species. And thinking that the first one was carrying meat, the second one flew at him. And the two fought with each other in the sky with their beaks. And while they were fighting, the seed fell into the waters of the Yamuna (Jumna.) And in those waters dwelt an Apsara of the higher ranks, known by the name of Adrika, but transformed by a Brahmana's curse into a fish. And that Adrika, transformed into a fish, as soon as the seed of Vasu fell into the water from the claws of the hawk, rapidly approaching, swallowed it at once. And that fish was, sometime after, caught by the fishermen. And it was the tenth month of the fish's having swallowed the seed. And from the stomach of that fish came out a male and a female child of human form. And the fishermen wondered much, and wending unto king Uparichara (for they were his subjects) told him all. And they said, 'O king, these two of human shape have been born in the body of a fish.' And the male child amongst the two was taken by Uparichara. And this child afterwards became the virtuous and truthful monarch Matsya.

"And after the birth of the twins, the Apsara herself became freed from her curse. For she had been told before by the illustrious one (who had cursed her) that she would, while