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receive also this empty vessel of my body," and he was on the point of
plunging in, when Gangá appeared to him from the middle of the flood.
And pleased with his violent agitation she said to him then and there, " Do not act rashly, my son ! your friend is alive, and in a short time you shall be reunited with him. Now receive from me this charm called, ' Forwards and Backwards.' If a man repeats it forwards, he will become invisible to his neighbour, but if he repeats it backwards, he will assume whatever shape he desires.*[1] Such is the force of this charm only seven syllables long, and by its help you shall become a king on this earth." When the goddess Gangá had said this, and given him the charm, she disappeared from his eyes, and he gave up the idea of suicide, now that he had got a hope of regaining his friend and of other successes. And being anxious to regain his friend, he passed the night in impatience, like the lotus-flower, and the next morning he set out in search of him.
Then, as he was travelling about in search of Śankhadatta, he one day reached alone the district of Láța, where, though the colours of the castes are not mixed, the people lead a diversified and richly coloured life, which though a seat of fine arts, is not reputed a home of crimes.†[2] In this city he wandered about, looking at the temples and the dwelling- houses, and at last he reached a hall of gamblers. He entered it and saw a number of fraudulent dice-players, who though they were clothed in a loinrag only, shewed by their handsome, well-shaped, stout limbs, which indicated good living and plenty of exercise, that they were men of rank though they concealed it, and that they had resorted to that occupation for the sake of making money. They began to talk to him, so he sat down to play with them, and they fancied that they would make a fine thing out of him and his ornaments. Then he beat them at the dice-play, and won from the rogues all the wealth which they had acquired by cheating others.
Then those gamblers, having lost their wealth, were preparing to go home, when Bhímabhața set his arms against the door and stopped them,
- ↑ * For European methods of attaining invisibility see Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. I, p. 315; Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen, und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. II, pp. 29 and 31; Kuhn, Westfalische Märchen, Vol. I, p. 276, Vol. II, p. 177- The virtues of the Tarnkappe are well-known. In Europe great results are expected from reciting certain sacred formulae backwards. A somewhat similar belief appears to exist among the Buddhists. Milton's " backward muttering of dissevering charms" is perhaps hardly a case in point.
- ↑ † An elaborate pun ! varna = caste and also colour: kalá = digit of the moon and accomplishment, or fine art: doshákara = mine of crimes and also the moon. Dowson, in his Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, tells us that Láța is a country comprising Kandesh and part of Guzerat about the Mhye river. It is now calld Lár and is the Aopun; of Ptolemy,
