443
And while Ajinávatí was conversing with Prabhávatí as an old friend,
Dhanavatí thus addressed Naraváhahanadatta, " I long ago bestowed on
you this daughter of mine Ajinávati, as fur as promises could do it; so marry her; for the day of your exaltation is nigh at hand." Prabhávatí, out of love for her friend, and Naraváhanadatta both agreed to this proposal. Then Dhanavatí bestowed that daughter of hers Ajinávatí on that son of the king of Vatsa, with appropriate ceremonies. And she celebrated the great feast of her daughter's wedding in such style that the glorious and heavenly preparations she had accumulated by means of her magic knowledge made it really beautiful.
Then the next day she said to Naraváhanadatta, " My son, it will never do for you to remain long in a nondescript place like this: for the Vidyádharas are a deceitful race, and. you have no business here. So depart now with your wife for your own city of Kauśámbí; and I will come there with my son Chandasinha and with the Vidyádhara chiefs that follow me, to ensure your success."*[1] When Dhanavatí had said this, she mounted up into the sky, illuminating it, as it were, with moonlight, though it was day, by the gleam of her white body and raiment.
And Prabhávatí and Ajinávatí carried Naraváhanadatta through the air to his city of Kauśámbí. When he reached the garden of the city, he descended from heaven into his capital, and was seen by his attendants. And there arose there a cry from the people on all sides, " We are indeed happy; here is the prince come back." Then the king of Vatsa, hearing of it, came there quickly in high delight, as if irrigated with a sudden shower of nectar, with Vásavadattá and Padmávatí, and the prince's wives, Ratnaprabhá and the rest; and Yaugandharáyana and the other ministers of the king of Vatsa, and Kalingasená and the prince's own ministers, Gomukha and his fellows, approached him in order of precedence as eagerly as travellers make for a lake in the hot season. And they saw the hero, whose high birth qualified him for a lofty station, sitting between his two wives, like Krishna between Rukminí and Satyabhámá. And when they saw him, they hid their eyes with tears of joy, as if for fear lest they should leap out of their skins in their delight. And the king of Vatsa and his queens embraced after a long absence that son of theirs, and could not let him go, for they were, as it were, riveted to him by the hairs of their bodies erect from joy.
Then a great feast began by beat of drum, and Vegavatí, the daughter of Vegavat, and sister of Mánasavega, who was married to Naraváhanadatta,
- ↑ * I have adopted Dr. Kern's conjecture of saha for sahi and separated with him abhyudayáyate into two words, abhyudayáya te. I find that his conjecture as to saha is confirmed by the three India Office MSS.
