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laid hold of my arm with his hand; and all the people there testified to the justice of his claim.
Then, having made me his prisoner, bound by my own agreement, he, accompanied by his attendants, took me to his mother in the city of Páțaliputra. And then his mother looked at him, and said to me, " My husband, my promise has to-day been made good, I have had you brought here by a son of mine begotten by you." "When she had said this, she related the whole story in the presence of all.
Then all her relations respectfully congratulated her on having accomplished her object by her wisdom, and on having had her disgrace wiped out by her son. And I, having been thus fortunate, lived there for a long time with that wife, and that son, and then returned to this city of Ujjayiní.
" So you see, king, honourable matrons are devoted to their husbands, and it is not the case that all women are always bad." When king Vikramáditya had heard this speech from the mouth of Múladeva, he rejoiced with his ministers. Thus hearing, and seeing, and doing wonders, that king Vikramáditya*[1] conquered and enjoyed all the divisions of the earth."
" When the hermit Kanva had told during the night this story of Vishamaśila, dealing with separations and reunions, he went on to say to me who was cut off from the society of Madanamanchuká; ' Thus do unexpected separations and reunions of beings take place, and so you, Naraváhanadatta, shall soon be reunited to your beloved. Have recourse to patience, and you shall enjoy for a long time, son of the king of Vatsa, surrounded by your wives and ministers, the position of a beloved emperor of the Vidyádharas.' This admonition of the hermit Kanva enabled me to recover patience; and so I got through my time of separation, and I gradually obtained wives, magic science, and the sovereignty over the Vidyádharas. And I told you before, great hermits, how I obtained all these by the favour of Śiva, the giver of boons."
By telling this his tale, in the hermitage of Kaśyapa, Naraváhanadatta delighted his mother's brother Gopálaka and all the hermits. And after he had passed there the days of the rainy season, he took leave of his uncle and the hermits in the grove of asceticism, and mounting his chariot, departed thence with his wives and his ministers, filling the air with the hosts of his Vidyádharas. And in course of time he reached the mountain of Rishabha his dwelling-place; and he remained there delighting in the enjoyments of empire, in the midst of the kings of the Vidyádharas, with queen Madanamanchuká, and Ratnaprabhá and his other wives; and his life lasted for a kalpa.
- ↑ * In the original there is the following note, " Here ends the tale of king Vikramáditya."
