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on this head." When he said this, bending before her, the female ascetic said to him: " There is on the other side of the sea a city named Karpúrasambhava;*[1] in it there is a king rightly, named Karpiiraka, he has a daughter, a lovely maiden, named Karpúriká, who appears like a second Lakshmi, deposited in security there by the ocean, having seen that the first Lakshmi had been carried away by the gods after the churning. And she, as she hates men, does not desire to be married, but she will desire it, if at all, when she sees you. So go there, my son, and you shall win that fair one ; nevertheless, while you are going there, you will suffer great hardship in the forest. But you must not be perplexed at that, for all shall end well." When the ascetic had said this, she flew up into the air and disappeared. Then Naraváhanadatta, drawn on by the command of Love uttered through her voice, said to his attendant Gomukha, " Come, let us go to Karpúriká in the city of Karpúrasambhava, for I cannot remain a moment without beholding her." When Gomukha heard that, he said— " King, desist from your rashness. Consider how far off you are from the sea and from that city, and whether the journey is worth, taking for the sake of that maiden? Why, on merely hearing her name, do you abandon celestial wives, and alone run after a mere woman who is enveloped in doubt, owing to your not knowing what her intention is." When Gomukha said this to him, the son of the king of Vatsa said, " The speech of that holy ascetic cannot be false. So I must certainly go to find that princess." Having said this, he set out thence on horseback that very moment. And Gomukha followed him silently, though it was against his wish : when a lord does not act on the advice of his servants, their only course is to follow him.
In the meanwhile the king of Vatsa, having finished his hunting, returned to his city, thinking that that son of his was returning among his own armed followers. And the prince's followers returned with Marubhúti and the others to the city, supposing that the prince was with the armed followers of his father. When they arrived, the king of Vatsa and the others searched for him, and finding that he had not returned, they all went to the house of Ratnaprabhá. She at first was grieved at that news, but she called up a supernatural science and was told by it tidings of her husband, and said to her distressed father-in-law; " My husband hoard the princess Karpúriká mentioned by a female ascetic in the forest, and in order to obtain her he has gone to the city of Karpúrasambhava. And he will soon have accomplished his object, and will return here with Gomukha. So dismiss anxiety, for this I have learned from a science. By these words she comforted the king of Vatsa and his retinue." And she despatched
- ↑ * I. e. Camphor-produced. In the Arabian-Nights the Camphor islands are mentioned. See Lane's Translation, Vol. I, page 544.
