401
of her desire to depart. And while the king, on hearing it, was coming thither, Naraváhanadatta thus reflected; " This Pránadhara is certainly the brother of Rájyadhara, whom he described as having run away from his native land through fear of his king." While he was thus thinking, the king quickly arrived, and that mechanic Pránadhara came with the warder, and said " I have ready-made a very large chariot, which will easily carry at this instant thousands of men." When the mechanic said this, Naraváhanadatta said " Bravo !" and asked him courteously; " Are you the elder brother of Rájyadhara, skilled in various very great mechanical contrivances?" And Pránadhara answered him, bowing before him " I am that very brother of his, but how does Your Highness know about us?" Then Naraváhanadatta told him what Rájyadhara had told him, and how he had seen him. Then Pránadhara joyfully brought him the chariot, and he mounted it with Gomukha, after having been politely dismissed by his father-in-law the king, and after bidding farewell to him ; but first he placed in it the slaves, camphor and gold. And he took with him Pránadhara, whom the king permitted to depart, and that head-warder, and his recently married wife Karpúriká; and his mother-in-law uttered a solemn prayer for a blessing on his journey, and from those stores of splendid garments he bestowed gifts on the Bráhmans; and he said to Pránadhara " First let us go to Rájyadhara on the shore of the sea, and then home." Then the chariot was driven on by Pránadhara, and the king and his wife flew up into the air quickly by means of it, as if by his accomplished wish.*[1] In a moment be crossed the sea, and reached again that city of Hemapura on its shore, the abode of that Rájyadhara. There Rájyadhara bowed before him, delighted at beholding his brother, and as he had no female slaves, the prince honoured him with the gift of some, at which he greatly rejoiced. And after taking leave of Rájyadhara, whose tears flowed fast, as he could hardly bear to part from his elder brother, the prince reached Kauśámbí in that same chariot. Then the people, on beholding the prince unexpectedly descend from heaven, riding in that splendid chariot, followed by bis retainers, and accompanied by his new bride, were much astonished. And his father, the king of Vatsa, having gathered from the exultations of the citizens that his son had arrived, was delighted, and went out to meet him, accompanied by the queen, the ministers, his daughter-in-law, and other persons. And the king, beholding that son prostrate at his feet with his wife, received him gladly, and thought that the fact, that he was to be the future emperor of the aerial spirits, was clearly revealed by his coming in a flying chariot. His mother Vásavadattá, with Padmávatí, embraced him, and she shed a tear, which dropped like the knot of pain loosened by seeing him. And his wife Ratnaprabhá, was delighted, and Madunamanchuká
- ↑ * " Wish" is literally " chariot of the mind," so here there is a pun.
