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air. But Súryaprabha, who is an incarnation of Sumundika, with this same beautiful body which he now possesses, shall soon become lord of the skygoers. When king Chandraprabha heard this from Maya, he was delighted and agreed to it, but Siddhártha said this " O excellent Dánava, what ground of confidence have we, if this doubt should arise, ' Why has the king entered another body, has he then died?' And moreover will he for get us when he enters another body, like a man gone to the other world? Who is he, and who are we?" When the Asura Maya heard this speech of Siddhartha's, he answered— " You yourselves must come and see him with your own eyes entering another body, of his own free will, by the employment of a charm. And hear the reason why he will not forget you. A man, who does not die of his own free will, and is born in another womb, does not remember anything, as his memory is destroyed by old age and other afflictions, but whoever of his own free will enters another body, penetrating by the employment of magic the internal organ and the senses, without his mind and intellect being impaired, and passes, as it were, from one house to another, that prince among Yogins has supernatural knowledge and remembers all. So do not feel doubtful; so far from there being any reason for it, this king will obtain a great divine body free from old age and sickness. Moreover you are all Dánavas, and by merely entering Rasátala,*[1] and drinking nectar, you will obtain divine bodies free from sickness." When the ministers heard this speech of Maya's, they all said, " So be it," and consented to his proposal, abandoning their apprehensions out of the confidence they reposed in him. And by his advice, Chandraprabha, with all the kings, went on the next day to the confluence of the Chandrabhágá and the Airávati. †[2] There Chandraprabha left the kings outside, and committed to their care the wives of Súryaprabha, and then he entered in company with Súryaprabha, the queen, and the ministers with Siddhartha at their head, an opening in the water pointed out by Maya, and after entering he travelled a long distance, and beheld a heavenly temple, and entered it with all of them.
And in the meanwhile the Vidyádharas descended with troops on those kings, who were remaining there outside the opening; and paralyzing the kings by supernatural arts, they carried off the wives of Súryaprabha, and immediately a voice was heard from the sky— "Wicked Śrutaśarman, if you touch these wives of the emperor, you shall immediately perish with your host. So guard them respectfully, treating them like your mother; there is a reason for my not immediately slaying you and setting them free; so let them remain as they are at present." And when the kings, Vírabhata and the others, saw them carried off, they prepared to die by lighting
