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honoured them all, and then took his leave of them, and with his wife and son departed, as he came, through the air. Then the king of Vatsa, seeing his son destined to advancement, being honoured by the bending kings of the Vidyádharas, was delighted, and prolonged that feast to a great length. And Naraváhanadatta, having obtained Alankáravatí, charming on account of her good conduct, and of noble virtues, like a skilful poet who has obtained a style, charming on account of its excellent metre, and of splendid merits, remained delighted with her.[1]
CHAPTER LII.
Then Naraváhanadatta, the son of the king of Vatsa, being united to Alankáravatí his new wife, remained in the house of his father, pleased with the heavenly dancing and singing of her maids, and enjoying banquets with his ministers.
And one day his mother-in-law Kánchanaprabhá, the mother of Alankáravatí, came to him and said, after he had hospitably entertained her—"Come to our palace, behold that city of Sundarapura, and take your delight in its gardens with Alankáravatí." When he heard this, he consented, and he informed his father, and by his advice took Vasantaka with him, and with his wife and his minister, he ascended a splendid chariot created by his mother-in-law by her science, and set out through the air, and while in the chariot, he looked down from heaven, and beheld the earth of the size of a mound, and the seas small as ditches, and in due course he reached the Himálayas with his mother-in-law, wife, and attendants, and it resounded with the songs of the Kinnarís, and was adorned with the companies of heavenly nymphs. There he saw a great many wonderful sights, and then he reached the city of Sundarapura. It was adorned with many palaces of gold and jewels, and, thus, though it was on the Himálayas, it made the beholder suppose that he was looking on the peaks of mount Meru.[2] And he descended from the heaven, and getting out of the car-
- ↑ An elaborate pun. Rasika also means "full of (poetical) flavour."
- ↑ Dim traditions of this mountain seem to have penetrated to Greece and Rome. Aristophanes (Acharnians v. 82) speaks of the king of Persia as engaged for 8 months (
Greek characters). Clark tells us that Bergler quotes Plautus, Stichus 24, Neque ille mereat Persarum sibi montes qui esse perhibentur aurei. (Philological Journal, VIII. p. 192.) See also Ter. Phormio I, 2, 18, Pers. III, 65. Naraváhanadatta's journey through the air may remind the reader of the air-voyage of Alexander in the Pseudo-Callisthenos, II, 41. He sees a serpent below him, and a (Greek characters) in the middle of it. A divine being, whom he meets, tells him, that these objects are the earth and the sea.
