horse that her new lover rode, and that therefore she would ride her own horse, with her own sword in her hand, to resist any unforeseen attack. The fellow, too foolish to see through the pretence, agreed to the arrangement, and by the time he had gone a few yards, his head fell dissevered from his body. No longer in fear, the princess had time to think of her irreparable loss, and wept and cried, rolling on the ground with her lover's head held close to her breast. But she had not to weep long, for he was restored to her by Parbati.[1] How it happened may be gathered from the following dialogue between the goddess Shiva and her husband.
"My lord," said Parbati, "I hear a woman crying. Who may it be?"
"Nobody cries save one in grief," replied Shiva: "but what is that to us? While passing on our way, you notice everything. Come, let us pass by."
"No, my lord," urged Parbati. "It is not for me to pass by when one of my daughters is in trouble. She may be a wife bewailing the loss of her husband, or a mother that of her child. My heart bleeds to leave her without consolation!"
Saying this, the goddess willed herself to be taken to the spot whence the sound of crying came; and this being done, she saw poor Pushpamala dipped waist-deep in the water of the tank and heard her uttering the words, "O my poor husband, gone for ever from me."
This was too much for Parbati, and she said to Shiva, "Lord, she must have her husband back."
What could the god then do, but stop the chariot? He took the form of an old Brahmin, and she of an old Brahmini, and they appeared before the object of their pity. They asked her the cause of her lamentation, and she said, "Father and mother, listen to my tale. I left my parents and the royal splendour of their palace in company with our kotál's son, whom I loved, but whom, in spite of the promise they had previously made, they did not recognize as a fit suitor for my
- ↑ The goddess Durga.
