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much difficulty, returned into the presence of the king. The king, when he saw that he had brought the oil without spilling it, said to him: " Did you see any one to-day, as you went along in your perambulation of the city?" When the merchant's son heard that, he clasped his hands, and said to the king— " In truth, my lord, I neither saw nor heard any thing, for at the time when I was perambulating the city I had my undivided attention fixed on avoiding spilling a drop of oil, lest the swords should descend upon me." When the merchant's son said this, the king said to him; " Because your whole soul was intent on looking at the oil, you saw nothing. So practise religious contemplation with the same undivided attention. For a man, who with intent concentration averts his attention from all outward operations, has intuition of the truth, and after that intuition he is not entangled again in the meshes of works. Thus I have given you in a compendious form instruction in the doctrine of salvation." Thus the king spoke and dismissed him, and the merchant's son fell at his feet and went home rejoicing to his father's house, having attained all his objects. This Kalingadatta, who superintended in this way the religion of his subjects, had a wife named Tárádatta, of equal birth with the king, who being politic and and well-conducted, was such an ornament to the' king as language is to a poet, Who delights in numerous illustrations. She was meritorious for her bright qualities and was inseparable from that beloved king, being to him what the moonlight is to the moon, the receptacle of nectar. The king lived happily there with that queen, and passed his days like Indra with Śachi in heaven.
Story of the Apsaras Surabhidattá.:— At this point of my tale Indra, for some cause or other, had a great feast in heaven. All the Apsarases assembled there to dance, except one beautiful Apsaras named Surabhidattá, who was not to be seen there. Then Indra by his divine power of insight perceived her associating in secret with a certain Vidyádhara in Nandana. When Indra saw it, wrath arose in his bosom, and he thought " Ah ! these two, blinded with love, are both wicked the Apsaras, because forgetting us she acts in a wilful manner, the Vidyádhara guilty of? For she has enticed him here, ensnaring him with her beauty. A lovely one will sweep away with the sea of her beauty, flowing between the lofty banks of her breasts, even one who can restrain his passions. Was not even Śiva disturbed long ago when he beheld Tilottamá, whom the Creator made by taking an atom from all the noblest beings?*[1] And did not Viśvámitra leave his asceticism when he be-
- ↑ * A kind of Pandora.
