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was thus entreated a second time by his father, he would not consent to marry her. Then his father, in his anger, denounced against him the following curse— " On account of this your pride in your good looks, be born as a man, and in that state you shall be ugly and with a large mouth. And you shall acquire by force a wife named Aśokamálá, also fallen by a curse, and she, not liking you, shall leave you, and you shall experience the grief of separation. And as she shall be attached to another, you shall commit for her sake arson and other crimes, being maddened with passion and emaciated with grief." When Pralarnbabhuja had uttered this curse, that virtuous Surabhidattá clung to his feet, weeping, and entreated him, " Pronounce a curse on me also, let our lot be the same, let not my husband alone suffer calamity owing to my fault." When she said this, Pralambabhuja was pleased, and, in order to comfort that virtuous woman, he appointed for her this end to his son's curse: " Whenever Aśokamálá shall be released from her curse, then he shall remember his birth and be released from this curse, and he shall regain his own body, and remembering his curse, he shall be free from pride, and soon marry you; then he shall live with you in happiness." When the virtuous woman was thus addressed by him, she managed to recover her self-composure.
" Know that I am that very Sthúlabhuja, fallen here by a curse, and I have experienced this great grief owing to the fault of pride. How can proud men have happiness in a previous or in a present state of existence? And that curse of mine is now at an end." After saving this, Hathaśarman abandoned that body, and became a Vidyádhara youth. And he took by the might of his science the body of Aśokamálá, and flung it, without its being seen, into the Ganges, out of compassion. And he sprinkled immediately the chamber of Alánkáravatí all round with water of the Ganges, brought by the might of his science, and after bending before Naraváhanadatta, his future lord, he flew up into the heaven to his destined prosperity.
All being astonished, Gomukha told this story of Anangarati, which was appropriate to the incident—
Story of Anangarati and her four suitors.:—There is on the earth a city, rightly named Śurapura,*[1] and in it there lived a king named Mahávaráha, the destroyer of his foes. That king had a daughter named Anangarati, born to him by his wife Padmavati, owing to his having propitiated Gaurí, and he had no other children. And in course of time she attained womanhood, and proud of her beauty, she did not wish to have any husband, though kings asked her in marriage. But she said decidedly; " I must be given to a man who is brave and handsome, and knows some one splendid accomplishment.
- ↑ * i. e. city of heroes. See Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India, p. 99.
