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And he left the house with the book, and travelling day and night at last reached the cemetery, where that beloved of his had been burnt. And at that moment he saw the second Bráhman arrive there, who had gone to throw her bones into the river Ganges. And having also found the one who remained in the cemetery sleeping on her ashes, having built a hut over them, he said to the two, " Remove this hut, in order that by the power of a certain charm I may raise up my beloved alive from her ashes." Having earnestly solicited them to do this, and
having overturned that hut, the Bráhman ascetic opened the book, and
read the charm. And after thus charming some dust, he threw it on the
ashes, and that made Mandáravatí rise up alive. And as she had entered
the fire, she possessed, when resuscitated, a body that had come out of it more splendid than before, as if made of gold.* [1]
When the three Bráhmans saw her resuscitated in this form, they immediately became love-sick, and quarrelled with one another, each desiring her for himself. And the first said, " She is my wife, for she was won by the power of my charm." And the second said, " She belongs to me, for she was produced by the efficacy of sacred bathing-places." And the third said, " She is mine, for I preserved her ashes, and resuscitated her by asceticism."
" Now king, give judgment to decide their dispute; whose wife ought the maiden to be? If you know and do not say, your head shall fly in pieces."
When the king heard this from the Vetála, he said to him, " The one who restored her to life by a charm, though he endured hardship, must be considered her father, because he performed that office for her, and not her husband; and he who carried her bones to the Ganges is considered her son; but he, who out of love lay on her ashes, and so remained in the cemetery embracing her and practising asceticism, he is to be called her husband, for he acted like one in his deep affection."†[2]
When the Vetála heard this from king Trivikramasena, who had broken silence by uttering it, he left his shoulder, and went back invisible to his own place. But the king, who was bent on forwarding the object of the mendicant, made up his mind to fetch him again, for men of firm resolution do not desist from accomplishing a task they have promised to perform, even though they lose their lives in the attempt.
Note.
Oesterley, in the notes to his German translation of the Baitál Pachísí, refers to the Turkish Tutinámah in which the lady dies of despair at the difficulty of the
