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Then her father, king Malayasinha, heard of it, and came there, and
finding that she could not be turned from her resolve, he rinsed his mouth, and spake this speech; " If I am really devoted to the three-eyed god of gods, tell me, ye guardians of the world, what it is my duty to do." When the king said this, a heavenly voice answered him, " Thy daughter was in a former life the wife of this son of the fisher-folk.
" For, long ago, there lived in a village, called Nágasthala, a virtuous Bráhman of the name of Baladhara, the son of Mahídhara. When his father had gone to heaven, he was robbed of his wealth by his relations, and being disgusted with the world, he went with his wife to the bank of the Ganges. While he was remaining there without food, in order to abandon the body, he saw some fishermen eating fish, and his hunger made him long for it in his heart. So he died with his mind polluted by that desire, but his wife kept her aspirations pure, and continuing firm in penance, followed him in death.* [1]
" That very Bráhman, owing to that pollution of his desires, has been born in the fisher-caste. But his wife, who remained firm in her asceticism, has been born as thy daughter, O king. So let this blameless daughter of thine, by the gift of half her life, †[2] raise up this dead youth, who was her husband in a former life. For, owing to the might of her asceticism, this youth, who was thus purified by the splendour of that holy bathing- place, shall become thy son-in-law, and a king."
When the king had been thus addressed by the divine voice, he gave his daughter in marriage to that youth Suprahára, who recovered his life by the gift of half hers And Suprahára became a king by means of the land, elephants, horses, and jewels, which his father-in-law gave him, and, having obtained his daughter as a wife, lived the life of a successful man.
Story of the Merchant's daughter who fell in love with a thief. ‡[3]":— In this way a connexion in a former birth usually produces affection in embodied beings;moreover, in illustration of this truth, listen to the following story about a thief."
In Ayodhyá there lived of old time a king named Vírabáhu, who always protected his subjects as if they were his own children. And one day the citizens of his capital came to him and said, " King, some thieves plunder this city every night, and though we keep awake for the purpose, we cannot
- ↑ * See Vol. I, p. 241.
- ↑ † See Vol. I, p. 98. In śloka 143 the India Office MSS. Nos. 2166 and 1882 and the Sanskrit College MS give pramayát for prabhayá. I suppose it means "from dying in that holy place."
- ↑ ‡ This is another version of the story which begins on page 297 of this volume. I have not omitted it, as my object is to reproduce the original faithfully, with the exception of a few passages repugnant to modem European taste.
