Page:Kings of Kashmira Vol 1 (Rajatarangini of Kalhana).djvu/19

10 Kings or Kashmira. Ishanadevi, He established eighteen places of worship, and built "Vyaravala and other edifices,— and used to hear the Nandi Purana recited by a' disciple of Vyasa. He set up the god Jeshtharudra in Srinagara, and also wor- shipped the god Sodara. It is narrated of this king that one day, when he was going to the temple of Vijayeshvara, he met a woman in the way who asked him for some food, and when he pro- mised her whatever food she wanted, she changed herself into some deformed shape and asked for human flesh. Unwilling to kill any one to satisfy her unnalural appe- tite, he permitted her to take off-what she liked from his own body. This heroic self-devotion seemed to move her, and she remarked that for his tender regard for the life of others she considered him a second Buddha. The king, being a follower of Shiva, did not know Buddha, and asked her who Buddha was whom she took him to be. She then unfolded her mission and said, that on the other side of the hill of Lokaloka, where the sun never shone, there lived a tribe of Krittika who were the followers of Buddha. This tribe, she continued with the eloquence of a missionary, were never angry even with those who did them injury, forgave them that trespassed against them, and oven did them good. They taught truth and wisdom to all, and were willing to dispel the darkness of ignorance that covered the earth. "But this people," she added, "you have injured. There was a monastery belonging to us in which the beating of-