Say, what more than this should be done? or what remains in your mind?
Vidúshaka.
O friend, your enemy, the base Matanga, is very daring; and, whilst he is at hand, the kingdom, though duly governed by the prime minister, does not, in your absence, appear very firmly settled.
Jímútaváhana.
Fie! O fool, dost thou fear that Matanga will seize the kingdom?
Vidúshaka.
What else?
Jímútaváhana.
If even it were so, why should it not be? Is not all I possess, even to my very body, kept for the benefit of others? That it is not given up to him of my own accord is through compliance with my father. What, then, is the use of this pointless consideration? Better that the command of my father be at once undertaken. "O my child Jímútaváhana," he said, "by the spending of many days here this place has its flowers, kusa-grass, and fuel used up, and its rice, plants, fruits, and roots well-nigh consumed, therefore go hence to the Malaya[1] mountain, and seek there for a hermitage suited for our occupation." Come, then, let us go to the Malaya mountain.
- ↑ Malaya—the Western Gháts—whence the name Malabar (malaya-vara).
