IV.
RAṆAVÎRASIṄG.
Once upon a time in the town of Vañjaimânagar,[1] there ruled a king, named Śivâchâr. He was a most just king, and ruled so well that no stone thrown up fell down, no crow pecked at the new drawn milk, the lion and the bull drank water from the same pond, and peace and prosperity reigned throughout the kingdom. Notwithstanding all these blessings, care always sat on his face. The fruit which makes life in this world sweet, the redeemer to him from the horrible Naraka of Put,[2] a Putra,[3] he had not. His days and nights he spent in praying that God might bless him with a son. Wherever he saw pipal trees (Aśvattharâjas),[4] he ordered
- ↑ Classical name of Karûr, a small, but very ancient, town in the Kôyambatûr District of the Madras Presidency.
- ↑ Naraka of Put—Naraka is hell, and Put is a certain kind of hell to which, according to Hindû mythology, son-less persons are hurled down.
- ↑ Putra—son, so-called as he protects the father from the hell of Put.
- ↑ Ficus religiosa.
