Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 4

SR No.: 001004
Original Sutra Author: Hemchandracharya
Author: Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra
Publication Year: 1954
Total Pages: 449
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Mythology, & Story
File Size: 9 MB

Page 99

CHAPTER SIX King Kumbha said: "Who are they, insolent, seekers of death, foolish villainous kings! Even the gods, Sakra et cetera, are not suitable to marry this jewel of a maiden of mine, the crest-jewel of the three worlds. The wish of your malicious lords is made in vain. So go, base messengers! Leave my city.”
Thus humiliated by the king, they went to their respective masters quickly and told his words, a wind to the fire of anger. The six kings, having been equally insulted, sent messengers to each other and decided on an attack on Kumbha. The six advanced, like the mountain-ranges of the zones in strength, covering the earth with soldiers, and arrived at Mithilā. Expert in blocking the places of entrance and exit, they besieged it, having surrounded it like serpents a sandal tree. 47
In a few days Kumbha was distressed by the siege and, when he was torn by anxiety, Malli approached. She asked, “Why do you seem so alarmed, father?" and King Kumbha told her the cause of his alarm. Malli said, "Father, inform each one of the six through spies, 'I shall give Mallī to you.' At evening they must be brought in succession, concealed by a white garment, to the private rooms in front of my statue.” The king did so and they came so, and they saw the statue of Mallī through the lattices in the doors.
"Ah! She, beautiful, lovely-eyed, was won by my merit," the kings reflected lovingly, thinking that it was Malli. Malli entered by the door back of the statue, screened by the statue, and took off the lotus which covered the palate. Immediately there arose, the odor of the putrid food that had been thrown in formerly, unbearable as the odor of filth, hurting the nostrils intensely. It entered their private rooms through the lattices in the doors, splitting the noses of the six kings, as it were.
* 47 177.
The sandal tree has a special attraction for serpents.
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