Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
## The Eighth Chapter
193
**346.** Entering the city, Harishena, adorned with drops of sweat like pearls, captivated the hearts of the city women with his handsome form.
**347.** He then married a hundred daughters of the king. Thus, the story of Harishena spread everywhere.
**348.** Though he received great honor from the king, he considered a year as a night without the jewel of a woman he had seen in the hermitage.
**349.** He thought, "Surely, she is now in the desolate forest, tormented like a deer, bereft of me."
**350.** "If this night ends even once, I will immediately rush to that young girl to show compassion."
**351.** Lying on that exquisitely decorated bed, he pondered these thoughts. After a long time, he finally fell asleep with great difficulty.
**352.** Even in his dreams, he saw the same lotus-eyed woman. Indeed, she had become the sole object of his mind.
**353.** Then, in an instant, Vegavati, a skilled woman in all arts and virtues, the friend of the daughter of the king of the sky-dwellers, carried him away.
**354.** Awakening from his sleep and seeing himself being carried away, he angrily said to Vegavati, "You wicked woman! Why are you taking me away?"
**355.** Harishena, whose eyes shone with all their pupils and whose lips were clenched, clenched his fist to strike her, like a thunderbolt-bearing mace.
**356.** Seeing Harishena enraged, Vegavati, though endowed with the power of knowledge, was frightened. She said to him, "O long-lived one! Just as a man climbing a tree branch cuts its root, so you, having mounted me, are destroying me."
**357.** "O father! You will know the truth of my words when you reach the place I am taking you. Be assured, your body will not suffer even a bit there."
**358.** Hearing Vegavati's words, Harishena thought, "This woman is gentle and sweet-tongued. Her appearance speaks of her desire to end the suffering of others."
**359.** He had mounted...