________________ dear wife. He reached the door of the residence which was being guarded by the door-keeper Surapala. Samudradatta gave him his jewelled ring as a gift and told him not to tell anybody about his present visit. Reaching his own appartment he saw through latticed window Nandayanti sleeplessly and restlessly wallowing in her bed. Hoping to get some relief from the grief of separation from her husband, she got up, went to the flower - garden attached to the house and lay down on a stone-slab cool under moonlight. But failing to get any relief and feeling aggrieved because Samudradatta did not care to see her before departure, she desperately took off her upper garment, tied it on the branch of a tree and was on the point of hanging herself, when Samudradatta, who was watching her behaviour throughout rushed and resecued her. Overpowered with love he enjoyed her and left. Reaching sea-shore he immediately started on his voyage. A period of three months lapsed thereafter, when signs of Nandayanti's pregnancy showed up. Her father-in-law suspected her of unchastity, which he felt to be a blot on his illustruous family. He commissioned a man called Niskaruna, who took Nandayanti to woods and abandoned her. Shocked by this quite unextacted cruel treatment, Nandayanti made several attempts to commit suicide in various ways, but every time she was saved by Divinity on account of the power of her chastity. Niskaruna, who watched her behaviour from hiding returned and reported to Sagarapota, vouching about Nandayanti's chastity. In the meanwhile Nandayanti wandering alone and miserably in the woods was seen by King Padma of Bhrgukaccha, who was out on a hunting expedition. He welcomed Nandayanti with brotherly spirit, and took her with him to his capital, [4]