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J. C. Jain
they begin a vicious fight, exploiting the magic powers to the full They slash at each other with their swords, cutting cach other into pieces, only to have new images of each other immediately appear out of the old This account of the un usual combat between Sāmali and Angāraka tallies exactly with the fight between Vegavati and Mānasavega narrated in the BASS4 and KSS 26 The description regarding Vegavati is very much in keeping with her character as poitiayed so far, fitting in perfectly with the other events in her life, including the difficulties she had always had with her brother Mānasa. vega, this fight obviously belongs originally to Vegavati's tale. It is unclear why it was transferred from its natural occurence in the beginning of the Mayanavegālambha to the Samalilainbha in the VH
Sunimary of Vegavati s Prominence :
In all the narrations originating from the BK, Vegavati plays a unique and important role, as we have briefly seen in relation to the tale as appears in the VH The following is an itemized summary of the ma 101 episodes concerning Vegavati drawn from all the aforementioned versions (1) L'egavatī in disguise (all versions).
After Somasuli's / Madanamanjukā's sudden abduction, Vegavati comes to the grieving hero in the disguise of his lost beloved She breaks the news to him and manages to remain there happily as his newly-married wife (2) Vegavati's first rescue of Vasudeva (only in VH)
When Vasudeva is abducted by Suppanahî in the form of Mayanivegā, Vegavatı arrives on the scene and fights tooth and nail to save luim She succeeds, although in doing so she loses her own magic power, acquired with such difficulty from her father. However Vasudeva is delighted that they are now both merely earth-dwellers, and he tells her, "Don't
24 XV. 68-78, 84–104, 150–153. 25 105, 89-91,
