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SAGARCHANDRA
173
And what happened next?
In the twinkling of an eye, everything disappeared, the girls and the mansion, and the prince stood all alone. He returned to the place where he had left Bhuvanakanta, but even she was not there. The whole thing appeared like a magic and the prince knew not what to make of it
It was now useless to waste his time there. So the prince sat down to rest and to concentrate on the couplet
The temple became the venue of two very happy meetings.
King Sudharma of Mangalpuri came there with his daughter to offer her to the prince as per a previous forecast. The king knew beforehand that he would meet the prince in the temple.
King Singhanada came with his five daughters As the Vidyadhara king revealed, soon after their marriage with Sagarchandra, they were stolen by a prince name Utpala, son of a certain king named Amitateja, from whom they had been just rescued by the father. The Vidyadhara king further revealed that the prince's first wife, Bhuvanakanta, whom he had left in the forest, had been carried away by Kamal, who happened to be Utpal's brother, and that at that moment, she was on the Vaitadhya hills struggling to protect herself from the rogue.
Now, the prince's first duty was to rescue Bhuvanakanta. His father-in-law Singhanada equipped him with special powers that might be of help to the prince in the ensuing encounter. Bhuvanakanta was duly rescued, and in the company of all his wives, the prince returned to his city, to the great joy of his parents and his people.
One day, Kevali Bhuvanananda came to the city. King Amitchandra and Prince Sagarchandra came to see him. After the sermon the king made the following submission to the Kevali:
"Holy sire! We do not know yet how and by whom my son was picked up and dropped into the sea, and why ?" Throwing light on the past, the Kevali said:
