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INTRODUCTION
moving into the town, the king's officers caught them and brought them to the temple of goddess Candamārī. The pair of kşullakas blessed the king in grave tone which attracted his attention. The king was greatly impressed by their figure and asked them whether they came from a royal family and how it was that they took the vow of ascetic life in so tender an age. The boy kşullaka thereupon said to the king that a pious narrative like his own would be wasted on an assembly of impious men ; but the king stopped all the noise of drums and other musical instruments and pressed him to give the narrative. Thereupon the kşullaka said :
There is a country in this Bharata Varsa called Avanti with Ujjayini as its capital. There ruled at this place a king, Yasobandhura by name. His son Yaśorha succeeded him to the throne. He married princess Candramati, daughter of king Ajitānga. I was the son of this couple and was named Yasodhara. I was trained in all the princely arts and crafts of the age, and, when in youth, was married to the princess of Krathakaisika and to a few more princesses. In due course of time king Yaśorha saw his hair turning grey and immediately decided to place his son Yaśodhara on the throne and lead the life of an ascetic. The young king Yaśodhara firmly established his rule on the earth in a short time.
II King Yaśodhara was so much addicted to pleasures of youth that he felt even the responsibility of his kingship an obstacle to the full enjoyment of life. Now one day in full moon-light, the king Yasodhara went to the palace of his queen Amstamati. At about midnight, when the king was in bed and apparently asleep, the queen gently got herself free from the king's arms and quietly went out to meet her paramour who was an ugly figure of a hump-back. The king was astonished at this conduct of the queen and followed her sword in hand. The queen, on approaching the hump-back, pressed his feet to win him, but he got angry as she was late, and even kicked her. The queen however declared her helplessness and said that she would indeed be glad and worship the goddess if her husband was dead. The king on watching this behaviour of the queen was at one moment about to strike them both with his sword, but he thought that he could not with propriety kill a woman and a mean fellow like her paramour. So he returned home in disgust. The queen also returned to her bed before dawn.
Disgusted with what he saw the previous night the king at first thought of leaving the worldly life and becoming an ascetic. Accordingly he declared in the court the next morning to his mother that he saw a bad dream the previous night to the effect that he must at once be a monk or he would die. The mother however proposed that she would rather offer an animal victim to the goddess to counteract the effects of the evil dream. The king proposed that, instead of an animal, a cock made of flour be offered which was done accordingly. The flour was eaten by all as flesh of a cock. But the king, returning home, placed his son on the throne and made preparations to go to the forest. On hearing this the queen came to him and told him that she had arranged a feast after which she also would accompany him to the forest. The king was tempted to wait and partake of the feast, at which the queen poisoned both the king and his mother. The king fell on the ground under the effect, of the poison when the queen, apparently wailing, threw her body on him and strangled
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