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105
O father! father! devoted to boundless love of thy child, To-day, without thee, I am wretched, like a plantain-tree deprived
of its root; I never beheld my mother ; but thou hast been my mother; So, thou being gone, both my hands have fallen to earth.' Then Prince Kanakaratha, in order to admonish his beloved, said to her :
Stay, stay, my beloved; do not stretch out weeping overmuch ; Of what profit is it that thou sorrowest over one gone to the other
world? Queen, thy father is not to be lamented, since he reigned as a king
and observed his vows as a hermit.'
Then the prince performed his funeral ceremonies and made a sacrificial sthandila in the place of burial. Then the prince set out with his wife Rishidattá for his own city. And Rishidattá, as she was going along with her husband, kept sowing by the way a series of sadáphala* fruits that her father had given her.t So the prince, travelling by continuous stages, reached Rathamardana, and entered it with great rejoicings. Then Kanakaratha, with his wife, bowed at the feet of his parents, and was welcomed by them. So Prince Kanakaratha lived happily with his wife. In the meanwhile King Surasundara, the lord of Káverí, heard that the prince had married the hermit's daughter, and his daughter Rukmiņí, who longed for the prince, was much afflicted. Then one day she fell in with a witch named Sulasá, who was deeply versed in all charms and spells; and she managed, by giving her food and clothes, to incline the witch in her mind to undertake the task of disgracing Rishidattá in order that the prince might come to her. So she despatched the wicked Sulasá to Rathamardana. Then Sulasá, after a few days, arrived in the city of Rathamardana. And at night-time she went into the palace of Prince Kanakaratha, after administering a narcotic drug to all the inmates, and when she saw Rishi
* Further on the word sahakára (fragrant mango) is used. Sadit - phala means, according to Monier Williams, always bearing fruit : the cocoanut-tree, the glomerous fig tree, the jack, the Vilva-tree.
+ See the note on p. 290 of vol. i. of my translation of the · Kathá Sarit Ságara,' and additional note on p. 576.
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