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said : “My friend, I cannot leave this statue ; and if you try to separate me from it by force, my life will certainly leave me.' When Mitránanda heard this, he wept, and Amaradatta wept also. At this moment a native of the place, a merchant, Ratnaságara by name, came into that temple. The merchant asked : Why are you two distracted with grief ? Mitránanda told the merchant, though with difficulty, the case of Amaradatta. The merchant said to himself: 'Oh, the might of Cupid triumphs! There is in his mind a passion even for a stone image. Then Mitránanda said to the merchant: 'My lord, who had this temple made? Who was the workman employed on it? Who had so much artistic skill ? Did he make this statue by his own artistic invention only, or did he carve it to represent some person ?' The merchant said: 'I had this temple made. It was made by an architect residing in the city of Sopára, named Súradeva. Mitránanda said: 'I will go to that city. Then Amaradatta said: 'Without you I cannot support my life.' Then Mitránanda fixed a limit of two months for his absence, and gave instructions to Ratnaságara to take care of his friend. Then Mitránanda crossed the sea, and went to the city of Sopára. There he put on a splendid garment, and, taking & present in his hand, went to the architect's house. The architect showed him great regard, and asked the cause of his coming. Mitránanda said: 'I wish to have a temple built in honour of a god, therefore I have come to you. So show me a model of a temple.' The architect said: 'I made the temple in the garden outside Pátaliputra; this is the model of it.' Mitránanda said: "Was the marble statue in that temple devised out of your own head, or is it the likeness of any lady?' The architect said: "The statue is copied from Ratnamanjarí, the daughter of King Mahásena in Ujjayini, and is not the product of my own artistic invention. When Mitránanda heard this, he said: 'I will come to you again in an auspicious moment;' and thereupon he journeyed to Ujjayiní. He arrived there at the time of sunset, and went to the house of a hetæra. And while he
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