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idea that it should be lost by play 'vexes my heart like wax found somewhere else than in the ear.' Though Davadantí said this to Nala, he would not cease playing; then Davadantí sent the ministers. Though they appealed to him in many ways, Nala could not be induced by them to stop playing. When a man is seized by a derangement of the three humours, no medicine or other remedy has any effect on him. Then Nala lost all his kingdom; he lost Davadantí and all his other wives, and he lost every ornament on his person. Then Kúvara said: 'Leave my kingdom; do not remain in it. This realm, which your father gave you, has been given in turn to me by the dice.' Then Nala, with the garments that he had on as his only property, left his kingdom and went away. Davadantí was going with him, but Kúvara forbade her, saying: 'Fawneyed one, do not depart. You have been won by me in gambling; adorn my harem.' Then the ministers said to Kúvara: Davadantí will not even touch the shadow of a strange man, so do not put her in your harem, because the wife of an elder brother must be looked upon as a mother; so, if you do it by force, the chaste one with her curse will reduce you to dust in a moment: for nothing is difficult for chaste women. Moreover, you need not give Nala cities or villages, but you must give him a chariot, with a charioteer, and provisions for the journey.' So Kúvara, afraid of the ministers, let Davadantí go. He gave his brother a chariot, with provisions and a charioteer. Nala said: What is the use of a chariot to me, who have thrown away in sport the prosperity acquired by the conquest of half India ?' The counsellors said to Nala: 'We were ready to follow you, but Kúvara forbids it, though we have long been your servants. Moreover, we serve him who is king in this family; this is our hereditary usage. Now your wife Davadantí is your minister. But how will she travel on foot with her feet soft as a lotus, with her body tender as a çirisha flower, on the road which is made difficult by grains of sand heated by the rays of the sun? So take, prince, this chariot; mount it with
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