________________
King Hariscandra's courageous endurance
93
make over to him his kingdom and all his possessions. The king consenting, the agreement was ratified in the presence of another pupil of the Sage, Kāuțilya 84 by name, who had come from Benares (641). Even then Vañcanā pretended that she would enter the fire together with the doe, until the king bought her off with the promise of a lakh of gold. The king returned with train to his city of Ayodhyā (648).
Now the king's wise and trusty minister, Vasubhūti, hearing the whole story from Kuntala, guaged both the king's folly in making his promises, as well as the Sage's wile. He therefore told the king that he must not give up his kingdom, and make himself homeless. But the latter insisted on keeping his pact, and asked Vasubhūti to procure the lakh needful for the assuagement of Vascanā. He did so. When the Sage arrived with Angāramukha, the money was handed him. The Sage asked, • What is that?' The king told him that it was the money for Vañcanā. The Sage refused to be paid from the king's treasury, because that meant paying him with his own money, since the king had previously given him all his possessions (669). The king, next, bade Vasubhūti procure from merchants a loan of the amount needed, but they, by the magic power of the Sage, had become hostile, and refused, on the ground that the Sage henceforth was their king. Even when he appealed to them in person, they persisted in refusing (678). A lengthy controversy arose between the king and Vasubhūti on the one side, and the Sage and Añgāramukha on the other side, in the course of which the latter two abused the king, charging him with breaking faith, and ruining his and his family's reputation. The king finally sent for the jewels of his Queen, Sutārā by name. She herself appeared on the
"The meaning of this name is Trickster'
