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of any other person. Because, being born in such a high family, how can she spoil her chastity which is as white as the Moon ! Or, who can read the unfathomable mind of females, resembling the net-work of bamboos, who show love externally but who, at heart, are full of deception? Females say out something quite diffrent in the beginning and their behaviour is quite the reverse; they fix their mind on another, and again, they do according to their own will. Those who can count the multitudes of stars in the sky; those who can estimate measurements of water in great occans; and those who can fore-fell what is going to happen in future,-they also cannot know the mysterious deeds of females. It is true that females are such and there is no doubt as to this, but I have never seen any misdemeanour on her part. She is not in any way fit to be disregarded." With a firm resolution, Nara-Vikrama Kumāra kept his two children sitting on the back of the river and he entered the river, with the object of making inquiries for Silavati on the opposite bank and reached the mid-current. Just at this moment, because evil. minded Fate is un-controllable, and because, it is the nature of bhavitavyată (what is destined to happen) to bring about events which are considered unsuitable, and also because of the preponderance of Védanîya Karma (Karma causing agonies), the river was flooded with torrential currents by heavy rains on mountains and became unfathomable. The foot-steps of the Kumāra became very unsteady in the current of water and he was drawn away into the flood of gushing water along with trees and sprouts, and drifted to a distant land. As a result of meritorious deeds in previous life, he caught hold of a large piece of board, and was able to get down on the bank of the river. Sitting under the shade of a big tree, Nara-Vikrama Kumāra thought:-How did all this occur unexpectedly viz-1 Banishment from my own town. 2. Coming here. 3. Separation from my wife. 4. Separation from my children, and 5. Being carried away along with the current of water? Why did my retinue suddenly go away in such a short time like a mass of dust set in motion by fierce wind or like an offering of food etc given to a deity? O
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