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88
ŚṚNGARAMANJARIKATHÀ
All the three should be abandoned from a distance. For by these even family women are made objects of contempt. Therefore like the poison of the poisonous snake love at sight and on hearing should be kept at a distance. I shall narrate a story about it to satisfy your curiosity. Listen:
In Avanti is the city of Ujjayini. There ruled King VIKRAMADITYA who obtained the title of a sovereign by the valour of his hands and whose deeds were famous and wonderful. There also lived the dhurta MÜLADEVA. He was clever, master of roguery, skillful in all the arts and an object of the king's affections. He brought under subjection the smart, cheated the clever, deceived the intelligent, made the cheats to dance about, and augmented his wealth. He always doubted the actions of women and never married.
Now when once after king VIKRAMARKA time and again asked him why he did not marry, MÜLADEVA said: "Sire, women are difficult to be pleased, they have bad intentions, are fickle by nature, difficult to be protected, they become detached very soon and cherish love for the low-born. It is said in the śrutis and the smṛtis that a woman is the half of this body. Therefore even when a man is not himself a sinner he becomes to be regarded as such due to her wickedness. Therefore I shall end my life without taking a wife." The king said: "It is not so. Woman is an instrument to the attainment of the three goals of life. She is the sole abode of happiness and the root of fame, wealth and offspring. The householder's life is the mainstay of all the other stages of life. Without begetting a son a man (85) never frees himself from the debt of his ancestors. Therefore you must take a wife, and do not be so suspicious."
[When thus spoken to MULADEVA is somehow convinced and gets married.]
(During the Summer season) when wanton-women whose bodies were exhausted by amorous sports continuously fanned themselves; when silken dresses were put on; when pairs of the Cakravāka birds taking resort under the leaves of the lotus plants on the banks of the ponds, with their necks resting on each other and enjoying the pleasant sensation of scratching each other passed their drowsiness of the mid-day sun; when pairs of bees due to the heat of the fierce sun abandoned drinking honey from the flowers and took refuge into the bowers of creepers; when the mid-day abhisarikās with their bodies cooled by water-sports, with their breasts and thighs covered with pure, slough-like clothes besmeared with musk, with their hair
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