Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 2

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 229

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CHAPTER SIX
with gośirşa-sandal paste like moonlight made into clusters of blossoms ? Who now like a maid-servant will decorate me with unguents on cheeks, ear-lobes, neck, forehead, and breasts? Who even by pretended falsehoods will make me keeping silent from pride talk like a pleasure-parrot ? Who will often wake me up when I am pretending to be asleep by flattering words, “My dear, my dear! Goddess, goddess !” Now enough of hesitation which is disgraceful to me. My lord, I shall follow you who are a traveler on the long journey.'
Wishing to go voluntarily on her husband's journey, with hands folded submissively she asked the king for a fire as a conveyance. The king said to her, Child with a pure heart, how can you say such a thing without finding out all about your husband ? For there is such magic of Rākşasas, Vidyadharas, etc. Therefore, wait a moment. For self-destruction is voluntary.'
She said again to the king : ‘My husband, led to death in a fight and fallen here, has been seen with our own eyes. Twilight rises and sets with the sun. Loyal wives live and die with their husbands. Shall I by living hereafter disgrace the family of my father whose stock is spotless and also the family of such a husband ? Will you not be ashamed if you see me, your adopted daughter, surviving without a husband, O father knowing the duties of high-born women? Henceforth, survival without a husband is not suitable for me, like moonlight without the moon, like lightning without a cloud. Order your servants to bring fuel for me. I shall enter the fire, as if it were water, with my husband's body.'
The king, to whom she spoke thus persistently, compassionate, said to her in a voice choking with grief, "Wait, wait a little while. You must not die like a moth, For even in a very small matter one must act after consideration.
Then the vixen said angrily, “If you hinder me any longer, then it is apparent that you are certainly not (my)