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SUMATINĀTHACARITRA
271
resolved not to take food nor drink until he obtained a son. On the sixth day's fast, the goddess appeared and graciously said, Choose a boon, O King." King Vijayasena bowed to the goddess and said, Grant me a son superior to all men. Favor me." falling from heaven, will be your son.' gave the boon and instantly disappeared. the Queen the excellent boon granted by the goddess and the Queen was delighted by it, like a crane by thunder.410
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The King told
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A chief-god,
So the goddess
Conception of Puruṣasinha (44-55)
A very powerful god fell from heaven and descended into the womb of Queen Sudarśana who had taken her purifying bath in the afternoon. Then the Queen, asleep, saw a young lion with a ruddy mane enter her mouth. Quickly she arose from her couch in great terror and told the King about the lion entering her mouth. The King said, "That you will have a son powerful as a lion is indicated by the dream, the fruit of the tree of the boon by the goddess." The Queen was greatly delighted by that interpretation of the dream and stayed awake the rest of the night, engaged in pure conversation. The embryo grew day by day in the Queen's womb, like a golden lotus in the water of the Gangā.
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One day, the Queen described to the King pregnancywhims that had developed: "I wish to give fearlessness to all creatures. I wish to proclaim non-killing in the cities, etc. I wish to make eight-day festivals in all the temples." The King said, O Queen, this pregnancy-whim of yours, originating from the boon of the goddess and the dream, fortunately bestows good things from the power of the embryo. Such a wish as this is because of the magnanimous embryo. For the power of a statue is in accord with its tutelary deity." So speaking, the King gave at once
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410 43. Here the crane is substituted for the more usual peacock, but the balākā is a rainy-season bird.
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