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FIVE PREVIOUS INCARNATIONS
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an object from its sound. Soon we saw Sutārā, tremulouseyed, seized by Aśanighosa, like a lotus by an elephant. Unable to overlook the master's sister being kidnaped, frowning, we said to the enemy:
'Look here, Vidyādhara, wretched Aśanighosa, where are you going after seizing Sutārā, like an outcaste seizing a statue of a god ? Villain, you die. We are going to kill you. Draw your weapon. We are soldiers of the Vidyadhara-king, Amitatejas.' Insulting him with these words, we approached with drawn swords with the intention of killing the basest of men, like cobras a partridge. Then Queen Sutārā said: 'Stop your fighting. Go to the grove Jyotirvana. My lord Srivijaya is there. Stop Srivijaya who has been induced to abandon his life by Pratāraṇī who deceived him. I live only while he lives.' At her command we came here to you quickly and extinguished the fire of the funeral pyre with charmed water. The vidyā Pratāraṇi in the form of Sutārā, excited, fled with loud laughter like a vampire."
Knowing that Sutārā had been kidnaped, the king was depressed, the fire of separation burning more than the fire of the funeral-pyre. They said to him: “Master, do not grieve. He is not clever. He has not gone far from you like fate. Where will he go?” They bowed to the king, with knees touching the ground and, after begging him urgently, took him with themselves to Vaitādhya. Then Amitatejas, like victory embodied, at once arose with all his army to honor Śrīvijaya. After seating him on a suitable seat with great respect, Amitatejas eagerly asked the reason for his coming. The two excellent Vidy,dharas, urged by Śrīvijaya, told in detail the story of Sutārā's kidnaping,
Arkakīrti's son, his brow wrinkled with a frown, his cheeks and eyes red with anger, said to the king: "How long shall Aśanighoşa, basest of men, live, after kidnaping Sutārā, your wife and my sister, like scratching the mouth of the serpent Takşaka, like lifting up a handful of the
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