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BRAHMADATTACAKRICARITA hanging upside down, inhaling smoke. He blamed himself, “Oh! I have killed some poor man, rich from subduing magic arts. Shame on me!”
When he went forward, he saw a garden that was like Nandana descended from heaven to earth. Entering it, he saw before him a seven-storied palace that was like the embodied secret of the Sri of the seven worlds.314 He ascended the lofty palace and saw a woman like a Khecari, seated, her face resting on her hand. The prince approached her and asked in a clear voice: “Who are you? Why are you alone and what is the cause of your grief?” Overcome by fear, she said with sobs: “I have a great misfortune. Tell who you are. Why have you come?”
“I am Brahmadatta, son of Brahman, king of the Pañcālas."
When he said this, she got up joyfully. Making water for washing the feet, as it were, from the water of tears of joy that fell from the cup of her hands in the form of her eyes, she fell at his feet. Saying, “You have come, prince, protection for me without protection, like a ship to one sinking in the ocean," she wept. Questioned by him, she said:
"I am the daughter, Pușpavati, of your mother brother, Puşpacūla, lord of Anga. As a girl I was given to you. Waiting for the wedding-day, I went to the garden Dirghikāpulina to play like a hansi. I was brought here by a wicked Vidyadhara, named Nāțyonmatta, who abducted me, like Jānaki by Rāvaņa. Unable to endure my glance, he entered a bamboo-thicket in order to subdue magic arts, like Śūrpanakhā's son. Now the magic art will be submissive to him, inhaling smoke upside down, and he, powerful from the magic art acquired, will surely marry me.”
The prince told her the story of his killing. There was joy upon joy, at acquiring a friend and losing an enemy. A gandharva-marriage of them infatuated with each other took place. Among ksatriyas it is the best kind for two persons
314 221. See MW, s.v. loka.
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