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CELANA'S PALACE, DURGANDHA, ARDRAKUMĀRA
karma and she was seen and taken up by the childless wife of a cowherd. Cherished by the cowherd's wife like her own child, she grew up gradually endowed with beauty and grace.
One day in the city there was a charming full moonfestival, resembling the pleasure of a play with a wealth of the erotic sentiment. She, just mature, a snare for the deer of young men's eyes, went along from a desire to see the festival. Śrenika and Abhaya, covered completely with white garments, went there like bridegrooms who had set out for a wedding. In the great crush of the festival, Śreņika's hand touched the chest, the place of curved breasts, of the cowherd's daughter. The king, whose love was quickly aroused, tied his ring in the hem of her garment, like a surety of pleasure.
He informed Abhaya: "My seal-ring has been stolen by someone, while my attention was distracted. You must ascertain who took it." Abhaya, the chief of intelligent persons, closed the doors of the arena and began to move the people about, one by one, like a gambler moving game-pieces. Abhaya, the depository of the treasure of shrewdness, examined the clothes, hair-dressings, and mouths of everyone. When he was examining the clothes, et cetera of the cowherd's daughter, he saw the ring marked with the king's name tied in the hem.
He asked her, "How did you get this ring?" She covered her ears and said, "I do not know anything about it." When he saw that she was beautiful, he, the first of the intelligent, thought: "Surely my father has fallen in love with this cow-herd's daughter. The king himself submissive to love, certainly tied his own ring, a token for finding her."
With this thought Abhaya led her into the king's presence. The king asked him: "Have you found the thief, illustrious sir?" Abhaya replied: "Majesty, this is the thief by whom your heart was stolen. Enough of this story about the ring." The king smiled and said: "I am going to marry her. Have you not heard that a woman-jewel is acceptable even from a
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