________________
Powe
TRANSLATION
325 443. In Campā Jitaśatru was king and Sukumālikā his wife.
Infatuated with her he became neglectful of the affairs
of the kingdom. 444. His attendants made his son king and took him and his wife to the forest, then abandoned him still over
e intoxication of wine. 445. After regaining consciousness and going towards the
north he gave his own flesh and blood to his queen
who was hungry and thirsty. 446. He arrived at Benares with a merchant's caravan and
stayed there but his wife who had become infatuated
with a legless man pushed him into the river. 447. By the force of karma he emerged and became king in
the city of Supratisthita. One day he heard that his
own wife had come there as a mendicant, 448. carrying the cripple on her head, wandering from house
to house and being given much alms by the people
who were delighted by the cripple's singing. 449. She vaunted her virtue before the people saying :- This
legless man is my husband, given me by my parents
and so I am keeping him.' 450. Having bidden her to him the king hidder. by a curtain
asked: Who ase you and who is this cripple ?' 451. Being asked she replied: This cripple is my husband
who was wedded to me by my parents and I am a
devoted wife.' Then said the king : 452. Indeed you were a devoted wife when you pushed into
the river him the blood of whose arm you had drunk A. and the flesh of whose buttock you had eaten.' 453. So saying he drove her out from the territory of his city
and as king enjoyed the royal felicity obtained by his
deserts. 454. Just as the ungrateful Sukumalikā shoved into the river
the man who had saved her life so have you treated me by stealing my money.
