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10
 
AVANTISUNDARĪ KATHĀ SĀRA
 

 
that spot, I saw an young woman wounded all over her

body and also heard a child crying. The woman entreated in

a feeble voice, "Please protect the prince." Then I beheld not

far off from her an elephant killed in battle and a child in the

cavity of the ear of the animal. I took hold of the child who

had fortunately escaped injury and asked her who she was

and what brought her thither.
 

(Av. Sāra III, 68-77; Av. pp. 166-71)
 

'Sir,' she said, "you may have heard of Prahāravar-

man, king of Videha, and his friend Raājahamsa, king of

Magadha. The queens of these two were also close friends.

[Priyamvadā] the queen of Videha set out for Magadha

with her husband to see her pregnant friend. At this time a

war broke out between the Magadha and Mälava rulers. The
king of Videha and the ruler of Anga rendered help to the
Magadha king but they were overwhelmed by the forces of the
enemy and Prahāra was caught in a dense mass of arrows.
The brave Magadha ruler removed them from danger and
fought heroically alone but at last being struck by a divine
weapon he fell down and fainted.
 
But
naslava rulers. The
king of Videha and the ruler of Aṅga rendered help to the
Magadha king but they were overwhelmed by the forces of the
enemy and Prah
āra, the was caught in a dense mass of arrows.
The brave Magadha ruler removed them from danger and
fought heroically alone but at last being struck by a divine
weapon he fell down and fainted.
 
But
nasāra, the Mālava king, did not exult in his victory;

[he conciliated Prahāra by healing his wounds,] and in apprecia-

tion of the valour of Raājahamsa he declared before an assembly

of Ksatriyas that the king of Magadha was the real victor

and that he would not thereafter take arms against anybody in

battle. Prahāra lingered long in Malava as a guest oflava as a guest of Māna-

sāra when twin sons were born to him. [Then Mänasāra
nasāra
celebrated the Visśvajit sacrifice and presented Prahāra with

the famous horse Bhadravaāhana acquired in the battle against

the Magadha king]. Then Prahāra started with the king of

Anga and the remnants of his forces for his kingdom [and

halted a few days on the way at Campā, the capital of Anga].

On the way, he came to know that [Vikaṭavarman and other]

sons of his elder brother [Samhāravarman] had usurped his

throne. With a view to seeking the aid of the king of Sumha,

his sister's son [who had been reported to be camping by the

side of the Vindhyas for the subjugation of the frontier

people], he took this short route [in spite of the fact that

it was infested with Kirātas]. I do not know if he survived

the onslaught of the Kirātas. My mother entrusted this child

to me and took the younger one with her. An elephant
without a mahout came near me with affection and the child
 

without a mahout came near me with affection and the child