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24
AVANTISUNDARI KATHA SARA
enlighten me.' The Brahman replied, 'Sir, what you say is
true. I have not chosen this land from passion or ignorance.
I have sat under great teachers. I know that the lands of
sacrifices¹ (:) are Brahmävarta, (between the river
Sarasvati and Dṛṣadvati; the adjacent Brahmarşideśa consisting
of Kurukşetra, Matsya, Pāñcala and Sūrasena; Madhyadeśa
bounded by the Himalayas, Vindhyas, Prayāg and Vinaśana;
and Aryavarta between the eastern and western seas); and
that even among them, the most charming is the land of
Magadhas. (I am the son of Matiśarman of Angirasa gotra
and come of a most religious and learned family of Puspa-
pura). With an ascetic temperament from early boyhood, I
lived an austere life and started on pilgrimage to Kumāri in
the south. On my way I met the sage Agastya on the top of
the Malaya mountains. The holy sage advised me to give up
my austerities and marry a girl from a Brahman family and
settle down in a village on the banks of the river Kaveri.
Accordingly I took as wife the daughter (named Kālī daughter
of Visvadatta) of a respectable Brahman family. As she re-
mained childless (for ten years), I married her younger sister
(Gauri). By her I got a son and freed myself from the debt
I owed to my forefathers. When the child was one year old,
one day he and his nurse were suddenly missing. I reported
the matter to the king (Indraketu of the Cola country). With
a view to finding out the culprit by means of an ordeal, he
ordered that all the inhabitants of the country should take a
plunge in the river. When my first wife dipped into the river,
the water turned bloodred and all were astonished. She con-
fessed her guilt to the king that she had flung the child and
nurse into river out of jealousy. The king had her put to
death; and her spirit haunted me and vowed to kill the child
that may yet be born to me.' Satyaśarman went on telling me
his tale of misery and cursing women in general. I com-
forted him with words of encouragement and took leave of
him the next morning. I had not gone far away when I saw a
woman hanging herself by a noose around her neck and almost
at the point of dying. At once I cut the noose; and having
brought her back to life, asked her what made her rush to
death. She said in a feeble voice, 'Sir, I am a nurse of the
child of Satyaśarman. His first wife threw me along with
1. Compare Manu 11. 17-23.
AVANTISUNDARI KATHA SARA
enlighten me.' The Brahman replied, 'Sir, what you say is
true. I have not chosen this land from passion or ignorance.
I have sat under great teachers. I know that the lands of
sacrifices¹ (:) are Brahmävarta, (between the river
Sarasvati and Dṛṣadvati; the adjacent Brahmarşideśa consisting
of Kurukşetra, Matsya, Pāñcala and Sūrasena; Madhyadeśa
bounded by the Himalayas, Vindhyas, Prayāg and Vinaśana;
and Aryavarta between the eastern and western seas); and
that even among them, the most charming is the land of
Magadhas. (I am the son of Matiśarman of Angirasa gotra
and come of a most religious and learned family of Puspa-
pura). With an ascetic temperament from early boyhood, I
lived an austere life and started on pilgrimage to Kumāri in
the south. On my way I met the sage Agastya on the top of
the Malaya mountains. The holy sage advised me to give up
my austerities and marry a girl from a Brahman family and
settle down in a village on the banks of the river Kaveri.
Accordingly I took as wife the daughter (named Kālī daughter
of Visvadatta) of a respectable Brahman family. As she re-
mained childless (for ten years), I married her younger sister
(Gauri). By her I got a son and freed myself from the debt
I owed to my forefathers. When the child was one year old,
one day he and his nurse were suddenly missing. I reported
the matter to the king (Indraketu of the Cola country). With
a view to finding out the culprit by means of an ordeal, he
ordered that all the inhabitants of the country should take a
plunge in the river. When my first wife dipped into the river,
the water turned bloodred and all were astonished. She con-
fessed her guilt to the king that she had flung the child and
nurse into river out of jealousy. The king had her put to
death; and her spirit haunted me and vowed to kill the child
that may yet be born to me.' Satyaśarman went on telling me
his tale of misery and cursing women in general. I com-
forted him with words of encouragement and took leave of
him the next morning. I had not gone far away when I saw a
woman hanging herself by a noose around her neck and almost
at the point of dying. At once I cut the noose; and having
brought her back to life, asked her what made her rush to
death. She said in a feeble voice, 'Sir, I am a nurse of the
child of Satyaśarman. His first wife threw me along with
1. Compare Manu 11. 17-23.