अवन्तिसुन्दरीकथासारः /42

24
 
AVANTISUNDARIĪ KATHAĀ SAĀRA
 

 
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
sacrifices
sacrifices[^¹] (:यज्ञियो देशः) are Brahmäāvarta, (between the river

Sarasvatiī and Dṛṣadvati; the adjacent Brahmarşṣideśa consisting

of Kurukşṣetra, Matsya, Pāñcaāla and Sūrasena; Madhyadeśa

bounded by the Himalayas, Vindhyas, Prayāg and Vinaśana;
and Arya
and Āryāvarta 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 Āṅgirasa gotra
and come of a most religious and learned family of Puṣpa-
pura). With an ascetic temperament from early boyhood, I
lived an austere life and started on pilgrimage to Kumārī in
the south. On my way I met the sage Angirasa gotra
and come of a most religious and learned family of Pusgastya on the topa-
of
the Malaya mountains. The holy sage advised me to give upura). With an ascetic temperament from early
my austerities and marry a girl from a Brahman family and
settle down in a village on the boyhood, I
lanks of the rived 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 (namedr Kālverī daughter
.
Accordingly I took as wife the daughter (named Kālī daughter
of Visśvadatta) of a respectable Brahman family. As she re-

mained childless (for ten years), I married her younger sister

(Gauriī). 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.