अवन्तिसुन्दरीकथासारः /45

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
 
27
 

 
within the sanctuary came out, fell at his feet and said, 'My

lord! I was carried away by the current and was rescused by

a cowherd maid. Soon after she died, being bitten by a

snake; and most likely it was her body that you cremated.

I took refuge in this hermitage and I was taught dis-

ciplines by this ascetic woman.' In the meanwhile, the king of

(Tri) garta, angry at the impersonation played on him, drove

the Kosala ruler out of his kingdom. SŚaunaka helped his

father-in-law in recovering his kingdom and obtained half the

Kosala country as reward. He then married Hamṁsavati and
ī and
Vedimatiī, and a courtesan maid and dallied with them by his
magical powers.
 

magical powers.
 
(Av. Sāra IV. 162-74; Av. portion lost)
 

 
Story of SuŚūdraka
 

 
'In his ripe old age SŚaunaka died and was born in the

Aśmaka country[^¹] as the Brahman of the name of Indrāṇīgupta
whom the poets called S
whom the poets called Śūdraka. He disregarded the glory of the

Brahman (Brahmaśrī) and was cursed to suffer severe hardships

before he got the glory of a ruler (Rājaśrī). He was brought

up along with the prince Svāti (of the Andhra dynasty) and

their playful quarrel grew into bitter enmity in later life. Ram-

bling in a forest with Bandhudatta and other friends, he lifted

up a heavy stone that none else could do. The Buddhist Sanṅghi-

laka took him in a cave with a view to putting an end to him;

but he killed the Buddhist and got out of the cave after under-

going many reverses. A woman was devouring his friend

Viśvalaka in the Vindhya forest at night. When he caught

hold of her, she got deliverance from a curse and vanished in

the sky. A female ascetic of the Buddhist order (SaŚākya-

bhikṣuṇī) plotted to murder him in her house, but an ominious

dream indicating danger, he left the place for the Vidiśā

country. He gathered his friends and released Bandhudatta

from prison and in his company proceeded to Ujjain. In the

house of Bandhudatta in Ujjain, he fell in love with an

actress named Ranṅgapatākā.
 

 
(Av. Sāra IV. 175-85; Av. p. 200)
 

 
[^1]. M. Venkataramayya locates the Aśmaka country in

the Nizāmabād and the adjacent districts of the Nizam's dominions

with its capital Pōtana represented by the modern Bōdhan. (J.O.R.

Vol. XII. pp. 260-5). Cf. also V. Raghavan, Annals of Ori,

Res., Uni. of Madras, V, ii.