अवन्तिसुन्दरीकथासारः /49

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
 
brother-in-law, and is now doing penance in the mountainous
abode of Siva to become a universal sovereign. You should
wrest the lost kingdom of your father from him; and then the
whole of the earth will come under your sway. You will
meet with adverses for a period of two months. You
should start with your friends tomorrow when the moon
will be in conjunction with the constellation Revati."
 
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brother-in-law, and is now doing penance in the mountainous
abode of Śiva to become a universal sovereign. You should
wrest the lost kingdom of your father from him; and then the
whole of the earth will come under your sway. You will
meet with adverses for a period of two months. You
should start with your friends tomorrow when the moon
will be in conjunction with the constellation Revatī."
 
 
On the morrow the prince took leave of his parents and

sage Vāmadeva, appointed Simṁhadamana, his ŠŚabara friend to

keep guard over them, and set out northwards with Apahāra

and other companions. They spent a day in an āśrama not

far off from their hermitage and on the next day entered the

lonely Vindhya forests.
 

 
(Av. Saāra V. 17-41; Av. pp. 204-26)
 

 
Story of Matanga
 
ātaṅga
 
In the Vindhya forest they encountered a Brahman on

the bank of a river sitting at the foot of a tree. He

was clad in bark garments and had hard scars of wonuds all
<error>wonuds</error> all
over his body. He greeted the prince politely, and being

questioned as to who he was, narrated his story: 'Sir, my

name is Mātanṅga and I come of a family of Brahmans who

have not any trace of Vedic learning and who lead the life of

hunters. One day, armed with bow, I roamed about the

forest with some hunters and saw an old Brahman wayfarer

[of eighty years]. The hunters greedy of [the handful of
grains in
grains in] the rags of the old man assaulted him. Out of

pity, I fell on them, killed three or four and saved the

Brahman. The other hunters crushed me to death and I

found myself before the god of Death seated on kusa grass.
śa grass.
[When I prostrated before Him] the god said, 'Nityogra,

look at the hells.' Then Citragupta, under command, took me

through the Padma and other sections of hell where sinners

were put to torture.
 

 
(Av. Sāra V. 42-49; Av. pp. 226-38)

Story of Nityogra and Mahogra.
 

 
'When I asked Citragupta why Yama called me by the

name Nityogra, he said: '(Hālāhalika?) the chieftain of

Pulindas (inhabiting the adjoining country of Vidarbha)

obtained by theft a son named Kolāhalika. The son used to