Hindoo Tales; Or, the Adventures of Ten PrincesDandin, active 7th century
General
Hindoo Tales; Or, the Adventures of Ten Princes
Dandin, active 7th century
Sanskrit literature -- Translations into English; Tales -- India
FURTHER ADVENTURES OF RÂJAVÂHANA.
Thus the princess, listening with delight and astonishment to the
sweet and eloquent words of her husband, and he never tired of
contemplating her beauty and enjoying her caresses, lived for some
time in the greatest happiness, without care or anxiety for the
future.
One night, when both were sleeping, the prince had a remarkable dream.
He seemed to see an old swan, whose legs were tied together with lotus
fibre, approach the bedside; at that moment he awoke with a feeling of
pressure on his feet, and found himself bound with a slender silver
chain, bright as the rays of the moon. The princess awoke at the same
time, and seeing her husband thus fettered, screamed out loudly in her
fright. The attendants in the adjoining apartments, hearing the
scream, thought something dreadful must have happened. They rushed
into the room, added their cries to hers, and forgetting all their
former precautions, left the doors open, so that the guards outside,
hearing the clamour, entered and saw the prince.
When about to seize him, they were awed by his dignity, and contented
themselves with giving information to the regent, Chandavarma, who, on
receiving it, came immediately to the place.
Looking at the prince with eyes burning with the fire of anger, he
began to recollect him, and said, "So! this is that conceited brahman
who has been deceiving the people; making them believe that he is
wonderfully clever; the friend of that fellow the husband of the
wicked Bâlachandrika, the cause of my brother's death. How is it
possible that the princess should have fallen in love with such a
paltry wretch, overlooking a man like me? She is a disgrace to her
family, and shall soon see her husband impaled on a stake."
Then, with his forehead disfigured by a fearful frown, he continued to
abuse the prince; and having tied his hands behind him, dragged him
from the room.
Râjavâhana, naturally brave, and encouraged by belief in that former
existence the remembrance of which had so wonderfully arisen in his
mind, bore all the insults with firmness, and saying to the princess,
"Remember that speech of the swan, have patience for two months, and
all will be well," submitted quietly to the imprisonment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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