The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of StorySomadeva Bhatta, active 11th century
General
The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
Somadeva Bhatta, active 11th century
Folk literature -- Themes, motives; Hindu mythology; India -- Social life and customs; Tales -- India
Then in the morning Somaprabhá took with her a basket, in which
she had placed many excellent mechanical dolls of wood with magic
properties in order to amuse her friend, and travelling through the
air she came again to Kalingasená. And when Kalingasená saw her,
she was full of tears of joy, and rising up she threw her arms
round her neck, and said to her, as she sat by her side--"The dark
night of three watches has this time seemed to me to be of a hundred
watches without the sight of the full moon of your countenance. So,
if you know, my friend, tell me of what kind may have been my union
with you in a former birth, of which this present friendship is
the result." When Somaprabhá heard this, she said to that princess:
"Such knowledge I do not possess, for I do not remember my former
birth; and hermits are not acquainted with this, but if any know,
they are perfectly acquainted with the highest truth, and they are the
original founders of the science by which it is attained." When she had
spoken thus, Kalingasená, being full of curiosity, again asked her in
private in a voice tender from love and confidence, "Tell me, friend,
of what divine father you have adorned the race by your birth, since
you are completely virtuous like a beautifully-rounded pearl. [464]
And what, auspicious one, is your name, that is nectar to the ears
of the world. What is the object of this basket? And what thing is
there in it?" On hearing this affectionate speech from Kalingasená,
Somaprabhá began to tell the whole story in due course.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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