In the meanwhile the princess Anangamanjarí, in Hansadvípa, was awakened in the morning by the sound of music. When she remembered what had taken place in the night, and saw her body adorned with Śrídarśana’s ornaments, longing love made her melancholy. And she reflected, “Alas I am brought into a state, in which my life is in danger, by these ornaments, which prove that I cannot have been deluded by a dream, and fill me with love for an unattainable object.” While she was engaged in these reflections, her father Anangodaya suddenly entered, and saw her wearing the ornaments of a man. The king, who was very fond of her, when he saw her covering her body with her clothes, and downcast with shame, took her on his lap and said to her, “My daughter, what is the meaning of these masculine decorations, and why this shame? Tell me. Do not shew a want of confidence in me, for my life hangs on you.” These and other kind speeches of her father’s allayed her feeling of shame, and she told him at last the whole story.
Then her father, thinking that it was a piece of supernatural enchantment, felt great doubt as to what steps he ought to take. So he went and asked an ascetic of the name of Brahmasoma, who possessed superhuman powers, and observed the rule of the Páśupatas, and who was a great friend of his, for his advice. The ascetic by his powers of contemplation penetrated the mystery, and said to the king; “The truth is that the Gaṇas brought here prince Śrídarśana from Málava, for Gaṇeśa is favourably disposed both to him and your daughter, and by his favour he shall become a universal monarch. So he is a capital match for your daughter.” When that gifted seer said this, the king bowed and said to him,—“Holy seer, Málava is far away from this great land of Hansadvípa. The road is a difficult one, and this matter does not admit of delay. So in this matter your ever propitious self is my only stay.”
When the ascetic, who was so kind to his admirers, had been thus entreated by the king, he said, “I myself will accomplish this,” and he immediately disappeared. And he reached in a moment the city of king Śrísena in Málava. There he entered the very temple built by Śrídarśana, and after bowing before Gaṇeśa, he sat down and began to praise him, saying “Hail to thee of auspicious form, whose head is crowned with a garland of stars, so that thou art like the peak of mount Meru! I adore thy trunk flung up straight in the joy of the dance, so as to sweep the clouds, like a column supporting the edifice of the three worlds. Destroyer of obstacles, I worship thy snake-adorned body, swelling out into a broad pitcher-like belly, the treasure-house of all success.” While the ascetic was engaged in offering these praises to Gaṇeśa in the temple, it happened that the son of the merchant-prince Upendraśakti, who brought his image, entered the temple as he was roaming about. His name was Mahendraśakti, and he had been rendered uncontrollable by long and violent madness, so he rushed forward to seize the ascetic. Then the ascetic struck him with his hand. The merchant’s son, as soon as he was struck by the charm-bearing hand of that ascetic, was freed from madness and recovered his reason. And, as he was naked, he felt shame, and left the temple immediately, and covering himself with his hand, he made for his home. Immediately his father Upendraśakti, hearing of it from the people, met him full of joy and led him to his house. There he had him bathed, and properly clothed and adorned, and then he went with him to the ascetic Brahmasoma. And he offered him much wealth as the restorer of his son, but the ascetic, as he possessed godlike power, would not receive it.
In the meanwhile king Śrísena himself, having heard what had taken place, reverently approached the ascetic, accompanied by Śrídarśana. And the king bowed before him, and praised him, and said, “Owing to your coming, this merchant has received a benefit, by having his son restored to health, so do me a benefit also by ensuring the welfare of this son of mine Śrídarśana.” When the king craved this boon of the ascetic, he smiled and said, “King, why should I do anything to please this thief, who stole at night the heart and the ornaments of the princess Anangamanjarí in Hansadvípa, and returned here with them? Nevertheless I must obey your orders.” With these words the ascetic seized Śrídarśana by the fore-arm, and disappeared with him. He took him to Hansadvípa, and introduced him into the palace of king Anangodaya, with his daughter’s ornaments on him. When Śrídarśana arrived, the king welcomed him gladly, but first he threw himself at the feet of the ascetic and blessed him. And on an auspicious day he gave Śrídarśana his daughter Anangamanjarí, as if she were the earth garlanded with countless jewels. And then by the power of that ascetic he sent his son-in-law, with his wife, to Málava. And when Śrídarśana arrived there, the king welcomed him gladly, and he lived there in happiness with his two wives.
In course of time king Śrísena went to the next world, and that hero took his kingdom and conquered the whole earth. And when he had attained universal dominion, he had two sons by his two wives Padmishṭhá and Anangamanjarí. And to one of them the king gave the name of Padmasena, and to the other of Anangasena, and he reared them up to manhood.
And in course of time king Śrídarśana, as he was sitting inside the palace with his two queens, heard a Bráhman lamenting outside. So he had the Bráhman brought inside, and asked him why he lamented. Then the Bráhman shewed great perturbation and said to him; “The fire that had points of burning flame (Díptaśikhu) has been now destroyed by a dark cloud of calamity, discharging a loud laugh (Aṭṭahása), together with its line of brightness and line of smoke (Jyotirlekhá and Dhúmalekhá).”[28] The moment the Bráhman had said this, he disappeared. And while the king was saying in his astonishment, “What did he say, and where has he gone,” the two queens, weeping copiously, suddenly fell dead.
When the king saw that sudden calamity, terrible as the stroke of a thunderbolt, he exclaimed in his grief, “Alas! Alas! what means this?” and fell on the ground wailing. And when he fell, his attendants picked him up, and carried him to another place, and Mukharaka took the bodies of the queens, and performed the ceremony of burning them. At last the king came to his senses, and after mourning long for the queens, he completed out of affection their funeral ceremonies. And after he had spent a day darkened by a storm of tears, he divided the empire of the earth between his two sons. Then, having conceived the design of renouncing the world, he left his city, and turning back his subjects who followed him, he went to the forest to perform austerities.
There he lived on roots and fruits, and one day, as he was wandering about at will, he came near a banyan-tree. As soon as he came near it, two women of celestial appearance suddenly issued from it with roots and fruits in their hands, and they said to him, “King, take these roots and fruits which we offer.” When he heard that, he said, “Tell me now who you are.” Then those women of heavenly appearance said to him, “Well come into our house and we will tell you the truth.” When he heard that, he consented, and entering with them, he saw inside the tree a splendid golden city. There he rested and ate heavenly fruits, and then those women said to him, “Now, king, hear.”
“Long ago there dwelt in Pratishṭhána a Bráhman, of the name of Kamalagarbha, and he had two wives, the name of the one was Pathyá, and the name of the other Abalá. Now in course of time all three, the husband and the wives, were worn out with old age, and at last they entered the fire together, being attached to one another. And at that time they put up a petition to Śiva from the fire, ‘May we be connected together as husband and wives in all our future lives!’ Then Kamalagarbha, owing to the power of his severe penances, was born in the Yaksha race as Díptaśikha, the son of the Yaksha Pradíptáksha, and the younger brother of Aṭṭahása. His wives too, Pathyá and Abalá, were born as Yaksha maidens, that is to say, as the two daughters of the king of the Yakshas named Dhúmaketu, and the name of the one was Jyotirlekhá, and the name of the other Dhúmalekhá.
“Now in course of time those two sisters grew up, and they went to the forest to perform asceticism, and they propitiated Śiva with the view of obtaining husbands. The god was pleased and he appeared to them and said to them, ‘That man with whom you entered the fire in a former birth, and who you asked might be your husband in all subsequent births, was born again as a Yaksha named Díptaśikha, the brother of Aṭṭahása, but he has become a mortal owing to the curse of his master, and has been born as a man named Śrídarśana, so you too must go to the world of men and be his wives there, but as soon as the curse terminates, you shall all become Yakshas, husband and wives together.’ When Śiva said this, those two Yaksha maidens were born on the earth as Padmishṭhá and Anangamanjarí. They became the wives of Śrídarśana, and after they had been his wives for some time, that Aṭṭahása, as fate would have it, came there in the form of a Bráhman, and by the device of employing an ambiguous speech, he managed to utter their names and remind them of their former existence, and this made them abandon that body and become Yakshiṇís. “Know that we are those wives of yours, and you are that Díptaśikha.” When Śrídarśana had been thus addressed by them, he remembered his former birth, and immediately became the Yaksha Díptaśikha, and was again duly united to those two wives of his.