Then the Gandharva Bhímabhaṭa comforted those two, who were weeping, both deeply moved at being reunited after so long a separation. And Mṛigánkadatta, bowing, said to that Gandharva, “That I have recovered this friend of mine, and that he has recovered his eyesight, is all due to your wondrous might. Honour to you!” When the Gandharva heard that, he said to that prince, “You shall soon recover all your other ministers, and obtain Śaśánkavatí as a wife, and become king of the whole earth. So you must not lose heart. Now, auspicious one, I depart, but I will appear to you when you think of me.”
When the matchless chief of the Gandharvas had said this to the prince, and so testified his friendship for him, as his curse was at an end, and he had obtained prosperous felicity, he flew up swiftly into the sky, making the whole air resound with the tinkling of his beautiful bracelet and necklace.
And Mṛigánkadatta, having recovered Prachaṇḍaśakti, and so regained his spirits, spent that day in the wood, accompanied by his ministers.
[1] Cp. Vol. I, pp. 355 and 577.
[2] The Sanskrit College MS. reads na for tu.
[3] I read jánási with the Sanskrit College MS. instead of jánámi which Dr. Brockhaus gives in his text.
[4] For European methods of attaining invisibility see Brand’s Popular Antiquities, Vol. I, p. 315; Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen, und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. II, pp. 29 and 31; Kuhn, Westfälische Märchen, Vol. I, p. 276, Vol. II, p. 177. The virtues of the Tarnkappe are well-known. In Europe great results are expected from reciting certain sacred formulæ backwards. A somewhat similar belief appears to exist among the Buddhists. Milton’s “backward muttering of dissevering charms” is perhaps hardly a case in point.
[5] An elaborate pun! varṇa = caste and also colour: kalá = digit of the moon and accomplishment, or fine art: doshákara = mine of crimes and also the moon. Dowson, in his Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, tells us that Láṭa is a country comprising Kandesh and part of Guzerat about the Mhye river. It is now called Lár and is the Λαρικη of Ptolemy.
[6] I read prápnomyaham the reading of the Sanskrit College MS.