When Indumatí had been sent away by the king with this message, she went and delivered it to his wife Svayamprabhá. And when Trailokyaprabhá and Tribhuvanaprabhá the daughters of the Daitya sovereign heard it, they said to their mother Svayamprabhá, “Anxiety lest our youthful purity should be outraged makes the fire seem our only place of safety, so we will enter it, mother, on the fourteenth day, that is now approaching.” When they had thus resolved, their mother and her suite also made up their minds to die. And when the fourteenth day arrived, they all worshipped Háṭakeśvara, and made pyres in a holy bathing-place called Páparipu.
Now it happened that on that very day king Merudhvaja, with his son, and his wife, was coming there to worship Háṭakeśvara. And as he was going to the holy water of Páparipu, with his suite, to bathe, he saw smoke rising from the midst of a grove on its bank. And when the king asked, “How comes smoke to be rising here?” those governors he had set over Pátála, Sangrámasinha and the others, said to him, “Great king, Svayamprabhá, the wife of Trailokyamálin, is engaged in austerities here with her daughters the princesses. Without doubt they are now performing here some sacrificial rite in honour of the fire, or possibly they are wearied out with excessive asceticism, and are immolating themselves by entering it.”
When the king heard that, he went to see what was going on, with his sons, and his wife, and those governors of Pátála, ordering the rest of his suite to remain behind. And concealing himself there, he beheld those Daitya maidens, with their mother, worshipping the fire of the pyres, which was burning brightly.[11] They seemed with the effulgence of the great beauty of their faces which shone out in all directions, to be creating in the lower world a hundred discs of the moon: and to be installing the god of love as king after the conquest of the three worlds, with their swiftly-moving necklaces that looked like liquid streams poured down from the golden pitchers of their breasts. Their broad hips, surrounded with the girdles which they wore, looked like the head of the elephant of love adorned with a girdle of constellations. The long wavy masses of hair which they bore, seemed like snakes made by the Creator to guard the treasure of their beauty. When the king saw them, he was astonished, and he said, “The creation of the Maker of All is surprising for the novelty that is ever being manifested in it:[12] for neither Rambhá, nor Urvaśí, nor Tilottamá is equal in beauty to these two daughters of the Asura king.”
While the king was making these reflections to himself, Trailokyaprabhá, the elder of the two Daitya maidens, after worshipping the god present in the Fire, addressed this prayer to him, “Since, from the time that my mother told me of the revelation of Śiva received by her in a dream, my mind has been fixed upon prince Muktáphaladhvaja, that treasure-house of virtue, as my chosen husband, I pray, holy one, that he may be my husband in a future birth, inasmuch as, though in this birth my mother wishes to give me to him, my haughty father, being a captive, will not consent to it.” When Tribhuvanaprabhá heard that, she, in the same way, prayed to the Fire-god that Malayadhvaja might be her husband in a future life.
Then king Merudhvaja, who was delighted at hearing that, and the queen his wife said to one another, “If our two sons could obtain these two maidens for their wives, they would reap fruit from their conquest of the two worlds. So let us go to them and their mother, before they have cast themselves into the fire, as they intend to do in a moment, and dissuade them from doing so.” When the king, in consultation with the queen, had made up his mind to this, he went up to them, and said, “Do not act rashly: for I will put a stop to your sorrow.” When all the Asura ladies heard this speech of the king’s, that seemed like a rain of nectar to their ears, and afterwards saw him, they all bowed before him.
And Svayamprabhá said to him, “Before we were concealed by magic, and you did not see us, though we saw you, but now we have been seen here by you, the sovereign of the two worlds. And now that we have been seen by you, our sorrow will soon come to an end; much more since you have bestowed on us by your own mouth a boon we never craved; so take a seat and receive the arghya and water for the feet.[13] For you deserve to be honoured by the three worlds; and this is our hermitage.” When she said this, the king answered laughing, “Give the arghya and water for the feet to these your sons-in-law.” Then Svayamprabhá said, “To them the god Śiva will give the arghya and soon, but do you receive it to-day.” Then Merudhvaja said, “I have already received it all; but do you, ladies, immediately give up your intention of committing suicide; and go and dwell in one of your cities where every wish can be gratified; then I will take steps to ensure your welfare.”
When the king said this, Svayamprabhá said to him, “In accordance with your Majesty’s order we have given up our intention of abandoning the body, but while our lord is in prison, how would it be becoming for us to live in our palace? So we will remain here, king, for the present, until your Highness shall perform the promise which you spontaneously made to us, and shall cause our lord to be set free with his servants and ministers. And he will hold sway as your Majesty’s zealous officer, and will make over his realm to you if you desire it; indeed he will make a strict agreement[14] with you to this effect. And for this we and all the inhabitants of Pátála will be your sureties, so take our jewels from the regions of Pátála, and make them your own.”
When she said this, king Merudhvaja said to her, “I will see about that, but you must remember your promise.” When the king had said this, he bathed and worshipped Háṭakeśa. And those Daitya princesses, having now seen his sons with their own eyes, had their minds entirely fixed on them. Then all the inhabitants of Rasátala[15] fell at the feet of the virtuous king Merudhvaja, and asked that Trailokyamálin should be set at liberty; and then king Merudhvaja, with his wife, sons, and servants, left the world of the Asuras, and returned to his own city, covering the regions with his umbrellas white as his own glory. There his son Malayadhvaja spent the night in thinking on the younger daughter of the king of the Dánavas, being tortured with the fever of love, and though he closed his eyes, he never slept. But that sea of self-control Muktáphaladhvaja, though he thought upon the elder daughter of the Asura monarch who was deeply in love with him, and though he was young, and she was fair enough to shake with love the saintly minds of anchorites, still in virtue of the boon he had craved from the hermit, was no whit disturbed in mind. But Merudhvaja, finding that his elder son was determined not to take a wife, while Malayadhvaja was desperately in love, and that on the other hand that great Asura was averse to giving him his daughters, remained with his mind bewildered as to how to devise an expedient.
[1] MS. No. 1882 reads garbhaváse kleśo; and this seems to give a sense more clearly in accordance with the sequel of the story.