When he had said this, he went up to her weeping and said, “Princess, do not go away anywhere now; for I am your former lover Muktáphalaketu. I became a man by the curse of the hermit Dṛiḍhavrata, and I have now remembered my former birth.” When he had said this, he tried, in his eagerness, to embrace her. But she was alarmed and made herself invisible, and remained there with her eyes full of tears: and the prince, not seeing her, fell on the ground in a swoon.
Then his friend sorrowfully spoke these words into the air, “How is it, princess Padmávatí, that, now this lover has come, for whom you suffered such severe austerities, you will not speak to him? I too am Saṃyataka the comrade of your beloved: why do you not say something kind to me, as I was cursed for you?” After saying this, he restored the prince, and said to him, “This punishment has come upon you as the result of the crime you committed in not accepting the Daitya princess, who offered herself to you out of love.”
When Padmávatí, who was concealed, heard this, she said to her ladies-in-waiting, “Listen, he has no inclination for Asura maidens.” Then her ladies said to her, “You see that all tallies together. Do you not remember that long ago, when your beloved was cursed, he craved as a boon from the hermit Tapodhana, that while he was a man, his heart might never be inclined to any one but Padmávatí. It is in virtue of that boon that he now feels no love for other women.” When the princess heard this, she was bewildered with doubt.
Then Muktáphaladhvaja, who had no sooner seen his beloved, than she disappeared from his eyes, cried out, “Ah! my beloved Padmávatí, do you not see that when I was a Vidyádhara, I incurred a curse in Meghavana for your sake? And now be assured that I shall meet my death here.”
When Padmávatí heard him utter this and other laments, she said to her ladies-in-waiting, “Though all indications seem to tally, still these two may possibly have heard these things at some time or other by communication from mouth to mouth, and therefore my mind is not convinced. But I cannot bear to listen to his sorrowful exclamations, so I will go to that temple of Gaurí; moreover it is the hour of worship for me there.” When Padmávatí had said this, she went with her ladies-in-waiting to that hermitage of Ambiká, and after worshipping the goddess she offered this prayer, “If the man I have just seen in Siddhíśvara is really my former lover, bring about for me, goddess, my speedy reunion with him.”
And while Padmávatí was there, longing for her beloved, Muktáphaladhvaja, who had remained behind in Siddhíśvara, said to his friend Mahábuddhi, who had been in a former life his friend Saṃyataka, “I am convinced, my friend, that she has gone to her own haunt, that temple of Gaurí; so come, let us go there.” When he had said this, he ascended that chariot of his, which went wherever the mind desired, and flew to that hermitage of Ambiká.
When Padmávatí’s ladies-in-waiting saw him afar off, coming down in the chariot from the sky, they said to Padmávatí, “Princess, behold this marvel. He has come here also, travelling in an air-going chariot; how can he, a mere man, have such power?” Then Padmávatí said, “My friends, do you not remember that on Dṛiḍhavrata, who cursed him, I laid the following curse, ‘When my beloved is incarnate as a man, you shall be his vehicle, assuming any desired shape, and moving in obedience to a wish.’ So, no doubt, this is that hermit’s pupil, his vehicle, wearing at present the form of an air-going chariot, and by means of it he roams everywhere at will.”
When she said this, her ladies-in-waiting said to her, “If you know this to be the case, princess, why do you not speak to him? What are you waiting for?” When Padmávatí heard this speech of her ladies’, she went on to say, “I think that this probably is the case, but I am not absolutely certain as yet. But, even supposing he really is my beloved, how can I approach him, now that he is not in his own body, but in another body? So, let us for a time watch his proceedings, being ourselves concealed.” When the princess had said this, she remained there concealed, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting.
Then Muktáphaladhvaja descended from the chariot in that hermitage of Ambiká, and being full of longing, said to his friend, “Here I had my first interview with my beloved, when she had been terrified by the Rákshasís; and I again saw her in the garden here, when she came having chosen me for her own; and here I received the curse, and she wished to follow me by dying; but was, though with difficulty, prevented by that great hermit: and now, see, that very same lady flies out of reach of my eyes.”
When Padmávatí heard him speak thus, she said to her ladies-in-waiting, “True, my friends, it is really my beloved, but how can I approach him, before he has entered his former body? In this matter Siddhíśvara is my only hope. He sent me the dream, and he will provide for me a way out of my difficulties.” When she had formed this resolution, she went back to Siddhíśvara. And she worshipped that manifestation of Śiva, and offered this prayer to him, “Unite me with my beloved in his former body, or bestow death on me. I see no third way of escape from my woe.” And then she remained with her friends in the court of the god’s temple.