“Such was the apartment to which the princess Padmãvatï took the prince and gave him a seat, and having his feet washed, and applying sandal to his body, and placing a garland of flowers round his neck, and sprinkling rose-water over him, began fanning him with her own hands. Upon this the prince said, ‘At the mere sight of you I have become refreshed; why do you take so much trouble? These delicate hands are not fit to handle a fan; give me the fan; you be seated.’ Padmãvatï replied, ‘Great king! you have been at great trouble to come here for my sake, it behoves me to wait upon you.’ Then a maiden took the fan from the princess’s hand, and said, ‘This is my business; I will attend on you, and do you both enjoy yourselves.’ They began eating betel-leaf together, and engaging in familiar conversation, when, by this time, it became morning. The princess concealed him; (and) when night came on, they again engaged in amorous pleasures. Thus several days passed away. Whenever the prince showed a wish to depart the princess would not permit him. A month passed thus; then the prince became much disturbed, and very anxious.”
“Once it happened that he was sitting alone by night and thinking thus to himself, ‘Country, throne, family,—everything had already been separated from me; but such a friend as mine, by whose means I found all this happiness, even him have I not met for a whole month! What will he be saying in his heart? and how do I know what may be happening to him?’ He was sitting occupied with these anxious thoughts when, in the meanwhile, the princess too arrived, and seeing his predicament, began to inquire, ‘Great king! what grief possesses you that you are sitting so dispirited here? Tell me.’ Then he said, ‘I have a very dear friend, the son of the minister; for a whole month I have received no accounts of him: he is such a clever, learned friend, that through his talents (it was that) I obtained thee, and he (it was who) explained all thy secrets.’ The princess said, ‘Great king! your soul is really there; what happiness can you enjoy here? Hence, this is best,—I will prepare confections and sweetmeats, and all kinds of meats, and have them sent; do you, too, go there and feast and comfort him well, and return with your mind at ease.’”
“On hearing this the prince rose up and came forth; and the princess had different kinds of sweetmeats, with poison mixed, cooked and sent. The prince had but just gone and sat beside the minister’s son when the sweetmeats arrived. The minister’s son enquired, ‘Great king! how did these sweetmeats come here?’ The prince replied, ‘I was sitting there anxious concerning you, when the princess came, and looking at me, asked, ‘Why do you sit cast-down? Explain the reason of it.’ On this I gave her a full account of your skill in reading secrets. * On hearing this account, she gave me permission to come to you, and had these sent for you; if you will partake of them, my heart, too, will be rejoiced.’ Then the minister’s son said, ‘You have brought poison for me; it is well, indeed, that you did not eat of it. Sire! listen to a word from me,—a woman has no love for her lover’s friend: you did not act wisely in mentioning my name there.’ On hearing this the prince said, ‘You talk of such a thing as no one would ever do: if man have no fear of man, it is to be presumed he fears God at least.’”
* In thus translating, I take bhed-chaturãï as a compound:
other translators render it, “the secrets of your
cleverness,” which seems to me to be grammatically
inadmissible, and to lose the sense.
“With these words he took a round sweetmeat from among them and threw it to a dog. As soon as the dog ate it he died convulsed. Seeing this turn of affairs, the prince became incensed, and began to say, ‘It is unbecoming to associate with so false a woman; up to this hour her love has found place in my heart; now, however, it is all over.’ * On hearing this the minister’s son said, ‘Your majesty! what has happened, has happened (i.e., let bygones be bygones); you should now act in such a manner that you may be able to get her away to your home.’ The prince said, ‘Brother! this, too, can be accomplished by you alone.’ The minister’s son said, ‘To-day do this one thing,—go again to Padmãvati, and do just what I tell you,—first go and display much regard and affection for her; (and) when she falls asleep, take off her jewels, and strike her on the left thigh with this trident, and instantly come away from thence.’”
* This translation may seem rather free, but it is not wide
of the sense, which is, “I know well that I have no lore for
her now.” This peculiarly idiomatic use of the word mdlum
occurs in the Bagh-o-bahãr, Arãyishi Mahfil, and many other
Urdu works, and has ever proved a stumbling-block to
translators.
“Having received these instructions, the prince went to Padmãvati at night, and after much affectionate conversation, they both lay down together to sleep; but he was secretly watching his opportunity..To be brief, when the princess fell asleep, he took off all her ornaments, struck her on the left thigh with the trident, and came to his own house. He recounted all the occurrences to the minister’s son, and laid the jewels before him. He then took up the jewels, took the prince with him, and, assuming the guise of a devotee, went and sat in a place for burning bodies. He himself took the part of a spiritual teacher, and making him (the prince) his disciple, said to him, ‘You go into the market and sell these jewels; if anyone should seize you while doing this, bring him to me.’”
“Receiving his instructions, the prince took the jewels with him to the city, and showed them to a goldsmith in close proximity to the king’s palace-gate. As soon as he saw them he recognised them, and said, ‘These are the princess’s jewels; tell me truly, where did you get them?’ He was saying this to him when ten or twenty more men gathered round. To be brief, the kotwãl, hearing the news, sent men and had the prince, together with the jewels and the goldsmith, seized and brought before him, and inspecting the jewels, asked him to state truly where he had got them. When he said, ‘My spiritual preceptor has given them to me to sell, but I know not whence he got them,’—then the kotwãl had the preceptor also apprehended and brought before him, and taking them both, together with the jewels, into the presence of the king, related all the circumstances.”
“On hearing the narrative the king addressed the devotee, saying, ‘Master! whence did you obtain these jewels?’ The devotee said, ‘Your majesty! on the fourteenth night of the dark lunar fortnight I visited a burning-ground to perfect some spells for a witch: when the witch came, I took off her jewels and apparel, and made the impression of a trident on her left thigh; in this way these ornaments came into my possession.’ On hearing this statement of the devotee’s, the king went into his private apartments, and the devotee to his seat * (in the burning-ground). The king said to the queen, ‘Just see if there is a mark on Padmãvati’s left thigh or not, and (if so) what sort of a mark there is.’ The queen having gone and looked, found the mark of a trident. She returned and said to the king, ‘Your majesty! there are three parallel marks; indeed, it appears as if some one had struck her with a trident.’”
* The ãsan is, generally, the skin of a deer, or leopard, or
tiger, which religious mendicants carry with them to sit
upon. The hide of a black antelope is commonly preferred.
Some of the gods are fabled to use the lotus-flower for the
purpose.