CHAPTER LVIII.
Revival of Padma.
Argument. Extinction of the Spiritual life of Lílá, and Restoration of Padma’s Life.
Vasishtha continued:—It was in the meantime that the goddess of wisdom, stopped the course of Vidúratha’s life, as we stop the flight of our minds at will.
2. Lílá said:—Tell me, goddess, what length of time has expired, since the corpse of the king was laid in this tomb, and I was absorbed in my deep meditation.
3. The goddess replied:—A month has passed since these maid servants of thine have been waiting here for watching thy body, which they thought lay asleep in the room.
4. Hear excellent lady! what has become of thy body, after it was rotten in a fortnight and evaporated in the air.
5. Seeing thy lifeless corpse lying as cold as frost on the ground, and turning as dry as a log of wood, or rather as a withered leaf on the floor;—
6. The royal ministers thought thee to be dead of thyself (a suicide), and removed thy putrid carcase out of the room.
7. And what more shall I say, than they laid thy corpse on a heap of sandal wood, and having set fire to the pile with the sprinkling of ghee, they reduced it to ashes in a short while.
8. Then the family raised a loud cry that their queen was dead, and wept bitterly for sometime, after which they performed thy funeral ceremonies.