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time for the queen to return to her apartment, which was effected in the same way she had come 1
Devadatta, having watched the whole affair, felt relieved of his always recurring thought about Durgila's wickedness, since he found out that even ladies of noble birth were so deeply degraded by their sensuality He at once fell into a sound sleep which lasted a whole week When he woke up he was brought before the king who inquired into the cause of the sudden change in the guard's condition Devadatta then related all he had seen of the queen's intercourse with the elephant's keeper The king ascertained the truth of this information in the following way He caused the naked queens to ascend an elephant constructed out of mats When it was the guilty queen's turn to get on the counterfeited elephant, she pretended to be afraid of it and being beaten by the king with a lotus-stalk, she feigned a swoon The king discovering on her back the marks which the shackle had left, condemned her to death. She had to ascend the elephant together with her low-born lover, who had to drive the animal to a precipice on the Vaibhāra mountains, and thence to precipitate the elephant together with themselves When the crowd of spectators saw the elephant on the brink of the abyss first lifting one, then two, and at last three legs, they besought the king to spare the noble animal. The king assenting, the keeper undertook to lead the elephant safely back, on condition that his and the queen's lives should be spared This they were granted, but they were banished from the country (546-594) Once at nightfall the couple reached an empty shrine and there put up for the night. After a while a 1obber, pursued by policemen, entered the same temple, and feeling his way in the dark, touched and woke the queen up, who by his touch at once became enamoured of him and promised to save his life In the morning when the policemen entered the temple in search of the robber, the queen gave him
1 Cf Katha Sarıt Sagara, Vol I p 169 (TAWNEY)
| SR No. | 010713 |
| Book Title | Sthaviravali Charitra or Parisista Parva |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Hermann Jacobi |
| Publisher | Asiatic Society |
| Publication Year | 1932 |
| Total Pages | 467 |
| Language | Sanskrit, Hindi |
| Classification | Book_Devnagari |
| File Size | 12 MB |