Book Title: Sthaviravali Charitra or Parisista Parva
Author(s): Hermann Jacobi
Publisher: Asiatic Society

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Page 44
________________ Xhiv PARISISTAPARVAN, and, in the presence of a crowd of witnesses, she prepared to pass between the Yaksa's legs, when on a sudden her lover in the guise of a madman came forward and clung to her neck Shaking him off, she called on the god to bear witness of her never having been touched by anybody besides her husband and the aforesaid madman While the puzzled Yaksa was still at a loss how to act, Durgılī had passed between hus legs Her innocence as accordingly acknowledged by all She was from the occurrence just related called Nūpurapandıtā (446545) Devadatta grew so nei vous by constantly thinking of Durgila's wickedness, that ever since he could not sleep for & moment when the king heard of his strange disorder, he appointed him, for that very reason, guard of bis seraglio Now one of the queens often in the night came to look at him whether he was sleeping or not This moved Devadntta's suspicion In order to find out the cause of the queen's strange behaviour, he feigned sleep Upon this, the queen, satisfied that she was now unobseryed, went to a window under which the king's best elephant was being kept The clever beast caught her by his trunk and deposited her on the ground There the elephant's keeper reviled her for having kept him waiting so long, and beat her with the elephant's shackles She pleaded as an excuse the extraordinary vigilance of the new guard, and thus casily pacified her brute lover The couple then enjoyed themselves without restraint, till it was at the ceremony Sho exclaimed, “Brāhman, I have never touched the hand of any man except you, if this is true, may the fire not bum me " Thon she began to enter the fire But at that moment her para mour esclaimed “Behold, the deed of this Brāhman purohita, he is making such a woman enter the fino" Then he went and seized her by the hand She flung away his hand and said to the purohita, "My lord, my solemn asseveration has been spoiled, I cannot enter the fire " He said, “Why not?" She said, “My lord, I solemnly asserted that I had never touched the hand of any man but my husband, and not this fellow has just laid hold of my hand " The Brāhman saw that sho had humbugged him, and he beat her and sent her anay (TAWNEY )

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