Note 1 — Chapter LXXIV

At this point of my tale it happened that, while that king named Ugrabhaṭa, whom I have before mentioned, was living happily in the city of Ráḍhá with his wife Manoramá who was equal to him in birth, there came to his court from a foreign country an actor named Lásaka. And he exhibited before the king that dramatic piece in which Vishṇu, in the form of a woman, carries off the amṛita from the Daityas. And in that piece the king saw the actor’s daughter Lásavatí dancing in the character of Amṛitiká. When he saw her beauty, that was like that of the real Amṛitá, with which Vishṇu bewildered the Dánavas, he fell in love with her. And at the end of the dance he gave her father much wealth, and immediately introduced her into his harem. And then he married that dancer Lásavatí, and lived with her, having his eyes riveted upon her face. One day he said to his chaplain named Yajuḥsvámin, “I have no son, so perform a sacrifice in order to procure me a son.” The chaplain obeyed, and performed duly, with the help of learned Bráhmans, a sacrifice for that king’s benefit. And, as he had been previously gained over by Manoramá, he gave her to eat, as being the eldest queen, the first half of the oblation purified with holy texts.1 And he gave the rest to the second queen Lásavatí. Then those two, Śíladhara and Satyadhara, whom I have before mentioned, were conceived in those two queens. And when the time came, Manoramá, the consort of that king, brought forth a son with auspicious marks. And at that moment a distinct utterance was heard from heaven, “This child who is born shall be a famous king under the name of Bhímabhaṭa.” On the next day Lásavatí also brought forth a son, and the king his father gave him the name of Samarabhaṭa. And the usual sacraments were performed for them, and the two boys gradually grew up. But the eldest Bhímabhaṭa surpassed the youngest in all accomplishments, and rivalry in these increased the natural ill-feeling between them.