Note 12 — Chapter CXXIII

When he had said this, we wandered about in the temple, and saw in one place a female figure on a pillar, of extraordinary beauty. When the king saw her, he was bewildered by her beauty, and remained for a moment absent-minded and motionless, so that he himself was like a figure cut on a pillar. And he exclaimed, “If I do not see a living woman like this figure, of what profit to me is my kingdom or my life?” When the Vetála heard this, he said, “Your wish is not hard to gratify, for the king of Kalinga has a daughter named Kalingasená, and a sculptor of Vardhamána seeing her, and being desirous of representing her beauty, carved this figure in imitation of her.12 So return to Ujjayiní, king, and ask that king of Kalinga for his daughter, or carry her off by force.” This speech of the Vetála’s the king laid up in his heart.