Note 12 — Chapter XLV

In the meanwhile the hermit Nárada arrived there again, and after taking the argha, he sat down, and said to those Dánavas, “I have been sent here by Indra, and he in truth says this to you, ‘I am exceedingly delighted at the fact that Sunítha has come back to life; so you must not take up a causeless enmity against me, and you must not fight against my ally Śrutaśarman.’” When the hermit had thus delivered Indra’s message, Prahláda said to him, “Of course Indra is pleased that Sunítha has come back to life, how could it be otherwise? But we at any rate are not taking up causeless hostility. This very day we all took an engagement that we would not do so, in the presence of our spiritual adviser. But if Indra makes himself a partizan12 of Śrutaśarman, and violently opposes us, how are we to be blamed for it? For Súryaprabha’s ally, Śiva, the god of gods, has long ago appointed him, because he propitiated him first. So what have we to do with this matter which has been settled by the lord Śiva? It is clear that this, which Indra says, is without cause, and not right.” When Prahláda, the king of the Dánavas said this to Nárada, he blamed Indra by expressing his agreement with it, and disappeared. When he had gone, Uśanas13 said to the kings of the Dánavas—“Indra is evidently determined to oppose us in this matter. But, as Śiva has decidedly girded up his loins to shew us favour, what is his power, or what will his reliance upon Vishṇu do?” The Dánavas heard and approved this speech of Śukra’s, and taking leave of Bali and Prahláda, went to their own homes. Then Prahláda went to the fourth under-world, his habitation, and king Bali, rising up from the assembly, retired within. And Maya and Sunítha and the others, Súryaprabha and all, bowed before Bali, and went to their own habitations. After they had eaten and drunk there sufficiently, Lílávatí, the mother of Sunítha, came to him and said, “My son, you know that these wives of yours are the daughters of mighty ones, Tejasvatí being the daughter of the god of wealth, Mangalávatí of Tumburu; and as for Kírtimatí, that wife that you married in your existence as Chandraprabha, her you know to be the daughter of the Vasu Prabháva, so you must look upon these three with an equal eye, my son.” After saying this, she commended to him his three principal wives. Then, that night, Sunítha entered his sleeping apartment with the eldest, Tejasvatí.