Note 11 — Chapter LIII

Then Víravara went quickly to his house that night, and the king followed him unobserved. There he woke up his wife Dharmavatí and told her, that, by the counsel of the goddess Earth, he must offer up his son for the sake of the king. She, when she heard it, said—“We must certainly do what is for the advantage of the king; so wake up our son and tell him.” Then Víravara woke up his son, and told him all that the goddess Earth had told him, as being for the interest of the king, down to the necessity of his own sacrifice. When the child Sattvavara heard this, he, being rightly named, said to his father,11 “Am I not fortunate, my father, in that my life can profit the king? I must requite him for his food which I have eaten; so take me and sacrifice me to the goddess for his sake.” When the boy Sattvavara said this, Víravara answered him undismayed, “In truth you are my own son.” When king Vikramatunga, who was standing outside, heard this, he said to himself—“Ah! the members of this family are all equally brave.”