Volume 2 / Book 2 — Chapter X.

After he had gone a long distance the king encamped that day in a certain forest on the border of a lake. He went to bed weary, and in the evening he said to Sangataka a story-teller who had come to him on account of the pleasure he took in his service; “Tell me some tale that will gladden my heart, for I am longing for the joy of beholding the lotus-face of Mṛigávatí.” Then Sangataka said, King why do you grieve without cause? The union with your queen, which will mark the termination of your curse, is nigh at hand. Human beings experience many unions and separations: and I will tell you a story to illustrate this; listen, my lord!

Story of Śrídatta and Mṛigánkavatí.

Once on a time there lived in the country of Málava a Bráhman named Yajnasoma. And that good man had two sons born to him, beloved by men. One of them was known as Kálanemi and the second was named Vigatabhaya. Now, when their father had gone to heaven, those two brothers, having passed through the age of childhood, went to the city of Páṭaliputra to acquire learning. And when they had completed their studies, their teacher Devaśarman gave them his own two daughters, like another couple of sciences incarnate in bodily form.

Then Kálanemi’s brother Vigatabhaya went to a foreign land, having become desirous of visiting places of pilgrimage, through sorrow for his wife, who died of the bite of a snake.