Note 7 — V. SUDHANA AVADĀNA.1

That same night King Dhana dreamt this dream. A vulture came flying up, tore open the king’s belly, seized his entrails, and wound them around the whole city. And the seven treasures came into the palace. Terrified by this dream, with creeping skin and unquiet mind, he rose swiftly from his couch, and sat down in his sleeping chamber, his head leaning on his hand, absorbed in meditation as to whether he was about to lose his sovereign power or whether he was about to die. In the morning he told his dream to the Purohita, who came to the conclusion that, as the king had dreamt such a dream, the youth must certainly have subdued the mountaineers, and that it was the Purohita’s business to devise some means for his destruction, so he said to the king, “What your majesty has seen in this dream is not good. There is no doubt that either you will lose your sovereignty, or your life will be placed in danger. There is, however, a means of averting this evil. I have found it in the mystic lore of the Brahmans.” “What is the means of averting it?” “Your majesty, let a tank be dug in the park, a man’s height in depth, and let it be lined with mortar, and when all is smooth, let it be filled with the blood of young roes. Then, when you go there to bathe, you will enter the tank as far as the first step, and when you have descended to the first step you will go down to the second step, and after you have descended to the second step you will go on to the third step, and when you have descended to the third step you will go down to the fourth step. Then must four Brahmans, perfectly versed in the Veda and Vedānga, lick your feet with their tongues, and anoint them with the fat of a non-human being (i.e., a demon). In this wise will all that is sinful in your nature become purified, and you will long retain your sovereignty.” The king said, “All this may possibly be carried out, but yet demon-fat is very rare.” The Purohita said, “Your majesty, is that a rarity which it is possible to find?” The king said, “What does that mean?” The Purohita said, “Your majesty, is Manoharā a human or a non-human being?” The king said, “O Purohita, speak not so; for the youth’s life depends upon her.” The Purohita said, “Your majesty, have you not heard that for the sake of the house should one of its inmates be given up, for the sake of the city should the house be given up, for the sake of the country should the city be given up, for the sake of one’s own self should the country be given up?7 If you, O king, are firm, you can bestow another wife on the discerning youth, and cause Manoharā to be put to death.”