Simhasanadvatrimshika 2.p2

2.p2

evam ativicitrataraṃ sthānaṃ dṛṣṭaṃ mayā. tac chrutvā rājā svayam ekākī tena saha tat sthānaṃ gatvā paramānandaṃ prāpya bhaṇati: aho atipavitram etat sthānam. atra sākṣāj jagadambikā nivasati. etat sthānaṃ dṛṣt.vā mano me 'tivimalaṃ bhavati; ity uktvā tatrā 'ntarikṣodake snānaṃ vidhāya devatāṃ praṇamya yatra brāhmaṇo homaṃ karoti tatra gatvā brāhrnaṇam avādīt: bho brāhmaṇa, tava havanam ārabhya kati varṣāṇi jātāni? brāhmaṇeno 'ktam: yadā saptarṣimaṇḍalaṃ revatīnakṣatre prathamacaraṇe sthitam, tadā mayā havanam prārabdham. idānīm aśvinīnakṣatre tiṣṭhati; homaṃ kurvato me varṣaśatam abhūt. tathā 'pi devatā prasannā nā 'bhūt. tac chrutvā rājā devatāṃ smṛtvā svayaṃ homakuṇd.a āhutiṃ cikṣepa. tathā 'pi devatā prasannā nā 'bhūt. tadanantaraṃ rājā svaśiraḥkamalam āhutiṃ dāsyāmī 'ti yāvat kaṇṭhe khaḍgaṃ karoti, tāvad devatā 'ntarāle khaḍgaṃ dhṛtvā 'bravīt: bho rājan, prasannā 'smi, varaṃ vṛṇīṣva. rājñā bhaṇitam:

Hearing this the king, with the messenger as his sole companion, went to that place, and was overjoyed, and said: “Ah, this is a very pure spot; the World-mother dwells here in person. Upon seeing this place, my mind becomes perfectly pure.” So saying, he performed a bath in air (instead of) water, and made obeisance to the deity. Then going to where the brahman was sacrificing, he said to the brahman: “How many years have past by, O brahman, since you began to make sacrifices?” The brahman said: “When the circle of the Seven Seers [the Great Bear] was in the first section of the lunar mansion Revatī, then I began to sacrifice. Now it is in the lunar mansion Açvinī; it is a hundred years that I have been sacrificing. And yet the goddess has not become appeased.” Hearing this the king worshipt the goddess, and himself cast an offering into the fireplace; but even then the goddess was not propitiated. Thereupon the king thought “I will make an offering with my own noble head,” and put his sword to his throat. But at that moment the goddess checkt his sword midway and said: “O king, I am appeased, choose a wish.” The king said: “This brahman has been offering sacrifice for a long time; why are you not propitiated towards him, and why are you so quickly propitiated towards me?” The goddess said: “O king, he makes sacrifice indeed, but there is no soundness in his heart; therefore I am not propitiated. And it is said: