Simhasanadvatrimshika 18.p6

18.p6

A gift should be given to one in distress; in an abode of righteousness, benevolence towards others should be performed with mind, deed, and speech. This is taught as the treatise on worldly wisdom for ordinary men. That King Vikrama, by his very nature, was knowledgeable in all treatises on worldly wisdom. As time passed in this manner, one day a certain foreigner, having seen the king, sat down. Then the king said: "O Devadatta, where is your home?" He said: "O king, I am a foreigner; I have no home at all; I always wander about." The king said: "From wandering the earth, what wondrous things have you seen?" He said: "O king, I have seen a great wonder." The king said: "What is it? Tell me." He said: "On Mount Udayācala there is a great palace of the sun. There the Gaṅgā flows, and on the bank of the Gaṅgā there is a temple of Śiva that destroys sin. From that stream of the Gaṅgā, a certain golden pillar emerges. Upon it is a throne studded with the nine gems. From sunrise, that golden pillar reaches above the earth, and at midday it reaches the orb of the sun; then, as the sun reaches setting, it too, descending on its own, submerges into the stream of the Gaṅgā. It happens there every single day. This great wonder was seen by me." King Vikrama also, having heard that, went to that place with him and fell asleep at night. At dawn, as the sun reached rising, the golden pillar fitted with the jewel-throne emerged from the stream of the Gaṅgā. The king sat down upon that pillar himself. The pillar began to proceed to the orb of the sun; as it came near the sun, the king's body was burnt by the sun's rays, which were like sparks of fire, and became the shape of a lump of flesh. Then, reaching the orb of the sun in the form of a lump: