A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.s4.4.2

c19.s4.4.2

he marries Alaṁkāravatī, and proceeds to an expedition to a White Island or Continent¹ where he worships Nārāyaṇa with an elaborate prayer written in the most finished Kāvya style; the parallel to the famous episode of the *Mahābhārata* in which sages seek the Çvetadvīpa and take part in the worship of a wonderful deity—which has been deemed a reference to actual experience of Nestorian rites or even of Alexandrian Christianity—is complete, and suggests very strongly that the Kashmirian or the original *Bṛhatkathā* borrowed the episode from the epic as we know it. The next book (xvi) is much more banal; it gives the prince another wife, Çaktiyaças, and imparts a number of unimportant episodes. We resume now in Book xvii the lost thread. Before he can attack Mandaradeva, Naravāhanadatta must receive from the sage Vāmadeva on mount Malaya the seven jewels, emblematic of sovereignty. He then reaches the north by passing under a great tunnel, and by his offer of his own head induces the dread Kālarātri, who guards the exit, to permit his passage. Mandaradeva falls, five more maidens are wed—a repetition of the *motif* in Book xiii, and the great consecration, Mahābhiṣeka, whence the book is named, is duly celebrated, the emperor insisting on his father being present. The work is now finished, but very inconveniently a further book (xviii) is necessary;