A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s8.6

c21.s8.6

when Puṇḍarīka's body was carried away, he had followed and the Moon had deigned to explain the happening; dying, Puṇḍarīka had cursed him, though blameless, to suffer himself on earth the pangs of that love which was destroying him. He in turn has vowed that Puṇḍarīka should share his misfortunes and had taken the body away to keep until the appointed time of his own descent to earth. Kapiñjala was returning with this news, when he was cursed by a semidivine being, over whom he ran, to become a horse; on entreaty the curse was modified to end this condition on his master's death, and he learned that the Moon and Puṇḍarīka were about to be incarnated as Candrāpīḍa and Vaiçampāyana, and he as the horse Indrāyudha. So saying, Kapiñjala goes out to seek Çvetaketu's advice to end the curse; of Pattralekhā he knows nothing. Mahāçvetā and Kādambarī decided to spend the time together beside the body of the prince which became lovelier every day, and Tārāpīḍa and Çukanāsa with their wives joined in the vigil. Here ended Jābāli's tale, and the parrot knew the truth, that it was Vaiçampāyana dreeing the weird appointed for him. The impatient parrot desires to know its future fate, but is rebuked for its haste, and told that it would have as brief a life in its new condition as when Puṇḍarīka. It is consoled by the advent of Kapiñjala, sent to it by Çvetaketu with the news that he and Lakṣmī, ashamed of past neglect, are now engaged in sacrifice to end the curse, and that it must stay peacefully in the hermitage until the due season. Impatient, however, it flies off, is caught by a Caṇḍāla for his princess, who has brought it to the king; this is all it knows and here ends its tale, which the poet resumes. The Caṇḍāla maiden reveals herself as Lakṣmī, mother of the parrot, who had captured it to save it from the consequences of filial disobedience; she bids the king now quit this life and both he and the parrot at once perish, thus completing the human lives in which they had to suffer. At this moment Candrāpīḍa comes to life in Kādambarī's eyes, Puṇḍarīka descends from the sky, all are reunited, Candrāpīḍa places Puṇḍarīka on the throne, and in devotion to his parents spends his time partly at Ujjain, partly at Hemakūṭa, Kādambarī's parental home, and partly in the moon, his own abode, while Pattralekhā is revealed as Rohiṇī, best beloved of the queens of the Moon.