A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s5.146

v2.c19.s5.146

This righteous prince had a bell fixed to his bed, and the rope of this bell hung in the open, so that everybody who bad suffered some wrong could ring it.¹ First the rope is pulled by a cow, whose calf has been run over by the king’s son. The king has his own son, his only son, crushed by the wheels of the same chariot. Then the king’s aid is sought by a bird, whose young one has been killed by a snake, and the king has the snake killed. The bell rings for the third time; this time it is an old woman who is pulling the rope. She has laid some rice out to dry, and an unseasonable shower of rain has spoilt it. The king sees in this the punishment for a sin which he has recently committed. He does penance by fasting, whereupon Sakka orders the rain-god Pajjunna, only to send rain once a week at a certain hour of the night.²