Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c5.69.2

v1.c5.69.2

But my father did not give me to them, O Rākshasa prince. I will tell thee why. Hearken, O strong-armed one. My father would fain have Viṣhṇu, the lord of the three worlds, as son-in-law. Therefore my father would give me to no other. But when the prince of the Daityas, Çambhu his name, heard of this, he was angry with him who boasted his might. This villain did evil to my father in the night, as he slept. Then my excellent mother, deep stricken, clasped my father’s body, and went thus into the fire. With the resolve : “ I will make this wish of my father’s, directed to Nārāyaṇa, a true thing,” I carry this god now in my heart. Now that I have undertaken this vow I am carrying out a mighty penance. With this I have told thee all, O Rākshasa prince. Nārāyaṇa will be my husband, and none but Purushottama. Thus I am giving myself up to dreadful ascetic vows in the yearning for Nārāyaṇa. I know thee, O king. Go, son of Paulastya. Through my asceticism I know all that is in the three worlds.” Rāvaṇa spoke once more to the maiden in the midst of her heavy penance, climbing down from his chariot of the gods and stricken with the dart of love : “ Thou art haughty, O fair-hipped one, to cherish such a resolve. The storing up of virtuous merit is something praise-worthy for old folk, O gazelle-eyed one. But thou, O timid one, that art favoured with every gift, and art the beauty of the three worlds, must not speak thus. Thy youthful bloom is fleeting.