Go, Kotika, and enquire who her
husband may be.' Thus asked, Kotika, wearing a kundala, jumped out of
his chariot and came near her, as a jackal approacheth a tigress, and
spake unto her these words."
SECTION CCLXIII
"Kotika said, 'Excellent lady, who art thou that standest alone, leaning
on a branch of the _Kadamva_ tree at this hermitage and looking grand
like a flame of fire blazing at night time, and fanned by the wind?
Exquisitely beautiful as thou art, how is it that thou feelest not any
fear in these forests? Methinks thou art a goddess, or a _Yakshi_, or a
_Danavi_, or an excellent _Apsara_, or the wife of a _Daitya_, or a
daughter of the _Naga_ king, or a _Rakshasi_ or the wife of Varuna, or
of Yama, or of Soma, or of Kuvera, who, having assumed a human form,
wanderest in these forests. Or, hast thou come from the mansions of
Dhatri, or of Vidhatri, or of Savitri, or of Vibhu, or of Sakra? Thou
dost not ask us who we are, nor do we know who protects thee here!
Respectfully do we ask thee, good lady, who is thy powerful father, and,
O, do tell us truly the names of thy husband, thy relatives, and thy
race, and tell us also what thou dost here. As for us, I am king
Suratha's son whom people know by the name of Kotika, and that man with
eyes large as the petals of the lotus, sitting on a chariot of gold,
like the sacrificial fire on the altar, is the warrior known by the name
of Kshemankara, king of Trigarta.
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