The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's ...

154 THE OCEAN OF STORY
of the Gandharvas, this daughter of thine, Padmavati, shall
be the wife of that king of the Vidyadharas who shall be
the foe of Vidyuddhvaja." Then that maiden Padmavati
gradually grew up, adorned with an overflowing effulgence of
beauty, as if with billowy nectar acquired by her being born
in the world of the moon. 1
And that Muktaphalaketu, even when a child, was highminded,
and being always devoted to Siva, he performed
asceticism, in the form of vows, fasts and other penances.
And once on a time, when he had fasted twelve days, and
was absorbed in meditation, the adorable Siva appeared to
him, and said : "I am pleased with this devotion of thine,
so by my special favour the weapons, the sciences, and all
the accomplishments shall manifest themselves to thee. And
receive from me this sword named Invincible, 2
by
means of
which thou shalt hold sovereign sway, unconquered by thy
enemies." When the god had said this, he gave him the
sword and disappeared, and that prince at once became
possessed of powerful weapons and great strength and courage.
Now one day, about this time, that great Asura Vidyuddhvaja,
being established in heaven, was disporting himself
in the water of the heavenly Ganges. He saw the water of
that stream flowing along brown with the pollen of flowers,
and remarked that it was pervaded by the smell of the ichor
of elephants, and troubled with waves. Then, puffed up with
pride of his mighty arm, he said to his attendants : "Go
see who is disporting himself in the water above me."
1
2
Literally "the nectar-rayed one."
Cf. Vol. I, p. 109W 1 , and Vol. VI, p. 72, 72W 1
;
and
also Silius Italicus,i, 430,
quoted by Preller, Griechische Mythologie, vol. ii, p. 354. The passage from
the Punica of Silius Italicus is as follows :
" Hannibal agminibus passim furit et quatit ensem,
Cantato nuper senior quern fecerat igni
Litore ab Hesperidum Temisus, qui carmine pollens
Fidebat magica ferrum crudescere lingua. ..."
In my note on swords and their names in Vol. I, p. 109W 1
, I referred to Caesar's
sword as " Crocea Mors." In a review of the volume Professor Halliday doubted
its genuineness and suggested some mediaeval source. My reference to
Brewer supports this view, as it occurs in Geoffrey of Monmouth, iv, 4
(d. a.d. 1154). N.M.P.