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

THE CITY OF SRAVASTI 31
the Vidyadharas, for they might slay you out of enmity, as
you are alone, and have not obtained your position of emperor.
So come, let us now take you to a land which is
inaccessible to them. Does not the moon delay to shine
when the circle of the sun is eclipsed ? 1 And when the
auspicious day arrives you shall marry this daughter of
mine." When she had said this, she took him and flew up
into the air with him, and her daughter accompanied them.
And she took him to the city of Sravasti, and deposited him
in a garden, and then she disappeared with her daughter
Ajinavati.
There King Prasenajit, who had returned from a distant
hunting expedition, saw that prince of noble form and
feature. The king approached him full of curiosity, and
asked him his name and lineage, and then, being much delighted,
courteously conducted him to his palace. It was
full of troops of elephants, adorned with lines of horses, and
looked like a pavilion for the Fortune of Empire to rest in
when wearied with her wanderings. Wherever a man born
to prosperity may be, felicities eagerly approach him, as
women do their beloved one. This accounts for the fact
that the king, being an admirer of excellence, gave Naravahanadatta
his own daughter, named Bhagirathayasas. And
the prince lived happily there with her in great luxury, as
if with Good Fortune created by the Disposer in flesh and
blood for his delectation.
One evening, when the lover of the night had arisen,
1 The meaning is far from clear, and we at once suspect a corrupted
reading in the B. text. The reading is Nenduh kshipati kim kalam, parikshine
'rka-mandale f " Why should the "
eclipse of the sun be mentioned ? It needs
only the moon's conjunction with the sun to obliterate tne light. Besides,
the comparison with Naravahanadatta is meaningless.
Kalam kshipati may mean "to delay," but not " to delay to shine."
Now the D. text reads : Nenduh kshipati kim kalam parikshtno
'
rkamandale ?
" Does not the moon, when he is in a state of weakness, spend some time
within the circle of the sun?" Here the simile is clear. Naravahanadatta
is in a weak state at the moment, like the new moon. As the moon resides
so Naravahanadatta is
with the sun, to await his time and regain his strength,
to reside at Sravasti with King Prasenajit. A pun is apparently contained in
See Speyer, op. cit,
mandale which can mean both "circle" and "territory."
pp. 142, 143. n.m.p.