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

48 THE OCEAN OF STORY
you to conquer, when you have obtained the sciences peculiar
to the Vidyadharas.
" But the king named Gaurimunda, who rules in the
midst of the southern division, is evil-minded and exceedingly
hard to conquer on account of the might of his magic science.
Moreover, he is a great friend of your enemy Manasavega.
Until he is overcome your undertaking will not prosper ; so
acquire as quickly as possible great and transcendent power
of science."
When Pingalagandhara had said this, Dhanavati spake :
"Good, my son! it is as this king tells thee. Go hence to
the land of the Siddhas x and propitiate the god Siva, in order
that thou mayest obtain the magic sciences, for how can
there be any excelling without his favour ? And these kings
will be assembled there to protect thee." Then Chitrangada
said :
" It is even so ; but I will advance in front of all : let
us conquer our enemies."
Then Naravahanadatta determined to do as they had
advised, and he performed the auspicious ceremony before
setting out, and bowed at the feet of his tearful parents and
other superiors, and received their blessing, and then ascended
with his wives and ministers in a splendid palankeen provided
by the skill of Amitagati, and started on his expedition,
obscuring the heaven with his forces, that resembled the
water of the sea raised by the wind at the end of a kalpa, as
it were proclaiming, by the echoes of his army's roar on the
limits of the horizon, that the emperor of the Vidyadharas
had come to visit them.
And he was rapidly conducted by the king of the Gandharvas
and the chiefs of the Vidyadharas and Dhanavati to
that mountain, which was the domain of the Siddhas. There
the Siddhas prescribed for him a course of self-mortification,
and he performed asceticism by sleeping on the ground, bath-
ing in the early morning, and eating fruits. And the kings
of the Vidyadharas remained surrounding him on every side,
guarding him unweariedly day and night. And the Vidyadhara
princesses, contemplating him eagerly while he was
performing his penance, seemed with the gleams of their eyes
1 In Sanskrit Siddhakshetra.