After surviving the wreck, Princess Mandaravati woke up on the shore of the strange new place.
She realized that she had been stranded in some strange place with no hopes of getting out of here and informing the others of her plight and she wept.
At that time, Sage Matanga came to the sea shore to take bath in the river. He was taken aback to find a beautiful princess there.
He calmed her down, talked with her and soon how she had ended up here.
Sage Matanga was a very kind man. “Do not cry, princess. If you are brave enough, you can overcome all this and meet your prince. Until then you can stay here at my hermitage and my daughter will be your companion.”
The princess realized that she had no other choice and she was grateful for Sage Matunga’s offer.
She went to the sage’s hermitage and stayed there.
Meanwhile, Prince Sundarasena had troubles of his own.
He could not stay at Alaka anymore. Even as the auspicious day approached he asked his father to send to Hamsadvipa to meet the princess.
From his kingdom, Prince Sundarasena had to travel to Sasankpura which was a seaport town and from there the prince had to take the ship to Hamsadvipa.
When Prince Sundarasena arrived at Sasankpura, he was the guest of the honour of the king of the place, for a day.
The very next day, the prince set off to Hamsadvipa with his friends in two ships.
On the third day of the ship's journey, a ghastly wind blew across the seas.
It went so bad that the people in both the ships realized that they had to abandon the ships if they had to survive.
Prince Sundarasena and one of his friends Drdhabhuddhi jumped from the ship into the sea with the raging sea around.
Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara
No comments:
Post a Comment