148 ESSAY ON 



he assembled his council ; and, after consulting to- 

 gether, it was agreed, that the king should go again, 

 and ask him who he was. The supposed spirit, being 

 questioned, answered, I am a Gandliar^a, or heavenly 

 choirister ; who, having incurred Indra's displea- 

 sure, was doomed to assume the shape of an ass. I 

 was born in that shape, in the house of a Cuvibha- 

 cava, or potter, in your capital city ; and I am daily 

 roving about in quest of food. The king said, that 

 he was very willing to give him his daughter ; but 

 that he conceived, that such an union was altogether 

 impossible, whilst he remained in that shape. The 

 Gandharva said, trouble not yourself about that ; 

 comply with my request, and it will be well with 

 you. If, says the king, you are so powerful, turn 

 the walls of my city, and those of the houses, into 

 brass ; and let it be done before sun-rise to-morrow. 

 The Gandharva agreed to it, and the whole was 

 completed by the appointed time ; and the king, of 

 course, gave him his daughter." Several learned 

 Pandits inform me, that this Gand'harva's name 

 was Jayanta, the son of Brahma'. When cursed 

 by Indra, he humbled himself; and Indra, relent- 

 ing, allowed him to resume his human shape in the 

 night time ; telling him, that the curse should not 

 be done away, till somebody had burned his ass-like 

 frame. 



It is said, in the Vicrama-Upadhyana, that the 

 mother of the damsel spied them once in the night ; 

 and, to her great joy, found that the Gandharva 

 dallied with her daughter in a human shape. Re- 

 joiced at this discovery, she looked for his ass-like 

 form, and burned it. Early in the morning, the 

 Gandharva looked for this body of his, and found 

 that it had been destroyed. He returned immediately 

 to his wife, informing her of what had happened, 

 and that his curse being at an end, he was obliged to 

 return to heaven, and leave her. He informed her 



