1808.] The Poems of Chanel Barclay. 127 



king ; his sway shall be universal ; no sickness shall touch his body. 

 Hundreds and thousands of kings shall acknowledge his power. 

 Pause, lady, and consider ; attend to ray words." So saying, the king 

 of the stars was departing, but the damsel cried, " Stay, tell me by 

 what means to remove the stain I have incurred." Answered the 

 moon, " lady, be not distressed." Quick as a lightning flash she 

 grasped her lover by the hand. 



An episode. The Rdjd asks Vydsa whether the damsel lived with 

 her lover or was separated from him, and at what time this dalliance 

 with the moon took place ; and Vydsa tells the king. 



The rishi relates how many years the damsel stayed in company 

 with her lord, and at what season the meeting with the moon occurred. 

 After sixteen years, through the curse of Indra, the lady became a 

 widow. It was in the fiery month of Jeth, when it is pleasant to be 

 bathing all day long, that the moon to gratify his passion, came down 

 and embraced her ; the whole night was spent in sweet dalliance, yet 

 such is the divine power, the maiden knew it not. As the ocean-born 

 was leaving, she ran and seized him by the hand : " Is it thus you leave 

 me ? mine has been the disgrace, be your's the curse." The Brah- 

 man's daughter ran and seized the Brahman's king (i. e., the moon) 

 crying " Who is this that has come, making me thus criminal ? 

 Wretched that I am without a lord ; in one day wedded and widowed. 

 The wild sea spreads wide before me ; there will I plunge : who will 

 drag me again to the shore ? so the stain of sin shall be washed from 

 my body. Of what avail to avert the inevitable have been my ablutions 

 in Kartik and Magh ? Tell me quickly some remedy : I am not such 

 a one as the wife of Gautama. " Then spoke the starry lord, the 

 moon, lovely monarch of the night, and addressed the damsel : " 

 lady, thy son, noble in mind and body, shall be born a hero on the 

 bank of the Karnavati. Then proceed to Kharjinpur ; there give 

 alms and offer sacrifices ; so a king shall reign at Mahoba, with many 

 horses, many cows, many warrior knights ; with an army complete in 

 all four departments, crushing the hosts of his enemies, truly a great 

 king, whose sway shall be boundless. Then having acquired the 

 philosopher's stone, transforming all things to pure gold, he shall 

 erect statues and temples and excavate a spacious lake. Then after 

 founding the fort of Kalinjar, he shall abandon the body, and attain 



