HURD WAR. 
221 
of Purwatti to overpower his hopes, and urged upon 
him with great zeal and affection, that he should ac- 
company him on his voyage down the Ganges to 
Siva’s * chosen city, Benares ; and from thence, if he 
should have gained no relief from his woes, he stre- 
nuously pleaded that he should accompany him to the 
most holy island of Ceylon. To this Purwatti would have 
objected the impossibility of quitting his home without 
incurring the farther curse of his father ; but the pbarl- 
merchant removed his doubts, recommending him to 
leave his daughter under the protection of the Brah- 
mins as a pledge of his intention to return ; and 
although sore at heart to tear himself from his darling 
child, he at last yielded a reluctant consent to accom- 
pany the pearl -merchant; for a spark of hope yet 
lingered in his breast, since he regarded his calamities 
as almost beyond mortal endurance, and altogether too 
severe to be strictly enforced upon him by the gods 
without some measure of remission. 
When Purwatti and the pearl-merchant returned 
to Vanadosini, they communicated to her the news of 
her father’s resolution, which almost broke the tender 
heart of that fond and gentle child; for she had a double 
source of anxiety in the departure of the travellers, the 
pearl-merchant having become daily more dear to her 
soul. On the eve of their journey, Purwatti, having 
* Siva and Mahadeo are names indiscriminately applied to the same 
deity. The former, perhaps, is more generally used in Bengal, and 
the latter in the western provinces. 
u 3 
