under my feet.  And these are the garlands beautiful and fragrant and twined with silken threads that belong to him.  And he, bright with fervent piety, having scattered these garlands here, went back to his own hermitage.  His departure hath saddened my heart; and my frame seems to be in a burning sensation!  And my desire is to go to him as soon as I can, and to have him every day walk about here.  O father, let me this very moment go to him.  Pray, what is that religious observance which is being practised by him.  As he of a noble piety is practising penances, so I am desirous to live the same life with him.  My heart is yearning after similar observances.  My soul will be in torment if I see him not."’”

SECTION CXIII

“’Vibhandaka said, “Those are, O son!  Rakshasas.  They walk about in that wonderfully beautiful form.  Their strength is unrivalled and their beauty great.  And they always meditate obstruction to the practice of penances.  And, O my boy, they assume lovely forms and try to allure by diverse means.  And those fierce beings hurled the saints, the dwellers of the woods, from blessed regions (won by their pious deeds).  And the saint who hath control over his soul, and who is desirous of obtaining the regions where go the righteous, ought to have nothing to do with them.  And their acts are vile and their delight is in causing obstruction to those who practise penance; (therefore) a pious man should never look at them.  And, O son! those were drinks unworthy to be drunk, being as they were spirituous liquors consumed by unrighteous men.  And these garlands, also, bright and fragrant and of various hues, are not intended for saints.”  Having thus forbidden his son by saying that those were wicked demons, Vibhandaka went in quest of her.  And when by three day’s search he was unable to trace where she was he then came back to his own hermitage.  In the meanwhile, when the son of Kasyapa had gone out to gather fruits, then that very courtesan came again to tempt Rishyasringa in the manner described above.  And as soon as Rishyasringa had her in sight, he was glad and hurriedly rushing towards him said, “Let us go to thy hermitage before the return of my father.”  Then, O king! those same courtesans by contrivances made the only son of Kasyapa enter their bark, and unmoored the vessel.  And by various means they went on delighting him and at length came to the side of Anga’s king.  And leaving then that floating vessel of an exceedingly white tint upon the water, and having placed it within sight of the hermitage, he similarly prepared a beautiful forest known by the name of the Floating Hermitage.  The king, however, kept that only son of Vibhandaka within that part of the palace destined for the females when of a sudden he beheld that rain was poured by the heavens and that the world began to be flooded with water.  And Lomapada, the desire of his heart fulfilled, bestowed his daughter Santa on Rishyasringa in marriage.  And with a view to appease the wrath of his father, he ordered kine to be placed, and fields to be ploughed, by the road that Vibhandaka was to take, in order to come to his son.  And the king also placed plentiful cattle and stout cowherds, and gave the latter the following order: