certainly slay that injurer of ours, with stones, and dust, and grass, and wood, and cuffs.’  And hearing these dreadful words of the merchants, Damayanti, in terror and shame and anxiety, fled into the woods apprehensive of evil.  And reproaching herself she said, ’Alas! fierce and great is the wrath of God on me.  Peace followeth not in my track.  Of what misdeed is this the consequence?  I do not remember that I did ever so little a wrong to any one in thought, word, or deed.  Of what deed, then, is this the consequence?  Certainly, it is on account of the great sins I had committed in a former life that such calamity hath befallen me, viz., the loss of my husband’s kingdom, his defeat at the hands of his own kinsmen, this separation from my lord and my son and daughter, this my unprotected state, and my presence in this forest abounding in innumerable beasts of prey!’”

“The next day, O king, the remnant of that caravan left the place bewailing the destruction that had overtaken them and lamenting for their dead brothers and fathers and sons and friends.  And the princess of Vidarbha began to lament, saying, ’Alas!  What misdeed have I perpetrated!  The crowd of men that I obtained in this lone forest, hath been destroyed by a herd of elephants, surely as a consequence of my ill luck.  Without doubt, I shall have to suffer misery for a long time.  I have heard from old men that no person dieth ere his time; it is for this that my miserable self hath not been trodden to death by that herd of elephants.  Nothing that befalleth men is due to anything else than Destiny, for even in my childhood I did not commit any such sin in thought, word, or deed, whence might come this calamity.  Methinks, I suffer this severance from my husband through the potency of those celestial Lokapalas, who had come to the Swayamvara but whom I disregarded for the sake of Nala.’  Bewailing thus, O tiger among kings, that excellent lady, Damayanti, devoted to her husband, went, oppressed with grief and (pale) as the autumnal moon, with those Brahmanas versed in the Vedas that had survived the slaughter of the caravan.  And departing speedily, towards evening, the damsel came to the mighty city of the truth-telling Suvahu, the king of the Chedis.  And she entered that excellent city clad in half a garment.  And the citizens saw her as she went, overcome with fear, and lean, melancholy, her hair dishevelled and soiled with dust, and maniac-like.  And beholding her enter the city of the king of the Chedis, the boys of the city, from curiosity, began to follow her.  And surrounded by them, she came before the palace of the king.  And from the terrace the queen-mother saw her surrounded by the crowd.  And she said to her nurse, ’Go and bring that woman before me.  She is forlorn and is being vexed by the crowd.  She hath fallen into distress and standeth in need of succour.  I find her beauty to be such that it illumineth my house.  The fair one, though looking like a maniac, seemeth a very