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Straight away he sped to the palace of Patala and into her room, where she was pacing to and fro in an agony of anxiety about him; for she had heard of his having been taken prisoner and feared that her father would order him to be killed. What do you think would have been the best thing for the king to do when Putraka was brought before him?
Indra, the chief of the inferior gods, presiding over the clouds, rain, thunder, &c. Kailâsa, a mountain, part of the Himâlaya chain. Kalahakantaka, the man who fell in love with a portrait. Kalindí, Queen of Pâtâla, wife of Matanga. Kalpasundari, wife of Vikatavarma, afterwards of Upahâravarma. Kâma or Kandarpa, the God of Love. Kâmamanjari, the actress who seduced the Muni.
But the old woman's son stayed in a wood outside the village. And lo and behold! just about midnight the serpent-maidens from Patâla and the wood-nymphs came close to where he was and began to worship Mahalaxmi. The boy was at first terribly frightened, but at last he plucked up courage enough to ask, "Ladies, ladies, what does one gain by worshipping Mahalaxmi?"
Pliny mentions, that both the leaves and the spices were of great value, and that the odour was the most esteemed in the composition of all unguents. The price at Rome was 100 denarii a pound. The markets at which the Arabian and other merchants bought it were Patala on the Indus, Ozeni, and a mart on or near the Ganges.
North of this place, on the bank of the river which flows through the Dandaka forest, there is a remarkable rock, glittering with crystal and marked with the footsteps of Gaurí. Go thither; in the side of the rock you will see a yawning chasm, enter it and search till you find a copper plate with letters engraved on it; follow the directions therein contained, and you will become King of Pâtâla.
"Whatever you lose you will find," said the serpent-maidens from Patala; "and whatever you want you will get." The boy resolved that he too would worship Mahalaxmi. And he joined the serpent-maidens from Patâla and the wood-nymphs, and all night long they blew on earthen pots to do the goddess honour; and the woods echoed and re-echoed with the deep-booming noise which they made.
So just as he had told the Queen Patmadhavrani, he told Queen Chimadevrani all the rites which he had seen the serpent-maidens from Patala and the wood-nymphs perform. Everything went on just the same for a whole year. But the next year on the 8th of Ashwin a very strange thing happened. The goddess Mahalaxmi disguised herself as an old beggar-woman and came to Atpat.
And because all watery forms such as the Moon and others shower their water on the region, therefore hath this excellent region been called Patala. It is from here that the celestial elephant Airavata, for the benefit of the universe, taketh up cool water in order to impart it to the clouds, and it is that water which Indra poureth down as rain.
The Brahman woman began to cry, until at last the hobgoblin's wife had pity on her and said, "Do not be afraid; walk a little way until you come to an altar to the god Shiva, Close by is a bel tree; climb into it and hide among the branches. To-night the serpent-maidens from Patâla and the wood-nymphs, together with a train of seven demon Asuras, will come and worship at the altar.
Now it so happened that that very day a band of serpent-maidens had come up from Patala. After wandering through the forest and bathing in the running streams, they had joined a bevy of wood-nymphs and were coming in her direction. At first she was too terrified to say a single word. But at last she asked, "Ladies, ladies, where are you going?"
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