unfortunately, they were not happy. Envy at the splendour by which their sister was surrounded gnawed at their hearts, and they watched for an opportunity to injure her. That opportunity soon came when the queen, knowing that her hour drew near, resorted to the room that had been prepared for her and gave birth to a son; and the cruel way in which they used it, was to put the child into a covered earthen pot, throw it into an adjoining river, and substitute a new-born cur in its place, while the mother lay almost insensible through weakness. When the king came to inquire whether his wife had brought forth a son or a daughter, they showed him the cur as his issue.
After this, in two successive years, the queen brought forth two children, a son and a daughter; and her sisters who, as before, attended on her, disposed of them in the same way as the first child, substituting for them a kitten and a doll of wood. The alleged fruit of the queen's labour, in each case, was made known to the king, who thereupon thought her to be an evil woman whose very touch was contaminating, and he banished her from the kingdom sitting astride a donkey with her face towards the tail, and with ghoul, a mixture of water and curd, poured over her head.[1]
In the meantime the earthen pots containing the king's children had floated to the bank of the river into which they had been cast, and attracted the attention of a Brahmin performing his devotions there. He took them home, and removing their coverings found therein two prince-like boys and a girl possessing the beauty of a goddess. Being himself childless, he brought these up as his own children. He had been in comfortable circumstances before, but his means increased very greatly on his bringing the children into his house. He named the two boys Arun (the sun) and Barun (Neptune, or the water-god), and the girl Kirunmala; and with them he passed his days very happily, devoting his leisure hours to the instruction, both secular and religious, of
- ↑ This was the punishment inflicted on the worst and most degraded criminals.
