The Ornament at His Throat

Long afterwards the king told his son to ride out every morning on his horse and guard the brahmins of the earth from the dānavas. Each forenoon he went, and the rest of each day he spent with Madālasā.

One day, on the bank of the Yamunā, he came upon a hermitage. In it lived Tālaketu, the younger brother of Pātālaketu, a dānava full of magic, wearing the form of a sage, who had not forgotten the old enmity. Tālaketu said to him: I wish to perform a sacrifice, but I have no gold for the fee. Give me, hero, this ornament at your throat. And guard my hermitage while I go down into the water to praise Varuṇa, lord of the creatures of the deep, with his Vedic hymns.

The prince bowed, gave him the ornament from his throat, and promised to stay by the hermitage until he came back. Tālaketu dived into the river, and the prince stood guard over a hermitage that magic had made.

Tālaketu went to Śatrujit's city and spoke in front of Madālasā and all the others: The hero Kuvalayāśva was guarding the ascetics near my hermitage when a wicked daitya, fighting by magic, drove a trident into his chest. As he was dying he gave me this ornament from his throat. Śūdra ascetics gave his body to the fire in the forest. His horse, neighing in pain with tears in its eyes, was led away by that dānava. Take this ornament for your comfort; we ascetics have no use for gold. With that he dropped it on the ground and went away.

The people fainted where they stood. The king, the queens and the women of the palace wept. But Madālasā saw the ornament from his throat, and heard that her husband had been killed, and at once she gave up her life.

The whole city filled with wailing. Then King Śatrujit forbade them to weep. Should I grieve for my son, or for my daughter-in-law? he said. My son died protecting brahmins. She followed her husband at once, so she is not one to be mourned. The women to be pitied are those who live on parted from their husbands, not those who go with them. The prince's mother said: Neither my mother nor my sister ever knew a joy like mine, hearing that my son fell protecting the sages. The king had Madālasā's funeral rites performed, and then went out, bathed, and poured water for his son.

At the river, Tālaketu came up out of the Yamunā. Go, prince, he said sweetly. You have done what I have wished for so long; my rite to Varuṇa is complete. The prince bowed and rode home on his horse, as swift as Garuḍa and the wind.