विक्रम चरित (उज्जैन सम्राट् विक्रमादित्य - पराक्रम, न्याय एवं ३२ पुतलियों की कथा सटीक)

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to bestow every possible care on the princess, the sweet relict of him whom he mourned,—to afford her all the assistance she stood in need of, to calm the violence of her grief, and above all, not to lose sight of her on any account. “ One day the widowed princess, having arrived at the age of puberty, took a bath, and was proceeding through one of the corridors of the palace to an upper apartment, to dry her hair in the rays of the sun, when she overheard an able astrologer, named Dhanoo Patuckh, saying to his son, who dwelt close to her mansion, ‘ Oh my son ! you will confer on me a great favour, and much oblige me, if you will not as usual go to that strange woman, but remain at home and share your bed with your true and lawful wife; for it is predicted, by an auspicious omen in the science of astrology, that if a man have sexual intercourse with his wife at the hour of midnight, and she become pregnant of a son, that this son will become a great and excellent king, and possess many estimable qualities and much energy of purpose.’ But the astrologer’s son turned a deaf ear to all his father had told him, and continued leading a debauched life. On hearing the advice given by the astrologer to his son, the princess felt much the loss of her husband. Throughout the whole of that day she was ruminating on her sad condition ; and, what with grief for the loss of a husband she dearly loved, and the other attendant considera- tions, she found it impossible to rest that night when she retired to bed. She rose, after in vain trying to sleep, and paced up and down the room, in a state of feverish anxiety for something she could not well define. At last she involuntarily took hold of a vessel filled with water, and having poured some into the palm of her hand, said, ‘ What bitter cause have I not to curse the author of so much injury to me,—he who was instrumental in killing my husband, or depriving me of him, however that might have been done !’ The water deities at this moment made their appearance before the princess, whom they found just as we have described, with the water in her palm and her