94-95] PADUMĀWATT. 47 CANTO IX. THE KING AND THE PARROT. 94. The King said, ' O Parrot tell me truly. Without truth unto what art thou like? Thou art (useless) like unto the fluff of the silk-cotton tree.! From speaking truth the face acquireth beauty. Where there is truth, there virtue is its companion. Creation itself hath been composed in truth. Lakşmi herself is the handmaiden of truth. Where there is truth, daring gaineth success, and the speaker of truth is known as "the truthful man." For the sake of truth doth she who becometh suttee 8 prepare her funeral pyre, and for truth (at the marriage ceremony) do women put four fires (round the couple). They who cling to truth pass through this world and the next, and beloved of the Almighty are they who speak the truth. He who abandoneth truth, destroyeth virtue. (So tell me Parrot), didst thou form in thine heart a truth destroying thought, (when thou didst tell the tale of the Padmini) ? Thou art a learned scholar, speak not that which is false. Tell thou me now the truth, to whom hath injustice been done ?' 4 95. O King,' quoth the parrot, I will tell the truth; and may my life depart, but still I will not speak untruth from my mouth. My truth was all that I brought with me to this country, or else should I have been in the king's palace in the isle of Simhala. Padmavati is the king's daughter. The Creator in her hath made incarnate a moon of lotus-odour. Her face is like the moon, and her limbs are odorous of sandal. Scented gold is she, and perfect in all her parts. Many are the Padminis in the isle of Simhala, but in fragrance 1 See note to stanza sci. % The Goddess of Prosperity. 3 Sattee is literally sati, the base of which word is the same as the base of the word satya truth. • i.e., Has Nāgamati told true or false stories about you when she said that you had spoken evil of me. 6 Compare the modern Hindi burah bani, accomplished, perfect, possessing the twelve
