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

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fragrance around the place. The rivers, lakes, and wells
were full. The temples were built in the most costly man-
ner, and no expense had been spared to add to their beauty
and splendour. The king was greatly commended for his
generosity and bravery, and all the rajahs subject to him
paid him homage, and were regular in their tributes, and
preserved to the very letter the terms of their treaties. The
Veytal was also propitious to the monarch,—he always
presented himself invisibly, when the king invoked his pre-
sence. King Vickramadetea was handsome in his person,
excelled in learning, and accomplished in every respect. He
was well acquainted with the occult and sacred sciences, and
possessed a kind and affable disposition. He loved his
minister as a brother, and placed every reliance upon him.
No suitor or seeker after justice ever returned from the
presence of this noble monarch without realising his wish,
as the king delighted to relieve, and rejoiced in such acts of
justice and benevolence.
It so happened, that in the midst of so much prosperity
and happiness a cloud hung over the king. An able and
experienced astrologer, a person of some note and reputa-
tion, had appeared among them, and predicted at the time
of his birth, that the king would receive his death-blow at
the hands of a person born of a virgin seven years old. This,
as may well be imagined, caused the monarch considerable
consternation ; and when he ascended the throne he had a
number of spies placed in and around the palace, and also
in various parts of his dominions, with strict injunctions to
watch narrowly all suspicious characters, and to bring such
before him, so as by a timely warning to avert the impend-
ing danger, if possible. Being apprehensive lest he should
fall a victim to the threatened fate, he had his emissaries
even at the courts of the petty rajahs ; and he once
travelled from city to city, through forests and glens, en-
quiring of all he met whether a virgin seven years old had
been delivered of a son ; a journey which extended over a
period of upwards of six months.