And she thought, 'What should I now do? Shall I wake my husband or
not? He is exacting and punctilious in his religious duties. How can I act
as not to offend him? The alternatives are his anger and the loss of
virtue of a virtuous man. The loss of virtue, I ween, is the greater of
the two evils. Again, if I wake him, he will be angry. But if twilight
passeth away without his prayers being said, he shall certainly sustain
loss of virtue.'
'And having resolved at last, the sweet-speeched Jaratkaru, the sister of
Vasuki, spake softly unto that Rishi resplendent with ascetic penances,
and lying prostrate like a flame of fire, 'O thou of great good fortune,
awake, the sun is setting. O thou of rigid vows, O illustrious one, do
your evening prayer after purifying yourself with water and uttering the
name of Vishnu. The time for the evening sacrifice hath come. Twilight, O
lord, is even now gently covering the western side.'
"The illustrious Jaratkaru of great ascetic merit, thus addressed, spake
unto his wife these words, his upper lip quivering in anger, 'O amiable
one of the Naga race, thou hast insulted me. I shall no longer abide with
thee, but shall go where I came from. O thou of beautiful thighs, I
believe in my heart that the sun hath no power to set in the usual time,
if I am asleep. An insulted person should never live where he hath met
with the insult, far less should I, a virtuous person, or those that are
like me.' Jaratkaru, the sister of Vasuki, thus addressed by her lord,
began to quake with terror, and she spake unto him, saying, 'O Brahmana, I
have not waked thee from desire of insult; but I have done it so that thy
virtue may not sustain any loss.
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