Part 3: Vimala’s parents (king Kṛtavarman and queen Śyāmā)

Its king was Kṛtavarman,^[1] like an adamantine armor for those who, defeated by fate, had come for protection. The water of the Gaṅgā and his glory, delighting the earth on all sides as if in rivalry with each other, reached the ocean. He never turned away from petitioners, as well as enemies. He was always turned away from other men’s wives, as well as from censure by others. In battle enemies could not endure the light of him who was the sun to the earth, as if they had emerged from darkness. Always the shadow of his feet, like the shade of a large banyan tree, was attended by kings who became hunchbacked from bowing.

He had a wife, Śyāmā, like night to the sun, the face-ornament of all the harem. She was like the Śrī of the family incarnate; like wifely fidelity embodied; like the chief divinity of beauty, grace, and charm in person. The queen walked slowly, slowly, always, like a marālī, as if her mind were occupied with meditation on her husband. As she had no equal among mortal women, so the divine Śrī or Śacī deserves her friendship. Wherever the mistress walked on the earth, there happiness followed always, like night followed by day.