the priest replied. Parwati became very angry and cursed him, so that
he became a leper, and the pains which overtook him were absolutely
unendurable. One day a band of Apsaras [18] came down from heaven to
the temple. They saw that the priest who lived in it was a leper,
and they asked him the reason. He told them how Parwati had cursed
him. They replied, "Do not be afraid; do as we tell you and you will
get rid of your leprosy. Fast all next Monday, bathe that evening,
worship the god Shiva, and then get half a pound of flour and mix
it with treacle and ghee and eat it for dinner. But whatever you do,
eat no salt all day. Do this for sixteen Mondays in succession, and
on the seventeenth Monday get five pounds of flour, mix with it ghee
and treacle, and offer it to Shiva inside this temple. Then divide it
into three parts; leave one for the god, distribute a second among
the Brahmans or give it to your cows, and take the third home to
be eaten by you and your family." The Apsaras disappeared, and the
priest followed their instructions and became quite well. Some time
afterwards Shiva and Parwati came again to the temple. Parwati saw
the priest cured of his leprosy and asked him how he had got rid of
it. He told her exactly what he had done. She was very much surprised,
and thought that if she did the same she might win back her son
Kartakswami, [19] who had quarrelled with her and had run off in a
rage. On the seventeenth Monday Kartakswami suddenly appeared, and
both of them were reconciled. Later on, Kartakswami asked Parwati how
she had brought him back, and Parwati told him. Now Kartakswami had a
Brahman friend who had gone into a far-off country, and Kartakswami
met him by accident shortly afterwards. He told the Brahman how the
priest had cured himself of leprosy, and how he and Parwati had become
reconciled. So the Brahman also practised the same rites for seventeen
Mondays. He then set out for a distant country. As he travelled he
came to a town. Now it happened that in that town arrangements were