u bathe." But
Queen Chimadevrani begged the goddess not to place such a terrible
curse on Patmadhavrani. The goddess relented a little, but said,
"The king will drive her into the jungle for twelve years." At these
words she vanished and flew to Kolhapur. When the sun rose the king
placed Queen Chimadevrani in his chariot and drove her to his own
part of the palace. He then sent a message to Queen Patmadhavrani
asking her to join them. Shortly afterwards Queen Patmadhavrani
appeared, dressed all in rags with a skirt round her legs and her
hair all unfastened. On her head was a pot full of burning coal,
and she began to shout and scream at the top of her voice. The king
became very angry and roared out, "Who is this that is shouting
and screaming? Is it a ghost or a she-devil or what?" The sepoys
replied, "O King, it is neither a ghost nor a she-devil, it is your
Queen Patmadhavrani." "Take her into the jungle," roared the king,
"and kill her there." Then he went back into the palace and began
to live in great happiness with Queen Chimadevrani. But the sepoys
took Patmadhavrani into the jungle and told her that they had been
ordered to kill her. She began to weep. The sepoys were kind-hearted
men and they felt very sorry for her. They said, "Lady, lady, do not
weep. We have eaten bread and drunk water at your hands so we cannot
kill you. We will leave you here, but you must never come back into
the kingdom again." The sepoys left her and returned to Atpat. But
the poor queen wandered on until she came to a distant town, where
she entered a coppersmith's lane. Therein a coppersmith was making
bangles for a beautiful young princess who had just been crowned
queen of the city. But suddenly none of the bangles would join. He
began to search for the cause, and asked his workmen whether any
stranger had come near his house. The workmen looked about and found
Queen Patmadhavrani in hiding close by. They told the coppersmith,
and he and his men beat her soundly and drove her away. She ran
into the lane of some weavers who were weaving a sari for the new
queen. Suddenly none of the looms would work. They began looking
about to see if any stranger had come. After a little while they found
the queen. So they beat her soundly and drove her away. Then she ran
out of the town back into the jungle. There she wandered about until
she came to the cave of a rishi or sage. The rishi was sitting lost
in meditation. But she bided her time, a