[990]
Desiring the daughter of the great serpent (mahoraga) of great power,
I am as one retained in the service of her kin;
as I begged for her, my father-in-law spoke to me,
since they deemed me a man wholly led by love:
"We would indeed give you her — fair-formed, fair-eyed,
wondrously lovely, her body anointed with sandalwood —
if you, having righteously obtained
the heart of the sage, should bring it here.
By this treasure the maiden may be won;
no other wealth beyond it do we desire."
Thus I am not deluded — hear me, O steward!
Nor is there anything at all that I have wrongly grasped:
for your heart, righteously obtained,
the nāgas will give me Irandatī, the nāga maiden.
Therefore I am intent upon slaying you;
thus my purpose is served by your death:
hurling you down right here into the chasm,
I shall slay you and carry off your heart.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.