Sagas from the Far East Part 37

35. See Note 11 to "Vikramaditja makes the Silent Speak."

THE BOY-KING.

1. Ardschi-Bordschi is a Mongolian corruption of King Bhoga. (Julg.)

The name of Bhoga (also written Noe, Nauge, and Noza; the N having entered from a careless following of the Persian historian Abulfazl, n and b being only distinguished by a point in Persian writing; and the z through the Portuguese, who habitually rendered the Indian g thus) seems to have been almost as favourite an appellation as that of Vikramaditja itself, and pretty equally surrounded with confusion of fabulous incident.

The Bhoga were one of the mightiest dynasties of ancient India, and the name was given to the family on account of their unbounded prosperity; being derived from bhug = enjoyment. The most celebrated king of the race bore a name which in our own day has become a.s.sociated with prosperous rule, Bhoga Bismarka, or Bhismarka, is celebrated in ancient Sagas for his resistless might in the field, and was also accounted the type of a prudent and far-sighted sovereign. Many glories are fabled of him which I have not s.p.a.ce to narrate, and even he only reigned over a fourth part of the Bhoga.

The individual Bhoga, however, who is probably the subject of the present story, and the details of whose virtues and wisdom present particular a.n.a.logies with the life of Vikramaditja is, comparatively speaking, modern, as he reigned from A.D. 1037 to 1093 according to some, or from 997 to 1053 according to others. He was likewise originally King of Malava or Malwa, and fabulous conquests and extensions of dominion are likewise ascribed to him.

He was the greatest king of the Pramara dynasty, one of the four so-called Agnikula, or "from-the-G.o.d-Agni-descended," or "fire-born"

tribes, and traced up his pedigree to a certain Paramara, "The destroyer of adversaries," born at the prayer of the Hermit Ris.h.i.+ Vasichta on the lofty mountain of Arbuda (Arboo).

The story of this Bhoga is contained in two somewhat legendary accounts, called (1) the Bhogaprabandha, or poetical narrative concerning Bhoga; and (2) the Bhogakaritra, or the deeds of Bhoga. The first was written or collected by the Pandit Vallabha about 1340. The first part relates the circ.u.mstances concerning Bhoga's mounting the throne, and the second part is a history of the poets and learned men who flocked from all parts of India to his court. It tells an intricate fable about his having been persecuted in youth by a treacherous uncle who preceded him on the throne, but who afterwards came to repentance, while a supernatural interposition delivered Bhoga from all his machinations and made him master of Gauda or Bengal, and many other parts of India. Other legends mention his discovery of the throne of Vikramaditja, and make the figures on the steps Apsarasas, or nymphs, who were delivered and set free by him when he took possession of it and removed it to Dhara, whither he had transferred his capital from Uggajini. An Inscription (given at length, viii. 5, 6, in Journ. of As. Soc. of Bengal, v. p. 376) speaks thus of him:--"The most prosperous king Bhogadeva was the most ill.u.s.trious of the whole generation of the Pramara. He attained to glory as great as that of the destroyer (Crishna) and traversed the universe to its utmost boundaries. His fame rose like the moonbeams over the mountains and rivers of the regions of the earth, and before it the renown of the inimical rulers faded away as the pale lotus-blossom is closed up." The Persian historian Abulfazl testifies in somewhat more sober language, that he greatly extended the frontiers of his kingdom.

His career was not one of unchecked prosperity however. According to an Inscription he was at last subdued by his enemy, and it thus gently tells the tale of his reverse:--"After he had attained to equality with Vasava (Indra) and the land was well watered with streams, his relation Udajaditja became Ruler of the earth." His adversary being a relation, and a Pramara like himself, the feud between them was considered a scandal, and the inscription avoids perpetuating the details of it. A legend in the Bhogakaritra supplies some. A hermit had been rather severely judged by King Bhoga for a misdemeanour, and condemned to ride through the streets of the capital on an a.s.s. To punish the king for this scandal he went into Cashmere till he had acquired the power of making the soul of a man pa.s.s into another body. Then he came back and constrained the soul of the king to pa.s.s into the body of a parrot while he made his own soul pa.s.s into the king's body; then he issued a decree commanding the slaughter of all the parrots in the kingdom. The royal parrot, however, who was the object of the decree, effected his escape and came to the court of Kandrasena, where he became the pet bird of the princess his daughter; to her he revealed the story of his transformation. At her instigation the hermit-king was persuaded to come to Kandrasena's court to sue for her hand, and there, by means of an intrigue of hers he was put to death. Bhoga thus regained his original form and his kingdom.

Abulfazl celebrates his moderation and uprightness, as well as his liberality and the encouragement he gave to men of learning, of whom he had not less than five hundred at one time lodged in his palace. This similarity of pursuits helped so to foster the tendency of which I have already spoken, to confuse the deeds of one hero with another, that one poet at least (Vararuki by name), who flourished under Bhoga, is reckoned among the nine "jewels" of Vikramaditja's court! Kalidasa, who was not very much, if at all later, is also put among the proteges of Bhoga in the Bhogaprabandha. The actual writers of any note belonging to Bhoga's age, whose names and works have come down to us are chiefly Subandhu and Vana, authors of two poems ent.i.tled respectively Vasavadatta and Kadambari, of which a reprint was issued at Calcutta in 1850. Dandi, who wrote a celebrated drama called Dashak.u.marakaritra, affording a useful picture of the manners prevailing in Hindustan and the Dekhan in his time; he also left a treatise on the art of poetry, called Kavjadarsha. Another poet of this date, named Shankara, has often been confounded with a philosophical writer of the same name in the eighth century. The Harivansha, a mythological poem in continuation of the Maha Bharata, also belongs to this reign. Among numerous other works ascribed to it, many of which have not yet been examined into by Europeans, are several treatises of mathematics and astronomy. Bhoga himself is entered in a list of the astronomers of his time, and he was said to be the author of a treatise on medicine, called Vriddha Bhoga, and of one on jurisprudence, called Smritishastra.

2. Boddhisattva. See p. 342 and p. 365.

THE FALSE FRIEND.

1. Compare this story with that given Nights 589-593 of Arabian Nights. (Julg.)

2. That the jewel-merchant had no written proof of the trust he had committed to his friend would appear quite in conformity with actual custom, at least in primitive times. Megasthenes has left testimony (Strabo xv. i. 53, p. 709), quoted by Schwanbeck (Megas. Ind. p. 113), in favour of the general uprightness of the Indians and their little inclination to litigation, which he bases on the fact that it was the custom to take no acknowledgment under seal or writing of money or jewels entrusted to another, or even to call witnesses to the fact; that the word of the man who had entrusted another with such sufficed; also aelia.n.u.s, V. H. iv. i. This, notwithstanding that the Manu (dh. c. viii. 180) contains provisions for regulating such transactions in due form and order; the man accordingly does not think of denying that he received the jewel, which would seem the easier way of concealing his fraud, because he knew the word of the jewel-merchant would be taken against his.

3. Stupa, a shrine; often a natural cave; often one artificially hewn; containing relics, or commemorating some incident considered sacred in the life of a noted Buddhist teacher. We read of stupas inst.i.tuted at a spot where there was a tradition Shakjamuni had left a foot-print; and another at Kapilvastu, his native place, over the spot where, as we saw in his life, he was led to devote himself to serious contemplations by meeting a sick man, &c. When of imposing proportion it was called a mahastupa. When such monuments on the other hand were put together with stones (usually pyramidal in form) they were called dhatugopa, whence Europeans give them the name of Dagobas. The word PaG.o.da, with which we are familiar, is probably derived from the Sanskrit bhagavata = "Worthy to be venerated." The syllable ava was transformed in Prakrit into o, and the ta into da. The Portuguese took the word as applied to religious edifices as distinguished from the kaitja [69], or rock-hewn temples. The word paG.o.da, however, is usually reserved for Brahmanical temples. The word stupa has now become corrupted into tope, by which word you will find it designated by modern writers on India. The etymology of the word makes it mean much the same as tumulus, but kaitja conveys further the meaning that it was a sacred place.

4. The notion of jewels being endowed with talismanic properties is common in Eastern story. Ktesias (Fragm. lvii. 2, p. 79) mentions a celebrated Indian magic jewelled seal-ring called Pantarba, which had the property when thrown into the water of attracting to it other jewels, and that a merchant once drew out one hundred and seventy-seven other jewels and seals by its means.

THE PRETENDED SON.

1. Schimnu. See supra, note 2, Tale III.

2. Diamond, Sanskrit, vadschra, originally the thunderbolt, Indra's sceptre; then the praying-sceptre of the priests; the symbol of durability, immovability, and indestructibility. (Koppen i. 251, and ii. 271, quoted by Julg.) It was permitted to none but kings to possess them. (La.s.sen, iii. 18.) See also note 1, Tale XV.

ARDSCHI-BORDSCHI DISCOVERS VIKRAMaDITJA'S THRONE.

1. We read of a silver statue in one of the many temples founded by Lalitaditja, King of Cashmere, whose bright golden cuira.s.s "gave forth a stream of light like a river of milk." Mentioned in La.s.sen, iii. p. 1000, and iv. 575.

2. It will be perceived the story is not without a certain meaning. It inculcates regard for the example and experience of the ancient and wise--the wisdom of the hero Vikramaditja (typified by his throne) was to be the model and guide of other kings and dynasties.

3. Sounding of trumpet-sh.e.l.ls. The shankha or concha seems to have been the earliest form of trumpet used in war. It often finds mention in the heroic poems. Crishna used one in his warrior character; and Vishnu, from bearing one, had the appellation shankha and shankhin. To the present day it is used in announcing festivals in Mongolia.

4. Suta, bard. To this order it is that we are indebted for the preservation of so many myths and heroic tales. He was also the charioteer of the kings.

5. The six cla.s.ses, states, or stages of living beings, by pa.s.sing through which Buddhahood was to be attained--(1) Pure spirit or the devas G.o.ds (Skr. Suras; Mongolian, Tegri; Kalm. Tenggeri); (2) the unclean spirits, enemies of the G.o.ds (Skr. Asuras); (3) men; (4) beasts; (5) Pretas, monsters surrounding the entrance of h.e.l.l; (6) the h.e.l.l-G.o.ds. (Koppen, i. 238, et seq., quoted by Julg.)

VIKRAMaDITJA'S BIRTH.

1. Udsesskulengtu-Goa-Chatun, a heaping up of synonyms of which we had an example, note 2, Tale XVII. Both words mean "beautiful,"

"charming." Goa is a Mongolian expression by which royal women are called (as also chatun). Thus we sometimes meet with Udsesskuleng, sometimes Udsesskulengtu (the adjunct tu forming the adjective use of the word); Udsesskulengtu-Goa, Udsesskulengtu-Chatun, or Udesskuleng-Goa-Chatun. (Julg.)

2. Kaitja or Chaitga is a sacred grotto where relics were preserved, or marking a spot where some remarkable event of ancient date had taken place. We are told that King Ashokja (246 B.C.) caused kaitjas to be built, or rather hewn, in every spot in his dominions rendered sacred by any act of Shakjamuni's life [70]; as also over the relics of many of the first teachers (p. 390). The number of these is fabled in the Mahavansha (v. p. 26) to have been not less than 84,000! He opened seven of the shrines in which the relics of Shakjamuni were originally placed, and divided them into so many caskets of gold, silver, crystal, and lapis lazuli, endowing every town of his dominion with one, and building a kaitja over it. These were all completed by one given day at one and the same time, and the authority of the Dharma (law) of Buddha was proclaimed in all. In process of time great labour came to be spent on their decoration, till whole temples were hewn out of the living stone, forming almost imperishable records of the earliest architecture of the country, and to some extent of its history and religion too. The most astonis.h.i.+ng remains are to be seen of works of this kind, with files of columns and elaborate bas-reliefs sculptured out of the solid rock.

3. Abbe Huc tells us that the Mongolians prepare their tea quite differently from the Chinese. The leaves, instead of being carefully picked as in China, are pressed all together along with the smaller tendrils and stalks into a mould resembling an ordinary brick. When required for use a piece of the brick is broken off, pulverized, and boiled in a kettle until the water receives a reddish hue, some salt is then thrown in, and when it has become almost black milk is added. It is a great Tartar luxury, and also an article of commerce with Russia; but the Chinese never touch it.

4. An accepted token of veneration and homage. (Julg.)

5. Sesame-oil. See note 2, Tale V.

6. Kalavinka = Sanskrit, Sperling, belongs to the sacred order of birds and scenes, in this place to be intended for the Kokila. (Julg.)

The Kokila, or India cuckoo, is as favourite a bird with Indians as the nightingale is with us. For a description of it see "A Monograph of Indian and Malayan Species of Cuculidae," in Journal of As. Soc. of Bengal, xi. 908, by Edward Blyth.

7. You are not to imagine that by "four parts of the universe"

is meant any thing like what we have been used to call "the four quarters of the globe." The division of the Indian cosmogony was very different and refers to the distribution of the (supposed) known universe between G.o.ds of various orders and men, to the latter being a.s.signed the fourth and lowest called Gambudvipa [71].

8. Concerning such religious gatherings, see Koppen, i. 396, 579-583; ii. 115, 311.

At such a festival held by Aravala, King of Cashmere, on occasion of celebrating the acceptance of the teaching of Shakjamuni as the religion of his dominion, it is said in a legend that there were present 84,000 of each order of the demiG.o.ds, 100,000 priests, and 800,000 people.

9. The parrot naturally takes a prominent place in Indian fable, both on account of his sagacity, his companionable nature, and his extraordinary length of days. He did not fail to attract much notice on the part of the Greek writers on India; and Ktesias, who wrote about 370 B.C., seems to have caught some of the peculiar Indian regard for his powers, when he wrote that though he ordinarily spoke the Indian's language, he could talk Greek if taught it. aelia.n.u.s says they were esteemed by the Brahmans above all other birds, and that the princes kept many of them in their gardens and houses.

10. Bodhisattva. See p. 346 and note 1, Tale XI.

11. Concerning the serpent-G.o.ds, see supra, note 1 to Tale II.; and note 4, Tale XXII.

12. A legend containing curiously similar details is told in the Mahavansha of s.h.i.+shunaga, founder of an early dynasty of Magadha (Behar). The king had married his chief dancer, and afterwards sent her away. Partly out of distress and partly as a reproach she left her infant son exposed on the dunghill of the royal dwelling. A serpent-G.o.d, who was the tutelar genius of the place, took pity on the child, and was found winding its body round the basket in which it was cradled, holding its head raised over the same and spreading out its hood (it was the Cobra di capello species of serpent, which was the object of divine honours) to protect him from the sun. The people drove away the serpent-G.o.d (Naga) with the cry of Shu! Shu! whence they gave the name of s.h.i.+shunaga to the child, who, on opening the basket, was found to be endowed with qualities promising his future greatness. In this case, however, the serpent-G.o.d seems to have borne his serpent-shape, and in that of Vikramaditja, the eight are spoken of as in human form.

VIKRAMaDITJA'S YOUTH.

1. Nirvana. See supra, p. 330, note, p. 334, and p. 343. The word is sometimes used however poetically, simply as an equivalent for death.