The Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story Part 42

The next day Potraka brought that pair of horses equal to the wind in swiftness; but Ruchiradeva, who was skilled in all the secrets of the art of driving, himself mounted the female elephant, and partly by the animal's natural speed, partly by his dexterity in urging it on, beat them in the race. When Ruchiradeva had beaten those two splendid horses, the son of the king of Vatsa entered the palace, and at that very moment arrived a messenger from his father. The messenger, when he saw the prince, fell at his feet, and said; "The king, hearing from your retinue that you have come here, has sent me to you with this message. 'How comes it that you have gone so far from the garden without letting me know? I am impatient for your return, so abandon the diversion that occupies your attention, and return quickly.'" When he heard this message from his father's messenger, Naravahanadatta, who was also intent on obtaining the object of his flame, was in a state of perplexity.

And at that very moment a merchant, in a great state of delight, came, bowing at a distance, and praised that prince, saying, "Victory to thee, O thou G.o.d of love without the flowery bow! Victory to thee, O Lord, the future emperor of the Vidyadharas! Wast thou not seen to be charming as a boy, and when growing up, the terror of thy foes? So surely the G.o.ds shall behold thee like Vishnu, striding victorious over the heaven, conquering Bali." With these and other praises the great merchant magnified the prince; then having been honoured by him, he proceeded at his request to tell the story of his life.

Story of the merchant and his wife Vela.

There is a city called Lampa, the crown of the earth; in it there was a rich merchant named Kusumasara. I, prince of Vatsa, am the son of that merchant, who lives and moves in religion, and I was gained by the propitiation of Siva. Once on a time I went with my friends to witness a procession of idols, and I saw other rich men giving to beggars. Then I formed the design of acquiring wealth to give away, as I was not satisfied with the vast fortune acc.u.mulated by my father. So I embarked in a s.h.i.+p, laden with many jewels, to go across the sea to another country. And my s.h.i.+p, impelled by a favorable wind, as if by fate, reached that island in a few days. There the king found out that I was an unknown man dealing in valuable jewels, and out of avarice he threw me into prison. While I was remaining in that prison, which resembled h.e.l.l, on account of its being full of howling criminals, suffering from hunger and thirst, like wicked ghosts, a merchant, named Mahidhara, a resident in that town, who knew my family, went and interceded with the king on my behalf, and said; "King, this is the son of a great merchant, who lives in the city of Lampa, and, as he is innocent, it is not creditable to your majesty to keep him in prison." On his making representations of this kind, the king ordered me to be released from prison, and summoned me into his presence, and honoured me with a courteous reception. So, by the favour of the king and the support of that merchant, I remained there doing a splendid business.

One day I saw, at a spring festival in a garden, a handsome girl, the daughter of a merchant named Sikhara. I was quite carried off my feet by her, who was like a wave of the sea of Love's insolence, and when I found out who she was, I demanded her in marriage from her father. Her father reflected for a moment, and at last said to me; "I cannot give her to you myself, there is a reason for my not doing so. But I will send her to her grandfather by the mother's side, in the island of Ceylon; go there and ask for her again, and marry her. And I will send her there with such instructions that your suit will certainly be accepted." When Sikhara had said this, and had paid me the usual courtesies, he dismissed me to my own house. And the next day he put the maiden on board s.h.i.+p, with her attendants, and sent her to the island of Ceylon, across the sea.

I was preparing with the utmost eagerness to go there, when this rumour, which was terrible as a lightning-stroke, was spread abroad where I was; "The s.h.i.+p, in which the daughter of Sikhara started, has gone to pieces in the open sea, and not a soul has been saved out of it." That report altogether broke down my self-command, and being anxious about the s.h.i.+p, I suddenly fell into a hopeless sea of despondency. So I, though comforted by my elders, made up my mind to throw away my property and prospects, and I determined to go to that island to ascertain the truth. Then, though patronized by the king and loaded with all manner of wealth, I embarked in a s.h.i.+p on the sea and set out. Then a terrible pirate, in the form of a cloud, suddenly arose against me as I was pursuing my course, and discharged at me pattering drops of rain, like showers of arrows. The contrary wind, which it brought with it, tossed my s.h.i.+p to and fro like powerful destiny, and at last broke it up. My attendants and my wealth were whelmed in the sea, but I myself, when I fell into the water, laid hold of a large spar. [153] By the help of this, which seemed like an arm suddenly extended to me by the Creator, I managed to reach the sh.o.r.e of the sea, being slowly drifted there by the wind. I climbed up upon it in great affliction, exclaiming against destiny, and suddenly I found a little gold which had been left by accident in an out-of-the-way part of the sh.o.r.e. I sold it in a neighbouring village, and bought with it food and other necessaries, and after purchasing a couple of garments, I gradually began to get over to a certain extent the fatigue produced by my immersion in the sea.

Then I wandered about, not knowing my way, separated from my beloved, and I saw the ground full of lingas of Siva formed of sand. And daughters of hermits were wandering about among them. And in one place I saw a maiden engaged in wors.h.i.+pping a linga, who was beautiful, although dressed in the garb of a dweller in the forest. I began to think, "This girl is wonderfully like my beloved. Can she be my beloved herself? But how comes it, that I am so lucky as to find her here?" And while these thoughts were pa.s.sing in my mind, my right eye throbbed frequently, as if with joy, [154] and told me that it was no other than she. And I said to her, "Fair one, you are fitted to dwell in a palace, how comes it that you are here in the forest?" But she gave me no answer. Then, through fear of being cursed by a hermit, I stood concealed by a bower of creepers, looking at her with an eye that could not have enough. And after she had performed her wors.h.i.+p, she went slowly away from the spot, as if thinking over something, and frequently turned round to look at me with loving eye. When she had gone out of sight, the whole horizon seemed to be obscured with darkness as I looked at it, and I was in a strange state of perturbation like the Brahmany drake at night.

And immediately I beheld the daughter of the hermit Matanga, who appeared unexpectedly. She was in brightness like the sun, subject to a vow of chast.i.ty from her earliest youth, with body emaciated by penance, she possessed divine insight, and was of auspicious countenance like Resignation incarnate. She said to me, "Chandrasara, call up all your patience and listen. There is a great merchant in another island named Sikhara. When a lovely girl was born to him, he was told by a mendicant, his friend, who possessed supernatural insight, and whose name was Jinaraks.h.i.+ta, [155]

'You must not give away this maiden yourself, for she has another mother. You would commit a crime in giving her away yourself, such is the righteous prescription of the law.' Since the mendicant had told him this, the merchant wished to give his daughter, when she was of marriageable age, and you asked her hand, to you, by the agency of her maternal grandfather. Then she was sent off on a voyage to her maternal grandfather in the island of Ceylon, but the vessel was wrecked, and she fell into the sea. And as she was fated not to die, a great wave brought her here like destiny, and flung her up upon the sh.o.r.e. Just at that time my father, the hermit Matanga, came to the sea to bathe with his disciples, and saw her almost dead. He, being of compa.s.sionate nature, brought her round, and took her to his hermitage, and entrusted her to me saying--'Yamuna, you must cherish this girl.' And because he found her on the sh.o.r.e (vela) of the sea, he called the girl, who was beloved by all the hermits, Vela. And though I have renounced the world by a vow of perpetual chast.i.ty, it still impedes my soul, on account of my affection for her, in the form of love and tenderness for offspring. And my mind is grieved, Chandrasara, as often as I look upon her, unmarried, though in the bloom of youth and beauty. Moreover she was your wife in a former life. So knowing, my son, by the power of my meditation that you had come here, I have come to meet you. Now follow me and marry that Vela, whom I will bestow on you. Let the sufferings, which you have both endured, produce fruits of happiness."

Speaking thus, the saintly woman refreshed me with her voice as with cloudless rain, and then she took me to the hermitage of her father, the great hermit Matanga. And at her request the hermit bestowed on me that Vela, like the happiness of the kingdom of the imagination incarnate in bodily form. But one day, as I was living happily with Vela, I commenced a splas.h.i.+ng match with her in the water of a tank. And I and Vela, not seeing the hermit Matanga, who had come there to bathe, sprinkled him inopportunely with some of the water which we threw. That annoyed him, and he denounced a curse on me and my wife, saying, "You shall be separated, you wicked couple." Then Vela clung to his knees, and asked him with plaintive voice to appoint a period for the duration of our curse, and he, after thinking, fixed its end as follows, "When thou shalt behold at a distance Naravahanadatta the future mighty emperor of the Vidyadharas, who shall beat with a swift elephant a pair of fleet horses, then thy curse shall be at an end, and thou shalt be re-united with thy wife." When the ris.h.i.+ Matanga had said this, he performed the ceremony of bathing and other ceremonies, and went to Svetadvipa through the air, to visit the shrine of Vishnu. And Yamuna said to me and my wife--"I give you now that shoe covered with valuable jewels, which a Vidyadhara long ago obtained, when it had slipped off from Siva's foot, and which I seized in childish sport." Thereupon Yamuna also went to Svetadvipa. Then I having obtained my beloved, and being disgusted with dwelling in the forest, through fear of being separated from my wife, felt a desire to return to my own country. And setting out for my native land, I reached the sh.o.r.e of the sea; and finding a trading vessel, I put my wife on board, and was preparing to go on board myself, when the wind, conspiring with the hermit's curse, carried off that s.h.i.+p to a distance. When the s.h.i.+p carried off my wife before my eyes, my whole nature was stunned by the shock, and distraction seemed to have found an opening in me, and broke into me and robbed me of consciousness. Then an ascetic came that way, and seeing me insensible, he compa.s.sionately brought me round and took me to his hermitage. There he asked me the whole story, and when he found out that it was the consequence of a curse, and that the curse was to end, he animated me with resolution to bear up. Then I found an excellent friend, a merchant, who had escaped from his s.h.i.+p that had foundered in the sea, and I set out with him in search of my beloved. And supported by the hope of the termination of the curse, I wandered through many lands and lasted out many days, until I finally reached this city of Vaisakha, and heard that you, the jewel of the n.o.ble family of the king of Vatsa, had come here. Then I saw you from a distance beat that pair of swift horses with the female elephant, and the weight of the curse fell from me, and I felt my heart lightened. [156] And immediately I saw that dear Vela coming to meet me, whom the good merchants had brought in their s.h.i.+p. Then I was re-united with my wife, who had with her the jewels bestowed by Yamuna, and having by your favour crossed the ocean of separation, I came here, prince of Vatsa, to pay you my respects, and I will now set out cheerfully for my native land with my wife.

When that excellent merchant Chandrasara, who had accomplished his object, had gone, after prostrating himself before the prince, and telling his story, Ruchiradeva, pleased at beholding the greatness of his guest, was still more obsequious to him. And in addition to the elephant and the pair of horses, he gave his sister, making the duty of hospitality an excuse for doing so, to the prince who was captivated by her beauty. She was a good match for the prince, and her brother had long desired to bestow her upon him in marriage. Naravahanadatta then took leave of Ruchiradeva, and with his new wife, the elephant, and the two horses, returned to the city of Kausambi. And he remained there, gladdening his father with his presence, living happily with her and his other wives, of whom Madanamanchuka was the chief.

BOOK XII.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

May Ganesa protect you, who, when he sports, throws up his trunk, round which plays a continual swarm of bees, like a triumphal pillar covered with letters, erected on account of the overthrow of obstacles!

We wors.h.i.+p Siva, who, though free from the hue of pa.s.sion, abounds in colours, the skilful painter who is ever producing new and wonderful creations. Victorious are the arrows of the G.o.d of love, for, when they descend, though they are made of flowers, the thunderbolt and other weapons are blunted in the hands of those who bear them.

So the son of the king of Vatsa remained in Kausambi, having obtained wife after wife. But though he had so many wives, he ever cherished the head queen Madanamanchuka more than his own life, as Krishna cherishes Rukmini. But one night he saw in a dream that a heavenly maiden came and carried him off. And when he awoke, he found himself on a slab of the tarkshya gem, on the plateau of a great hill, a place full of shady trees. And he saw that maiden near him, illuminating the wood, though it was night, [157] like a herb used by the G.o.d of love for bewildering the world. He thought that she had brought him there, and he perceived that modesty made her conceal her real feelings; so the cunning prince pretended to be asleep, and in order to test her, he said, as if talking in his sleep, "Where are you, my dear Madanamanchuka? Come and embrace me." When she heard it, she profited by his suggestion, and a.s.sumed the form of his wife, and embraced him without the restraint of modesty. Then he opened his eyes, and beholding her in the form of his wife, he said, "O how intelligent you are!" and smiling threw his arms round her neck. Then she dismissed all shame, and exhibiting herself in her real shape, she said--"Receive, my husband, this maiden, who chooses you for her own." And when she said that, he married her by the Gandharva form of marriage.

But next morning he said to her, by way of an artifice to discover her lineage, about which he felt curious; "Listen, my dear, I will tell you a wonderful story."

Story of the jackal that was turned into an elephant.

There lived in a certain wood of ascetics a hermit, named Brahmasiddhi, who possessed by meditation supernatural power, and near his hermitage there was an old female jackal dwelling in a cave. One day it was going out to find food, having been unable to find any for some time on account of bad weather, when a male elephant, furious on account of its separation from its female, rushed towards it to kill it. When the hermit saw that, being compa.s.sionate as well as endowed with magical power, he turned the female jackal into a female elephant, by way of a kindness, to please both. Then the male elephant, beholding a female, ceased to be furious, and became attached to her, and so she escaped death. Then, as he was roaming about with the jackal transformed into a female elephant, he entered a tank full of the mud produced by the autumn rains, to crop a lotus. He sank in the mud there, and could not move, but remained motionless, like a mountain that has fallen owing to its wings having been cut off by the thunderbolt. When the female elephant, that was before a jackal, saw the male in this distress, she went off that moment and followed another male elephant. Then it happened that the elephant's own mate, that he had lost, came that way in search of her spouse. The n.o.ble creature, seeing her husband sinking in the mud, entered the mud of the tank in order to join him. At that moment the hermit Brahmasiddhi came that way with his disciples, and was moved with pity when he saw that pair. And he bestowed by his power great strength on his disciples, and made them extricate the male and female from the mud. Then the hermit went away, and that couple of elephants, having been delivered both from separation and death, roamed where they would.

"So you see, my dear, that even animals, if they are of a n.o.ble strain, do not desert a lord or friend in calamity, but rescue him from it. But as for those which are of low origin, they are of fickle nature, and their hearts are never moved by n.o.ble feelings or affection." When the prince of Vatsa said this, the heavenly maiden said to him--"It is so, there can be no doubt about this. But I know what your real object is in telling me this tale; so in return, my husband, hear this tale from me."

Story of Vamadatta and his wicked wife.

There was an excellent Brahman in Kanyakubja, named Suradatta, possessor of a hundred villages, respected by the king Bahusakti. And he had a devoted wife, named Vasumati, and by her he begot a handsome son, named Vamadatta. Vamadatta, the darling of his father, was instructed in all the sciences, and soon married a wife, of the name of Sasiprabha. In course of time his father went to heaven, and his wife followed him, [158] and the son undertook with his wife the duties of a householder. But without his knowledge his wife was addicted to following her l.u.s.ts, and by some chance or other she became a witch possessed of magical powers. [159]

One day, when the Brahman was in the king's camp, engaged in his service, his paternal uncle came and said to him in secret, "Nephew, our family is disgraced, for I have seen your wife in the company of your cowherd." When Vamadatta heard this, he left his uncle in the camp in his stead, and went, with his sword for his only companion, back to his own house. He went into the flower-garden and remained there in concealment, and in the night the cowherd came there. And immediately his wife came eagerly to meet her paramour, with all kinds of food in her hand. After he had eaten, she went off to bed with him, and then Vamadatta rushed upon them with uplifted sword, exclaiming, "Wretches, where are you going?" When he said that, his wife rose up and said, "Away fool," and threw some dust in his face. Then Vamadatta was immediately changed from a man into a buffalo, but in his new condition he still retained his memory. Then his wicked wife put him among the buffaloes, and made the herdsman beat him with sticks. [160]

And the cruel woman immediately sold him in his helpless b.e.s.t.i.a.l condition to a trader, who required a buffalo. The trader put a load upon the man, who found his transformation to a buffalo a sore trial, and took him to a village near the Ganges. He reflected, "A wife of very bad character that enters unsuspected the house of a confiding man, is never likely to bring him prosperity, any more than a snake which gets into the female apartments." While full of these thoughts, he was sorrowful, with tears gus.h.i.+ng from his eyes, moreover he was reduced to skin and bone by the fatigue of carrying burdens, and in this state he was beheld by a certain white witch. She knew by her magic power the whole transaction, and sprinkling him with some charmed water, she released him from his buffalo condition. And when he had returned to human form, she took him to her own house, and gave him her virgin daughter named Kantimati. And she gave him some charmed mustard-seeds, and said to him; "Sprinkle your wicked former wife with these, and turn her into a mare." Then Vamadatta, taking with him his new wife, went with the charmed mustard-seeds to his own house. Then he killed the herdsman, and with the mustard-seeds he turned [161] his former wife into a mare, and tied her up in the stable. And in order to revenge himself, he made it a rule to give her every day seven blows with a stick, before he took any food. [162]

One day, while he was living there in this way with Kantimati, a guest came to his house. The guest had just sat down to his meal, when suddenly Vamadatta got up and rushed quickly out of the room without eating anything, because he recollected that he had not beaten his wicked wife with a stick that day. And after he had given his wife, in the form of a mare, the appointed number of blows, he came in with his mind easy, and took his food. Then the guest, being astonished, asked him, out of curiosity, where he had gone in such a hurry, leaving his food. Thereupon Vamadatta told him his whole story from the beginning, and his guest said to him, "What is the use of this persistent revenge? Pet.i.tion that mother-in-law of yours, who first released you from your animal condition, and gain some advantage for yourself." When the guest gave this advice to Vamadatta, he approved it, and the next morning dismissed him with the usual attentions.

Then that witch, his mother-in-law, suddenly paid him a visit, and he supplicated her persistently to grant him a boon. The powerful witch instructed him and his wife in the method of gaining the life-prolonging charm, with the proper initiatory rites. [163] So he went to the mountain of Sri and set about obtaining that charm, and the charm, when obtained, appeared to him in visible shape, and gave him a splendid sword. And when the successful Vamadatta had obtained the sword, he and his wife Kantimati became glorious Vidyadharas. Then he built by his magic power a splendid city on a peak of the Malaya mountain, named Rajatakuta. There, in time, that prince among the Vidyadharas had born to him by his queen an auspicious daughter, named Lalitalochana. And the moment she was born, she was declared by a voice, that came from heaven, to be destined to be the wife of the future emperor of the Vidyadharas.

"Know, my husband, that I am that very Lalitalochana, and that knowing the facts by my science and being in love with you, I have brought you to this very Malaya mountain, which is my own home." When she had in these words told him her story, Naravahanadatta was much pleased, and entertained great respect for his new wife. And he remained there with her, and immediately the king of Vatsa and his entourage learnt the truth, by means of the supernatural knowledge of Ratnaprabha, and the other wives of Naravahanadatta that possessed the same powers.

CHAPTER LXIX.

Then Naravahanadatta, having obtained that new bride Lalitalochana, sported with her on that very Malaya mountain, delightful on account of the first burst of spring, in various forest purlieus adorned with flowering trees.

And in one grove his beloved, in the course of gathering flowers, disappeared out of his sight into a dense thicket, and while he was wandering on, he saw a great tank with clear water, that, on account of the flowers fallen from the trees on its bank, resembled the heaven studded with stars. [164]

And he thought--"I will wait until my beloved, who is gathering flowers, returns to me; and in the meanwhile I will bathe in this lake and rest for a little upon its bank." So he bathed and wors.h.i.+pped the G.o.ds, and then he sat down on a slab of rock in the shade of a sandal-wood tree. While sitting there he thought of his beloved Madanamanchuka, who was so far off, beholding the gait of the female swans that rivalled hers, and hearing the singing of the female cuckoos in the mango-creepers that equalled hers, and seeing the eyes of the does that recalled hers to his mind. And as soon as he recollected her, the fire of love sprang up in his breast, and tortured him so that he fainted; and at that moment a glorious hermit came there to bathe, whose name was Pisangajata. He, seeing the prince in such a state, sprinkled him with sandal-water, refres.h.i.+ng as the touch of his beloved. Then he recovered consciousness and bowed before the hermit. But the hermit said to him, "My son, in order that you may obtain your wish, acquire endurance. For by means of that quality every thing is acquired, and in order that you may understand this, come to my hermitage and hear the story of Mrigankadatta, if you have not already heard it. When the hermit had said this, he bathed and took the prince to his hermitage, and quickly performed his daily prayers. And Pisangajata entertained him there with fruits, and ate fruits himself, and then he began to tell him this tale of Mrigankadatta.

Story of Mrigankadatta. [165]

There is a city of the name of Ayodhya famous in the three worlds. In it there lived in old time a king named Amaradatta. He was of resplendent brightness, and he had a wife named Surataprabha, who was as closely knit to him as the oblation to the fire. [166] By her there was born to him a son named Mrigankadatta, who was adored for his ten million virtues, as his bow was bent by the string reaching the notches. [167]

And that young prince had ten ministers of his own, Prachandasakti and Sthulabahu, and Vikramakesarin, Dridhamushti, and Meghabala and Bhimaparakrama, and Vimalabuddhi, and Vyaghrasena and Gunakara, and the tenth Vichitrakatha. They were all of good birth, young, brave, and wise, and devoted to their master's interests. And Mrigankadatta led a happy life with them in his father's house, but he did not obtain a suitable wife.

And one day his minister Bhimaparakrama said to him in secret,--"Hear, prince, what happened to me in the night. I went to sleep last night on the roof of the palace, and I saw in a dream a lion, with claws terrible as the thunderbolt, rus.h.i.+ng upon me. I rose up, sword in hand, and then the lion began to flee, and I pursued him at my utmost speed. He crossed a river, and stuck out his long tongue [168] at me, and I cut it off with my sword. And I made use of it to cross that river, for it was as broad as a bridge. And thereupon the lion became a deformed giant. I asked him who he was and the giant said, 'I am a Vetala, and I am delighted with your courage, my brave fellow.' Then I said to him, 'If this is the case, then tell me who is to be the wife of my master Mrigankadatta.' When I said this to the Vetala, he answered,--'There is in Ujjayini a king named Karmasena. He has a daughter, who in beauty surpa.s.ses the Apsarases, being, as it were, the receptacle of the Creator's handiwork in the form of loveliness. Her name is Sasankavati, and she shall be his wife, and by gaining her, he shall become king of the whole earth.' When the Vetala had said this, he disappeared, and I came home; this is what happened to me in the night, my sovereign."

When Mrigankadatta heard this from Bhimaparakrama, he summoned all his ministers, and had it told to them, and then he said, "Hear, what I too saw in a dream; I thought we all entered a certain wood; and in it, being thirsty with travelling, we reached with difficulty some water; and when we wished to drink it, five armed men rose up and tried to prevent us. We killed them, and then in the torments of our thirst we again turned to drink the water, but lo! neither the men nor the water were to be seen. Then we were in a miserable state; but on a sudden we saw the G.o.d Siva come there, mounted on his bull, resplendent with the moon on his forehead; we bent before him in prayer and he dropped from his right eye a tear-drop on the ground. That became a sea, and I drew from it a splendid pearl-necklace and fastened it round my neck. And I drank up that sea in a human skull stained with blood. And immediately I awoke, and lo! the night was at an end."

When Mrigankadatta had described this wonderful sight that he had seen in his dream, the other ministers rejoiced, but Vimalabuddhi said; "You are fortunate, prince, in that Siva has shewn you this favour. As you obtained the necklace and drank up the sea, you shall without fail obtain Sasankavati and rule the whole earth. But the rest of the dream indicates some slight amount of misfortune." When Vimalabuddhi had said this, Mrigankadatta again said to his ministers, "Although the fulfilment of my dream will no doubt come to pa.s.s in the way which my friend Bhimaparakrama heard predicted by the Vetala, still I must win from that Karmasena, who confides in his army and his forts, his daughter Sasankavati by force of policy. And the force of policy is the best instrument in all undertakings. Now listen, I will tell you a story to prove this."

Story of king Bhadrabahu and his clever minister.