The Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story Part 43

There was a king in Magadha, named Bhadrabahu. He had a minister named Mantragupta, most sagacious of men. That king once said of his own accord to that minister; "The king of Varanasi, named Dharmagopa, has a daughter named Anangalila, the chief beauty of the three worlds. I have often asked for her in marriage, but out of hostility that king will not give her to me. And he is a formidable foe, on account of his possessing an elephant named Bhadradanta. Still I cannot bear to live any longer without that daughter of his. So I have no measure which I can adopt in this business. Tell me, my friend, what I am to do." When the king said this, his minister answered him; "Why, king, do you suppose that courage and not policy ensures success? Dismiss your anxiety; I will manage the matter for you by my own ingenuity."

So, the next day, the minister set out for Varanasi, disguised as a Pasupata ascetic, and he took six or seven companions with him, who were disguised as his pupils, and they told all the people, who came together from all quarters to adore him, that he possessed supernatural powers. Then, as he was roaming about one night to find out some means of accomplis.h.i.+ng his object, he saw in the distance the wife of the keeper of the elephants leave her house, going along quickly through fear, escorted in some direction or other by three or four armed men. He at once said to himself, "Surely this lady is eloping somewhere, so I will see where she is going." So he followed her with his attendants. And he observed from a distance the house into which she went, and then he returned to his own lodging. And the next day, as the elephant-keeper was wandering about in search of his wife, who had gone off with his wealth, the minister contrived to send his own followers to meet him. They found that he had just swallowed poison because he could not find his wife, and they counteracted by their knowledge the effect of the poison, pretending that they did it out of pure compa.s.sion. And they said to him; "Come to our teacher, for he is a seer and knows every thing:" and so they brought him to the minister. And the elephant-keeper fell at the feet of the minister, who was rendered more majestic by the insignia of his vow, and asked him for news of his wife. The minister pretended to meditate, and after a time told him the place where she was taken by the strange men at night, with all the signs by which he might recognise it. Then the elephant-keeper bowed again before him, and went with a host of policemen and surrounded that place. And he killed those wicked men who had carried off his wife, and recovered her, together with her ornaments and his wealth.

And the next day he went and bowed before, and praised that supposed seer, and invited him to an entertainment. And as the minister did not wish to enter a house, and said that he must eat at night, he made an entertainment for him at nightfall in the elephant-stables. So the minister went there and feasted with his followers, taking with him a concealed serpent, that he had by means of a charm got to enter the hollow of a bamboo. Then the elephant-keeper went away, and while the others were asleep, the minister introduced, by means of the bamboo, the serpent into the ear of the elephant Bhadradanta, while it was asleep, and he spent the night there, and in the morning went back to Magadha his native land; but the elephant died from the bite of the snake.

When the clever minister returned, having smitten down the elephant as if it were the pride of that king Dharmagopa, the king Bhadrabahu was in ecstasies. Then he sent off an amba.s.sador to Varanasi to ask for the hand of Anangalila. The king, who was helpless from the loss of his elephant, gave her to him; for kings, who know times and seasons, bend like canes, if it is expedient to do so.

"So, by the sagacity of that minister Mantragupta, the king Bhadrabahu obtained Anangalila. And in the same way I must obtain that wife by wisdom." When Mrigankadatta said this, his minister Vichitrakatha said to him--"You will succeed in all by the favour of Siva which was promised you in a dream. What will not the effective favour of the G.o.ds accomplish? Hear in proof of it the story I am now going to tell."

Story of Pushkaraksha and Vinayavati.

There was in the city of Takshasila a king of the name of Bhadraksha. He, desiring a son, was wors.h.i.+pping Lakshmi every day with one hundred and eight white lotuses upon a sword. One day, as the king was wors.h.i.+pping her without breaking silence, he happened to count the lotuses mentally, and found that there was one missing. He then gave the G.o.ddess the lotus of his heart spitted on the sword, and she was pleased and granted him a boon that would ensure his having a son that would rule the whole earth. And she healed the wound of the king and disappeared. Then there was born a son to the king by his queen, and he possessed all the auspicious marks. And the king called him Pushkaraksha, because he obtained him by the gift of the lotus of his heart. And when the son, in course of time, grew up to manhood, Bhadraksha anointed him king, as he possessed great virtues, and himself repaired to the forest.

Pushkaraksha, for his part, having obtained the kingdom, kept wors.h.i.+pping Siva every day, and one day at the end of his wors.h.i.+p, he asked him to bestow on him a wife. Then he heard a voice come from heaven, saying, "My son, thou shalt obtain all thy desire." Then he remained in a happy state, as he had now a good hope of success. And it happened that one day he went to a wood inhabited by wild beasts, to amuse himself with hunting. There he saw a camel about to eat two snakes entwined together, and in his grief he killed the camel. The camel immediately became a Vidyadhara, abandoning its camel body, and being pleased said to Pushkaraksha "You have done me a benefit. So hear what I have to tell you."

Story of the birth of Vinayavati.

There is, king, a mighty Vidyadhara named Rank.u.malin. And a beautiful maiden of the Vidyadhara race, named Taravali, who admired good looks, saw him and fell in love with him, and chose him for her husband. And then her father, angry because they had married without consulting anything but their own inclination, laid on them a curse that would separate them for some time. Then the couple, Taravali and Rank.u.malin, sported, with ever-growing love, in various regions belonging to them.

But one day, in consequence of that curse, they lost sight of one another in a wood, and were separated. Then Taravali, in her search for her husband, at last reached a forest on the other side of the western sea, inhabited by a hermit of supernatural powers. There she saw a large jambu-tree in flower, which seemed compa.s.sionately to console her with the sweet buzzing of its bees. And she took the form of a bee, and sat down on it to rest, and began to drink the honey of a flower. And immediately she saw her husband, from whom she had been so long separated, come there, and she bedewed that flower with a tear of joy. And she abandoned the body of a bee, and went and united herself to her husband Rank.u.malin, who had come there in search of her, as the moonlight is united to the moon.

Then she went with him to his home: but from the jambu-flower bedewed with her tear a fruit was produced. [169] And in course of time a maiden was produced inside the fruit. Now once on a time the hermit, who was named Vijitasu, was wandering about in search of fruits and roots, and came there, and that fruit, being ripe, fell from the jambu-tree and broke, and a heavenly maiden came out of it, and respectfully bowing, saluted the feet of that hermit. That hermit, who possessed divine insight, when he beheld her, at once knew her true history, and being astonished, took her to his hermitage, and gave her the name of Vinayavati. Then in course of time she grew up to womanhood in his hermitage, and I, as I was roaming in the air, saw her, and being infatuated by pride in my own good looks and by love, I went to her, and tried to carry her off by force against her will. At that moment the hermit Vijitasu, who heard her cries, came in, and denounced this curse upon me, "O thou whose whole body is full of pride in thy beauty, become an ugly camel. But when thou shalt be slain by king Pushkaraksha, thou shalt be released from thy curse. And he shall be the husband of this Vinayavati."

"When cursed in these words by the hermit I became a camel on this earth, and now, thanks to you, my curse is at an end; so go to that forest on the other side of the western sea, named Surabhimaruta, and obtain for a wife that heavenly creature, who would make Sri herself lose all pride in her own beauty." When the heavenly Vidyadhara had said this to Pushkaraksha, he flew up to the sky. Then Pushkaraksha returned to his city, and entrusted his kingdom to his ministers, and mounting his horse, went off alone at night. And at last he reached the sh.o.r.e of the western sea, and there he reflected, "How shall I cross over this sea?" Then he saw there an empty temple of Durga, and he entered it, and bathed, and wors.h.i.+pped the G.o.ddess. And he found there a lyre, which had been deposited there by some one, and he devoutly sang to it in honour of the G.o.ddess songs composed by himself. And then he lay down to sleep there. And the G.o.ddess was so pleased with his lyric wors.h.i.+p, that in the night she had him conveyed across the sea by her attendant demons, while he was asleep.

Then he woke up in the morning on the other side of the sea, and saw himself no longer in the temple of Durga, but in a wood. And he rose up in astonishment, and wandered about, and beheld a hermitage, which seemed to bow before him hospitably by means of its trees weighed down with fruit, and to utter a welcome with the music of its birds. So he entered it, and saw a hermit surrounded by his pupils. And the king approached the hermit, and bowed at his feet. The hermit, who possessed supernatural insight, received him hospitably and said to him; "King Pushkaraksha, Vinayavati, for whom you have come, has gone out for a moment to fetch firewood, so wait a little: you shall to-day marry her who was your wife in a former life." Then Pushkaraksha said to himself--"Bravo! this is that very hermit Vijitasu, and this is that very wood, no doubt the G.o.ddess has had me carried across the ocean. But this that the hermit tells me is strange, that she was my wife in a previous state of existence." Then he asked the hermit in his joy the following question, "Tell me, reverend sir, how was she my wife before?" Then the hermit said, "Listen, if you feel curious on the point."

The adventures of Pushkaraksha and Vinayavati in a former life.

There was in old time a merchant in Tamralipti, named Dharmasena, and he had a beautiful wife named Vidyullekha. As it happened, he was robbed by bandits and wounded with weapons by them, and longing for death, he went out with his wife to enter the fire. And the two saw suddenly a beautiful couple of swans coming through the air. Then they entered the fire, and died with their minds fixed on those swans, and so the husband and wife were born in the next birth as swans.

Now, one day in the rains, as they were in their nest in a date-palm-tree, a storm uprooted the tree and separated them. The next day the storm was at an end, and the male swan went to look for his female, but he could not find her in the lakes or in any quarter of the sky. At last he went, distracted with love, to the Manasa lake, the proper place for swans at that season of the year, and another female swan, that he met on the way, gave him hopes that he would find her there. There he found his female, and he spent the rainy season there, and then he went to a mountain-peak to enjoy himself with her. There his female was shot by a fowler; when he saw that, he flew away distracted with fear and grief. The fowler went off, taking with him the dead female swan, and on the way he saw many armed men at a distance, coming towards him, and he thought that they would perhaps take the bird from him, so he cut some gra.s.s with his knife, and covering up the bird with that, left her on the ground. After the men had gone, the fowler returned to take the female swan. But it happened that among the gra.s.s which he had cut was a herb, which possessed the power of raising the dead to life. By means of the juice of this herb the female swan was restored to life, [170] and before his eyes she flung off the gra.s.s, and flew up into the sky, and disappeared.

But in the meanwhile the male swan went and settled on the sh.o.r.e of a lake among a flock of swans, distracted with grief at seeing his mate in this state. [171] Immediately a certain fisherman threw a net, and caught all those birds, and thereupon sat down to take his food. Then the female swan came there in search of her husband, and found him caught in the net, and in her grief she cast her eyes in every direction. Then she saw on the bank of the lake a necklace of gems, which a certain person, who had gone into the water to bathe, had laid on top of his clothes. She went and carried off the necklace without that person seeing her do it, and she flew gently through the air past the fisherman, to shew him the necklace. The fisherman, when he saw the female swan with the necklace in her beak, left the net full of birds, and ran after her, stick in hand. But the female swan deposited the necklace upon the top of a distant rock, and the fisherman proceeded to climb up the rock to get the necklace. When the female swan saw that, she went and struck in the eye with her beak a monkey that was asleep on a tree, near where her husband lay caught in the net. The monkey, being terrified by the blow, fell on the net and tore it, and so all the swans escaped from it. Then the couple of swans were re-united, and they told one another their adventures, and in their joy amused themselves as they would. The fisherman, after getting the necklace, came back to fetch the birds, and the man whose necklace had been taken away, met him as he was looking for it, and as the fact of the fisherman's being in possession of the necklace was revealed by his fear, he recovered it from him and cut off his right hand with his sword. And the two swans, sheltering themselves under one lotus by way of umbrella, rose up in the middle of the day from the lake and roamed in the sky.

And soon the two birds reached the bank of a river haunted by a certain hermit, who was employed in wors.h.i.+pping Siva. Then the couple of swans were shot through with one arrow by a fowler, as they were flying along, and fell together to the earth. And the lotus, which they had used as an umbrella, fell on the top of a linga of Siva, while the hermit was engaged in wors.h.i.+p. Then the fowler, seeing them, took the male swan for himself, and gave the female swan to the hermit, who offered it to Siva. [172]

"Now you, Pushkaraksha, were that very male swan; and by the virtue of that lotus, which fell on the top of the linga, you have been now born in a royal family. And that female swan has been born in a family of Vidyadharas as Vinayavati, for Siva was abundantly wors.h.i.+pped with her flesh. Thus Vinayavati was your wife in a former birth." When the hermit Vijitasu said this to Pushkaraksha, the king asked him another question; How comes it, hermit, that the entering the fire, which atones for a mult.i.tude of sins, produced in our case the fruit of birth in the nature of a bird? Thereupon the hermit replied, "A creature receives the form of that which it was contemplating at the moment of death."

Story of Lavanyamanjari.

For there was in the city of Ujjayini a holy Brahman virgin of the name of Lavanyamanjari, who observed a vow of perpetual chast.i.ty; she once saw a Brahman youth of the name of Kamalodaya, and her mind was suddenly attracted to him, and she was consumed with the fire of love but she did not abandon her vow. She went to the sh.o.r.e of the Gandhavati, and abandoned her life in a holy place, with her thoughts intently fixed on his love.

But on account of that intent meditation she was born in the next birth as a hetaera, of the name of Rupavati, in a town named Ekalavya. However, owing to the virtue of her vow and of the holy bathing-place, she remembered her former birth, and in conversation she related that secret of her former birth to a Brahman named Chodakarna, who was always engaged in muttering prayers, in order to cure him of his exclusive devotion to muttering, and at last, though she was a hetaera, as her will was purified she attained blessedness.

"So, king, you see that a person attains similarity to that which he thinks of. Having said this to the king, the hermit dismissed him to bathe, and he himself performed his midday ablutions."

But the king Pushkaraksha went to the bank of the river, that flowed through the forest, and saw Vinayavati there gathering flowers. Her body gleamed as if she were the light of the sun, come to visit the wood out of curiosity, as it had never been able to penetrate its thickets. He thought to himself, "Who can this be?" And she, as she was sitting in conversation with her maid, said to her; "My friend, the Vidyadhara, who wished long ago to carry me off, came here to-day released from his curse, and announced the arrival of my husband." When the friend heard that, she answered the hermit-maiden; "It is true, for this morning the hermit Vijitasu said to his pupil Munjakesa; 'Go and bring here quickly Taravali and Rank.u.malin, for to-day will certainly take place the marriage of their daughter Vinayavati to king Pushkaraksha.' When Munjakesa received this order from his teacher, he said, 'I obey,' and started on his journey. So come, my friend, let us now go to the hermitage."

When she said this, Vinayavati departed, and Pushkaraksha heard the whole conversation from a distance without being seen. And the king returned quickly to the hermitage of Vijitasu, after he had plunged in the river, as if to cool the burning heat of love. There Taravali and Rank.u.malin, who had arrived, honoured him when he bent before them, and the hermits gathered round him. Then, on an altar-platform illuminated by the great hermit Vijitasu with his austerities, as if by a second fire in human form, Rank.u.malin gave that Vinayavati to the king, and he bestowed on him at the same time a heavenly chariot, that would travel in the sky. And the great hermit Vijitasu conferred on him this boon; "Rule, together with her, the earth with its four seas."

Then, with the permission of the hermit, the king Pushkaraksha took his new wife with him, and mounted that heavenly chariot that travelled through the air, and, crossing the sea, went quickly to his own city, being like the rising of the moon to the eyes of his subjects.

And then he conquered the earth and became emperor of it by virtue of his chariot, and lived a long time in enjoyment with Vinayavati in his own capital.

"So a task, which is very difficult in itself, succeeds in this world, if the G.o.ds are propitious, and so, king, you may be certain that your enterprise also will succeed soon by the favour of the G.o.d Siva, promised you in a dream."

When Mrigankadatta had heard this romantic story from his minister, being very eager to obtain Sasankavati, he made up his mind to go to Ujjayini with his ministers.

CHAPTER LXX.

Accordingly Mrigankadatta, being desirous to obtain Sasankavati the daughter of king Karmasena, who had been described by the Vetala, planned with his ministers to leave his city secretly, disguised as a Pasupata ascetic, in order to travel to Ujjayini. And the prince himself directed his minister Bhimaparakrama to bring the necessary staves like bed-posts, the skulls, and so on. And the head minister of the king his father found out, by means of a spy, that Bhimaparakrama had collected all these things in his house. And at that time it happened that Mrigankadatta, while walking about on the top of his palace, spit down some betel-juice. And as ill-luck would have it, it fell on the head of his father's minister, who happened to be walking below, unseen by the prince. [173] But the minister, knowing that Mrigankadatta had spit down that betel-juice, bathed, and laid up in his heart a grudge against Mrigankadatta on account of the insult.

Now it happened that the next day king Amaradatta, the father of Mrigankadatta, had an attack of cholera, and then the minister saw his chance, and, after imploring an a.s.surance of safety, he said in secret to the king, who was tortured with his sudden attack of disease, "The fact is, my sovereign, your son Mrigankadatta has begun incantations against you in the house of Bhimaparakrama, that is why you are suffering. I found it out by means of a spy, and the thing is obvious for all to see, so banish your son from your realm and your disease from your body at the same time." When the king heard that, he was terrified, and sent his own general to the house of Bhimaparakrama, to investigate the matter. And he found the hair, and the skulls, and other articles, [174] and immediately brought those very things and shewed them to the king. And the king in his anger said to the general, "That son of mine is conspiring against me, because he wishes to reign himself, so expel him from the kingdom this very moment without delay, together with his ministers." For a confiding [175] king never sees through the wicked practices of his ministers. So the general went and communicated that order of the king's, and expelled Mrigankadatta from the city, together with his ministers. [176]

Then Mrigankadatta was delighted at having obtained his object, and he wors.h.i.+pped Ganesa, and mentally took a humble leave of his parents, and started off. And after they had gone a great distance from the town of Ayodhya, the prince said to Prachandasakti and the other nine ministers who were travelling with him, "There is here a great king of the Kiratas, named Saktiraks.h.i.+ta; he is a student in the sciences, observing a vow of chast.i.ty, and he is a friend of mine from childhood. For, when his father was long ago captured in battle, he sent him here to be imprisoned as a subst.i.tute for himself, in order to obtain his own release. And when his father died, his relations by the father's side rose against him, and at my instigation my father established him on the throne of his father with a military force. So let us go to him, my friends, and then we will travel on to Ujjayini, to find that Sasankavati."

When he said this, all the ministers exclaimed, "So be it," and he set out with them and reached in the evening a great wilderness. It was devoid of trees and water, and it was with difficulty that at last he found a tank, with one withered tree growing upon its banks. There he performed the evening ceremonies, and drank water, and being fatigued, he went to sleep with his ministers under that dry tree. And in the night, which was illuminated by the moon, he woke up, and saw that the tree first put forth abundance of leaves, then of flowers, then of fruit. And when he saw its ripe fruit falling, he immediately woke up his ministers, and pointed out that marvel to them. Then they were astonished, and as they were hungry, he and they ate the delicious fruits of that tree together, and after they had eaten them, the dry tree suddenly became a young Brahman, before the eyes of them all. And when Mrigankadatta questioned him, he told his tale in the following words.

Story of Srutadhi.

There was an excellent Brahman in Ayodhya named Damadhi. I am his son, and my name is Srutadhi. And once in a time of famine he was wandering about with me, and he reached this place almost dead. Here he got five fruits which some one gave him, and though he was exhausted with hunger, he gave three to me, and set aside two for himself. Then he went into the water of the lake to bathe, and in the meanwhile I ate all the five fruits, and pretended to be asleep. He returned after bathing, and beholding me cunningly lying here as motionless as a log, he cursed me, saving, "Become a dry tree here on the bank of the lake. And on moonlight nights flowers and fruit shall spring from you, and when once on a time you shall have refreshed guests with fruits, you shall be delivered from your curse." [177] As soon as my father had p.r.o.nounced this curse on me, I became a dry tree, but now that you have tasted my fruit, I have been delivered from the curse, after enduring it for a long time.

After Srutadhi had related his own history, he asked Mrigankadatta for his, and he told it him. Then Srutadhi, who had no relations, and was well-read in policy, asked Mrigankadatta to permit him, as a favour, to attach himself to his service. So, after he had spent the night in this way, Mrigankadatta set out next morning with his ministers. And in the course of his journey he came to a forest named Karimandita. There he saw five wild looking men with long hair, who aroused his wonder. Then the five men came and respectfully addressed him as follows:

"We were born in the city of Kasi as Brahmans who lived by keeping cows. And during a famine we came from that country, where the gra.s.s was scorched by drought, with our cows, to this wood which abounds in gra.s.s. And here we found an elixir in the form of the water of a tank, continually flavoured with the three kinds of fruits [178]

that drop from the trees growing on its bank. And five hundred years have pa.s.sed over our heads in this uninhabited wood, while we have been drinking this water and the milk of cows. It is thus, prince, that we have become such as you see, and now destiny has sent you to us as guests, so come to our hermitage."

When thus invited by them, Mrigankadatta went with them to their hermitage, taking his companions with him, and spent the day there living on milk. And he set out from it in the morning, and in course of time he reached the country of the Kiratas, seeing other wonderful sights on the way. And he sent on Srutadhi to inform his friend Saktiraks.h.i.+ta, the king of the Kiratas, of his arrival. When the sovereign of the Kiratas heard of it, he went to meet Mrigankadatta with great courtesy, and conducted him with his ministers into his city. Mrigankadatta told him the cause of his arrival, and remained there for some days, being entertained by him. And the prince arranged that Saktiraks.h.i.+ta should be ready to a.s.sist him in his undertaking when the proper time came, and then he set out, on an auspicious day, for Ujjayini, with his eleven companions, having been captivated by Sasankavati.

And as he went along, he reached an uninhabited forest and saw standing under a tree an ascetic, with ashes on his body, a deer-skin, and matted hair. So he went up to him, with his followers, and said to him; "Reverend sir, why do you live alone in this forest in which there is no hermitage?" Then the hermit answered him, "I am a pupil of the great sage named Suddhakirti and I know innumerable spells. Once on a time I got hold of a certain Kshatriya boy with auspicious marks, and I exerted all my diligence to cause him to be possessed, while alive, by a spirit, and, when the boy was possessed, I questioned him, and he told me of many places for potent drugs and liquors, and then said this; 'There is in this Vindhya forest in the northern quarter a solitary asoka-tree, and under it there is a great palace of a snake-king. [179] In the middle of the day its water is concealed with moistened dust, but it can be discovered by the couples of swans sporting there together with the water-cranes. [180]

There dwells a mighty chief of the snakes, named Paravataksha, and he obtained a matchless sword from the war of the G.o.ds and Asuras, named Vaiduryakanti; whatever man obtains that sword will become a chief of the Siddhas and roam about unconquered, and that sword can only be obtained by the aid of heroes.' When the possessed boy had said this, I dismissed him. So I have wandered about over the earth desirous to obtain that sword, and caring for nothing else, but, as I have not been able to find men to help me, in disgust I have come here to die." When Mrigankadatta heard the ascetic say this, he said to him, "I and my ministers will help you." The ascetic gladly accepted his offer, and went with him and his followers, by the help of an ointment rubbed on the feet, to the dwelling-place of that snake. There he found the sign by which it could be recognised, and he placed there at night Mrigankadatta and his companions, duly initiated, fixed with spells; and throwing enchanted mustard-seed he cleared the water from dust, and began to offer an oblation with snake-subduing spells. And he conquered by the power of his spells the impediments, such as earthquakes, clouds, and so on. Then there came out from that asoka-tree a heavenly nymph, as it were, murmuring spells with the tinkling of her jewelled ornaments, and approaching the ascetic she pierced his soul with a sidelong glance of love. And then the ascetic lost his self-command and forgot his spells; and the shapely fair one, embracing him, flung from his hand the vessel of oblation. And then the snake Paravataksha had gained his opportunity, and he came out from that palace like the dense cloud of the day of doom. Then the heavenly nymph vanished, and the ascetic beholding the snake terrible with flaming eyes, roaring horribly, died of a broken heart.