The Kadambari of Bana Part 4

'"'Therefore, my Prince, in this post of empire which is terrible in the hundreds of evil and perverse impulses which attend it, and in this season of youth which leads to utter infatuation, thou must strive earnestly not to be scorned by thy people, nor blamed by the good, nor cursed by thy gurus, nor reproached by thy friends, nor grieved over by the wise. Strive, too, that thou be not exposed by knaves, (220) deceived by sharpers, preyed upon by villains, torn to pieces by wolvish courtiers, misled by rascals, deluded by women, cheated by fortune, led a wild dance by pride, maddened by desire, a.s.sailed by the things of sense, dragged headlong by pa.s.sion, carried away by pleasure.

'"'Granted that by nature thou art steadfast, and that by thy father's care thou art trained in goodness, and moreover, that wealth only intoxicates the light of nature, and the thoughtless, yet my very delight in thy virtues makes me speak thus at length.

'"'Let this saying be ever ringing in thine ears: There is none so wise, so prudent, so magnanimous, so gracious, so steadfast, and so earnest, that the shameless wretch Fortune cannot grind him to powder. Yet now mayest thou enjoy the consecration of thy youth to kinghood by thy father under happy auspices. Bear the yoke handed down to thee that thy forefathers have borne. Bow the heads of thy foes; raise the host of thy friends; after thy coronation wander round the world for conquest; and bring under thy sway the earth with its seven continents subdued of yore by thy father.

'"'This is the time to crown thyself with glory. (221) A glorious king has his commands fulfilled as swiftly as a great ascetic.'

'"Having said thus much, he was silent, and by his words Candrapida was, as it were, washed, wakened, purified, brightened, bedewed, anointed, adorned, cleansed, and made radiant, and with glad heart he returned after a short time to his own palace.

'"Some days later, on an auspicious day, the king, surrounded by a thousand chiefs, raised aloft, with cukanasa's help, the vessel of consecration, and himself anointed his son, while the rest of the rites were performed by the family priest. The water of consecration was brought from every sacred pool, river and ocean, encircled by every plant, fruit, earth, and gem, mingled with tears of joy, and purified by mantras. At that very moment, while the prince was yet wet with the water of consecration, royal glory pa.s.sed on to him without leaving Tarapida, as a creeper still clasping its own tree pa.s.ses to another. (222) Straightway he was anointed from head to foot by Vilasavati, attended by all the zenana, and full of tender love, with sweet sandal white as moonbeams. He was garlanded with fresh white flowers; decked [244] with lines of gorocana; adorned with an earring of durva gra.s.s; clad in two new silken robes with long fringes, white as the moon; bound with an amulet round his hand, tied by the family priest; and had his breast encircled by a pearl-necklace, like the circle of the Seven Ris.h.i.+s come down to see his coronation, strung on filaments from the lotus-pool of the royal fortune of young royalty.

'"From the complete concealment of his body by wreaths of white flowers interwoven and hanging to his knees, soft as moonbeams, and from his wearing snowy robes he was like Narasimha, shaking his thick mane, [245] or like Kailasa, with its flowing streams, or Airavata, rough with the tangled lotus-fibres of the heavenly Ganges, or the Milky Ocean, all covered with flakes of bright foam.

(223) '"Then his father himself for that time took the chamberlain's wand to make way for him, and he went to the hall of a.s.sembly and mounted the royal throne, like the moon on Meru's peak. Then, when he had received due homage from the kings, after a short pause the great drum that heralded his setting out on his triumphal course resounded deeply, under the stroke of golden drum-sticks. Its sound was as the noise of clouds gathering at the day of doom; or the ocean struck by Mandara; or the foundations of earth by the earthquakes that close an aeon; or a portent-cloud, with its flashes of lightning; or the hollow of h.e.l.l by the blows of the snout of the Great Boar. And by its sound the s.p.a.ces of the world were inflated, opened, separated, outspread, filled, turned sunwise, and deepened, and the bonds that held the sky were unloosed. The echo of it wandered through the three worlds; for it was embraced in the lower world by cesha, with his thousand hoods raised and bristling in fear; it was challenged in s.p.a.ce by the elephants of the quarters tossing their tusks in opposition; it was honoured with sunwise turns in the sky by the sun's steeds, tossing [246] their heads in their snort of terror; (224) it was wondrously answered on Kailasa's peak by civa's bull, with a roar of joy in the belief that it was his master's loudest laugh; it was met in Meru by Airavata, with deep trumpeting; it was reverenced in the hall of the G.o.ds by Yama's bull, with his curved horns turned sideways in wrath at so strange a sound; and it was heard in terror by the guardian G.o.ds of the world.

'"Then, at the roar of the drum, followed by an outcry of 'All hail!' from all sides, Candrapida came down from the throne, and with him went the glory of his foes. He left the hall of a.s.sembly, followed by a thousand chiefs, who rose hastily around him, strewing on all sides the large pearls that fell from the strings of their necklaces as they struck against each other, like rice sportively thrown as a good omen for their setting off to conquer the world. He showed like the coral-tree amid the white buds of the kalpa-trees; [247] or Airavata amid the elephants of the quarters bedewing him with water from their trunks; or heaven, with the firmament showering stars; or the rainy season with clouds ever pouring heavy drops.

(225) '"Then an elephant was hastily brought by the mahout, adorned with all auspicious signs for the journey, and on the inner seat Patralekha was placed. The prince then mounted, and under the shade of an umbrella with a hundred wires enmeshed with pearls, beauteous as Kailasa standing on the arms of Ravana, and white as the whirlpools of the Milky Ocean under the tossing of the mountain, he started on his journey. And as he paused in his departure he saw the ten quarters tawny with the rich sunlight, surpa.s.sing molten lac, of the flas.h.i.+ng crest-jewels of the kings who watched him with faces hidden behind the ramparts, as if the light were the fire of his own majesty, flas.h.i.+ng forth after his coronation. He saw the earth bright as if with his own glow of loyalty when anointed as heir-apparent, and the sky crimson as with the flame that heralded the swift destruction of his foes, and daylight roseate as with lac-juice from the feet of the Lakshmi of earth coming to greet him.

'"On the way hosts of kings, with their thousand elephants swaying in confusion, their umbrellas broken by the pressure of the crowd, their crest-jewels falling low as their diadems bent in homage, (226) their earrings hanging down, and the jewels falling on their cheeks, bowed low before him, as a trusted general recited their names. The elephant Gandhamadana followed the prince, pink with much red lead, dangling to the ground his ear-ornaments of pearls, having his head outlined with many a wreath of white flowers, like Meru with evening sunlight resting on it, the white stream of Ganges falling across it, and the spangled roughness of a bevy of stars on its peak. Before Candrapida went Indrayudha, led by his groom, perfumed with saffron and many-hued, with the flash of golden trappings on his limbs. And so the expedition slowly started towards the Eastern Quarter. [248]

'"Then the whole army set forth with wondrous turmoil, with its forest of umbrellas stirred by the elephants' movements, like an ocean of destruction reflecting on its advancing waves a thousand moons, flooding the earth.

(227) '"When the prince left his palace Vaicampayana performed every auspicious rite, and then, clothed in white, anointed with an ointment of white flowers, accompanied by a great host of powerful kings, shaded by a white umbrella, followed close on the prince, mounted on a swift elephant, like a second Crown Prince, and drew near to him like the moon to the sun. Straightway the earth heard on all sides the cry: 'The Crown Prince has started!' and shook with the weight of the advancing army.

(228) '"In an instant the earth seemed as it were made of horses; the horizon, of elephants; the atmosphere, of umbrellas; the sky, of forests of pennons; the wind, of the scent of ichor; the human race, of kings; the eye, of the rays of jewels; the day, of crests; the universe, of cries of 'All hail!'

(228-234 condensed) '"The dust rose at the advance of the army like a herd of elephants to tear up the lotuses of the sunbeams, or a veil to cover the Lakshmi of the three worlds. Day became earthy; the quarters were modelled in clay; the sky was, as it were, resolved in dust, and the whole universe appeared to consist of but one element.

(234) '"When the horizon became clear again, Vaicampayana, looking at the mighty host which seemed to rise from the ocean, was filled with wonder, and, turning his glance on every side, said to Candrapida: 'What, prince, has been left unconquered by the mighty King Tarapida, for thee to conquer? What regions unsubdued, for thee to subdue? (235) What fortresses untaken, for thee to take? What continents unappropriated, for thee to appropriate? What treasures ungained, for thee to gain? What kings have not been humbled? By whom have the raised hands of salutation, soft as young lotuses, not been placed on the head? By whose brows, encircled with golden bands, have the floors of his halls not been polished? Whose crest-jewels have not sc.r.a.ped his footstool? Who have not accepted his staff of office? Who have not waved his cowries? Who have not raised the cry of "Hail!"? Who have not drunk in with the crocodiles of their crests, the radiance of his feet, like pure streams? For all these princes, though they are imbued with the pride of armies, ready in their rough play to plunge into the four oceans; though they are the peers of the great kings Dacaratha, Bhagiratha, Bharata, Dilipa, Alarka, and Mandhatri; though they are anointed princes, soma-drinkers, haughty in the pride of birth, yet they bear on the sprays of crests purified with the shower of the water of consecration the dust of thy feet of happy omen, like an amulet of ashes. By them as by fresh n.o.ble mountains, the earth is upheld. These their armies that have entered the heart of the ten regions follow thee alone. (236) For lo! wherever thy glance is cast, h.e.l.l seems to vomit forth armies, the earth to bear them, the quarters to discharge them, the sky to rain them, the day to create them. And methinks the earth, trampled by the weight of boundless hosts, recalls to-day the confusion of the battles of the Mahabharata.

'"'Here the sun wanders in the groves of pennons, with his...o...b..stumbling over their tops, as if he were trying, out of curiosity, to count the banners. The earth is ceaselessly submerged under ichor sweet as cardamons, and flowing like a plait of hair, from the elephants who scatter it all round, and thick, too, with the murmur of the bees settling on it, so that it s.h.i.+nes as if filled with the waves of Yamuna. The lines of moon-white flags hide the horizon, like rivers that in fear of being made turbid by the heavy host have fled to the sky. It is a wonder that the earth has not to-day been split into a thousand pieces by the weight of the army; and that the bonds of its joints, the n.o.ble mountains, are not burst asunder; and that the hoods of cesha, the lord of serpents, in distress at the burden of earth pressed down under the load of troops, do not give way.'

(237) '"While he was thus speaking, the prince reached his palace. It was adorned with many lofty triumphal arches; dotted with a thousand pavilions enclosed in gra.s.sy ramparts, and bright with many a tent of s.h.i.+ning white cloth. Here he dismounted, and performed in kingly wise all due rites; and though the kings and ministers who had come together sought to divert him with various tales, he spent the rest of the day in sorrow, for his heart was tortured with bitter grief for his fresh separation from his father. When day was brought to a close he pa.s.sed the night, too, mostly in sleeplessness, with Vaicampayana resting on a couch not far from his own, and Patralekha sleeping hard by on a blanket placed on the ground; his talk was now of his father, now of his mother, now of cukanasa, and he rested but little. At dawn he arose, and with an army that grew at every march, as it advanced in unchanged order, he hollowed the earth, shook the mountains, dried the rivers, emptied the lakes, (238) crushed the woods to powder, levelled the crooked places, tore down the fortresses, filled up the hollows, and hollowed the solid ground.

'"By degrees, as he wandered at will, he bowed the haughty, exalted the humble, encouraged the fearful, protected the suppliant, rooted out the vicious, and drove out the hostile. He anointed princes in different places, gathered treasures, accepted gifts, took tribute, taught local regulations, established monuments of his visit, made hymns of wors.h.i.+p, and inscribed edicts. He honoured Brahmans, reverenced saints, protected hermitages, and showed a prowess that won his people's love. He exalted his majesty, heaped up his glory, showed his virtues far and wide, and won renown for his good deeds. Thus trampling down the woods on the sh.o.r.e, and turning the whole expanse of ocean to gray with the dust of his army, he wandered over the earth.

'"The East was his first conquest, then the Southern Quarter, marked by Tricanku, then the Western Quarter, which has Varuna for its sign, and immediately afterwards the Northern Quarter adorned by the Seven Ris.h.i.+s. Within the three years that he roamed over the world he had subdued the whole earth, with its continents, bounded only by the moat of four oceans.

(239) '"He then, wandering sunwise, conquered and occupied Suvarnapura, not far from the Eastern Ocean, the abode of those Kiratas who dwell near Kailasa, and are called Hemajakutas, and as his army was weary from its worldwide wandering, he encamped there for a few days to rest.

'"One day during his sojourn there he mounted Indrayudha to hunt, and as he roamed through the wood he beheld a pair of Kinnaras wandering down at will from the mountains. Wondering at the strange sight, and eager to take them, he brought up his horse respectfully near them and approached them. But they hurried on, fearing the unknown sight of a man, and fleeing from him, while he pursued them, doubling Indrayudha's speed by frequent pats on his neck, and went on alone, leaving his army far behind. Led on by the idea that he was just catching them, he was borne in an instant fifteen leagues from his own quarters by Indrayudha's speed as it were at one bound, and was left companionless. (240) The pair of Kinnaras he was pursuing were climbing a steep hill in front of him. He at length turned away his glance, which was following their progress, and, checked by the steepness of the ascent, reined in Indrayudha. Then, seeing that both his horse and himself were tired and heated by their toils, he considered for a moment, and laughed at himself as he thought: 'Why have I thus wearied myself for nothing, like a child? What matters it whether I catch the pair of Kinnaras or not? If caught, what is the good? if missed, what is the harm? What a folly this is of mine! What a love of busying myself in any trifle! What a pa.s.sion for aimless toil! What a clinging to childish pleasure! The good work I was doing has been begun in vain. The needful rite I had begun has been rendered fruitless. The duty of friends.h.i.+p I undertook has not been performed. The royal office I was employed in has not been fulfilled. The great task I had entered on has not been completed. My earnest labour in a worthy ambition has been brought to nought. Why have I been so mad as to leave my followers behind and come so far? (241) and why have I earned for myself the ridicule I should bestow on another, when I think how aimlessly I have followed these monsters with their horses' heads? I know not how far off is the army that follows me. For the swiftness of Indrayudha traverses a vast s.p.a.ce in a moment, and his speed prevented my noticing as I came by what path I should turn back, for my eyes were fixed on the Kinnaras; and now I am in a great forest, spread underfoot with dry leaves, with a dense growth of creepers, underwood, and branching trees. Roam as I may here I cannot light on any mortal who can show me the way to Suvarnapura. I have often heard that Suvarnapura is the farthest bound of earth to the north, and that beyond it lies a supernatural forest, and beyond that again is Kailasa. This then is Kailasa; so I must turn back now, and resolutely seek to make my way unaided to the south. For a man must bear the fruit of his own faults.'

'"With this purpose he shook the reins in his left hand, and turned the horse's head. Then he again reflected: (242) 'The blessed sun with glowing light now adorns the south, as if he were the zone-gem of the glory of day. Indrayudha is tired; I will just let him eat a few mouthfuls of gra.s.s, and then let him bathe and drink in some mountain rill or river; and when he is refreshed I will myself drink some water, and after resting a short time under the shade of a tree, I will set out again.'

'"So thinking, constantly turning his eyes on every side for water, he wandered till at length he saw a track wet with ma.s.ses of mud raised by the feet of a large troop of mountain elephants, who had lately come up from bathing in a lotus-pool. (243) Inferring thence that there was water near, he went straight on along the slope of Kailasa, the trees of which, closely crowded as they were, seemed, from their lack of boughs, to be far apart, for they were mostly pines, cal, and gum olibanum trees, and were lofty, and like a circle of umbrellas, to be gazed at with upraised head. There was thick yellow sand, and by reason of the stony soil the gra.s.s and shrubs were but scanty.

(244) '"At length he beheld, on the north-east of Kailasa, a very lofty clump of trees, rising like a ma.s.s of clouds, heavy with its weight of rain, and ma.s.sed as if with the darkness of a night in the dark fortnight.

'"The wind from the waves, soft as sandal, dewy, cool from pa.s.sing over the water, aromatic with flowers, met him, and seemed to woo him; and the cries of kalahamsas drunk with lotus-honey, charming his ear, summoned him to enter. So he went into that clump, and in its midst beheld the Acchoda Lake, as if it were the mirror of the Lakshmi of the three worlds, the crystal chamber of the G.o.ddess of earth, the path by which the waters of ocean escape, the oozing of the quarters, the avatar of part of the sky, Kailasa taught to flow, Himavat liquefied, moonlight melted, civa's smile turned to water, (245) the merit of the three worlds abiding in the shape of a lake, a range of hills of lapis lazuli changed into water, or a ma.s.s of autumn clouds poured down in one spot. From its clearness it might be Varuna's mirror; it seemed to be fas.h.i.+oned of the hearts of ascetics, the virtues of good men, the bright eyes of deer, or the rays of pearls.

(247) '"Like the person of a great man, it showed clearly the signs of fish, crocodile, tortoise, and cakra; [249] like the story of Kartikeya, the lamentations of the wives of Kraunca [250]

resounded in it; it was shaken by the wings of white Dhartarashtras, as the Mahabharata by the rivalry of Pandavas and Dhartarashtras; and the drinking of poison by civa was represented by the drinking of its water by peac.o.c.ks, as if it were the time of the churning of ocean. It was fair, like a G.o.d, with a gaze that never wavers. (248) Like a futile argument, it seemed to have no end; and was a lake most fair and gladdening to the eyes.

'"The very sight of it seemed to remove Candrapida's weariness, and as he gazed he thought:

'"'Though my pursuit of the horse-faced pair was fruitless, yet now that I see this lake it has gained its reward. My eyes' reward in beholding all that is to be seen has now been won, the furthest point of all fair things seen, the limit of all that gladdens us gazed upon, the boundary line of all that charms us descried, the perfection of all that causes joy made manifest, and the vanis.h.i.+ng-point of all worthy of sight beheld. (249) By creating this lake water, sweet as nectar, the Creator has made his own labour of creation superfluous. For this, too, like the nectar that gladdens all the senses, produces joy to the eye by its purity, offers the pleasure of touch by its coolness, gladdens the sense of smell by the fragrance of its lotuses, pleases the ear with the ceaseless murmur of its hamsas, and delights the taste with its sweetness. Truly it is from eagerness to behold this that civa leaves not his infatuation for dwelling on Kailasa. Surely Krishna no longer follows his own natural desire as to a watery couch, for he sleeps on the ocean, with its water bitter with salt, and leaves this water sweet as nectar! Nor is this, in sooth, the primaeval lake; for the earth, when fearing the blows of the tusks of the boar of destruction, entered the ocean, all the waters of which were designed but to be a draught for Agastya; whereas, if it had plunged into this mighty lake, deep as many deep h.e.l.ls, it could not have been reached, I say not by one, but not even by a thousand boars. (250) Verily it is from this lake that the clouds of doom at the seasons of final destruction draw little by little their water when they overwhelm the interstices of the universe, and darken all the quarters with their destroying storm. And methinks that the world, Brahma's egg, which in the beginning of creation was made of water, was ma.s.sed together and placed here under the guise of a lake.' So thinking, he reached the south bank, dismounted and took off Indrayudha's harness; (251) and the latter rolled on the ground, arose, ate some mouthfuls of gra.s.s, and then the prince took him down to the lake, and let him drink and bathe at will. After that, the prince took off his bridle, bound two of his feet by a golden chain to the lower bough of a tree hard by, and, cutting off with his dagger some durva gra.s.s from the bank of the lake, threw it before the horse, and went back himself to the water. He washed his hands, and feasted, like the cataka, on water; like the cakravaka, he tasted pieces of lotus-fibre; like the moon with its beams, he touched the moon-lotuses with his finger-tips; like a snake, he welcomed the breeze of the waves; [251] like one wounded with Love's arrows, he placed a covering of lotus-leaves on his breast; like a mountain elephant, when the tip of his trunk is wet with spray, he adorned his hands with spray-washed lotuses. Then with dewy lotus-leaves, with freshly-broken fibres, he made a couch on a rock embowered in creepers, and rolling up his cloak for a pillow, lay down to sleep. After a short rest, he heard on the north bank of the lake a sweet sound of unearthly music, borne on the ear, and blent with the chords of the vina. (252) Indrayudha heard it first, and letting fall the gra.s.s he was eating, with ears fixed and neck arched, turned towards the voice. The prince, as he heard it, rose from his lotus-couch in curiosity to see whence this song could arise in a place deserted by men, and cast his glance towards the region; but, from the great distance, he was unable, though he strained his eyes to the utmost, to discern anything, although he ceaselessly heard the sound. Desiring in his eagerness to know its source, he determined to depart, and saddling and mounting Indrayudha, he set forth by the western forest path, making the song his goal; the deer, albeit unasked, were his guides, as they rushed on in front, delighting in the music. [252]

(253-256 condensed) '"Welcomed by the breezes of Kailasa, he went towards that spot, which was surrounded by trees on all sides, and at the foot of the slope of Kailasa, on the left bank of the lake, called Candraprabha, which whitened the whole region with a splendour as of moonlight, he beheld an empty temple of civa.

(257) '"As he entered the temple he was whitened by the falling on him of ketaki pollen, tossed by the wind, as if for the sake of seeing civa he had been forcibly made to perform a vow of putting on ashes, or as if he were robed in the pure merits of entering the temple; and, in a crystal shrine resting on four pillars, he beheld civa, the four-faced, teacher of the world, the G.o.d whose feet are honoured by the universe, with his emblem, the linga, made of pure pearl. Homage had been paid to the deity by s.h.i.+ning lotuses of the heavenly Ganges, that might be mistaken for crests of pearls, freshly-plucked and wet, with drops falling from the ends of their leaves, like fragments of the moon's disc split and set upright, or like parts of civa's own smile, or sc.r.a.ps of cesha's hood, or brothers of Krishna's conch, or the heart of the Milky Ocean.

(258) '"But, seated in a posture of meditation, to the right of the G.o.d, facing him, Candrapida beheld a maiden vowed to the service of civa, who turned the region with its mountains and woods to ivory by the brightness of her beauty. For its l.u.s.tre shone far, spreading through s.p.a.ce, white as the tide of the Milky Ocean, overwhelming all things at the day of doom, or like a store of penance gathered in long years and flowing out, streaming forth ma.s.sed together like Ganges between the trees, giving a fresh whiteness to Kailasa, and purifying the gazer's soul, though it but entered his eye. The exceeding whiteness of her form concealed her limbs as though she had entered a crystal shrine, or had plunged into a sea of milk, or were hidden in spotless silk, or were caught on the surface of a mirror, or were veiled in autumn clouds. She seemed to be fas.h.i.+oned from the quintessence of whiteness, without the bevy of helps for the creation of the body that consist of matter formed of the five gross elements.

(259) She was like sacrifice impersonate, come to wors.h.i.+p civa, in fear of being seized by the unworthy; or Rati, undertaking a rite of propitiation to conciliate him, for the sake of Kama's body; or Lakshmi, G.o.ddess of the Milky Ocean, longing for a digit of civa's moon, her familiar friend of yore when they dwelt together in the deep; or the embodied moon seeking civa's protection from Rahu; or the beauty of Airavata, [253] come to fulfil civa's wish to wear an elephant's skin; or the brightness of the smile on the right face of civa become manifest and taking a separate abode; or the white ash with which civa besprinkles himself, in bodily shape; or moonlight made manifest to dispel the darkness of civa's neck; or the embodied purity of Gauri's mind; or the impersonate chast.i.ty of Kartikeya; or the brightness of civa's bull, dwelling apart from his body; (260) or the wealth of flowers on the temple trees come of themselves to wors.h.i.+p civa; or the fulness of Brahma's penance come down to earth; or the glory of the Praj.a.patis of the Golden Age, resting after the fatigue of wandering through the seven worlds; or the Three Vedas, dwelling in the woods in grief at the overthrow of righteousness in the Kali Age; or the germ of a future Golden Age, in the form of a maiden; or the fulness of a muni's contemplation, in human shape; or a troop of heavenly elephants, falling into confusion on reaching the heavenly Ganges; or the beauty of Kailasa, fallen in dread of being uprooted by Ravana; or the Lakshmi of the cvetadvipa [254] come to behold another continent; or the grace of an opening kaca-blossom looking for the autumn; or the brightness of cesha's body leaving h.e.l.l and come to earth; or the brilliance of Balarama, which had left him in weariness of his intoxication; or a succession of bright fortnights ma.s.sed together.

'"She seemed from her whiteness to have taken a share from all the hamsas; (261) or to have come from the heart of righteousness; or to have been fas.h.i.+oned from a sh.e.l.l; or drawn from a pearl; or formed from lotus-fibres; or made of flakes of ivory; or purified by brushes of moonbeams; or inlaid with lime; or whitened with foam-b.a.l.l.s of ambrosia; or laved in streams of quicksilver; or rubbed with melted silver; or dug out from the moon's...o...b.. or decked with the hues of kutaja, jasmine, and sinduvara flowers. She seemed, in truth, to be the very furthest bound of whiteness. Her head was bright with matted locks hanging on her shoulders, made, as it were, of the brightness of morning rays taken from the sun on the Eastern Mountain, tawny like the quivering splendour of flas.h.i.+ng lightning, and, being wet from recent bathing, marked with the dust of civa's feet clasped in her devotion; she bore civa's feet marked with his name in jewels on her head, fastened with a band of hair; (262) and her brow had a sectarial mark of ashes pure as the dust of stars ground by the heels of the sun's horses. (266) She was a G.o.ddess, and her age could not be known by earthly reckoning, but she resembled a maiden of eighteen summers.

'"Having beheld her, Candrapida dismounted, tied his horse to a bough, and then, reverently bowing before the blessed civa, gazed again on that heavenly maiden with a steady unswerving glance. And as her beauty, grace, and serenity stirred his wonder, the thought arose in him: 'How in this world each matter in its turn becomes of no value! For when I was pursuing the pair of Kinnaras wantonly and vainly I beheld this most beautiful place, inaccessible to men, and haunted by the immortals. (267) Then in my search for water I saw this delightful lake sought by the Siddhas. While I rested on its bank I heard a divine song; and as I followed the sound, this divine maiden, too fair for mortal sight, met my eyes. For I cannot doubt her divinity. Her very beauty proclaims her a G.o.ddess. And whence in the world of men could there arise such harmonies of heavenly minstrelsy? If, therefore, she vanishes not from my sight, nor mounts the summit of Kailasa, nor flies to the sky, I will draw near and ask her, "Who art thou, and what is thy name, and why hast thou in the dawn of life undertaken this vow?" This is all full of wonder.' With this resolve he approached another pillar of the crystal shrine, and sat there, awaiting the end of the song.

'"Then when she had stilled her lute, like a moon-lotus bed when the pleasant hum of the bees is silenced, (268) the maiden rose, made a sunwise turn and an obeisance to civa, and then turning round, with a glance by nature clear, and by the power of penance confident, she, as it were, gave courage to Candrapida, as if thereby she were sprinkling him with merits, laving him with holy water, purifying him with penance, freeing him from stain, giving him his heart's desire, and leading him to purity.

'"'Hail to my guest!' said she. 'How has my lord reached this place? Rise, draw near, and receive a guest's due welcome.' So she spake; and he, deeming himself honoured even by her deigning to speak with him, reverently arose and bowed before her. 'As thou biddest, lady,' he replied, and showed his courtesy by following in her steps like a pupil. And on the way he thought: 'Lo, even when she beheld me she did not vanis.h.!.+ Truly a hope of asking her questions has taken hold of my heart. And when I see the courteous welcome, rich in kindness, of this maiden, fair though she be with a beauty rare in ascetics, I surely trust that at my pet.i.tion she will tell me all her story.'

(269) '"Having gone about a hundred paces, he beheld a cave, with its entrance veiled by dense tamalas, showing even by day a night of their own; its edge was vocal with the glad bees' deep murmur on the bowers of creepers with their opening blossoms; it was bedewed with torrents that in their sheer descent fell in foam, das.h.i.+ng against the white rock, and cleft by the axe-like points of the jagged cliff, with a shrill crash as the cold spray rose up and broke; it was like a ma.s.s of waving cowries hanging from a door, from the cascades streaming down on either side, white as civa's smile, or as pearly frost. Within was a circle of jewelled pitchers; on one side hung a veil worn in sacred meditation; a clean pair of shoes made of cocoanut matting hung on a peg; one corner held a bark bed gray with dust scattered by the ashes the maiden wore; the place of honour was filled by a bowl of sh.e.l.l carved with a chisel, like the orb of the moon; and close by there stood a gourd of ashes.

'"On the rock at the entrance Candrapida took his seat, and when the maiden, having laid her lute on the pillow of the bark bed, took in a leafy cup some water from the cascade to offer to her guest, and he said as she approached (270): 'Enough of these thy great toils. Cease this excess of grace. Be persuaded, lady. Let this too great honour be abandoned. The very sight of thee, like the aghamarshana hymn, stills all evil and sufficeth for purification. Deign to take thy seat!' Yet being urged by her, he reverently, with head bent low, accepted all the homage she gave to her guest. When her cares for her guest were over, she sat down on another rock, and after a short silence he told, at her request, the whole story of his coming in pursuit of the pair of Kinnaras, beginning with his expedition of conquest. The maiden then rose, and, taking a begging bowl, wandered among the trees round the temple; and ere long her bowl was filled with fruits that had fallen of their own accord. As she invited Candrapida to the enjoyment of them, the thought arose in his heart: 'Of a truth, there is nought beyond the power of penance. For it is a great marvel how the lords of the forest, albeit devoid of sense, yet, like beings endowed with sense, gain honour for themselves by casting down their fruits for this maiden. A wondrous sight is this, and one never seen before.'

'"So, marvelling yet more, he brought Indrayudha to that spot, unsaddled him, and tied him up hard by. (271) Then, having bathed in the torrent, he partook of the fruits, sweet as ambrosia, and drank the cool water of the cascade, and having rinsed his mouth, he waited apart while the maiden enjoyed her repast of water, roots, and fruit.

'"When her meal was ended and she had said her evening prayer, and taken her seat fearlessly on the rock, the Prince quietly approached her, and sitting down near her, paused awhile and then respectfully said:

'"'Lady, the folly that besets mankind impels me even against my will to question thee, for I am bewildered by a curiosity that has taken courage from thy kindness. For even the slightest grace of a lord emboldens a weak nature: even a short time spent together creates intimacy. Even a slight acceptance of homage produces affection. Therefore, if it weary thee not, I pray thee to honour me with thy story. For from my first sight of thee a great eagerness has possessed me as to this matter. Is the race honoured by thy birth, lady, that of the Maruts, or Ris.h.i.+s, or Gandharvas, or Guhyakas, or Apsarases? And wherefore in thy fresh youth, tender as a flower, has this vow been taken? (272) For how far apart would seem thy youth, thy beauty, and thine exceeding grace, from this thy peace from all thoughts of earth! This is marvellous in mine eyes! And wherefore hast thou left the heavenly hermitages that G.o.ds may win, and that hold all things needful for the highest saints, to dwell alone in this deserted wood? And whereby hath thy body, though formed of the five gross elements, put on this pure whiteness? Never have I heard or seen aught such as this. I pray thee dispel my curiosity, and tell me all I ask.'

'"For a little time she pondered his request in silence, and then she began to weep noiselessly, and her eyes were blinded by tears which fell in large drops, carrying with them the purity of her heart, showering down the innocence of her senses, distilling the essence of asceticism, dropping in a liquid form the brightness of her eyes, most pure, falling on her white cheeks like a broken string of pearls, unceasing, splas.h.i.+ng on her bosom covered by the bark robe.

(273) '"And as he beheld her weeping Candrapida reflected: 'How hardly can misfortune be warded off, if it takes for its own a beauty like this, which one might have deemed beyond its might! Of a truth there is none whom the sorrows of life in the body leave untouched. Strong indeed is the working of the opposed powers of pleasure and pain. [255]

These her tears have created in me a further curiosity, even greater than before. It is no slight grief that can take its abode in a form like hers. For it is not a feeble blow that causes the earth to tremble.'

'"While his curiosity was thus increased he felt himself guilty of recalling her grief, and rising, brought in his folded hand from the torrent some water to bathe her face. But she, though the torrent of her tears was in nowise checked by his gentleness, yet bathed her reddened eyes, and drying her face with the edge of her bark robe, slowly said with a long and bitter sigh:

(274) '"'Wherefore, Prince, wilt thou hear the story of my ascetic life, all unfit for thy ears? for cruel has been my heart, hard my destiny, and evil my condition, even from my birth. Still, if thy desire to know be great, hearken. It has come within the range of our hearing, usually directed to auspicious knowledge, that there are in the abode of the G.o.ds maidens called Apsarases. Of these there are fourteen families: one sprung from the mind of Brahma, another from the Vedas, another from fire, another from the wind, another from nectar when it was churned, another from water, another from the sun's rays, another from the moon's beams, another from earth, and another from lightning; one was fas.h.i.+oned by Death, and another created by Love; besides, Daksha, father of all, had among his many daughters two, Muni and Arishta, and from their union with the Gandharvas were sprung the other two families. These are, in sum, the fourteen races. But from the Gandharvas and the daughters of Daksha sprang these two families. Here Muni bore a sixteenth son, by name Citraratha, who excelled in virtues Sena and all the rest of his fifteen brothers. For his heroism was famed through the three worlds; his dignity was increased by the name of Friend, bestowed by Indra, whose lotus feet are caressed by the crests of the G.o.ds cast down before him; and even in childhood he gained the sovereignty of all the Gandharvas by a right arm tinged with the flas.h.i.+ng of his sword. (275) Not far hence, north of the land of Bharata, is his dwelling, Hemakuta, a boundary mountain in the Kimpurusha country. There, protected by his arm, dwell innumerable Gandharvas. By him this pleasant wood, Caitraratha, was made, this great lake Acchoda was dug out, and this image of civa was fas.h.i.+oned. But the son of Arishta, in the second Gandharva family, was as a child anointed king by Citraratha, lord of the Gandharvas, and now holds royal rank, and with a countless retinue of Gandharvas dwells likewise on this mountain. Now, from that family of Apsarases which sprang from the moon's nectar was born a maiden, fas.h.i.+oned as though by the grace of all the moon's digits poured in one stream, gladdening the eyes of the universe, moonbeam-fair, in name and nature a second Gauri. [256] (276) Her Hamsa, lord of the second family, wooed, as the Milky Ocean the Ganges; with him she was united, as Rati with Kama, or the lotus-bed with the autumn; and enjoying the great happiness of such a union she became the queen of his zenana. To this n.o.ble pair I was born as only daughter, ill-omened, a prey for grief, and a vessel for countless sorrows; my father, however, having no other child, greeted my birth with a great festival, surpa.s.sing that for a son, and on the tenth day, with the customary rites he gave me the fitting name of Mahacveta. In his palace I spent my childhood, pa.s.sed from lap to lap of the Gandharva dames, like a lute, as I murmured the prattle of babyhood, ignorant as yet of the sorrows of love; but in time fresh youth came to me as the honey-month to the spring, fresh shoots to the honey-month, flowers to the fresh shoots, bees to the flowers, and honey to the bees.

'"' [257]And one day in the month of honey I went down with my mother to the Acchoda lake to bathe, when its beauties were spread wide in the spring, and all its lotuses were in flower.

(278) '"'I wors.h.i.+pped the pictures of civa, attended by Bringiriti, which were carved on the rocks of the bank by Parvati when she came down to bathe, and which had the reverential attendance of ascetics portrayed by the thin footprints left in the dust. "How beautiful!" I cried, "is this bower of creepers, with its cl.u.s.ters of flowers of which the bees' weight has broken the centre and bowed the filaments; this mango is fully in flower, and the honey pours through the holes in the stalks of its buds, which the cuckoo's sharp claws have pierced; how cool this sandal avenue, which the serpents, terrified at the murmur of hosts of wild peac.o.c.ks, have deserted; how delightful the waving creepers, which betray by their fallen blossoms the swinging of the wood-nymphs upon them; how pleasant the foot of the trees on the bank where the kalahamsas have left the line of their steps imprinted in the pollen of many a flower!" Drawn on thus by the ever-growing charms of the wood, I wandered with my companions. (279) And at a certain spot I smelt the fragrance of a flower strongly borne on the wind, overpowering that of all the rest, though the wood was in full blossom; it drew near, and by its great sweetness seemed to anoint, to delight, and to fill the sense of smell. Bees followed it, seeking to make it their own: it was truly a perfume unknown heretofore, and fit for the G.o.ds. I, too, eager to learn whence it came, with eyes turned into buds, and drawn on like a bee by that scent, and attracting to me the kalahamsas of the lake by the jangling of my anklets loudly clashed in the tremulous speed of my curiosity, advanced a few steps and beheld a graceful youthful ascetic coming down to bathe. He was like Spring doing penance in grief for Love made the fuel of civa's fire, or the crescent on civa's brow performing a vow to win a full orb, or Love restrained in his eagerness to conquer civa: by his great splendour he appeared to be girt by a cage of quivering lightning, embosomed in the globe of the summer sun, or encircled in the flames of a furnace: (280) by the brightness of his form, flas.h.i.+ng forth ever more and more, yellow as lamplight, he made the grove a tawny gold; his locks were yellow and soft like an amulet dyed in gorocana. The line of ashes on his brow made him like Ganges with the line of a fresh sandbank, as though it were a sandal-mark to win Sarasvati, [258] and played the part of a banner of holiness; his eyebrows were an arch rising high over the abode of men's curses; his eyes were so long that he seemed to wear them as a chaplet; he shared with the deer the beauty of their glance; his nose was long and aquiline; the citron of his lower lip was rosy as with the glow of youth, which was refused an entrance to his heart; with his beardless cheek he was like a fresh lotus, the filaments of which have not yet been tossed by the bees in their sport; he was adorned with a sacrificial thread like the bent string of Love's bow, or a filament from the lotus grove of the pool of penance; in one hand he bore a pitcher like a kesara fruit with its stalk; in the other a crystal rosary, strung as it were with the tears of Rati wailing in grief for Love's death. (281) His loins were girt with a munja-gra.s.s girdle, as though he had a.s.sumed a halo, having outvied the sun by his innate splendour; the office of vesture was performed by the bark of the heavenly coral-tree, [259] bright as the pink eyelid of an old partridge, and washed in the waves of the heavenly Ganges; he was the ornament of ascetic life, the youthful grace of holiness, the delight of Sarasvati, the chosen lord of all the sciences, and the meeting-place of all divine tradition. He had, like the summer season, [260] his ashadha [261]; he had, like a winter wood, the brightness of opening millet, and he had like the month of honey, a face adorned with white tilaka. [262]

With him there was a youthful ascetic gathering flowers to wors.h.i.+p the G.o.ds, his equal in age and a friend worthy of himself.