The Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story Part 82

"I was very much vexed, and exclaimed 'How can the king be said to have married me lawfully?' Then the karpatika said to me, 'Do not be angry, queen, for the king married you in eager haste out of a violent pa.s.sion for you; hear the whole story from the beginning.'"

Story of Kalingasena's marriage

Once on a time, when I was serving your husband as a karpatika, I saw a great boar far away in the wood. Its mouth was formidable with tusks, its colour was black as a Tamala tree, it looked like an incarnation of the black fortnight devouring the digits of the moon. And I came, queen, and informed the king of it, describing it to him as I have done to you. And the king went out to hunt, attracted by his love for the sport. And when he reached the wood, and was dealing death among the tigers and deer, he saw in the distance that boar of which I had informed him. And when he saw that wonderful boar, he came to the conclusion that some being had a.s.sumed that form with an object, and he ascended his horse called Ratnakara, the progeny of Ucchaihsravas.

For every day at noon, the sun waits a brief s.p.a.ce in the sky, and then his charioteer the dawn lets the horses loose, that they may bathe and feed: and one day Uchchhaihsravas, having been unyoked from the chariot of the sun, approached a mare of the king's, that he saw in the forest, and begot that horse. [794]

So the king mounted that swift horse, and quickly pursued that boar, that fled to a very remote [795] part of the forest. Then that boar escaped somewhere from his view, being swifter even than that horse that had Uchchhaihsravas for a sire. Then the king, not having caught him, and seeing that I alone had followed him, while he had left the rest of his suite far behind, asked me this question, "Do you know how much ground we have traversed to get to this place?" When I heard that, queen, I made the king this answer, "My lord, we have come three hundred yojanas." Then the king being astonished said, "Then how have you managed to come so far on foot?" When he asked me this question, I answered, "King, I have an ointment for the feet; hear the way in which I acquired it."

How Devasena obtained the magic ointment.

Long ago, on account of the loss of my wife, I went forth to make a pilgrimage to all the holy bathing places, and in the course of my journey I came one evening to a temple with a garden. And I went in there to pa.s.s the night, and I saw inside a woman, and I remained there hospitably welcomed by her. And during the course of the night she elevated one lip to heaven, resting the other on the earth, and with expanded jaws said to me, "Have you seen before anywhere such a mouth as this?" Then I fearlessly drew my dagger with a frown, and said to her, "Have you seen such a man as this?" Then she a.s.sumed a gentle appearance without any horrible distortion of shape, and said to me, "I am a Yaks.h.i.+, Vandhya by name, and I am pleased with your courage; so now tell me what I can do to gratify you."

When the Yaks.h.i.+ni said this, I answered her, "If you are really pleased with me, then enable me to go round to all the holy waters without any suffering." When the Yaks.h.i.+ heard this, she gave me an ointment for my feet; [796] by means of it I travelled to all the holy bathing-places, and I have been able to run behind you now so far as this place. And by its aid I come to this wood here every day, and eat fruits, and then return to Ujjayini and attend upon you.

When I told that tale to the king, I saw by his pleased face that he thought in his heart that I was a follower well-suited to him. I again said to him, "King, I will bring you here some very sweet fruits, if you will be pleased to eat them." The king said to me, "I will not eat; I do not require anything; but do you eat something, as you are exhausted." Then I got hold of a gourd and ate it, and no sooner had I eaten it, than it turned me into a python.

But king Vishamasila, when he saw me suddenly turn into a python, was astonished and despondent. So, being there alone, he called to mind the Vetala Bhutaketu, whom he had long ago made his servant, by delivering him with a look from a disease of the eyes. That Vetala came, as soon as the king called him to mind, and bowing before him said, "Why did you call me to mind, great king? Give me your orders." Then the king said, "Good sir, this my karpatika has been suddenly turned into a python by eating a gourd; restore him to his former condition." But the Vetala said, "King, I have not the power to do this. Powers are strictly limited: can water quench the flame of lightning?" Then the king said, "Then let us go to this village, my friend. We may eventually hear of some remedy from the Bhillas there."

When the king had come to this conclusion, he went to that village with the Vetala. There the bandits surrounded him, seeing that he wore ornaments. But when they began to rain arrows upon him, the Vetala, by the order of the king, devoured five hundred of them. The rest fled and told their chief what had occurred, and he, whose name was Ekakikesarin, came there in wrath, with his host. But one of his servants recognised the monarch, and the chief hearing from him who it was, came and clung to Vikramaditya's feet, and announced himself. Then the king welcomed kindly the submissive chief, and asked after his health, and said to him, "My karpatika has become a python by eating the fruit of a gourd in the forest; so devise some plan for releasing him from his transformation."

When that chief heard this speech of the king's, he said to him, "King, let this follower of yours shew him to my son here." Then that son of his came with the Vetala, and made me a man as before by means of a sternutatory made of the extract of a plant. And then we went joyful into tho presence of the king; and when I bent at the feet of the king, the king informed the delighted chief who I was.

Then the Bhilla chief Ekakikesarin, after obtaining the king's consent, conducted him and us to his palace. And we beheld that dwelling of his, crowded with Savaras, having its high walls covered with the tusks of elephants, adorned with tiger-skins; in which the women had for garments the tails of peac.o.c.ks, for necklaces strings of gunja-fruit, and for perfume the ichor that flows from the foreheads of elephants. There the wife of the chief, having her garments perfumed with musk, adorned with pearls and such like ornaments, herself waited on the king.

Then the king, having bathed and taken a meal, observed that the chief's sons were old, while he was a young man, and put this question to him, "Chief, explain, I pray you, this that puzzles me. How comes it, that you are a young man, whereas these children of yours are old?" When the king had said this to the Savara chief, he answered him, "This, king, is a strange story; listen if you feel any curiosity about it."

Story of the grateful Monkey. [797]

I was long ago a Brahman named Chandrasvamin, and I lived in the city of Mayapur. One day I went by order of my father to the forest to fetch wood. There a monkey stood barring my way, but without hurting me, looking at me with an eye of grief, pointing out to me another path. I said to myself, "This monkey does not bite me, so I had better go along the path which he points out, and see what his object is." Thereupon I set out with him along that path, and the monkey kept going along in front of me, and turning round to look at me. And after he had gone some distance, he climbed up jambu-tree, and I looked at the upper part of the tree, which was covered with a dense network of creepers: and I saw a female monkey there with her body fettered by a ma.s.s of creepers twisted round her, and I understood that it was on this account that the monkey had brought me there. Then I climbed up the tree, and cut with my axe the creepers [798] that had twisted round and entangled her, and set that female monkey at liberty.

And when I got down from the tree, the male and female monkey came down also and embraced my feet. And the male monkey left that female clinging to my feet for a moment, and went and fetched a heavenly fruit, and gave it to me. I took it and returned home after I had got my fuel, and there I and my wife ate that splendid fruit together, and as soon as we had eaten it, we ceased to be liable to old age and disease. [799]

Then there arose in that country of ours the scourge of famine. And afflicted by that calamity the people of that land fled in all directions. And I happened in course of time to reach this country with my wife. And at that time there was a king of the Savaras here named Kanchanadanshtra: I entered his service with my sword. And as Kanchanadanshtra saw that I came to the front in several engagements, he appointed me general. And as I had won the affections of that master of mine by my exclusive devotion to him, when he died, having no son, he bestowed on me his kingdom. And twenty-seven hundred years have pa.s.sed over my head, since I have been in this place, and yet, owing to eating that fruit, I do not suffer from old age.

When Ekakikesarin, the king of the Bhillas, had told in these words his own history, he went on to ask a favour of the astonished monarch, saying, "By the fruit given by the monkey I gained a long life, and by that long life I have again obtained a perfect fruit, namely, the sight of your august self. So I entreat, king, that the condescension towards me, which you have shown by coming to my house, may be developed into gracious approval. I have, king, a daughter of matchless beauty, born to me by a Kshatriya wife, and her name is Madanasundari. That pearl of maidens ought not to fall to the lot of any one but your Highness. Therefore I bestow her on you; marry her with due ceremonies. And I, my sovereign, will follow you as your slave with twenty thousand archers."

When the Bhilla chief addressed this pet.i.tion to the king, he granted it. And in an auspicious hour he married the daughter of that chief, who gave him a hundred camels laden with pearls and musk. And after the king had remained there seven days, he set out thence with Madanasundari and the army of the Bhillas.

In the meanwhile, after the king had been carried away by his horse, our army remained despondent in the forest, where the hunting took place; but the warder Bhadrayudha said to them, "Away with despondency! Even though our king has been away for a long time, he is of divine power, and no serious misfortune will happen to him. Do you not remember how he went to Patala and married there the daughter of a Naga, whose name was Surupa, and came back here alone, and how the hero went to the world of the Gandharvas, and returned here with Taravali the daughter of the king of the Gandharvas?" With these words Bhadrayudha consoled them all, and they remained at the entrance of the forest waiting for the king.

And while that Madanasundari was advancing leisurely by an open path, accompanied by the Savara hosts, the king entered that forest on horseback, with myself and the Vetala, in order to get a sight of the boar he had before seen: and when he entered it, the boar rushed out in front of him, and the moment the king saw it, he killed it with five arrows. When it was slain, the Vetala rushed to it, and tore its belly open, and suddenly there issued from it a man of pleasing appearance.

The king, astonished, asked him who he was, and then there came there a wild elephant, resembling a moving mountain. When the king saw that wild elephant charging down on him, he smote it in a vital place and slew it with a single arrow. The Vetala tore open its belly also, and there issued from it a man of heavenly appearance, and a woman beautiful in all her limbs. And when the king was about to question the man, who issued from the boar, he said to him, "Listen, king; I am going to tell you my history.

"We two, king, are two sons of G.o.ds: [800] this one's name is Bhadra, and I am Subha. As we were roaming about we observed the hermit Kanva engaged in meditation. We a.s.sumed in sport the forms of an elephant and a boar, and having done so, we terrified the great sage in our reckless folly, and he p.r.o.nounced on us this curse, 'Become in this forest an elephant and boar such as you are now; but when you shall be killed by king Vikramaditya, you shall be released from the curse.' So we became an elephant and a boar by the curse of the hermit, and we have to-day been set free by you; as for this woman, let her tell her own story. But touch this boar on the neck and this elephant on the back; and they will become for you celestial sword and s.h.i.+eld."

When he had said this, he disappeared with his companion, and the boar and elephant, touched by the hand of the king, became for him a sword and a s.h.i.+eld. Then the woman, being questioned about her history, spoke as follows:

"I am the wife of a great merchant in Ujjayini named Dhanadatta. One night, as I was sleeping on the top of a palace, this elephant came and swallowed me and brought me here; however this man was not inside the elephant, but when its belly was torn open, he came out of it with me."

When the woman said this in grief, the king said to her, "Be of good courage: I will take you to your husband's house: go and journey along in security with my harem." When he had said this, he made the Vetala take her and hand her over to the queen Madanasundari, who was travelling by a different path.

Then, the Vetala having returned, we suddenly saw there in the wood two princesses, with a numerous and splendid retinue. And the king sent me and summoned their chamberlains, and they, when asked whence the two maidens came, told the following story;

Story of the two princesses.

There is a dvipa named Kataha, the home of all felicities. In it there is a king rightly named Gunasagara. [801] He had born to him by his princ.i.p.al queen a daughter named Gunavati, who by her beauty produced astonishment even in the Creator who made her. And holy seers announced that she should have for a husband the lord of the seven dvipas; whereupon her father the king deliberated with his counsellors; and came to this conclusion, "King Vikramaditya is a suitable husband for my daughter; so I will send her to marry him."

Accordingly, the king made his daughter embark in a s.h.i.+p on the sea, with her retinue and wealth, and sent her off. But it so happened that when the s.h.i.+p came near Suvarnadvipa, it was swallowed, with the princess and the people on board, by a large fish. But that monstrous fish was carried by the current of the sea as if by the course of Destiny, and thrown up on a coast near that dvipa, and there stranded. And the people of the neighbourhood, the moment they saw it, ran with many weapons in their hands, and killed that marvellous fish, and cut open its belly. [802] And then there came out of it that great s.h.i.+p full of people; and when the king of that dvipa heard of it, he came there greatly wondering. And that king, whose name was Chandrasekhara, and who was the brother-in-law of king Gunasagara, heard the whole story from the people in the s.h.i.+p. Then the king, finding that Gunavati was the daughter of his sister, took her into his palace, and out of joy celebrated a feast. And the next day that king put on board a s.h.i.+p in a lucky moment his daughter Chandravati, whom he had long intended to give to king Vikramaditya, with that Gunavati, and sent her off with much magnificence as a gift to that sovereign.

These two princesses, having crossed the sea, by advancing gradually, have at length arrived here; and we are their attendants. And when we reached this place, a very large boar and a very large elephant rushed upon us; then, king, we uttered this cry, "These maidens have come to offer themselves for wives to king Vikramaditya: so preserve them for him, ye Guardians of the World, as is meet." When the boar and the elephant heard this, they said to us with articulate speech, "Be of good courage! the mere mention of that king's name ensures your safety. And you shall see him arrive here in a moment." When the boar and the elephant, who were, no doubt, some heavenly beings or other, had said this, they went away.

"This is our story," said the chamberlain, and then, queen, I said to them, "And this is the king you seek." Then they fell at the king's feet rejoicing, and made over to him those two princesses Gunavati and Chandravati. And the king gave orders to the Vetala and had those two fair ones also taken to his queen, saying, "Let all three travel with Madanasundari."

The Vetala returned immediately, and then, queen, the king went with him and myself by an out-of-the-way path. And as we were going along in the forest, the sun set; and just at that time we heard there the sound of a drum. The king asked, "Whence comes this sound of a drum?" The Vetala answered him, "King, there is a temple here. It is a marvel of heavenly skill, having been built by Visvakarman; and this beating of the drum is to announce the commencement of the evening spectacle."

When the Vetala had said this, he and the king and I went there out of curiosity, and after we had tied up the horse, we entered. And we saw wors.h.i.+pped there a great linga of tarkshyaratna [803] and in front of it a spectacle with blazing lights. And there danced there for a long time three nymphs of celestial beauty, in four kinds of measures, accompanied with music and singing. And at the end of the spectacle we beheld a wonder, for the dancing nymphs disappeared in the figures carved on the pillars of the temple: and in the same way the singers and players went into the figures of men painted on the walls. When the king saw this, he was astonished, but the Vetala said to him, "Such is this heavenly enchantment produced by Visvakarman, lasting for ever, for this will always take place at both twilights."

When he had said this, we wandered about in the temple, and saw in one place a female figure on a pillar, of extraordinary beauty. When the king saw her, he was bewildered by her beauty, and remained for a moment absent-minded and motionless, so that he himself was like a figure cut on a pillar. And he exclaimed, "If I do not see a living woman like this figure, of what profit to me is my kingdom or my life?" When the Vetala heard this, he said, "Your wish is not hard to gratify, for the king of Kalinga has a daughter named Kalingasena, and a sculptor of Vardhamana seeing her, and being desirous of representing her beauty, carved this figure in imitation of her. [804] So return to Ujjayini, king, and ask that king of Kalinga for his daughter, or carry her off by force." This speech of the Vetala's the king laid up in his heart.

Then we spent that night there, and the next morning we set out, and we saw two handsome men under an asoka-tree, and then they rose up and bowed before the king. Then the king said to them, "Who are you, and why are you in the forest?" One of them answered, "Listen, king, I will tell you the whole story."

Story of Dhanadatta.

I am the son of a merchant in Ujjayini, and my name is Dhanadatta. Once on a time I went to sleep with my wife on the top of my palace. In the morning I woke up and looked about me, and lo! my wife was not in the palace, nor in the garden attached to it, nor anywhere about it. I said to myself, "She has not lost her heart to another man; of that I am convinced by the fact that the garland which she gave me, telling me that as long as she remained chaste, it would certainly not fade, is still as fresh as ever. [805] So I cannot think where she has gone, whether she has been carried off by a demon or some other evil being, or what has happened to her." With these thoughts in my mind, I remained looking for her, crying out, lamenting, and weeping; consumed by the fire of separation from her; taking no food. Then my relations succeeded at last in consoling me to a certain extent, and I took food, and I made my abode in a temple, and remained there plunged in grief, feasting Brahmans.

Once when I was quite broken down, this Brahman came to me there, and I refreshed him with a bath and food, and after he had eaten, I asked him whence he came, and he said, "I am from a village near Varanasi." My servants told him my cause of woe, and he said, "Why have you, like an unenterprising man, allowed your spirits to sink? The energetic man obtains even that which it is hard to attain; so rise up my friend, and let us look for your wife; I will help you."

I said, "How are we to look for her, when we do not even know in what direction she has gone?" When I said this, he answered me kindly, "Do not say this; did not Kesata long ago recover his wife, when it seemed hopeless that he should ever be reunited with her? Hear his story in proof of it."

Story of Kesata and Kandarpa.

There lived in the city of Pataliputra a wealthy young Brahman, the son of a Brahman; his name was Kesata, and he was in beauty like a second G.o.d of love. He wished to obtain a wife like himself, and so he went forth secretly [806] from his parents' house, and wandered through various lands on the pretext of visiting holy bathing-places. And in the course of his wanderings he came once on a time to the bank of the Narmada, and he saw a numerous procession of bridegroom's friends coming that way. And a distinguished old Brahman, belonging to that company, when he saw Kesata in the distance, left his companions, and coming up to him accosted him, and respectfully said to him in private, "I have a certain favour to ask of you, and it is one which you can easily do for me, but the benefit conferred on me will be a very great one; so, if you will do it, I will proceed to say what it is." When Kesata heard this, he said, "n.o.ble sir, if what you say is possible, I must certainly do it: let the benefit be conferred on you."

When the Brahman heard that, he said, "Listen, my good young man; I have a son, who is the prince of ugly, as you are of good-looking, men. He has projecting teeth, a flat nose, a black colour, squinting eyes, a big belly, crooked feet, and ears like winnowing baskets. Though he is such, I, out of my love for him, described him as handsome, and asked a Brahman, named Ratnadatta, to give him his daughter, named Rupavati, and he has agreed to do it. The girl is as beautiful as her name expresses, and to-day they are to be married. For this reason we have come, but I know that, when that purposed connexion of mine sees my son, he will refuse to give him his daughter, and this attempt will be fruitless. And while thinking how I could find some way out of the difficulty, I have met you here, courteous sir; so quickly perform for me my desire, as you have pledged your word to do. Come with us, and marry that maiden, and hand her over to my son to-day, for you are as good-looking as the bride."