The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
against me, and yet if I put him to death publicly, I shall incur
reproach,"--thus reflecting, that king sent that Sivavarman on some
pretext to Bhogavarman a neighbouring chief, [68] who was an ally of
his, and immediately afterwards the king secretly sent off a messenger
to the same chief, bearing a letter by which he was ordered to put
the minister to death. When a week had elapsed after the minister's
departure, that queen tried to escape out of fear, and was taken by
the guards with a man in woman's attire, then Ádityavarman when he
heard of it was filled with remorse, and asked himself why he had
causelessly brought about the death of so excellent a minister. In
the meanwhile Sivavarman reached the Court of Bhogavarman, and that
messenger came bringing the letter; and fate would have it so that
after Bhogavarman had read the letter he told to Sivavarman in secret
the order he had received to put him to death.
The excellent minister Sivavarman in his turn said to that chief,--"put
me to death; if you do not, I will slay myself with my own hand." When
he heard that, Bhogavarman was filled with wonder, and said to him,
"What does all this mean? Tell me Bráhman, if you do not, you will lie
under my curse." Then the minister said to him, "King, in whatever land
I am slain, on that land God will not send rain for twelve years." When
he heard that, Bhogavarman debated with his minister,--"that wicked
king desires the destruction of our land, for could he not have
employed secret assassins to kill his minister? So we must not put this
minister to death, moreover we must prevent him from laying violent
hands on himself." Having thus deliberated and appointed him guards,
Bhogavarman sent Sivavarman out of his country that moment; so that
minister by means of his wisdom returned alive, and his innocence was
established from another quarter, for righteousness cannot be undone.
In the same way your innocence will be made clear, Kátyáyana; remain
for a while in my house; this king too will repent of what he has
done. When Sakatála said this to me, I spent those days concealed in
his house, waiting my opportunity.
Then it came to pass that one day, O Kánabhúti, a son of that
Yogananda named Hiranyagupta went out hunting, and when he had
somehow or other been carried to a great distance by the speed of
his horse, while he was alone in the wood the day came to an end;
and then he ascended a tree to pass the night. Immediately afterwards
a bear, which had been terrified by a lion, ascended the same tree;
he seeing the prince frightened, said to him with a human voice,
"Fear not, thou art my friend," and thus promised him immunity from
harm. Then the prince confiding in the bear's promise went to sleep,
while the bear remained awake. Then the lion below said to the bear,
"Bear, throw me down this man, and I will go away." Then the bear said,
"Villain, I will not cause the death of a friend." When in course of
time the bear went to sleep while the prince was awake, the lion said
again, "Man, throw me down the bear." When he heard that, the prince,
who through fear for his own safety wished to propitiate the lion,
tried to throw down the bear, but wonderful to say, it did not fall,
since Fate caused it to awake. And then that bear said to the prince,
"become insane, thou betrayer of thy friend," [69] laying upon him
a curse destined not to end until a third person guessed the whole
transaction. Accordingly the prince, when he reached his palace in the
morning went out of his mind, and Yogananda seeing it, was immediately
plunged in despondency; and said, "If Vararuchi were alive at this
moment, all this matter would be known; curse on my readiness to have
him put to death!" Sakatála, when he heard this exclamation of the
king's, thought to himself, "Ha! here is an opportunity obtained for
bringing Kátyáyana out of concealment, and he being a proud man will
not remain here, and the king will repose confidence in me." After
reflecting thus, he implored pardon, and said to the king, "O King,
cease from despondency, Vararuchi remains alive." Then Yogananda said,
"Let him be brought quickly." Then I was suddenly brought by Sakatála
into the presence of Yogananda and beheld the prince in that state;
and by the favour of Sarasvatí I was enabled to reveal the whole
occurrence; and I said, "King, he has proved a traitor to his friend";
then I was praised by that prince who was delivered from his curse;
and the king asked me how I had managed to find out what had taken
place. Then I said, "King, the minds of the wise see everything by
inference from signs, and by acuteness of intellect. So I found out
all this in the same way as I found out that mole." When I had said
this, that king was afflicted with shame. Then without accepting his
munificence, considering myself to have gained all I desired by the
clearing of my reputation, I went home: for to the wise character
is wealth. And the moment I arrived, the servants of my house wept
before me, and when I was distressed at it Upavarsha came to me and
said, "Upakosá, when she heard that the king had put you to death,
committed her body to the flames, and then your mother's heart
broke with grief." Hearing that, senseless with the distraction
produced by recently aroused grief, I suddenly fell on the ground
like a tree broken by the wind: and in a moment I tasted the relief
of loud lamentations; whom will not the fire of grief, produced by
the loss of dear relations, scorch? Varsha came and gave me sound
advice in such words as these, "The only thing that is stable in
this ever-changeful world is instability, then why are you distracted
though you know this delusion of the Creator"? By the help of these
and similar exhortations I at length, though with difficulty, regained
my equanimity; then with heart disgusted with the world, I flung aside
all earthly lords, and choosing self-restraint for my only companion,
I went to a grove where asceticism was practised.
Then, as days went by, once on a time a Bráhman from Ayodhyá came to
that ascetic-grove while I was there: I asked him for tidings about
Yogananda's government, and he recognizing me told me in sorrowful
accents the following story:
"Hear what happened to Nanda after you had left him. Sakatála
after waiting for it a long time, found that he had now obtained
an opportunity of injuring him. While thinking how he might by
some device get Yogananda killed, he happened to see a Bráhman
named Chánakya digging up the earth in his path; he said to him,
"Why are you digging up the earth?" The Bráhman, whom he had asked,
said, I am rooting up a plant of darbha grass here, because it has
pricked my foot. [70] When he heard that, the minister thought that
Bráhman who formed such stern resolves out of anger, would be the best
instrument to destroy Nanda with. After asking his name he said to him,
"Bráhman, I assign to you the duty of presiding at a sráddha on the
thirteenth day of the lunar fortnight, in the house of king Nanda;
you shall have one hundred thousand gold pieces by way of fee, and
you shall sit at the board above all others; in the meanwhile come
to my house." Saying this, Sakatála took that Bráhman to his house,
and on the day of the sráddha he showed the Bráhman to the king,
and he approved of him. Then Chánakya went and sat at the head of
the table during the sráddha, but a Bráhman named Subandhu desired
that post of honour for himself. Then Sakatála went and referred the
matter to king Nanda, who answered, "Let Subandhu sit at the head of
the table, no one else deserves the place." Then Sakatála went, and,
humbly bowing through fear, communicated that order of the king's to
Chánakya, adding, "it is not my fault." Then that Chánakya, being,
as it were, inflamed all over with wrath, undoing the lock of hair on
the crown of his head, made this solemn vow, "Surely this Nanda must be
destroyed by me within seven days, and then my anger being appeased I
will bind up my lock." When he had said this, Yogananda was enraged;
so Chánakya escaped unobserved, and Sakatála gave him refuge in his
house. Then being supplied by Sakatála with the necessary instruments,
that Bráhman Chánakya went somewhere and performed a magic rite;
in consequence of this rite Yogananda caught a burning fever, and
died when the seventh day arrived; and Sakatála, having slain Nanda's
son Hiranyagupta, bestowed the royal dignity upon Chandragupta a son
of the previous Nanda. And after he had requested Chánakya, equal in
ability to Brihaspati, [71] to be Chandragupta's prime-minister, and
established him in the office, that minister, considering that all
his objects had been accomplished, as he had wreaked his vengeance
on Yogananda, despondent through sorrow for the death of his sons,
retired to the forest." [72]
After I had heard this, O Kánabhúti, from the mouth of that Bráhman, I
became exceedingly afflicted, seeing that all things are unstable; and
on account of my affliction I came to visit this shrine of Durgá, and
through her favour having beheld you, O my friend, I have remembered
my former birth.
And having obtained divine discernment I have told you the great tale:
now as my curse has spent its strength, I will strive to leave the
body; and do you remain here for the present, until there comes to you
a Bráhman named Gunádhya, who has forsaken the use of three languages,
[73] surrounded with his pupils, for he like myself was cursed by the
goddess in anger, being an excellent Gana Mályaván by name, who for
taking my part has become a mortal. To him you must tell this tale
originally told by Siva, then you shall be delivered from your curse,
and so shall he.
Having said all this to Kánabhúti, that Vararuchi set forth for the
holy hermitage of Badariká in order to put off his body. As he was
going along he beheld on the banks of the Ganges a vegetable-eating
[74] hermit, and while he was looking on, that hermit's hand was
pricked with kusa grass. Then Vararuchi turned his blood, as it
flowed out, into sap [75] through his magic power, out of curiosity,
in order to test his egotism; on beholding that, the hermit exclaimed,
"Ha! I have attained perfection;" and so he became puffed up with
pride. Then Vararuchi laughed a little and said to him, "I turned
your blood into sap in order to test you, because even now, O hermit,
you have not abandoned egotism. Egotism is in truth an obstacle in the
road to knowledge hard to overcome, and without knowledge liberation
cannot be attained even by a hundred vows. But the perishable joys of
Svarga cannot attract the hearts of those who long for liberation,
therefore, O hermit, endeavour to acquire knowledge by forsaking
egotism." Having thus read that hermit a lesson, and having been
praised by him prostrate in adoration, Vararuchi went to the tranquil
site of the hermitage of Badarí. [76] There he, desirous of putting off
his mortal condition, resorted for protection with intense devotion
to that goddess who only can protect, and she manifesting her real
form to him told him the secret of that meditation which arises from
fire, to help him to put off the body. Then Vararuchi having consumed
his body by that form of meditation, reached his own heavenly home;
and henceforth that Kánabhúti remained in the Vindhya forest eager
for his desired meeting with Gunádhya.
CHAPTER VI.
Then that Mályaván wandering about in the wood in human form, passing
under the name of Gunádhya, having served the king Sátaváhana, and
having, in accordance with a vow, abandoned in his presence the use
of Sanskrit and two other languages, with sorrowful mind came to pay a
visit to Durgá, the dweller in the Vindhya hills; and by her orders he