The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
We bow before that Ganesa before whom, when dancing, even the mountains
seem to bow, for they are made to stoop, owing to the earth being
bent by the weight of Nisumbha.
Thus Naraváhanadatta, the son of the king of Vatsa, dwelt in Kausámbí
in the palace of his father, having heard with astonishment of the
reign of the king of the Vidyádharas. And once on a time, having gone
out hunting, he dismissed his army, and entered a great forest, with
Gomukha as his only companion. There the throbbing of his right eye
indicated the approach of good fortune, and he soon heard the sound of
singing mixed with the notes of a heavenly lyre. After going a short
distance to find whence the sound proceeded, he beheld a Svayambhú
[703] temple of Siva, and after tying up his horse, he entered it. And
there he beheld a heavenly maiden, surrounded by many other lovely
maidens, praising Siva with the harp. As soon as he saw her, with the
effluent streams of her loveliness she disturbed his heart, as the orb
of the moon disturbs the heart of the sea. She too looked on him with
impassioned, loving, and bashful eye, and had her mind solely fixed on
him, and forgot to pour forth her notes. Then Gomukha, who read his
master's soul, began to ask her attendants--"Who is she, and whose
daughter is she?" But in the meanwhile a Vidyádharí of mature age,
resembling her in feature, descended from heaven, preceded by a gleam
red as gold. And she came down, and sat by the side of that maiden,
and then the maiden rose up, and fell at her feet. And that mature
dame blessed that girl, saying, "Obtain without impediment a husband,
who shall be king of all the Vidyádharas." Then Naraváhanadatta came
to that gentle-looking Vidyádharí, and bowed before her, and after
she had given him her blessing, he slowly said to her: "Who is this
maiden of thine, mother, tell me?" then that Vidyádharí said to him
"Listen, I will tell you."
Story of Alankáravatí.
There is on the mountain-heights of the father of Gaurí, [704]
a city named Srísundarapura, and in it there dwells a king of the
Vidyádharas, named Alankárasíla. That lofty-souled king had a wife
named Kánchanaprabhá, and in course of time a son was born to the
king by her. And, when Umá announced to his father in a dream that he
should be devoted to religion, he named him Dharmasíla. And in course
of time that son Dharmasíla grew up to be a young man, and the king,
having had him taught the sciences, appointed him Crown-prince. Then
Dharmasíla, when appointed Crown-prince, being exclusively devoted to
virtue, and self-controlled, delighted the subjects even more than
did his father. Then the queen Kánchanaprabhá, the consort of king
Alankárasíla, became pregnant again, and gave birth to a daughter. Then
a heavenly voice proclaimed, "This daughter shall be the wife of
the emperor Naraváhanadatta." Then her father gave her the name of
Alankáravatí, and the girl gradually grew like a digit of the moon. And
in course of time she attained mature youth, and learned the sciences
from her own father, and through devotion to the god Siva, began to
roam from temple to temple of his. In the meanwhile that brother of
hers, Dharmasíla, who was saintly, though in the bloom of youth, said
in secret to his father Alankárasíla--"My father, these enjoyments,
that vanish in a moment, do not please me; for what is there in this
world which is not distasteful at the last? Have you not heard on
this point the saying of the hermit Vyása? 'All aggregations end in
dissolution, all erections end in a fall, all unions end in separation,
and life ends in death.' So what pleasure can wise men take in these
perishable objects? Moreover, neither enjoyments nor heaps of wealth
accompany one into the other world, but virtue is the only friend that
never moves a step from one's side. Therefore I will go to the forest,
and perform a severe penance, in order by it to attain everlasting
supreme felicity." When the king's son Dharmasíla said this, his father
Alankárasíla was perturbed, and answered him with tears in his eyes;
"My son, what is this sudden delusion that has overtaken you while
still a boy? For good men desire a life of retirement after they
have enjoyed their youth. This is the time for you to marry a wife,
and rule your kingdom justly, and enjoy pleasures, not to abandon the
world." When Dharmasíla heard this speech of his father's, he answered:
"There is no period for self-control or absence of self-control fixed
by age; any one, even when a child, attains self-control, if favoured
by the Lord, but no bad man attains self-control even when old. And I
take no pleasure in reigning, nor in marrying a wife; the object of my
life is to propitiate Siva by austerities." When the prince said this,
his father Alankárasíla, seeing that he could not be turned from his
purpose even by the greatest efforts, shed tears, and said; "If you,
who are young, my son, display such freedom from passion, why should
not I, who am an old man? I too will go to the forest." He said this,
and went to the world of men, and bestowed on Bráhmans and the poor a
myriad loads of gold and jewels. And returning to his city, he said to
his wife Kánchanaprabhá: "You must, if you wish to obey my commands,
remain here in your own city, and take care of this daughter of ours,
Alankáravatí, and when a year has past, there will be on this very
day an auspicious moment for her marriage. And then I will give her in
marriage to Naraváhanadatta, and that son-in-law of mine shall be an
emperor, and shall come to this city of ours." Having said this to his
wife, the king made her take an oath, and then made her return weeping
with her daughter, and himself went with his son to the forest. But
his wife Kánchanaprabhá lived in her own city with her daughter;
what virtuous wife would disobey her husband's commands? Then her
daughter Alankáravatí wandered about to many temples together with
her mother, who accompanied her out of affection. And one day the
science named Prajnapti said to her, "Go to the holy places in Kasmíra
named Svayambhú, and there offer worship, for then you will obtain
without difficulty for a husband, Naraváhanadatta, the sole emperor
of all the Vidyádhara kings." After hearing this from the science,
she went with her mother to Kasmíra and worshipped Siva in all the
holy places, in Nandikshetra, in Mahádevagiri, in Amaraparvata, in
the mountains of Suresvarí, and in Vijaya, and Kapatesvara. After
worshipping the husband of Párvatí in these and other holy places,
that princess of the Vidyádharas and her mother returned home.
Know, auspicious youth, that this is that very maiden Alankáravatí,
and that I am her mother Kánchanaprabhá. And to-day she came to
this temple of Siva without telling me. Then I, perceiving it by the
Prajnapti science, came here, and I was told by the same science that
you had come here also. So marry this daughter of mine who has been
ordained your wife by the god. And to-morrow arrives the day of her
marriage appointed by her father, so return for this day, my son,
to Kausámbí your own city. And we will go hence, but to-morrow the
king Alankárasíla will come from the grove of asceticism, and himself
give you this daughter of his.
When she said this, Alankáravatí and Naraváhanadatta were thrown into
a strange state of distraction, for their eyes were full of tears,
since their hearts could not bear that they should be separated from
one another even for a night, and they were like chakravákas when the
end of the day is near. When Kánchanaprabhá saw them in such a state,
she said: "Why do you show such a want of self-restraint because
you are to be separated for one night. People, who possess firmness,
endure for a long time mutual separation to which no termination is
assigned; hear in proof of this the tale of Rámabhadra and Sítá."
Story of Ráma and Sítá.
Long ago king Dasaratha, the sovereign of Ayodhyá, had a son, named
Ráma, the elder brother of Bharata, Satrughna and Lakshmana. He was a
partial incarnation of Vishnu for the overthrow of Rávana, and he had
a wife named Sítá, the daughter of Janaka, the lady of his life. As
fate would have it, his father handed over the kingdom to Bharata, and
sent Ráma to the forest with Sítá and Lakshmana. There Rávana carried
off his beloved Sítá by magic, and took her to the city of Lanká,
having slain Jatáyus on the way. Then Ráma, in his bereaved state,
made Sugríva his friend by killing Bálin, and by sending Hanumán to
Lanká, obtained news of his wife. And he crossed the sea by building
a bridge over it, and slew Rávana, and gave the sovereignty of Lanká
to Vibhíshana and recovered Sítá. Then he returned from the forest,
and while he was ruling his kingdom, that Bharata had made over to
him, Sítá became pregnant in Ayodhyá. And while the king was roaming
through the city at leisure, with a small retinue, to observe the
actions of his subjects, he beheld a certain man turning his wife,
whom he held by the hand, out of his house, and giving out that her
fault was going to the house of another man. [705] And king Ráma heard
the wife saying to her husband,--"King Ráma did not desert his wife,
though she dwelt in the house of the Rákshasa; this fellow is superior
to him, for he abandons me for going to the house of a relation." So
he went home afflicted; and afraid of the slander of the people,
he abandoned Sítá in the forest; a man of reputation prefers the
sorrow of separation to ill-repute. And Sítá, languid with pregnancy,
happened to reach the hermitage of Válmíki, and that rishi comforted
her, and made her take up her abode there. And the other hermits there
debated among themselves; "Surely this Sítá is guilty, otherwise how
could her husband have deserted her? So, by beholding her, everlasting
pollution will attach to us; but Válmíki does not expel her from the
hermitage out of pity, and he neutralizes by means of his asceticism
the pollution produced by beholding her, so come, let us go to some
other hermitage." When Válmíki perceived that, he said; "Bráhmans,
you need not have any misgivings about the matter, I have perceived
her by my meditation to be chaste. When even then they exhibited
incredulity, Sítá said to them; "Reverend sirs, test my purity by any
means that you know of, and if I turn out to be unchaste, let me be
punished by having my head cut off." When the hermits heard that,
they experienced an emotion of pity, and they said to her, "There
is a famous bathing-place in this forest, called Títhibhasaras, for
a certain chaste woman named Títhibhí, being falsely accused by her
husband, who suspected her of familiarity with another man, in her
helplessness invoked the goddess Earth and the Lokapálas, and they
produced it for her justification. There let the wife of Ráma clear
herself for our satisfaction." When they said that, Sítá went with
them to that lake. And the chaste woman said--"Mother Earth, if my
mind was never fixed even in a dream on any one besides my husband,
may I reach the other side of the lake,"--and after saying this,
she entered the lake, and the goddess Earth appeared, and, taking
her in her lap, carried her to the other side. Then all the hermits
adored that chaste woman, and enraged at Ráma's having abandoned her,
they desired to curse him. But Sítá, who was devoted to her husband,
dissuaded them, saying,--"Do not entertain an inauspicious thought
against my husband, I beg you to curse my wicked self." The hermits,
pleased with that conduct of hers, gave her a blessing which enabled
her to give birth to a son, and she, while dwelling there, in good
time did give birth to a son, and the hermit Válmíki gave him the
name of Lava. [706] One day she took the child and went to bathe, and