The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
to another man, the son of a Kshatriya. But that Hathasarman managed
to crush him by the power of his wealth, and then I went to another
Kshatriya, who was well off. Then this Bráhman went at night and
set his house on fire. Then he abandoned me, and I went to a third
Kshatriya, and this Bráhman burnt his house also at night. Then
I was abandoned by him also, and I became a fugitive, flying in
terror, as the sheep flies from the jackal, from that Hathasarman,
who wishes to slay me, and follows me step by step. In this very city
I entered the service of the mighty Vírasarman your servant, a Rájpút
who protects the helpless. When the wicked Hathasarman found that
out, he was miserable at having no hope of recovering me, and being
afflicted with separation, he was reduced to skin and bone. But the
Rájpút Vírasarman, when disposed to imprison him for my protection,
was prevented by me, O queen. To-day it chanced that I went outside
the house, and Hathasarman, seeing me, drew his sword and rushed on
me to kill me, but I thereupon fled here, and the female warder,
melted with compassion, opened the door and let me enter, but he,
I know, is waiting for me outside.
When she said this, the king had the Bráhman Hathasarman summoned
into his presence; he looked at Asokamálá with an eye inflamed with
anger, his form was distorted, he held a sword in his hand, and
the joints of his limbs trembled with rage. The king said to him,
"Wicked Bráhman, do you try to kill a woman, and for her sake set
on fire your neighbours' houses? Why are you so wicked?" When the
Bráhman heard that, he said, "She is my lawful wife. She has left
my protection and gone elsewhere, how could I endure that?" When he
said this, Asokamálá, in distress, exclaimed, "O guardians of the
world, tell me this; did he not in your presence marry me and carry
me off by force against my own will? And did I not say at the time,
'I will not dwell in his house?'" When she said this, a heavenly voice
said, "The statement of Asokamálá is true. But she is not a woman;
hear the truth about her. There is a heroic king of the Vidyádharas
named Asokakara. He had no sons, and once on a time it happened that a
daughter was born to him, and she grew up in the house of her father,
under the name of Asokamálá. And when she arrived at an adult age,
and he, desiring to perpetuate his race, offered her in marriage,
she would not take any husband, through exceeding pride in her own
beauty. For that reason her father, vexed with her obstinacy, denounced
this curse on her; 'Become a mortal, and in that state thou shalt
have the same name. And an ugly Bráhman shall marry thee by force;
thou shalt abandon him, and in thy fear resort to three husbands in
succession. Even then he shall persecute thee, and thou shalt take
refuge with a mighty Kshatriya as his slave, but even then the Bráhman
shall not desist from persecuting thee. And he shall see thee, and run
after thee, with the object of killing thee, but thou shalt escape,
and entering the king's palace, shalt be delivered from this curse.'
Accordingly that very Vidyádharí, Asokamálá, who was in old time cursed
by her father, has now been born as a woman under the same name. And
this appointed end of her curse has now arrived. She shall now repair
to her Vidyádhara home, and enter her own body which is there. There
she, remembering her curse, shall live happily with a Vidyádhara
prince, named Abhiruchita, who shall become her husband." When the
heavenly voice had said this, it ceased, and immediately that Asokamálá
fell dead on the ground. But the king and Alankáravatí, when they
saw that, had their eyes suffused with tears, and so had their
courtiers. But in Hathasarman grief overpowered anger, and he wept,
blinded with passion. Then his eyes suddenly became expanded with
joy. All of them thereupon said to him,--"What does this mean?" Then
that Bráhman said, "I remember my former birth, and I will give an
account of it, listen."
Story of Sthúlabhuja.
On the Himálayas there is a splendid city, named Madanapura; in it
dwelt a Vidyádhara prince, named Pralambabhuja. He had born to him,
my lord, a son named Sthúlabhuja, and he in course of time became a
handsome prince in the flower of youth. Then a king of the Vidyádharas,
named Surabhivatsa, came with his daughter to the palace of that
king Pralambabhuja, and said to him: "I give this daughter of mine,
called Surabhidattá, to your son Sthúlabhuja; let the accomplished
youth marry her now." When Pralambabhuja heard this, he approved it,
and summoning his son, he communicated the matter to him. Then his
son Sthúlabhuja, out of pride in his beauty, said to him, "I will
not marry her, my father, for she is not a first-class beauty." His
father thereupon said to him, "What does her plainness matter? For
she is of high lineage and must be honoured on that account, and
her father offered her to me for you, and I have accepted her, so do
not refuse." Although Sthúlabhuja was thus entreated a second time
by his father, he would not consent to marry her. Then his father,
in his anger, denounced against him the following curse--"On account
of this your pride in your good looks, be born as a man, and in that
state you shall be ugly and with a large mouth. And you shall acquire
by force a wife named Asokamálá, also fallen by a curse, and she,
not liking you, shall leave you, and you shall experience the grief of
separation. And as she shall be attached to another, you shall commit
for her sake arson and other crimes, being maddened with passion and
emaciated with grief." When Pralambabhuja had uttered this curse, that
virtuous Surabhidattá clung to his feet, weeping, and entreated him,
"Pronounce a curse on me also, let our lot be the same, let not my
husband alone suffer calamity owing to my fault." When she said this,
Pralambabhuja was pleased, and, in order to comfort that virtuous
woman, he appointed for her this end to his son's curse: "Whenever
Asokamálá shall be released from her curse, then he shall remember
his birth and be released from this curse, and he shall regain his
own body, and remembering his curse, he shall be free from pride,
and soon marry you; then he shall live with you in happiness." When
the virtuous woman was thus addressed by him, she managed to recover
her self-composure.
"Know that I am that very Sthúlabhuja, fallen here by a curse, and
I have experienced this great grief owing to the fault of pride. How
can proud men have happiness in a previous or in a present state of
existence? And that curse of mine is now at an end." After saying this,
Hathasarman abandoned that body, and became a Vidyádhara youth. And
he took by the might of his science the body of Asokamálá, and flung
it, without its being seen, into the Ganges, out of compassion. And
he sprinkled immediately the chamber of Alankáravatí all round with
water of the Ganges, brought by the might of his science, and after
bending before Naraváhanadatta, his future lord, he flew up into the
heaven to his destined prosperity.
All being astonished, Gomukha told this story of Anangarati, which
was appropriate to the incident--
Story of Anangarati and her four suitors.
There is on the earth a city, rightly named Súrapura, [715] and
in it there lived a king named Mahávaráha, the destroyer of his
foes. That king had a daughter named Anangarati, born to him by his
wife Padmarati, owing to his having propitiated Gaurí, and he had no
other children. And in course of time she attained womanhood, and proud
of her beauty, she did not wish to have any husband, though kings asked
her in marriage. But she said decidedly; "I must be given to a man
who is brave and handsome, and knows some one splendid accomplishment.
Then there came from the Dekhan four heroes, who, having heard
tidings of her, were eager to obtain her, and they were furnished
with the qualities which she desired. They were announced by the
warder and introduced, and then king Mahávaráha asked them in the
presence of Anangarati; "What are your names? what is your descent,
and what do you know?" When they heard this speech of the king's,
one of them said--"I am Panchaphuttika by name, a Súdra; I possess a
peculiar talent; I weave every day five pairs of garments, one of them
I give to a Bráhman, and the second I offer to Siva, and the third I
wear myself, and as for the fourth, if I had a wife, I would give it
to her, and the fifth I sell, and live upon the proceeds." Then the
second said, "I am a Vaisya named Bháshájna; I know the language of
all beasts and birds." [716]
Then the third said, "I am a Kshatriya named Khadgadhara, and no
one surpasses me in fighting with the sword." And the fourth said,
"I am an excellent Bráhman named Jívadatta; by means of the sciences
which I possess by the favour of Gaurí, I can raise to life a dead
woman." [717] When they had thus spoken, the Súdra, the Vaisya, and
the Kshatriya one after another praised their own beauty, courage
and might, but the Bráhman praised his might and valour, and said
nothing about his beauty.
Then king Mahávaráha said to his door-keeper--"Take all these
now and make them rest in your house." The door-keeper, when he
heard the order, took them to his house. Then the king said to his
daughter Anangarati, "My daughter, which of these four heroes do you
prefer?" When Anangarati heard that, she said to her father; "Father,
I do not like any one of the four; the first is a Súdra and a weaver,
what is the use of his good qualities? The second is a Vaisya, and what
is the use of his knowing the language of cattle, and so on? How can
I give myself to them, when I am a Kshatriya woman? The third indeed
is a meritorious Kshatriya, equal to me in birth, but be is a poor
man and lives by service, selling his life. As I am the daughter of a
king, how can I become his wife? The fourth, the Bráhman Jívadatta,
I do not like; he is ugly and is addicted to unlawful arts, and, as
he has deserted the Vedas, he has fallen from his high position. You
ought to punish him, why do you offer to give me to him? For you, my
father, being a king, are the upholder of the castes and the various
stages of life. And a king, who is a hero in upholding religion,
is preferred to a king, who is only a hero with the sword. A hero in
religion will be the lord of a thousand heroes with the sword." When
his daughter had said this, the king dismissed her to her own private
apartments, and rose up to bathe and perform his other duties.
And the next day, the four heroes went out from the house of the
door-keeper, and roamed about in the town out of curiosity. And at that
very time a vicious elephant, named Padmakabala, broke his fastening,
and in his fury rushed out from the elephant-stable, trampling down the
citizens. And that great elephant, when he saw the four heroes, rushed
towards them to slay them, and they too advanced towards him with
uplifted weapons. Then the one Kshatriya among them, named Khadgadhara,
putting aside the other three, alone attacked that elephant. And he
cut off with one blow the protended trunk of that roaring elephant,
with as much ease as if it had been a lotus-stalk. And after showing
his agility by escaping between his feet, he delivered a second blow
on the back of that elephant. And with the third he cut off both his
feet. Then that elephant gave a groan and fell down and died. All the
people were astonished when they beheld that valour of his, and king
Mahávaráha was also amazed when he heard of it.
The next day, the king went out to hunt, mounted on an elephant,
and the four heroes, with Khadgadhara at their head, accompanied
him. There the king with his army slew tigers, deer, and boars,
and the lions rushed out upon him in anger, hearing the trumpeting