The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
king be prosperous!" Those who are devoted to their master grudge
them neither their sons' lives nor their own. Then a voice was heard
from heaven, saying, "Bravo, Víravara! you have bestowed life on your
master by sacrificing even the life of your son." Then, while the
king was seeing and hearing with great astonishment all that went
on, the daughter of Víravara, named Víravatí, who was a mere girl,
came up to the head of her slain brother, and embraced it, and kissed
it, and crying out "Alas! my brother!" died of a broken heart. When
Víravara's wife, Dharmavatí, saw that her daughter also was dead,
in her grief she clasped her hands together, and said to Víravara;
"We have now ensured the prosperity of the king, so permit me to
enter the fire with my two dead children. Since my infant daughter,
though too young to understand anything, has died out of grief for her
brother, what is the use of my life, my two children being dead?" When
she spoke with this settled purpose, Víravara said to her; "Do so, what
can I say against it? For, blameless one, there remains no happiness
for you in a world, which will be all filled for you with grief
for your two children; so wait a moment while I prepare the funeral
pyre." Having said this, he constructed a pyre with some wood, that
was lying there to make the fence of the enclosure of the goddess's
temple, and put the corpses of his children upon it, and lit a fire
under it, so that it was enveloped in flames. Then his virtuous wife,
Dharmavatí, fell at his feet, and exclaiming, "May you, my husband,
be my lord in my next birth, and may prosperity befall the king!" she
leapt into that burning pyre, with its hair of flame, as gladly as into
a cool lake. And king Vikramatunga, who was standing by unperceived,
remained fixed in thought as to how he could possibly recompense them.
Then Víravara, of resolute soul, reflected--"I have accomplished
my duty to my master, for a divine voice was heard audibly, and so
I have requited him for the food which I have eaten, but now that I
have lost all the dear family I had to support, [740] it is not meet
that I should live alone, supporting myself only, so why should I not
propitiate this goddess Durgá by offering up myself?" Víravara, firm
in virtue, having formed this determination, first approached with
a hymn of praise that goddess Durgá, the granter of boons. "Honour
to thee, O great goddess, that givest security to thy votaries,
rescue me plunged in the mire of the world, that appeal to thee
for protection. Thou art the principle of life in creatures, by
thee this world moves. In the beginning of creation Siva beheld thee
self-produced, blazing and illuminating the world with brightness hard
to behold, like ten million orbs of fiery suddenly-produced infant
suns rising at once, filling the whole horizon with the circle of
thy arms, bearing a sword, a club, a bow, arrows and a spear. And
thou wast praised by that god Siva in the following words--'Hail
to thee Chandí, Chámundá, Mangalá, Tripurá, Jayá, Ekánansá, Sivá,
Durgá, Náráyaní, Sarasvatí, Bhadrakálí, Mahálakshmí, Siddhá, slayer
of Ruru. Thou art Gáyatrí, Mahárájní, Revatí, and the dweller in the
Vindhya hills; thou art Umá and Kátyáyaní, and the dweller in Kailása,
the mountain of Siva.' When Skandha, and Vasishta, and Brahmá, and the
others heard thee praised, under these and other titles, by Siva well
skilled in praising, they also praised thee. And by praising thee, O
adorable one, immortals, rishis, and men obtained, and do now obtain,
boons above their desire. So be favourable to me, O bestower of boons
and do thou also receive this tribute of the sacrifice of my body,
and may prosperity befall my lord the king!" After saying this, he
was preparing to cut off his own head, [741] but a bodiless voice
was heard at that moment from the air, "Do not act rashly, my son,
for I am well-pleased with this courage of thine, so crave from me
the boon that thou dost desire." When Víravara heard that, he said,
"If thou art pleased, goddess, then may king Vikramatunga live another
hundred years. And may my wife and children return to life." When
he craved this boon, there again sounded from the air the words
"So be it!" And immediately the three, Dharmavatí, Sattvavara, and
Víravatí rose up with unwounded bodies. Then Víravara was delighted,
and took home to his house all those who had been thus restored to
life by the favour of the goddess, and returned to the king's gate.
But the king, having beheld all this with joy and astonishment, went
and again ascended the roof of his palace unobserved. And he cried
out from above--"Who is on guard at the palace-gate?" When Víravara,
who was below, heard that, he answered--"I am here, and I went to
discover that woman, but she vanished somewhere as soon as I saw her,
like a goddess." When king Vikramatunga heard this, as he had seen
the whole transaction, which was exceedingly wonderful, he reflected
with himself alone in the night: "Oh! surely this man is an unheard of
marvel of heroism, to perform such an exceedingly meritorious action,
and not to give any account of it. The sea, though deep, and broad, and
full of great monsters, [742] does not vie with this man, who is firm
even in the shock of a mighty tempest. What return can I make to him,
who secretly redeemed my life this night by the sacrifice of his son
and wife?" Thus reflecting, the king descended from the roof of the
palace, and went into his private apartments, and passed that night
in smiling. And in the morning, when Víravara was present in the great
assembly, he related his wonderful exploit that night. Then all praised
that Víravara, and the king conferred on him and his son a turban of
honour. And he gave him many domains, horses, jewels, and elephants,
and ten crores of gold pieces, and a salary sixty times as great as
before. And immediately the Bráhman Víravara became equal to a king,
with a lofty umbrella, being prosperous, himself and his family.
When the minister Gomukha had told this tale, he again said to
Naraváhanadatta, summing up the subject--"Thus, king, do sovereigns,
by their merit in a previous life, sometimes fall in with exceptionally
heroic servants, who, in their nobility of soul, abandoning regard
for their lives and all other possessions for the sake of their
master, conquer completely the two worlds. And Pralambabáhu, this
lately arrived heroic Bráhman servant of yours, my king, is seen to
be such, of settled virtue and character, a man in whom the quality
of goodness is ever on the increase." When the noble-minded prince
Naraváhanadatta heard this from his minister, the mighty-minded
Gomukha, he felt unsurpassed satisfaction in his heart.
CHAPTER LIV.
Thus Naraváhanadatta dwelt in the house of his father the king of
Vatsa, being attended by his affectionate ministers, Gomukha and the
others, and amusing himself with his loving queen Alankáravatí, whose
jealousy was removed by her great love, that refused to be hampered by
female pride. Then, once on a time, he went to a forest of wild beasts,
mounted on a chariot, with Gomukha seated behind him. And, with that
heroic Bráhman Pralambabáhu going in front of him, he indulged in
silvan sports, accompanied by his attendants. And though the horses
of his chariot galloped at the utmost of their speed, Pralambabáhu
outstripped their swiftness, and still kept in front of them. The
prince from his position on the chariot killed lions, and tigers,
and other wild beasts with arrows, but Pralambabáhu, going on foot,
slew them with his sword. And Naraváhanadatta, as often as he beheld
that Bráhman, said in astonishment--"What courage, and what fleetness
of foot he possesses!"
And the prince, being wearied at the end of his hunting, and overcome
with thirst, went in search of water, mounted on his chariot, with
Gomukha and his charioteer, and preceded by that champion Pralambabáhu,
and in the course of his search he reached another great forest far
distant. There he came to a great and charming lake with full-blown
golden lotuses, looking like a second sky on earth, studded with
many solar orbs. There he bathed and drank water, and, after he and
his companions had performed their ablutions and other duties, he
beheld at one end of the lake, at a distance, four men of heavenly
appearance, dressed in heavenly garments, adorned with heavenly
ornaments, engaged in culling golden lotuses from that lake. And out
of curiosity he approached them, and when they asked him who he was,
he told them his descent, his name and his history.
And they, pleased at seeing him, told him their story when he asked
them; "There is in the midst of the great sea a great, prosperous
and splendid island, which is called the island of Nárikela, and is
renowned in the world for its beauty. [743] And in it there are four
mountains with splendid expanses of land, named Maináka, Vrishabha,
Chakra, and Baláhaka, in those four we four live. One of us is named
Rúpasiddhi, and he possesses the power of assuming various forms;
another is by name Pramánasiddhi, who can measure the most minute as
well as the largest things; and the third is Jnánasiddhi, who knows the
past, the present, and the future; and the fourth is Devasiddhi, who
possesses the power of calling down to his aid all the deities. We have
now gathered these golden lotuses, and are going to offer them to the
god, the husband of Srí, in Svetadvípa. For we are all of us devoted to
him, and it is by his favour that we possess rule over those mountains
of ours, and prosperity accompanied with supernatural power. So come,
we will shew you the lord Hari in Svetadvípa; we will carry you through
the air, friend, if you approve." When those sons of gods said this,
Naraváhanadatta consented, and leaving Gomukha and the others in that
place, where they could obtain water, fruits and so on, he went with
them to Svetadvípa through the air, for Devasiddhi, one of the four
brothers, carried him in his lap. There he descended from heaven,
and beheld Vishnu, and approached him from a distance, introduced by
those four sons of gods. The god was reclining upon the snake Sesha,
in front of him sat Garuda, at his side was the daughter of the sea,
[744] at his feet was the Earth, he was waited upon by the discus,
the conch, the club, and the lotus, incarnate in bodily form, and the
Gandharvas, with Nárada at their head, were piously chanting hymns in
his honour, and the gods, Siddhas, and Vidyádharas were bowing before
him. To whom is not association with the good a cause of exaltation?
Then, after that Lord had been honoured by those sons of gods, and
praised by Kasyapa and others, Naraváhanadatta thus praised him with
folded hands, "All hail to thee, venerable one, the wishing-tree
of thy worshippers, whose body is encircled with the wish-granting
creeper of Lakshmí, who art the granter of all desires; hail to thee,
the divine swan, dwelling in the Mánasa-lake of the minds of the good,
[745] ever soaring and singing in the highest ether. Hail to thee, who
dost transcend all, and dwell within all, who hast a form transcending
qualities, and whose shape is the full aggregate of the six kingly
measures; [746] Brahmá is the bee on the lotus of thy navel, O Lord,
humming with the soft sound of Veda-murmur, though from him spring
many verses; [747] thy foot is the earth, the heaven is thy head,
the cardinal points are thy ears, the sun and moon are thy eyes; thy
belly is the egg of Brahmá, the globe of the world; thou art hymned
by the wise as the infinite soul. From thee, the home of brightness,
spring all these creatures, O Lord, as the host of sparks from the
blazing fire, and when the time of destruction comes, they again enter