The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
him with wealth, and let him go. And the merchant, having obtained
wealth, bought wares, and again crossed the terrible ocean in a ship,
in order to return to his own native land.
And after he had crossed the sea, he travelled with a caravan, and one
day, at evening time, he reached a wood. The caravan encamped in the
wood for the night, and while Samudrasúra was awake, a powerful host
of bandits attacked it. While the bandits were massacring the members
of the caravan, Samudrasúra left his wares and fled, and climbed up a
banyan-tree without being discovered. The host of bandits departed,
after they had carried off all the wealth, and the merchant spent
that night there, perplexed with fear, and distracted with grief. In
the morning he cast his eye towards the top of the tree, and saw, as
fate would have it, what looked like the light of a lamp, trembling
among the leaves. And in his astonishment he climbed up the tree, and
saw a kite's nest, in which there was a heap of glittering priceless
jewelled ornaments. He took them all out of it, and found among the
ornaments that necklace, which he had found in Svarnadvípa and the
kite had carried off. He obtained from that nest unlimited wealth,
and, descending from the tree, he went off delighted, and reached
in course of time his own city of Harshapura. There the merchant
Samudrasúra remained, enjoying himself to his heart's content with
his family, free from the desire of any other wealth.
"So you have that merchant's whelming in the sea, and that loss of
his wealth, and the finding of the necklace, and again the losing of
it, and his undeserved degradation to the position of a malefactor,
and his immediate obtaining of wealth from the satisfied king, and
his return-voyage over the sea, and his being stripped of all his
wealth by falling in with bandits on the journey, and at last his
acquisition of wealth from the top of a tree. So you see, prince, such
is the various working of destiny, but a virtuous man, though he may
have endured sorrow, obtains joy at the last." When Naraváhanadatta
heard this from Gomukha, he approved it, and rising up, he performed
his daily duties, such as bathing and the like.
And the next day, when he was in the hall of assembly, the heroic
prince Samaratunga, who had been his servant ever since he was a
boy, came and said to him--"Prince, my relation Sangrámarvarsha
has ravaged my territory, with the help of his four sons, Vírajita
and the others. So I will go myself, and bring them all five here as
prisoners. Let my lord know this." After saying this he departed. And
the son of the king of Vatsa, knowing that he had but a small force,
and that those others had large forces, ordered his own army to follow
him. But that proud man refused to receive this accession to his force,
and went and conquered those five enemies in fight by the help of his
own two arms only, and brought them back prisoners. Naraváhanadatta
honoured and praised his follower, when he came back victorious,
and said--"How wonderful! This man has conquered his five enemies,
though with their forces they had overrun his territory, and has
done the deed of a hero, as a man conquers the senses, when they have
laid hold upon outward objects, and are powerful, and so accomplishes
emancipation, the work of the soul." [750] When Gomukha heard that,
he said--"If, prince, you have not heard the tale of king Chamarabála,
which is similar, listen, I will tell it."
Story of king Chamarabála.
There is a city named Hastinápura, and in it there lived a king named
Chamarabála, who possessed treasure, a fort, and an army. And he had,
as neighbours to his territory, several kings of the same family as
himself, the chief of whom was Samarabála, and they put their heads
together and reflected: "This king Chamarabála defeats us all, one by
one; so we will join together and accomplish his overthrow." After thus
deliberating, those five kings' being anxious to march out against him
to conquer him, secretly asked an astrologer when a favourable moment
would come. The astrologer, not seeing a favourable moment, and not
seeing good omens, said--"There is no favourable moment for you this
year. Under whatever circumstances you set out on your expedition, you
will not be victorious. And why are you so eager for the undertaking,
beholding his prosperity? Enjoyment is after all the fruit [751]
of prosperity, and you have enjoyments in abundance. And now hear,
if you have not heard it before, the story of the two merchants."
Story of Yasovarman and the two fortunes.
There was in old time in this country a city, named Kautukapura. In it
there lived a king, called Bahusuvarnaka, [752] rightly named. And he
had a young Kshatriya servant named Yasovarman. To that man the king
never gave anything, though he was generous by nature. Whenever in his
distress he asked the king, the king said to him, pointing to the sun,
"I wish to give to you, but this holy god will not permit me to give
to you. Tell me what I am to do." While he remained distressed,
watching for an opportunity, the time for an eclipse of the sun
arrived. Then Yasovarman, who had constantly served the king, went
and said to him, when he was engaged in giving many valuable presents:
"Give me something, my sovereign, while this sun, who will not permit
you to give, is in the grasp of his enemy." When the king, who had
given many presents, heard that, he laughed, and gave garments, gold,
and other things to him.
In course of time that wealth was consumed, and he, being afflicted,
as the king gave him nothing, and having lost his wife, went to
the shrine of the goddess that dwells in the Vindhya hills. [753]
He said--"What is the use of this profitless body that is dead even
while alive? I will abandon it before the shrine of the goddess,
or gain the desired boon." Resolved on this course, he lay down on
a bed of darbha grass in front of the goddess, with his mind intent
on her, and fasting he performed a severe penance. And the goddess
said to him in a dream, "I am pleased with thee, my son; tell me,
shall I give thee the good fortune of wealth, or the good fortune
of enjoyment?" When Yasovarman heard this, he answered the goddess,
"I do not precisely know the difference between these two good
fortunes." Then the goddess said to him: "Return to thy own country,
and there go and examine into the good fortunes of the two merchants,
Arthavarman and Bhogavarman, and find out which of the two pleases
thee, and then come here and ask a like fortune for thyself." When
Yasovarman heard this, he woke up, and next morning he broke his fast,
and went to his own country of Kautukapura.
There he first went to the house of Arthavarman, [754] who had
acquired much wealth, in the form of gold, jewels, and other precious
things, by his business transactions. Seeing that prosperity of his,
he approached him with due politeness, and was welcomed by him,
and invited to dinner. Then he sat by the side of that Arthavarman,
and ate food appropriate to a guest, with meat-curry and ghee. But
Arthavarman ate barley-meal, with half a pal of ghee and a little rice,
and a small quantity of meat-curry. Yasovarman said to the merchant out
of curiosity--"Great merchant, why do you eat so little?" Thereupon
the merchant gave him this answer: "To-day out of regard for you I
have eaten a little rice with meat-curry and half a pal of ghee;
I have also eaten some barley-meal. But as a general rule, I eat
only a karsha of ghee and some barley-meal, I have a weak digestion,
and cannot digest more in my stomach." When Yasovarman heard that, he
turned the matter over in his mind, and formed an unfavourable opinion
of that prosperity of Arthavarman's, as being without fruit. Then, at
nightfall, that merchant Arthavarman again brought rice and milk for
Yasovarman to eat. And Yasovarman again ate of it to his fill, and then
Arthavarman drank one pala of milk. And in that same place Yasovarman
and Arthavarman both made their beds, and gradually fell asleep.
And at midnight Yasovarman suddenly saw in his sleep some men of
terrible appearance with clubs in their hands, entering the room. And
they exclaimed angrily--"Fie! why have you taken to-day one karsha more
of ghee than the small amount allowed to you, and eaten meat-curry,
and drunk a pala of milk?" Then they dragged Arthavarman by his foot
and beat him with clubs. And they extracted from his stomach the karsha
of ghee, and the milk, flesh, and rice, which he had consumed above his
allowance. When Yasovarman had seen that, he woke up and looked about
him, and lo! Arthavarman had woke up, and was seized with colic. Then
Arthavarman, crying out, and having his stomach rubbed by his servants,
vomited up all the food he had eaten above the proper allowance. After
the merchant's colic was allayed, Yasovarman said to himself: "Away
with this good fortune of wealth, which involves enjoyment of such an
equivocal kind! This would be altogether neutralized by such misery
of ill health." In such internal reflections he passed that night.
And in the morning he took leave of Arthavarman, and went to the house
of that merchant Bhogavarman. There he approached him in due form,
and he received him with politeness, and invited him to dine with him
on that day. Now he did not perceive any wealth in the possession of
that merchant, but he saw that he had a nice house, and dresses, and
ornaments. While Yasovarman was waiting there, the merchant Bhogavarman
proceeded to do his own special business. He took merchandise from
one man, and immediately handed it over to another, and without
any capital of his own, gained dínárs by the transaction. And he
quickly sent those dínárs by the hand of his servant to his wife,
in order that she might procure all kinds of food and drink. And
immediately one of that merchant's friends, named Ichchhábharana,
rushed in and said to him: "Our dinner is ready, rise up and come
to us, and let us eat, for all our other friends have assembled and
are waiting for you." He answered, "I shall not come to-day, for
I have a guest here." Thereupon his friend went on to say to him,
"Then let this guest come with you; is he not our friend also? Rise
up quickly." Bhogavarman, being thus earnestly invited by that friend,
went with him, accompanied by Yasovarman, and ate excellent food. And,
after drinking wine, he returned, and again enjoyed all kinds of
viands and wines at his own house in the evening. And when night
came on, he asked his servants--"Have we enough wine left for the
latter part of the night or not?" When they replied, "No, master,"
the merchant went to bed, exclaiming, "How are we to drink water in
the latter part of the night?"
Then Yasovarman, sleeping at his side, saw in a dream two or three
men enter, and some others behind them. And those who entered last,
having sticks in their hands, exclaimed angrily to those who entered
first--"You rascals! Why did you not provide wine for Bhogavarman
to drink in the latter half of the night? Where have you been all
this time?" Then they beat them with strokes of their sticks. The
men who were beaten with sticks, said, "Pardon this single fault on
our part." And then they and the others went out of the room.
Then Yasovarman, having seen that sight, woke up and reflected,
"The good fortune of enjoyment of Bhogavarman, in which blessings
arrive unthought of, is preferable to the good fortune of wealth
of Arthavarman, which, though attended with opulence, is devoid
of enjoyment."
In these reflections he spent the rest of the night.
And early the next morning Yasovarman took leave of that excellent
merchant, and again repaired to the feet of Durgá, the goddess that
dwells in the Vindhya range. And he chose out of those two good