The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
it reached and entered another region, after one part of the heaven
[794] had become exhausted?"
When the spy heard this, he surmised that the supposed cook was really
Nala transformed by misfortune, and he departed thence, and when he
reached Vidarbha, he told king Bhíma and his queen and Damayantí all
that he had heard and seen.
Then Damayantí, of her own accord, said to her father, "Without
doubt that man is my husband disguised as a cook. So let this amusing
artifice be employed to bring him here. Let a messenger be sent to
king Rituparna, and the moment he arrives let him say to that king,
'Nala has gone off somewhere or other, no tidings are heard of him;
accordingly to-morrow morning Damayantí will again make her Svayamvara;
so come quickly to Vidarbha this very day;' and the moment the king
hears his speech, he will certainly come here in one day, together
with that husband of mine who is skilled in chariot-driving." Having
thus debated with her father, Damayantí sent off that very moment
a messenger to the city of Kosala with exactly this message. He
went and told it, as it was given him to Rituparna, and the king
thereupon, being excited, said affectionately to his attendant Nala,
who was disguised as a cook: "Hrasvabáhu, you said--'I possess skill
in chariot-driving.' So take me this very day to Vidarbha if you have
sufficient endurance." When Nala heard that, he said, "Good! I will
take you there," and thereupon he yoked swift horses, and made ready
the splendid chariot. He said to himself; "Damayantí has spread this
report of a Svayamvara in order to recover me, otherwise, I know,
she would not have behaved in this way even in her dreams. So I will
go there and see what happens." With such reflections he brought to
Rituparna the chariot ready. And as soon as the king had mounted it,
Nala proceeded to drive on that chariot with a speed exceeding even
that of Garuda. Then Rituparna dropped his garment, and wished to stop
the chariot in order to recover it, but Nala said to him,--"King, where
is that garment of yours? Why the chariot has in this moment left it
many yojanas behind." When Rituparna heard this, he said:--"Well, give
me this skill in chariot-driving, and I will give you my skill in dice,
so that the dice shall obey your command and you shall acquire skill
in numbers. And now look; I will give you a proof of the truth of what
I say. You see this tree in front of us; I will tell you the number
of its leaves and fruits, and then do you count them for yourself and
see." When he had said this, he told him the number of the leaves and
fruits on that tree, and Nala counted them and found them exactly as
many as he had said. Then Nala gave to Rituparna his skill in driving,
and Rituparna gave to Nala his skill in dice and numbers.
And Nala tested that skill on another tree, and found the number of
leaves and fruits to be exactly what he had guessed. And while he was
rejoicing, a black man issued from his body, and he asked him who he
was. Then he said, "I am Kali; when you were chosen by Damayantí,
I entered your body out of jealousy, so you lost your fortune at
play. And when Kárkotaka bit you in the forest, you were not consumed,
but I was burnt, as you see, being in your body. For to whom is a
treacherous injury done to another likely to be beneficial? So I
depart, my friend, for I have opportunities against others." After
saying this, Kali vanished from his sight, and Nala at once became
well-disposed as before, and recovered his former splendour. And he
returned and remounted the chariot; and in the course of the same
day he drove king Rituparna into Vidarbha, so rapidly did he get
over the ground, and there the king was ridiculed by the people,
who asked the cause of his coming; and he put up near the palace.
And when he arrived, Damayantí knew of it, having heard the wonderful
noise of the chariot, and she inly rejoiced, as she suspected that
Nala had come too. And she sent her own maid to find out the truth,
and she enquired into it, and came back and said to her mistress,
who was longing for her beloved lord; "Queen, I have enquired into the
matter; this king of Kosala heard a false report of your Svayamvara and
has come here, and he has been driven here in one day by Hrasvabáhu
his charioteer and cook, who is famous for his skill in managing
chariots. And I went into the kitchen and saw that cook. And he is
black and deformed, but possesses wonderful powers. It is miraculous
that water gushed up in his pots and pans, without being put in, and
wood burst into flames of its own accord, without having been lighted,
[795] and various cates were produced in a moment. After I had seen
this great miracle, I came back here." When Damayantí heard this from
the maid, she reflected--"This cook, whom the fire and the water obey,
and who knows the secret of chariot-driving, can be no other than my
husband, and I suspect he has become changed and deformed on account
of separation from me, but I will test him." When she had formed
this resolve, she sent, by way of stratagem, her two children with
that same maid, to shew them to him. And Nala, when he had seen his
children and taken them on his knees after a long separation, wept
silently with a flood of tears. And he said to the maid--"I have two
children like these in the house of their maternal grandfather, I have
been moved to sorrow by recollecting them." The maid returned with the
children and told all to Damayantí, and then she conceived much hope.
And early the next day she gave her maid this order; "Go and tell that
cook of Rituparna's from me; 'I hear that there is no cook like you
in the world, so come and prepare curry for me to-day.'" When the maid
communicated to Nala this politic request, he got leave from Rituparna
and came to Damayantí. And she said, "Tell me the truth; are you
the king Nala disguised as a cook? I am drowned in a sea of anxiety,
and you must to-day bring me safe to shore." When Nala heard that,
he was full of joy, love, grief and shame, and with downcast face,
he spoke, in a voice faltering from tears, this speech suited to the
occasion,--"I am in truth that wicked Nala, hard as adamant, who in
his madness behaved like fire in afflicting you." When he said this,
Damayantí asked him--"If it is so, how did you become deformed?" Then
Nala told her the whole of his adventures, from his making friends
with Kárkotaka to the departure of Kali from him. And immediately he
put on the pair of garments called the "fire-bleached," given him by
Kárkotaka, and recovered on the spot his own original shape.
When Damayantí saw that Nala had resumed his own charming form, the
lotus of her face quickly expanded, and she quenched, as it were,
with the waters of her eyes the forest-fire of her grief, and attained
indescribable unequalled happiness. And Bhíma, the king of Vidarbha,
quickly heard that intelligence from his joyful attendants, and coming
there he welcomed Nala, who showed him becoming respect, and he made
his city full of rejoicing. Then king Rituparna was welcomed with the
observance of all outward courtesy and every hospitable rite [796] by
king Bhíma, who in his heart could not help laughing, and after he had
in return honoured Nala, he returned to Kosala. Then Nala lived there
happily with his wife, describing to his father-in-law his outburst of
wickedness due to the influence of Kali. And in a few days he returned
to Nishada with the troops of his father-in-law, and he humbled his
younger brother Pushkara, beating him by his knowledge of dice, but,
righteous as he was, he gave him a share of the kingdom again, after
Dvápara had left his body, and glad at having recovered Damayantí,
he enjoyed his kingdom lawfully.
When the Bráhman Sumanas had told this story to the princess
Bandhumatí in Tárápura, whose husband was away, he went on to say to
her--"Even thus, queen, do great ones, after enduring separation,
enjoy prosperity, and following the example of the sun, after
suffering a decline, they rise again. So you also, blameless
one, shall soon recover your husband returning from his absence;
use patient self-control, banish grief, and console yourself with
the approaching gratification of your wishes in the return of your
husband." When the virtuous Bráhman had spoken these appropriate words,
she honoured him with much wealth, and taking refuge in patience,
she remained there awaiting her beloved. And in a few days her husband
Mahípála returned, with his father, bringing that mother of his from
a distant land. And when he returned, furnishing a feast to all eyes,
he gladdened Bandhumatí, as the full moon gladdens the lovely water of
the ocean. Then Mahípála, on whom her father had already devolved the
burden of the kingdom, enjoyed as a king desired pleasures with her.
When prince Naraváhanadatta, the son of the king of Vatsa, had heard
in the company of his wife, from the mouth of his minister Marubhúti,
this matchless romantic story, pleasing on account of its picture of
affection, he was exceedingly pleased.
BOOK X.
CHAPTER LVII.
We worship the elephantine proboseis of Ganesa, not to be resisted
by his enemies, reddened with vermilion, a sword dispelling great
arrogance. [1] May the third eye of Siva, which, when all three were
equally wildly-rolling, blazed forth beyond the others, as he made
ready his arrow upon the string, for the burning of Pura, protect
you. May the row of nails of the Man-lion, [2] curved and red with
blood, when he slew his enemy, and his fiery look askance, destroy
your calamities.
Story of the porter who found a bracelet.
Thus Naraváhanadatta, the son of the king of Vatsa, remained in
Kausámbí in happiness, with his wives, and his ministers. And
one day, when he was present, a merchant living in the city, came
to make a representation to his father, as he was sitting on his
throne. That merchant, of the name of Ratnadatta, entered, announced
by the warder, and bowing before the king, said as follows: "O king,
there is a poor porter here, of the name of Vasundhara; and suddenly
he is found of late to be eating, drinking, and bestowing alms. So,
out of curiosity, I took him to my house, and gave him food and drink
to his heart's content, and when I had made him drunk. I questioned
him, and he gave me this answer, 'I obtained from the door of the
king's palace a bracelet with splendid jewels, and I picked out one
jewel and sold it. And I sold it for a lakh of dínárs to a merchant
named Hiranyagupta; this is how I come to be living in comfort at
present." When he had said this, he shewed me that bracelet, which
was marked with the king's name, and therefore I have come to inform
your majesty of the circumstance." When the king of Vatsa heard that,
he had the porter and the merchant of precious jewels summoned with
all courtesy, and when he saw the bracelet, he said of himself;
"Ah! I remember, this bracelet slipped from my arm when I was going
round the city." And the courtiers asked the porter, "Why did you,
when you had got hold of a bracelet marked with the king's name,
conceal it?" He replied, "I am one who gets his living by carrying
burdens, and how am I to know the letters of the king's name? When I
got hold of it, I appropriated it, being burnt up with the misery of
poverty." When he said this, the jewel-merchant, being reproached for
keeping the jewel, said--"I bought it in the market, without putting
any pressure on the man, and there was no royal mark upon it, though
now it is said that it belongs to the king. And he has taken five
thousand of the price, the rest is with me." When Yaugandharáyana, who
was present, heard this speech of Hiranyagupta's, he said--"No one is