The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
Then, on the day named by his friend, Ísvaravarman set out from
the house of Sundarí, after the kuttiní had offered a prayer for his
success. And Sundarí followed him weeping, with her mother, outside the
city, as far as the well in which the net had been stretched. There he
made Sundarí turn back, and he was proceeding on his journey, when she
flung herself into the well on the top of the net. Then a loud cry was
heard from her mother, from the female slaves, and all the attendants,
"Ah! my daughter! Ah! mistress!" That made the merchant's son and
his friend turn round, and when he heard that his beloved had thrown
herself into a well, he was for a moment stupefied with grief. And
Makarakatí, lamenting with loud cries, made her servants, who were
attached to her, and in the secret, go down into the well. They let
themselves down by means of ropes, and exclaiming, "Thank heaven, she
is alive, she is alive," they brought up Sundarí from the well. When
she was brought up, she assumed the appearance of one nearly dead,
and after she had mentioned the name of the merchant's son, who had
returned, she slowly began to cry. But he, being comforted, took
her to her house in great delight, accompanied by his attendants,
returning there himself. And having made up his mind that the love
of Sundarí was to be relied on, and considering that, by obtaining
her, he had obtained the real end of his birth, he once more gave
up the idea of continuing his journey. And when he had taken up his
abode there, determined to remain, his friend said to him once more,
"My friend, why have you ruined yourself by infatuation? Do not rely
on the love of Sundarí simply because she flung herself into a well,
for the treacherous schemes of a kuttiní are not to be fathomed even
by Providence. And what what will you say to your father, when you
have spent all your property, or where will you go? So leave this
place even at this eleventh hour, if your mind is sound." When the
merchant's son heard this speech of his friend's, he paid no attention
to it, and in another month he spent those other three crores. Then
he was stripped of his all; and the kuttiní Makarakatí had him seized
by the back of the neck and turned out of Sundarí's house.
But Arthadatta and the others quickly returned to their own city,
and told the whole story, as it happened, to his father. His father
Ratnavarman, that prince of merchants, was much grieved when he heard
it, and in great distress went to the kuttiní Yamajihvá, and said to
her, "Though you received a large salary, you taught my son so badly,
that Makarakatí has with ease stripped him of all his wealth." When
he had said this, he told her all the story of his son. Then the
old kuttiní Yamajihvá said: "Have your son brought back here; I will
enable him to strip Makarakatí of all her wealth." When the kuttiní
Yamajihvá made this promise, Ratnavarman quickly sent off that moment
his son's well-meaning friend Arthadatta with a message, to bring him,
and to take at the same time means for his subsistence.
So Arthadatta went back to that city of Kánchanapura, and told the
whole message to Ísvaravarman. And he went on to say to him--"Friend,
you would not do what I advised you, so you have now had personal
experience of the untrustworthy dispositions of hetæræ. After you had
given that five crores, you were ejected neck and crop. What wise
man looks for love in hetæræ or for oil in sand? Or why do you put
out of sight this unalterable nature of things? [8] A man is wise,
self-restrained, and possesses happiness, only so long as he does not
fall within the range of woman's cajoleries. So return to your father
and appease his wrath." With these words Arthadatta quickly induced
him to return, and encouraging him, led him into the presence of his
father. And his father, out of love for his only son, spoke kindly
to him, and again took him to the house of Yamajihvá. And when she
questioned him, he told his whole story by the mouth of Arthadatta,
down to the circumstance of Sundarí's flinging herself into the
well, and how he lost his wealth. Then Yamajihvá said--"I indeed am
to blame, because I forgot to teach him this trick. For Makarakatí
stretched a net in the well, and Sundarí flung herself upon that,
so she was not killed. Still there is a remedy in this case." Having
said this, the kuttiní made her female slaves bring her monkey named
Ála. And in their presence she gave the monkey her thousand dínárs,
and said--"Swallow these," and the monkey, being trained to swallow
money, did so. Then she said, "Now, my son give twenty to him,
twenty-five to him, and sixty to him, and a hundred to him." And the
monkey, as often as Yamajihvá told him to pay a sum, brought up the
exact number of dínárs, and gave them as commanded. [9] And after
Yamajihvá had shewn this device of Ála, she said to Ísvaravarman,
"Now take with you this young monkey. And repair again to the house
of Sundarí, and keep asking him day by day for sums of money, which
you have secretly made him swallow. And Sundarí, when she sees Ála,
resembling in his powers the wishing-stone, will beg for him, and
will give you all she has so as to obtain possession of the ape,
and clasp him to her bosom. And after you have got her wealth, make
him swallow enough money for two days, and give him to her, and then
depart to a distance without delay."
After Yamajihvá had said this, she gave that ape to Ísvaravarman,
and his father gave him two crores by way of capital. And with the
ape and the money he went once more to Kánchanapura, and despatching
a messenger on in front, he entered the house of Sundarí. Sundarí
welcomed him as if he were an incarnation of perseverance,
which includes in itself all means for attaining an end, and his
friend with him, embracing him round the neck, and making other
demonstrations. Then Ísvaravarman, having gained her confidence,
said to Arthadatta in her presence in the house: "Go, and bring
Ála." He said, "I will," and went and brought the monkey. And as
the monkey had before swallowed a thousand dínárs, he said to him,
"Ála, my son, give us to-day three hundred dínárs for our eating and
drinking, and a hundred for betel and other expenses, and give one
hundred to our mother Makarakatí, and a hundred to the Bráhmans,
and give the rest of the thousand to Sundarí." When Ísvaravarman
said this, the monkey brought up the dínárs he had before swallowed,
to the amounts ordered, and gave them for the various objects required.
So by this artifice Ála was made to supply every day the necessary
expenses, for the period of a fortnight, and in the meanwhile
Makarakatí [10] and Sundarí began to think; "Why this is a very
wishing-stone which he has got hold of in the form of an ape, which
gives every day a hundred dínárs; if he would only give it us, all our
desires would be accomplished." Having thus debated in private with
her mother, Sundarí said to that Ísvaravarman, when he was sitting
at his ease after dinner,--"If you really are well pleased with me,
give me Ála." But when Ísvaravarman heard that, he answered laughingly,
"He is my father's all in the world, and it is not proper to give him
away." When he said this, Sundarí said to him again, "Give him me and
I will give you five crores." Thereupon Ísvaravarman said with an air
of decision, "If you were to give me all your property, or indeed this
city, it would not do to give him you, much less for your crores." When
Sundarí heard this, she said, "I will give you all I possess; but give
me this ape, otherwise my mother will be angry with me." And thereupon
she clung to Ísvaravarman's feet. Then Arthadatta and the others said,
"Give it her, happen what will." Then Ísvaravarman promised to give
it her, and he spent the day with the delighted Sundarí. And the
next day he gave to Sundarí, at her earnest entreaties, that ape,
which had in secret been made to swallow two thousand dínárs, and
he immediately took by way of payment all the wealth in her house,
and went off quickly to Svarnadvípa to trade.
And to Sundarí's delight, the monkey Ála, when asked, gave her
regularly a thousand dínárs for two days. But on the third day he did
not give her anything, though coaxed to do it, then Sundarí struck the
ape with her fist. And the monkey, being beaten, sprang up in a rage,
and bit and scratched the faces of Sundarí and her mother, who were
thrashing him. Then the mother, whose face was streaming with blood,
flew in a passion and beat the ape with sticks, till he died on the
spot. When Sundarí saw that he was dead, and reflected that all her
wealth was gone, she was ready to commit suicide for grief, and so
was her mother. And when the people of the town heard the story,
they laughed and said, "Because Makarakatí took away this man's
wealth by means of a net, he in his turn has stripped her of all
her property, like a clever fellow that he is, by means of a pet;
she was sharp enough to net him, but did not detect the net laid for
herself. Then Sundarí, with her scratched face and vanished wealth, was
with difficulty restrained by her relations from destroying herself,
and so was her mother. And Ísvaravarman soon returned from Svarnadvípa
to the house of his father in Chitrakúta. And when his father saw him
returned, having acquired enormous wealth, he rewarded the kuttiní
Yamajihvá with treasure, and made a great feast. And Ísvaravarman,
seeing the matchless deceitfulness of hetæræ, became disgusted with
their society, and taking a wife remained in his own house. [11]
"So you see, king, that there never dwells in the minds of hetæræ
even an atom of truth, unalloyed with treachery, so a man who desires
prosperity should not take pleasure in them, as their society is only
to be gained by the wealthy, any more than in uninhabited woods to
be crossed only with a caravan. [12]"
"When Naraváhanadatta heard, from the mouth of Marubhúti, the above
story, word for word, of Ála and the net, he and Gomukha approved it,
and laughed heartily.
CHAPTER LVIII.
When Marubhúti had thus illustrated the untrustworthy character of
hetæræ, the wise Gomukha told this tale of Kumudiká, the lesson of
which was the same.
Story of king Vikramasinha, the hetæra, and the young Bráhman.
There was in Pratishthána a king named Vikramasinha, who was made
by Providence a lion in courage, so that his name expressed his
nature. He had a queen of lofty lineage, beautiful and beloved, whose
lovely form was her only ornament, and she was called Sasilekhá. Once
on a time, when he was in his city, five or six of his relations
combined together, and going to his palace, surrounded him. Their
names were Mahábhata, Vírabáhu, Subáhu, Subhata and Pratápáditya, all
powerful kings. The king's minister was proceeding to try the effect
of conciliation on them, but the king set him aside, and went out to
fight with them. And when the two armies had begun to exchange showers
of arrows, the king himself entered the fray, mounted on an elephant,
confiding in his might. And when the five kings, Mahábhata and the
others, saw him, seconded only by his bow, dispersing the army of his
enemies, they all attacked him together. And as the numerous force
of the five kings made an united charge, the force of Vikramasinha,
being inferior in number, was broken. Then his minister Anantaguna,
who was at his side, said, "Our force is routed for the present, there
is no chance of victory to-day, and you would engage in this conflict
with an overwhelming force in spite of my advice, so now at the last
moment do what I recommend you, in order that the affair may turn out
prosperously; come now, descend from your elephant, and mount a horse,
and let us go to another country; if you live, you will conquer your