The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
do not cut a good figure in the midst of these rich people, like a
word without meaning [228] among the words of some splendid poem;
and being a man of honour, I cannot have recourse to service or
donations. So I will go into some out-of-the-way place and get into
my power a Yakshiní, [229] for my spiritual teacher taught me a charm
for accomplishing this." Having formed this resolution, the Bráhman
Pavitradhara went to the forest, and according to the prescribed method
he won for himself a Yakshiní, named Saudáminí. And when he had won
her, he lived united with her, like a banyan-tree, that has tided
through a severe winter, united to the glory of spring. One day the
Yakshiní, seeing her husband Pavitradhara in a state of despondency,
because no son had been born to him, thus addressed him, "Do not be
despondent, my husband, for a son shall be born to us. And now hear
this story which I am about to tell you."
Story of Saudáminí.
There is on the confines of the southern region a range of tamála
forests, dark with clouds that obscure the sun, looking like the home
of the monsoon. In it dwells a famous Yaksha of the name of Prithúdara,
and I am his only daughter, Saudáminí by name. My loving father led
me from one mighty mountain to another, and I was for ever amusing
myself in heavenly gardens.
And one day, as I was sporting on mount Kailása with my friend
Kapisabhrú, I saw a young Yaksha named Attahása. He too, as he
stood among his companions, beheld me; and immediately our eyes were
mutually attracted by one another's beauty. When my father saw that,
and ascertained that the match would be no mésalliance, he summoned
Attahása, and arranged our marriage. And after he had fixed an
auspicious day, he took me home, but Attahása returned to his home
with his friends in high spirits. But the next day my friend Kapisabhrú
came to me with a downcast air, and when I questioned her, she was at
length induced to say this; "Friend, I must tell you this bad news,
though it is a thing which should not be told. As I was coming to-day,
I saw your betrothed Attahása in a garden named Chitrasthala, on a
plateau of the Himálayas, full of longing for you. And his friends,
in order to amuse him, made him in sport king of the Yakshas, and
they made his brother Díptasikha personate Nadakúvara his son, and
they themselves became his ministers. While your beloved was being
solaced in this way by his friends, Nadakúvara, who was roaming at
will through the air, saw him. And the son of the king of wealth,
being enraged at what he saw, summoned him, and cursed him in the
following words; 'Since, though a servant, you desire to pose as a
lord, become a mortal, you villain! As you wish to mount, fall!' When
he laid this curse on Attahása, he answered despondingly, 'Prince,
I foolishly did this to dispel my longing, not through aspiring to
any lofty rank, so have mercy upon me.' When Nadakúvara heard this
sorrowful speech of his, he ascertained by meditation that the case was
so, and said to him by way of fixing an end for the curse, 'You shall
become a man, and beget on that Yakshiní, with whom you are in love,
your younger brother Díptasikha by way of son, [230] and so you shall
be delivered from your curse, and obtain your own rank once more,
together with your wife, and this brother of yours shall be born as
your son, and after he has reigned on earth, he shall be released
from his curse.' When the son of the god of wealth had said this,
Attahása disappeared somewhere or other by virtue of the curse. And
when I saw that, my friend, I came here to you grieved." When my
friend said this to me, I was reduced to a terrible state by grief,
and after I had bewailed my lot, I went and told it to my parents,
and I spent that time in hope of a re-union with my beloved.
"You are Attahása born again as a Bráhman, and I am that Yakshiní,
and we have been thus united here, so we shall soon have a son born
to us. When the Bráhman Pavitradhara's wise wife Saudáminí said
this to him, he conceived the hope that he would have a son, and
was much delighted. And in course of time a son was born to him by
that Yakshiní, whose birth cheered up their house and his mind. And
when Pavitradhara saw the face of that son, he immediately assumed
a celestial shape and became again the Yaksha Attahása. And he said
to that Yakshiní, "My dear, our curse is at an end. I have become
Attahása as before, come let us return to our own place."
When he said this, his wife said to him, "Think what is to become
of the child your brother, who through a curse has been born as
your son." When Attahása heard that, he saw what was to be done by
means of his powers of contemplation, and said to her; "My dear,
there is in this town a Bráhman of the name of Devadarsana. He is
poor in children and in wealth, and, though he keeps up five fires,
hunger makes two others burn more fiercely, namely, the fire of
digestion in his own stomach and in that of his wife. And one day,
as he was engaged in asceticism to obtain wealth and a son, the
holy god of fire, whom he was propitiating, said to him in a dream,
'You have not a son of your own, but you shall have an adopted son,
and by means of him, Bráhman, your poverty shall come to an end.' On
account of this revelation of the god of fire, the Bráhman is at the
present moment expecting that son, so we must give him this child of
ours, for this is the decree of fate." After Attahása had said this
to his beloved, he placed the child on the top of a pitcher full
of gold, and fastened round its neck a garland of heavenly jewels,
and deposited it in the house of that Bráhman at night when he and
his wife were asleep, and then went with his beloved to his own place.
Then the Bráhman Devadarsana and his wife woke up, and beheld that
young moon of a child glittering with resplendent jewels, and the
Bráhman thought in his astonishment, "What can be the meaning of
this?" but when he saw the pot of gold, he remembered what the god of
fire had told him in his dream, and rejoiced. And he took that young
son given him by fate, and that wealth, and in the morning he made a
great feast. And on the eleventh day he gave the child the appropriate
name of Srídarsana. [231] Then the Bráhman Devadarsana, having become
very rich, remained performing his sacrificial and other ceremonies,
and enjoying the good things of this world at the same time.
The brave Srídarsana grew up in his father's house, and acquired great
skill in the Vedas and other branches of learning, and in the use
of weapons. But in course of time, when he had grown up, his father
Devadarsana, who had gone on a pilgrimage to sacred bathing-places,
died at Prayága. His mother, hearing of that, entered the fire, and
then Srídarsana mourned for them, and performed on their behalf the
ceremonies enjoined in the sacred treatises. But in course of time his
grief diminished, and as he was not married, and had no relations, he
became, though well educated, devoted to gambling. And in a short time
his wealth was consumed by means of that vice, and he had difficulty
in obtaining even food.
One day, after he had remained in the gambling-hall without food for
three days, being unable to go out for shame, as he had not got a
decent garment to wear, and refusing to eat the food which others
gave him, a certain gambler, named Mukharaka, who was a friend of
his, said to him, "Why are you so utterly overwhelmed? Do you not
know that such is the nature of the sinful vice of gambling? Do you
not know that the dice are the sidelong loving looks of the goddess
of Ill Luck? Has not Providence ordained for you the usual lot of
the gambler? His arms are his only clothing, the dust is his bed,
the cross-roads are his house, ruin is his wife. [232] So why do you
refuse to take food? Why do you neglect your health, though you are
a wise man? For what object of desire is there that a resolute man
cannot obtain, as long as he continues alive? Hear in illustration
of this truth the following wonderful story of Bhúnandana."
Story of Bhúnandana.
There is here a region named Kasmíra, the ornament of the earth, which
the Creator made as a second heaven, after creating the first heaven,
for men who have done righteous deeds. The difference between the two
is that in heaven delights can only be seen, in Kasmíra they can be
actually enjoyed. The two glorious goddesses Srí and Sarasvatí both
frequent it, as if they vied with one another, saying--"I have the
preëminence here"--"No, it is I."--The Himálaya encircles it with
its embrace, as if to prevent Kali, the adversary of virtue, from
entering it. The Vitastá adorns it, and repels sin with its waves,
as if they were hands, and seems to say, "Depart far from this land
which is full of waters sacred to the gods." In it the long lines of
lofty palaces, whitened with silvery plaster, imitate the cliffs at
the foot of the neighbouring Himálaya. In this land there lived a
king, named Bhúnandana, who upheld as a spiritual guide the system
of the castes and the prescribed stages of life, learned in science
and traditional lore, the moon that delighted his subjects. His
valour was displayed in the kingdoms of his foes, on which he left
the impress of his nails. He was a politic governor, and his people
were ever free from calamity; he was exclusively devoted to Krishna,
and the minds of his people took no pleasure in vicious deeds. [233]
Once on a time, on the twelfth day of the month, the king, after
duly worshipping Vishnu, saw in a dream a Daitya maiden approach
him. When he woke up, he could not see her, and in his astonishment
he said to himself, "This is no mere dream; I suspect she is some
celestial nymph by whom I have been cajoled." Under this impression
he remained thinking of her, and so grieved at being deprived of her
society, that gradually he neglected all his duties as a king. Then
that king, not seeing any way of recovering her, said to himself;
"My brief union with her was due to the favour of Vishnu, so I will go
into a solitary place and propitiate Vishnu with a view to recovering
her, and I will abandon this clog of a kingdom, which without her
is distasteful." After saying this, king Bhúnandana informed his
subjects of his resolution, and gave the kingdom to his younger
brother named Sunandana.
But after he had resigned the kingdom, he went to a holy bathing-place
named Kramasaras; which arose from the footfall of Vishnu, for it
was made by him long ago in his Dwarf incarnation. It is attended by
the three gods Brahmá, Vishnu, and Siva, who have settled on the top
of the neighbouring mountains in the form of peaks. And the foot of
Vishnu created here in Kasmíra another Ganges, named Ikshuvatí, as
if in emulation of the Vitastá. There the king remained, performing
austerities, and pining, without desire for any other enjoyment,
like the chátaka in the hot season longing for fresh rainwater.
And after twelve years had passed over his head, while he remained
engaged in ascetic practices, a certain ascetic came that way who was
a chief of sages: he had yellow matted hair, wore tattered garments,
and was surrounded by a band of pupils; and he appeared like Siva
himself come down from the top of the hills that overhang that
holy bathing-place. As soon as he saw the king, he was filled with
love for him, and went up to him, and bowing before him, asked him
his history, and then reflected for a moment and said; "King, that
Daitya maiden that you love lives in Pátála, so be of good cheer,
I will take you to her. For I am a Bráhman named Bhúrivasu, the son
of a sacrificing Bráhman of the Dekkan, named Yajuh, and I am a chief
among magicians. My father communicated his knowledge to me, and I