The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
myself, as Vikramáditya, in order that thou mightest destroy the
Asuras, that had become incarnate in the form of Mlechchhas. And
now thou hast again been created by me as a heroic king of the name
of Trivikramasena, in order that thou mightest overcome an audacious
evildoer. So thou shalt bring under thy sway the earth with the islands
and the realms below, and shalt soon become supreme ruler over the
Vidyádharas. And after thou hast long enjoyed heavenly pleasures,
thou shalt become melancholy, and shalt of thy own will abandon them,
and shalt at last without fail be united with me. Now receive from me
this sword named Invincible, by means of which thou shalt duly obtain
all this." When the god Siva had said this to the king, he gave him
that splendid sword, and disappeared after he had been worshipped
by him with devout speeches and flowers. Then king Trivikramasena,
seeing that the whole business was finished, and as the night had come
to an end, entered his own city Pratishthána. There he was honoured
by his rejoicing subjects, who in course of time came to hear of
his exploits during the night, and he spent the whole of that day
in bathing, giving gifts, in worshipping Siva, in dancing, singing,
music, and other enjoyments of the kind. And in a few days that king,
by the power of the sword of Siva, came to enjoy the earth, that
was cleared of all enemies, together with the islands and the lower
regions; and then by the appointment of Siva he obtained the high
imperial sovereignty over the Vidyádharas, and after enjoying it long,
at last became united with the blessed one, so attaining all his ends.
(Here ends the Vetálapanchavinsati.)
When [417] that minister Vikramakesarin, meeting in the way the
successful [418] prince Mrigánkadatta, after he had been long separated
from him by a curse, had told him all this, he went on to say to him,
"So, prince, after that old Bráhman had told me in that village this
story, called the Twenty-five Tales of a Vampire, he went on to say
to me, 'Well, my son, did not that heroic king Trivikramasena obtain
from the favour of a Vetála the thing that he desired? So do you also
receive from me this spell, and laying aside your state of despondency,
win over a chief among the Vetálas, in order that you may obtain
reunion with prince Mrigánkadatta. For nothing is unattainable by
those who possess endurance; who, my son, will not fail, if he allows
his endurance to break down? So do what I recommend you to do out of
affection; for you kindly delivered me from the pain of the bite of
a poisonous serpent.' When the Bráhman said this, I received from
him the spell with the practice to be employed with it, and then,
king, I took leave of him, and went to Ujjayiní. There I got hold
of a corpse in the cemetery at night, and I washed it, and performed
all the other necessary processes with regard to it, and I summoned a
Vetála into it by means of that spell, and duly worshipped him. And to
satisfy his hunger, I gave him human flesh to eat; and being greedy
for the flesh of men, he ate that up quickly, and then said to me;
'I am not satisfied with this; give me some more.' And as he would
not wait any time, I cut off my own flesh, [419] and gave it to him to
please him: and that made that prince of magicians exceedingly pleased
with me. Then he said to me, 'My friend, I am much pleased now with
this intrepid valour of thine, so become whole in thy limbs as thou
wast before, and crave from me whatever boon thou desirest.' When the
Vetála said this to me, I answered him then and there: 'Convey me, god,
to that place where my master Mrigánkadatta is; there is no other boon
which I desire more than this.' Then the mighty Vetála said to me;
'Then quickly get up on my shoulder, that I may carry thee rapidly
to that master of thine.' When the Vetála said this, I consented,
and eagerly climbed up on his shoulder, and then the Vetála, that was
inside that human corpse, rapidly set out through the air, carrying
me with him. And he has brought me here to-day, king, and when that
mighty Vetála saw you on the way, he brought me down from the air,
and thus I have been made to reach the sole of your foot. And I have
to-day been reunited with my master, and the Vetála has departed,
having accomplished what was required of him. This, O bestower of
honour, [420] is my great adventure, since I was separated from you
by the curse of the Nága."
When Mrigánkadatta, as he was going to Ujjayiní to win his beloved,
had heard, on the way, from his minister Vikramakesarin, this account
of his adventures since he had been separated from him, that prince
rejoiced, as he had in course of time found some of his ministers,
who were separated from him by the curse of Párávatáksha, and as he
augured therefrom success in all that he had in hand.
NOTE.
Properly speaking, there are 24 instead of 25 stories in this version
of the Vetála Panchavinsati. The same appears to be the case with the
redaction ascribed to Sivadása, according to Oesterley, and with the
Tamul version. The 24th tale in Oesterley's translation is simply a
repetition of the 22nd.
CHAPTER C.
Honour to the vanquisher of obstacles, [421] round whose knees,
when he is dancing at night, there winds a garland of stars, which
appears as if it had fallen from the globes on his forehead!
Then, the story being ended, the delighted Mrigánkadatta rose up from
the middle of the path, and set out again for Ujjayiní for which he had
long ago started in order to find Sasánkavatí, with a party of eight,
including himself, having recovered Vikramakesarin, accompanied by
Gunákara, and Vimalabuddhi, and Vichitrakatha, and Bhímaparákrama,
and Prachandasakti, and the Bráhman Srutadhi, and he kept looking
out for those of his companions separated from him by the curse of
the Nága, whom he had not yet recovered.
And in course of time, he reached a treeless desert, all the water in
which had been dried up by the heat, and which was full of sand heated
by the fierce blaze of the sun. And as the prince was traversing it,
he said to his ministers, "Observe how long, terrible, and difficult to
cross is this great desert; for it has in it no refuge, it is pathless
and abandoned by men; and the blaze of its fire of grief seems to
ascend in these sandy mirages; its rough and dishevelled locks are
represented by the dry rustling blades of grass; and its thorns make
it appear to have its hair standing on end through fear of the lions,
tigers, and other noisome beasts; and it laments in the cries of its
deer exhausted by the heat and longing for water. So we must cross
this terrible desert as quickly as we can."
When Mrigánkadatta had said this, he quickly crossed that desert
with his ministers, who were afflicted with hunger and thirst. And
he beheld in front of him a great lake filled with pellucid and
cold water, looking like streams that had flowed down from the moon
after it had been melted with the heat of the sun. It was so broad
that it filled the whole horizon, and it looked like a jewel-mirror
made by the Fortune of the three worlds, in order to behold in it
the reflection of herself. That lake resembled the Mahábhárata, for
in it the Dhártaráshtras [422] were making a disturbance, and many
Arjuna trees were reflected; [423] and it was refreshing and sweet
to the taste; it was like the churned sea of doom, for its precious
fluid was drunk by the blue-necked jays that assembled near it, [424]
and Vishnu might have resorted to it to find the goddess of Beauty:
[425] it resembled an earthly Pátála, for its profound cool depths
were never reached by the rays of the sun, and it was an unfailing
receptacle of lotuses. [426]
And on the western shore of that lake the prince and his ministers saw
a great and wonderful tree. Its numerous far-reaching boughs, agitated
by the wind, appeared like arms, and the cloud-stream that clung to its
head was like the Ganges, so that it resembled Siva dancing. With its
lofty top, that pierced the sky, it seemed to be standing erect out
of curiosity to see the beauty of the garden Nandana. It was adorned
with fruit of heavenly flavour, that clung to its branches, and so
it looked like the wishing-tree of heaven, with goblets of nectar
suspended on it by the gods. It waved its shoots like finger-tips,
and seemed with the voices of its birds to say again and again,
"Let no one question me in any way!"
While prince Mrigánkadatta was looking at that tree, his ministers,
worn out with hunger and thirst, ran towards it, and the moment they
saw those fruits on it, they climbed up to eat them, and immediately
they lost their human form, and were all six suddenly turned into
fruits. Then Mrigánkadatta was bewildered at not seeing those friends
of his, and he called on every one of them there by name. But when they
gave no answer, and could not be seen anywhere, the prince exclaimed
in a voice agonized with despair, "Alas! I am undone!" and fell on
the ground in a swoon. And the Bráhman Srutadhi, who had not climbed
up the tree, was the only one left at his side.
So the Bráhman Srutadhi at once said to him by way of consolation,
"Why, my sovereign, do you lose your firmness, and despair, though
you have learned wisdom? For it is the man, who is not distracted in
calamity, that obtains prosperity. Did you not find those ministers,
after they had been separated from you by the curse of the Nága? In
like manner shall you again recover them, and get back the others also,
and moreover you shall soon be united with Sasánkavatí." When Srutadhi
said this to the prince, he answered him; "How can this be? The truth
is that all this train of events was arranged for our ruin by the
Disposer. If it was not so arranged, how came the Vetála to appear
in the night, and Bhímaparákrama to do as he did, and how came it to
pass that I heard about Sasánkavatí through the conversation that took
place between them, and that I set out from Ayodhyá to fetch her? How
came it to pass also that we were all separated from one another
in the Vindhya forest by the curse of the Nága, and that some of us
were in course of time reunited, and that this second separation has
now taken place and with it the ruin of all my plans? It all tallies
together, my friend. The fact is they have been devoured in that tree
by a demon, and without them what is Sasánkavatí to me, or what is
my life worth to me? So away with delusions?" When Mrigánkadatta had
said this, he rose up to throw himself into the lake out of sorrow,
although Srutadhi tried to prevent him.
At that moment a bodiless voice came from the air, "My son, do not
act rashly, for all will end well for thee. The god Ganesa himself
dwells in this tree, and he has been to-day insulted by thy ministers
unwittingly. For they, king, being pinched with hunger, climbed up
into the tree in which he dwells, to pick its fruits, in a state of
impurity, having neither rinsed their mouths nor washed their hands
and feet; so the moment that they touched the fruits, they became
fruits themselves. For Ganesa inflicted on them this curse, 'Let them
become that on which their minds are fixed?' Moreover, thy four other
ministers, who, the moment they arrived here, climbed up the tree in
the same way, were turned into fruits by the god. Therefore do thou
propitiate this Ganesa with ascetic practices, and by his favour thou
shalt attain all thy objects."
When Mrigánkadatta had been thus addressed by the voice from the
air, that seemed to rain nectar into his ears, hope again sprang
up in his bosom, and he gave up all idea of suicide. So he bathed
in the lake, and worshipped Ganesa, who dwelt in that tree, without
taking food, and joining his palms in an attitude of supplication,