The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
the second Bráhman heard this speech of the son of the king of Vatsa,
he also began to tell his adventures.
Subsequent adventures of the second Bráhman.
When I went out that night from the temple in Madirávatí's dress,
her attendants surrounded me under the impression that I was their
mistress. And being bewildered with dancing, singing and intoxication,
they put me in a palanquin [516] and took me to the house of Somadatta,
which was in festal array. In one part it was full of splendid raiment,
in another of piled up ornaments; here you might see cooked food
provided, there an altar-platform made ready; one corner was full
of singing female slaves, another of professional mimes; and a third
was occupied by Bráhmans waiting for the auspicious moment.
Into one room of this house I was ushered in the darkness, veiled,
by the servants, who were beside themselves with drink and took me
for the bride. And when I sat down there, the females surrounded me,
full of joy at the wedding festival, busied with a thousand affairs.
Immediately the sound of bracelets and anklets was heard near the door,
and a maiden entered the room surrounded by her attendants. Like a
female snake, her head was adorned with flashing jewels, and she had
a white skin-like boddice; like a wave of the sea, she was full of
beauty, [517] and covered with strings of pearls. She had a garland of
beautiful flowers, arms shapely as the stalk of the creeper, and bright
bud-like fingers; and so she looked like the goddess of the garden
moving among men. And she came and sat down by my side, thinking I was
her beloved confidante. When I looked at her, I perceived that that
thief of my heart had come to me, the maiden that I saw at the Sankha
lake whither she had come to bathe; whom I saved from the elephant,
and who, almost as soon as seen, disappeared from my sight among the
crowd. I was overpowered with excess of joy, and I said to myself,
"Can this be mere chance, or is it a dream, or sober waking reality?"
Immediately those attendants of Madirávatí said to the visitor,
"Why do you seem so disturbed in mind, noble lady?" When she heard
that, she said, concealing her real feelings, [518] "What! are you
not aware what a dear friend of mine Madirávatí is. And she, as soon
as she is married, will go off to her father-in-law's house, and I
shall not be able to live without her; this is why I am afflicted. So
leave the room quickly, in order that I may have the pleasure of a
little confidential chat with Madirávatí."
With these words she put them all out, and fastened the door herself,
and then sat down, and under the impression that I was her confidante,
began to speak to me as follows; "Madirávatí, no affliction can be
greater than this affliction of yours, in that you are in love with
one man, and you are given by your father in marriage to another;
still you may possibly have a meeting or be united with your beloved,
whom you know by having been in his society. But for me a hopeless
affliction has arisen, and I will tell you what it is; for you are
the only repository of my secrets, as I am of yours.
"I had gone to bathe on a festival in the lake named the lake of
Sankha, [519] in order to divert my mind which was oppressed with
approaching separation from you. While thus engaged, I saw in the
garden near that lake a beautiful blooming young Bráhman, whose budding
beard seemed like a swarm of bees come to feed on the lotus of his
face; he himself looked like the moon come down from heaven in the
day, like the golden binding-post of the elephant of beauty. I said
to myself, 'Those hermits' daughters who have not seen this youth,
have only endured to no purpose hardship in the woods; what fruit have
they of their asceticism?' And even as I thought this in my heart,
the god of Love pierced it so completely with his shafts, that shame
and fear at once left it together.
"Then, while I looked with sidelong looks at him, whose eyes were fixed
on me, there suddenly came that way a furious elephant that had escaped
from its binding-post. That scared away my attendants and terrified
myself; and the young man, perceiving this, ran, and taking me up in
his arms, carried me along way into the midst of the crowd. While in
his arms, I assure you, my friend, I was rendered dead to all beside
by the joy of his ambrosial touch, and I knew not the elephant, nor
fear, nor who I was, nor where I was. In the meanwhile my attendants
came up, and thereupon the elephant rushed down on us like Separation
incarnate in bodily form, and my servants, alarmed at it, took me up
and carried me home; and in the mêlée my beloved disappeared, whither I
know not. Ever since that time I do nothing but think on him, who saved
my life, but whose name and dwelling I know not, who was snatched from
me as one might snatch away from my grasp a treasure that I had found;
and I weep all night with the female chakravákas, longing for sleep,
that takes away all grief, in order that I may behold him in a dream.
"In this hopeless affliction my only consolation, my friend,
is the sight of yourself, and that is now being far removed from
me. Accordingly, Madirávatí, the hour of my death draws nigh, and
that is why I am now enjoying the pleasure of beholding your face."
When she had uttered this speech, which was like a shower of nectar in
my ears, staining all the while the moon of her face with tear-drops
mixed with the black pigment of her eyes, she lifted up the veil from
my face, and beheld and recognized me, and then she was filled with
joy, wonder, and fear. Then I said, "Fair one, what is your cause of
alarm? Here I am at your service. For Fate, when propitious, brings
about unexpected results. I too have endured for your sake intolerable
sorrow; the fact is, Fate produces a strange variety of effects in
this phenomenal universe. Hereafter I will tell you my story at full
length; this is not the time for conversation; now devise, if you can,
my beloved, some artifice for escaping from this place." When I said
this to the girl, she made the following proposal, which was just
what the occasion demanded; "Let us slip out quietly from this house
by the back-door; the garden belonging to the house of my father, a
noble Kshatriya, is just outside: let us pass through it and go where
chance may take us." When she had said this, she hid her ornaments,
and I left the house with her by the way which she recommended.
So in that night I went a long distance with her, for we feared
detection, and in the morning we reached together a great forest. And
as we were going along through that savage wilderness, with no comfort
but our mutual conversation, noon gradually came on. The sun, like a
wicked king, afflicted with his rays the earth that furnished no asylum
for travellers, and no shelter. [520] By that time my beloved was
exhausted with fatigue and tortured with thirst, so I slowly carried
her into the shade of a tree, which it cost me a great effort to reach.
There I tried to restore her by fanning her with my garment, and
while I was thus engaged, a buffalo that had escaped with a wound,
came towards us. And there followed in eager pursuit of it a man
on horseback armed with a bow, whose very appearance proclaimed him
to be a noble-minded hero. He slew that great buffalo with a second
wound from a crescent-headed arrow; striking him down as Indra strikes
down a mountain with the dint of a thunder-bolt. When he saw us, he
advanced towards us, and said kindly to me, "Who are you, my good sir;
and who is this lady; and why have you come here?"
Then I shewed my Bráhmanical thread, and gave him an answer which
was half truth and half falsehood; "I am a Bráhman, this is my wife:
business led us to a foreign land, and on the way our caravan was
destroyed by bandits, and we, separating from it, lost our way,
and so came to enter this forest; here we have met you, and all our
fears are at an end." When I said this, he was moved by compassion for
my Bráhmanical character, and said "I am a chief of the foresters,
come here to hunt; and you way-worn travellers have arrived here as
my guests; so now come to my house, which is at no great distance,
to rest."
When he had said this, he made my wearied darling got up on his horse,
and himself walked, and so he led us to his dwelling. There he provided
us with food and other requisites, as if he had been a relation. [521]
Even in bad districts some few noble-hearted men spring up here and
there. Then he gave me attendants, who enabled me to get out of that
wood, and I reached a royal grant to Bráhmans, where I married that
lady. Then I wandered about from country to country, and meeting with
a caravan, I have to-day come here with her to bathe in the water of
the Ganges. And here I have found this man whom I selected for myself
as a friend; and I have seen your Highness; this, prince, is my story."
When he had said this, he ceased, and the prince of Vatsa loudly
praised that Bráhman, who had obtained the prize he desired, the
fitting reward of his genuine goodness; and in the meanwhile the
prince's ministers, Gomukha and the others, who had long been roaming
about looking for him, came up and found him. And they fell at the
feet of Naraváhanadatta, and tears of joy poured down their faces;
while he welcomed them all with due and fitting respect. Then the
prince, accompanied by Lalitalochaná, returned with those ministers
to his city, taking with him those two young Bráhmans, whom he valued
on account of the tact and skill they had displayed in attaining
worthy objects.
BOOK XIV.
CHAPTER CV.
May Siva, the granter of boons, who, when pleased, bestowed on Umá
half his own body, grant you your desire!
May the vermilion-stained trunk which Ganesa at night throws up in the
dance, and so seems to furnish the moon-umbrella with a coral handle,
protect you!
Then Naraváhanadatta, son of the king of Vatsa, possessing as his
wives those various ladies, the most beautiful in the three worlds,
and Madanamanchuká as his head-queen, dwelt with Gomukha and his other
ministers in Kausámbí, having his every want supplied by his father's
magnificent resources. His days passed pleasantly in dancing, singing,
and conversation, and were enlivened by the exquisite enjoyment of
the society of the ladies whom he loved.
Then it happened one day that he could not find his principal charmer
Madanamanchuká anywhere in the female apartments, nor could her
attendants find her either. [522] When he could not see his beloved,
he became pale from grief, as the moon loses its beauty in the
morning, by being separated from the night. And he was distracted by
an innumerable host of doubts, saying to himself, "I wonder whether
my beloved has hidden herself somewhere to ascertain my sentiments
towards her; or is she indignant with me for some trifling fault
or other; or is she concealed by magic, or has she been carried off
by some one?" When he had searched for her, and could not find her
anywhere, he was consumed by violent grief for his separation from
her, which raged in his bosom like a forest conflagration. His father,
the king of Vatsa, who came to visit him, as soon as he knew the state
of affairs, and his mothers, ministers, and servants were all beside
themselves. The pearl necklace, sandal-wood ointment, the rays of the
moon, lotus-fibres and lotus-leaves did not alleviate his torture,
but rather increased it. As for Kalingasená, when she was suddenly
deprived of that daughter, she was confounded like a Vidyádharí,
who has lost her magic power.
Then an aged female guardian of the women's apartments said in the
presence of Naraváhanadatta, so that all there heard, "Long ago, that