The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
made herself ready to protect you; so you are certain to prosper in
your undertaking; but listen to what I am about to say. There are two
divisions of the Vidyádhara territory [548] on the Himálayas here,
the northern and the southern, both extending over many peaks of
that range; the northern division is on the other side of Kailása,
but the southern is on this side of it. And this Amitagati here has
just performed a difficult penance on mount Kailása, in order to obtain
the sovereignty over the northern division, and propitiated Siva. And
Siva made this revelation to him, 'Naraváhanadatta thy emperor will
accomplish thy desire,' so he has come here to you. In that division
there is a chief monarch, named Mandaradeva, who is evilly disposed,
but though mighty, he will be easy for you to conquer, when you have
obtained the sciences peculiar to the Vidyádharas.
"But the king named Gaurímunda, who rules in the midst of the southern
division, is evil-minded and exceedingly hard to conquer on account
of the might of his magic science. Moreover he is a great friend of
your enemy Mánasavega. Until he is overcome, your undertaking will
not prosper; so acquire as quickly as possible great and transcendent
power of science."
When Pingalagándhára had said this, Dhanavatí spake, "Good, my son,
it is as this king tells thee. Go hence to the land of the Siddhas
[549] and propitiate the god Siva, in order that thou mayest obtain
the magic sciences, for how can there be any excelling without his
favour? And these kings will be assembled there to protect thee." Then
Chitrángada said, "It is even so; but I will advance in front of all;
let us conquer our enemies."
Then Naraváhanadatta determined to do as they had advised, and he
performed the auspicious ceremony before setting out, and bowed at
the feet of his tearful parents, and other superiors, and received
their blessing, and then ascended with his wives and ministers a
splendid palanquin provided by the skill of Amitagati, and started on
his expedition, obscuring the heaven with his forces, that resembled
the water of the sea raised by the wind at the end of a kalpa, as it
were proclaiming by the echoes of his army's roar on the limits of the
horizon, that the emperor of the Vidyádharas had come to visit them.
And he was rapidly conducted by the king of the Gandharvas and the
chiefs of the Vidyádharas and Dhanavatí to that mountain, which was
the domain of the Siddhas. There the Siddhas prescribed for him a
course of self-mortification, and he performed asceticism by sleeping
on the ground, bathing in the early morning, and eating fruits. And
the kings of the Vidyádharas remained surrounding him on every side,
guarding him unweariedly day and night. And the Vidyádhara princesses,
contemplating him eagerly while he was performing his penance, seemed
with the gleams of their eyes to clothe him in the skin of a black
antelope. Others shewed by their eyes turned inwards out of anxiety
for him, and their hands placed on their breasts, that he had at once
entered their hearts.
And five more noble maidens of the Vidyádhara race, beholding him,
were inflamed with the fire of love, and made this agreement together,
"We five friends must select this prince as our common husband,
and we must marry him at the same time, not separately; if one of us
marries him separately, the rest must enter the fire on account of
that violation of friendship."
While the heavenly maidens were thus agitated at the sight of
him, suddenly great portents manifested themselves in the grove
of ascetics. A very terrible wind blew, uprooting splendid trees,
as if to shew that even thus in that place should heroes fall in
fight; and the earth trembled as if anxious as to what all that could
mean, and the hills cleft asunder, as if to give an opening for the
terrified to escape, and the sky, rumbling awfully, though cloudless,
[550] seemed to say, "Ye Vidyádharas, guard, guard to the best of
your power, this emperor of yours." And Naraváhanadatta, in the
midst of the alarm produced by these portents, remained unmoved,
meditating upon the adorable three-eyed god; and the heroic kings of
the Gandharvas and lords of the Vidyádharas remained guarding him,
ready for battle, expecting some calamity; and they uttered war-cries,
and agitated the forest of their lithe swords, as if to scare away
the portents that announced the approach of evil.
And the next day after this the army of the Vidyádharas was suddenly
seen in the sky, dense as a cloud at the end of the kalpa, uttering
a terrible shout. Then Dhanavatí, calling to mind her magic science,
said, "This is Gaurímunda come with Mánasavega." Then those kings of
the Vidyádharas and the Gandharvas raised their weapons, but Gaurímunda
with Mánasavega rushed upon them exclaiming, "What right has a mere
man to rank with beings like us? So I will to-day crush your pride,
you sky-goers that take part with him." When Gaurímunda said this,
Chitrángada rushed upon him angrily, and attacked him.
And king Ságaradatta, the sovereign of the Gandharvas, and Chandasinha,
and Amitagati, and king Váyupatha, and Pingalagándhára, and all
the chiefs of the Vidyádharas, great heroes all, rushed upon the
wicked Mánasavega, roaring like lions, followed by the whole of their
forces. And right terrible was that storm of battle, thick with the
clouds of dust raised by the army, with the gleams of weapons for
flashes of lightning, and a falling rain of blood. And so Chitrángada
and his friends made, as it were, a great sacrifice for the demons,
which was full of blood for wine, and in which the heads of enemies
were strewn as an offering. And streams of gore flowed away, full of
bodies for alligators, and floating weapons for snakes, and in which
marrow intermingled took the place of cuttle-fish bone.
Then Gaurímunda, as his army was slain, and he himself was nigh
to death, called to mind the magic science of Gaurí, which he had
formerly propitiated and made well-disposed to him; and that science
appeared in visible form, with three eyes, armed with the trident,
[551] and paralysed the chief heroes of Naraváhanadatta's army. Then
Gaurímunda, having regained strength, rushed with a loud shout towards
Naraváhanadatta, and fell on him to try his strength in wrestling. And
being beaten by him in wrestling, the cogging Vidyádhara again summoned
up that science, and by its power he seized his antagonist in his
arms and flew up to the sky. However, he was prevented by the might
of Dhanavatí's science from slaying the prince, so he flung him down
on the mountain of fire.
But Mánasavega seized his comrades Gomukha and the rest, and
flew up into the sky with them, and flung them at random in all
directions. But, after they had been flung up, they were preserved
by a science in visible shape employed by Dhanavatí, and placed in
different spots on the earth. And that science comforted those heroes,
one by one, saying to them, "You will soon recover that master of yours
successful and flourishing," and having said this it disappeared. Then
Gaurímunda went back home with Mánasavega, thinking that their side
had been victorious.
But Dhanavatí said, "Naraváhanadatta will return to you after he
has attained his object, no harm will befall him;" and thereupon the
lords of the Gandharvas and princes of the Vidyádharas, Chitrángada
and the others, flung off their paralysing stupor, and went for the
present to their own abodes. And Dhanavatí took her daughter Ajinávatí,
with all her fellow-wives, and went to her own home.
Mánasavega, for his part, went and said to Madanamanchuká, "Your
husband is slain; so you had better marry me;" but she, standing in
front of him, said to him laughing, "He will slay you, no one can
slay him, as he has been appointed by the god."
But when Naraváhanadatta was being hurled down by his enemy on the
mountain of fire, a certain heavenly being came there, and received
him; and after preserving his life, he took him quickly to the cool
bank of the Mandákiní. And when Naraváhanadatta asked him who he
was, he comforted him, and said to him, "I, prince, am a king of the
Vidyádharas named Amritaprabha, and I have been sent by Siva on the
present occasion to save your life. Here is the mountain of Kailása
in front of you, the dwelling-place of that god; if you propitiate
Siva there, you will obtain unimpeded felicity. So, come, I will take
you there." When that noble Vidyádhara had said this, he immediately
conveyed him there, and took leave of him, and departed.
But Naraváhanadatta, when he had reached Kailása, propitiated with
asceticism Ganesa, whom he found there in front of him. And after
obtaining his permission, he entered the hermitage of Siva, emaciated
with self-mortification, and he beheld Nandin at the door. He devoutly
circumambulated him, and then Nandin said to him, "Thou hast well-nigh
attained all thy ends; for all the obstacles that hindered thee have
now been overcome; so remain here, and perform a strict course of
asceticism that will subdue sin, until thou shalt have propitiated
the adorable god; for successes depend on purity." When Nandin had
said this, Naraváhanadatta began a severe course of penance there,
living on air and meditating on the god Siva and the goddess Párvatí.
And the adorable god Siva, pleased with his asceticism, granted him
a vision of himself, and accompanied by the goddess, thus spake to
the prince, as he bent before him, "Become now emperor over all the
Vidyádharas, and let all the most transcendent sciences be immediately
revealed to thee! By my favour thou shalt become invincible by thy
enemies, and, as thou shalt be proof against cut or thrust, thou
shalt slay all thy foes. And when thou appearest, the sciences of
thy enemies shall be of no avail against thee. So go forth: even
the science of Gaurí shall be subject to thee." When Siva and Gaurí
had bestowed these boons on Naraváhanadatta, the god also gave him a
great imperial chariot, in the form of a lotus, made by Brahmá. Then
all the sciences presented themselves to the prince in bodily form,
and expressed their desire to carry out his orders by saying, "What
do you enjoin on us, that we may perform it?"
Accordingly Naraváhanadatta, having obtained many boons, bowed before
the great god, and ascended the heavenly lotus-chariot, after he had
received permission from him to depart, and went first to the city
of Amitagati, named Vakrapura; and as he went, the sciences shewed
him the path, and the bards of the Siddhas sang his praises. And
Amitagati, seeing him from a distance, as he came along through the
air, mounted on a chariot, advanced to meet him and bowed before
him, and made him enter his palace. And when he described how he had
obtained all these magic powers, Amitagati was so delighted that he
gave him as a present his own daughter named Sulochaná. And with her,
thus obtained, like a second imperial fortune of the Vidyádhara race,
the emperor joyfully passed that day as one long festival.
CHAPTER CVIII.
The next day, as the new emperor Naraváhanadatta was sitting in
Vakrapura, in the hall of audience, a certain man descended from
heaven, with a wand in his hand, and came up to him, and bowing
before him, said to him, "Know, O king, that I am Pauraruehideva the
hereditary warder of the emperor of the Vidyádharas, and I am come here
to tender my services to you in that capacity." When Naraváhanadatta
heard this, he looked at the face of Amitagati; and he said, "It is
true, my liege:" so Naraváhanadatta gladly admitted the new-comer to
the office of warder.
Then Dhanavatí, finding out by her power what had occurred, with his
wives Vegavatí and the others, and her son Chandasinha, and king