The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
'The gods assert that this son of the king of Vatsa, who is called
Naraváhanadatta, is to be our emperor: so go quickly, and kill that
foe of ours by means of your magic power, before be has attained the
dignity of emperor.'
"When the wicked Gaurímunda had sent me on this errand, I went to
execute it, and while going along through the air, I saw Siva in
front of me. The god, being displeased, made an angry roar, and
immediately pronounced on me this curse, 'How is it, villain, that
thou dost plot evil against a noble-minded man? So go, wicked one,
and fall with this same body of thine into the midst of the Chandálas
in Ujjayiní, together with thy wife and daughter. And when some one
shall make eighteen thousand of the Bráhmans, that dwell in that city,
eat in thy house by way of a gift to purchase thy daughter; then thy
curse shall come to an end, and thou must marry thy daughter to the
man who bestows on thee that gift.'
"When Siva had said this, he disappeared, and I, that very Matangadeva,
assuming the name of Utpalahasta, fell among men of the lowest caste,
but I do not mix with them. However, my curse is now at an end, owing
to the favour of your son, so I give him my daughter Suratamanjarí. And
now I will go to my own dwelling-place among the Vidyádharas, in order
to pay my respects to the emperor Naraváhanadatta." When Matangadeva
had said this, he solemnly gave the prince his daughter, and flying
up into the air with his wife, repaired, king, to thy feet.
"And king Pálaka, having thus ascertained the truth, celebrated with
great delight the marriage of Suratamanjarí and his son. And his
son Avantivardhana, having obtained that Vidyádharí for a wife, felt
himself fortunate in having gained more than he had ever hoped for.
"Now, one day, that prince went to sleep on the top of the palace with
her and at the end of the night he woke up, and suddenly discovered
that his beloved was nowhere to be seen. He looked for her, but could
not find her anywhere, and then he lamented, and was so much afflicted
that his father the king came, and was exceedingly discomposed. We all,
being assembled there at that time, said, 'This city is well-guarded,
no stranger could enter it during the night; no doubt she must have
been carried off by some evilly disposed wanderer of the air;' and
even while we were saying that, your servant the Vidyádhara Dhúmasikha
descended from the sky. He brought here this prince Avantivardhana,
and king Pálaka also was asked to part with me, in order that I
might state the facts of the case. Here too is Suratamanjarí with
her father, and the facts concerning her are such as I have said:
your Majesty is the best judge of what ought to be done now."
When Bharataroha the minister of Pálaka had told this tale, he
stopped speaking; and the assessors put this question to Matangadeva
in the presence of Naraváhanadatta, "Tell us, to whom did you give
this daughter of yours Suratamanjarí?" He answered, "I gave her to
Avantivardhana." Then they put this question to Ityaka, "Now do you
tell us why you carried her off?" He answered, "Her mother promised her
to me originally." The assessors said to Ityaka, "While the father is
alive, what authority has the mother? Moreover, where is your witness
to prove the fact of the mother having promised her to you? So she
is with regard to you the wife of another, villain!" When Ityaka was
thus put to silence by the assessors, the emperor Naraváhanadatta,
being angry with him, ordered his immediate execution on the ground
of his misconduct. But the good hermits, with Kasyapa at their head,
came and entreated him, saying, "Forgive now this one fault of his:
for he is the son of Madanavega, and therefore your brother-in-law." So
the king was at last induced to spare his life, and let him off with
a severe reprimand.
And he reunited that son of his maternal uncle, Avantivardhana, to
his wife, and sent them off with their ministers to their own city,
in the care of Váyupatha.
CHAPTER CXIII.
When Naraváhanadatta on the Black Mountain had thus taken away
the virtuous Suratamanjarí from his brother-in-law Ityaka, who had
carried her off, and had reprimanded him, and had given her back to
her husband, and was sitting in the midst of the hermits, the sage
Kasyapa came and said to him, "There never was, king, and there never
will be an emperor like you, since you do not allow passion and other
feelings of the kind to influence your mind, when you are sitting
on the seat of judgment. Fortunate are they who ever behold such a
righteous lord as you are; for, though your empire is such as it is,
no fault can be found with you.
"There were in former days Rishabha and other emperors; and they,
being seized with various faults, were ruined and fell from their
high estate. Rishabha, and Sarvadamana, and the third Bandhujívaka,
all these, through excessive pride, were punished by Indra. And the
Vidyádhara prince Jímútaváhana, when the sage Nárada came and asked
him the reason of his obtaining the rank of emperor, told him how he
gave away the wishing-tree and his own body, [633] and thus he fell
from his high position by revealing his own virtuous deeds. And the
sovereign named Visvántara, who was emperor here, he too, when his son
Indívaráksha had been slain by Vasantatilaka, the king of Chedi, for
seducing his wife, being wanting in self-control, died on account of
the distracting sorrow which he felt for the death of his wicked son.
"But Tárávaloka alone, who was by birth a mighty human king, and
obtained by his virtuous deeds the imperial sovereignty over the
Vidyádharas, long enjoyed the high fortune of empire without falling
into sin, and at last abandoned it of his own accord, out of distaste
for all worldly pleasures, and went to the forest. Thus in old times
did most of the Vidyádhara emperors, puffed up with the attainment
of their high rank, abandon the right path, and fall, blinded with
passion. So you must always be on your guard against slipping from the
path of virtue, and you must take care that your Vidyádhara subjects
do not swerve from righteousness."
When the hermit Kasyapa said this to Naraváhanadatta, the latter
approved his speech, and said to him with deferential courtesy,
"How did Tárávaloka, being a man, obtain in old time the sway over the
Vidyádharas? Tell me, reverend Sir." When Kasyapa heard this, he said,
"Listen, I will tell you his story."
Story of Tárávaloka.
There lived among the Sivis [634] a king of the name of Chandrávaloka;
that sovereign had a head-wife named Chandralekhá. Her race was as
spotless as the sea of milk, she was pure herself, and in character
like the Ganges. And he had a great elephant that trampled the armies
of his enemies, known on the earth as Kuvalayapída. Owing to the
might of that elephant, the king was never conquered by any enemy in
his realm, in which the real power was in the hands of the subjects.
And when his youth came to an end, that king had a son, with auspicious
marks, born to him by his queen Chandralekhá. He gave the son the
name of Tárávaloka, and he gradually grew up, and his inborn virtues
of liberality, self-control, and discernment grew with him. And
the mighty-minded youth learnt the meaning of all words except one;
but he was so liberal to suppliants that he cannot be said ever to
have learnt the meaning of the word "No." Gradually he became old
in actions, though young in years; and though like the sun in fire
of valour, he was exceedingly pleasing to look at; [635] like the
full moon, he became beautiful by the possession of all noble parts;
like the god of Love, he excited the longing of the whole world;
in obedience to his father he came to surpass Jímútaváhana, and he
was distinctly marked with the signs of a great emperor.
Then his father, the king Chandrávaloka, brought for that son of his
the daughter of the king of the Madras, named Mádrí. And when he was
married, his father, pleased with the supereminence of his virtues,
at once appointed him Crown-prince. And when Tárávaloka had been
appointed Crown-prince, he had made, with his father's permission,
alms-houses for the distribution of food and other necessaries. And
every day, the moment he got up, he mounted the elephant Kuvalayapída,
and went round to inspect those alms-houses. [636] To whosoever
asked anything he was ready to give it, even if it were his own life:
in this way the fame of that Crown-prince spread in every quarter.
Then he had two twin sons born to him by Mádrí, and the father
called them Ráma and Lakshmana. And the boys grew like the love
and joy of their parents, and they were dearer than life to their
grandparents. And Tárávaloka and Mádrí were never tired of looking
at them, as they bent before them, being filled with virtue, like
two bows of the prince, being strung. [637]
Then the enemies of Tárávaloka, seeing his elephant Kuvalayapída, his
two sons, and his reputation for generosity, said to their Bráhmans,
"Go and ask Tárávaloka to give you his elephant Kuvalayapída. If
he gives it you, we shall be able to take from him his kingdom,
as he will be deprived of that bulwark; if he refuses to give it,
his reputation for generosity will be at an end." When the Bráhmans
had been thus entreated, they consented, and asked Tárávaloka, that
hero of generosity, for that elephant. Tárávaloka said to himself,
"What do Bráhmans mean by asking for a mighty elephant? So I know for
certain that they have been put up to asking me by some one. Happen
what will, I must give them my splendid elephant, for how can I let a
suppliant go away without obtaining his desire, while I live?" After
going through these reflections, Tárávaloka gave the elephant to
those Bráhmans with unwavering mind.
Then Chandrávaloka's subjects, seeing that splendid elephant being
led away by those Bráhmans, went in a rage to the king, and said,
"Your son has now abandoned this kingdom, and surrendering all
his rights has taken upon him the vow of a hermit. For observe,
he has given to some suppliants this great elephant Kuvalayapída,
the foundation of the kingdom's prosperity, that scatters with its
mere smell all other elephants. So you must either send your son
to the forest to practise asceticism, or take back the elephant,
or else we will set up another king in your place." [638]
When Chandrávaloka had been thus addressed by the citizens, he sent his
son a message in accordance with their demands through the warder. When
his son Tárávaloka heard that, he said, "As for the elephant, I have
given it away, and it is my principle to refuse nothing to suppliants;
but what do I care for such a throne as this, which is under the thumb
of the subjects, or for a royal dignity which does not benefit others,
[639] and anyhow is transient as the lightning? So it is better for
me to live in the forest, among trees which give the fortune of their
fruits to be enjoyed by all, and not here among such beasts of men as
these subjects are." [640] When Tárávaloka had said this, he assumed
the dress of bark, and after kissing the feet of his parents and
giving away all his wealth to suppliants, he went out from his own
city, accompanied by his wife, who was firm in the same resolution
as himself, and his two children, comforting, as well as he could,
the weeping Bráhmans. Even beasts and birds, when they saw him setting
forth, wept so piteously that the earth was bedewed with their rain
of tears.
Then Tárávaloka went on his way, with no possessions but a chariot and
horses for the conveyance of his children; but some other Bráhmans
asked him for the horses belonging to the chariot; he gave them to
them immediately, and drew the chariot himself, with the assistance