The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
food, drink, and dwellings, should be agreeable to different creatures,
according to the classes to which they respectively belong. So have
made, king, a great lake to be the dwelling-place of these swans,
covered with various kinds of lotuses, and watched by guards, where
they will be free from molestation. And keep always scattering on the
bank food of the kind that birds love, in order that water-birds may
quickly come there from various quarters. Among them these two golden
swans will certainly come; and then you will be able to gaze on them
continually: do not be despondent."
When king Brahmadatta's minister said this to him, he had that
great lake made according to his directions, and it was ready in a
moment. The lake was frequented by swans, sárasas and chakravákas,
[654] and after a time that couple of swans came there, and settled
down on a clump of lotuses in it. Then the guards set to watch the
lake came and informed the king of that fact, and he went down to
the lake in a state of great delight, considering that his object had
been accomplished. And he beheld those golden swans, and worshipped
them from a distance, and ministered to their comfort by scattering
for them grains of rice dipped in milk. And the king took so much
interest in them that he spent his whole time on the bank of that
lake watching those swans with their bodies of pure gold, their eyes
of pearl, their beaks and feet of coral, and the tips of their wings
of emerald, [655] which had come there in perfect confidence.
Now, one day, as the king was roaming along the bank of the lake, he
saw in one place a pious offering made with unfading flowers. And he
said to the guards there, "Who made this offering?" Then the guards
of the lake said to the king, "Every day, at dawn, noon, and sunset,
these golden swans bathe in the lake, and make these offerings,
and stand absorbed in contemplation: so we cannot say, king, what is
the meaning of this great wonder." When the king heard this from the
guards, he said to himself, "Such a proceeding is quite inconsistent
with the nature of swans; surely there must be a reason for this. So,
I will perform asceticism until I find out who these swans are." Then
the king and his wife and his minister gave up food, and remained
performing penance and absorbed in meditation on Siva. And after the
king had fasted for twelve days, the two heavenly swans came to him,
and said to him in a dream with articulate voice, "Rise up, king;
to-morrow we will tell you and your wife and minister, after you have
broken your fast, the whole truth of the matter in private." When the
swans had said this, they disappeared, and next morning the king and
his wife and his minister, as soon as they awoke, rose up, and broke
their fast. And after they had eaten, the two swans came to them,
as they were sitting in a pleasure-pavilion near the water. The
king received them with respect, and said to them, "Tell me who you
are." Then they proceeded to tell him their history.
How Párvatí condemned her five attendants to be reborn on earth.
There is a monarch of mountains famous on the earth under the name
of Mandara, in whose groves of gleaming jewels all the gods roam, on
whose table-lands, watered with nectar from the churned sea of milk,
are to be found flowers, fruits, roots, and water, that are antidotes
to old age and death. Its highest peaks, composed of various precious
stones, form the pleasure-grounds of Siva, and he loves it more than
mount Kailása.
There, one day, that god left Párvatí, after he had been diverting
himself with her, and disappeared, to execute some business for
the gods. Then the goddess, afflicted by his absence, roamed in the
various places where he loved to amuse himself, and the other gods
did their best to console her.
And one day the goddess was much troubled by the advent of spring,
and she was sitting surrounded by the Ganas at the foot of a tree,
thinking about her beloved, when a noble Gana, named Manipushpesvara,
looked lovingly at a young maiden, the daughter of Jayá, called
Chandralekhá, who was waving a chowrie over the goddess. He was a
match for her in youth and beauty, and she met his glance with a
responsive look of love, as he stood by her side. Two other Ganas,
named Pingesvara and Guhesvara, when they saw that, interchanged
glances, and a smile passed over their faces. And when the goddess
saw them smiling, she was angry in her heart, and she cast her eyes
hither and thither, to see what they were laughing at in this unseemly
manner. And then she saw that Chandralekhá and Manipushpesvara were
looking lovingly in one another's faces.
Then the goddess, who was quite distracted with the sorrow of
separation, was angry, and said, "These young people have done well
to look lovingly [656] at one another in the absence of the god,
and these two mirthful people have done well to laugh when they
saw their glances: so let this lover and maiden, who are blinded
with passion, fall into a human birth; and there the disrespectful
pair shall be man and wife; but these unseasonable laughers shall
endure many miseries on the earth; they shall be first poor Bráhmans,
and then [657] Bráhman-Rákshasas, and then Pisáchas, and after that
Chandálas, and then robbers, and then bob-tailed dogs, and then they
shall be various kinds of birds,--shall these Ganas who offended by
laughing; for their minds were unclouded, when they were guilty of
this disrespectful conduct.
When the goddess had uttered this command, a Gana of the name of
Dhúrjata said, "Goddess, this is very unjust; these excellent Ganas
do not deserve so severe a curse, for a very small offence." When the
goddess heard that, she said in her wrath to Dhúrjata also, "Fall thou
also, great sir, that knowest not thy place, into a mortal womb." When
the goddess had inflicted these tremendous curses, the female warder
Jayá, the mother of Chandralekhá, clung to her feet, and addressed
this petition to her, "Withdraw thy anger, goddess; appoint an end to
the curse of this daughter of mine, and of these thy own servants,
that have through ignorance committed sin." When Párvatí had been
thus entreated by her warder Jayá, she said, "When all these, owing to
their having obtained insight, shall in course of time meet together,
they shall, after visiting Siva the lord of magic powers, in the place
[658] where Brahmá and the other gods performed asceticism, return to
our court, having been freed from their curse. And this Chandralekhá,
and her beloved, and that Dhúrjata shall, all three of them, be happy
in their life as mortals, but these two shall be miserable."
When the goddess had said this, she ceased; and at that very moment
the Asura Andhaka came there, having heard of the absence of Siva. The
presumptuous Asura hoped to win the goddess, but having been reproached
by her attendants he departed, but he was slain on that account by the
god, who discovered the reason of his coming, and pursued him. [659]
Then Siva returned home having accomplished his object, and Párvatí
delighted told him of the coming of Andhaka, and the god said to her,
"I have to-day slain a former mind-born son of thine, named Andhaka,
and he shall now be a Bhringin here, as nothing remains of him but
skin and bone." When Siva had said this, he remained there diverting
himself with the goddess, and Manipushpesvara and the other five
descended to earth.
"Now, king, hear the long and strange story of these two, Pingesvara
and Guhesvara."
Story of the metamorphoses of Pingesvara and Guhesvara.
There is on the earth a royal grant to Bráhmans, named Yajnasthala. In
it there lived a rich [660] and virtuous Bráhman named Yajnasoma. In
his middle age he had two sons born to him; the name of the elder
was Harisoma and of the younger Devasoma. They passed through the age
of childhood, and were invested with the sacred thread, and then the
Bráhman their father lost his wealth, and he and his wife died.
Then those two wretched sons, bereaved of their father, and without
subsistence, having had their grant taken from them by their relations,
said to one another, "We are now reduced to living on alms, but we
get no alms here. So we had better go to the house of our maternal
grandfather, though it is far off. Though we have come down in
the world, who on earth would welcome us, if we arrive of our own
accord. Nevertheless let us go. What else indeed are we to do, for
we have no other resource?"
After deliberating to this effect they went, begging their way, by
slow stages, to that royal grant, where the house of their grandfather
was. There the unfortunate young men found out, by questioning people,
that their grandfather, whose name was Somadeva, was dead, and his
wife also.
Then, begrimed with dust, they entered despairing the house of
their maternal uncles named Yajnadeva and Kratudeva. There those
good Bráhmans welcomed them kindly, and gave them food and clothing,
and they remained engaged in study. But in course of time the wealth
of their maternal uncles diminished, and they could keep no servants,
and then they came and said to those nephews in the most affectionate
way, "Dear boys, we can no longer afford to keep a man to look after
our cattle, as we have become poor, so do you look after our cattle
for us." When Harisoma and Devasoma's uncles said this to them, their
throats were full of tears, but they agreed to their proposal. Then
they took the cattle to the forest every day, and looked after them
there, and at evening they returned home with them, wearied out.
Then, as they went on looking after the cattle, owing to their falling
asleep in the day, some animals were stolen, and others were eaten by
tigers. That made their uncles very unhappy: and one day a cow and goat
intended for sacrifice, belonging to their uncles, both disappeared
somewhere or other. Terrified at that, they took the other animals
home before the right time, and running off in search of the two that
were missing, they entered a distant forest. There they saw their goat
half eaten by a tiger, and after lamenting, being quite despondent,
they said, "Our uncles were keeping this goat for a sacrifice, and
now that it is destroyed, their anger will be something tremendous. So
let us dress its flesh with fire, and eat enough of it to put an end
to our hunger, and then let us take the rest, and go off somewhere
and support ourselves by begging."
After these reflections they proceeded to roast the goat, and while
they were so engaged, their two uncles arrived, who had been running
after them, and saw them cooking the goat. When they saw their
uncles in the distance, they were terrified, and they rose up in
great trepidation, and fled from the spot. And those two uncles in
their wrath pronounced [661] on them the following curse, "Since,
in your longing for flesh, you have done a deed worthy of Rákshasas,
you shall become flesh-eating Bráhman-Rakshasas." And immediately
those two young Bráhmans became Brahman-Rákshasas, having mouths
formidable with tusks, flaming hair, and insatiable hunger; and they
wandered about in the forest catching animals and eating them.
But one day they rushed upon an ascetic, who possessed supernatural
power, to slay him, and he in self-defence cursed them, and they became
Pisáchas. And in their condition as Pisáchas, they were carrying off
the cow of a Bráhman, to kill it, but they were overpowered by his
spells, and reduced by his curse to the condition of Chandálas.
One day, as they were roaming about in their condition as Chandálas,
bow in hand, tormented with hunger, they reached, in their search for
food, a village of bandits. The warders of the village, supposing
them to be thieves, arrested them both, as soon as they saw them,