The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
and cut off their ears and noses. And they bound them, and beat
them with sticks, and brought them in this condition before the
chiefs of the bandits. There they were questioned by the chiefs,
and being bewildered with fear, and tormented with hunger and pain,
[662] they related their history to them. Then the chiefs of the gang,
moved by pity, set them at liberty, and said to them, "Remain here
and take food; do not be terrified. You have arrived here on the
eighth day of the month, the day on which we worship Kártikeya, and
so you are our guests; and should have a share in our feast." [663]
"When the bandits had said this, they worshipped the goddess Durgá,
and made the two Chandálas eat in their presence, [664] and having,
as it happened, taken a fancy to them, they would not let them out
of their sight. Then they lived with those bandits by robbing, and
thanks to their courage, became eventually the chiefs of the gang.
And one night those chiefs marched with their followers to plunder a
large town, a favourite abode of Siva, which some of their spies had
selected for attack. Though they saw an evil omen, they did not turn
back, and they reached and plundered the whole city and the temple
of the god. Then the inhabitants cried to the god for protection,
and Siva in his wrath bewildered the bandits by making them blind. And
the citizens suddenly perceiving that, and thinking that it was due to
the favour of Siva, assembled and smote those bandits with sticks and
stones. And Ganas, moving about invisibly, flung some of the bandits
into ravines, and dashed others to pieces against the ground.
And the people, seeing the two leaders, were about to put them to
death, but they immediately turned into bob-tailed dogs. And in this
transformation they suddenly remembered their former birth, and danced
in front of Siva, and fled to him for protection. When the citizens,
Bráhmans, merchants, and all, saw that, they were delighted at being
free from fear of robbers, and went laughing to their houses. And
then the delusion, that had possessed those two beings now turned
into dogs, disappeared, and they awoke to reality, and in order to
put an end to their curse, they fasted, and appealed to Siva by severe
asceticism. And the next morning, the citizens, making high festival
and worshipping Siva, beheld those dogs absorbed in contemplation,
and though they offered them food, the creatures would not touch it.
And the two dogs remained in this state for several days, beheld by
all the world, and then Siva's Ganas preferred this prayer to him,
"O god, these two Ganas, Pingesvara and Guhesvara, who were cursed
by the goddess, have been afflicted for a long time, so take pity on
them." When the holy god heard that, he said, "Let these two Ganas be
delivered from their canine condition and became crows!" Then they
became crows, and broke their fast upon the rice of the offering,
and lived happily, remembering their former state, exclusively devoted
to Siva.
After some time, Siva having been satisfied by their devotion to
him, they became by his command first vultures, and then peacocks;
then those noble Ganas, in course of time, became swans; and in that
condition also they strove with the utmost devotion to propitiate
Siva. And at last they gained the favour of that god by bathing
in sacred waters, by performing vows, by meditations, and acts of
worship, and they became all composed of gold and jewels, and attained
supernatural insight.
"Know that we are those very two, Pingesvara and Guhesvara, who by
the curse of Párvatí endured a succession of woes, and have now become
swans. But the Gana Manipushpesvara, who was in love with the daughter
of Jayá, and was cursed by the goddess, has become a king upon earth,
even yourself, Brahmadatta. And that daughter of Jayá has been born
as this lady, your wife Somaprabhá; and that Dhúrjata has been born
as this your minister Sivabhúti. And therefore we, having attained
insight, and remembering the end of the curse appointed by Párvatí,
appeared to you at night. By means of that artifice we have all
been re-united here to-day; and we will bestow on you the perfection
of insight.
"Come, let us go to that holy place of Siva on the Tridasa mountain,
rightly named Siddhísvara, [665] where the gods performed asceticism in
order to bring about the destruction of the Asura Vidyuddhvaja. And
they slew that Asura in fight, with the help of Muktáphalaketu,
the head of all the Vidyádhara princes, who had been obtained by
the favour of Siva. And that Muktáphalaketu, having passed through
the state of humanity brought upon him by a curse, obtained reunion
with Padmávatí by the favour of the same god. Let us go to that holy
place, which has such splendid associations connected with it, and
there propitiate Siva, and then we will return to our own home, for
such was the end of the curse appointed to all of us by the goddess,
to take place at the same time." When the two heavenly swans said
this to king Brahmadatta, he was at once excited with curiosity to
hear the tale of Muktáphalaketu.
CHAPTER CXV.
Then king Brahmadatta said to those celestial swans, "How did
Muktáphalaketu kill that Vidyuddhvaja? And how did he pass through
the state of humanity inflicted on him by a curse, and regain
Padmávatí? Tell me this first, and afterwards you shall carry out
your intentions." When those [666] birds heard this, they began to
relate the story of Muktáphalaketu as follows.
Story of Muktáphalaketu and Padmávatí.
Once on a time there was a king of the Daityas named Vidyutprabhá,
hard for gods to conquer. He, desiring a son, went to the bank of the
Ganges, and with his wife performed asceticism for a hundred years
to propitiate Brahmá. And by the favour of Brahmá, who was pleased
with his asceticism, that enemy of the gods obtained a son named
Vidyuddhvaja, who was invulnerable at their hands.
That son of the king of the Daityas, even when a child, was of great
valour; and one day seeing that their town was guarded on all sides by
troops, he said to one of his companions, "Tell me, my friend, what
have we to be afraid of, that this town is thus guarded on all sides
by troops?" Then his companion said to him, "We have an adversary in
Indra the king of the gods; and it is on his account that this system
of guarding the town is kept up. Ten hundred thousand elephants,
and fourteen hundred thousand chariots, and thirty hundred thousand
horsemen, and a hundred millions of footmen guard the city in turn
for one watch of the night, and the turn of guarding comes round for
every division in seven years."
When Vidyuddhvaja heard this, he said, "Out on such a throne, that
is guarded by the arms of others, and not by its own might! However,
I will perform such severe asceticism, as will enable me to conquer
my enemy with my own arm, and put an end to all this insolence of
his." When Vidyuddhvaja had said this, he put aside that companion
of his, who tried to prevent him, and without telling his parents,
went to the forest to perform penance.
But his parents heard of it, and in their affection for their child,
they followed him, and said to him, "Do not act rashly, son; severe
asceticism ill befits a child like you. Our throne has been victorious
over its enemies; is there one more powerful in the whole world? What
do you desire to get by withering yourself in vain? Why do you afflict
us?" When Vidyuddhvaja's parents said this to him, he answered them,
"I will acquire, even in my childhood, heavenly arms by the force
of asceticism; as for our empire over the world being unopposed by
enemies, do I not know so much from the fact that our city is guarded
by troops ever ready in their harness?"
When the Asura Vidyuddhvaja, firm in his resolution, had said so much
to his parents, and had sent them away, he performed asceticism to win
over Brahmá. He continued for a period of three hundred years living
on fruits only, and successively for similar periods living on water,
air, and nothing at all. Then Brahmá, seeing that his asceticism was
becoming capable of upsetting the system of the world, came to him,
and at his request gave him the weapons of Brahmá. He said, "This
weapon of Brahmá cannot be repelled by any weapon except the weapon
of Pasupati Rudra, which is unattainable by me. So, if you desire
victory, you must not employ it unseasonably." When Brahmá had said
this, he went away, and that Daitya went home.
Then Vidyuddhvaja marched out to conquer his enemies with his father,
and with all his forces, who came together to that great feast of
war. Indra, the ruler of the gods' world, heard of his coming, and
kept guard in heaven, and when he drew near, marched out to meet
him, eager for battle, accompanied by his friend Chandraketu, the
king of the Vidyádharas, and by the supreme lord of the Gandharvas,
named Padmasekhara. Then Vidyuddhvaja appeared, hiding the heaven
with his forces, and Rudra and others came there to behold that
battle. Then there took place between those two armies a battle,
which was involved in darkness [667] by the sun's being eclipsed with
the clashing together of missiles; and the sea of war swelled high,
lashed by the wind of wrath, with hundreds of chariots for inflowing
streams, and rolling horses and elephants for marine monsters.
Then single combats took place between the gods and Asuras, and
Vidyutprabhá, the father of Vidyuddhvaja, rushed in wrath upon
Indra. Indra found himself being gradually worsted by the Daitya in
the interchange of missiles; so he flung his thunderbolt at him. And
then that Daitya, smitten by the thunderbolt, fell dead. And that
enraged Vidyuddhvaja so that he attacked Indra. And, though his life
was not in danger, he began by discharging at him the weapon of Brahmá;
and other great Asuras struck at him with other weapons. Then Indra
called to mind the weapon of Pasupati, presided over by Siva himself,
which immediately presented itself in front of him; he worshipped
it, and discharged it among his foes. That weapon, which was of the
nature of a destroying fire, consumed the army of the Asuras; but
Vidyuddhvaja, being a child, only fell senseless when smitten by it;
for that weapon does not harm children, old men, or fugitives. Then
all the gods returned home victorious.
And Vidyuddhvaja, for his part, who had fallen senseless, recovered
his senses after a very long time, and fled weeping, and then said to
the rest of his soldiers, who had assembled; "In spite of my having
acquired the weapon of Brahmá, we were not victorious to-day, though
victory was in our grasp; on the contrary we were defeated. So I will
go and attack Indra, and lose my life in battle. Now that my father
is slain, I shall not be able to return to my own city." When he
said this, an old minister of his father's said to him, "The weapon
of Brahmá, discharged unseasonably, is too languid to contend with
other weapons discharged, for that great weapon was to-day overcome
by the weapon of Siva, which will not brook the presence of others. So
you ought not unseasonably to challenge your victorious enemy, for in
this way you will strengthen him and destroy yourself. The calm and
resolute man preserves his own life, and in due time regains might,
and takes revenge on his enemy, and so wins a reputation esteemed by
the whole world."
When that old minister said this to Vidyuddhvaja, he said to him,
"Then go you and take care of my kingdom, but I will go and propitiate
that supreme lord Siva."
When he had said this, he dismissed his followers, though they were
loth to leave him, and he went with five young Daityas, companions
of equal age, and performed asceticism on the bank of the Ganges, at