The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
life." When the daughters of the Daitya sovereign had made this vow,
they remained fasting in front of the god, engaged in meditation and
muttering prayers. And their mother and their father the sovereign of
the Daityas, hearing of it, and being very fond of their daughters,
remained fasting in the same way.
Then Svayamprabhá their mother quickly sent off Indumatí once more to
Merudhvaja's queen consort, to tell her how matters were going. She
went and told that queen the trouble in her master's house, and so
Merudhvaja also came to hear of it. Then that couple abandoned food
out of regard for the other royal couple, and their sons did so as
well, out of regard for their parents.
Thus in two worlds the royal families were in trouble. And
Muktáphaladhvaja remained without eating, and meditated on Siva as
his refuge. And, after six nights had passed, in the morning the
prince woke up, and said to his friend Mahábuddhi, who had formerly
been Samyataka, "My friend, I remember that last night in a dream
I mounted my steed given me by the hermit Tapodhana, that changes
its shape at will, and goes where the mind directs, and had become a
flying chariot, and, in my despondency I went to a heavenly temple of
Siva, very far from here, on the slope of Meru. There I saw a certain
celestial maiden emaciated with austerities; and a certain man with
matted hair, pointing to her, said to me laughing, 'You have come
here in this way to escape from one maiden, and lo! here is another
waiting for you.' When I heard this speech of his, I remained gazing
at the beauty of that maiden, but found it impossible to gaze my fill,
and so at the end of the night I suddenly woke up.
"So I will go there to obtain that heavenly maiden, and if I do not
find her there, I will enter the fire. What can Destiny mean, by
causing my mind to become attached to this maiden seen in a dream,
after rejecting, in the way I did, the Daitya maiden, offered to me
a short time ago? At any rate, I am persuaded that, if I go there,
good fortune will certainly befall me."
Having said this, he called to mind that vehicle given to him by the
hermit, which would carry him to any place conceived in the mind,
and assume any desired form. It turned into an air-going chariot, and
he mounted it, and set out for that heavenly temple of Siva, and when
he reached it, he saw that it was just as it had seemed in his dream,
and he rejoiced. Then he proceeded to perform religious ablution with
all the attendant rites, in the holy water there, named Siddhodaka,
with no one to wait on him but his friend.
Then his father king Merudhvaja, who was in his own city, emaciated
with fasting, accompanied by his wife, son, and suite, heard that
he had gone off somewhere secretly, and became bewildered with
grief. And all this was at once known in Pátála, exactly as it had
taken place. Then Trailokyamálin took with him his two daughters, and
came fasting, with his wife and suite, to visit king Merudhvaja. And
they all resolved on the following course of action; "Surely, as it
is the fourteenth day, the prince has gone somewhere to worship Siva;
so we will wait for him here this day. But to-morrow, if he has not
returned, we will go where he is: then, happen what will."
In the meanwhile Padmávatí, who was in that hermitage of Siva, named
Meghavana, said that very day to her ladies-in-waiting; "My friends,
I remember that last night I went in a dream to Siddhísvara, and a
certain man wearing matted hair came out of the temple of the god, and
said to me, 'My daughter, thy sorrow is at an end, thy reunion with thy
husband is nigh at hand.' When he had said this, he departed, and night
and sleep left me together. So come, let us go there." When Padmávatí
had said this, she went to that temple of Gaurí on the slope of Meru.
There she saw with astonishment that Muktáphaladhvaja at a distance
bathing in Siddhodaka, and she said to her friends, "This man is like
my beloved. Observe how very like he is. Wonderful! Can he be the very
same? It cannot be, for he is a mortal." When her ladies-in-waiting
heard that, and saw him, they said to her, "Princess, not only is this
man very like your beloved, but observe, his companion also bears a
resemblance to your lover's friend Samyataka. So we know for certain
that, in accordance with your last night's dream which you related to
us, Siva has by his power brought those two here, after their becoming
incarnate as men owing to a curse. Otherwise, how, being mortals,
could they have come to this region of the gods?" When Padmávatí had
been thus addressed by her ladies-in-waiting, she worshipped Siva,
and in a state of eager excitement, remained concealed near the god's
symbol to find out who the stranger was.
In the meanwhile Muktáphaladhvaja, having bathed, came into the temple
to worship the god, and after looking all round, said to Mahábuddhi,
"Strange to say, here is that very temple, which I saw in my dream,
made of precious stone, with the form of Siva visible within the
linga. And now I behold here those very localities, which I saw in my
dream, full of jewel-gleaming trees, which are alive with heavenly
birds. But I do not see here that heavenly maiden, whom I then saw;
and if I do not find her, I am determined to abandon the body in
this place."
When he said this, Padmávatí's ladies-in-waiting said to her in a
whisper, "Listen! it is certain that he has come here, because he
saw you here in a dream, and if he does not find you, he intends to
surrender his life; so let us remain here concealed, and see what he
means to do."
And while they remained there in concealment, Muktáphaladhvaja
entered, and worshipped the god, and came out. And when he came out,
he devoutly walked round the temple three times, keeping his right
hand towards it, and then he and his friend remembered their former
birth, and in their joy they were telling to one another the events
of their life as Vidyádharas, when Padmávatí met their view. And
Muktáphaladhvaja, remembering the occurrences of his former life,
as soon as he saw her, was filled with joy, and said to his friend,
"Lo! this very princess Padmávatí, the lady I saw in my dream! and
she has come here by good luck; so I will at once go and speak to her."
When he had said this, he went up to her weeping and said,
"Princess, do not go away anywhere now; for I am your former lover
Muktáphalaketu. I became a man by the curse of the hermit Dridhavrata,
and I have now remembered my former birth." When he had said this,
he tried, in his eagerness, to embrace her. But she was alarmed and
made herself invisible, and remained there with her eyes full of tears:
and the prince, not seeing her, fell on the ground in a swoon.
Then his friend sorrowfully spoke these words into the air, "How
is it, princess Padmávatí, that, now this lover has come, for whom
you suffered such severe austerities, you will not speak to him? I
too am Samyataka the comrade of your beloved: why do you not say
something kind to me, as I was cursed for you?" After saying this,
he restored the prince, and said to him, "This punishment has come
upon you as the result of the crime you committed in not accepting
the Daitya princess, who offered herself to you out of love."
When Padmávatí, who was concealed, heard this, she said to her
ladies-in-waiting, "Listen, he has no inclination for Asura
maidens." Then her ladies said to her, "You see that all tallies
together. Do you not remember that long ago, when your beloved was
cursed, he craved as a boon from the hermit Tapodhana, that while
he was a man, his heart might never be inclined to any one but
Padmávatí. It is in virtue of that boon that he now feels no love
for other women." When the princess heard this, she was bewildered
with doubt.
Then Muktáphaladhvaja, who had no sooner seen his beloved, than she
disappeared from his eyes, cried out, "Ah! my beloved Padmávatí, do you
not see that when I was a Vidyádhara, I incurred a curse in Meghavana
for your sake? And now be assured that I shall meet my death here."
When Padmávatí heard him utter this and other laments, she said
to her ladies-in-waiting, "Though all indications seem to tally,
still these two may possibly have heard these things at some time
or other by communication from mouth to mouth, and therefore my
mind is not convinced. But I cannot bear to listen to his sorrowful
exclamations, so I will go to that temple of Gaurí; moreover it is
the hour of worship for me there." When Padmávatí had said this,
she went with her ladies-in-waiting to that hermitage of Ambiká,
and after worshipping the goddess she offered this prayer, "If the
man I have just seen in Siddhísvara is really my former lover, bring
about for me, goddess, my speedy reunion with him."
And while Padmávatí was there, longing for her beloved,
Muktáphaladhvaja, who had remained behind in Siddhísvara, said to his
friend Mahábuddhi, who had been in a former life his friend Samyataka,
"I am convinced, my friend, that she has gone to her own haunt, that
temple of Gaurí; so come, let us go there." When he had said this,
he ascended that chariot of his, which went wherever the mind desired,
and flew to that hermitage of Ambiká.
When Padmávatí's ladies-in-waiting saw him afar off, coming down in the
chariot from the sky, they said to Padmávatí, "Princess, behold this
marvel. He has come here also, travelling in an air-going chariot;
how can he, a mere man, have such power?" Then Padmávatí said, "My
friends, do you not remember that on Dridhavrata, who cursed him,
I laid the following curse, 'When my beloved is incarnate as a man,
you shall be his vehicle, assuming any desired shape, and moving in
obedience to a wish.' So, no doubt, this is that hermit's pupil,
his vehicle, wearing at present the form of an air-going chariot,
and by means of it he roams everywhere at will."
When she said this, her ladies-in-waiting said to her, "If you know
this to be the case, princess, why do you not speak to him? What are
you waiting for?" When Padmávatí heard this speech of her ladies',
she went on to say, "I think that this probably is the case, but I
am not absolutely certain as yet. But, even supposing he really is my
beloved, how can I approach him, now that he is not in his own body,
but in another body? So, let us for a time watch his proceedings,
being ourselves concealed." When the princess had said this, she
remained there concealed, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting.
Then Muktáphaladhvaja descended from the chariot in that hermitage
of Ambiká, and being full of longing, said to his friend, "Here I
had my first interview with my beloved, when she had been terrified
by the Rákshasís; and I again saw her in the garden here, when she
came having chosen me for her own; and here I received the curse, and
she wished to follow me by dying; but was, though with difficulty,
prevented by that great hermit: and now, see, that very same lady
flies out of reach of my eyes."
When Padmávatí heard him speak thus, she said to her ladies-in-waiting,
"True, my friends, it is really my beloved, but how can I approach him,
before he has entered his former body? In this matter Siddhísvara
is my only hope. He sent me the dream, and he will provide for me
a way out of my difficulties." When she had formed this resolution,
she went back to Siddhísvara. And she worshipped that manifestation
of Siva, and offered this prayer to him, "Unite me with my beloved in
his former body, or bestow death on me. I see no third way of escape
from my woe." And then she remained with her friends in the court of
the god's temple.
In the meanwhile Muktáphaladhvaja searched for the princess in the
temple of Gaurí, and not finding her was despondent, and said to that