The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
"When I was wandering about the world, I crossed the sea that separates
the dvípas, and beheld that great city Malayapura. In that city there
dwells a king of the name of Malayasinha, and he has a matchless
daughter, named Malayavatí, who used to abhor males. But one night
she somehow or other saw in a dream a great hero in a convent. [787]
The moment she saw him, that evil spirit of detestation of the male
sex fled from her mind, as if terrified. Then she took him to her
palace, and in her dream married him, and entered with him the bridal
chamber. And at that moment the night came to an end, and an attendant
in her room woke her up. Then she banished that servant in her anger,
and thinking upon that dear one, whom she had seen in her dream,
seeing no way of escape owing to the blazing fire of separation,
utterly overpowered by love, she never rose from her couch except
to fall back upon it again with relaxed limbs. She was dumb, as if
possessed by a demon, as if stunned by a blow, [788] for when her
attendants questioned her, she gave them no answer.
"Then her father and mother came to hear of it, and questioned her;
and at last she was, with exceeding difficulty, persuaded to tell them
what happened to her in the dream, by the mouth of a confidential
female friend. Then her father comforted her, but she made a solemn
vow that, if she did not obtain her beloved in six months, she would
enter the fire. And already five months are past; who knows what will
become of her? This is the story that I heard about her in that city."
When Sanvarasiddhi had told this story, which tallied so well with
the king's own dream, the king was pleased at knowing the certainty
of the matter, and Bhadráyudha said to him, "The business is as
good as effected, for that king and his country own your paramount
supremacy. So let us go there before the sixth month has passed
away." When the warder had said this, king Vikramáditya made him inform
Sanvarasiddhi of all the circumstances connected with the matter, and
honoured him with a present of much wealth, and bade him shew him the
way, and then he seemed to bequeath his own burning heat to the rays
of the sun, his paleness to the clouds, and his thinness to the waters
of the rivers, [789] and having become free from sorrow, set out at
once, escorted by a small force, for the dwelling-place of his beloved.
In course of time, as he advanced, he crossed the sea, and reached
that city, and there he saw the people in front of it engaged in loud
lamentation, and when he questioned them, he received this answer,
"The princess Malayavatí here, as the period of six months is at
an end, and she has not obtained her beloved, is preparing to enter
the fire." Then the king went to the place where the pyre had been
made ready.
"When the people saw him, they made way for him, and then the princess
beheld that unexpected nectar-rain to her eyes. And she said to her
ladies-in-waiting, "Here is that beloved come who married me in a
dream, so tell my father quickly." They went and told this to her
father, and then that king, delivered from his grief, and filled
with joy, submissively approached the sovereign. At that moment the
bard Sanvarasiddhi, who knew his time, lifted up his arm, and chanted
aloud this strain, "Hail thou that with the flame of thy valour hast
consumed the forest of the army of demons and Mlechchhas! Hail king,
lord of the seven-sea-girt earth-bride! Hail thou that hast imposed
thy exceedingly heavy yoke on the bowed heads of all kings, conquered
by thee! Hail, Vishamasíla, hail Vikramáditya, ocean of valour!"
When the bard said this, king Malayasinha knew that it was Vikramáditya
himself that had come, and embraced his feet. [790] And after he
had welcomed him, he entered his palace with him, and his daughter
Malayavatí, thus delivered from death. And that king gave that daughter
of his to king Vikramáditya, thinking himself fortunate in having
obtained such a son-in-law. And king Vikramáditya, when he saw in his
arms, in flesh and blood, that Malayavatí, whom he had previously seen
in a picture and in a dream, considered it a wonderful fruit of the
wishing-tree of Siva's favour. Then Vikramáditya took with him his
wife Malayavatí, like an incarnation of bliss, and crossed the sea
resembling his long regretful [791] separation, and being submissively
waited upon at every step by kings, with various presents in their
hands, returned to his own city Ujjayiní. And on beholding there that
might of his, that satisfied [792] freely every kind of curiosity,
what people were not astonished, what people did not rejoice, what
people did not make high festival?
CHAPTER CXXIII.
Then, once on a time, in the course of conversation, one of
Vikramáditya's queens, called Kalingasená, said to her rival queens,
"What the king did for the sake of Malayavatí was not wonderful, for
this king Vishamasíla has ever been famous on the earth for such like
acts. Was not I swooped down on by him and married by force, after he
had seen a carved likeness of me and been overcome by love? On this
account the kárpatika [793] Devasena told me a story: that story I
will proceed to tell you; listen."
"I was very much vexed, and exclaimed 'How can the king be said to
have married me lawfully?' Then the kárpatika said to me, 'Do not
be angry, queen, for the king married you in eager haste out of a
violent passion for you; hear the whole story from the beginning.'"
Story of Kalingasená's marriage
Once on a time, when I was serving your husband as a kárpatika, I saw a
great boar far away in the wood. Its mouth was formidable with tusks,
its colour was black as a Tamála tree, it looked like an incarnation
of the black fortnight devouring the digits of the moon. And I came,
queen, and informed the king of it, describing it to him as I have
done to you. And the king went out to hunt, attracted by his love for
the sport. And when he reached the wood, and was dealing death among
the tigers and deer, he saw in the distance that boar of which I had
informed him. And when he saw that wonderful boar, he came to the
conclusion that some being had assumed that form with an object, and
he ascended his horse called Ratnákara, the progeny of Ucchaihsravas.
For every day at noon, the sun waits a brief space in the sky, and
then his charioteer the dawn lets the horses loose, that they may
bathe and feed: and one day Uchchhaihsravas, having been unyoked from
the chariot of the sun, approached a mare of the king's, that he saw
in the forest, and begot that horse. [794]
So the king mounted that swift horse, and quickly pursued that boar,
that fled to a very remote [795] part of the forest. Then that boar
escaped somewhere from his view, being swifter even than that horse
that had Uchchhaihsravas for a sire. Then the king, not having caught
him, and seeing that I alone had followed him, while he had left
the rest of his suite far behind, asked me this question, "Do you
know how much ground we have traversed to get to this place?" When
I heard that, queen, I made the king this answer, "My lord, we have
come three hundred yojanas." Then the king being astonished said,
"Then how have you managed to come so far on foot?" When he asked me
this question, I answered, "King, I have an ointment for the feet;
hear the way in which I acquired it."
How Devasena obtained the magic ointment.
Long ago, on account of the loss of my wife, I went forth to make
a pilgrimage to all the holy bathing places, and in the course of
my journey I came one evening to a temple with a garden. And I went
in there to pass the night, and I saw inside a woman, and I remained
there hospitably welcomed by her. And during the course of the night
she elevated one lip to heaven, resting the other on the earth, and
with expanded jaws said to me, "Have you seen before anywhere such a
mouth as this?" Then I fearlessly drew my dagger with a frown, and said
to her, "Have you seen such a man as this?" Then she assumed a gentle
appearance without any horrible distortion of shape, and said to me,
"I am a Yakshí, Vandhyá by name, and I am pleased with your courage;
so now tell me what I can do to gratify you."
When the Yakshiní said this, I answered her, "If you are really
pleased with me, then enable me to go round to all the holy waters
without any suffering." When the Yakshí heard this, she gave me an
ointment for my feet; [796] by means of it I travelled to all the
holy bathing-places, and I have been able to run behind you now so
far as this place. And by its aid I come to this wood here every day,
and eat fruits, and then return to Ujjayiní and attend upon you.
When I told that tale to the king, I saw by his pleased face that
he thought in his heart that I was a follower well-suited to him. I
again said to him, "King, I will bring you here some very sweet
fruits, if you will be pleased to eat them." The king said to me,
"I will not eat; I do not require anything; but do you eat something,
as you are exhausted." Then I got hold of a gourd and ate it, and no
sooner had I eaten it, than it turned me into a python.
But king Vishamasíla, when he saw me suddenly turn into a python,
was astonished and despondent. So, being there alone, he called to
mind the Vetála Bhútaketu, whom he had long ago made his servant, by
delivering him with a look from a disease of the eyes. That Vetála
came, as soon as the king called him to mind, and bowing before
him said, "Why did you call me to mind, great king? Give me your
orders." Then the king said, "Good sir, this my kárpatika has been
suddenly turned into a python by eating a gourd; restore him to his
former condition." But the Vetála said, "King, I have not the power
to do this. Powers are strictly limited: can water quench the flame
of lightning?" Then the king said, "Then let us go to this village, my
friend. We may eventually hear of some remedy from the Bhillas there."
When the king had come to this conclusion, he went to that village
with the Vetála. There the bandits surrounded him, seeing that he wore
ornaments. But when they began to rain arrows upon him, the Vetála,
by the order of the king, devoured five hundred of them. The rest
fled and told their chief what had occurred, and he, whose name was
Ekákikesarin, came there in wrath, with his host. But one of his
servants recognised the monarch, and the chief hearing from him
who it was, came and clung to Vikramáditya's feet, and announced
himself. Then the king welcomed kindly the submissive chief, and
asked after his health, and said to him, "My kárpatika has become a
python by eating the fruit of a gourd in the forest; so devise some
plan for releasing him from his transformation."
When that chief heard this speech of the king's, he said to him,
"King, let this follower of yours shew him to my son here." Then that
son of his came with the Vetála, and made me a man as before by means
of a sternutatory made of the extract of a plant. And then we went
joyful into tho presence of the king; and when I bent at the feet of
the king, the king informed the delighted chief who I was.
Then the Bhilla chief Ekákikesarin, after obtaining the king's consent,
conducted him and us to his palace. And we beheld that dwelling of
his, crowded with Savaras, having its high walls covered with the
tusks of elephants, adorned with tiger-skins; in which the women
had for garments the tails of peacocks, for necklaces strings of
gunjá-fruit, and for perfume the ichor that flows from the foreheads of
elephants. There the wife of the chief, having her garments perfumed
with musk, adorned with pearls and such like ornaments, herself waited
on the king.
Then the king, having bathed and taken a meal, observed that the