The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
woman like this figure, of what profit to me is my kingdom or my
life?" When the Vetála heard this, he said, "Your wish is not hard to
gratify, for the king of Kalinga has a daughter named Kalingasená, and
a sculptor of Vardhamána seeing her, and being desirous of representing
her beauty, carved this figure in imitation of her. [804] So return
to Ujjayiní, king, and ask that king of Kalinga for his daughter,
or carry her off by force." This speech of the Vetála's the king laid
up in his heart.
Then we spent that night there, and the next morning we set out, and
we saw two handsome men under an asoka-tree, and then they rose up
and bowed before the king. Then the king said to them, "Who are you,
and why are you in the forest?" One of them answered, "Listen, king,
I will tell you the whole story."
Story of Dhanadatta.
I am the son of a merchant in Ujjayiní, and my name is Dhanadatta. Once
on a time I went to sleep with my wife on the top of my palace. In
the morning I woke up and looked about me, and lo! my wife was not
in the palace, nor in the garden attached to it, nor anywhere about
it. I said to myself, "She has not lost her heart to another man; of
that I am convinced by the fact that the garland which she gave me,
telling me that as long as she remained chaste, it would certainly not
fade, is still as fresh as ever. [805] So I cannot think where she
has gone, whether she has been carried off by a demon or some other
evil being, or what has happened to her." With these thoughts in my
mind, I remained looking for her, crying out, lamenting, and weeping;
consumed by the fire of separation from her; taking no food. Then
my relations succeeded at last in consoling me to a certain extent,
and I took food, and I made my abode in a temple, and remained there
plunged in grief, feasting Bráhmans.
Once when I was quite broken down, this Bráhman came to me there,
and I refreshed him with a bath and food, and after he had eaten,
I asked him whence he came, and he said, "I am from a village
near Váránasí." My servants told him my cause of woe, and he said,
"Why have you, like an unenterprising man, allowed your spirits to
sink? The energetic man obtains even that which it is hard to attain;
so rise up my friend, and let us look for your wife; I will help you."
I said, "How are we to look for her, when we do not even know in what
direction she has gone?" When I said this, he answered me kindly,
"Do not say this; did not Kesata long ago recover his wife, when it
seemed hopeless that he should ever be reunited with her? Hear his
story in proof of it."
Story of Kesata and Kandarpa.
There lived in the city of Pátaliputra a wealthy young Bráhman, the son
of a Bráhman; his name was Kesata, and he was in beauty like a second
god of love. He wished to obtain a wife like himself, and so he went
forth secretly [806] from his parents' house, and wandered through
various lands on the pretext of visiting holy bathing-places. And in
the course of his wanderings he came once on a time to the bank of
the Narmadá, and he saw a numerous procession of bridegroom's friends
coming that way. And a distinguished old Bráhman, belonging to that
company, when he saw Kesata in the distance, left his companions,
and coming up to him accosted him, and respectfully said to him in
private, "I have a certain favour to ask of you, and it is one which
you can easily do for me, but the benefit conferred on me will be a
very great one; so, if you will do it, I will proceed to say what it
is." When Kesata heard this, he said, "Noble sir, if what you say is
possible, I must certainly do it: let the benefit be conferred on you."
When the Bráhman heard that, he said, "Listen, my good young
man; I have a son, who is the prince of ugly, as you are of
good-looking, men. He has projecting teeth, a flat nose, a black
colour, squinting eyes, a big belly, crooked feet, and ears like
winnowing baskets. Though he is such, I, out of my love for him,
described him as handsome, and asked a Bráhman, named Ratnadatta,
to give him his daughter, named Rúpavatí, and he has agreed to do
it. The girl is as beautiful as her name expresses, and to-day they
are to be married. For this reason we have come, but I know that,
when that purposed connexion of mine sees my son, he will refuse to
give him his daughter, and this attempt will be fruitless. And while
thinking how I could find some way out of the difficulty, I have met
you here, courteous sir; so quickly perform for me my desire, as you
have pledged your word to do. Come with us, and marry that maiden,
and hand her over to my son to-day, for you are as good-looking as
the bride."
When Kesata heard this, he said, "Agreed," and so the old Bráhman
took Kesata with him, and they crossed the Narmadá in boats and landed
on the opposite bank. And so he reached the city, and rested outside
it with his followers, and at that time the sun also, the traveller
of the sky, went to his rest on the mountain of setting. Then the
darkness began to diffuse itself abroad, and Kesata, having gone
to rinse his mouth, saw a terrible Rákshasa rise up near the water;
and the Rákshasa said, "Where will you go from me, [807] Kesata? I
am about to devour you." Thereupon Kesata said to the Rákshasa,
"Do not devour me now; I will certainly come back to you presently,
when I have done the Bráhman the service I promised." When the Rákshasa
heard this, he made Kesata take an oath to this effect, and then let
him go; and he returned to the company of the bridegroom's friends.
Then the old Bráhman brought Kesata adorned with the ornaments
of a bridegroom, and entered that city with all the bridegroom's
party. And then he made him enter the house of Ratnadatta, in which an
altar-platform was ready prepared, and which was made to resound with
the music of various instruments. And Kesata married there with all
due ceremonies that fair-faced maiden Rúpavatí, to whom her father
gave great wealth. And the women there rejoiced, seeing that the
bride and bridegroom were well-matched; and not only Rúpavatí, when
she saw that such a bridegroom had arrived, but her friends also,
fell in love with him. But Kesata at that time was overpowered with
despondency and astonishment.
And at night Rúpavatí seeing that her husband, as he lay on the bed,
was plunged in thought, and kept his head turned away, pretended to be
asleep. And in the dead of night Kesata, thinking that she was asleep,
went out to that Rákshasa to keep his promise. And that faithful wife
Rúpavatí also gently rose up unobserved, and followed her husband,
full of curiosity. And when Kesata arrived where the Rákshasa was,
the latter said to him, "Bravo! you have kept your promise faithfully,
Kesata; you are a man of noble character. You sanctify your city
of Pátaliputra and your father Desata by your virtue, so approach,
that I may devour you." When Rúpavatí heard that, she came up quickly
and said, "Eat me, for, if my husband is eaten, what will become of
me?" The Rákshasa said, "You can live on alms." She replied, "Who,
noble sir, will give alms to me who am a woman?" The Rákshasa said,
"If any one refuses to give you alms, when asked to do so, his head
shall split in a hundred pieces." [808] Then she said, "This being so,
give me my husband by way of alms." And, as the Rákshasa would not
give him, his head at once split asunder, and he died. Then Rúpavatí
returned to her bridal-chamber, with her husband, who was exceedingly
astonished at her virtue, and at that moment the night came to an end.
And the next morning the bridegroom's friends took food and set out
from that city, and reached the bank of the Narmadá with the newly
married pair. Then the old Bráhman, who was their leader, put the wife
Rúpavatí with her attendants on board one boat, and went on board a
second himself, and cunningly made Kesata embark on a third, having
previously made an agreement with the boatmen; and before he went
on board took from him all the ornaments he had lent him. Then the
Bráhman was ferried across with the wife and the bridegroom's party,
but Kesata was kept out in the middle of the stream by the boatmen,
and carried to a great distance. Then those boatmen pushed the boat
and Kesata into a place where the current ran full and strong, and
swam ashore themselves, having been bribed by the old Bráhman.
But Kesata was carried with the boat, by the river which was lashed
into waves by the wind, into the sea, and at last a wave flung him up
on the coast. There he recovered strength and spirits, as he was not
doomed to die just yet, and he said to himself, "Well, that Bráhman
has made me a fine recompense. But was not the fact that he married
his son by means of a substitute, in itself sufficient proof that he
was a fool and a scoundrel?"
While he remained there, buried in such thoughts, the night came on
him, when the companies of air-flying witches begin to roam about. He
remained sleepless through it, and in the fourth watch he heard a
noise in the sky, and saw a handsome [809] man fall from heaven in
front of him. Kesata was terrified at first, but after some time
he saw that he had nothing uncanny about him, so he said to him,
"Who are you, Sir?" Then the man said, "First tell me who you are;
and then I will tell you who I am." Hearing that, Kesata told him
his history. Then the man said, "My friend, you are exactly in the
same predicament as myself, so I will now tell you my history, listen.
"There is on the bank of the river Vená a city named Ratnapura;
I am a Bráhman householder in that city, the son of a rich man,
and my name is Kandarpa. One evening I went down to the river Vená
to draw water, and I slipped and fell into it, and was carried away
by the current. The current carried me a long way during that night,
and when the morning came, as I was not doomed to die yet, it brought
me to the foot of a tree that grew on the bank. I climbed up the bank
by the help of the tree, and when I had recovered breath, I saw in
front of me a great empty temple dedicated to the Mothers. I entered
it, and when I saw before me the Mothers flashing, as it were, with
brightness and power, my fear was allayed, and I bowed before them,
and praised them and addressed this prayer to them, 'Venerable ones,
deliver me a miserable man; for I have to-day come here as a suppliant
for your protection.' When I had uttered this prayer, being exhausted
with my struggles in the current of the river, I rested, my friend,
till my fatigue gradually disappeared, and the day disappeared
also. And then there appeared the horrible female ascetic called
night, furnished with many stars by way of a bone-necklace, white with
moonlight instead of ashes, and carrying the moon for a gleaming seull.
"And then, I remember, a band of witches came out from the company
of the Mothers, and they said to one another, 'To night we must go
to the general assembly of the witches in Chakrapura, [810] and how
can this Bráhman be kept safe in this place which is full of wild
beasts? So let us take him to some place where he will be happy:
and afterwards we will bring him back again; he has fled to us for
protection.' When they had said this, they adorned me, and carrying
me through the air, placed me in the house of a rich Bráhman in a
certain city, and went away.
"And when I looked about me there, lo! the altar was prepared for
a marriage, and the auspicious hour had arrived, but the procession
of bridegroom's friends was nowhere to be seen. And all the people,
seeing me in front of the door arrayed in bridegroom's garments
of heavenly splendour, said, 'Here is the bridegroom at any rate
arrived.' Then the Bráhman of the house took me to the altar, and