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The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story

active 11th century Somadeva Bhatta

No. 1882 the line begins with atra, in the other two with tatra: I have given what I believe to be the sense taking trishá as the instrumental. Sránta appears to be sometimes used for Sánta. The Sanskrit College MS. reads tatra sántam jalatrishá tasya pítámbhaso vane. This exactly fits in with my rendering. [537] I delete the stop at the end of the 100th sloka. All the India Office MSS. read kritásvásá, and so does the Sanskrit College MS., but kritásá sá makes sense. [538] A single braid of hair worn by a woman as a mark of mourning for an absent husband. Monier Williams s. v. ekaveni. [539] MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2166 read na cha for mayi; "and did not practise cruelties;" No. 3003 has mayí. The Sanskrit College MS. has mama krauryánnyavartatá (sic). [540] I read tatrásya tatpradhánágre dosham sirasi pátaya. The three India Office MSS. give tatrásya; No. 1882 has prasádágre and dháraya; No. 3003 pradhánágre and dháraya; No. 2166 pradhánágre and pátaya. The Sanskrit College MS. agrees with Brockhaus's text. [541] Dr. Kern would read na cha for vata. Righteous kings and judges see no difference between a feeble and powerful person, between a stranger and a kinsman. But the three India Office MSS. read vata. So does the MS. which the Principal of the Sanskrit College, Pandit Mahesa Chandra Nyáyaratna, has kindly lent me. [542] The Petersburg lexicographers are of opinion that risad should be tasad or tasad. Two of the India Office MSS. seem to read tasad. [543] See Vol. I, pp. 136 and 142. [544] Here two of the India Office MSS. read mámsopadamsam, the third mámsopadesam. [545] Dr. Kern reads tena for yena. His conjecture is confirmed by the three India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. [546] I have adopted Dr. Kern's conjecture of saha for sahi and separated with him abhyudayáyate into two words, abhyudayáya te. I find that his conjecture as to saha is confirmed by the three India Office MSS. [547] Probably devanirmitah should be one word. [548] See Vol. I, p. 405. [549] In Sanskrit Siddhakshetra. [550] Perhaps we may compare Vergil Georgics, I, 487, and Horace, Od. I, 34, 5; and Vergil Aeneid VII, 141, with the passages there quoted by Forbiger. But MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2166 read udbhúta. [551] It is clear that the goddess did not herself appear, so trinetrá is not a proper name, unless we translate the passage "armed with the trident of Gaurí." [552] Compare Webster's play, The Duchess of Malfy, where the Duchess says What witchcraft doth he practise, that he hath left A dead man's hand here? [553] I read antargriham as one word. [554] In the above wild story the hero has to endure the assaults of the witches on three successive nights. So in the story of the Headless Princess (Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 271) the priest's son has to read the psalter over the dead princess three nights running. He is hardest pressed on the last night; and on each occasion at day-break the "devilry vanished." In the same way in The Soldier's Midnight Watch (ib. p. 274) the soldier has three nights of increasing severity. So in Southey's Old Woman of Berkeley, the assaults continue for three nights, and on the third are successful. [555] Kuhn in his Westfälische Sagen, Vol. II, p. 29, gives a long list of herbs that protect men from witches. The earliest instance in literature is perhaps that Moly, "That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave." See also Bartsch, Sagen aus Meklenburg, Vol. II, p. 37. [556] See Vol. I, pp. 224 and 576, and p. 268 of the present volume. To the parallels quoted by Ralston may be added, Prym and Socin's Syrische Sagen, p. 116; Bernhard Schmidt's Griechische Märchen, p. 94; and Coelho's Contos Portuguezes, p. 63. [557] Cp. Hagen's Helden-Sagen, Vol. II, pp. 341, 342. Here Hagen steals the clothes of some Meerweiber, who were bathing in the Danube; in this way he induces the elder of the two to prophesy the fate of himself and his companions at the court of Attila. In the Russian story of Vasilissa the Wise (Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 126,) the hero steals Vasilissa's shift. She promises to do him good service if he gives it back, which he does. She turned into a spoonbill and flew away after her companions. (See Ralston's remarks on p. 120.) We find the incident of stealing the robes of bathing nymphs in Prym and Socin's Syrische Sagen und Märchen, p. 116; in Waldau's Böhmische Märchen, p. 250; Veckenstedt's Wendische Märchen, pp. 119-130; Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, Part I, p. 31, (with Köhler's notes). In the above tales the dress stolen is what our great folk-lore authority terms a "plumage-robe." The Nereids in modern Greek stories are swan-maidens; see Bernhard Schmidt's Griechische Märchen und Sagen, p. 134. The subject of Swan Maidens is thoroughly worked out by Baring Gould in his Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, New edition, pp. 561-578. See also Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, pp. 263 and ff. He expresses his firm conviction that tales of this kind will be found in Indian collections. [558] Or possibly, "clothed in moisture." [559] The three India Office MSS. read samstavád. [560] Cp. Vol. I, p. 250; and for what follows p. 230 of the same volume. [561] Cp. p. 8 of this volume and the note there. In Sagas from the Far East there is a story of a gold-spitting prince. In Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, Quaddaruni's sister drops pearls and precious stones from her hair whenever she combs it. Dr. Köhler in his note on this tale gives many European parallels. In a Swedish story a gold ring falls from the heroine's mouth whenever she speaks, and in a Norwegian story gold coins. I may add to the parallels quoted by Dr. Köhler, No. 36 in Coelho's Contos Portuguezes, in which tale pearls drop from the heroine's mouth. [562] All the India Office MSS. read 'dyápi for yo 'pi and two seem to read ápátane. I find ápatana in the Petersburg lexicon, but not ápátana. I have translated the passage loosely so as to make a good sense. The Sanskrit College MS. gives a reading which exactly suits my translation; Sachandrárdhah Sivo 'dyápi Harir yas cha sakaustubhah Tattayorvedmi kuttanyá gochar ápatane phalam. [563] More literally "smeared with blood and relishing it." Böhtlingk and Roth seem to think rasat refers to some noise made by the swords. [564] All the India Office MSS. read bhitam for the bhímam of Brockhaus's text. [565] The word means "having sands of gold." [566] The word asmábhir has been omitted in Brockhaus's text. It follows panchabhir in the three India Office MSS. and in the Sanskrit College MS. [567] Two of the India Office MSS. have bháraníyam. In the third the passage is omitted. But the text of Brockhaus gives a good sense. [568] I read prashthás which I find in two of the India Office MSS. No. 1882 has prasthás. [569] An epithet of Siva. [570] See Vol. I, pp. 153 and 575. Cf. also the story of Aschenkatze in the Pentamerone of Basile, Vol. I, p. 83; the Dummedhajátaka, Ed. Fausböll, Vol. I, p. 259; Preller, Römische Mythologie, p. 96; Kuhn, Westfälische Sagen, Vol. I, pp. 241, 242, 244, 245; Ovid's Metamorphoses VIII, 722-724, and 743 and ff; and Ralston's Tibetan Tales, Introduction, p. lii. [571] The Sanskrit College MS. has Ratyá. [572] The seven jewels of the Chakravartin are often mentioned in Buddhist works. In the Mahávastu, p. 108 (Ed. Senart) they are, chariot, elephant, horse, wife, householder, general. In a legend quoted by Burnouf (Introduction a l'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien, p. 343) the same six are enumerated as "les sept joyaux." In both cases the sword is omitted. They are also described in the Mahá-Sudassana-Sutta translated by Rhys Davids in the eleventh volume of the Sacred Books of the East Series. [573] For átmasamarddhiná the India Office MS. No. 1882 has átmasamriddhiná; No. 2166 has samashtiná, and No. 3003 agrees with Brockhaus's text. So does the Sanskrit College MS. [574] We have often had occasion to remark that the Hindu poets conceive of glory as white. [575] See Sir Thomas Browne's Vulgar Errors, Book III, Chap. 7, Heliodorus, Æthiopica, III, 8. [576] One of the Saktis. [577] Two of the India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. read cha cháránám for sadáránám. This would mean, I suppose, that the cave might be passed by all the scouts and ambassadors of the Vidyádharas. [578] Or possibly "Ganas (Siva's attendants) and witches." [579] Dhúmasikha, literally the smoke-crested, means fire. [580] I read saptvá which I find in MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2196, the other has sasvá. I also find cakravartibalád in No. 1882, (with a short i,) and this reading I have adopted. The Sanskrit College MS. seems to have saptvá. In sl. 119 I think we ought to delete the h in Sangrámah. In 121 the apostrophe before gra-bhásvarah is useless and misleading. In 122 yad should be separated from vismayam. [581] Cp. Vol. I, p. 313. [582] All the India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. read chakravarti with a short i. [583] The India Office MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2166 and the Sanskrit College MS. read táratúryam. It makes the construction clearer, but no material difference in the sense. [584] Or adorned with Vishnu's Lakshmí. Here we have a pun, as she sprang from the sea. [585] Herein he shewed himself wiser than king Mándhátar the hero of the first tale in Ralston's Tibetan tales. He connects it with No. 19 in Grimm's collection, and many other European stories. It is probable that the story of Naraváhanadatta's conquests is only another form of the tale of Mándhátar. [586] Of course in the original the word expresses the idea of sprinkling with water. [587] It may possibly mean, "land of the Siddhas". In Chapter 107 the Siddhas are mentioned as directing Naraváhanadatta's devotions on their holy mountain. [588] See Vol. I, p 305. [589] I read vairamalam. The reading in Brockhaus's text is a misprint. [590] Cp. Holinshed's account of Richard II's coronation. "The Archbishop, having stripped him, first anointed his hands, after his head, breast, shoulders, and the joints of his arms, with the sacred oil, saying certain prayers, and in the meanwhile did the choir sing the anthem, beginning 'Unxerunt regem Salomonem.' The above quotation comes from the Clarendon Press Edition of King Richard II, p. 137, sub calcem. [591] I read vritam which appears to be the reading of the three India Office MSS. and of the Sanskrit College MS. It is clear enough in No. 2166. In sloka 85 I think that the reading of MS. No. 3003 náarityatkevalam yávad vátoddhútalatá api must be something near the truth, as yával in Brockhaus's text gives no meaning. (The Sanskrit College MS. gives Anrityannaiva vátena dhutá yával latá api.) Of course the plural must be substituted for the singular. I have translated accordingly. Two MSS. have valgad for vallad in sl. 87. [592] Two of the India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. read ásádya; the line appears to be omitted in the third. [593] An allusion to the sprinkling at his coronation. The king "put him on his lap." [594] I read drishtvá prabhuprasádáptadiryatván which I find in two of the India Office MSS. No 3003 has prata for prabhu. [595] All the India Office MSS. read sangamahotsave. The Sanskrit College MS. reads bandhúnám sangamotsave. [596] Here Brockhaus supposes a lacuna. [597] Literally "ground." No doubt they squatted on the ground at the feast as well as at the banquet; which preceded it, instead of following it, as in the days of Shakespeare. [598] The king of Vatsa feels like Ulysses in the island of Calypso. [599] A bhára is 20 tulás. [600] There is a play on words here. Sanskrit poets suppose that joy