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

active 11th century Somadeva Bhatta

produces in human beings, trembling, horripilation, and perspiration. [601] For anyonyasya the three India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. read anyasyástám, which means, "Not to speak of other beings, even animals &c." [602] This is only another form of the story on page 105 of Vol. I. [603] Cp. Hamlet Act V, Sc. II, 1. 223; Julius Cæsar Act V, Sc. I, 1 71 and ff. [604] See Vol. I, p. 441. Dante seems to have considered that dreams immediately before morning were true. See Inferno, XXVI, 7; and Purgatorio, IX, 13-18. Fraticelli quotes from Horace-- Quirinus Post mediam noctem visus cum somnia vera. [605] I read pársvasthitam for pársvastham. The former is found in the three India Office MSS. and in the Sanskrit College MS. [606] The word, which means "wrinkles," also means "strong." [607] The three India Office MSS. read kritvaiva for kritveva. [608] Asitagiri. [609] This passage is full of lurking puns. It may mean "full of world-upholding kings of the snakes, and of many Kapilas." [610] For supád No 1182 reads pumán and No. 2166 sumán. [611] Two of the India Office MSS. have sunámávantivaráhanah in sl. 13. In the third there is a lacuna. [612] In Sanskrit the moon is masculine and the night feminine. [613] This story is found in Vol. I, pp. 69-71; where see notes. Some additional notes will be found on p. 572 of the same volume. Cp. also Schöppner, Sagen der Bayerischen Lande, Vol. I, p. 258. [614] So, in this story of Ohimé, No. 23, in Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, Maruzza says to Ohimé, "Tell me, dear master, if by ill luck any one wished to kill you, how ought he to set about it?" The Indian story is much less clumsy than the Sicilian, which is, no doubt, derived from it. [615] The moon hates the kamala and loves the kumuda. [616] I read stimitasthiteh which I find in MS. No. 2166, and in the Sanskrit College MS. [617] Cp. Vol. I, p. 328 and ff. The story in the Gesta Romanorum to which reference is there made, bears a close resemblance to the present story; but in the present case it appears as if beauty had more to do with fascinating the elephant than modesty. [618] The Petersburg lexicographers explain this as a Chandála, a man of the lowest rank, a kind of Kiráta. [619] The word "good" is used in a sense approximating to that in which it is used by Theognis, and the patricians in Coriolanus. [620] I read antyajám which I find in two of the Indian Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. In No. 3003 there is, apparently, a lacuna. [621] Cp. the Sigálujátaka, Fausböll, Vol. II, p. 5. A barber's son dies of love for a Lichchhavi maiden. The Buddha then tells the story of a jackal whose love for a lioness cost him his life. [622] Compare the story of the birth of Servius Tullius, as told by Ovid. The following are Ovid's lines: Namque pater Tulli Vulcanus, Ocresia mater Præsignis facie Corniculana fuit. Hanc secum Tanaquil sacris de more peractis Jussit in ornatum fundere vina focum. Hic inter cineres obscæni forma virilis Aut fuit aut visa est, sed fuit illa magis. Jussa loco captiva sedet. Conceptus ab illa Servius a cælo semina gentis habet. [623] All the India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. read kridyán "delicious fish." [624] See Vol. I, p. 241. [625] See Vol. I, p. 98. In sloka 143 the India Office MSS. Nos. 2166 and 1882 and the Sanskrit College MS give pramayát for prabhayá. I suppose it means "from dying in that holy place." [626] This is another version of the story which begins on page 297 of this volume. I have not omitted it, as my object is to reproduce the original faithfully, with the exception of a few passages repugnant to modern European taste. In the same way in Játaka No. 318, beginning on page 58 of Fausböll's third Volume, a lady falls in love with a criminal who is being led to execution. [627] I read iva serana: I suppose serana comes from si. Dr. Kern would read ahrasva-sana: (the former word hesitatingly). But iva is required. Prerana would make a kind of sense. See Taranga 48, sl. 26, a. The sloka is omitted in all the three India Office MSS. and in the Sanskrit College MS. [628] The Petersburg lexicographers translate durbharah by Schwer beladen. I think it means that the supposed thief had many costly vices, which he could not gratify without stealing. Of course it applies to the king in a milder sense. [629] In the realms below the earth. [630] I read after Dr. Kern visvastaghátakah a slayer of those who confide in him. I also read kvási for kvápi; as the three India Office MSS. give kvási. [631] The three India Office MSS. give tu for tam. [632] I take sakáranam as one word. [633] See Vol. I, p. 174, and ff. and Vol. II, p. 307, and ff. [634] The Petersburg lexicographers spell the word Sibi. This story is really the same as the XVIth of Ralston's Tibetan Tales which begins on page 257. Dr. Kern points out that we ought to read dugdhábdinirmalá. The India Office MSS. give the words correctly. This story is also found in the Chariyá Pitaka. See Oldenberg's Buddha, p. 302. [635] The word saumya means "pleasing" and also "moon-like"; kalá in the next line means "digit of the moon" and also "accomplishment." [636] I read satráni or sattráni for pátráni which would mean "fit recipients." I find sattráni in MS. No. 1882. [637] A perpetually recurring pun! Guna in Sanskrit means "bowstring" and also "virtue," and is an unfailing source of temptation to our author. [638] This story was evidently composed at a time when the recollections of the old clan-system were vivid in the minds of the Hindus. See Rhys David's Buddhism, p. 28. Gautama's relations "complained in a body to the Rájá Suddhodana that his son, devoted to home pleasures, neglected those manly exercises necessary for one who might hereafter have to lead his kinsmen in case of war." [639] I read anyánupayoginyá which I find in MS. No. 3003. No. 1882 has anyánupabhoginyá. In the other MS. the passage is omitted. Another syllable is clearly required. The Sanskrit College MS. reads kim chányánupayoginyatra. [640] Cp. Richard II, V. 1. 35. [641] India Office MS. No. 1882 reads nitau; the other two seem to omit the lines altogether. [642] As Anáthapindika gives the Jetavana garden to Buddha in the Bharhut Sculptures; see also p. 329 of this volume. [643] The pun is intelligible enough: dvija means "Bráhman" and also "bird": áságata means "coming from every quarter" and "coming in hope to get something." [644] tat should not be separated from the next word. [645] The three India Office MSS. read apacháram tvam. The Sanskrit College MS. gives apavdram. [646] The metre shows that 'sta is a misprint for 'sita. All the three India Office MSS. read 'sita. So does the Sanskrit College MS. [647] An allusion to the Arddhanárísa form of Siva. [648] Pitámaháh must be a misprint for pitámahah, as is apparent from the India Office MSS. [649] This story is in the original prefaced by "Iti Padmávatí kathá." It continues to the end of the book, but properly speaking, the story of Padmávatí does not commence until chapter 115. [650] There is a reference to the sectaries of Siva in Benares, and the Ganas of Siva on mount Kailása. [651] Here we have a longer form of the story of Brahmadatta found on pp. 12 and 13 of Vol. I. Dr. Rajendralál Mitra informs me that it is also found in a MS. called the Bodhisattva Avadána, one of the Hodgson MSS. [652] i. e., moonlight. [653] There is probably a double meaning. The clouds are compared to the Ganges, and it is obvious that geese would cluster round lotuses. [654] The sárasa is a large crane; the chakraváka the Brahmany duck. [655] i. e., Tárkshyaratna. I have no idea what the jewel is. B. and R. give ein bestimmter dunkelfarbiger Edelstein. In Játaka No. 136 there is a golden goose who had been a Bráhman. He gives his feathers to his daughters to sell, but his wife pulls out all the feathers at once; they become like the feathers of a baka. Afterwards they all grow white. See Rhys David's Buddhist Birth Stories, p. ix, note. In Sloka, 4. 1, I read tadrasád for tatra sadá, with MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2166; No. 3003 has tatrasád. [656] It may possibly mean "acted a love-drama." I cannot find the sense I have assigned to it in any Dictionary. [657] Before anu we should with the India Office MSS. insert tad. Monier Williams explains Brahma-Rákshasa as a "fiend of the Bráhmanical class." [658] It is worth while remarking that all the India Office MSS. here read kshetram which would make Siddhísvara the name of a place here. [659] All the India Office MSS. read gatvá for jnátvá. I have adopted this; and I take tatkóranam adverbially. MS. No. 1882 has gatovijnáta. [660] It appears from the India Office MSS. that dhanaván should be inserted after bráhmano. In sloka 82, the India Office MSS. read chitráyatam which I have adopted. [661] The three India Office MSS. have viteratuh. [662] Dr. Kern would read kshudduhkáváptasamklesau. I find that all the three India Office MSS. confirm his conjecture, so I have adopted it. [663] Cp. Vergil's Aeneid VIII. 172 and ff. [664] All the three India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. read svágra, which I have endeavoured to translate. Perhaps it may mean, "before they took any food themselves." [665] Here the name of a place sacred to Siva. Before we have had it as the god's title. See B. & R. s. v. It means "lord of magic powers." [666] It appears from the India Office MSS. that táv should be inserted after evam. [667] I have adopted the reading andhakáritam which I find in the three India Office MSS. [668] I read nihatasya which I find supported by two of the India Office MSS. No. 1882 has nihitasya, No. 2166 nihatasya and No. 3003 has anihatasya. The Sanskrit College MS. has tihatasya. [669] Perhaps there is a pun here. The word ishta may also mean sacrifice, sacred rite. [670] I. e., Brihaspati. [671] The word for god here is amara, literally immortal. This may remind the classical reader of the passage in the Birds where Iris says all' athanatos eim', and Peisthetærus imperturbably replies, all' homôs an apethanes. [672] I read dattajhampo which I find in MS. No. 3003. The other two have dattajampo. The Sanskrit College MS. has dattajhampo. [673] Cp. Ovid's Metamorphoses, V, 321-331, for the flight of the inhabitants of the Grecian heaven from the giant Typhoeus. [674] All the India Office MSS. read prishtas. [675] All the India Office MSS. read Vidyuddhvajántako. [676] MS. No. 1882 here reads chiraprápyas: the other two agree with Brockhaus. [677] I suspect this island is the same as the Whiteman's land of the Icelandic chronicles. See Baring Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (New Edition) p. 550 and following. [678] A title of Brahmá. See Muir's Sanskrit Texts, Vol. IV, p. 18. [679] For anyonya I read anyánya, but all the MSS. confirm Brockhaus's text. [680] The three India Office MSS. have dasa kalpán. [681] I read cyutam for cyutá. See Taranga 117, sl. 152 and ff. But all the India Office MSS. agree with Brockhaus's text. The tale itself will justify my correction. [682] The word tejasá also means valour. [683] Literally "the nectar-rayed one." [684] Cp. Vol. I, p. 69 and Vol. II, p. 172. also Prym und Socin Syrische Märchen, p. 205, and Silius Italicus I, 430, quoted by Preller, Griechische Mythologie, II, 354. [685] See the note in Vol. I, p. 465, also p. 578, and Zimmer's Alt-Indisches Leben p. 60, Preller, Römische Mythologie, pp. 102