About this book

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

active 11th century Somadeva Bhatta

[770] I read álikhya purusham bhúmau. This is the reading of the Taylor MS. the other has átikhya. The Sanskrit College MS. has álikhya purusham. [771] Both the India Office MSS. in which this passage is found give tatsámantam. So Vikramasakti would himself be a "dependent king." [772] Cp. the story of Sunda and Upasunda, Vol. I, p. 108; and Preller, Griechische Mythologie, Vol. I, p. 81, note 1. [773] For ete manorame No. 3003 and the Sanskrit College MS. have varakáranam; in order that I might find a husband for them. No. 1882 has váranam for kárunam. [774] For Jayanto MSS. Nos. 1882 and 3003 and the Sanskrit College MS. give hevákí, i. e., "full of longing". [775] i. e., conqueror of Indra. [776] It is just possible that sankhyád ought to be sákshád. [777] This expression is very similar to that in Tarnanga 120, sl. 80, b, to which Dr. Kern objects. [778] Dr. Kern would read sammánitavisrishteshu; and this is the reading of the Taylor MS. and of the Sanskrit College MS. No. 3003 has sammánitair. [779] For falling in love with a lady seen in a dream see Vol. I, pp. 276, and 576, and Rohde, Der Griechische Roman, pp. 45, 46 and 49. For falling in love with a lady seen in a picture see Vol. I, p. 490, Rohde, Der Griechische Roman, p. 49, and Coelho's Contos Portuguezes, p. 109. [780] I read aratimán for ratimán in the Sanskrit College MS. The Taylor MS. has sarvatránratimán; the other agrees with Brockhaus. [781] I read pravesyaiva. [782] Compare Ralston's Russian Folk Tales, p. 97; in Waldau's Böhmische Märchen p. 444, there is a beautiful Amazon who fights with the prince on condition that if he is victorious she is to be his prisoner, but if she is victorious, he is to be put to death. Rohde in Der Griechische Roman, p. 148, gives a long list of "coy huntress maids." Spenser's Radigund bears a close resemblance to Malayavatí. [783] Sanskrit matha. [784] The Petersburg lexicographers would read paurastya; and I find this in the Taylor MS. and the Sanskrit College MS. The same MSS. read ambudasyámo for atha durdarsa. The latter word should be spelt durdarsha. [785] I read savirahajválo and sakása in sl. 72. [786] The two India Office MSS., that contain this passage, and the Sanskrit College MS. make the compound end in ravaih, so the command will be given by the cries of the swans. In sl. 71, for grathyantám No. 1882 and the Sanskrit College MS. give budhyantám. In sl. 73 for ákhyátim three MSS. give khyátim. [787] Sanskrit vihára. The tápasí of sl. 39 was therefore a Buddhist. Cp. Vol. I, p. 87. No. 3003 reads viháranirgatá which agrees with sl. 40. No. 1882 has viharanirgatam. The Sanskrit College MS. has viháranirgatam. [788] For gháta No. 1882 has tamah and No. 3003 váta. [789] This probably means that he started in the autumn. [790] No 3003 yathá chitre tathá svapne yathá svapne tathairatám vilokya sákshád; so too No. 1882. The Sanskrit College MS. agrees but omits yathá svapne. [791] The word that means "regret," may also mean "wave." [792] I follow B. and R., Dr. Kern would read sajjíkrita in the sense of "prepared": he takes kautukam in the sense of nuptial ceremonies. No. 1882 (the Taylor MS.) has mantú and No. 2003 has satyí. The Sanskrit College MS supports Brockhaus's text. [793] See Vol. I, pp. 199 and 515; and Vol. II, p. 265. [794] Cp. Iliad V, 265 and ff.; and (still better) Aeneid VII, 280, and ff. [795] Devíyasím is a misprint for davíyasím, as Dr. Kern points out. [796] In European superstition we find the notion that witches can fly through the air by anointing themselves with the fat of a toad. Veckenstedt, Wendische Märchen, p. 288. In Bartsch, Sagen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, we read (Vol. II, p. 19) that Margretha Detloses confesses that she smeared her feet with some black stuff that Satan brought, and then said, Auf und darvan und nergens an. Anneke Mettinges (ibid. p. 23) smeared herself with yellow fat; Anneke Swarten (ibid. p. 27) with black stuff from an unused pot. [797] See page 104 of this volume. An older form of that story is perhaps the Saccamkirajátaka, No. 73, Fausböll, Vol. I, p. 323. Tho present story bears perhaps a closer resemblance to that of Androclus, Aulus Gellius, N. A. V, 14, the Indian form of which may be found in Miss Stokes's tale of "The Man who went to seek his fate." [798] Valí should of course be vallí. [799] Cp. Oesterley's Baitál Pachísí, p. 14; and the note on p. 176. In Aelian's Varia Historia, III, 19, there is a tree, the fruit of which makes an old man become gradually younger and younger until he reaches the antenatal state of non-existence. The passage is referred to by Rohde, Der Griechische Roman, p. 207. Baring Gould, in Appendix A to his Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, gives a very curious passage from the Bragda Mágus Saga, an Icelandic version of the romance of Maugis. Here we have a man named Vidförull who was in the habit of changing his skin and becoming young again. He changed his skin once when he was 330 years old, a second time at the age of 215, and a third time in the presence of Charlemagne. It is quite possible that the story in the text is a form of the fable of the Wandering Jew. [800] I read devakumárau. [801] I. e. Sea of virtues. [802] See Vol. I, p. 207, and Vol. II, p. 224, and Rohde's note on page 196 of Der Griechische Roman. This is probably the incident depicted on the Bharhat Stúpa. See General Cunningham's work, Plate XXXIV, Medallion 2. [803] A certain dark-coloured precious stone. B. and R. s. v. [804] The Petersburg lexicographers explain it as a statue of sála-wood. They explain stambhotkirna too as wie aus einem Pfosten geschnitten, wie eine Statue von Holz. But could not the figures be cut in stone, as the Bharhut sculptures are? [805] See Vol. I, pp. 86 and 573. The parallel to the story of the Wright's Chaste Wife is strikingly close. [806] Dr. Kern would read avidito. This is confirmed by the Sanskrit College MS. and by No. 1882; No. 3003 has avadito. [807] Both the India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. have yásyasi for páyasi. The latter would mean, "Where will you drink." [808] Cp. Vol. II, p. 63. [809] I insert subhagam before khád, from the Sanskrit College MS. [810] Both the India Office MSS read Vakrapura. The Sanskrit College MS. supports Brockhaus's text. [811] No. 1882 and the Sanskrit College MS. give tarhi for tvam hi and priyam for priyah. No 3003 agrees with the above MSS. in the first point and in the second with Brockhaus. [812] I read Pátaliputrakát. [813] The khatvánga, a club shaped like the foot of a bedstead, i. e., a staff with a skull at the top, considered as the weapon of Siva and carried by ascetics and Yogis. For karah the MSS give ravah. This would mean that the ascetic was beating his drum. The word in No. 1882 might be khah but is no doubt meant for ravah. [814] Cp. Vol. II, p. 243. [815] I separate pratijná from siddhim. [816] It is possible that this may be the original of the 4th story in the 10th day of the Decamerone. [817] See Vol. I, p. 212, and Lieutenant Temple's article Lamia in the Antiquary for August, 1882. Terrible man-eating Sirens are described in the Valáhassajátaka to which Dr. Morris called attention in a letter in the Academy. Cp. Schmidt's Griechische Märchen, p. 142. [818] No. 3003 and the Sanskrit College MS. give antahsthena for sambhramayya. No. 1882 has tva-tahsthena; an insect has devoured the intermediate letter. [819] This is substantially the same story as the second in chapter 77. [820] See Vol. I. pp. 465 and 578. [821] Vikrosám is a misprint for vikosám. The latter is found in MS. No. 1882 and the Sanskrit College MS. and, I think, in No. 3003; but the letter is not very well formed. [822] The word badhúns is evidently a misprint for bandhúns: as appears from the MSS. [823] This story is known in Europe, and may perhaps be the original source of Shakespeare's "All's Well that Ends Well." At any rate there is a slight resemblance in the leading idea of the two stories. It bears a close resemblance to the story of Sorfarina, No. 36 in Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, and to that of Sapia in the Pentamerone of Basile. In the Sicilian and in the Neapolitan tale a prince is angry with a young lady who, when teaching him, gave him a box on the ear, and marries her in order to avenge himself by ill-treating her; but finding that he has, without suspecting it, had three children by her, he is obliged to seek a reconciliation. Dr. Köhler in his note on the Sicilian tale gives no other parallel than Basile's tale, which is the 6th of the Vth day, Vol. II, p. 204 of Liebrecht's translation. [824] I think we should read ushne. I believe that Nos. 1882 and 3003 have this, judging from the way in which shn is usually formed in those MSS. [825] Cp. Ralston's Tibetan Tales, p. 89. [826] I read pratyayo na me which I find in the Taylor MS. and which makes sense. I take the words as part of the boy's speech. "It is untrue; I do not believe it." But vakshyasyapratyayena me would also make sense. The Sanskrit College MS. supports Brockhaus's text. [827] In the original there is the following note, "Here ends the tale of King Vikramáditya." [828] Having reached the end of my translation, I am entitled to presume that this epithet refers to the extraordinary length of the Kathá Sarit Ságara.