The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
such as acts of devotion and charity. For the honouring of gods and
Bráhmans is considered the wishing-cow [233] of the good. For what
is not obtained by that? All the other politic expedients, known as
conciliation and so on, are mere adjuncts. [234] But evil actions
are the chief cause of even heavenly beings, born in a very lofty
station, falling from their high estate; as a hurricane is the cause
of the falling of blossoms." When he had said this to the princess,
Vasantaka continued; "Hear moreover what happened to Ahalyá."
Story of Ahalyá.
Once upon a time there was a great hermit named Gautama, who knew the
past, the present, and the future. And he had a wife named Ahalyá,
who in beauty surpassed the nymphs of heaven. One day Indra, in
love with her beauty, tempted her in secret, for the mind of rulers,
blinded with power, runs towards unlawful objects.
And she in her folly encouraged that husband of Sachí, being the slave
of her passions; but the hermit Gautama found out the intrigue by his
superhuman power, and arrived upon the scene. And Indra immediately
assumed, out of fear, the form of a cat. Then Gautama said to Ahalyá;
"Who is here?" She answered her husband ambiguously in the Prákrit
dialect,--"Here forsooth is a cat," so managing to preserve verbal
truth. [235] Then Gautama said, laughing, "It is quite true that your
lover is here,--and he inflicted on her a curse, but ordained that it
should terminate because she had shewed some regard for truth." The
curse ran as follows; "Woman of bad character, take for a long time the
nature of a stone, until thou behold Ráma wandering in the forest." And
Gautama at the same time inflicted on the god Indra the following
curse; "A thousand pictures of that which thou hast desired shall
be upon thy body, but when thou shalt behold Tilottamá, a heavenly
nymph, whom Visvakarman shall make, they shall turn into a thousand
eyes." When he had pronounced this curse, the hermit returned to his
austerities according to his desire, but Ahalyá for her part assumed
the awful condition of a stone. And Indra immediately had his body
covered with repulsive marks; for to whom is not immorality a cause
of humiliation?
"So true is it that every man's evil actions always bear fruit
in himself, for whatever seed a man sows, of that he reaps the
fruit. Therefore persons of noble character never desire that, which
is disagreeable to their neighbours, for this is the invariable
observance of the good, prescribed by divine law. And you two were
sister goddesses in a former birth, but you have been degraded in
consequence of a curse, and accordingly your hearts are free from
strife and bent on doing one another good turns." When they heard
this from Vasantaka, Vásavadattá and Padmávatí dismissed from their
hearts even the smallest remnants of mutual jealousy. But the queen
Vásavadattá made her husband equally the property of both, and acted
as kindly to Padmávatí as if she were herself, desiring her welfare.
When the king of Magadha heard of that so great generosity of hers
from the messengers sent by Padmávatí, he was much pleased. So on the
next day the minister Yaugandharáyana came up to the king of Vatsa
in the presence of the queen, the others also standing by, and said,
"Why do we not go now to Kausámbí, my prince, in order to begin our
enterprise, for we know that there is nothing to be feared from the
king of Magadha, even though he has been deceived? For he has been
completely gained over by means of the negotiation termed 'Giving of a
daughter': and how could he make war and so abandon his daughter whom
he loves more than life? He must keep his word; moreover he has not
been deceived by you; I did it all myself; and it does not displease
him; indeed I have learned from my spies that he will not act in a
hostile way, and it was for this very purpose that we remained here
for these days." While Yaugandharáyana, who had accomplished the task
he had in hand, was speaking thus, a messenger belonging to the king
of Magadha arrived there, and entered into the palace immediately,
being announced by the warder, and after he had done obeisance,
he sat down and said to the king of Vatsa; "The king of Magadha is
delighted with the intelligence sent by the queen Padmávatí, and he
now sends this message to your Highness--'What need is there of many
words? I have heard all, and I am pleased with thee. Therefore do the
thing for the sake of which this beginning has been made; we submit
ourselves.'" The king of Vatsa joyfully received this clear speech of
the messenger's, resembling the blossom of the tree of policy planted
by Yaugandharáyana. Then he brought Padmávatí with the queen, and,
after he had bestowed a present upon the messenger, he dismissed him
with honour. Then a messenger from Chandamahásena also arrived, and,
after entering, he bowed before the king, according to custom, and
said to him, "O king, his majesty Chandamahásena, who understands the
secrets of policy, has learnt the state of thy affairs and delighted
sends this message--'Your majesty's excellence is plainly declared
by this one fact, that you have Yaugandharáyana for your minister,
what need of further speeches? Blessed too is Vásavadattá, who,
through devotion to you, has done a deed which makes us exalt our
head for ever among the good, moreover Padmávatí is not separated
from Vásavadattá in my regard, for they two have one heart; therefore
quickly exert yourself.'"
When the king of Vatsa heard this speech of his father-in-law's
messenger, joy suddenly arose in his heart, and his exceeding warmth
of affection for the queen was increased, and also the great respect
which he felt for his excellent minister. Then the king, together with
the queens, entertained the messenger according to the laws of due
hospitality, in joyful excitement of mind, and sent him away pleased;
and as he was bent on commencing his enterprise, he determined,
after deliberating with his ministers, on returning to Kausámbí.
CHAPTER XVIII.
So on the next day the king of Vatsa set out from Lávánaka for
Kausámbí, accompanied by his wives and his ministers, and as he
advanced, shouts broke forth from his forces, that filled the plains
like the waters of the ocean overflowing out of due time. An image
would be furnished of that king advancing on his mighty elephant,
if the sun were to journey in the heaven accompanied by the eastern
mountain. That king, shaded with his white umbrella, shewed as if
waited upon by the moon, delighted at having outdone the splendour
of the sun. While he towered resplendent above them all, the chiefs
circled around him, like the planets [236] in their orbits around
the polar star. And those queens, mounted on a female elephant that
followed his, shone like the earth-goddess and the goddess of Fortune
accompanying him out of affection in visible shape. The earth, that
lay in his path, dinted with the edges of the hoofs of the troops
of his prancing steeds, seemed to bear the prints of loving nails,
as if it had been enjoyed by the king. In this style progressing,
the king of Vatsa, being continually praised by his minstrels,
reached in a few days the city of Kausámbí, in which the people kept
holiday. The city was resplendent on that occasion, her lord [237]
having returned from sojourning abroad. She was clothed in the red silk
of banners, round windows were her expanded eyes, the full pitchers
in the space in front of the gates were her two swelling breasts, the
joyous shouts of the crowd were her cheerful conversation, and white
palaces her smile. [238] So, accompanied by his two wives, the king
entered the city, and the ladies of the town were much delighted at
beholding him. The heaven was filled with hundreds of faces of fair
ones standing on charming palaces, as if with the soldiers of the
moon [239] that was surpassed in beauty by the faces of the queens,
having come to pay their respects. And other women established at
the windows, looking with unwinking eyes, [240] seemed like heavenly
nymphs in aërial chariots, that had come there out of curiosity. Other
women, with their long-lashed eyes closely applied to the lattice of
the windows, made, so to speak, cages of arrows to confine love. The
eager eye of one woman expanded with desire to behold the king, came,
so to speak, to the side of her ear, [241] that did not perceive
him, in order to inform it. The rapidly heaving breasts of another,
who had run up hastily, seemed to want to leap out of her bodice with
ardour to behold him. The necklace of another lady was broken with her
excitement, and the pearl-beads seemed like tear-drops of joy falling
from her heart. Some women, beholding Vásavadattá and remembering the
former report of her having been burned, said as if with anxiety;
"If the fire were to do her an injury at Lávánaka, then the sun
might as well diffuse over the world darkness which is alien to his
nature." Another lady beholding Padmávatí said to her companion; "I
am glad to see that the queen is not put to shame by her fellow-wife,
who seems like her friend." And others beholding those two queens,
and throwing over them garlands of eyes expanded with joy so as to
resemble blue lotuses, said to one another; "Surely Siva and Vishnu
have not beheld the beauty of these two, otherwise how could they
regard with much respect their consorts Umá and Srí?" In this way
feasting the eyes of the population, the king of Vatsa with the queens
entered his own palace, after performing auspicious ceremonies. Such
as is the splendour of a lotus-pool in windy weather, or of the
sea when the moon is rising, such was at that period the wonderful
splendour of the king's palace. And in a moment it was filled with
the presents, which the feudatories offered to procure good luck,
and which foreshadowed the coming in of offerings from innumerable
kings. And so the king of Vatsa, after honouring the chiefs, entered
with great festivity the inner apartments, at the same time finding
his way to the heart of every one present. And there he remained
between the two queens, like the god of Love between Rati and Príti,
[242] and spent the rest of the day in drinking and other enjoyments.
The next day, when he was sitting in the hall of assembly accompanied
by his ministers, a certain Bráhman came and cried out at the door;
"Protection for the Bráhmans! O king! certain wicked herdsmen have
cut off my son's foot in the forest without any reason." When he
heard that, the king immediately had two or three herdsmen seized and
brought before him, and proceeded to question them. Then they gave the
following answer; "O king, being herdsmen we roam in the wilderness,
and there we have among us a herdsman named Devasena, and he sits in
a certain place in the forest on a stone seat, and says to us 'I am
your king' and gives us orders. And not a man among us disobeys his
orders. Thus, O king, that herdsman rules supreme in the wood. Now
to-day the son of this Bráhman came that way, and did not do obeisance
to the herdsman king, and when we by the order of the king said to
him--'Depart not without doing thy reverence'--the young fellow pushed
us aside, and went off laughing in spite of the admonition. Then the
herdsman king commanded us to punish the contumacious boy by cutting
off his foot. So we, O king, ran after him, and cut off his foot;
what man of our humble degree is able to disobey the command of a
ruler?" When the herdsmen had made this representation to the king, the
wise Yaugandharáyana, after thinking it over, said to him in private;
"Certainly that place must contain treasure, on the strength of which
a mere herdsman has such influence. [243] So let us go there." When