The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
elsewhere; then I brought that wealth and presented it to a Bráhman. If
the gold is not real gold, and the jewels are not real jewels, then let
us suppose that I have reaped fruit from giving away brass, quartz,
and glass. But the fact that I was persuaded with sincere heart that
I was giving something, is clear from this, that I recovered from a
very dangerous illness." When Mádhava said this to him without any
alteration in the expression of his face, the king laughed and all
his ministers, and they were highly delighted. And those present in
court said, laughing in their sleeves, "Neither Mádhava nor Siva has
done anything unfair." Thereupon that chaplain departed with downcast
countenance, having lost his wealth. For of what calamities is not the
blinding of the mind with excessive greed the cause? And so those two
rogues Siva and Mádhava long remained there, happy in having obtained
the favour of the delighted king.
"Thus do rogues spread the webs of their tongue with hundreds of
intricate threads, like fishermen upon dry land, living by the net. So
you may be certain, my father, that this Bráhman is a case in point. By
falsely asserting that he has seen the City of Gold, he wishes to
deceive you, and to obtain me for a wife. So do not be in a hurry
to get me married; I shall remain unmarried at present, and we will
see what will happen." When the king Paropakárin heard this from his
daughter Kanakarekhá, he thus answered her: "When a girl is grown up,
it is not expedient that she should remain long unmarried, for wicked
people envious of good qualities, falsely impute sin. And people are
particularly fond of blackening the character of one distinguished;
to illustrate this, listen to the story of Harasvámin which I am
about to tell you."
Story of Harasvámin. [385]
There is a city on the banks of the Ganges named Kusumapura,
[386] and in it there was an ascetic who visited holy places, named
Harasvámin. He was a Bráhman living by begging; and constructing a hut
on the banks of the Ganges, he became, on account of his surprisingly
rigid asceticism, the object of the people's respect. [387] And one day
a wicked man among the inhabitants, who could not tolerate his virtue,
seeing him from a distance going out to beg, said, "Do you know what
a hypocritical ascetic that is? It is he that has eaten up all the
children in this town." When a second there who was like him, heard
this, he said, "It is true, I also have heard people saying this." And
a third confirming it said, "Such is the fact." The chain of villains'
conversation binds reproach on the good. And in this way the report
spread from ear to ear, and gained general credence in the city. And
all the citizens kept their children by force in their houses, saying,
"Harasvámin carries off all the children and eats them." And then the
Bráhmans in that town, afraid that their offspring would be destroyed,
assembled and deliberated about his banishment from the city. And
as they did not dare to tell him face to face, for fear he might
perhaps eat them up in his rage, they sent messengers to him. And
those messengers went and said to him from a distance; "The Bráhmans
command you to depart from this city." Then in his astonishment he
asked them "Why?" And they went on to say; "You eat every child as
soon as you see it." When Harasvámin heard that, he went near those
Bráhmans, in order to reassure them, and the people fled before him
for fear. And the Bráhmans, as soon as they saw him, were terrified
and went up to the top of their monastery. People who are deluded by
reports are not, as a rule, capable of discrimination. Then Harasvámin
standing below called all the Bráhmans who were above, one by one,
by name, and said to them, "What delusion is this, Bráhmans? Why do
you not ascertain with one another how many children I have eaten,
and whose, and how many of each man's children." When they heard that,
the Bráhmans began to compare notes among themselves, and found that
all of them had all their children left alive. And in course of time
other citizens, appointed to investigate the matter, admitted that all
their children were living. And merchants and Bráhmans and all said,
"Alas in our folly we have belied a holy man; the children of all
of us are alive; so whose children can he have eaten?" Harasvámin,
being thus completely exonerated, prepared to leave that city, for his
mind was seized with disgust at the slanderous report got up against
him by wicked men. For what pleasure can a wise man take in a wicked
place, the inhabitants of which are wanting in discrimination? Then
the Bráhmans and merchants, prostrating themselves at his feet,
entreated him to stay there, and he at last, though with reluctance,
consented to do so.
"In this way evil men often impute crime falsely to good men,
allowing their malicious garrulity full play on beholding their
virtuous behaviour. Much more, if they obtain a slight glimpse of
any opportunity for attacking them, do they pour copious showers of
oil on the fire thus kindled. Therefore if you wish, my daughter,
to draw the arrow from my heart, you must not, while this fresh youth
of yours is developing, remain unmarried to please yourself, and so
incur the ready reproach of evil men." Such was the advice which
the princess Kanakarekhá frequently received from her father the
king, but she, being firmly resolved, again and again answered him:
"Therefore quickly search for a Bráhman or Kshatriya who has seen
that City of Gold and give me to him, for this is the condition I
have named." When the king heard that, reflecting that his daughter,
who remembered her former birth, had completely made up her mind,
and seeing no other way of obtaining for her the husband she desired,
he issued another order to the effect that henceforth the proclamation
by beat of drum was to take place every day in the city, in order to
find out whether any of the newcomers had seen the Golden City. And
once more it was proclaimed in every quarter of the city every day,
after the drum had been beaten,--"If any Bráhman or Kshatriya has
seen the Golden City, let him speak; the king will give him his own
daughter, together with the rank of Crown-prince." But no one was
found who had obtained a sight of the Golden City.
CHAPTER XXV.
In the meanwhile the young Bráhman Saktideva, in very low spirits,
having been rejected with contempt by the princess he longed for,
said to himself; "To-day by asserting falsely that I had seen the
Golden City, I certainly incurred contempt, but I did not obtain that
princess. So I must roam through the earth to find it, until I have
either seen that city or lost my life. For of what use is my life,
unless I can return having seen that city, and obtain the princess as
the prize of the achievement?" Having thus taken a vow, that Bráhman
set out from the city of Vardhamána, directing his course toward the
southern quarter, and as he journeyed, he at last reached the great
forest of the Vindhya range, and entered it, which was difficult and
long as his own undertaking. And that forest, so to speak, fanned,
with the soft leaves of its trees shaken by the wind, him, who
was heated by the multitudinous rays of the sun; and through grief
at being overrun with many robbers, it made its cry heard day and
night in the shrill screams of animals which were being slain in it
by lions and other noisome beasts. And it seemed, by the unchecked
rays of heat flashed upward from its wild deserts, to endeavour
to conquer the fierce brightness of the sun: in it, though there
was no accumulation of water, calamity was to be easily purchased:
[388] and its space seemed ever to extend before the traveller as
fast as he crossed it. In the course of many days he accomplished
a long journey through this forest, and beheld in it a great lake
of cold pure water in a lonely spot: which seemed to lord it over
all lakes, with its lotuses like lofty umbrellas, and its swans like
gleaming white chowries. In the water of that lake he performed the
customary ablutions, and on its northern shore he beheld a hermitage
with beautiful fruit-bearing trees: and he saw an old hermit named
Súryatapas sitting at the foot of an Asvattha tree, surrounded by
ascetics, adorned with a rosary, the beads of which by their number
seemed to be the knots that marked the centuries of his life, [389]
and which rested against the extremity of his ear that was white with
age. And he approached that hermit with a bow, and the hermit welcomed
him with hospitable greetings. And the hermit, after entertaining
him with fruits and other delicacies, asked him, "Whence have you
come, and whither are you going? Tell me, good sir." And Saktideva
inclining respectfully, said to that hermit,--"I have come, venerable
sir, from the city of Vardhamána, and I have undertaken to go to the
Golden City in accordance with a vow. But I do not know where that
city lies; tell me venerable sir, if you know." The hermit answered,
"My son, I have lived eight hundred years in this hermitage, and I have
never even heard of that city." Saktideva when he heard this from the
hermit, was cast down, and said again--"Then my wanderings through the
earth will end by my dying here." Then that hermit, having gradually
elicited the whole story said to him, "If you are firmly resolved,
then do what I tell you. Three yojanas from here there is a country
named Kámpilya, and in it is a mountain named Uttara, and on it there
is a hermitage. There dwells my noble elder brother named Dírghatapas;
[390] go to him, he being old may perhaps know of that city." When
Saktideva heard that, hope arose in his breast, and having spent the
night there he quickly set out in the morning from that place. And
wearied with the laborious journey through difficult forest country,
he at last reached that region of Kámpilya and ascended that mountain
Uttara; and there he beheld that hermit Dírghatapas in a hermitage,
and he was delighted and approached him with a bow: and the hermit
received him hospitably: and Saktideva said to him, "I am on my way to
the City of Gold spoken of by the king's daughter: but I do not know,
venerable sir, where that city is. However I am bound to find it,
so I have been sent to you by the sage Súryatapas in order that I may
discover where it lies." When he had said this, the hermit answered
him, "Though I am so old, my son, I have never heard of that city
till to-day; I have made acquaintance with various travellers from
foreign lands, and I have never heard any one speak of it; much less
have I seen it. But I am sure it must be in some distant foreign
island, and I can tell you an expedient to help you in this matter;
there is in the midst of the ocean an island named Utsthala, and in
it there is a rich king of the Nishádas [391] named Satyavrata. He
goes to and fro among all the other islands, and he may have seen or
heard of that city. Therefore first go to the city named Vitankapura
situated on the border of the sea. And from that place go with some
merchant in a ship to the island where that Nisháda dwells, in order
that you may attain your object." When Saktideva heard this from
the hermit, he immediately followed his advice, and taking leave
of him set out from the hermitage. And after accomplishing many
kos and crossing many lands, he reached the city of Vitankapura,
the ornament of the sea-shore. There he sought out a merchant named
Samudradatta, who traded with the island of Utsthala, and struck up
a friendship with him. And he went on board his ship with him, and
having food for the voyage fully supplied by his kindness, he set
out on the ocean-path. Then, when they had but a short distance to
travel, there arose a black cloud with rumbling thunder, resembling a