The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
roaring Rákshasa, with flickering lightning to represent his lolling
tongue. And a furious hurricane began to blow like Destiny herself,
whirling up light objects and hurling down heavy. [392] And from the
sea, lashed by the wind, great waves rose aloft like the mountains
equipped with wings, [393] indignant that their asylum had been
attacked. And that vessel rose on high one moment, and the next moment
plunged below, as if exhibiting how rich men are first elevated and
then cast down. And the next moment that ship, shrilly laden with
the cries of the merchants, burst and split asunder as if with the
weight. And the ship being broken, that merchant its owner fell into
the sea, but floating through it on a plank he at last reached another
vessel. But as Saktideva fell, a large fish, opening its mouth and
neck, swallowed him without injuring any of his limbs. And as that
fish was roaming at will in the midst of the sea, it happened to pass
near the island of Utsthala; and by chance some servants of that
king of the fishermen Satyavrata, who were engaged in the pursuit
of small fish, came there and caught it. And those fishermen, proud
of their prize, immediately dragged it along to shew to their king,
for it was of enormous size. He too, out of curiosity, seeing that it
was of such extraordinary size, ordered his servants to cut it open;
and when it was cut open, Saktideva came out alive from its belly,
having endured a second wonderful imprisonment in the womb. [394]
Then the fisher-king Satyavrata, when he saw that young man come
out and bestow his blessing on him, was astonished, and asked him,
"Who are you, and how did this lot of dwelling in the belly of the
fish befall you? What means this exceedingly strange fate that you
have suffered." When Saktideva heard this, he answered that king of
the fishermen: "I am a Bráhman of the name of Saktideva from the city
of Vardhamána; and I am bound to visit the City of Gold, and because
I do not know where it is, I have for a long time wandered far over
the earth; then I gathered from a speech of Dírghatapas' that it was
probably in an island, so I set out to find Satyavrata the king of
the fishermen, who lives in the island of Utsthala, in order to learn
its whereabouts, but on the way I suffered shipwreck, and so having
been whelmed in the sea and swallowed by a fish, I have been brought
here now." When Saktideva had said this, Satyavrata said to him: "I
am in truth Satyavrata, and this is the very island you were seeking;
but though I have seen many islands, I have never seen the city you
desire to find, but I have heard of it as situated in one of the
distant islands." Having said this, and perceiving that Saktideva was
cast down, Satyavrata out of kindness for his guest went on to say:
"Bráhman, do not be despondent; remain here this night, and to-morrow
morning I will devise some expedient to enable you to attain your
object." The Bráhman was thus consoled by the king, and sent off to a
monastery of Bráhmans, where guests were readily entertained. There
Saktideva was supplied with food by a Bráhman named Vishnudatta, an
inmate of the monastery, and entered into conversation with him. And in
the course of that conversation, being questioned by him, he told him
in a few words his country, his family, and his whole history. When
Vishnudatta heard that, he immediately embraced him, and said in a
voice indistinct from the syllables being choked with tears of joy:
"Bravo! you are the son of my maternal uncle and a fellow-countryman of
mine. But I long ago in my childhood left that country to come here. So
stop here awhile, and soon the stream of merchants and pilots that
come here from other islands will accomplish your wish." Having told
him his descent in these words, Vishnudatta waited upon Saktideva with
all becoming attentions. And Saktideva, forgetting the toil of the
journey, obtained delight, for the meeting a relation in a foreign
land is like a fountain of nectar in the desert. And he considered
that the accomplishment of his object was near at hand, for good luck,
befalling one by the way indicates success in an undertaking. So he
reclined at night sleepless upon his bed, with his mind fixed upon
the attainment of his desire, and Vishnudatta, who was by his side,
in order to encourage and delight him at the same time, related to
him the following tale:
Story of Asokadatta and Vijayadatta. [395]
Formerly there was a great Bráhman named Govindasvámin, living on a
great royal grant of land on the banks of the Yamuná. And in course of
time there were born to that virtuous Bráhman two sons like himself,
Asokadatta and Vijayadatta. While they were living there, there arose a
terrible famine in that land, and so Govindasvámin said to his wife;
"This land is ruined by famine, and I cannot bear to behold the misery
of my friends and relations. For who gives anything to anybody? So
let us at any rate give away to our friends and relations what
little food we possess and leave this country. And let us go with
our family to Benares to live there." When he said this to his wife,
she consented, and he gave away his food, and set out from that place
with his wife, sons, and servants. For men of noble soul cannot bear
to witness the miseries of their relatives. And on the road he beheld
a skull-bearing Saiva ascetic, white with ashes, and with matted hair,
like the god Siva himself with his half-moon. The Bráhman approached
that wise man with a bow, and out of love for his sons, asked him
about their destiny, whether it should be good or bad, and that Yogí
answered him: "The future destiny of your sons is auspicious, but you
shall be separated, Bráhman, from this younger one Vijayadatta, and
finally by the might of the second Asokadatta you shall be reunited
to him." Govindasvámin, when that wise man said this to him, took
leave of him and departed overpowered with joy, grief, and wonder;
and after reaching Benares he spent the day there in a temple of
Durgá outside the town, engaged in worshipping the goddess and
such like occupations. And in the evening he encamped outside that
temple under a tree, with his family, in the company of pilgrims who
had come from other countries. And at night, while all were asleep,
wearied with their long journey, stretched out on strewn leaves, and,
such other beds as travellers have to put up with, his younger son
Vijayadatta, who was awake, was suddenly seized with a cold ague-fit;
that ague quickly made him tremble, and caused his hair to stand on
end, as if it had been the fear of his approaching separation from
his relations. And oppressed with the cold he woke up his father,
and said to him: "A terrible ague afflicts me here now, father, so
bring fuel and light me a fire to keep off the cold, in no other way
can I obtain relief or get through the night." When Govindasvámin
heard him say this, he was distressed at his suffering, and said
to him; "Whence can I procure fire now my son?" Then his son said;
"Why surely we may see a fire burning near us on this side, and it
is very large, so why should I not go there and warm my body? So take
me by the hand, for I have a shivering fit, and lead me there." Thus
entreated by his son the Bráhman went on to say: "This is a cemetery,
[396] and the fire is that of a funeral pyre, so how can you go to a
place terrible from the presence of goblins and other spirits, for you
are only a child?" When the brave Vijayadatta heard that speech of his
affectionate father's, he laughed and said in his confidence, "What can
the wretched goblins and other evil ones do to me? Am I a weakling? So
take me there without fear." When he said this so persistently, his
father led him there, and the boy warming his body approached the pyre,
which seemed to bear on itself the presiding deity of the Rákshasas
in visible form, with the smoke of the flames for dishevelled hair,
devouring the flesh of men. The boy at once encouraged his father
[397] and asked him what the round thing was that he saw inside the
pyre. And his father standing at his side, answered him, "This, my son,
is the skull of a man which is burning in the pyre." Then the boy in
his recklessness struck the skull with a piece of wood lighted at the
top, and clove it. The brains spouted up from it and entered his mouth,
like the initiation into the practices of the Rákshasas, bestowed
upon him by the funeral flame. And by tasting them that boy became
a Rákshasa, with hair standing on end, with sword that he had drawn
from the flame, terrible with projecting tusks: so he seized the skull
and drinking the brains from it, he licked it with tongue restlessly
quivering like the flames of fire that clung to the bone. Then be flung
aside the skull, and lifting his sword he attempted to slay his own
father Govindasvámin. But at that moment a voice came out from the
cemetery, "Kapálasphota, [398] thou god, thou oughtest not to slay
thy father, come here." When the boy heard that, having obtained
the title of Kapálasphota and become a Rákshasa, he let his father
alone, and disappeared; and his father departed exclaiming aloud,
"Alas my son! Alas my virtuous son! Alas Vijayadatta!" And he returned
to the temple of Durgá; and in the morning he told his wife and his
eldest son Asokadatta what had taken place. Then that unfortunate man
together with them suffered an attack of the fire of grief, terrible
like the falling of lightning from a cloud, so that the other people,
who were sojourning in Benares, and had come to visit the shrine of the
goddess, came up to him and sympathised heartily with his sorrow. In
the meanwhile a great merchant, who had come to worship the goddess,
named Samudradatta, beheld Govindasvámin in that state. The good man
approached him and comforted him, and immediately took him and his
family home to his own house. And there he provided him with a bath
and other luxuries, for this is the innate tendency of the great, to
have mercy upon the wretched. Govindasvámin also and his wife recovered
their self-command, having heard [399] the speech of the great Saiva
ascetic, hoping to be re-united to their son. And thenceforth he lived
in that city of Benares, in the house of that rich merchant, having
been asked by him to do so. And there his other son Asokadatta grew
up to be a young man, and after studying the sciences learnt boxing
and wrestling. And gradually he attained such eminence in these arts,
that he was not surpassed by any champion on the earth. And once on a
time there was a great gathering of wrestlers at an idol procession,
and a great and famous wrestler came from the Deccan. He conquered
all the other wrestlers of the king of Benares, who was called
Pratápamukuta, before his eyes. Then the king had Asokadatta quickly
summoned from the house of that excellent merchant, and ordered him to
contend with that wrestler. That wrestler began the combat by catching
the arm of Asokadatta with his hand, but Asokadatta seized his arm,
and hurled him to the ground. Then the field of combat, as it were,
pleased, applauded the victor with the resounding noise produced by the
fall of that champion wrestler. And the king being gratified, loaded
Asokadatta with jewels, and having seen his might, he made him his own
personal attendant. So he became a favourite of the king's, and in time
attained great prosperity, for to one who possesses heroic qualities,
a king who appreciates merit is a perfect treasure-house. Once
on a time, that king went on the fourteenth day of the month away
from his capital, to worship the god Siva in a splendid temple in a
distant town. After he had paid his devotions, he was returning by
night near the cemetery when he heard this utterance issue from it: