The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
"O king, the chief magistrate out of private malice proclaimed that I
deserved death, and it is now the third day since I was impaled, and
even now my life will not leave my body, though I am innocent, so I am
exceedingly thirsty; O king, order water to be given me." When the king
heard it, out of pity he said to his personal attendant Asokadatta,
"Send that man some water." Then Asokadatta said, "Who would go there
at night? So I had better go myself." Accordingly he took the water,
and set off. After the king had proceeded on his way to his capital,
the hero entered that cemetery, the interior of which was difficult to
penetrate, as it was filled with dense darkness within; in it there
were awful evening oblations offered with the human flesh scattered
about by the jackals; in places the cemetery was lighted up by the
flaming beacons of the blazing funeral pyres, and in it the Vetálas
made terrible music with the clapping of their hands, so that it
seemed as if it were the palace of black night. Then he cried aloud,
"Who asked the king for water?" And he heard from one quarter an
answer, "I asked for it." Following the voice he went to a funeral
pyre near, and beheld a man impaled on the top of a stake, and
underneath it he saw a woman that he had never seen before, weeping,
adorned with beautiful ornaments, lovely in every limb; like the night
adorned with the rays of the moon, now that the moon itself had set,
its splendour having waned in the dark fortnight, come to worship
the funeral pyre. He asked the woman: "Who are you, mother, and why
are you standing weeping here?" She answered him, "I am the ill-fated
wife of him who is here impaled, and I am waiting here with the firm
intention of ascending the funeral pyre with him. And I am waiting some
time for his life to leave his body, for though it is the third day
of his impalement, his breath does not depart. And he often asks for
that water which I have brought here, but I cannot reach his mouth,
my friend, as the stake is high." When he heard that speech of hers,
the mighty hero said to her: "But here is water in my hand sent to
him by the king, so place your foot on my back and lift it to his
mouth, for the mere touching of another man in sore need does not
disgrace a woman." When she heard that, she consented, and taking
the water she climbed up so as to plant her two feet on the back
of Asokadatta, who bent down at the foot of the stake. Soon after,
as drops of blood unexpectedly began to fall upon the earth and on
his back, the hero lifted up his face and looked. Then he saw that
woman cutting off slice after slice of that impaled man's flesh with
a knife, and eating it. [400]
Then, perceiving that she was some horrible demon, [401] he dragged
her down in a rage, and took hold of her by her foot with its
tinkling anklets in order to dash her to pieces on the earth. She,
for her part, dragged away from him that foot, and by her deluding
power quickly flew up into the heaven, and became invisible. And
the jewelled anklet, which had fallen from her foot, while she was
dragging it away, remained in one of Asokadatta's hands. Then he,
reflecting that she had disappeared after shewing herself mild at
first, and evil-working in the middle, and at the end horror-striking
by assuming a terrible form, like association with wicked men,--and
seeing that heavenly anklet in his hand, was astonished, grieved and
delighted at the same time; and then he left that cemetery, taking
the anklet with him, and went to his own house, and in the morning,
after bathing, to the palace of the king.
And when the king said--"Did you give the water to the man who was
impaled," he said he had done so, and gave him that anklet; and when
the king of his own accord asked him where it came from, he told
that king his wonderful and terrible night-adventure. And then the
king, perceiving that his courage was superior to that of all men,
though he was before pleased with his other excellent qualities,
was now more exceedingly delighted; and he took that anklet in his
joy and gave it with his own hand to the queen, and described to
her the way in which he had obtained it. And she, hearing the story
and beholding that heavenly jewelled anklet, rejoiced in her heart
and was continually engaged in extolling Asokadatta. Then the king
said to her: "Queen, in birth, in learning, in truthfulness and
beauty Asokadatta is great among the great; and I think it would be
a good thing if he were to become the husband of our lovely daughter
Madanalekhá; in a bridegroom these qualities are to be looked for,
not fortune that vanishes in a moment, so I will give my daughter to
this excellent hero." When she heard that speech of her husband's,
that queen approving the proposal said, "It is quite fitting, for the
youth will be an appropriate match for her, and her heart has been
captivated by him, for she saw him in a spring-garden, and for some
days her mind has been in a state of vacancy and she neither hears
nor sees; I heard of it from her confidante, and, after spending an
anxious night, towards morning I fell asleep, and I remember I was
thus addressed by some heavenly woman in a dream, 'My child, thou must
not give this thy daughter Madanalekhá to any one but Asokadatta,
for she is his wife acquired by him in a former birth.' And when I
heard it, I woke up, and in the morning I went myself on the strength
of the dream and consoled my daughter. And now, my husband has of
his own accord proposed the marriage to me. Let her therefore be
united to him, as a spring-creeper to its stalk." When the king's
beloved wife said this to him, he was pleased, and he made festal
rejoicings, and summoning Asokadatta gave that daughter to him. And
the union of those two, the daughter of the king, and the son of the
great Bráhman, was such that each enhanced the other's glory, like
the union of prosperity and modesty. And once upon a time the queen
said to the king, with reference to the anklet brought by Asokadatta:
"My husband, this anklet by itself does not look well, so let another
be made like it." When the king heard that, he gave an order to the
goldsmiths and other craftsmen of the kind, to make a second anklet
like that. But they, after examining it said;--"It is impossible,
O king, to make another like it, for the work is heavenly, not
human. There are not many jewels of this kind upon the earth, so let
another be sought for where this was obtained." When the king and the
queen heard this, they were despondent, and Asokadatta who was there,
on seeing that, immediately said, "I myself will bring you a fellow
to that anklet." And having made this promise he could not give up
the project on which he was resolved, although the king, terrified
at his temerity, endeavoured to dissuade him out of affection. And
taking the anklet he went again on the fourteenth night of the black
fortnight to the cemetery where he had first obtained it; and after
he had entered that cemetery which was full of Rákshasas as it was
of trees, besmirched with the copious smoke of the funeral pyres, and
with men hanging from their trunks [402] which were weighed down and
surrounded with nooses, he did not at first see that woman that he had
seen before, but he thought of an admirable device for obtaining that
bracelet, which was nothing else than the selling of human flesh. [403]
So he pulled down a corpse from the noose by which it was suspended on
the tree, and he wandered about in the cemetery, crying aloud--"Human
flesh for sale, buy, buy!" And immediately a woman called to him from
a distance, saying, "Courageous man, bring the human flesh and come
along with me." When he heard that, he advanced following that woman,
and beheld at no great distance under a tree a lady of heavenly
appearance, surrounded with women, sitting on a throne, glittering
with jewelled ornaments, whom he would never have expected to find in
such a place, any more than to find a lotus in a desert. And having
been led up by that woman, he approached the lady seated as has been
described, and said, "Here I am, I sell human flesh, buy, buy!" And
then the lady of heavenly appearance said to him, "Courageous hero,
for what price will you sell the flesh?" Then the hero, with the
corpse hanging over his shoulder and back, said to her, shewing her
at the same time that single jewelled anklet which was in his hand,
"I will give this flesh to whoever will give me a second anklet like
this one; if you have got a second like it, take the flesh." When
she heard that, she said to him, "I have a second like it, for this
very single anklet was taken by you from me. I am that very woman
who was seen by you near the impaled man, but you do not recognise
me now, because I have assumed another shape. So what is the use of
flesh? If you do what I tell you, I will give you my second anklet,
which matches the one in your hand." When she said this to the hero,
he consented and said, "I will immediately do whatever you say." Then
she told him her whole desire from the beginning: "There is, good sir,
a city named Trighanta on a peak of the Himálayas. In it there lived
a heroic prince of the Rákshasas named Lambajihva. I am his wife,
Vidyuchchhikhá by name, and I can change my form at will. And as fate
would have it, that husband of mine, after the birth of my daughter,
was slain in battle fighting in front of the king Kapálasphota;
then that king being pleased gave me his own city, and I have lived
with my daughter in great comfort on its proceeds up to the present
time. And that daughter of mine has by this time grown up to fresh
womanhood, and I have great anxiety in my mind as to how to obtain for
her a brave husband. Then being here on the fourteenth night of the
lunar fortnight, and seeing you coming along this way with the king,
I thought--'This good-looking youth is a hero and a fit match for
my daughter. So why should I not devise some stratagem for obtaining
him?' Thus I determined, and imitating the voice of an impaled person,
I asked for water, and brought you into the middle of that cemetery
by a trick. And there I exhibited my delusive power in assuming a
false shape and other characteristics, and saying what was false
I imposed upon you there, though only for a moment. And I artfully
left one of my anklets there to attract you again, like a binding
chain to draw you, and then I came away. And to-day I have obtained
you by that very expedient, so come to my house; marry my daughter
and receive the other anklet." When the Rákshasí said this to him,
the hero consented, and by means of her magic power he went with her
through the air to her city. And he saw that city built of gold on
a peak of the Himálayas, like the orb of the sun fixed in one spot,
being weary with the toil of wandering through the heavens. There
he married that daughter of the prince of the Rákshasas, by name
Vidyutprabhá, like the success of his own daring incarnate in bodily
form. And Asokadatta dwelt with that loved one some time in that city,
enjoying great comfort by means of his mother-in-law's wealth. Then
he said to his mother-in-law, "Give me that anklet, for I must now
go to the city of Benares, for I myself long ago promised the king
that I would bring a second anklet, that would vie with the first one
so distinguished for its unparalleled beauty." The mother-in-law,
having been thus entreated by her son-in-law, gave him that second
anklet of hers, and in addition a golden lotus. [404]
Then he left that city with the anklet and the lotus, after promising
to return, and his mother-in-law by the power of her magic knowledge
carried him once more through the air to the cemetery. And then she
stopped under the tree and said to him, "I always come here on the