The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
of the magic power of your sword. And you shall rule in that city,
after obtaining all four of us as wives, bestowed upon you by our
father who has retired to the forest, and others in addition to us."
Thus Vindumatí declared the truth about herself, and Saktideva
consenting, went again to the City of Gold, this time through the
air, together with that Vindumatí. And when he arrived, he again saw
those three darlings of his bending before him, Kanakarekhá and the
others, after entering with their souls, as was fitting, those heavenly
female bodies, which he saw on a former occasion extended lifeless on
the couches in those three pavilions. And he saw that fourth sister
there, Chandraprabhá, who had performed auspicious ceremonies, and was
drinking in his form with an eye rendered eager by seeing him after
so long an absence. His arrival was joyfully hailed by the servants,
who were occupied in their several duties, as well as by the ladies,
and when he entered the private apartments, that Chandraprabhá said
to him--"Noble sir, here is that princess Kanakarekhá, who was seen
by you in the city of Vardhamána, my sister called Chandrarekhá. And
here is that daughter of the fisher king, Vindumatí, whom you first
married in the island of Utsthala, my sister Sasirekhá. And here
is my youngest sister Sasiprabhá, the princess who after that was
brought there by the Dánava, and then became your wife. So now come,
successful hero, with us into the presence of our father, and quickly
marry us all, when bestowed upon you by him."
When Chandraprabhá had swiftly and boldly uttered this decree of Cupid,
Saktideva went with those four to the recesses of the wood to meet
their father, and their father, the king of the Vidyádharas, having
been informed of the facts by all his daughters who bowed at his feet,
and also moved by a divine voice, with delighted soul gave them all at
once to Saktideva. Immediately after that, he bestowed on Saktideva
his opulent realm in the City of Gold, and all his magic sciences,
and he gave the successful hero his name, by which he was henceforth
known among his Vidyádharas. And he said to him; "No one else shall
conquer thee, but from the mighty lord of Vatsa there shall spring a
universal emperor, who shall reign among you here under the title of
Naraváhanadatta and be thy superior, to him alone wilt thou have to
submit." With these words the mighty lord of the Vidyádharas, named
Sasikhandapada, dismissed his son-in-law from the wood where he was
practising asceticism, after entertaining him kindly, that he might go
with his wives to his own capital. Then that Saktivega, having become
a king, entered the City of Gold, that glory of the Vidyádhara world,
proceeding thither with his wives. Living in that city, the palaces
of which gleamed with fabric of gold, which seemed on account of its
great height to be the condensed rays of the sun falling in brightness,
he enjoyed exceeding happiness with those fair-eyed wives, in charming
gardens, the lakes of which had steps made out of jewels.
Having thus related his wonderful history, the eloquent Saktivega
went on to say to the king of Vatsa, "Know me, O lord of Vatsa,
ornament of the lunar race, to be that very Saktideva come here,
full of desire to behold the two feet of your son who is just born,
and is destined to be our new emperor. Thus I have obtained, though
originally a man, the rank of sovereign among the Vidyádharas by the
favour of Siva: and now, O king, I return to my own home; I have seen
our future lord; may you enjoy unfailing felicity."
After finishing his tale, Saktivega said this with clasped hands,
and receiving permission to depart, immediately flew up into the sky
like the moon in brightness, and then the king of Vatsa in the company
of his wives, surrounded by his ministers, and with his young son,
enjoyed, in his own capital a state of indescribable felicity.
BOOK VI.
CHAPTER XXVII.
May the god with the face of an elephant, [429] who appears, with
his head bowed down and then raised, to be continually threatening
the hosts of obstacles, protect you.
I adore the god of Love, pierced with the showers of whose arrows even
the body of Siva seems to bristle with dense thorns, when embraced
by Umá.
Now hear the heavenly adventures which Naraváhanadatta, speaking of
himself in the third person, told from the very beginning, after
he had obtained the sovereignty of the Vidyádharas, and had been
questioned about the story of his life on some occasion or other by
the seven Rishis and their wives.
Then that Naraváhanadatta being carefully brought up by his father,
passed his eighth year. The prince lived at that time with the sons
of the ministers, being instructed in sciences, and sporting in
gardens. And the queen Vásavadattá and Padmávatí also on account of
their exceeding affection were devoted to him day and night. He was
distinguished by a body which was sprung from a noble stock, and bent
under the weight of his growing virtues, and gradually filled out,
as also by a bow which was made of a good bamboo, which bent as the
string rose, and slowly arched itself into a crescent. [430] And his
father the king of Vatsa spent his time in wishes for his marriage
and other happiness, delightful because so soon to bear fruit. Now
hear what happened at this point of the story.
Story of the merchant's son in Takshasilá.
There was once a city named Takshasilá [431] on the banks of the
Vitastá, the reflection of whose long line of palaces gleamed in
the waters of the river, as if it were the capital of the lower
regions come to gaze at its splendour. In it there dwelt a king named
Kalingadatta, a distinguished Buddhist, all whose subjects were devoted
to the great Buddha the bridegroom of Tárá. [432] His city shone with
splendid Buddhist temples densely crowded together, as if with the
horns of pride elevated because it had no rival upon earth. He not
only cherished his subjects like a father, but also himself taught
them knowledge like a spiritual guide. Moreover there was in that
city a certain rich Buddhist merchant called Vitastadatta, who was
exclusively devoted to the honouring of Buddhist mendicants. And he
had a son, a young man named Ratnadatta. And he was always expressing
his detestation of his father, calling him an impious man. And when
his father said to him, "Son, why do you blame me?"--the merchant's
son answered with bitter scorn, "My father, you abandon the religion
of the three Vedas and cultivate irreligion. For you neglect the
Bráhmans and are always honouring Sramanas. [433] What have you to
do with that Buddhist discipline, which all kinds of low-caste men
resort to, to gratify their desire to have a convent to dwell in,
released from bathing and other strict ordinances, loving to feed
whenever it is convenient, [434] rejecting the Bráhmanical lock and
other prescribed methods of doing the hair, quite at ease with only a
rag round their loins?" When the merchant heard that he said--"Religion
is not confined to one form; a transcendent religion is a different
thing from a religion that embraces the whole world. People say that
Bráhmanism too consists in avoiding passion and other sins, in truth,
and compassion to creatures, not in quarrelling causelessly with
one's relations. [435] Moreover you ought not to blame generally
that school which I follow, which extends security to all creatures,
on account of the fault of an individual. Nobody questions the
propriety of conferring benefits, and my beneficence consists
simply in giving security to creatures. So, if I take exceeding
pleasure in this system, the principal characteristic of which is
abstinence from injuring any creature, and which brings liberation,
wherein am I irreligious in doing so?" When his father said this
to him, that merchant's son obstinately refused to admit it, and
only blamed his father all the more. Then his father, in disgust,
went and reported the whole matter to the king Kalingadatta, who
superintended the religion of his people. The king, for his part,
summoned on some pretext the merchant's son into his judgement-hall,
and feigning an anger he did not feel, said to the executioner,
"I have heard that this merchant's son is wicked and addicted to
horrible crimes, so slay him without mercy as a corrupter of the
realm." When the king had said this, the father interceded, and then
the king appointed that the execution should be put off for two months,
in order that he might learn virtue, and entrusted the merchant's son
to the custody of his father, to be brought again into his presence at
the end of that time. The merchant's son, when he had been taken home
to his father's house, was distracted with fear, and kept thinking,
"What crime can I have committed against the king?" and pondering
over his causeless execution which was to take place at the end of two
months; and so he could get no sleep day or night, and was exhausted
by taking less than his usual food at all times. Then, the reprieve
of two months having expired, that merchant's son was again taken,
thin and pale, into the presence of the king. And the king seeing
him in such a depressed state said to him--"Why have you become so
thin? Did I order you not to eat?" When the merchant's son heard that,
he said to the king--"I forgot myself for fear, much more my food. Ever
since I heard your majesty order my execution, I have been thinking
every day of death slowly advancing." When the merchant's son said
this, the king said to him, "I have by an artifice made you teach
yourself what the fear of death is. [436] Such must be the fear which
every living creature entertains of death, and tell me what higher
piety can there be than the benefit of preserving creatures from
that? So I shewed you this in order that you might acquire religion
and the desire of salvation, [437] for a wise man being afraid of
death strives to attain salvation. Therefore you must not blame your
father who follows this religion." When the merchant's son heard this,
he bowed and said to the king--"Your majesty has made me a blessed man
by teaching me religion, and now a desire for salvation has arisen in
me, teach me that also, my lord." When the king heard that, as it was
a feast in the city, he gave a vessel full of oil into the hand of the
merchant's son and said to him, "Take this vessel in your hand and walk
all round this city, and you must avoid spilling a single drop of it,
my son; if you spill one drop of it, these men will immediately cut
you down." [438] Having said this, the king dismissed the merchant's
son to walk round the city, ordering men with drawn swords to follow
him. The merchant's son, in his fear, took care to avoid spilling a
drop of oil, and having perambulated that city with much difficulty,
returned into the presence of the king. The king, when he saw that
he had brought the oil without spilling it, said to him: "Did you
see any one to-day, as you went along in your perambulation of the
city?" When the merchant's son heard that, he clasped his hands,
and said to the king--"In truth, my lord, I neither saw nor heard
any thing, for at the time when I was perambulating the city I had
my undivided attention fixed on avoiding spilling a drop of oil, lest
the swords should descend upon me." When the merchant's son said this,
the king said to him; "Because your whole soul was intent on looking
at the oil, you saw nothing. So practise religious contemplation with
the same undivided attention. For a man, who with intent concentration
averts his attention from all outward operations, has intuition of the
truth, and after that intuition he is not entangled again in the meshes
of works. Thus I have given you in a compendious form instruction in