The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
in front of my mother: then one of the Bráhmans, named Vyádi, having
ascertained that I was able to recollect a thing on hearing it once,
told with submissive reverence this tale to my mother.
Mother, in the city of Vetasa there were two Bráhman brothers,
Deva-Swámin and Karambaka, who loved one another very dearly;
this Indradatta here is the son of one of them, and I am the son
of the other, and my name is Vyádi. It came to pass that my father
died. Owing to grief for his loss, the father of Indradatta went
on the long journey, [27] and then the hearts of our two mothers
broke with grief; thereupon being orphans though we had wealth,
[28] and, desiring to acquire learning, we went to the southern
region to supplicate the lord Kártikeya. And while we were engaged
in austerities there, the god gave us the following revelation in
a dream. "There is a city called Pátaliputra, the capital of king
Nanda, and in it there is a Bráhman, named Varsha, from him ye
shall learn all knowledge, therefore go there." Then we went to
that city, and when we made enquiries there, people said to us:
"There is a blockhead of a Bráhman in this town, of the name of
Varsha." Immediately we went on with minds in a state of suspense,
and saw the house of Varsha in a miserable condition, made a very
ant-hill by mice, dilapidated by the cracking of the walls, untidy,
[29] deprived of eaves, looking like the very birth-place of misery.
Then, seeing Varsha plunged in meditation within the house, we
approached his wife, who shewed us all proper hospitality; her body
was emaciated and begrimed, her dress tattered and dirty; she looked
like the incarnation of poverty, attracted thither by admiration
for the Bráhman's virtues. Bending humbly before her, we then told
her our circumstances, and the report of her husband's imbecility,
which we heard in the city. She exclaimed--"My children, I am not
ashamed to tell you the truth; listen! I will relate the whole story,"
and then she, chaste lady, proceeded to tell us the tale which follows:
There lived in this city an excellent Bráhman, named Sankara Svámin,
and he had two sons, my husband Varsha, and Upavarsha; my husband
was stupid and poor, and his younger brother was just the opposite:
and Upavarsha appointed his own wife to manage his elder brother's
house. [30] Then in the course of time, the rainy season came on,
and at this time the women are in the habit of making a cake of
flour mixed with molasses, of an unbecoming and disgusting shape,
[31] and giving it to any Bráhman who is thought to be a blockhead,
and if they act thus, this cake is said to remove their discomfort
caused by bathing in the cold season, and their exhaustion [32] caused
by bathing in the hot weather; but when it is given, Bráhmans refuse
to receive it, on the ground that the custom is a disgusting one. This
cake was presented by my sister-in-law to my husband, together with
a sacrificial fee; he received it, and brought it home with him, and
got a severe scolding from me; then he began to be inwardly consumed
with grief at his own stupidity, and went to worship the sole of the
foot of the god Kártikeya: the god, pleased with his austerities,
bestowed on him the knowledge of all the sciences; and gave him
this order--"When thou findest a Bráhman who can recollect what
he has heard only once, then thou mayest reveal these"--thereupon
my husband returned home delighted, and when he had reached home,
told the whole story to me. From that time forth, he has remained
continually muttering prayers and meditating: so find you some one who
can remember anything after hearing it once, and bring him here: if you
do that, you will both of you undoubtedly obtain all that you desire.
Having heard this from the wife of Varsha, and having immediately given
her a hundred gold pieces to relieve her poverty, we went out of that
city; then we wandered through the earth, and could not find anywhere
a person who could remember what he had only heard once: at last we
arrived tired out at your house to-day, and have found here this boy,
your son, who can recollect anything after once hearing it: therefore
give him us and let us go forth to acquire the commodity knowledge.
Having heard this speech of Vyádi, my mother said with respect,
"All this tallies completely; I repose confidence in your tale:
for long ago at the birth of this my only son, a distinct spiritual
[33] voice was heard from heaven. "A boy has been born who shall be
able to remember what he has heard once; he shall acquire knowledge
from Varsha, and shall make the science of grammar famous in the
world, and he shall be called Vararuchi by name, because whatever
is excellent, [34] shall please him." Having uttered this, the
voice ceased. Consequently, ever since this boy has grown big, I
have been thinking, day and night, where that teacher Varsha can be,
and to-day I have been exceedingly gratified at hearing it from your
mouth. Therefore take him with you: what harm can there be in it, he
is your brother?" When they heard this speech of my mother's, those
two, Vyádi and Indradatta, overflowing with joy, thought that night
but a moment in length. Then Vyádi quickly gave his own wealth to my
mother to provide a feast, and desiring that I should be qualified to
read the Vedas, invested me with the Bráhmanical thread. Then Vyádi
and Indradatta took me, who managed by my own fortitude to control
the excessive grief I felt at parting, while my mother in taking
leave of me could with difficulty suppress her tears, and considering
that the favour of Kártikeya towards them had now put forth blossom,
set out rapidly from that city; then in course of time we arrived at
the house of the teacher Varsha: he too considered that I was the
favour of Kártikeya arrived in bodily form. The next day he placed
us in front of him, and sitting down in a consecrated spot, he began
to recite the syllable Om with heavenly voice. Immediately the Vedas
with the six supplementary sciences rushed into his mind, and then he
began to teach them to us; then I retained what the teacher told us
after hearing it once, Vyádi after hearing it twice, and Indradatta
after hearing it three times: then the Bráhmans of the city hearing
of a sudden that divine sound, came at once from all quarters with
wonder stirring in their breasts to see what this new thing might be;
and with their reverend mouths loud in his praises honoured Varsha with
low bows. Then beholding that wonderful miracle, not only Upavarsha,
but all the citizens of Pátaliputra [35] kept high festival. Moreover
the king Nanda of exalted fortune, seeing the power of the boon of
the son of Siva, was delighted, and immediately filled the house of
Varsha with wealth, shewing him every mark of respect. [36]
CHAPTER III.
Having thus spoken while Kánabhúti was listening with intent mind,
Vararuchi went on to tell his tale in the wood.
It came to pass in the course of time, that one day, when the reading
of the Vedas was finished, the teacher Varsha, who had performed his
daily ceremonies, was asked by us, "How comes it that such a city as
this has become the home of Sarasvatí and Lakshmí, [37] tell us that,
O teacher." Hearing this, he bade us listen, for that he was about
to tell the history of the city.
Story of the founding of the city of Pátaliputra.
There is a sanctifying place of pilgrimage, named Kanakhala, at the
point where the Ganges issues from the hills, [38] where the sacred
stream was brought down from the table-land of mount Usínara, by
Kánchanapáta the elephant of the gods, having cleft it asunder. [39]
In that place lived a certain Bráhman from the Deccan, performing
austerities in the company of his wife, and to him were born there
three sons. In the course of time he and his wife went to heaven,
and those sons of his went to a place named Rájagriha, for the sake
of acquiring learning. And having studied the sciences there, the
three, grieved at their unprotected condition, went to the Deccan in
order to visit the shrine of the god Kártikeya. Then they reached a
city named Chinchiní on the shore of the sea, and dwelt in the house
of a Bráhman named Bhojika, and he gave them his three daughters in
marriage, and bestowed on them all his wealth, and having no other
children, went to the Ganges to perform austerities. And while they
were living there in the house of their father-in-law, a terrible
famine arose produced by drought, thereupon the three Bráhmans fled,
abandoning their virtuous wives, (since no care for their families
touches the hearts of cruel men,) then the middle one of the three
sisters was found to be pregnant; and those ladies repaired to the
house of Yajnadatta a friend of their father's: there they remained
in a miserable condition, thinking each on her own husband, (for even
in calamity women of good family do not forget the duties of virtuous
wives). Now in course of time the middle one of the three sisters
gave birth to a son, and they all three vied with one another in love
towards him. So it happened once upon a time that, as Siva was roaming
through the air, the mother of Skanda [40] who was reposing on Siva's
breast, moved with compassion at seeing their love for their child,
said to her husband, "My lord, observe, these three women feel great
affection for this boy, and place hope in him, trusting that he may
some day support them; therefore bring it about that he may be able
to maintain them, even in his infancy." Having been thus entreated by
his beloved, Siva, the giver of boons, thus answered her: I adopt him
as my protégé, for in a previous birth he and his wife propitiated
me, therefore he has been born on the earth to reap the fruit of his
former austerities; and his former wife has been born again as Pátalí
the daughter of the king Mahendravarman, and she shall be his wife in
this birth also. Having said this, that mighty god told those three
virtuous women in a dream,--"This young son of yours shall be called
Putraka; and every day when he awakes from sleep, a hundred thousand
gold pieces shall be found under his pillow, [41] and at last he shall
become a king." Accordingly, when he woke up from sleep, those virtuous
daughters of Yajnadatta found the gold and rejoiced that their vows and
prayers had brought forth fruit. Then by means of that gold Putraka
having in a short time accumulated great treasure, became a king,
for good fortune is the result of austerities. [42] Once upon a time
Yajnadatta said in private to Putraka,--"King, your father and uncles
have gone away into the wide world on account of a famine, therefore
give continually to Bráhmans, in order that they may hear of it and
return: and now listen, I will tell you the story of Brahmadatta."
Story of king Brahmadatta. [43]
"There lived formerly in Benares a king named Brahmadatta. He saw a
pair of swans flying in the air at night. They shone with the lustre
of gleaming gold, and were begirt with hundreds of white swans,
and so looked like a sudden flash of lightning, surrounded by white
clouds. And his desire to behold them again kept increasing so mightily
that he took no pleasure in the delights of royalty. And then having
taken counsel with his ministers he caused a fair tank to be made
according to a design of his own, and gave to all living creatures
security from injury. In a short time he perceived that those two
swans had settled in that lake, and when they had become tame he
asked them the reason of their golden plumage. And then those swans
addressed the king with an articulate voice. 'In a former birth,
O king, we were born as crows; and when we were fighting for the
remains of the daily offering [44] in a holy empty temple of Siva, we