The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
into the private apartments of Ushá, who was awaiting him. When Ushá
beheld that Aniruddha arrived in bodily form, resembling the moon,
there was a movement in her limbs resembling the tide of the sea. [482]
Then she remained there with that sweet-heart who had been given
her by her friend, in perfect happiness, as if with Life embodied
in visible form. But her father Bána, when he heard it, was angry;
however Aniruddha conquered him by his own valour and the might of
his grandfather. Then Ushá and Aniruddha returned to Dváravatí and
became inseparable like Siva and Párvatí. [483]
"Thus Chitralekhá united Ushá with her lover in one day, but I consider
you, my friend, far more powerful than her. So bring me the king of
Vatsa here, do not delay." When Somaprabhá heard this from Kalingasená,
she said--"Chitralekhá, a nymph of heaven, might take up a strange
man and bring him, but what can one like myself do in the matter,
who never touch any man but my husband? So I will take you, my friend,
to the place where the king of Vatsa is, having first shewn you your
suitor Prasenajit." When Somaprabhá made this proposal to Kalingasená,
she consented, and immediately ascended with her the magic chariot
prepared by her, and setting out through the air with her treasures
and her retinue, she went off unknown to her parents. For women
impelled by love regard neither height nor depth in front of them,
as a horse urged on by his rider does not fear the keenest sword-edge.
First she came to Srávastí, and beheld from a distance the king
Prasenajit white with age, who had gone out to hunt, distinguished
by a chouri frequently waved, which seemed at a distance to repel
her as if saying--"Leave this old man." And Somaprabhá pointed him
out with a scornful laugh, saying--"Look! this is the man to whom
your father wishes to give you." Then she said to Somaprabhá--"Old
age has chosen him for her own, what other female will choose
him?" "So take me away from here quickly, my friend, to the king of
Vatsa." Immediately Kalingasená went with her to the city of Kausámbí
through the air. Then she beheld from a distance with eagerness that
king of Vatsa, pointed out by her friend in a garden, as the female
partridge beholds the nectar-rayed moon. With dilated eye, and hand
placed on the heart, she seemed to say "He has entered my soul by
this path." Then she exclaimed, "Friend, procure me a meeting here
with the king of Vatsa this very day; for having seen him I am not
able to wait a moment." But when she said this, her friend Somaprabhá
answered her--"I have seen to-day an unfavourable omen, so remain,
my friend, this day quiet and unobserved in this garden, do not,
my friend, send go-betweens backwards and forwards. To-morrow I
will come and devise some expedient for your meeting: at present,
O thou whose home is in my heart, I desire to return to the home
of my husband." Having said this, Somaprabhá departed thence after
leaving her there; and the king of Vatsa, leaving the garden, entered
his palace. Then Kalingasená, remaining there, sent her chamberlain,
giving him her message explicitly, to the king of Vatsa; and this
she did, though previously forbidden by her friend, who understood
omens. Love, when recently enthroned in the breasts of young women,
is impatient of all restraint. And the chamberlain went and announced
himself by the mouth of the warder, and immediately entering, thus
addressed the king of Vatsa--"O king, the daughter of Kalingadatta
the king who rules over Takshasilá, Kalingasená by name, having heard
that you are most handsome, has come here to choose you for a husband,
abandoning her relatives, having accomplished the journey in a magic
car that travels through the air, together with her attendants;
and she has been conducted here by her confidante named Somaprabhá,
who travels invisible, the daughter of the Asura Maya, the wife of
Nadakúvara. I have been sent by her to inform you; do you receive
her; let there be union of you two as of the moonlight and the
moon." When the king heard this from the chamberlain, he welcomed him,
saying--"I consent," and being delighted, he honoured him with gold and
garments. And summoning his chief minister Yaugandharáyana, he said to
him, "The daughter of king Kalingadatta, who is called Kalingasená,
and whose beauty is famed on the earth, has come of her own accord
to choose me as a husband; so tell me quickly, when shall I marry
her, for she is not to be rejected?" The minister Yaugandharáyana,
when the king of Vatsa said this to him, regarding what would be best
for his master in the long run, reflected for a moment as follows:
[484] "Kalingasená is certainly famed for beauty in the three worlds,
there is no other like her; even the gods are in love with her. If
this king of Vatsa obtain her, he will abandon everything else, and
then the queen Vásavadattá will lose her life, and then the prince
Naraváhanadatta will perish, and Padmávatí out of love for him will
find life hard to retain: and then Chandamahásena and Pradyota, the
fathers of the two queens, will lose their lives or become hostile;
and thus utter ruin will follow. On the other hand it will not do to
forbid the match, since the vicious passion of this king will increase
if he is thwarted. So I will put off the time of his marriage in order
to attain a favourable issue." Having thus reflected, Yaugandharáyana
said to the king of Vatsa, "O king, you are fortunate in that this
Kalingasená has of her own accord come to your house, and the king, her
father, has become your servant. So you must consult the astrologers,
and marry her in accordance with good custom at an auspicious time,
for she is the daughter of a great king. To-day give her a suitable
palace to dwell in by herself, and send her male and female slaves,
and robes and ornaments." When his chief minister gave him this
advice, the king of Vatsa approved it, and with glad heart performed
it all with special attention. Then Kalingasená entered the palace
assigned her for residence, and considering her desire attained,
was exceedingly delighted.
The wise Yaugandharáyana, for his part, immediately left the king's
court, went to his own house, and reflected--"Often procrastination
serves to avert an inauspicious measure. For long ago, when Indra
had fled on account of having caused the death of a Bráhman, and
Nahusha obtained the sovereignty over the gods, he fell in love
with Sachí, [485] and she was saved by the preceptor of the gods
[486], to whom she had fled for refuge. For in order to gain time,
he kept saying--'She will come to you to-day or to-morrow,'--until
Nahusha was destroyed by the curse of a Bráhman, uttered with an
angry roar, and Indra regained the sovereignty of the gods. In the
same way I must keep putting off my master." Having thus reflected,
the minister secretly made an arrangement with the astrologers that
they were to fix a distant date.
Then the queen Vásavadattá found out what had taken place, and
summoned the prime-minister to her palace. When he entered and bowed
before her, the queen said to him, weeping--"Noble sir, you said to
me long ago, 'Queen, as long as I remain where I am, you shall have
no other rival but Padmávatí,' and observe now, this Kalingasená is
about to be married here: and she is beautiful, and my husband is
attached to her, so you have proved a prophet of falsehood and I am
now a dead woman." When the minister Yaugandharáyana heard this, he
said to her--"Be composed, for how could this happen, queen, while
I am alive? However, you must not oppose the king in this matter,
but must on the contrary take refuge in self-restraint, and shew him
all complaisance. The sick man is not induced to place himself in the
physician's hands by disagreeable speeches, but he is by agreeable
speeches, if the physician does his work by a conciliatory method. If
a man is dragged against the current, he will never escape from the
stream of a river, or from a vicious tendency, but if he is carried
with the current, he will escape from both. So when the king comes
into your presence, receive him with all attentions, without anger,
concealing your real feelings. Approve at present of his marrying
Kalingasená, saying that his kingdom will be made more powerful by
her father also becoming his ally. And if you do this, the king will
perceive that you possess in a high degree the virtue of magnanimity,
and his love and courtesy towards you will increase, and thinking
that Kalingasená is within his reach, he will not be impatient, for
the desire of a man for any object increases if he is restrained. And
you must teach this lesson to Padmávatí also, O blameless one, and so
that king may submit to our putting him off in this matter. And after
this, I ween, you will behold my skill in stratagem. For the wise are
tested in difficulty, even as heroes are tested in fight. So, queen,
do not be despondent." In these words Yaugandharáyana admonished the
queen, and, as she received his counsels with respect, he departed
thence. [487] But the king of Vatsa, throughout that day, neither in
light nor darkness entered the private apartments of either of the
two queens, for his mind was eager for a new well-matched union with
Kalingasená, who had approached him in such an ardour of spontaneous
choice. And then the queen and the prime-minister and the king and
Kalingasená spent the night in wakefulness like that of a great feast,
apart in their respective houses, the second couple through impatience
for a rare delight, and the first through very profound anxiety.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Then the artful minister Yaugandharáyana came the next morning to
the king of Vatsa, who was expecting him, and made the following
representation--"O king, why do you not immediately enquire about
an auspicious moment for celebrating the happy marriage of your
highness with Kalingasená, the daughter of Kalingadatta, the king
of Takshasilá?" [488] When the king heard that, he said--"The same
desire is fixed in my heart, for my mind cannot endure to remain a
moment without her." Having said this, the simple-hearted monarch
gave orders to a warder, who stood before him, and summoned the
astrologers. When he questioned them, they, having had their cue
previously given them by the prime minister, said, "For the king
there will be a favourable moment in six months from this time."
When Yaugandharáyana heard this, he pretended to be angry, and the
cunning fellow said to the king, "Out on these blockheads! That
astrologer, whom your highness previously honoured on the ground of
his cleverness, has not come to-day, ask him, and then do what is
proper." When he heard this speech of his minister's, the king of
Vatsa immediately summoned that very astrologer with mind in an agony
of suspense. He also stuck to his agreement, and in order to put off
the day of the marriage he named when asked, after some reflection,
a moment six months off. Then Yaugandharáyana pretending to be
distracted, said to the king--"Let your majesty command what is to
be done in this matter!" The king, being impatient and longing for a
favourable moment, said, after reflecting--"You must ask Kalingasená,
and see what she says." When Yaugandharáyana heard this, he took with
him two astrologers and went into the presence of Kalingasená. She
received him politely, and beholding her beauty, he reflected--"If
the king were to obtain her, he would abandon the whole kingdom in
his reckless passion." And he said to her, "I am come with these
astrologers to fix the moment of your marriage; so let these servants
inform me of the particular star in the lunar mansions under which
you were born." When the astrologers heard the lunar mansion stated