The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
to derive from offering the vilva fruits. Then the Bráhman blessed
the king and said to him, "I am a Bráhman named Nágasarman, and bear
the fruit I hope from my sacrifice. When the god of Fire is pleased
with this vilva sacrifice, then vilva fruits of gold will come out
of the fire-cavity. Then the god of Fire will appear in bodily form
and grant me a boon; and so I have spent much time in offering vilva
fruits. But so little is my merit that even now the god of Fire is not
propitiated." When he said this, that king of resolute valour answered
him--"Then give me one vilva fruit that I may offer it, and I will
to-day, O Bráhman, render the god of Fire propitious to you." Then
the Bráhman said to the king, "How will you, unchastened and impure,
propitiate that god of Fire, who is not satisfied with me, who remain
thus faithful to my vow, and am chastened?" When the Bráhman said this
to him, the king said to him again, "Never mind, give me a vilva fruit,
and in a moment you shall behold a wonder." Then the Bráhman, full
of curiosity, gave a vilva fruit to the king, and he then and there
meditated with soul of firm valour--"If thou art not satisfied with
this vilva fruit, O god of Fire, then I will offer thee my own head,"
and thereupon offered the fruit. And the seven-rayed god appeared from
the sacrificial cavity, bringing the king a golden vilva fruit as the
fruit of his tree of valour. And the Fire-god, present in visible form,
said to that king--"I am pleased with thy courage, so receive a boon,
O king." When the magnanimous king heard that, he bowed before him and
said--"Grant this Bráhman his wish. What other boon do I require?" On
hearing this speech of the king's, the Fire-god was much pleased and
said to him--"O king, this Bráhman shall become a great lord of wealth,
and thou also by my favour shalt have the prosperity of thy treasury
ever undiminished." When the Fire-god had, in these words, bestowed
the boon, the Bráhman asked him this question; "Thou hast appeared
swiftly to a king that acts according to his own will, but not to me
that am under vows: why is this, O revered one?" Then the Fire-god,
the giver of boons, answered--"If I had not granted him an interview,
this king of fierce courage would have offered his head in sacrifice to
me. In this world successes quickly befall those of fierce spirit, but
they come slowly, O Bráhman, to those of dull spirit like thee." Thus
spake the god of Fire, and vanished, and the Bráhman Nágasarman took
leave of the king and in course of time became very rich. But the
king Vikramatunga, whose courage had been thus seen by his dependents,
returned amid their plaudits to his town of Pátaliputra.
When the king was dwelling there, the warder Satrunjaya entered
suddenly one day, and said secretly to him; "There is standing at
the door, O king, a Bráhman lad, who says his name is Dattasarman,
he wishes to make a representation to you in private." The king gave
the order to introduce him, and the lad was introduced, and after
blessing the king, he bowed before him, and sat down. And he made
this representation--"King, by a certain device of powder I know
how to make always excellent gold out of copper. For that device was
shewn me by my spiritual teacher, and I saw with my own eyes that he
made gold by that device." When the lad said this, the king ordered
copper to be brought, and when it was melted, the lad threw the powder
upon it. But while the powder was being thrown, an invisible Yaksha
carried it off, and the king alone saw him, having propitiated the
god of Fire. And that copper did not turn into gold, as the powder
did not reach it; thrice did the lad make the attempt and thrice his
labour was in vain. Then the king, first of brave men, took the powder
from the desponding lad, and himself threw it on the melted copper;
when he threw the powder, the Yaksha did not intercept it, but went
away smiling. Accordingly the copper became gold by contact with that
powder. Then the boy, astonished, asked the king for an explanation,
and the king told him the incident of the Yaksha, just as he had seen
it. And having learned in this way the device of the powder from that
lad, the king made him marry a wife, and gave him all he wished, and
having his treasury prosperously filled by means of the gold produced
by that device, he himself enjoyed great happiness together with his
wives, and made Bráhmans rich.
"Thus you see that the Lord grants their desires to men of fierce
courage, seeming to be either terrified or pleased by them. And who,
O king, is of more firm valour or more generous than you? So Siva, when
propitiated by you, will certainly give you a son; do not sorrow." The
king Hemaprabha, when he heard this noble speech from the mouth of
queen Alankáraprabhá, believed it and was pleased. And he considered
that his own heart, radiant with cheerfulness, indicated that he would
certainly obtain a son by propitiating Siva. The next day after this,
he and his wife bathed and worshipped Siva, and he gave 90 millions of
gold-pieces to the Bráhmans, and without taking food he went through
ascetic practices in front of Siva, determined that he would either
leave the body or propitiate the god, and continuing in asceticism,
he praised the giver of boons, the husband of the daughter of the
mountain, [531] that lightly gave away the sea of milk to his votary
Upamanyu, saying, "Honour to thee, O husband of Gaurí, who art the
cause of the creation, preservation, and destruction of the world,
who dost assume the eight special forms of ether and the rest. [532]
Honour to thee, who sleepest on the ever-expanded lotus of the heart,
that art Sambhu, the swan dwelling in the pure Mánasa lake. [533]
Honour to thee, the exceeding marvellous Moon, of divine brightness,
pure, of watery substance, to be beheld by those whose sins are
put away; to thee whose beloved is half thy body, [534] and who
nevertheless art supremely chaste. Honour to thee who didst create
the world by a wish, and art thyself the world."
When the king had praised Siva in these words and fasted for three
nights, the god appeared to him in a dream, and spake as follows:
"Rise up, O king, there shall be born to thee a heroic son that
shall uphold thy race. And thou shalt also obtain by the favour of
Gaurí, a glorious daughter who is destined to be the queen of that
treasure-house of glory, Naraváhanadatta, your future emperor." When
Siva had said this, he disappeared, and Hemaprabha woke up, delighted,
at the close of night. And by telling his dream he gladdened his
wife Alankáraprabhá, who had been told the same by Gaurí in a dream,
and dwelt on the agreement of the two visions. And then the king rose
up and bathed and worshipped Siva, and after giving gifts, broke his
fast, and kept high festival.
Then, after some days had passed, the queen Alankáraprabhá became
pregnant by that king, and delighted her beloved by her face redolent
of honey, with wildly rolling eyes, so that it resembled a pale lotus
with bees hovering round it. Then she gave birth in due time to a son,
(whose noble lineage was proclaimed by the elevated longings of her
pregnancy,) as the sky gives birth to the orb of day. As soon as he
was born, the lying-in chamber was illuminated by his might, and
so was made red as vermilion. And his father gave to that infant,
that brought terror to the families of his enemies, the name of
Vajraprabha, that had been appointed for him by a divine voice. Then
the boy grew by degrees, being filled with accomplishments, and causing
the exultation of his family, as the new moon fills out with digits,
[535] and causes the sea to rise.
Then, not long after, the queen of that king Hemaprabha again became
pregnant. And when she was pregnant, she sat upon a golden throne,
and became truly the jewel of the harem, adding special lustre to
her settings. And in a chariot, in the shape of a beautiful lotus,
manufactured by help of magic science, she roamed about in the sky,
since her pregnant longings assumed that form. But when the due
time came, a daughter was born to that queen, whose birth by the
favour of Gaurí was a sufficient guarantee of her loveliness. And
this voice was then heard from heaven--"She shall be the wife of
Naraváhanadatta"--which agreed with the words of Siva's revelation. And
the king was just as much delighted at her birth as he was at that
of his son, and gave her the name of Ratnaprabhá. And Ratnaprabhá,
adorned with her own science, grew up in the house of her father,
producing illumination in all the quarters of the sky. Then the king
made his son Vajraprabha, who had begun to wear armour, take a wife,
and appointed him crown-prince. And he devolved on him the burden of
the kingdom and remained at ease; but still one anxiety lingered in
his heart, anxiety about the marriage of his daughter.
One day the king beheld that daughter, who was fit to be given away
in marriage, sitting near him, and said to the queen Alankáraprabhá,
who was in his presence; "Observe, queen, a daughter is a great misery
in the three worlds, even though she is the ornament of her family,
a misery, alas! even to the great. For this Ratnaprabhá, though
modest, learned, young and beautiful, afflicts me because she has not
obtained a husband." The queen said to him--"She was proclaimed by the
gods as the destined wife of Naraváhanadatta, our future emperor,
why is she not given to him?" When the queen said this to him,
the king answered: "In truth the maiden is fortunate, that shall
obtain him for a bridegroom. For he is an incarnation of Káma upon
earth, but he has not as yet attained his divine nature: therefore
I am now waiting for his attainment of superhuman knowledge." [536]
While he was thus speaking, Ratnaprabhá, by means of those accents of
her father, which entered her ear like the words of the bewildering
spell of the god of love, became as if bewildered, as if possessed,
as if asleep, as if in a picture, and her heart was captivated by
that bridegroom. Then with difficulty she took a respectful leave
of her parents, and went to her own private apartments, and managed
at length to get to sleep at the end of the night. Then the goddess
Gaurí, being full of pity for her, gave her this command in a dream;
"To-morrow, my daughter, is an auspicious day; so thou must go to the
city of Kausámbí and see thy future husband, and thence thy father,
O auspicious one, will himself bring thee and him into this his city,
and celebrate your marriage." So in the morning, when she woke up,
she told that dream to her mother. Then her mother gave her leave to
go, and she, knowing by her superhuman knowledge that her bridegroom
was in the garden, set out from her own city to visit him.
"Thou knowest, O my husband, that I am that Ratnaprabhá, arrived to-day
in a moment, full of impatience, and you all know the sequel." When
he heard this speech of hers, that in sweetness exceeded nectar,
and beheld the body of the Vidyádharí that was ambrosia to the
eyes, Naraváhanadatta in his heart blamed the Creator, saying to
himself--"Why did he not make me all eye and ear?" And he said to
her--"Fortunate am I; my birth and life has obtained its fruit,
in that I, O beautiful one, have been thus visited by thee out of
affection!" When they had thus exchanged the protestations of new
love, suddenly the army of the Vidyádharas was beheld there in the
heaven. Ratnaprabhá said immediately, "Here is my father come," and
the king Hemaprabha descended from heaven with his son. And with his
son Vajraprabha he approached that Naraváhanadatta, who gave him a
courteous welcome. And while they stood for a moment paying one another
the customary compliments, the king of Vatsa, who had heard of it,