The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
house, Gomukha and the others came to him. But Marubhúti, being a
little sluggish with intoxication produced by drinking spirits,
approached slowly, decorated with flowers, and anointed with
unguents. Then Gomukha, with face amused at his novel conception
of statesman-like behaviour, out of fun ridiculed him by imitating
his stammering utterance and staggering gait, and said to him, "How
comes it that you, though the son of Yaugandharáyana, do not know
policy, that you drink spirits in the morning, and come drunk into
the presence of the prince?" When the intoxicated Marubhúti heard
this, he said to him in his anger, "This should be said to me by the
prince or some superior. But, tell me, who are you that you take upon
you to instruct me, you son of Ityaka?" When he said this, Gomukha
replied to him smiling, "Do princes reprove with their own mouths
an ill-behaved servant? Undoubtedly their attendants must remind
him of what is proper. And it is true that I am the son of Ityaka,
but you are an ox of ministers, [585] your sluggishness alone would
show it; the only fault is that you have no horns." When Gomukha said
this to him Marubhúti answered, "You too, Gomukha, have much of the
ox-nature about you; but you are clearly of mixed breed, for you are
not properly domesticated." When all laughed at hearing this, Gomukha
said, "This Marubhúti is literally a jewel, for who can introduce the
thread of virtue [586] into that which cannot be pierced even by a
thousand efforts? But a jewel of a man is a different kind of thing,
for that is easily penetrated; as an illustration listen to the story
of the bridge of sand."
Story of Tapodatta.
There lived in Pratishthána a Bráhman of the name of Tapodatta. He,
though his father kept worrying him, would not learn the sciences
in his boyhood. Subsequently he found himself censured by all, and
being filled with regret, he went to the bank of the Ganges, in order
to perform asceticism for the acquisition of knowledge. [587] There
he betook himself to severe mortification of the flesh, and while he
was thus engaged, Indra, who had beheld him with astonishment, came
to him to prevent him, disguised as a Bráhman. And when he had come
near him, he kept taking grains of sand from the bank, and throwing
them into the billowy water of the Ganges. When Tapodatta saw that,
he broke his silence, and asked him out of curiosity--"Bráhman, why do
you do this unceasingly?" And Indra, disguised as a Bráhman, when he
had been persistently questioned by him, said, "I am making a bridge
over the Ganges for man and beast to cross by." Then Tapodatta said,
"You fool, is it possible to make a bridge over the Ganges with sand,
which will be carried away at some future time by the current?" When
Indra, disguised as a Bráhman, heard that, he said to him--"If you
know this truth, why do you attempt to acquire knowledge by vows and
fasting, without reading or hearing lectures? The horn of a hare
[588] may really exist, and the sky may be adorned with painting,
and writing may be performed without letters, if learning may be
acquired without study. If it could be so acquired, no one in this
world would study at all." When Indra, disguised as a Bráhman, had
said this to Tapodatta, Tapodatta reflected, and thinking that he
had spoken truth, put a stop to his self-mortification, and went home.
"So, you see, a wise man is easily made to listen to reason, but the
foolish Marubhúti cannot be induced to listen to reason, but when
you admonish him, he flies into a passion." When Gomukha said this,
Harisikha said before the company--"It is true, O king, that the wise
are easily induced to listen to reason."
Story of Virúpasarman.
For instance, there lived of old time in Benares a certain excellent
Bráhman, named Virúpasarman, who was deformed and poor. And he, being
despondent about his misshapen form and his poverty, went to the
grove of ascetics there, and began to practise severe mortification
of the flesh, through desire for beauty and wealth. Then the king
of the gods [589] assumed the vile shape of a deformed jackal with
a diseased body, and went and stood in front of him. When he saw
that unfortunate [590] creature with its body covered with flies,
Virúpasarman slowly reflected in his mind,--"Such creatures are born
into the world on account of actions done in a former life, so is it
a small thing for me that I was not made thus by the Creator? Who can
overstep the lot prescribed by destiny?" When Virúpasarman perceived
this, he brought his self-mortification to an end and went home.
"So true is it, O king, that a wise man is instructed with little
effort, but one, whose mind is void of discernment, is not instructed
even with great exertion." Thus spoke Harisikha, and Gomukha assented,
but Marubhúti, who was drunk and did not understand a joke, said
in great anger, "There is power in the speech of Gomukha, but there
is no might in the arms of men like you. A garrulous, quarrelsome,
effeminate person makes heroes blush." When Marubhúti said this, being
eager for a fight, king Naraváhanadatta, with a smile on his face,
himself tried to appease him, and after dismissing him to his house,
the king, who loved the friends of his youth, performed the duties of
the day, and so spent it in great comfort. And the next day, when all
these ministers came, and among them Marubhúti bowed down with shame,
his beloved Ratnaprabhá spake thus to the prince: "You, my husband,
are very fortunate in that you have these pure-hearted ministers bound
to you by the fetters of a love dating from early childhood, and they
are happy in possessing such an affectionate master; you have been
gained by one another through actions in a former state of existence;
of that there can be no doubt." When the queen said this, Tapantaka
the son of Vasantaka, the companion in amusements of Naraváhanadatta,
remarked--"It is true; our master has been gained by our actions in
a former life. For every thing depends upon the power of actions in
a former life--Hear in illustration of it the following tale."
Story of king Vilásasíla and the physician Tarunachandra.
There dwelt in a city named Vilásapura, the home of Siva, a king
rightly named Vilásasíla. [591] He had a queen named Kamalaprabhá,
whom he valued as his life, and he long remained with her addicted
to pleasure only. Then in course of time there came upon the king
old age, the thief of beauty, and when he beheld it, he was sorely
grieved. He thought to himself--"How can I shew to the queen my face
marred with grey hairs like a snow-smitten lotus? Alas! it is better
that I should die." Busied with reflections like these, the king
summoned into his hall of audience a physician named Tarunachandra
[592] and thus spake to him respectfully--"My good man, because
you are clever and devoted to me, I ask you whether there is any
artifice by which this old age can be averted." When Tarunachandra,
who was rightly named as being only of the magnitude of one digit,
and desiring to become a full moon, heard that, the cunning fellow
reflected--"I must make my profit out of this blockhead of a king, and
I shall soon discover the means of doing it." Having thus reflected,
the physician said to the king: "If you will remain in an underground
chamber alone, O king, for eight months, and take this medicine,
I engage to remove your old age." [593] When the king heard this,
he had such an underground chamber prepared, for fools intent on
objects of sense cannot endure reflection. But the ministers used
arguments like the following with him--"O king, by the goodness and
asceticism and self-denial of men of old time, and by the virtue
of the age, elixirs were produced. But these forest remedies, [594]
which we hear of now, O king, owing to the want of proper materials,
produce the opposite effect to that which is intended, and this is
quite in accordance with the treatises; for rogues do in this way make
sport with fools. Does time past ever return, O king?"--Still these
arguments did not penetrate into his soul, for it was encased in the
thick armour of violent sensual desire. And in accordance with the
advice of that physician, he entered that underground chamber alone,
excluding the numerous retinue that usually waits upon a king. And
alone with one servant belonging to that physician, he made himself
a slave to the taking of drugs and the rest of the treatment. And
the king remained there in that dark subterranean den, which seemed
as if it were the overflowing, through abundance, of the ignorance of
his heart. And after the king had spent six months in that underground
chamber, that wicked physician, seeing that his senility had increased,
brought a certain young man who resembled him in appearance, with whom
he had agreed that he would make him king. Then he dug a tunnel into
that underground chamber from a distance, and after killing the king
in his sleep, he brought his corpse out by the underground passage,
and threw it into a dark well. All this was done at night. And by
the same tunnel he introduced that young man into the underground
chamber, and closed that tunnel. What audacious wickedness will not
a low fellow, who is held in check by no restraints, commit, when he
gets a favourable chance of practising upon fools? Then, the next day,
the physician said to all the subjects,--"This king has been made young
again by me in six months, and in two months his form will be changed
again--So show yourselves to him now at a little distance." Thus he
spake, and brought them all to the door of the underground chamber,
and shewed them to the young man, telling him at the same time their
names and occupations. By this artifice he kept instructing that young
man in the underground chamber in the names of all the subjects every
day for two months, not excepting even the inhabitants of the harem.
And when a fitting time came, he brought the young man, after he
had been well fed, [595] out of the subterranean chamber, saying,
"This king has become young again." And then the young man was
surrounded by the delighted subjects, who exclaimed "This is our own
king restored by drugs." Then the young man, having thus obtained
the kingdom, bathed, and performed with much pleasure by the help of
his ministers the kingly duties. And from that time forth he lived
in much felicity, transacting regal business, and sporting with the
ladies of the harem, having obtained the name of Ajara. [596] And all
the subjects considered that he was their former king transformed by
drugs, not guessing the truth, and not suspecting the proceedings
of the physician. And king Ajara, having gained over the subjects
and the queen Kamalaprabhá by kind treatment, enjoyed the royal
fortune together with his friends. Then he summoned a friend called
Bheshajachandra and another called Padmadarsana, and made both of
them like himself, satisfying them with gifts of elephants, horses,
and villages. And he honoured the physician Tarunachandra on account
of the advancement he had conferred on him, but he did not repose
confidence in him because his soul had fallen from truth and virtue.
And once on a time the physician of his own motion said to the king,
"Why do you make me of no account and act independently? Have you
forgotten the occasion on which I made you king?" When king Ajara heard
that, he said to the physician, "Ha! you are a fool: what man does
anything for any one, or gives anything to any one? My friend, it is
our deeds in a former state of existence that give and do. Therefore
do not boast yourself, for this elevation I attained by asceticism:
and I will soon shew you this by ocular proof." When he said this to
the physician, the latter reflected as one terrified--"This man is