The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
god-like acuteness." When he had said this, Vyádi departed to give
that fee to his preceptor, and immediately Yogananda sent for me and
made me his minister. Then I said to the king, "Though your caste as a
Bráhman has been taken from you, I do not consider your throne secure
as long as Sakatála remains in office, therefore destroy him by some
stratagem." When I had given him this advice, Yogananda threw Sakatála
into a dark dungeon, and his hundred sons with him, [61] proclaiming
as his crime that he had burnt a Bráhman alive. One porringer of
barley-meal and one of water was placed inside the dungeon every day
for Sakatála and his sons, and thereupon he said to them;--"My sons,
even one man alone would with difficulty subsist on this barley-meal,
much less can a number of people do so. Therefore let that one of us,
who is able to take vengeance on Yogananda, consume every day the
barley-meal and the water." His sons answered him, "You alone are
able to punish him, therefore do you consume them." For vengeance is
dearer to the resolute than life itself. So Sakatála alone subsisted
on that meal and water every day. Alas! those whose souls are set
on victory are cruel. Sakatála in the dark dungeon, beholding the
death agonies of his starving sons, thought to himself, "A man who
desires his own welfare should not act in an arbitrary manner towards
the powerful, without fathoming their character and acquiring their
confidence." Accordingly his hundred sons perished before his eyes,
and he alone remained alive surrounded by their skeletons. Then
Yogananda took firm root in his kingdom. And Vyádi approached him after
giving the present to his teacher, and after coming near to him said,
"May thy rule, my friend, last long! I take my leave of thee, I go to
perform austerities somewhere." Hearing that, Yogananda, with his voice
choked with tears, said to him, "Stop thou, and enjoy pleasures in my
kingdom, do not go and desert me." Vyádi answered--"King! Life comes to
an end in a moment. What wise man, I pray you, drowns himself in these
hollow and fleeting enjoyments? Prosperity, a desert mirage, does not
turn the head of the wise man." Saying this he went away that moment
resolved to mortify his flesh with austerities. Then that Yogananda
went to his metropolis Pátaliputra, for the purpose of enjoyment,
accompanied by me, and surrounded with his whole army. So I, having
attained prosperity, lived for a long time in that state, waited upon
by Upakosá, and bearing the burden of the office of prime-minister
to that king, accompanied by my mother and my preceptors. There the
Ganges, propitiated by my austerities, gave me every day much wealth,
and Sarasvatí present in bodily form told me continually what measures
to adopt.
CHAPTER V.
Having said this, Vararuchi continued his tale as follows:--
In course of time Yogananda became enslaved by his passions, and like
a mad elephant he disregarded every restraint. Whom will not a sudden
access of prosperity intoxicate? Then I reflected with myself, "The
king has burst all bonds, and my own religious duties are neglected
being interfered with by my care for his affairs, therefore it is
better for me to draw out that Sakatála from his dungeon and make
him my colleague in the ministry; even if he tries to oppose me,
what harm can he do as long as I am in office?" Having resolved on
this I asked permission of the king, and drew Sakatála out of the
deep dungeon. Bráhmans are always soft-hearted. Now the discreet
Sakatála made up his mind, that it would be difficult to overthrow
Yogananda as long as I was in office, and that he had accordingly
better imitate the cane which bends with the current, and watch a
favourable moment for vengeance, so at my request he resumed the
office of minister and managed the king's affairs.
Once on a time Yogananda went outside the city, and beheld in the
middle of the Ganges a hand, the five fingers of which were closely
pressed together. That moment he summoned me and said, "What does
this mean?" But I displayed two of my fingers in the direction of
the hand. Thereupon that hand disappeared, and the king, exceedingly
astonished, again asked me what this meant, and I answered him,
"That hand meant to say, by shewing its five fingers, 'What cannot
five men united effect in this world?' Then I, king, shewed it these
two fingers, wishing to indicate that nothing is impossible when even
two men are of one mind." When I uttered this solution of the riddle
the king was delighted, and Sakatála was despondent seeing that my
intellect would be difficult to circumvent.
One day Yogananda saw his queen leaning out of the window and asking
questions of a Bráhman guest that was looking up. That trivial
circumstance threw the king into a passion, and he gave orders that
the Bráhman should be put to death; for jealousy interferes with
discernment. Then as that Bráhman was being led off to the place
of execution in order that he might be put to death, a fish in the
market laughed aloud, though it was dead. [62] The king hearing it
immediately prohibited for the present the execution of that Bráhman,
and asked me the reason why the fish laughed. I replied that I would
tell him after I had thought over the matter; and after I had gone out
Sarasvatí came to me secretly on my thinking of her and gave me this
advice; "Take up a position on the top of this palm tree at night so as
not to be observed, and thou shalt without doubt hear the reason why
the fish laughed." Hearing this I went at night to that very place,
and ensconced myself on the top of the palm tree, and saw a terrible
female Rákshasa coming past with her children; when they asked her
for food, she said, "Wait, and I will give you to-morrow morning the
flesh of a Bráhman, he was not killed to-day." [63] They said to their
mother, "Why was he not killed to-day?" Then she replied, "He was not
executed because a fish in the town, though dead, laughed when it saw
him." The sons said, "Why did the fish laugh?" She continued, "The
fish of course said to himself--all the king's wives are dissolute,
for in every part of this harem there are men dressed up as women,
and nevertheless while these escape, an innocent Bráhman is to be put
to death--and this tickled the fish so that he laughed. For demons
assume these disguises, insinuating themselves into everything, and
laughing at the exceeding want of discernment of kings." After I had
heard that speech of the female Rákshasa I went away from thence, and
in the morning I informed the king why the fish laughed. The king after
detecting in the harem those men clothed as women, looked upon me with
great respect, and released that Bráhman from the sentence of death.
I was disgusted by seeing this and other lawless proceedings on the
part of the king, and, while I was in this frame of mind, there
came to court a new painter. He painted on a sheet of canvas the
principal queen and Yogananda, and that picture of his looked as if
it were alive, it only lacked speech and motion. And the king being
delighted loaded that painter with wealth, and had the painting set
up on a wall in his private apartments. Now one day when I entered
into the king's private apartments, it occurred to me that the
painting of the queen did not represent all her auspicious marks;
from the arrangement of the other marks I conjectured by means of
my acuteness that there ought to be a spot where the girdle comes,
and I painted one there. Then I departed after thus giving the queen
all her lucky marks. Then Yogananda entered and saw that spot, and
asked his chamberlains who had painted it. And they indicated me to
him as the person who had painted it. Yogananda thus reflected while
burning with anger; "No one except myself knows of that spot, which
is in a part of the queen's body usually concealed, then how can this
Vararuchi have come thus to know it? [64] No doubt he has secretly
corrupted my harem, and this is how he came to see there those men
disguised as women." Foolish men often find such coincidences. Then of
his own motion he summoned Sakatála, and gave him the following order:
"You must put Vararuchi to death for seducing the queen." Sakatála
said, "Your Majesty's orders shall be executed," and went out of the
palace, reflecting, "I should not have power to put Vararuchi to death,
for he possesses godlike force of intellect; and he delivered me from
calamity; moreover he is a Bráhman, therefore I had better hide him and
win him over to my side." Having formed this resolution, he came and
told me of the king's causeless wrath which had ended in his ordering
my execution, and thus concluded, "I will have some one else put to
death in order that the news may get abroad, and do you remain hidden
in my house to protect me from this passionate king." In accordance
with this proposal of his, I remained concealed in his house, and he
had some one else put to death at night in order that the report of
my death might be spread. [65] When he had in this way displayed his
statecraft, I said to him out of affection, "You have shewn yourself an
unrivalled minister in that you did not attempt to put me to death;
for I cannot be slain, since I have a Rákshasa to friend, and he
will come, on being only thought of, and at my request will devour
the whole world. As for this king he is a friend of mine, being a
Bráhman named Indradatta, and he ought not to be slain." Hearing
this, that minister said--"Shew me the Rákshasa." Then I shewed
him that Rákshasa who came with a thought; and on beholding him,
Sakatála was astonished and terrified. And when the Rákshasa had
disappeared, Sakatála again asked me--"How did the Rákshasa become
your friend?" Then I said--"Long ago the heads of the police as they
went through the city night after night on inspecting duty, perished
one by one. On hearing that, Yogananda made me head of the police,
and as I was on my rounds at night, I saw a Rákshasa roaming about,
and he said to me, "Tell me, who is considered the best-looking woman
in this city?" When I heard that, I burst out laughing and said--"You
fool, any woman is good-looking to the man who admires her." Hearing
my answer, he said--"You are the only man that has beaten me." And
now that I had escaped death by solving his riddle, [66] he again
said to me, "I am pleased with you, henceforth you are my friend,
and I will appear to you when you call me to mind." Thus he spoke and
disappeared, and I returned by the way that I came. Thus the Rákshasa
has become my friend, and my ally in trouble. When I had said this,
Sakatála made a second request to me, and I shewed him the goddess
of the Ganges in human form who came when I thought of her. And that
goddess disappeared when she had been gratified by me with hymns of
praise. But Sakatála became from thenceforth my obedient ally.
Now once on a time that minister said to me when my state of
concealment weighed upon my spirits; "why do you, although you know
all things, abandon yourself to despondency? Do you not know that
the minds of kings are most undiscerning, and in a short time you
will be cleared from all imputations; [67] in proof of which listen
to the following tale:--
The story of Sivavarman.
There reigned here long ago a king named Ádityavarman, and he had a
very wise minister, named Sivavarman. Now it came to pass that one
of that king's queens became pregnant, and when he found it out,
the king said to the guards of the harem, "It is now two years since
I entered this place, then how has this queen become pregnant? Tell
me." Then they said, "No man except your minister Sivavarman is
allowed to enter here, but he enters without any restriction." When
he heard that, the king thought,--"Surely he is guilty of treason