The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
so far from there being any reason for it, this king will obtain a
great divine body free from old age and sickness. Moreover you are all
Dánavas, and by merely entering Rasátala, [638] and drinking nectar,
you will obtain divine bodies free from sickness." When the ministers
heard this speech of Maya's, they all said, "So be it," and consented
to his proposal, abandoning their apprehensions out of the confidence
they reposed in him. And by his advice, Chandraprabha, with all the
kings, went on the next day to the confluence of the Chandrabhágá
and the Airávatí. [639] There Chandraprabha left the kings outside,
and committed to their care the wives of Súryaprabha, and then he
entered in company with Súryaprabha, the queen, and the ministers
with Siddhártha at their head, an opening in the water pointed out
by Maya, and after entering he travelled a long distance, and beheld
a heavenly temple, and entered it with all of them.
And in the meanwhile the Vidyádharas descended with troops on those
kings, who were remaining there outside the opening; and paralyzing the
kings by supernatural arts, they carried off the wives of Súryaprabha,
and immediately a voice was heard from the sky--"Wicked Srutasarman,
if you touch these wives of the emperor, you shall immediately perish
with your host. So guard them respectfully, treating them like your
mother; there is a reason for my not immediately slaying you and
setting them free; so let them remain as they are at present." And
when the kings, Vírabhata and the others, saw them carried off, they
prepared to die by fighting with one another. But a voice from heaven
forbade their attempt, saying, "No harm will befall these daughters
of yours, you shall obtain them again, so you must not act rashly,
prosperity befall you!" So the kings remained waiting there. In the
meantime Chandraprabha was in the temple in Pátála surrounded by all
his companions, and there Maya said to him, "King, listen attentively
to this wonderful thing; I will shew you the supernatural art of
entering another body." He said this, and recited the Sánkhya and
the Yoga doctrine with its secrets, and taught him the magic art of
entering another body; and that chief of Yogins said--"This is the
famous supernatural power, and the independence of knowledge, the
dominion over matter that is characterized by lightness and the other
mystic properties. The chief of the gods, possessing this power, do
not long for liberation; in order to obtain this power others endure
the hardship of muttering prayers and performing asceticism. Men of
lofty soul do not love the pleasures of heaven even when attained. And
listen, I will tell you a story in illustration of this."
Story of the Bráhman Kála.
In a former Kalpa [640] there was a certain Bráhman, of the name of
Kála. He went to the holy bathing-place Pushkara and muttered prayers
day and night. While he was muttering, two myriads of years of the
gods passed away. Then there appeared a great light inseparable from
his head, which, streaming forth in the firmament like ten thousand
suns, [641] impeded the movement of the Siddhas and others there, and
set the three worlds on fire. Then Brahmá, Indra and the other gods
came to him and said--"Bráhman, these worlds are on fire with your
brightness. Receive whatever boon you desire." He answered them--"Let
me have no other pleasure than muttering prayers, this is my boon,
I choose nothing else." When they importuned him, that mutterer of
prayers went far off and remained on the north side of the Himálayas,
muttering prayers. When this extraordinary brightness of his gradually
became intolerable even there, Indra sent heavenly nymphs to tempt
him. That self-restrained man did not care a straw about them,
when they endeavoured to seduce him. Then the gods sent him Death as
plenipotentiary. He came to him and said--"Bráhman, mortals do not live
so long, so abandon your life; do not break the law of nature." When
the Bráhman heard this, he said--"If the limit of my life is attained,
why do you not take me? What are you waiting for? But I will not of
myself abandon my life, O thou god with the noose in hand; indeed, if
I were wilfully to abandon my life, I should be a self-murderer." When
he said this, and Death found that he could not take him on account
of his power, he turned away from him and returned as he came. Then
Indra repenting seized that Kála, [642] who had conquered Time the
destroyer, in his arms, and took him up to heaven by force. There
he remained averse to the sensual enjoyments of the place, and he
did not cease from muttering prayers, so the gods made him descend
again, and he returned to the Himálayas. And while all the gods were
trying to induce him there to take a boon, the king Ikshváku came
that way. When he heard how affairs stood, he said to that mutterer
of prayers, "If you will not receive a boon from the gods, receive
one from me." When the mutterer of prayers heard that, he laughed,
and said to the king--"Are you able to grant me a boon, when I will
not receive one even from the gods?" Thus he spoke, and Ikshváku
answered the Bráhman--"If I am not able to grant you a boon, you can
grant me one; so grant me a boon." Then the mutterer said--"Choose
whatever you desire, and I will grant it." When the king heard this,
he reflected in his mind: "The appointed order is that I should give,
and that he should receive; this is an inversion of the due order,
that I should receive what he gives." Whilst the king was delaying, as
he pondered over this difficulty, two Bráhmans came there disputing;
when they saw the king they appealed to him for a decision. The
first said, "This Bráhman gave me a cow with a sacrificial fee:
why will he not receive it from my hand, when I offer to give it
back to him?" Then the other said, "I did not receive it first, and
I did not ask for it, then why does he wish to make me receive it by
force?" When the king heard this, he said--"This complainant is not
in the right; why, after receiving the cow, do you try to compel the
man, who gave it, to take it back from you?" When the king said this,
Indra, having found his opportunity, said to him--"King, if you hold
this view of what is right, then, after you have asked the Bráhman,
who mutters prayers, for a boon, why do you not take it from him when
it is granted?" Then the king, being at a loss for an answer, said
to that muttering Bráhman--"Revered sir, give me the fruit of half
your muttering as a boon." Then the muttering Bráhman said--"Very
well, receive the fruit of half my muttering," and so he gave the
king a boon. By means of that boon the king obtained access to all
the worlds, and that muttering Bráhman obtained the world of the
gods called Sivas. [643] There he remained for many kalpas, and then
returned to earth, and by mystic contemplation obtained independence,
and gained everlasting supernatural power.
"Thus this supernatural power is desired by wise men, who are averse
to heaven and such low enjoyments; and you have obtained it, O king,
so, being independent, enter your own body." When Maya said this to
king Chandraprabha, after communicating to him the doctrine of mystic
contemplation giving supernatural power, [644] he and his wife and
his son and his ministers rejoiced exceedingly.
Then the king, with his son and companions, was led by Maya to a second
under-world, and made to enter a splendid city. And there they saw a
gigantic hero, reclining at full length upon a beautiful couch, as if
asleep, anointed with potent herbs and ghee, awful from the ghastly
transformation of his features, surrounded by the daughters of the
kings of the Daityas, with their lotus-faces full of melancholy. Then
Maya said to Chandraprabha:--"This is your body, surrounded by
your former brides, enter it."--The king had recourse to the magic
contemplation taught by Maya, and entered the body of that hero,
abandoning his own frame. [645] Then the hero yawned slowly, opened
his eyes, and rose up from the bed, as if awaking out of sleep. Then
a shout arose from the delighted Asura brides, "Happy are we, that our
husband, the god Sunítha, is to-day restored to life." But Súryaprabha
and the others were immediately despondent, beholding the body of
Chandraprabha lying lifeless. But Chandraprabha-Sunítha, appearing as
if risen from a refreshing sleep, saw Maya, and falling at his feet
honoured his father. That father too embraced him and asked him in the
presence of all,--"Do you remember both your lives, my son?" He said;
"I do remember them," and related what had happened to him in his life
as Chandraprabha, and also what had happened to him in his life as
Sunítha, and he comforted one by one Súryaprabha and the others, and
also his queens, mentioning each by name, and also the Dánava ladies,
his wives in his first life. And he preserved the body, which he had
as Chandraprabha, carefully laid by, embalmed by means of drugs and
ghee, saying, "It may possibly be useful to me." Then Súryaprabha
and the others, tranquil now that they had gained confidence, bowed
before him, and joyfully congratulated him.
Then Maya, having conducted all of them in high delight out of that
city, led them to another city adorned with gold and jewels. When
they entered it, they beheld a lake of the appearance of beryl, filled
with nectar, and they all sat down on the bank of it. And they drank
that nectarous draught there, more excellent than the water of life,
in curiously ornamented cups formed of jewels, which were brought to
them by the wives of Sunítha. And by that draught they all rose up,
as from a sleep of intoxication, and became possessed of divine bodies,
and of great strength and courage.
Then the Asura Maya said to Chandraprabha-Sunítha, "Come, my son, let
us go, and see your mother after so long a separation." And Sunítha
said "So be it," and prepared to go conducted by Maya, and so proceeded
to the fourth under-world with Súryaprabha and the others. There they
beheld curious cities made of various metals, and at last they all
reached a city built entirely of gold. There, on a pillar composed
of jewels adorned with every luxury, they beheld that mother of
Sunítha, the wife of Maya, by name Lílávatí, surpassing in beauty the
nymphs of heaven, surrounded with Asura maidens, and adorned with all
ornaments. The moment she beheld that Sunítha, she rose up in a state
of excitement, and Sunítha, after saluting her, fell at her feet. Then
she embraced with gushing tears the son, whom she once more held in
her arms after so long an interval, and again praised her husband
Maya, who was the cause of her regaining him. Then Maya said--"Queen,
your other son Sumundíka has been born again as the son of your son,
and here he is, Súryaprabha by name. He has been appointed by the
god Siva the future emperor of the Vidyádharas, and is destined to
rule over them in the body which he now possesses." When Súryaprabha
heard this, and saw her look at him with an eye of longing affection,
he and his ministers fell at her feet. And Lílávatí gave him her
blessing, and said to him--"My darling, you do not require the body
of Sumundíka, in this you are sufficiently glorious." When his sons
were thus triumphant, Maya called to mind his daughter Mandodarí,
and Vibhíshana, and when called to mind, they came. And Vibhíshana,
welcomed with triumphant rejoicings, said to him--"O prince of the
Dánavas, if you will listen to my advice, I will give it you. You
are among the Dánavas singularly virtuous and prosperous, so you
ought not to take up a causeless enmity against the gods. For you
will gain nothing but death from your hostility to them. For Asuras
have been slain in battle by the gods, but not gods by Asuras." When