Book VI.
Chapter XXVII
May the god
with the face of an elephant, who appears, with his head bowed down and then
raised, to be continually threatening the hosts of obstacles, protect you.
I adore the
god of Love, pierced with the showers of whose arrows even the body of Śiva
seems to bristle with dense thorns, when embraced by Umá.
Now hear
the heavenly adventures which Naraváhanadatta, speaking of himself in the third
person, told from the very beginning, after he had obtained the sovereignty of
the Vidyádharas, and had been questioned about the story of his life on some
occasion or other by the seven Ṛishis and their wives.
Then that
Naraváhanadatta being carefully brought up by his father, passed his eighth
year. The prince lived at that time with the sons of the ministers, being
instructed in sciences, and sporting in gardens. And the queen Vásavadattá and
Padmávatí also on account of their exceeding affection were devoted to him day
and night. He was distinguished by a body which was sprung from a noble stock,
and bent under the weight of his growing virtues, and gradually filled out, as
also by a bow which was made of a good bamboo, which bent as the string rose,
and slowly arched itself into a crescent. And his father the king of Vatsa
spent his time in wishes for his marriage and other happiness, delightful
because so soon to bear fruit. Now hear what happened at this point of the
story.
Story of the
merchant’s son in Takshaśilá.
There was
once a city named Takshaśilá on the banks of the Vitastá, the reflection of
whose long line of palaces gleamed in the waters of the river, as if it were
the capital of the lower regions come to gaze at its splendour. In it there
dwelt a king named Kalingadatta, a distinguished Buddhist, all whose subjects
were devoted to the great Buddha the bridegroom of Tárá. His city shone with
splendid Buddhist temples densely crowded together, as if with the horns of
pride elevated because it had no rival upon earth. He not only cherished his
subjects like a father, but also himself taught them knowledge like a spiritual
guide. Moreover there was in that city a certain rich Buddhist merchant called
Vitastadatta, who was exclusively devoted to the honouring of Buddhist
mendicants. And he had a son, a young man named Ratnadatta. And he was always
expressing his detestation of his father, calling him an impious man. And when
his father said to him, “Son, why do you blame me?”—the merchant’s son answered
with bitter scorn, “My father, you abandon the religion of the three Vedas and
cultivate irreligion. For you neglect the Bráhmans and are always honouring
Śramaṇas. What have you to do with that Buddhist discipline, which all kinds of
low-caste men resort to, to gratify their desire to have a convent to dwell in,
released from bathing and other strict ordinances, loving to feed whenever it
is convenient, rejecting the Bráhmanical lock and other prescribed methods of
doing the hair, quite at ease with only a rag round their loins?” When the
merchant heard that he said—“Religion is not confined to one form; a
transcendent religion is a different thing from a religion that embraces the
whole world. People say that Bráhmanism too consists in avoiding passion and
other sins, in truth, and compassion to creatures, not in quarrelling causelessly
with one’s relations. Moreover you ought not to blame generally that school
which I follow, which extends security to all creatures, on account of the
fault of an individual. Nobody questions the propriety of conferring benefits,
and my beneficence consists simply in giving security to creatures. So, if I
take exceeding pleasure in this system, the principal characteristic of which
is abstinence from injuring any creature, and which brings liberation, wherein
am I irreligious in doing so?” When his father said this to him, that
merchant’s son obstinately refused to admit it, and only blamed his father all
the more. Then his father, in disgust, went and reported the whole matter to
the king Kalingadatta, who superintended the religion of his people. The king,
for his part, summoned on some pretext the merchant’s son into his
judgement-hall, and feigning an anger he did not feel, said to the executioner,
“I have heard that this merchant’s son is wicked and addicted to horrible
crimes, so slay him without mercy as a corrupter of the realm.” When the king
had said this, the father interceded, and then the king appointed that the
execution should be put off for two months, in order that he might learn virtue,
and entrusted the merchant’s son to the custody of his father, to be brought
again into his presence at the end of that time. The merchant’s son, when he
had been taken home to his father’s house, was distracted with fear, and kept
thinking, “What crime can I have committed against the king?” and pondering
over his causeless execution which was to take place at the end of two months;
and so he could get no sleep day or night, and was exhausted by taking less
than his usual food at all times. Then, the reprieve of two months having
expired, that merchant’s son was again taken, thin and pale, into the presence
of the king. And the king seeing him in such a depressed state said to him—“Why
have you become so thin? Did I order you not to eat?” When the merchant’s son
heard that, he said to the king—“I forgot myself for fear, much more my food.
Ever since I heard your majesty order my execution, I have been thinking every
day of death slowly advancing.” When the merchant’s son said this, the king
said to him, “I have by an artifice made you teach yourself what the fear of
death is. Such must be the fear which every living creature entertains of
death, and tell me what higher piety can there be than the benefit of
preserving creatures from that? So I shewed you this in order that you might
acquire religion and the desire of salvation, for a wise man being afraid of
death strives to attain salvation. Therefore you must not blame your father who
follows this religion.” When the merchant’s son heard this, he bowed and said
to the king—“Your majesty has made me a blessed man by teaching me religion,
and now a desire for salvation has arisen in me, teach me that also, my lord.”
When the king heard that, as it was a feast in the city, he gave a vessel full
of oil into the hand of the merchant’s son and said to him, “Take this vessel
in your hand and walk all round this city, and you must avoid spilling a single
drop of it, my son; if you spill one drop of it, these men will immediately cut
you down.” Having said this, the king dismissed the merchant’s son to walk
round the city, ordering men with drawn swords to follow him. The merchant’s
son, in his fear, took care to avoid spilling a drop of oil, and having perambulated
that city with much difficulty, returned into the presence of the king. The
king, when he saw that he had brought the oil without spilling it, said to him:
“Did you see any one to-day, as you went along in your perambulation of the
city?” When the merchant’s son heard that, he clasped his hands, and said to
the king—“In truth, my lord, I neither saw nor heard any thing, for at the time
when I was perambulating the city I had my undivided attention fixed on
avoiding spilling a drop of oil, lest the swords should descend upon me.” When
the merchant’s son said this, the king said to him; “Because your whole soul
was intent on looking at the oil, you saw nothing. So practise religious
contemplation with the same undivided attention. For a man, who with intent
concentration averts his attention from all outward operations, has intuition
of the truth, and after that intuition he is not entangled again in the meshes
of works. Thus I have given you in a compendious form instruction in the
doctrine of salvation.” Thus the king spoke and dismissed him, and the merchant’s
son fell at his feet and went home rejoicing to his father’s house, having
attained all his objects. This Kalingadatta, who superintended in this way the
religion of his subjects, had a wife named Tárádattá, of equal birth with the
king, who being politic and well-conducted, was such an ornament to the king as
language is to a poet, who delights in numerous illustrations. She was
meritorious for her bright qualities and was inseparable from that beloved
king, being to him what the moonlight is to the moon, the receptacle of nectar.
The king lived happily there with that queen, and passed his days like Indra
with Śachí in heaven.
Story of the Apsaras
Surabhidattá.
At this
point of my tale Indra, for some cause or other, had a great feast in heaven.
All the Apsarases assembled there to dance, except one beautiful Apsaras named
Surabhidattá, who was not to be seen there. Then Indra by his divine power of
insight perceived her associating in secret with a certain Vidyádhara in
Nandana. When Indra saw it, wrath arose in his bosom, and he thought—“Ah! these
two, blinded with love, are both wicked: the Apsaras, because forgetting us she
acts in a wilful manner, the Vidyádhara, because he enters the domain of the
gods and commits improprieties. Or rather, what fault is that miserable
Vidyádhara guilty of? For she has enticed him here, ensnaring him with her
beauty. A lovely one will sweep away with the sea of her beauty, flowing
between the lofty banks of her breasts, even one who can restrain his passions.
Was not even Śiva disturbed long ago when he beheld Tilottamá, whom the Creator
made by taking an atom from all the noblest beings? And did not Viśvámitra
leave his asceticism when he beheld Menaká? And did not Yayáti come to old age
for love of Śarmishṭá? So this young Vidyádhara has committed no crime in
allowing himself to be allured by an Apsaras with her beauty, which is able to
bewilder the three worlds. But this heavenly nymph is in fault, wicked
creature, void of virtue, who has deserted the gods, and introduced this fellow
into Nandana.” Thus reflecting, the lover of Ahalyá spared the Vidyádhara
youth, but cursed that Apsaras in the following words: “Wicked one, take upon
thyself a mortal nature, but after thou hast obtained a daughter not sprung
from the womb, and hast accomplished the object of the gods, thou shalt return
to this heaven.”
In the
meanwhile Tárádattá, the consort of that king in the city of Takshaśilá,
reached the period favourable for procreation. And Surabhidattá, the Apsaras
who had been degraded from heaven by the curse of Indra, was conceived in her,
giving beauty to her whole body. Then Tárádattá beheld in a dream a flame
descending from heaven and entering into her womb; and in the morning she
described with astonishment her dream to her husband, the king Kalingadatta;
and he being pleased said to her,—“Queen, heavenly beings owing to a curse fall
into human births, so I am persuaded that this is some divine being conceived
in you. For beings, bound by various works, good and evil, are ever revolving
in the state of mundane existence in these three worlds, to receive fruits
blessed and miserable.” When the queen was thus addressed by the king, she took
the opportunity of saying to him; “It is true, actions, good and bad, have a
wonderful power, producing the perception of joy and sorrow, and in proof of it
I will tell you this illustration, listen to me.”
Story of king Dharmadatta
and his wife Nágaśrí.
There once
lived a king named Dharmadatta, the lord of Kośala; he had a queen named
Nágaśrí, who was devoted to her husband and was called Arundhatí on the earth,
as, like her, she was the chief of virtuous women. And in course of time, O
slayer of your enemies, I was born as the daughter of that king by that queen;
then, while I was a mere child, that mother of mine suddenly remembered her
former birth and said to her husband; “O king, I have suddenly to-day
remembered my former birth; it is disagreeable to me not to tell it, but if I
do tell it, it will cause my death, because they say that, if a person suddenly
remembers his or her former birth and tells it, it surely brings death.
Therefore, king, I feel excessively despondent.” When his queen said this to him,
the king answered her; “My beloved, I, like you, have suddenly remembered my
former birth; therefore tell me yours, and I will tell you mine, let what will
be, be; for who can alter the decree of fate.” When thus urged by her husband,
the queen said to him, “If you press the matter, king, then I will tell you,
listen.
“In my
former birth I was a well-conducted female slave in this very land, in the
house of a certain Bráhman named Mádhava. And in that birth I had a husband
named Devadása, an excellent hired servant in the house of a certain merchant.
And so we two dwelled there, having built a house that suited us, living on the
cooked rice brought from the houses of our respective masters. A water vessel
and a pitcher, a broom and a brazier, and I and my husband, formed three
couples. We lived happy and contented in our house into which the demon of
quarrelling never entered, eating the little food that remained over after we
had made offerings to the gods, the manes and guests.
“And any
clothes which either of us had over, we gave to some poor person or other. Then
there arose a grievous famine in our country, and owing to that the allowance
of food, which we had to receive every day, began to come to us in small
quantities. Then our bodies became attenuated by hunger, and we began to
despond in mind, when once on a time at meal-time there arrived a weary Bráhman
guest. To him we both gave all our own food, as much as we had, though we were
in danger of our lives. When the Bráhman had eaten and departed, my husband’s
breath left him, as if angry that he respected a guest more than it. And then I
heaped up in honour of my husband a suitable pyre, and ascended it, and so laid
down the load of my own calamity. Then I was born in a royal family, and I
became your queen, for the tree of good deeds produces to the righteous
inconceivably glorious fruit.” When his queen said this to him, the king
Dharmadatta said—“Come, my beloved, I am that husband of thine in a former birth;
I was that very Devadása the merchant’s servant, for I have remembered this
moment this former existence of mine.” Having said this, and mentioned the
tokens of his own identity, the king, despondent and yet glad, suddenly went
with his queen to heaven.
“In this
way my parents went to another world, and my mother’s sister brought me to her
own house to rear me, and while I was unmarried, there came there a certain
Bráhman guest, and my mother’s sister ordered me to wait on him. And I
diligently strove to please him as Kuntí to please Durvásas, and owing to a
boon conferred by him, I obtained you, a virtuous husband. Thus good fortune is
the result of virtue, owing to which my parents were both born at the same time
in royal families, and also remembered their former birth.” Having heard this
speech of the queen Tárádattá, the king Kalingadatta, who was exclusively
devoted to righteousness, answered her, “It is true, a trifling act of
righteousness duly performed will bring much fruit, and in proof of this, O
queen, hear the ancient tale of the seven Bráhmans.”
Story of the seven
Bráhmans who devoured a cow in time of famine.
Long ago,
in a city called Kuṇḍina, a certain Bráhman teacher had for pupils seven sons
of Bráhmans. Then that teacher, under pressure of famine, sent those pupils to
ask his father-in-law, who was rich in cows, to give him one. And those pupils
of his went, with their bellies pinched by hunger, to his father-in-law, who
dwelt in another land, and asked him, as their teacher had ordered them, for a
cow. He gave them one cow to support them, but the miserly fellow did not give
them food, though they were hungry. Then they took the cow, and as they were
returning and had accomplished half the journey, being excessively pained by
hunger, they fell exhausted on the earth. They said—“Our teacher’s house is far
off, and we are afflicted by calamity far from home, and food is hard to obtain
everywhere, so it is all over with our lives. And in the same way this cow is
certain to die in this wilderness without water, wood, or human beings, and our
teacher will not derive even the smallest advantage from it. So let us support
our lives with its flesh, and quickly restore our teacher and his family with
what remains over: for it is a time of sore distress.” Having thus deliberated,
those seven students treated that cow as a victim, and sacrificed it on the
spot according to the system prescribed in the sacred treatises. After
sacrificing to the gods and manes, and eating its flesh according to the
prescribed method, they went and took what remained of it to their teacher.
They bowed before him, and told him all that they had done, to the letter, and
he was pleased with them, because they told the truth, though they had
committed a fault. And after seven days they died of famine, but because they
told the truth on that occasion, they were born again with the power of
remembering their former birth.
“Thus even
a small germ of merit, watered with the water of holy aspiration, bears fruit
to men in general, as a seed to cultivators, but the same corrupted by the
water of impure aspiration bears fruit in the form of misfortune, and à propos
of this I will tell you another tale, listen!”
Story of the two
ascetics, one a Bráhman the other a Chaṇḍála.
Once on a
time two men remained for the same length of time fasting on the banks of the
Ganges, one a Bráhman and the other a Chaṇḍála. Of those two, the Bráhman being
overpowered with hunger, and seeing some Nishádas come that way bringing fish
and eating them, thus reflected in his folly—“O happy in the world are these
fishermen, sons of female slaves though they be, for they eat to their fill of
the fresh meat of fish!” But the other, who was a Chaṇḍála, thought, the moment
he saw those fishermen, “Out on these destroyers of life, and devourers of raw
flesh! So why should I stand here and behold their faces?” Saying this to
himself, he closed his eyes and remained buried in his own thoughts. And in
course of time those two, the Bráhman and the Chaṇḍála, died of starvation; the
Bráhman was eaten by dogs on the bank, the Chaṇḍála rotted in the water of the
Ganges. So that Bráhman, not having disciplined his spirit, was born in the
family of a fisherman, but owing to the virtue of the holy place, he remembered
his former existence. As for that Chaṇḍála, who possessed self-control, and
whose mind was not marred by passion, he was born as a king in a palace on that
very bank of the Ganges, and recollected his former birth. And of those two,
who were born with a remembrance of their former existence, the one suffered
misery being a fisherman, the other being a king enjoyed happiness.
“Such is
the root of the tree of virtue; according to the purity or impurity of a man’s
heart is without doubt the fruit which he receives.” Having said this to the
queen Tárádattá, king Kalingadatta again said to her in the course of
conversation,—“Moreover actions which are really distinguished by great courage
produce fruit, since prosperity follows on courage; and to illustrate this I
will tell the following wonderful tale. Listen!”
Story of king
Vikramasinha and the two Bráhmans.
There is in
Avanti a city named Ujjayiní, famous in the world, which is the dwelling-place
of Śiva, and which gleams with its white palaces as if with the peaks of
Kailása, come thither in the ardour of their devotion to the god. This vast
city, profound as the sea, having a splendid emperor for its water, had
hundreds of armies entering it, as hundreds of rivers flow into the sea, and
was the refuge of allied kings, as the sea is of mountains that retain their
wings. In that city there was a king who had the name of Vikramasinha, a name
that thoroughly expressed his character, for his enemies were like deer and
never met him in fight. And he, because he could never find any enemy to face
him, became disgusted with weapons and the might of his arm, and was inwardly
grieved as he never obtained the joy of battle. Then his minister Amaragupta,
who discovered his longing, said to him incidentally in the course of
conversation—“King, it is not hard for kings to incur guilt, if through pride
in their strong arms, and confidence in their skill in the use of weapons, they
even long for enemies; in this way Báṇa in old time, through pride in his
thousand arms, propitiated Śiva and asked for an enemy that was a match for him
in fight, until at last his prayer was actually granted, and Vishṇu became his
enemy, and cut off his innumerable arms in battle. So you must not shew
dissatisfaction because you do not obtain an opportunity of fighting, and a
terrible enemy must never be desired. If you want to shew here your skill in
weapons and your strength, shew it in the forest an appropriate field for it,
and in hunting. And since kings are not generally exposed to fatigue, hunting
is approved to give them exercise and excitement, but warlike expeditions are
not recommended. Moreover the malignant wild animals desire that the earth
should be depopulated, for this reason the king should slay them; on this
ground too hunting is approved. But wild animals should not be too
unremittingly pursued, for it was owing to the vice of exclusive devotion to
hunting that former kings, Páṇḍu and others, met destruction.” When the wise
minister Amaragupta said this to him, the king Vikramasinha approved the advice
saying—“I will do so.” And the next day the king went out of the city to hunt,
to a district beset with horses, footmen and dogs, and where all the quarters
were filled with the pitching of various nets, and he made the heaven resound
with the shouts of joyous huntsmen. And as he was going out on the back of an
elephant, he saw two men sitting together in private in an empty temple outside
the walls. And the king, as he beheld them from afar, supposed that they were
only deliberating together over something at their leisure, and passed on to
the forest where his hunting was to be. There he was delighted with the drawn
swords, and with the old tigers, and the roaring of lions, and the scenery, and
the elephants. He strewed that ground with pearls fallen from the nails of
elephant-slaying lions whom he killed, resembling the seeds of his prowess. The
deer leaping sideways, being oblique-goers, went obliquely across his path; his
straight-flying arrow easily transfixing them first, reached afterwards the
mark of delight. And after the king had long enjoyed the sport of hunting, he
returned, as his servants were weary, with slackened bowstring to the city of
Ujjayiní. There he saw those two men, whom he had seen as he was going out, who
had remained the whole time in the temple occupied in the same way. He thought
to himself—“Who are these, and why do they deliberate so long? Surely they must
be spies, having a long talk over secrets.” So he sent his warder, and had
those men captured and brought into his presence, and then thrown into prison.
And the next day he had them brought into his judgement-hall, and asked
them—“Who are you and why did you deliberate together so long?” When the king
in person asked them this, they entreated him to spare their lives, and one of
these young men began to say; “Hear, O king, I will now tell the whole story as
it happened.
“There
lived a Bráhman, of the name of Karabhaka, in this very city of yours. I, whom
you see here, am the son of that learned student of the Vedas, born by his
propitiating the god of fire in order to obtain a heroic son. And, when my
father went to heaven, and his wife followed him, I being a mere boy, though I
had learned the sciences, abandoned the course of life suited to my caste,
because I was friendless. And I set myself to practise gaming and the use of
arms; what boy does not become self-willed if he is not kept in order by some
superior? And, having passed my childhood in this way, I acquired overweening
confidence in my prowess, and went one day to the forest to practise archery.
And while I was thus engaged, a bride came out of the city in a covered
palanquin, surrounded by many attendants of the bridegroom. And suddenly an
elephant, that had broken its chain, came from some quarter or other at that
very moment, and attacked that bride in its fury. And through fear of that
elephant, all those cowardly attendants and her husband with them deserted the
bride, and fled in all directions. When I saw that, I immediately said to
myself in my excitement,—‘What! have these miserable wretches left this
unfortunate woman alone? So I must defend this unprotected lady from this
elephant. For what is the use of life or courage, unless employed to succour
the unfortunate?’ Thus reflecting I raised a shout and ran towards that huge
elephant; and the elephant, abandoning the woman, charged down upon me. Then I,
before the eyes of that terrified woman, shouted and ran, and so drew off that
elephant to a distance, at last I got hold of a bough of a tree thickly covered
with leaves, which had been broken off, and covering myself with it, I went
into the middle of the tree; and placing the bough in front of me, I escaped by
a dexterous oblique movement, while the elephant trampled the bough to pieces.
Then I quickly went to that lady, who remained terrified there, and asked her
whether she had escaped without injury. She, when she saw me, said with
afflicted and yet joyful manner; ‘How can I be said to be uninjured, now that I
have been bestowed on this coward, who has deserted me in such straits, and
fled somewhere or other; but so far at any rate I am uninjured, that I again
behold you unharmed. So my husband is nothing to me; you henceforth are my
husband, by whom regardless of your life, I have been delivered from the jaws
of death. And here I see my husband coming with his servants, so follow us
slowly; for when we get an opportunity, you and I will elope somewhere
together.’ When she said this, I consented. I ought to have thought—‘Though
this woman is beautiful, and flings herself at my head, yet she is the wife of
another; what have I to do with her?’ But this is the course of calm
self-restraint, not of ardent youth. And in a moment her husband came up and
greeted her, and she proceeded to continue her journey with him and his
servants. And I, without being detected, followed her through her long journey,
being secretly supplied with provisions for the journey by her, though I passed
for some one unconnected with her. And she, throughout the journey, falsely
asserted that she suffered pain in her limbs, from a strain produced by falling
in her terror at the elephant, and so avoided even touching her husband. A
passionate woman, like a female snake, terrible from the condensed venom she
accumulates within, will never, if injured, neglect to wreak her vengeance. And
in course of time we reached the city of Lohanagara, where was the house of the
husband of that woman, who lived by trading. And we all remained during that
day in a temple outside the walls. And there I met my friend this second
Bráhman. And though we had never met before, we felt a confidence in one
another at first sight; the heart of creatures recognises friendships formed in
a previous birth. Then I told him all my secret. When he heard it, he said to
me of his own accord; ‘Keep the matter quiet, I know of a device by which you
can attain the object for which you came here; I know here the sister of this
lady’s husband. She is ready to fly from this place with me, and take her
wealth with her. So with her help I will accomplish your object for you.’
“When the
Bráhman had said this to me, he departed, and secretly informed the merchant’s
wife’s sister-in-law of the whole matter. And on the next day the
sister-in-law, according to arrangement, came with her brother’s wife and
introduced her into the temple. And while we were there, she made my friend at
that very time, which was the middle of the day, put on the dress of her
brother’s wife. And she took him so disguised into the city, and went into the
house in which her brother lived, after arranging what we were to do. But I
left the temple, and fleeing with the merchant’s wife dressed as a man, reached
at last this city of Ujjayiní. And her sister-in-law at night fled with my
friend from that house, in which there had been a feast, and so the people were
in a drunken sleep.
“And then
he came with her by stealthy journeys to this city; so we met here. In this way
we two have obtained our two wives in the bloom of youth, the sister-in-law and
her brother’s wife, who bestowed themselves on us out of affection. Consequently,
king, we are afraid to dwell anywhere; for whose mind is at ease after
performing deeds of reckless temerity? So the king saw us yesterday from a
distance, while we were debating about a place to dwell in, and how we should
subsist. And your majesty, seeing us, had us brought and thrown into prison on
the suspicion of being thieves, and to-day we have been questioned about our
history, and I have just told it; now it is for your highness to dispose of us
at pleasure.” When one of them had said this, the king Vikramasinha said to
those two Bráhmans,—“I am satisfied, do not be afraid, remain in this city, and
I will give you abundance of wealth.” When the king had said this, he gave them
as much to live on as they wished, and they lived happily in his court
accompanied by their wives.
“Thus
prosperity dwells for men even in questionable deeds, if they are the outcome
of great courage, and thus kings, being satisfied, take pleasure in giving to
discreet men who are rich in daring. And thus this whole created world with the
gods and demons will always reap various fruits, corresponding exactly to their
own stock of deeds good or bad, performed in this or in a former birth. So rest
assured, queen, that the flame which was seen by you falling from heaven in
your dream, and apparently entering your womb, is some creature of divine
origin, that owing to some influence of its works has been conceived in you.”
The pregnant queen Tárádattá, when she heard this from the mouth of her own
husband Kalingadatta, was exceedingly delighted.
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