Chapter CXVI.
Then
Indra reached heaven and surrounded it with his forces, that were rendered
confident by the favour of Śiva, and had gained the suitable opportunity and
the requisite strength. When Vidyuddhvaja saw that, he marched out with his
army ready for battle; but as he marched out evil omens manifested themselves
to him; lightning flashes struck his banners, vultures circled above his head,
the state-umbrellas were broken, and jackals uttered boding howls. Disregarding
these evil omens, nevertheless that Asura sallied forth; and then there took
place a mighty battle between the gods and the Asuras.
And
Indra said to Chandraketu the king of the Vidyádharas, “Why has Muktáphalaketu
not yet come?” Then Chandraketu humbly made answer, “When I was marching out I
was in such a hurry that I forgot to tell him; but he is sure to hear of it,
and will certainly follow me quickly.” When the king of the gods heard this, he
quickly sent the dexterous charioteer of the Wind-god to bring the noble
Muktáphalaketu. And his father Chandraketu sent with Indra’s messenger his own
warder, with a force and a chariot, to summon him.
But
Muktáphalaketu, hearing that his father had gone to battle with the Daityas,
was eager to set out for that fight with his followers. Then he mounted his
elephant of victory, and his mother performed for him the ceremony to ensure
good fortune, and he set out from the world of the Wind, bearing the sword of
Śiva. And when he had set out, a rain of flowers fell on him from heaven, and
the gods beat their drums, and favouring breezes blew. And then the hosts of
the gods, that had fled and hid themselves out of fear of Vidyuddhvaja, assembled
and surrounded him. As he was marching along with that large army, he saw in
his way a great temple of Párvatí named Meghavana. His devotion to the goddess
would not allow him to pass it without worshipping; so he got down from his
elephant, and taking in his hand heavenly flowers, he proceeded to adore the
goddess.
Now
it happened that, at that very time, Padmávatí the daughter of Padmaśekhara the
king of the Gandharvas, who had now grown up, had taken leave of her mother,
who was engaged in austerities to bring good fortune to her husband who had
gone to war, and had come, with her attendant ladies, in a chariot, from the
world of Indra, to that temple of Gaurí, with the intention of performing
asceticism in order to ensure success to her father in battle, and to the
bridegroom on whom she had set her heart.
On
the way one of her ladies said to her, “You have not as yet any chosen lover,
who might have gone to the war, and your mother is engaged in asceticism for
the well-being of your father; for whose sake, my friend, do you, a maiden,
seek to perform asceticism?” When Padmávatí had been thus addressed by her
friend on the way, she answered, “My friend, a father is to maidens a divinity
procuring all happiness; moreover there has already been chosen for me a
bridegroom of unequalled excellence. That Muktáphalaketu, the son who has been
born to the Vidyádhara king, in order that he may slay Vidyuddhvaja, has been
destined for my husband by Śiva. This I heard from the mouth of my father, when
questioned by my mother. And that chosen bridegroom of mine has either gone, or
certainly is going to battle: so I am about to propitiate with asceticism the
holy Gaurí, desiring victory for my future husband as well as for my father.”
When
the princess said this, her attendant lady answered her, “Then this exertion on
your part, though directed towards an object still in the future, is right and
proper; may your desire be accomplished!” Just as her friend was saying this to
her, the princess reached a large and beautiful lake in the neighbourhood of
the temple of Gaurí. It was covered all over with bright full-blown golden
lotuses, and they seemed as if they were suffused with the beauty flowing forth
from the lotus of her face. The Gandharva maiden went down into that lake, and
gathered lotuses with which to worship Ambiká, and was preparing to bathe, when
two Rákshasís came that way, as all the Rákshasas were rushing to the battle
between the gods and Asuras, eager for flesh. They had up-standing hair, yellow
as the flames vomited forth from their mouths terrible with tusks, gigantic
bodies black as smoke, and pendulous breasts and bellies. The moment that those
wanderers of the night saw that Gandharva princess, they swooped down upon her,
and seized her, and carried her up towards the heaven.
But
the deity, that presided over her chariot, impeded the flight of those
Rákshasís, and her grieving retinue cried for help; and while this was going
on, Muktáphalaketu issued from the temple of the goddess, having performed his
worship; and hearing the lamentation, he came in that direction. When the great
hero beheld Padmávatí gleaming bright in the grasp of that pair of Rákshasís,
looking like a flash of lightning in the midst of a bank of black clouds, he
ran forward and delivered her, hurling the Rákshasís senseless to earth by a
blow from the flat of his hand. And he looked on that torrent river of the
elixir of beauty, adorned with a waist charming with three wave-like wrinkles,
who seemed to have been composed by the Creator of the essence of all beauty,
when he was full of the wonderful skill he had acquired by forming the nymphs
of heaven. And the moment he looked on her, his senses were benumbed by love’s
opiate, though he was strong of will; and he remained for a moment motionless,
as if painted in a picture.
And
Padmávatí too, now that the alarm caused by the Rákshasís was at an end, at
once recovered her spirits, and looked on the prince, who possessed a form that
was a feast to the eyes of the world, and who was one fitted to madden
womankind, and seemed to have been created by Fate by a blending together in
one body of the moon and the god of Love. Then, her face being cast down with
shame, she said of her own accord to her friend, “May good luck befall him! I will
depart hence, from the presence of a strange man.”
Even
while she was saying this, Muktáphalaketu said to her friend, “What did this
young lady say?” And she answered, “This lovely maiden bestowed a blessing on
you, the saver of her life, and said to me, “Come, let us depart from the
presence of a strange man.” When Muktáphalaketu heard this, he said to her with
eager excitement, “Who is she? Whose daughter is she? To what man of great
merit in a former life is she to be given in marriage?”
When
he addressed this question to the princess’s companion, she answered him, “Fair
sir, this my friend is the maiden named Padmávatí, the daughter of Padmaśekhara
the king of the Gandharvas, and Śiva has ordained that her husband is to be
Muktáphalaketu, the son of Chandraketu, the darling of the world, the ally of
Indra, the destined slayer of Vidyuddhvaja. Because she desires the victory for
that future husband of hers and for her father in the battle now at hand, she
has come to this temple of Gaurí to perform asceticism.”
When
the followers of Chandraketu’s son heard this, they delighted the princess by
exclaiming, “Bravo! here is that future husband of yours.” Then the princess
and her lover had their hearts filled with joy at discovering one another, and
they both thought, “It is well that we came here to-day,” and they continued
casting loving sidelong timid glances at one another; and while they were thus
engaged, the sound of drums was heard, and then a host appeared, and a chariot
with the wind-god, and the warder of Chandraketu coming quickly.
Then
the wind-god and the warder respectfully left the chariot, and went up to that
Muktáphalaketu, and said to him, “The king of the gods and your father
Chandraketu, who are in the field of battle, desire your presence: so ascend
this chariot, and come quickly.” Then the son of the Vidyádhara king, though
fettered by love of Padmávatí, ascended the chariot with them, out of regard
for the interests of his superiors. And putting on a heavenly suit of armour
sent by Indra, he set out quickly, often turning back his head to look at
Padmávatí.
And
Padmávatí followed with her eyes, as long as he was in sight, that hero, who
with one blow from the flat of his hand had slain the two Rákshasís, and with
him ever in her thoughts, she bathed and worshipped Śiva and Párvatí, and from
that time forth kept performing asceticism in that very place, to ensure his
success.
And
Muktáphalaketu, still thinking on his sight of her, which was auspicious and
portended victory, reached the place where the battle was going on between the
gods and Asuras. And when they saw that hero arrive well-armed and accompanied
by a force, all the great Asuras rushed to attack him. But the hero cut their
heads to pieces with a rain of arrows, and made with them an offering to the
gods of the cardinal points, by way of inaugurating the feast of battle.
But
Vidyuddhvaja, seeing his army being slain by that Muktáphalaketu, himself
rushed in wrath to attack him. And when he smote with arrows that Daitya, as he
came on, the whole army of the Asuras rushed upon him from every quarter. When
Indra saw that, he at once attacked the army of the Daityas, with the Siddhas,
Gandharvas, Vidyádharas, and gods at his back.
Then
a confused battle arose, with dint of arrow, javelin, lance, mace and axe,
costing the lives of countless soldiers; rivers of blood flowed along, with the
bodies of elephants and horses for alligators, with the pearls from the heads
of elephants for sands, and with the heads of heroes for stones. That feast of
battle delighted the flesh-loving demons, who, drunk with blood instead of
wine, were dancing with the palpitating trunks. The fortune of victory of the
gods and Asuras in that sea of battle, swayed hither and thither from time to
time, fluctuating like a tide-wave. And in this way the fight went on for
twenty-four days, watched by Śiva, Vishṇu,
and Brahmá, who were present in their chariots.
And
at the end of the twenty-fifth day a series of single combats was taking place
between the principal warriors of both armies along the greater part of the
line of fight. And then a duel began between the noble Muktáphalaketu, and
Vidyuddhvaja, the former in a chariot, the latter on an elephant.
Muktáphalaketu repelled the weapon of darkness with the weapon of the sun, the
weapon of cold with the weapon of heat, the rock-weapon with the
thunderbolt-weapon, the serpent-weapon with the weapon of Garuḍa,
and then he slew the elephant-driver of that Asura with one arrow, and his
elephant with another. Then Vidyuddhvaja mounted a chariot, and Muktáphalaketu
killed the charioteer and the horses. Then Vidyuddhvaja took refuge in magic.
He ascended into the sky invisible with his whole army, and rained stones and
weapons on all sides of the army of the gods. And as for the impenetrable net
of arrows which Muktáphalaketu threw around it, that Daitya consumed it with
showers of fire.
Then
Muktáphalaketu sent against that enemy and his followers the weapon of Brahmá,
which was capable of destroying the whole world, after he had pronounced over
it the appropriate spells. That weapon killed the great Asura Vidyuddhvaja and
his army, and they fell down dead from the sky. And the rest, namely,
Vidyuddhvaja’s son and his followers, and Vajradanshṭra
and his crew fled in fear to the bottom of Rasátala.
And
then the gods from heaven exclaimed, “Bravo! Bravo!” and they honoured the
noble Muktáphalaketu with a rain of flowers. Then Indra, having recovered his
sway, as his enemy was slain, entered heaven, and there was great rejoicing in
the three worlds. And Prajápati himself came there, making Śachí precede him,
and fastened a splendid crest-jewel on the head of Muktáphalaketu. And Indra
took the chain from his own neck, and placed it on the neck of that victorious
prince, who had restored his kingdom to him. And he made him sit on a throne
equal in all respects to his own; and the gods, full of joy, bestowed upon him various
blessings. And Indra sent on his warder to the city of the Asura Vidyuddhvaja,
and took possession of it in addition to his own city, with the intention of
bestowing it on Muktáphalaketu, when a fitting time presented itself.
Then
the Gandharva Padmaśekhara, wishing to bestow Padmávatí on that prince, looked
meaningly at the face of the Disposer. And the Disposer, knowing what was in
his heart, said to that prince of the Gandharvas, “There is still a service
remaining to be done, so wait a little.” Then there took place the triumphal
feast of Indra, with the songs of Háhá and Húhú, and the dances of Rambhá and
others, which they accompanied with their own voices. And when the Disposer had
witnessed the festive rejoicing, he departed, and Indra honoured the Lokapálas
and dismissed them to their several stations. And after honouring that
Gandharva monarch Padmaśekhara and his train, he dismissed them to their own
Gandharva city. And Indra, after treating with the utmost respect the noble
Muktáphalaketu and Chandraketu, sent them to their own Vidyádhara city to enjoy
themselves. And then Muktáphalaketu, having destroyed the plague of the
universe, returned to his palace, accompanied by his father, and followed by
many Vidyádhara kings. And on account of the prince having returned victorious
with his father, after a long absence, that city displayed its joy, being
adorned with splendid jewels, and garlanded with flags. And his father
Chandraketu at once bestowed gifts on all his servants and relations, and kept
high festival in the city for the triumph of his son, showering wealth on it,
as a cloud showers water. But Muktáphalaketu, though he had gained glory by
conquering Vidyuddhvaja, derived no satisfaction from his enjoyments without
Padmávatí. However, being comforted in soul by a friend named Saṃyata,
who reminded him of the decree of Śiva, and consoling topics of that kind, he
managed, though with difficulty, to get through those days.
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