Book XVII.
Chapter CXIV.
Glory
to Śiva, who assumes various forms; who, though his beloved takes up half his
body, is an ascetic, free from qualities, the due object of a world’s
adoration! We worship Gaṇeśa, who, when
fanning away the cloud of bees, that flies up from his trunk, with his flapping
ears, seems to be dispersing the host of obstacles.
Thus
Naraváhanadatta, who had been established in the position of lord paramount
over all the kings of the Vidyádharas, remained on that Black Mountain in order
to get through the rainy season, spending the time in the hermitage of that
sage Kaśyapa, and in the society of his maternal uncle Gopálaka, who was living
the life of an ascetic. He was accompanied by his ministers, and surrounded by
twenty-five of his wives, and attended by various Vidyádhara princes, and he
occupied himself in telling tales. One day, the hermits and his wives said to
him, “Tell us now! When Mánasavega took away queen Madanamanchuká by his magic
power, who amused you impatient of separation, and how did he do it?”
When
Naraváhanadatta had been asked this question by those hermits and by his wives,
he proceeded to speak as follows; “Can I tell now how great grief I endured,
when I found out that that wicked enemy had carried off my queen? There was no
building, and no garden, or room, into which I did not roam seeking for her in
my grief, and all my ministers with me. Then I sat down, as if beside myself,
in a garden at the foot of a tree, and Gomukha, having obtained his
opportunity, said to me, in order to console me, ‘Do not be despondent, my
sovereign; you will soon recover the queen; for the gods promised that you
should rule the Vidyádharas with her as your consort; that must turn out as the
gods predicted, for their promises are never falsified; and resolute men, after
enduring separation, obtain reunion with those they love. Were not Rámabhadra,
king Nala, and your own grandfather, after enduring separation, reunited to
their beloved wives? And was not Muktáphalaketu, emperor of the Vidyádharas,
reunited to Padmávatí, after he had been separated from her? And now listen,
king; I will tell you the story of that couple.’ When Gomukha had said this, he
told me the following tale.”
Story of king Brahmadatta and the Swans.
There
is in this country a city famous over the earth by the name of Váráṇasí,
which, like the body of Śiva, is adorned with the Ganges, and bestows
emancipation. With the flags on its temples swayed up and down by the wind, it
seems to be ever saying to men “Come hither, and attain salvation.” With the
pinnacles of its white palaces it looks like the plateau of mount Kailása, the
habitation of the god with the moon for a diadem, and it is full of troops of
Śiva’s devoted servants.
In
that city there lived of old time a king named Brahmadatta, exclusively devoted
to Śiva, a patron of Bráhmans, brave, generous, and compassionate. His commands
passed current through the earth, they stumbled not in rocky defiles, they were
not whelmed in seas, there were no continents which they did not cross. He had
a queen named Somaprabhá, who was dear and delightful to him as the moonlight
to the chakora, and he was as eager to drink her in with his eyes. And he had a
Bráhman minister named Śivabhúti, equal to Vṛihaspati
in intellect, who had fathomed the meaning of all the Śástras.
One
night, that king, as he was lying on a bed on the top of a palace exposed to
the rays of the moon, saw a couple of swans crossing through the air, with
bodies of gleaming gold, looking like two golden lotuses opened in the water of
the heavenly Ganges, and attended by a train of king-geese. When that wonderful
pair had passed from his eyes, the king was for a long time afflicted, and his
mind was full of regret at no longer enjoying that sight. He passed that night
without sleeping, and next morning he told his minister Śivabhúti what he had
seen, and said to him, “So, if I cannot feast my eyes on those golden swans to
my heart’s content, of what profit to me is my kingdom or my life?”
When
the king said this to his minister Śivabhúti, he answered him, “Do not be
anxious; there is a means of bringing about what you desire; listen, king; I
will tell you what it is. Owing to the various influence of actions in a
previous birth, various is this infinite host of sentient beings produced by
the Creator in this versatile world. This world is really fraught with woe, but
owing to delusion there arises in creatures the fancy that happiness is to be
found in it, and they take pleasure in house, and food, and drink, and so
become attached to it. And Providence has appointed that different kinds of
food, drink, and dwellings, should be agreeable to different creatures,
according to the classes to which they respectively belong. So have made, king,
a great lake to be the dwelling-place of these swans, covered with various
kinds of lotuses, and watched by guards, where they will be free from
molestation. And keep always scattering on the bank food of the kind that birds
love, in order that water-birds may quickly come there from various quarters. Among
them these two golden swans will certainly come; and then you will be able to
gaze on them continually: do not be despondent.”
When
king Brahmadatta’s minister said this to him, he had that great lake made
according to his directions, and it was ready in a moment. The lake was
frequented by swans, sárasas and chakravákas, and after a time that couple of
swans came there, and settled down on a clump of lotuses in it. Then the guards
set to watch the lake came and informed the king of that fact, and he went down
to the lake in a state of great delight, considering that his object had been
accomplished. And he beheld those golden swans, and worshipped them from a
distance, and ministered to their comfort by scattering for them grains of rice
dipped in milk. And the king took so much interest in them that he spent his
whole time on the bank of that lake watching those swans with their bodies of
pure gold, their eyes of pearl, their beaks and feet of coral, and the tips of
their wings of emerald, which had come there in perfect confidence.
Now,
one day, as the king was roaming along the bank of the lake, he saw in one
place a pious offering made with unfading flowers. And he said to the guards
there, “Who made this offering?” Then the guards of the lake said to the king,
“Every day, at dawn, noon, and sunset, these golden swans bathe in the lake,
and make these offerings, and stand absorbed in contemplation: so we cannot
say, king, what is the meaning of this great wonder.” When the king heard this
from the guards, he said to himself, “Such a proceeding is quite inconsistent
with the nature of swans; surely there must be a reason for this. So, I will
perform asceticism until I find out who these swans are.” Then the king and his
wife and his minister gave up food, and remained performing penance and
absorbed in meditation on Śiva. And after the king had fasted for twelve days,
the two heavenly swans came to him, and said to him in a dream with articulate
voice, “Rise up, king; to-morrow we will tell you and your wife and minister,
after you have broken your fast, the whole truth of the matter in private.”
When the swans had said this, they disappeared, and next morning the king and
his wife and his minister, as soon as they awoke, rose up, and broke their fast.
And after they had eaten, the two swans came to them, as they were sitting in a
pleasure-pavilion near the water. The king received them with respect, and said
to them, “Tell me who you are.” Then they proceeded to tell him their history.
How
Párvatí condemned her five attendants to be reborn on earth.
There
is a monarch of mountains famous on the earth under the name of Mandara, in
whose groves of gleaming jewels all the gods roam, on whose table-lands,
watered with nectar from the churned sea of milk, are to be found flowers,
fruits, roots, and water, that are antidotes to old age and death. Its highest
peaks, composed of various precious stones, form the pleasure-grounds of Śiva,
and he loves it more than mount Kailása.
There,
one day, that god left Párvatí, after he had been diverting himself with her,
and disappeared, to execute some business for the gods. Then the goddess,
afflicted by his absence, roamed in the various places where he loved to amuse
himself, and the other gods did their best to console her.
And
one day the goddess was much troubled by the advent of spring, and she was
sitting surrounded by the Gaṇas at the
foot of a tree, thinking about her beloved, when a noble Gaṇa,
named Maṇipushpeśvara,
looked lovingly at a young maiden, the daughter of Jayá, called Chandralekhá,
who was waving a chowrie over the goddess. He was a match for her in youth and
beauty, and she met his glance with a responsive look of love, as he stood by
her side. Two other Gaṇas, named Pingeśvara
and Guheśvara, when they saw that, interchanged glances, and a smile passed
over their faces. And when the goddess saw them smiling, she was angry in her
heart, and she cast her eyes hither and thither, to see what they were laughing
at in this unseemly manner. And then she saw that Chandralekhá and Maṇipushpeśvara
were looking lovingly in one another’s faces.
Then
the goddess, who was quite distracted with the sorrow of separation, was angry,
and said, “These young people have done well to look lovingly at one another in
the absence of the god, and these two mirthful people have done well to laugh
when they saw their glances: so let this lover and maiden, who are blinded with
passion, fall into a human birth; and there the disrespectful pair shall be man
and wife; but these unseasonable laughers shall endure many miseries on the
earth; they shall be first poor Bráhmans, and then Bráhman-Rákshasas, and then
Piśáchas, and after that Chaṇḍálas, and
then robbers, and then bob-tailed dogs, and then they shall be various kinds of
birds,—shall these Gaṇas who offended by
laughing; for their minds were unclouded, when they were guilty of this disrespectful
conduct.
When
the goddess had uttered this command, a Gaṇa
of the name of Dhúrjaṭa said, “Goddess,
this is very unjust; these excellent Gaṇas
do not deserve so severe a curse, for a very small offence.” When the goddess
heard that, she said in her wrath to Dhúrjaṭa
also, “Fall thou also, great sir, that knowest not thy place, into a mortal
womb.” When the goddess had inflicted these tremendous curses, the female
warder Jayá, the mother of Chandralekhá, clung to her feet, and addressed this
petition to her, “Withdraw thy anger, goddess; appoint an end to the curse of
this daughter of mine, and of these thy own servants, that have through
ignorance committed sin.” When Párvatí had been thus entreated by her warder
Jayá, she said, “When all these, owing to their having obtained insight, shall
in course of time meet together, they shall, after visiting Śiva the lord of
magic powers, in the place where Brahmá and the other gods performed
asceticism, return to our court, having been freed from their curse. And this
Chandralekhá, and her beloved, and that Dhúrjaṭa
shall, all three of them, be happy in their life as mortals, but these two
shall be miserable.”
When
the goddess had said this, she ceased; and at that very moment the Asura
Andhaka came there, having heard of the absence of Śiva. The presumptuous Asura
hoped to win the goddess, but having been reproached by her attendants he
departed, but he was slain on that account by the god, who discovered the
reason of his coming, and pursued him. Then Śiva returned home having
accomplished his object, and Párvatí delighted told him of the coming of
Andhaka, and the god said to her, “I have to-day slain a former mind-born son
of thine, named Andhaka, and he shall now be a Bhṛingin
here, as nothing remains of him but skin and bone.” When Śiva had said this, he
remained there diverting himself with the goddess, and Maṇipushpeśvara
and the other five descended to earth.
“Now,
king, hear the long and strange story of these two, Pingeśvara and Guheśvara.”
Story of the metamorphoses of Pingeśvara and Guheśvara.
There
is on the earth a royal grant to Bráhmans, named Yajnasthala. In it there lived
a rich and virtuous Bráhman named Yajnasoma. In his middle age he had two sons
born to him; the name of the elder was Harisoma and of the younger Devasoma.
They passed through the age of childhood, and were invested with the sacred
thread, and then the Bráhman their father lost his wealth, and he and his wife
died.
Then
those two wretched sons, bereaved of their father, and without subsistence,
having had their grant taken from them by their relations, said to one another,
“We are now reduced to living on alms, but we get no alms here. So we had
better go to the house of our maternal grandfather, though it is far off.
Though we have come down in the world, who on earth would welcome us, if we
arrive of our own accord. Nevertheless let us go. What else indeed are we to
do, for we have no other resource?”
After
deliberating to this effect they went, begging their way, by slow stages, to
that royal grant, where the house of their grandfather was. There the unfortunate
young men found out, by questioning people, that their grandfather, whose name
was Somadeva, was dead, and his wife also.
Then,
begrimed with dust, they entered despairing the house of their maternal uncles
named Yajnadeva and Kratudeva. There those good Bráhmans welcomed them kindly,
and gave them food and clothing, and they remained engaged in study. But in
course of time the wealth of their maternal uncles diminished, and they could
keep no servants, and then they came and said to those nephews in the most
affectionate way, “Dear boys, we can no longer afford to keep a man to look
after our cattle, as we have become poor, so do you look after our cattle for
us.” When Harisoma and Devasoma’s uncles said this to them, their throats were
full of tears, but they agreed to their proposal. Then they took the cattle to
the forest every day, and looked after them there, and at evening they returned
home with them, wearied out.
Then,
as they went on looking after the cattle, owing to their falling asleep in the
day, some animals were stolen, and others were eaten by tigers. That made their
uncles very unhappy: and one day a cow and goat intended for sacrifice,
belonging to their uncles, both disappeared somewhere or other. Terrified at
that, they took the other animals home before the right time, and running off
in search of the two that were missing, they entered a distant forest. There
they saw their goat half eaten by a tiger, and after lamenting, being quite
despondent, they said, “Our uncles were keeping this goat for a sacrifice, and
now that it is destroyed, their anger will be something tremendous. So let us
dress its flesh with fire, and eat enough of it to put an end to our hunger,
and then let us take the rest, and go off somewhere and support ourselves by
begging.”
After
these reflections they proceeded to roast the goat, and while they were so
engaged, their two uncles arrived, who had been running after them, and saw
them cooking the goat. When they saw their uncles in the distance, they were
terrified, and they rose up in great trepidation, and fled from the spot. And
those two uncles in their wrath pronounced on them the following curse, “Since,
in your longing for flesh, you have done a deed worthy of Rákshasas, you shall
become flesh-eating Bráhman-Rakshasas.” And immediately those two young
Bráhmans became Brahman-Rákshasas, having mouths formidable with tusks, flaming
hair, and insatiable hunger; and they wandered about in the forest catching
animals and eating them.
But
one day they rushed upon an ascetic, who possessed supernatural power, to slay
him, and he in self-defence cursed them, and they became Piśáchas. And in their
condition as Piśáchas, they were carrying off the cow of a Bráhman, to kill it,
but they were overpowered by his spells, and reduced by his curse to the
condition of Chaṇḍálas.
One
day, as they were roaming about in their condition as Chaṇḍálas,
bow in hand, tormented with hunger, they reached, in their search for food, a
village of bandits. The warders of the village, supposing them to be thieves,
arrested them both, as soon as they saw them, and cut off their ears and noses.
And they bound them, and beat them with sticks, and brought them in this
condition before the chiefs of the bandits. There they were questioned by the
chiefs, and being bewildered with fear, and tormented with hunger and pain,
they related their history to them. Then the chiefs of the gang, moved by pity,
set them at liberty, and said to them, “Remain here and take food; do not be
terrified. You have arrived here on the eighth day of the month, the day on
which we worship Kártikeya, and so you are our guests; and should have a share
in our feast.” “When the bandits had said this, they worshipped the goddess
Durgá, and made the two Chaṇḍálas eat in
their presence, and having, as it happened, taken a fancy to them, they would
not let them out of their sight. Then they lived with those bandits by robbing,
and thanks to their courage, became eventually the chiefs of the gang.
And
one night those chiefs marched with their followers to plunder a large town, a
favourite abode of Śiva, which some of their spies had selected for attack.
Though they saw an evil omen, they did not turn back, and they reached and
plundered the whole city and the temple of the god. Then the inhabitants cried
to the god for protection, and Śiva in his wrath bewildered the bandits by
making them blind. And the citizens suddenly perceiving that, and thinking that
it was due to the favour of Śiva, assembled and smote those bandits with sticks
and stones. And Gaṇas, moving about
invisibly, flung some of the bandits into ravines, and dashed others to pieces
against the ground.
And
the people, seeing the two leaders, were about to put them to death, but they
immediately turned into bob-tailed dogs. And in this transformation they
suddenly remembered their former birth, and danced in front of Śiva, and fled
to him for protection. When the citizens, Bráhmans, merchants, and all, saw
that, they were delighted at being free from fear of robbers, and went laughing
to their houses. And then the delusion, that had possessed those two beings now
turned into dogs, disappeared, and they awoke to reality, and in order to put
an end to their curse, they fasted, and appealed to Śiva by severe asceticism.
And the next morning, the citizens, making high festival and worshipping Śiva,
beheld those dogs absorbed in contemplation, and though they offered them food,
the creatures would not touch it.
And
the two dogs remained in this state for several days, beheld by all the world,
and then Śiva’s Gaṇas preferred this
prayer to him, “O god, these two Gaṇas,
Pingeśvara and Guheśvara, who were cursed by the goddess, have been afflicted
for a long time, so take pity on them.” When the holy god heard that, he said,
“Let these two Gaṇas be delivered from
their canine condition and became crows!” Then they became crows, and broke
their fast upon the rice of the offering, and lived happily, remembering their
former state, exclusively devoted to Śiva.
After
some time, Śiva having been satisfied by their devotion to him, they became by
his command first vultures, and then peacocks; then those noble Gaṇas,
in course of time, became swans; and in that condition also they strove with
the utmost devotion to propitiate Śiva. And at last they gained the favour of
that god by bathing in sacred waters, by performing vows, by meditations, and
acts of worship, and they became all composed of gold and jewels, and attained
supernatural insight.
“Know
that we are those very two, Pingeśvara and Guheśvara, who by the curse of
Párvatí endured a succession of woes, and have now become swans. But the Gaṇa
Maṇipushpeśvara,
who was in love with the daughter of Jayá, and was cursed by the goddess, has
become a king upon earth, even yourself, Brahmadatta. And that daughter of Jayá
has been born as this lady, your wife Somaprabhá; and that Dhúrjaṭa
has been born as this your minister Śivabhúti. And therefore we, having
attained insight, and remembering the end of the curse appointed by Párvatí,
appeared to you at night. By means of that artifice we have all been re-united
here to-day; and we will bestow on you the perfection of insight.
“Come,
let us go to that holy place of Śiva on the Tridaśa mountain, rightly named
Siddhíśvara, where the gods performed asceticism in order to bring about the
destruction of the Asura Vidyuddhvaja. And they slew that Asura in fight, with
the help of Muktáphalaketu, the head of all the Vidyádhara princes, who had
been obtained by the favour of Śiva. And that Muktáphalaketu, having passed
through the state of humanity brought upon him by a curse, obtained reunion
with Padmávatí by the favour of the same god. Let us go to that holy place,
which has such splendid associations connected with it, and there propitiate
Śiva, and then we will return to our own home, for such was the end of the
curse appointed to all of us by the goddess, to take place at the same time.”
When the two heavenly swans said this to king Brahmadatta, he was at once
excited with curiosity to hear the tale of Muktáphalaketu.
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