Chapter CXXI.
When
Anangadeva had told this to king Vikramáditya in his hall of audience, he
continued as follows:—
Then,
after I had taken food, that lady, sitting in the midst of her attendants, said
to me, “Listen, Anangadeva, I will now tell you all.”
Story of Madanamanjarí.
I
am Madanamanjarí, the daughter of Dundubhi the king of the Yakshas, and the
wife of Maṇibhadra the brother of Kuvera. I
used always to roam about happily with my husband on the banks of rivers, on hills,
and in charming groves.
And
one day I went with my beloved to a garden in Ujjayiní called Makaranda to
amuse myself. There it happened that in the dawn a low hypocritical scoundrel
of a kápálika saw me, when I had just woke up from a sleep brought on by the
fatigue of roaming about. That rascal, being overcome with love, went into a
cemetery, and proceeded to try and procure me for his wife by means of a spell,
and a burnt-offering. But I by my power found out what he was about, and
informed my husband; and he told his elder brother Kuvera. And Kuvera went and
complained to Brahmá, and the holy Brahmá, after meditating, said to him, “It
is true that kápálika intends to rob your brother of his wife, for such is the
power of those spells for mastering Yakshas, which he possesses. But when she
feels herself being drawn along by the spell, she must invoke the protection of
king Vikramáditya; he will save her from him.” Then Kuvera came and told this
answer of Brahmá’s to my husband, and my husband told it to me, whose mind was
troubled by that wicked spell.
And
in the meanwhile that hypocritical kápálika, offering a burnt-offering in the
cemetery, began to draw me to him by means of a spell, duly muttered in a
circle. And I, being drawn by that spell, reached in an agony of terror that
awful cemetery, full of bones and skulls, haunted by demons. And then I saw
there that wicked kápálika: he had made an offering to the fire, and he had in
a circle a corpse lying on its back, which he had been worshipping. And that
kápálika, when he saw that I had arrived, was beside himself with pride, and
with difficulty tore himself away to rinse his mouth in a river, which happened
to be near.
At
that moment I called to mind what Brahmá had said, and I thought, “Why should I
not call to the king for aid? He may be roaming about in the darkness somewhere
near.” When I had said this to myself, I called aloud for his help in the
following words, “Deliver me, noble king Vikramáditya! See, protecting talisman
of the world, this kápálika is bent on outraging by force, in your realm, me a
chaste matron, the Yakshí Madanamanjarí by name, the daughter of Dundubhi, and
the wife of Maṇibhadra the younger brother of
Kuvera.”
No
sooner had I finished this plaintive appeal, than I saw that king coming
towards me, sword in hand; he seemed to be all resplendent with brightness of
valour, and he said to me, “My good lady, do not fear; be at ease; I will
deliver you from that kápálika, fair one. For who is able to work such
unrighteousness in my realm?” When he had said this, he summoned a Vetála,
named Agniśikha. And he, when summoned, came, tall, with flaming eyes, with
upstanding hair; and said to the king, “Tell me what I am to do.” Then the king
said, “Kill and eat this wicked kápálika, who is trying to carry off his neighbour’s
wife.” Then that Vetála Agniśikha entered the corpse that was in the circle of
adoration, and rose up, and rushed forward, stretching out his arms and mouth.
And when the kápálika, who had come back from rinsing his mouth, was preparing
to fly, he seized him from behind by the legs; and he whirled him round in the
air and then dashed him down with great force on the earth, and so at one blow
crushed his body and his aspirations.
When
the demons saw the kápálika slain, they were all eager for flesh, and a fierce
Vetála, named Yamaśikha, came there. As soon as he came, he seized the body of
the kápálika; then the first Vetála Agniśikha said to him, “Hear, villain! I
have killed this kápálika by the order of king Vikramáditya; pray what have you
to do with him?” When Yamaśikha heard that, he said to him, “Then tell me, what
kind of power has that king?” Then Agniśikha said, “If you do not know the
nature of his power, listen, I will tell you.”
Story of the gambler Dágineya, who was too cunning for the
Vetála Agniśikha, and of Agniśikha’s submission to king Vikramáditya.
There
once lived in this city a very resolute gambler of the name of Dágineya. Once
on a time some gamblers, by fraudulent play, won from him all he possessed, and
then bound him in order to obtain from him the borrowed money which he had lost
in addition. And as he had nothing, they beat him with sticks and other
instruments of torture, but he made himself like a stone, and seemed as rigid
as a corpse. Then all those wicked gamblers took him and threw him into a large
dark well, fearing that, if he lived, he might take vengeance on them.
But
that gambler Dágineya, when flung down into that very deep well, saw in front
of him two great and terrible men. But they, when they saw him fall down
terrified, said to him kindly, “Who are you, and how have you managed to fall
into this deep well? Tell us!” Then the gambler recovered his spirits, and told
them his story, and said to them “Do you also tell me who you are and whence
you come.” When those men, who were in the pit, heard that, they said, “Good
Sir, we were Bráhman demons dwelling in the cemetery belonging to this city,
and we possessed two maidens in this very city; one was the daughter of the
principal minister, the other of the chief merchant. And no conjurer on the
earth, however powerful his spells, was able to deliver those maidens from us.
“Then
king Vikramáditya, who had an affection for their fathers, heard of it, and
came to the place, where those maidens were with a friend of their fathers’.
The moment we saw the king, we left the maidens, and tried to escape, but we
were not able to do so, though we tried our utmost. We saw the whole horizon on
fire with his splendour. Then that king, seeing us, bound us by his power. And seeing
us unhappy, as we were afraid of being put to death, he gave us this order, ‘Ye
wicked ones, dwell for a year in a dark pit, and then ye shall be set at
liberty. But when freed, ye must never again commit such a crime; if ye do, I
will punish you with destruction.’ After king Vishamaśíla had given us this
order, he had us flung into this dark pit; but out of mercy he did not destroy
us.
“And
in eight more days the year will be completed, and with it the period during
which we were to dwell in this cave, and we shall then be released from it.
Now, friend, if you engage to supply us with some food during those days, we
will lift you out of this pit, and set you down outside it; but if you do not,
when lifted out, supply us with food according to your engagement, we will
certainly, when we come out, devour you.”
When
the Bráhman demons made this proposal to the gambler, he consented to it, and
they put him out of the pit. When he got out of it, he went to the cemetery at
night to deal in human flesh, as he saw no other chance of getting what he
wanted. And I, happening to be there at that time, saw that gambler, who was
crying out, “I have human flesh for sale; buy it somebody.” Then I said, “I
will take it off your hands; what price do you want for it?” And he answered,
“Give me your shape and power.” Then I said again to him, “My fine fellow, what
will you do with them?” The gambler then told me his whole story, and said to
me, “By means of your shape and power I will get hold of those enemies of mine,
the gamblers, together with the keeper of the gambling-house, and will give
them to the Bráhman demons to eat.” When I heard that, I was pleased with the
resolute spirit of that gambler, and gave him my shape and my power for a
specified period of seven days. And by means of them he drew those men that had
injured him into his power, one after another, and flung them into the pit, and
fed the Bráhman demons on them during seven days.
Then
I took back from him my shape and power, and that gambler Dágineya, beside
himself with fear, said to me, “I have not given those Bráhman demons any food
this day, which is the eighth, so they will now come out and devour me. Tell me
what I must do in this case, for you are my friend.” When he said this, I,
having got to like him from being thrown with him, said to him, “If this is the
case, since you have made those two demons devour the gamblers, I for your sake
will in turn eat the demons. So shew them to me, my friend.” When I made the
gambler this offer, he at once jumped at it, and took me to the pit where the
demons were.
I,
suspecting nothing, bent my head down to look into the pit, and while I was
thus engaged, the gambler put his hand on the back of my neck, and pushed me
into it. When I fell into it, the demons took me for some one sent for them to
eat, and laid hold of me, and I had a wrestling-match with them. When they
found that they could not overcome the might of my arms, they desisted from the
struggle, and asked me who I was.
Then
I told them my own story from the point where my fortunes became involved with
those of Dágineya, and they made friends with me, and said to me, “Alas! What a
trick that evil-minded gambler has played you, and us two, and those other
gamblers! But what confidence can be placed in gamblers, who profess
exclusively the science of cheating, whose minds are proof against friendship,
pity, and gratitude for a benefit received? Recklessness and disregard of all
ties are ingrained in the nature of gamblers; hear in illustration of this the
story of Ṭhiṇṭhákarála.”
Story of Ṭhiṇṭhákarála the bold gambler.
Long
ago there lived in this very city of Ujjayiní a ruffianly gambler, who was
rightly named Ṭhiṇṭhákarála.
He lost perpetually, and the others, who won in the game, used to give him every
day a hundred cowries. With those he bought wheat-flour from the market, and in
the evening made cakes by kneading them somewhere or other in a pot with water,
and then he went and cooked them in the flame of a funeral pyre in the
cemetery, and ate them in front of Mahákála, smearing them with the grease from
the lamp burning before him: and he always slept at night on the ground in the
court of the same god’s temple, pillowing his head on his arm.
Now,
one night, he saw the images of all the Mothers and of the Yakshas and other
divine beings in the temple of Mahákála trembling from the proximity of spells,
and this thought arose in his bosom, “Why should I not employ an artful device
here to obtain wealth? If it succeeds, well and good; if it does not succeed,
wherein am I the worse?” When he had gone through these reflections, he
challenged those deities to play, saying to them, “Come now, I will have a game
with you, and I will act as keeper of the gaming-table, and will fling the
dice; and mind, you must always pay up what you lose.” When he said this to the
deities they remained silent; so Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
staked some spotted cowries, and flung the dice. For this is the universally
accepted rule among gamblers, that, if a gambler does not object to the dice
being thrown, he agrees to play.
Then,
having won much gold, he said to the deities, “Pay me the money I have won, as
you agreed to do.” But though the gambler said this to the deities over and
over again, they made no answer. Then he flew in a passion and said to them,
“If you remain silent, I will adopt with you the same course as is usually
adopted with a gambler, who will not pay the money he has lost, but makes
himself as stiff as a stone. I will simply saw through your limbs with a saw as
sharp as the points of Yama’s teeth, for I have no respect for anything.” When
he had said this, he ran towards them, saw in hand; and the deities immediately
paid him the gold he had won. Next morning he lost it all at play, and in the
evening he came back again, and extorted more money from the Mothers in the
same way by making them play with him.
He
went on doing this every day, and those deities, the Mothers, were in very low
spirits about it; then the goddess Chámuṇḍá
said to them, “Whoever, when invited to gamble, says ‘I sit out of this game’
cannot be forced to play; this is the universal convention among gamblers, ye
Mother deities. So when he invites you, say this to him, and so baffle him.”
When Chámuṇḍá had said this to the Mothers,
they laid her advice up in their minds. And when the gambler came at night and
invited them to play with him, all the goddesses said with one accord “We sit
out of this game.”
When
Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
had been thus repulsed by those goddesses, he invited their sovereign Mahákála
himself to play. But that god, thinking that the fellow had taken this
opportunity of trying to force him to gamble, said, “I sit out of this game.”
Even gods, you see, like feeble persons, are afraid of a thoroughly
self-indulgent, ruffianly scoundrel, flushed with impunity.
Then
that Ṭhiṇṭhákarála,
being depressed at finding his gambler’s artifice baffled by a knowledge of the
etiquette of play, was disgusted, and said to himself, “Alas! I am baffled by
these deities through their learning the conventions of gamblers; so I must now
flee for refuge to this very sovereign of the gods.” Having formed this
resolution in his heart, Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
embraced the feet of Mahákála, and praising him, addressed to him the following
petition; “I adore thee that sittest naked with thy head resting on thy knee;
thy moon, thy bull, and thy elephant-skin having been won at play by Deví. When
the gods give all powers at thy mere desire, and when thou art free from
longings, having for thy only possessions the matted lock, the ashes and the
skull, how canst thou suddenly have become avaricious with regard to hapless
me, in that thou desirest to disappoint me for so small a gain? Of a truth the
wishing-tree no longer gratifies the hope of the poor, as thou dost not support
me, lord Bhairava, though thou supportest the world. So, as I have fled to thee
as a suppliant, holy Stháṇu, with my mind
pierced with grievous woe, thou oughtest even to pardon presumption in me. Thou
hast three eyes, I have three dice, so I am like thee in one respect; thou hast
ashes on thy body, so have I; thou eatest from a skull, so do I; shew me mercy.
When I have conversed with you gods, how can I afterwards bear to converse with
gamblers? So deliver me from my calamity.”
With
this and similar utterances the gambler praised that Bhairava, until at last
the god was pleased, and manifesting himself, said to him, “Ṭhiṇṭhákarála,
I am pleased with thee; do not be despondent. Remain here with me; I will
provide thee with enjoyments.” In accordance with this command of the god’s
that gambler remained there, enjoying all kinds of luxuries provided by the
favour of the deity.
Now,
one night, the god saw certain Apsarases, that had come to bathe in that holy
pool of Mahákála, and he gave this command to Ṭhiṇṭhákarála,
“While all these nymphs of heaven are engaged in bathing, quickly snatch up the
clothes, which they have laid on the bank, and bring them here; and do not give
them back their garments, until they surrender to you this young nymph, named
Kalávatí.”
“When
Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
had received this command from Bhairava, he went and carried off the garments
of those heavenly beauties, while they were bathing; and they said to him,
“Give us back our garments, please; do not leave us naked.” But he answered
them, confident in the power which Śiva gave, “If you will give me the young
nymph Kalávatí, I will give you back these garments, but not otherwise.” When
they heard that, seeing that he was a stubborn fellow to deal with, and
remembering that Indra had pronounced a curse of this kind upon Kalávatí, they
agreed to his demand. And on his giving back the garments, they bestowed on
him, in due form, Kalávatí the daughter of Alambushá.
Then
the Apsarases departed, and Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
remained there with that Kalávatí in a house built by the wish of Śiva. And
Kalávatí went in the day to heaven to attend upon the king of the gods, but at
night she always returned to her husband. And one day she said to him in the
ardour of her affection, “My dear, the curse of Śiva, which enabled me to
obtain you for a husband, has really proved a blessing.” Thereupon her husband Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
asked her the cause of the curse, and the nymph Kalávatí thus answered him:
“One
day, when I had seen the gods in a garden, I praised the enjoyments of mortals,
depreciating the pleasures of the dwellers in heaven, as giving joys that
consist only in seeing. When the king of the gods heard that, he cursed me,
saying, ‘Thou shalt go and be married by a mortal, and enjoy those human
pleasures.’ In this way has come about our union that is mutually agreeable.
And to-morrow I shall return to heaven after a long absence; do not be unhappy
about it; for Rambhá is going to dance a new piece before Vishṇu,
and I must remain there, my beloved, until the exhibition is at an end.”
Then
Ṭhiṇṭhákarála,
whom love had made like a spoiled child, said to her, “I will go there and look
at that dance unperceived, take me there.” When Kalávatí heard that, she said,
“How is it fitting for me to do this? The king of the gods might be angry, if
he found it out.” Though she said this to him, he continued to press her; then
out of love she agreed to take him there.
So
the next morning Kalávatí by her power concealed Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
in a lotus, which she placed as an ornament in her ear, and took him to the
palace of Indra. When Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
saw that palace, the doors of which were adorned by the elephant of the gods,
which was set off by the garden of Nandana, he thought himself a god, and was
highly delighted. And in the court of Indra, frequented by gods, he beheld the
strange and delightful spectacle of Rambhá’s dance, accompanied by the singing
of all the nymphs of heaven. And he heard all the musical instruments played by
Nárada and the other minstrels; for what is hard to obtain in this world if the
supreme god is favourable to one?
Then,
at the end of the exhibition a mime, in the shape of a divine goat, rose up,
and began to dance with heavenly movements. And Ṭhiṇṭhákarála,
when he saw him, recognized him, and said to himself, “Why, I see this goat in
Ujjayiní, figuring as a mere animal, and here he is dancing as a mime before
Indra. Of a truth this must be some strange incomprehensible heavenly
delusion.” While Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
was going through these reflections in his mind, the dance of the goat-mime
came to an end, and then Indra returned to his own place. And then Kalávatí, in
high spirits, also took back Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
to his own home, concealed in the lotus-ornament of her ear.
And
the next day Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
beheld in Ujjayiní that goat-formed mime of the gods, who had returned there,
and he insolently said to him, “Come, dance before me, as you dance before
Indra. If you do not, I shall be angry with you; show off your dancing powers,
you mime.” When the goat heard this, he was astonished, and remained silent,
saying to himself, “How can this mere mortal know so much about me?” But when,
in spite of persistent entreaties, the goat refused to dance, Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
beat him on the head with sticks.
Then
the goat went with bleeding head to Indra, and told him all that had taken
place. And Indra by his supernatural powers of contemplation discovered the
whole secret, how Kalávatí had brought Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
to heaven when Rambhá was dancing, and how that profane fellow had there seen
the goat dancing. Then Indra summoned Kalávatí, and pronounced on her the
following curse, “Since, out of love, thou didst secretly bring here the man
who has reduced the goat to this state, to make him dance, depart and become an
image on a pillar in the temple built by king Narasinha in the city of
Nágapura.”
When
Indra had said this, Alambushá, the mother of Kalávatí, tried to appease him,
and at last he was with difficulty appeased, and he thus fixed an end to the
curse, “When that temple, which it has taken many years to complete, shall
perish and be levelled with the ground, then shall her curse come to an end.”
So Kalávatí came weeping and told to Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
the curse Indra had pronounced, together with the end he had appointed to it,
and how he himself was to blame, and then, after giving him her ornaments, she
entered into an image on the front of a pillar in the temple in Nágapura.
Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
for his part, smitten with the poison of separation from her, could neither
hear nor see, but rolled swooning on the ground. And when that gambler came to
his senses, he uttered this lament, “Alas! fool that I was, I revealed the
secret, though I knew better all the time; for how can people like myself, who
are by nature thoughtless, shew self-restraint? So now this intolerable
separation has fallen to my lot.” However in a moment he said to himself, “This
is no time for me to despond; why should I not recover firmness and strive to put
an end to her curse?”
After
going through these reflections, the cunning fellow thought carefully over the
matter, and assuming the dress of a mendicant devotee, went with rosary,
antelope-skin, and matted hair, to Nágapura. There he secretly buried in a
forest outside the city, four pitchers containing his wife’s ornaments, one
towards each of the cardinal points; and one full of sets of the five precious
things he deliberately buried within the city, in the earth of the
market-place, in front of the god himself.
When
he had done this, he built a hut on the bank of the river, and remained there,
affecting a hypocritical asceticism, pretending to be meditating and muttering.
And by bathing three times in the day, and eating only the food given him as
alms, after washing it with water on a stone, he acquired the character of a
very holy man.
In
course of time his fame reached the ears of the king, and the king often
invited him, but he never went near him: so the king came to see him, and
remained a long time in conversation with him. And in the evening, when the
king was preparing to depart, a female jackal suddenly uttered a yell at a
distance. When the cunning gambler, who was passing himself off as an ascetic,
heard that, he laughed. And when the king asked him the meaning of the laugh,
he said, “Oh! never mind.” But when the king went on persistently questioning
him, the deceitful fellow said, “In the forest to the east of this city, under
a ratan, there is a pitcher full of jewelled ornaments; so take it. This, king,
is what that female jackal told me, for I understand the language of animals.”
Then
the king was full of curiosity: so the ascetic took him to the spot, and dug up
the earth, and took out that pitcher, and gave it to him. Then the king, having
obtained the ornaments, began to have faith in the ascetic, and considered that
he not only possessed supernatural knowledge but was a truthful and unselfish
devotee. So he conducted him to his cell, and prostrated himself at his feet
again and again, and returned to his palace at night with his ministers,
praising his virtues.
In
the same way, when the king again came to him, the ascetic pretended to
understand the cry of an animal, and in this way made over to the king the
other three pitchers, buried towards the other three cardinal points. Then the
king, and the citizens, and the king’s wives became exclusively devoted to the
ascetic, and were, so to speak, quite absorbed in him.
Now,
one day, the king took that wicked ascetic to the temple for a moment; so he
contrived to hear in the market-place the cry of a crow. Then he said to the
king, “Did you hear what the crow said? ‘In this very market-place there is a
pitcher full of valuable jewels buried in front of the god: why do you not take
it up also?’ This was the meaning of his cry; so come, and take possession of
it.” When the deceitful ascetic had said this, he conducted him there, and took
up out of the earth the pitcher full of valuable jewels, and gave it to the
king. Then the king, in his excessive satisfaction, entered the temple holding
that pretended seer by the hand.
There
the mendicant brushed against that image on the pillar, which his beloved
Kalávatí had entered, and saw her. And Kalávatí, wearing the form of the image
on the pillar, was afflicted when she saw her husband, and began to weep then
and there. When the king and his attendants saw this, they were amazed, and
cast down, and said to that pretended seer, “Reverend Sir, what is the meaning
of this?” Then the cunning rascal, pretending to be despondent and bewildered,
said to the king, “Come to your palace: there I will tell you this secret,
though it is almost too terrible to be revealed.”
When
he had said this, he led the king to the palace, and said to him, “Since you
built this temple on an unlucky spot and in an inauspicious moment, on the
third day from now a misfortune will befall you. It was for this reason that
the image on the pillar wept when she saw you. So, if you care for your body’s
weal, my sovereign, take this into consideration, and this very day quickly
level this temple with the earth; and build another temple somewhere else, on a
lucky spot, and in an auspicious moment. Let the evil omen be averted, and
ensure the prosperity of yourself and your kingdom.” When he had said this to
the king, he, in his terror, gave command to his subjects, and in one day
levelled that temple with the earth, and he began to build another temple in
another place. So true is it that rogues with their tricks gain the confidence
of princes, and impose upon them.
Accordingly,
the gambler Ṭhiṇṭhákarála,
having gained his object, abandoned the disguise of a mendicant, and fled, and
went to Ujjayiní. And Kalávatí, finding it out, went to meet him on the road,
freed from her curse and happy, and she comforted him, and then went to heaven
to visit Indra. And Indra was astonished, but when he heard from her mouth the
artifice of her husband the gambler, he laughed and was highly delighted. Then
Vṛihaspati,
who was at his side, said to Indra, “Gamblers are always like this, abounding
in every kind of trickery.”
Story of the gambler who cheated Yama.
For
instance, in a previous kalpa there was in a certain city a gambler, of the
name of Kuṭṭaníkapaṭa,
accomplished in dishonest play. When he went to the other world, Indra said to
him, “Gambler, you will have to live a kalpa in hell on account of your crimes,
but owing to your charity you are to be Indra for one day, for once on a time
you gave a gold coin to a knower of the Supreme Soul. So say, whether you will
take out first your period in hell or your period as Indra.” When the gambler
heard that, be said, “I will take out first my period as Indra.”
Then
Yama sent the gambler to heaven, and the gods deposed Indra for a day, and
crowned him sovereign in his stead. He, having obtained sovereign sway,
summoned to heaven the gamblers his friends and his female favourites, and in
virtue of his regal authority gave this order to the gods, “Carry us all in a
moment to all the holy bathing-places, those in heaven, and those on earth, and
those in the seven dvípas: and enter this very day into all the kings on the
earth, and bestow without ceasing, great, gifts for our benefit.”
When
he gave this order to the gods, they did everything as he had desired, and by
means of those holy observances his sins were washed away, and he obtained the
rank of Indra permanently. And by his favour his friends and his female
favourites, that he had summoned to heaven, had their sins destroyed and
obtained immortality. The next day Chitragupta informed Yama that the gambler
had by his discretion obtained the rank of Indra permanently. Then Yama,
hearing of his meritorious actions, was astonished, and said, “Dear me! this
gambler has cheated us.”
When
Vṛihaspati
had told this story, he said, “Such, O wielder of the thunderbolt, are
gamblers,” and then held his peace. And then Indra sent Kalávatí to summon Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
to heaven. There the king of the gods, pleased with his cleverness and
resolution, honoured him, and gave him Kalávatí to wife, and made him an
attendant on himself. Then the brave Ṭhiṇṭhákarála
lived happily, like a god, in heaven, with Kalávatí, by the favour of Śiva.
“So,
you see, such is the style in which gamblers exhibit their treachery and
audacity; accordingly Agniśikha the Vampire, what is there to be surprised at
in your having been treacherously thrown into this well by Dágineya the
gambler? So come out of this pit, friend, and we will come out also.”
When
the Bráhman demons said this to me, I came up out of that pit, and being
hungry, I came across a Bráhman traveller that night in the city. So I rushed
forward and seized that Bráhman to eat him, but he invoked the protection of
king Vikramáditya. And the moment the king heard his cry, he rushed out like
flame, and while still at a distance, checked me by exclaiming “Ah villain! do
not kill the Bráhman:” and then he proceeded to cut off the head of a figure of
a man he had drawn; that did not sever my neck, but made it stream with blood.
Then
I left the Bráhman and clung to the king’s feet, and he spared my life.
“Such
is the power of that god, king Vikramáditya. And it is by his orders that I
have slain this hypocritical kápálika. So he is my proper prey, to be devoured
by me as being a Vetála; let him go, Yamaśikha!”
Though
Agniśikha made this appeal to Yamaśikha, the latter proceeded contumaciously to
drag with his hand the corpse of that hypocritical kápálika. Then king
Vikramáditya appeared there, and drew the figure of a man on the earth and then
cut off its hand with his sword. That made the hand of Yamaśikha fall severed;
so he left the corpse, and fled in fear. And Agniśikha immediately devoured the
corpse of that kápálika. And I witnessed all this, securely protected by the
might of the king.
“In
these words did that wife of the Yaksha, Madanamanjarí by name, describe your
power, O king, and then she went on to say to me.”
Then,
Anangadeva, the king said to me in a gentle voice, “Yakshí, being delivered
from the kápálika, go to the house of your husband.” Then I bowed before him,
and returned to this my own home, thinking how I might repay to that king the
benefit he had conferred on me. In this way your master gave me life, family
and husband; and when you tell him this story of mine, it will agree with his
own recollections.
Moreover,
I have to-day found out that the king of Sinhala has sent to that king his
daughter, the greatest beauty in the three worlds, who has of her own accord
elected to marry him. And all the kings, being jealous, have gathered
themselves together and formed the intention of killing Vikramaśakti, and the
dependent kings, and of carrying off that maiden. So, do you go, and make known
that their intention to Vikramaśakti, in order that he may be on his guard and
ready to repel their attack. And I will exert myself to enable king
Vikramáditya to conquer those enemies and gain the victory.
“For
this reason I brought you here by my own deluding power, in order that you
might tell all this to king Vikramaśakti and the dependent monarchs; and I will
send to your sovereign such a present as shall to a certain small extent be a
requital for the benefit that he conferred on me.”
While
she was saying this, the two maidens, that we had seen in the sea, came there
with the deer; one had a body white as the moon, the other was dark as a
priyangu; so they seemed like Gangá and Yamuná returned from worshipping the
ocean, the monarch of rivers. When they had sat down, I put this question to
the Yakshí, “Goddess, who are these maidens, and what is the meaning of this
golden deer?” When the Yakshiṇí heard this,
king, she said to me, “Anangadeva, if you feel any curiosity about the matter,
listen, I will tell you.”
Story
of Ghaṇṭa and Nighaṇṭa and the two maidens.
Long
ago there came to impede Prajápati, in his creation of creatures, two terrible
Dánavas, named Ghaṇṭa and Nighaṇṭa,
invincible even by gods. And the Creator, being desirous of destroying them,
created these two maidens, the splendour of whose measureless beauty seemed
capable of maddening the world. And those two mighty Asuras, when they saw
these two exceedingly wonderful maidens, tried to carry them off; and fighting
with one another, they both of them met their death.
Then
Brahmá bestowed these maidens on Kuvera, saying, “You must give these girls to
some suitable husband;” and Kuvera made them over to my husband, who is his
younger brother; and in the same way my husband passed these fair ones on to
me; and I have thought of king Vikramáditya as a husband for them, for, as he
is an incarnation of a god, he is a fit person for them to marry.
“Such
are the facts with regard to these maidens, now hear the history of the deer.”
Story of the golden deer.
Indra
has a beloved son, named Jayanta. Once on a time, when he, still an infant, was
being carried about in the air by the celestial nymphs, he saw some princes in
a wood on earth playing with some young deer. Then Jayanta went to heaven, and
cried in the presence of his father because he had not got a deer to play with,
as a child would naturally do. Accordingly Indra had a deer made for him by
Viśvakarman of gold and jewels, and life was given to the animal by sprinkling
it with nectar. Then Jayanta played with it, and was delighted with it, and the
young deer was continually roaming about in heaven.
In
course of time that son of Rávaṇa, who was
rightly named Indrajit, carried off the young deer from heaven and took it to
his own city Lanká. And after a further period had elapsed, Rávaṇa
and Indrajit having been slain by the heroes Ráma and Lakshmaṇa,
to avenge the carrying off of Sítá, and Vibhíshaṇa
having been set upon the throne of Lanká, as king of the Rákshasas, that
wonderful deer of gold and jewels remained in his palace. And once on a time,
when I was taken by my husband’s relations to Vibhíshaṇa’s
palace on the occasion of a festival, he gave me the deer as a complimentary
present. And that young heaven-born deer is now in my house, and I must bestow
it on your master.
And
while the Yakshiṇí was telling me
this string of tales, the sun, the friend of the kamaliní, went to rest. Then I
and the ambassador of the king of Sinhala went to sleep, both of us, after the
evening ceremonies, in a palace which the Yakshiṇí
assigned to us.
In
the morning we woke up and saw, my sovereign, that the army of Vikramaśakti,
your vassal, had arrived. We reflected that that must be a display of the
Yakshiṇí’s
power, and quickly went wondering into the presence of Vikramaśakti. And he, as
soon as he saw us, showed us great honour, and asked after our welfare; and was
on the point of asking us what message the king of Sinhala had sent, when the
two heavenly maidens, whose history the Yakshiṇí
had related to us, and the young deer arrived there, escorted by the army of
the Yakshas. When king Vikramaśakti saw this, he suspected some glamour of
malignant demons, and he said to me apprehensively “What is the meaning of
this?” Then I told him in due course the commission of the king of Sinhala, and
the circumstances connected with the Yakshiṇí,
the two maidens, and the deer. Moreover I informed him of the hostile scheme of
your majesty’s enemies, which was to be carried out by all the kings in
combination, and which I had heard of from the Yakshí. Then Vikramaśakti
honoured us two ambassadors, and those two heavenly maidens; and being
delighted made his army ready for battle with the assistance of the other
vassal kings.
And
immediately, king, there was heard in the army the loud beating of drums, and
immediately there was seen the mighty host of hostile kings, accompanied by the
Mlechchhas. Then our army and the hostile army, furious at beholding one
another, closed with a rush, and the battle began. Thereupon some of the
Yakshas sent by the Yakshí entered our soldiers, and so smote the army of the
enemies, and others smote them in open fight. And there arose a terrible
tempest of battle, overspread with a cloud formed of the dust raised by the
army, in which sword-blades fell thick as rain, and the shouts of heroes
thundered. And the heads of our enemies flying up, as they were cut off, and
falling again, made it seem as if the Fortune of our victory were playing at
ball. And in a moment those kings that had escaped the slaughter, their troops
having been routed, submitted and repaired for protection to the camp of your
vassal.
Then,
lord of earth, as you had conquered the four cardinal points and the dvípas,
and had destroyed all the Mlechchhas, that Yakshiṇí
appeared, accompanied by her husband, and said to king Vikramaśakti and to me,
“You must tell your master that what I have done has been done merely by way of
service to him, and you must also request him, as from me, to marry these two
god-framed maidens, and to look upon them with favour, and to cherish this deer
also, for it is a present from me.” When the Yakshí had said this, she bestowed
a heap of jewels, and disappeared with her husband, and her attendants. The
next day, Madanalekhá, the daughter of the king of Sinhala, came with a great
retinue and much magnificence. And then Vikramaśakti went to meet her, and
bending low, joyfully conducted her into his camp. And on the second day
Vikramaśakti, having accomplished his object, set out with the other kings from
that place, in order to come here and behold your Majesty’s feet, bringing with
him that princess and the two heavenly maidens, and that deer composed of gold
and jewels, a marvel for the eyes of the three worlds. And now, sovereign, that
vassal prince has arrived near this city, and has sent us two on in front to
inform Your Highness. So let the king, out of regard for the lord of Sinhala
and the Yakshí, go forth to meet those maidens and the deer, and also the
subject kings.
When
Anangadeva had said this to king Vikramáditya, though the king recollected
accomplishing that difficult rescue of the Yakshiṇí,
he did not consider it worth a straw, when he heard of the return she had made
for it; great-souled men, even when they have done much, think it worth very
little. And, being much pleased, he loaded Anangadeva for the second time, with
elephants, horses, villages, and jewels, and bestowed similar gifts on the
ambassador of the king of Sinhala.
And
after he had spent that day, the king set out from Ujjayiní, with his warriors
mounted on elephants and horses, to meet that daughter of the king of Sinhala,
and those two maidens created by Brahmá. And the following speeches of the
military officers, assigning elephants and horses, were heard in the
neighbourhood of the city when the kings started, and within the city itself
when the sovereign started; “Jayavardhana must take the good elephant
Anangagiri, and Raṇabhaṭa
the furious elephant Kálamegha, and Sinhaparákrama Sangrámasiddhi, and the hero
Vikramanidhi Ripurákshasa, and Jayaketu Pavanajava, and Vallabhaśakti
Samudrakallola, and Báhu and Subáhu the two horses Śaravega and Garuḍavega,
and Kírtivarman the black Konkan mare Kuvalayamálá, and Samarasinha the white
mare Gangálaharí of pure Sindh breed.”
When
that king, the supreme sovereign of all the dvípas, had started on his journey,
the earth was covered with soldiers, the quarters were full of nothing but the
shouts that they raised, even the heaven was obscured with the dust that was
diffused by the trampling of his advancing army, and all men’s voices were
telling of the wonderful greatness of his might.
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