KATHA SARIT SAGARA Chapter XLVII

Chapter XLVII

 

Early the next morning, Súryaprabha set out from the hermitage of Sumeru with his forces to conquer Śrutaśarman. And arriving near the mountain of Trikúṭa his dwelling place, he encamped, driving away the enemies’ army with his own force, which was established there. And while he was encamped there with Sumeru, Maya, and others, and was in the hall of council, an ambassador came from the lord of Trikúṭa. And when he came, he said to Sumeru the Vidyádhara prince; “The king, the father of Śrutaśarman, sends you this message. ‘We have never entertained you, as you were far off; now you have arrived in our territory with guests, so now we will shew you appropriate hospitality.’” When Sumeru heard this scoffingly ambiguous message, he said in answer: “Bravo! you will not get another guest such a fit object of hospitality as we are. Hospitality will not bear its fruit in the next world, its fruit is in this. So here we are, entertain us.” When Sumeru said this, the ambassador returned to his master as he came.

 

Then Súryaprabha and the others, established upon an elevated place, surveyed their armies encamped separately. Then Sunítha said to his father-in-law the Asura Maya: “Explain to me the arrangement of the warriors in our army.” Then that all-knowing prince of the Dánavas said, “I will do so, listen;” and pointing them out with his finger, he began to say—“These kings Subáhu, Nirgháta, Mushṭika, and Gohara, and Pralamba, and Pramátha, and Kankaṭa, and Pingala, and Vasudatta and others, are considered half-power warriors. And Ankurin, and Suviśála, and Daṇḍin, and Bhúshaṇa, and Somila, and Unmattaka, and Devaśarman, and Pitṛiśarman, and Kumáraka, and Haridatta and others are all full-power warriors. And Prakampana, and Darpita, and Kumbhíra, and Mátṛipálita, and Mahábhaṭa, and Vírasvámin, and Surádhara, and Bháṇḍíra, and Sinhadatta and Guṇavarman, with Kíṭaka and Bhíma and Bhayankara, these are all warriors of double power. And Virochana, and Vírasena, and Yajnasena, and Khujjara, and Indravarman, and Śevaraka, and Krúrakarman, and Nirásaka, these princes are of triple power, my son. And Suśarman, and Báhuśálin, and Viśákha, and Krodhana, and Prachaṇḍa,—these princes are warriors of fourfold power. And Junjarin, and Víraśarman, and Pravíravara, and Supratijna and Maráráma, and Chaṇḍadanta, and Jálika, and the three, Sinhabhaṭa, Vyághrabhaṭa, and Śatrubhaṭa, these kings and princes are warriors of fivefold power. But this prince Ugravarman is a warrior of sixfold power. And the prince Viśoka, and Sutantu, and Sugama, and Narendraśarman are considered warriors of sevenfold power. And this king Sahasráyu is a great warrior. But this Śatáníka is lord of a host of great warriors. And Subhása, Harsha, and Vimala, the companions of Súryaprabha, Mahábuddhi and Achalabuddhi, Priyankara and Śubhankara are great warriors, as also Yajnaruchi and Dharmaruchi. But Viśvaruchi, and Bhása, and Siddhártha, these three ministers of Súryaprabha, are chiefs of hosts of great warriors. And his ministers Prahasta and Mahártha are leaders of hosts of transcendent warriors. And Prajnáḍhya and Sthirabuddhi are leaders of hosts of hosts of warriors; and the Dánava Sarvadamana, and Pramathana here, and Dhúmaketu, and Pravahana, and Vajrapanjara, and Kálachakra, and Marudvega are leaders of warriors and transcendent warriors. Prakampana and Sinhanáda are leaders of hosts of leaders of hosts of warriors. And Mahámáya, and Kámbalika, and Kálakampana here, and Prahṛishtaroman, these four lords of the Asuras, are kings over chiefs of hosts of transcendent warriors. And this Prabhása, the general of the army, who is equal to Súryaprabha, and this son of Sumeru, Kunjarakumára, these two are leaders of hosts of chiefs of hosts of great warriors. Such heroes are there in our army, and others besides, girt with their followers. There are more in the hostile army, but Śiva being well disposed towards us, they will not be able to resist our host.

 

While the Asura Maya was saying this to Sunítha, another ambassador came from the father of Śrutaśarman, and said thus to him; “The king of Trikúṭa sends this message to you; ‘This is a great feast for heroes—the feast, which goes by the name of battle. This ground is narrow for it, therefore let us leave it, and go to a place named Kalápagráma, where there is a wide space.’” When Sunítha and the other chiefs with their soldiers heard this, they agreed, and all of them went with Súryaprabha to Kalápagráma. And Śrutaśarman and his partizans also, eager for battle, went to that same place, surrounded with the hosts of the Vidyádharas. When Súryaprabha and his chiefs saw elephants in the army of Śrutaśarman, they summoned their contingent of elephants, which was conveyed in the chariot that flew through the air. Then Dámodara, that excellent Vidyádhara, drew up his army in the form of a large needle; Śrutaśarman himself took up his position on the flank with his ministers, and Dámodara was in front, and other great warriors in other places. And Prabhása, the leader of Súryaprabha’s army, arranged it in the form of a crescent; he himself was in the centre, and Kunjarakumára and Prahasta at the two horns; and Súryaprabha, and Sunítha and the other chiefs, all remained in the rear. And Sumeru with Suvásakumára stood near him. Thereupon the war-drums were beaten in both armies.

 

And in the meanwhile the heaven was filled with the gods, come to see the battle, together with Indra, and the Lokapálas, and the Apsarases. And Śiva, the lord of all, came there with Párvatí, followed by deities, and the Gaṇas, and demons, and the mothers. And holy Brahmá came accompanied by the Vedas incarnate in bodily form, beginning with the Gáyatrí, and the Śástras and all the great Ṛishis. And the god Vishṇu came, riding on the king of birds, bearing his weapon the discus, accompanied by goddesses, of whom the goddesses of Fortune, Glory, and Victory were the chief. And Kaśyapa came with his wives, and the Ádityas and the Vasus, and the chiefs of the Yakshas, Rákshasas and snakes, and also the Asuras with Prahláda at their head. The sky was obscured with them, and the battle of those two armies began, terrible with the clashing of weapons, accompanied with loud shouts. The whole heaven was darkened by the dense cloud of arrows, through which the flashes, made by the arrows striking against one another, played like lightning, and rivers of blood flowed, swollen with the gore of many elephants and horses wounded with weapons, in which the bodies of heroes moved like alligators. That battle gave great delight to heroes, jackals, and goblins, that danced, waded, and shouted in blood.

 

When the confused mêlée, in which countless soldiers fell, had abated, Súryaprabha, and the other chiefs, gradually began to perceive the distinction between their own army and that of the enemy, and heard in order from Sumeru the names and lineage of the chiefs fighting in front of the enemies’ host. Then first took place a single combat between king Subáhu and a chief of the Vidyádharas, named Aṭṭahása. Subáhu fought a long time, until Aṭṭahása, after riddling him with arrows, cut off his head with a crescent-headed shaft. When Mushṭika saw that Subáhu was slain, he rushed forward in wrath; he too fell smitten by Aṭṭahása with an arrow in the heart. When Mushṭika was slain, a king named Pralamba in wrath rushed on, and attacked Aṭṭahása with showers of arrows, but Aṭṭahása slew his retainers, and striking the hero Pralamba with an arrow in a mortal place, laid him low on the seat of his chariot. A king named Mohana, when he saw Pralamba dead, engaged with Aṭṭahása and smote him with arrows. Then Aṭṭahása cut his bow and slew his charioteer, and laid him low, slain with a terrific blow. When the host of Śrutaśarman saw that the dexterous Aṭṭahása had slain those four warriors, expecting the victory, they shouted for joy. When Harsha, the companion of Súryaprabha, saw that, he was wroth, and with his followers attacked Aṭṭahása and his followers; and with shafts he repelled his shafts, and he slew his followers, and killed his charioteer, and two or three times cut his bow and his banner, and at last he cleft asunder his head with his arrows, so that he fell from his chariot on the earth, pouring forth a stream of blood. When Aṭṭahása was slain, there was such a panic in the battle, that in a moment only half the two armies remained. Horses, elephants and footmen fell down there slain, and only the trunks of slaughtered men remained standing in the van of battle.

 

Then a chief of the Vidyádharas, named Vikṛitadanshṭra, angry at the slaughter of Aṭṭahása, showered arrows upon Harsha. But Harsha repelled his arrows, struck down his chariot-horses, and his banner and his charioteer, and cut off his head with its trembling earrings. But when Vikṛitadanshṭra was killed, a Vidyádhara king, named Chakravála, in wrath attacked Harsha; he slew Harsha still fighting on, though fatigued with combat, after his bow had been frequently cut asunder, and his other weapons damaged. Angry at that, king Pramátha attacked him, and he too was slain by that Chakravála in fight. In the same way four other distinguished kings, who attacked him one by one, were slain one after another by that Chakravála, namely, Kankaṭa, and Viśála, and Prachaṇḍa and Ankurin. When king Nirgháta saw that, he was wroth, and attacked Chakravála, and those two, Chakravála and Nirgháta, fought for a long time, and at last they broke one another’s chariots to pieces, and so became infantry soldiers, and the two, rushing furiously together, armed with sword and discus, cleft with sword-strokes one another’s heads, and fell dead on the earth. Then the two armies were dispirited, seeing those two warriors dead, but nevertheless a king of the Vidyádharas, named Kálakampana, stepped forward to the front of the fight. And a prince, named Prakampana, attacked him, but he was in a moment struck down by that Kálakampana. When he was struck down, five other warriors attacked Kálakampana, namely Jálika, and Chaṇḍadatta, and Gopaka, and Somila, and Pitṛiśarman; all these let fly arrows at him at the same time. But Kálakampana deprived all five of their chariots, and slew them at the same time, piercing the five with five arrows in the heart. That made the Vidyádharas shout for joy, and the men and Asuras despond. Then four other warriors rushed upon him at the same time, Unmattaka and Praśasta, Vilambaka and Dhurandhara; Kálakampana slew them all easily, in the same way he killed six other warriors that ran towards him, Tejika, and Geyika, and Vegila, and Śákhila, and Bhadrankara and Daṇḍin, great warriors with many followers. And again he slew five others that met him in fight, Bhíma, Bhíshaṇa, Kumbhíra, Vikaṭa, and Vilochana. And a king, named Sugaṇa, when he saw the havoc that Kálakampana had made in the battle, ran to meet him. Kálakampana fought with him until both had their horses and charioteers killed, and were compelled to abandon their chariots; then Kálakampana, reduced to fight on foot, laid Sugaṇa, who was also fighting on foot, low on the earth with a sword-cut. Then the sun, having beheld that surprising struggle of Vidyádharas with men, went grieved to rest. Not only did the field of battle become red, filled with streaming blood, but the heaven also became red, when evening set her foot-prints there. Then the corpses and demons began their evening dance, and both armies, stopping the battle, went to their camps. In the army of Śrutaśarman were slain that day three heroes, but thirty-three distinguished heroes were slain in the army of Súryaprabha.

 

Then Súryaprabha, grieved at the slaughter of his kinsmen and friends, spent that night apart from his wives. And eager for the fight, he passed that night in various military discussions with his ministers, without going to sleep. And his wives, grieved on account of the slaughter of their relations, met together in one place that night, having come for the sake of mutual condolence. But even on that melancholy occasion they indulged in miscellaneous conversation; there is no occasion on which women are not irrelevant in their talk. In the course of this conversation, one princess said—“It is wonderful! How comes it that to-night our husband has gone to sleep without any of his wives?” Hearing that, another said—“Our husband is to-day grieved on account of the slaughter of his followers in battle, so how can he take any pleasure in the society of women?” Then another said, “If he were to obtain a new beauty, he would that instant forget his grief.” Then another said—“Do not say so; although he is devoted to the fair sex, he would not behave in this way on such a sad occasion.” While they were thus speaking, one said with wonder; “Tell me why our husband is so devoted to women, that, though he has carried off many wives, he is perpetually marrying new princesses and is never satisfied.” One of the wives, a clever woman of the name of Manovatí, said when she heard this,—“Hear why kings have many loves. The good qualities of lovely women are different, varying with their native land, their beauty, their age, their gestures, and their accomplishments, no one woman possesses all good qualities. The women of Karṇáṭa, of Láṭa, of Sauráshṭra and Madhyadeśa, please by the peculiar behaviour of their various countries. Some fair ones captivate by their faces like an autumn moon, others by their breasts full and firm like golden ewers, and others by their limbs, charming from their beauty. One has limbs yellow as gold, another is dark like a priyangu, another, being red and white, captivates the eyes as soon as seen. One is of budding beauty, another of full-developed youth, another is agreeable on account of her maturity, and distinguished by increasing coquetry. One looks lovely when smiling, another is charming even in anger, another charms with gait resembling that of an elephant, another with swan-like motion. One, when she prattles, irrigates the ears with nectar; another is naturally beautiful, when she looks at one with graceful contraction of the eyebrows. One charms by dancing, another pleases by singing, and another fair one attracts by being able to play on the lyre and other instruments. One is distinguished for good temper, another is remarkable for artfulness; another enjoys good fortune from being able to understand her husband’s mind. But, to sum up, others possess other particular merits; so every lovely woman has some peculiar good point, but of all the women in the three worlds none possesses all possible virtues. So kings, having made up their minds to experience all kinds of fascinations, though they have captured many wives for themselves, are forever seizing new ones. But the truly noble never, under any circumstances, desire the wives of others. So this is not our husband’s fault, and we cannot be jealous.” When the head-wives of Súryaprabha, beginning with Madanasená, had been addressed in this style by Manovatí, they made one after another remarks to the same effect. Then, in their merriment, they laid aside all the ties of reserve, and began to tell one another all kinds of secrets. For unfortunately there is nothing which women will not let out, when they are met together in social intercourse, and their minds are interested in the course of the conversation. At last that long conversation of theirs was somehow or other brought to an end, and in course of time the night passed away, during which Súryaprabha was longing to conquer the host of his enemies, for he was alone, intently waiting for the time when the darkness should depart.