Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/152

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

128

again; " The North, king, though rich, is defiled by intercourse with barbarians, and the West is not honoured as being the cause of the setting of the sun and other heavenly bodies; and the South is seen to be neighboured by Rákshasas and inhabited by the god of death; but in the eastern quarter the sun rises, over the East presides Indra, and towards the East flows the Ganges, therefore the East is preferred. Moreover among the countries situated between the Vindhya and Himálaya mountains, the country laved by the waters of the Ganges is considered most excellent. Therefore monarch s who desire success march first towards the East, and dwell moreover in the land visited by the river of the gods.*[1] For your ancestors also conquered the regions by beginning with the East, and made their dwelling in Hastinápura on the banks of the Ganges; but Śatáníka repaired to Kauśámbí on account of its delightful situation, seeing that empire depended upon valour, and situation had nothing to do with it." When he had said this Yaugandharáyana stopped speaking; and the king out of his great ' regard for heroic exploits said; " It is true that dwelling in any prescribed country is not the cause of empire in this world, for to men of brave disposition their own valour is the only cause of success. For a brave man by himself without any support obtains prosperity; have you never heard à propos of this the tale of the brave man?" Having said this, the lord of Vatsa on the entreaty of his ministers again began to speak, and related in the presence of the queens the following wonderful story.

Story of Vidúshaka.:— In the city of Ujjayiní, which is celebrated throughout the earth, there was in former days a king named Âdityasena. He was a treasure-house of valour, and on account of his sole supremacy, his war chariot, like that of the sun.†[2]f was not impeded anywhere. When his lofty umbrella, gleaming white like snow, illuminated the firmament, other kings free from heat depressed theirs. He was the receptacle of the jewels produced over the surface of the whole earth, as the sea is the receptacle of waters. Once on a time, he was encamped with his army on the banks of the Ganges, where he had come for some reason or other. There a certain rich merchant of the country, named Gunavartman, came to the king bringing a gem of maidens as a present, and sent this message by the mouth of the warder. This maiden, though the gem of the three worlds, has been born in my house, and I cannot give her to any one else, only your Highness is fit to be the husband of such a girl. Then Gunavartman

  1. * i. e. the Ganges.
  2. † In Sanskrit pratápa the word translated " valour," also means heat, and chakra may refer to the wheels of the chariot and the orb of the sun, so that there is a pun all through.