420
" Thus this supernatural power is desired by wise men, who are averse to heaven and such low enjoyments; and you have obtained it, O King, so, being independent, enter your own body." When Maya said this to king Chandraprabha, after communicating to him the doctrine of mystic contemplation giving supernatural power,*[1] he and his wife and his son and his ministers rejoiced exceedingly.
Then the king, with his son and companions, was led by Maya to a second under-world, and made to enter a splendid city. And there they saw a gigantic hero, reclining at full length upon a beautiful couch, as if asleep, anointed with potent herbs and ghee, awful from the ghastly transformation of his features, surrounded by the daughters of the kings of the Daityas, with their lotus-faces full of melancholy. Then Maya said to Chandraprabha:— "This is your body, surrounded by your former brides, enter it."— The king had recourse to the magic contemplation taught by Maya, and entered the body of that hero, abandoning his own frame. †[2] Then the hero yawned slowly, opened his eyes, and rose up from the bed, as if awaking out of sleep. Then a shout arose from the delighted Asura brides, " Happy are we, that our husband, the god Sunítha, is to-day restored to life." But Súryaprabha and the others were immediately despondent, beholding the body of Chandraprabha lying lifeless. But Chandraprabha- Sunítha, appearing as if risen from a refreshing sleep, saw Maya, and falling at his feet honoured his father. That father too embraced him and asked him in the presence of all,— " Do you remember both your lives, my son?" He said; " I do remember them," and related what had happened to him in his life as Chandraprabha, and also what had happened to him in his life as Sunítha, and he comforted one by one Súryaprabha and. the others, and also his queens, mentioning each by name, and also the Dánava ladies, his wives in his first life. And he preserved the body, which he had as Chandraprabha, carefully laid by, embalmed by means of drugs and ghee, saying, " It may possibly be useful to me." Then Súryaprabha and the others, tranquil now that they had gained confidence, bowed before him, and joyfully congratulated him.
Then Maya, having conducted all of them in high delight out of that city, led them to another city adorned with gold and jewels. When they enter-
- ↑ * I. e. the Yoga system.
- ↑ † This superstition appears to be prevalent in China. See Giles's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Vol. I, p. 23, and other passages. It was no doubt carried there by the same wave of Buddhism that carried there many similar notions connected with the transmigration of souls, for instance the belief that children are born able to speak, and that this is very inauspicious. (Cp. Giles's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Vol. I, p. 184 with the story of Dharmagupta and Chandraprabhá in the 17th chapter of this work.) The existence of this latter belief in Europe is probably to be ascribed to the influence of Buddhism.
