The Katha Sarit Sagara/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI.
Then Udayana took the kingdom of Vatsa, which his father had bequeathed to him, and, establishing himself in Kauśámbi, ruled his subjects well. But gradually he began to devolve the cares of empire upon his ministers, Yaugandharáyana and others, and gave himself up entirely to pleasures. He was continually engaged in the chase, and day and night he played on the melodious lute which Vasuki ‡[1] gave him long ago; and he subdued evermore infuriated wild elephants, overpowered by the fascinating spell of its strings' dulcet sound, and, taming them, brought them home. That king of Vatsa drank wine adorned by the reflection of the moon-faces of fair women, and at the same time robbed his minister's faces of their cheerful hue.§[2] Only one anxiety had he to bear, he kept thinking, "No where is a wife found equal to me in birth and personal appearance, the maiden named Vásavadattá alone has a liking for me, but how is she to be obtained?" Chandamahásena also in Ujjayiní thought; " There is no suitable husband to be found for my daughter in the world, except one Udayana by name, and he has ever been my enemy. Then how can I make him my son-in-law and my submissive ally? There is only one device which can effect it. He wanders about alone in the forest capturing elephants, for he is a king addicted to the vice of hunting; I will make use of this failing of his to entrap him and bring him here by a stratagem: and, as he is acquainted with music, I will make this daughter of mine his pupil, and then his eye will without doubt be charmed with her, and he will certainly became my son-in-law, and my obedient ally. No other artifice seems applicable in this case for making him submissive to my will." Having thus reflected, he went to the temple of Durgá, in order that his scheme might be blessed with success, and, after worship and praise, offered a prayer to the goddess. And there he heard a bodiless voice saying, "This desire of thine, O king, shall shortly be accomplished." Then he returned satisfied, and deliberated over that very matter with the minister Buddhadatta* [3] saying ——" That prince is elated with pride, he is free from avarice, his subjects are attached to him, and he is of great power, therefore he cannot be reached by any of the four usual expedients beginning with negotiation, nevertheless let negotiation be tried first. †[4] Having thus deliberated, the king gave this order to an ambassador, " Go and give the king of Vatsa this message from me; 'My daughter desires to be thy pupil in music, if thou love us, come here and teach her.' " When sent off by the king with this message, the ambassador went and repeated it to the king of Vatsa in Kauśámbí exactly as it was delivered; and the king of Vatsa, after hearing this uncourteous message from the ambassador, repeated it in private to the minister Yaugandharáyana, saying "Why did that monarch send me that insolent message? What can be the villain's object in making such a proposal?" When the king asked him this question, the great minister Yaugandharáyana, who was stern to his master for his good, thus answered him; "Your reputation for vice ‡[5] has shot up in the earth like a creeper, and this, O king, is its biting bitter fruit. For that king Chandamahásena, thinking that you are the slave of your passions, intends to ensnare you by means of his beautiful daughter, throw you into prison, and so make you his unresisting instrument. Therefore abandon kingly vices, for kings that fall into them are easily captured by their enemies, even as elephants are taken in pits." When his minister had said this to him, the resolute king of Vatsa sent in return an ambassador to Chandamahásena with the following reply, "If thy daughter desires to become my pupil, then send her here." When he had sent this reply, that king of Vatsa said to his ministers—— "I will march and bring Chandamahásena here in chains." When he heard that, the head minister Yaugandharáyana said ——" That is not a fitting thing to do, my king, nor is it in thy power to do it. For Chandamahásena is a mighty monarch, and not to be subdued by thee. And in proof of this, hear his whole history, which I now proceed to relate to thee."
Story of king Chandamahásena.:—There is in this land a city named Ujjayiní, the ornament of the earth, that, so to speak, laughs to scorn with its palaces of enamelled whiteness*[6] Amarávati, the city of the gods. In that city dwells Śiva himself, the lord of existence, under the form of Mahákála, †[7] when he desists from the kingly vice of absenting himself on the heights of mount Kailása. In that city lived a king named Maheudravarman, best of monarchs, and he had a son like himself, named Jayasena. Then to that Jayasena was born a son named Mahásena, matchless in strength of arm, an elephant among monarchs. And that king, while cherishing his realm, reflected, "I have not a sword worthy of me, nor a wife of good family." Thus reflecting that monarch went to the temple of Durgá, and there he remained without food, propitiating for a long time the goddess. Then he cut off pieces of his own flesh, and offered a burnt-offering with them, whereupon the goddess Durgá being pleased appeared in visible shape, and said to him, "I am pleased with thee, receive from me this excellent sword, by means of its magic power thou shalt be invincible to all thy enemies. Moreover thou shalt soon obtain as a wife Angáravati, the daughter of the Asura Angáraka, the most beautiful maiden in the three worlds. And since thou didst here perform this very cruel penance, therefore thy name shall be Chandamahásena." Having said this and given him the sword, the goddess disappeared. But in the king there appeared joy at the fulfilment of his desire. He now possessed, king, two jewels, his sword and a furious elephant named Nadágiri, which were to him what the thunderbolt and Airávana are to Indra. Then that king, delighting in the power of these two, one day went to a great forest to hunt; and there he beheld an enormous and terrible wild bear; like the darkness of the night suddenly condensed into a solid mass in the day time. That boar was not wounded by the king's arrows, in spite of their sharpness, but after breaking the king's chariot*[8] fled and entered a cavern. The king, leaving that car of his, in revengeful pursuit of the boar, entered into that cavern with only his bow to aid him. And after he had gone a long distance, he beheld a great and splendid capital, and astonished he sat down inside the city on the bank of a lake. While there, he beheld a maiden moving along,surrounded by hundreds of women, like the arrow of love that cleaves the armour of self-restraint. She slowly approached the king, bathing him, so to speak, again and again in a look, that rained in showers the nectar of love. †[9] She said, "who art thou, illustrious sir, and for what reason hast thou entered our home on this occasion?" The king, being thus questioned by her, told her the whole truth; hearing which, she let fall from her eyes a passionate flood of tears, and from her heart all self-control. The king said, "Who art thou, and why dost thou weep?" When he asked her this question, she, being a prisoner to love at his will, answered him, "The boar that entered here is the Daitya Angáraka by name. And I am his daughter, O king, and my name is Angáravatí. And he is of adamantine frame, and has carried off these hundred princesses from the palaces of kings and appointed them to attend on me. Moreover this great Asura has become a Rákshasa owing to a curse, but to-day as he was exhausted with thirst and fatigue, even when he found you, he spared you. At present he has put off the form of a boar and is resting in his own proper shape, but when he wakes up from his sleep, he will without fail do you an injury. It is for this reason that I see no hope of a happy issue for you, and so these tear-drops fall from my eyes like my vital spirits boiled with the fire of grief." When he heard this speech of Angáravatí's the king said to her, "If you love me, do this which I ask you. When your father awakes, go and weep in front of him, and then he will certainly ask you the cause of your agitation; then you must say If some one were to slay thee, what would become of me? ‡[10] This is the cause of my grief. If you do this, there will be a happy issue both for you and me." When the king said this to her, she promised him that she would do what he wished. And that Asura maiden, apprehending misfortune, placed the king in concealment, and went near her sleeping father. Then the Daitya woke up, and she began to weep. And then he said to her, "Why do you weep, my daughter?" She with affected grief said to him, "If some one were to slay thee, what would become of me?" Then he burst out laughing and said;—"Who could possibly slay me, my daughter, for I am cased in adamant all over, only in my left hand is there an unguarded place, but that is protected by the bow." In these words the Daitya consoled his daughter, and all this was heard by the king in his concealment. Immediately afterwards the Danava rose up and took his bath, and proceeded in devout silence to worship the god S'iva; at that moment the king appeared with his bow bent, and rushing up impetuously towards the Daitya, challenged him to light. He, without interrupting his devout silence, lifted his left hand towards the king and made a sign that he must wait fora moment. The king for his part, being very quick of hand, immediately smote him with an arrow in that hand which was his vital part. And that great Asura Angaraka, being pierced in a vital spot, immediately uttered a terrible cry and fell on the ground, and exclaimed, as his life departed,—"If that man, who has slain me when thirsty, does not offer water to my manes every year, then his five ministers shall perish." After he had said this, that Daitya died, and the king, taking his daughter Angaravati as a prize, returned to Ujjayini. There the king Chandamahasena married that Daitya maiden, and two sons were born to him, the first named Gopalaka, and the second Palaka; and when they were born, he held a feast in honour of Indra on their account. Then Indra, being pleased, said to that king in a dream, "By my favour thou shalt obtain a matchless daughter." Then in course of time a graceful daughter was born to that king, like a second and more wonderful shape of the moon made by the Creator. And on that occasion a voice was heard from heaven;—"She shall give birth to a son, who shall be a very incarnation of the god of love, and king of the Vidyadharas." Then the king gave that daughter the name of Vasavadatta, because she was given by Indra being pleased with him. And that maiden still remains unmarried in the house of her father, like the goddess of prosperity in the hollow cavity of the ocean before it was churned. That king Chandamahasena cannot indeed be conquered by you, king, in the first place because he is so powerful, and in the next place because his realm is situated in a difficult country. Moreover he is ever longing to give you that daughter of his in marriage, but being a proud monarch, he desires the triumph of himself and his adherents. But, 1 think, you must certainly marry that Vasavadatta. When he heard this, that king of Yatsa immediately lost his heart to Vasavadatta.
- ↑ ‡ Not Vásuki, but his oldest brother.
- ↑ § Chháyá means "colour ;" he drank their colour, i.e., made them pale. It also means "reflection in the wine."
- ↑ * i.e., given by Buddha.
- ↑ † The four Upáyas or means of success are sáman, negotiation, which his pride would render futile, dána, giving, which appeals to avarice, bheda, sowing dissension, which would be useless where a king is beloved by his subjects, and danda, open force, of no use in the case of a powerful king like Udayana.
- ↑ ‡ The chief vices of kings denounced by Hindu writers on statecraft are: Hunting, gambling, sleeping in the day, calumny, addiction to women, drinking spirits, dancing, singing, and instrumental music, idle roaming, those proceed from the love of pleasure, others proceed from anger, viz., tale-bearing, violence, insidious injury, envy, detraction, unjust seizure of property, abuse, assault. See Monier Williams s. v. Vyasana
- ↑ * Sudhádhauta may mean "white us plaster," but more probably here "whitened with plaster" like the houses in the European quarter of the "City of palaces."
- ↑ † A linga of Śiva in Ujjayiní. Śiva is here compared to an earthly monarch subject to the vyasana of roaming. I take it, the poet means, Ujjayiní is better place than Kailása.
- ↑ * Dr. Brockhaus translates it— Stürate den Wagen des Koniga um. Can Syandanamean horses, like magni currus Achilli? If so, áhatya would mean, having killed.
- ↑ † Rasa means nectar, and indeed any liquid, and also emotion, passion. The pun is of course most intentional in the original.
- ↑ ‡ Cp. the story of Ohimé in the " Sicilianische Marchen" collected by Laura von Gonzenbach where Maruzza asks Ohimé how it would he possible to kill him. So in Indian Fairy Tales, collected by Miss Stokes, Hiralál Bása persuades Sonahrí Ráni to ask his father where he kept his soul. Some interesting remarks on this subject will be found in the notes to this tale (Indian Fairy Tales, p. 260.) See also No. I, in Campbell's Tales of the Western Highlands, and Dr. Reinhold Kohler's remarks in Orient and Occident, Vol. II, p. 100. Cp. also Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, pp. 80, 81 and 136.