IIRKIIIY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY Of CALIFORNIA This is an authorized facsimile of the original book, and was produced in 1972 by microfilm-xerography by University Microfilms, A Xerox Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND. NEW SERIES. II. THE KADAMBARI OF BANA, AND ACCOMPANIED BY A FULL ABSTRACT OF THE CONTINUATION OF TH« ROMANCE BY THE AUTHOR'S SOrN BHU8HANABHATTA. I BV , C. M. RIDDING, Formerly Scholar of Oirion College, Camhrulye, fBINTMD AND FUBLI8HED UNDER THE FATRONAOE OW THE BOTAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, Tkd bold at 22, ALBEMABLE STBEET, LONDON. 1896. 10306 < i l^ool hhl /u^p-i, //. 3'. KADAMBARi. I i MRS. COWELL, WHO FIB8T TOLD MK THE 8T0EY OF KADAMBABX \ THI» TRANSLATION IS AFPECTIONATKLY DKDICATKD. Anenakaranavishkritavtttaalyeua caritena ka^ya ua bandhutvani adhyaropayasi.' */ 1 introduction; Thb story of Kadambarl is interesting for several reasons. It is ^ standard example of. classical prose ; it has enjoyed a long popularity as a romance ; and it is one of the com- paratively few Sanskrit works which can be assigned to a certain date, and so it can serve as a landmark in the history of Indian literature and Indian thought. Bfinabhatta, its author, lived in the reign of Harsha- vardhana of Thrineyar, the great king men- tioned in many inscriptions,-^ who extended his rule over the whole of Northern India, and from whose reign (a.d. 606) dates the Harsha era, used in Nepal. Bana, as he tells us, both in the * Harsha-Carita ' and in the introductory verses of * Kadambarl,' was a Vatsyayana Brahman. His mother died while he was yet young, and his father's tender care of him, recorded in the * Harsha- Carita,'^ was doubtless in his memory as he recorded the unselfish love of Vaic^ampayana's father in * Kadambarl * * It is needless to give here more than the few facts essential for the understanding of * Kadambarl,' for the life and times of Bana will probably bo treated of in the translation of the * Harsha-Carita ' by Professor Cowell and Mr. Thomas in this series ; and Professor Peter- eon's Introduction to his edition of ' Kadambarl ' (Bombay Sanskrit Series, 1H89) deals fully with Bana's place in literature. The facte here given are, for tlie most part, taken from the latter work. '^ E.fj., the Madhuban grant of Saiji 25, E. I. i., 67 fif. For this and other chronological references I am indebted to Miss C. M. Duff, who has let mo use the MS. of her 'Chronology of India.' 3 For Bana's early life, V. * Harsha-Carita,' chs. i., ii. I have to thank Mr. F. W. Thomas for allowing mo to see the proof-sheets of his translation. VUl (p. 22). In his youth he travelled much, and for a time ' came into reproach,' by reason of his unsettled life ; but the experience gained in foreign lands turned his thoughts homewards, and he returned to his kin, and lived a life of quiet study in their midst. From this he was summoned' to the court of King Harsha, who at first received him coldly, but afterwards attached him to his service; and Bana in the * Harsha-Carita ' relates his own life as a prelude to that of his master. The other works attributed to him are the ' Candikfi- Vataka,'^ or verses in honour of Candika; a drama, * The Parvatlparinaya'; and another, called * Mukutataditaka,' the existence of which is inferred from Gunavinayagani's commentary on the * Nalacampu.* Professor Peterson also mentions that a verse of Bana's (* Subhashitavali,' 1087) is quoted by Kshemendra in his * Aucityavicaracarca,' with a statement that it is part of a description of Kadambari's sorrow in the absence of Candraplda, whence, he adds, * it would seem that Bana wrote the story of Kadambarl in verse as well as in prose,* and he gives some verses which may have come from such a work. Baiia himself died, leaving * Kadambari ' unfinished, and his son Bhushanabhatta took it up in the midst of a speech in which Kadambari's sorrows are told, and continued the speech without a break, save for a few introductory verses in honour of his father, and in apology for his having undertaken the task, * as its unfinished state was a grief to the. good.' He continued the story on the same plan, and with careful, and, indeed, exaggerated, imitation of hia father's style. The story of * Kadambari' is a very complefx one, dealing The Plot of as it does with the lives of two heroes, each Kadamiuri. of whom is reborn twice on earth. (1-47) A learned parrot, named Vaivampayana, was brought by a Camjala maiden to King (^udraka, and told him how it was carried from its birthplace in the Vindhya 1 Peterson, • Kadaiuban,* pp. 96-98 ; and * The SubhaBbUnvaU,* edited by Peterson (Bombay Sanskrit Series, 1886), pp. 62-66. IX Forest to the hermitage of the sage Jabali, from whom it learnt the story of its former life. (47-95) Jabali's story was as follows : Tiirapida, King of UjjayinI, won by penance a son, Candraplila, who was brought up with Vai9arapriyana, son of his minister, ^'ukanfisa. In due time Candraplda was anointed as Crown Prince, and started on an expedition of world-conquest. At the end of it he reached Kailusa, and, while resting there, was led one day in a vain chase of a pair of kinnaras to the shores of the Acchoda Lake. (95-141) There he beheld a young ascetic maiden, Mahfu/vetri, who told him how she, being a Gandharva princess, had seen and loved a young Brahman Pun(jarlka ; how he, returning her feeling, had died from the torments of a love at variance with his vow ; how a divine being had carried his body to the sky, and bidden her not to die, for she should be reunited with him ; and how she awaited that time in a life of penance. (141-188) But her friend Kadambarl, another Gandharva princess, had vowed not to marry while Mahfu/veta was in sorrow, and Maha(;veta invited the prince to come to help her in dissuading Kadambarl from the rash vow. Love sprang up between the prince and Kadambarl at lirst sight ; but a sudden summons from his father took him to UjjayinI without farewell, while Kadambarl, thinking herself deserted, almost died of grief. (188 - 195) Meanwhile news came the^ his friend Vaic^ampayana, whom he had left in command of the army, had been strangely affected by the sight of the Acchoda Lake, and refused to leave it. The prince set out to find him, but in vain; and proceeding to the hermitage of Mahayveta, he found her in despair, because, in invoking on a young Brahman, who had rashly ap- proached her, a curse to the effect that he should become a parrot, she learnt that she had slain Vai^ampayana. At her words the prince fell dead from grief, and at that moment Kadambarl came to the hermitage. (195-202) Her resolve to follow him in death was broken by the promise of a voice from the sky that she and Maha9veta should both be reunited with their lovers, and she stayed to tend the prince's body, from which a divine radiance proceeded; while King Tfiraplda gave up his kingdom, and lived as a hermit near his son. (202 to end) Buch was Jfibfili's tale ; and the parrot went on to say how, hearing it, the memory of its former love for Mahru/voia was reawakened, and, though bidden to stay in the hermitage, it flew away, only to be caught and taken to the Cau/•///.'" According to his rendering, the Katha is in its essence a story claiming to be based on previous works in verse, whether iif this case the original were Bana's own 1 V, Totorson, ♦ Kridaiiiban,' pp. 82-00. ^ Transhvjtod by Uallantyno and rraniadri-DuBa-Mitra (Calcutta, 1875), § 507. Tlio italics represent words supplied by the translators. 3 ♦ KAdaaibarl/ p. 09. xiu metrical version of ' Kadambari/^ or the work which was also the original of the Katha-Sarit-Sagara story. The story of Pundarika and Mahayveta receives mention, firstly, for the introduction of death, contrary to the canon ; secondly, for the determination of the nature of their sorrow, and its poetic quality, and consequent appeal to the feelings of the reader. Firstly : (§ 216) * Death, which is a condition to which one vmi/ he brouyht hy love, is not described in poetry and the drama^ where the other conditions^ such as anxiety^ etCy are constantly d escribed j because it, instead of enhancinf/f causes the destruction of ** Flavour. "^ But it may be spoken of (1) as having nearly taken place, or (2) as being mentally wished for ; and it is with ^jro/^nV/// described (8) if there is to be, at no distant date, a restora- tion to life.' The commentary takes the story of Pundarlka as an example of the third condition, and describes it as a * case of pathetic separation.* Secondly : (§ 224) ' Either of two young lovers being dead, and being yet to be regained through some supernatural interposition , when the one left behind is sorrowful, then let it be called the separation of tender sadness ' (haruaaripraUnnbha). The commentary gives Mahri(;vetri as the instance, and continues : * But if the lost one be not regainable, or regainable only after trans- mi (/ration in another body, the flavour is called the ** Pathetic " simply, there beiny in this case no room for any admixture of the '* Erotic ",- but in the case just mentioned — of Pundarlka and Mahayveta—immediately on Sarasvati's declaration from the sky that the lorers should be reunited^ there is the *' Erotic in its form of tender sadness," for desire arises on the expectation of reunion, but previously to Sarasrat'Vs jironiise there was the ** Pathetic *' ; such is tlio opinion of the competent authorities. And as for what some say in regard to the case of Pundarlha and Mahac^vetaf that ** moreover aftkii the expectation of reunion, excited by SarasvatVs promise to that ejfectf there is merely your * Professor Peterson does not, however, make this deduction in favour of Buna's own version. '^ I.e., raaa^ poetic charm. XIV honour's variety of " love in absence,'* (§ 222) the one which you call " beingabroad " (§ 221)— others hold it to be distinct, because of the presence of that distinction, death, which i$ something else than merely being abroad,' These are the l)assages in which direct mention is made of ' Kadarabarl,* and in § 735, which defines special mention (parisamlchyd) as taking place ' when something is affirmed for the denial, expressed or understood, of something else similar to it,' the commentary adds : * When founded upon a Parono- masia, it is peculiarly striking, e,g,, *' When that king, the conqueror of the world, was protecting the earth, the mixture of colours (or castes) was in painting, etc," — a passage from the description of Cyiidraka in " Kfidambari " (p. 5).' References to Bfiiia in other works are given by Pro- fessor Peterson, so that three only need be mentioned here. The first I owe to the kindness of Professor C. Bendall. In a collection of manuscripts at the British Museum (Or., 445-447) ' consisting chiefly of law-books transcribed (perhaps for some European) on European paper in the Telugu-Canarese character,' one. Or., 44G c, the Kaman- daklya-Nlti-Castra, contains on folios 128-131 a passage from * Kfidambari ' (pp. 7G-84, infra)^ on the consecration of a crown-prince, and the duties and dangers of a king. It forms part of an introduction to the Kamandakiya-Niti- Castra, and occurs without any hint of its being a quotation from another work. The author of the Nalacampu not only writes a verse in honour of Bana,^ but models his whole style upon him. A curious instance of the long popularity of * Kfidambari' is that in the 'Durge^anandini' by Chattaji, an historical novel, published in 1871, and treating of the time of Akbar, the heroine is represented as reading in her boudoir the romance of * Kfidambari.'^ 1 * Kfidambari,' Nknaya Sagara Press, Bombay, pp. 205-221. » Evaiu samatikrrimatsii — fijagama.' ^ Bombay edition, p. 6.. ,.„..., xt i i »r s Profes^r CoweU's review of ' A Bengali Historical Novel. Mac- miUan, April, 1872. XV It may be asked What is the value of * Eadambari ' for The Interest European readers? and to different persons or*KADAMBABr/ the answer will doubtless be different. Historical interest, so far as that depends on the narration of historical facts, appears to be entirely lacking, though it may be that at some future time our knowledge from other sources may be so increased that we may recognise portraits and allusions in what seems now purely a work of romance. But in the wider sense in which history claims to deal with the social ideas that belong to any epoch, * Kfidambarl ' will always have value as representing the ways of thinking and feeling which were either customary or welcome at its own time, and which have continued to chaim Indian readers. It is indeed true that it probably in many ways does not give a picture of contemporary manners, just as a media)val illuminated manuscript often represents the dress and surroundings prior to the time of the illuminator, so as to gain the .grace of remoteness bestowed by reverence for the past. In India, where change works but slowly, the description of the court and city life, where all the subjects show by outward tokens their sympathy with the joys and sorrows of their ruler, as in a Greek choius, is vivid in its fidelity.^ The quiet yet busy life of the hermits in the forest, where the day is spent in worship and in peaceful toils, where at eve the sunbeams * linger like birds on the crest of hill and tree,' and where night * darkens all save the hearts of the hermits,* is full of charm.*^ * V. Peterson, ' Kridainbarl,' p. 42. ^ Indeed, this description is so like in spirit to that of Clairvaux, that I cannot forbear quoting a few lines of the latter. The writer describes the workshops where the brethren labour, and the orchard used for rest and quiet thought, and goes on to say hnw the Aube is raised by the toils of the ' brethren to the level of the Abbey ; it throws half its water into the Abbey, 'as if to salute the brethren, and seems to excuse itself for not coming in its whole force.' Then ' it returns with rapid current to the stream, and renders to it, in the name of Clairvaux, thanks for all the services which it has per- formed.' The writer then goes on to tell of the fountain which, pro- tected by a grassy pavilion, rises from the mountain, and is quickly engulfed in the valley, ' offering itself to charm the sight and supply the wants of the brethren, as if it were not willing to have connnuni- tion with any others than saints.' This last is surely a touch worthy XVI The coronation of the crown prince, the penances per- formed by the queen to win a eon, the reverence paid to Mahakilla, also belong to our picture of the time. The description of Ujjayini, surrounded by the Siprfi, is too general in its terms to give a vivid notion of what it then was. The site of the temple of Mahakula is still shown outside the ruins of the old town. A point of special interest is the argument against the custom of suicide on the death of a friend. Candrai^ida consoles Mahri9vetri that she has not followed her lover in death by saying that one who kills himself at his friend's death makes that friend a sharer in the guilt, and can do no more for him in another world, whereas by living he can give help by sacrifices and offerings. Those, too, who die may not be reunited for thousands of births. In the * Katha-Kova * ^ a prince is dissuaded from following his wife to death because * Even the idea of union with your beloved will be impossible when you are dead '; but the occurrence of the idea in a romance is more noteworthy than in a work which illustrates Jain doctrines. The question of food as affected by caste is touched on also (p. 205), when the Cancjfila maiden tells the parrot that a Brahman may, in case of need, receive food of any kind, and that water poured on the ground, and fruit, are pure even when brought by the lowest. Another point to be remarked is the mention of followers of many sects as being present at court, (^iva, especially under the name of Mahakala at Ujjayini, receives special worship, and Agni and the Matrikas (p. 14) also receive reverence. The zenanas include aged ascetic women (p. 217) ; followers of the Arhat, Krishna, Vi9ravasa, Avalokite^vara, and Virifica (p. 162) ; and the courtyard of Cukanasa has (^'aivas and followers of (^akyamuni (p. 217), also Kshapanakas (ex- plained by tl^ Commentary as Digambaras). The king,* of B/lna. V. Dr. Eale's'translation of ' St. Bernard's Works.' London, 1889, Vol. ii., pp. 462-467. 1 Translated by Mr. C. Tawney. Oriental Translation Fund Series, p. 113. 2 V. ' Kadambarl,' Nirnaya Sagara, p. 19, 1. 2. » xvu however, is described as having an unid (the hair meeting between the brows), which is one of fiuddha*s marks; but the Commentary describes the urnd as eakrarartiprahhri' tindm eva ndnyasya, so probably it only belongs to Buddha as cakravarti, or universal ruler. This shows that the reign of Harsha was one of religious tolerance. Hiouen Thsang, indeed, claims him as a Buddhist at heart, and mentions his building Buddhist stupas,^ but he describes himself as a Caiva in the Madhuban grant,^ and the pre- eminence yielded in * Kfidambarl * to (Jiva certainly shows that his was then the popular worship. Another source of interest in * KadambarT ' lies in its contribution to folklore. It may perhaps contain nothing not found elsewhere, but the fact of its having a date gives it a value. The love of snakes for the breeze and for sandal- trees, the truth of dreams at the end of night, the magic circles, bathing in snake-ponds to gain a son, the mustard- seed and ghl- put in a baby*s mouth, may all be familiar ideas, but we have a date at which they were known and not despised. Does the appeal to the truth of her heart by Mahru/vetfi in invoking the curse (p. 11)8) rest on the idea that fidelity to a husband confers supernatural i)Ower,^ or is it like the * act of truth ' by which Buddha often performs miracles in the * Jataka * ? The unsettled chronology of Indian literature makes it impossible to work out at present Buna's ' KadambauI.' relations with other Sanskrit writers. Pro- fessor Peterson,'* indeed, makes some in- teresting conjectures as to his connection with other authors of his own country, and also suggests, from simi- larity of phrase, that he mny have fallen indirectly under the influence of Alexandrian literature. Be that as it may, * * Kiouen Thsang.,' translated by St. Jiilien, * Memoires sur lea Contr^CB Occidentales,* I., pp. 247-265. Cf. also ' Harsha-Carita,' ch. viii. (p. 236 of the translation), where he pays great honour to a Buddhist sa^e. '' E. I. i. 67. ^ V. ' Katha-Sarit-Sagara,* i. 505. * V. ♦ KadambarT,' pp. 97-104. h XVUl he has been for many oenturies a model of style, and it is therefore worth while to consider briefly the characteristios of his style compared with European standards. The first thing that strikes the reader is that the sense of proportion, the very foundation of style as we know it, is entirely absent. No topic is let go till the author can squeeze no more from it. In descriptions every possible minor detail is given in all its fulness ; then follows a series of similes, and then a firework of puns. In speeches, be they lamenta- tions or exhortations, grief is not assuaged, nor advice ended, till the same thing has been uttered with every existing variety of synonym. This defect, though it springs from the author's richness of resource and readiness of wit, makes the task of rendering in English the merit of the Sanskrit style an impossible one. It gives also a false impression ; for to us a long description, if good, gives the effect of * sweetness long drawn out,* and, if bad, brings drowsiness ; whereas in Sanskrit the unending compounds suggest the impetuous rush of a torrent, and the similes and puns are like the play of light and shade on its waters. Bfuia, according to Professor Weber,^ * passes for the special representative of the Princfili style, '^ which Bhoja, quoted in the commentary of the * Sahitya-Darpana,' defines as *a sweet and soft style characterized by force (ojas) and elegance (kunti), containing compounds of five or six words.* But style, which is to poetic charm as the body to the soul, varies with the sense to be expressed, and Bana in many of his speeches is perfectly simple and direct. Owing to the peacefulness of * Kadambari,' there is little opportunity for observing the rule that in the ' Katha* letters * ought not to be too rough, even when the flavour is furious.'^ (tf the alliteration of initial consonants, the only long passage is in the description of Cukanasa (p. 50), but in its subtler forms it constantly occurs. Of shorter passages there are several examples — e,g,, Candra Candala ^ V. * History of Indian Literature,' translation, London, 1878, p. 282. « V, ♦ Sahitya-Darpana/ § 626-628. 3 Ibid., § 630. ^ XIX {ir{fra, p. 127) ; Candrapida Candalo (Sanskrit text, p. 416) ; Utkantham sotkantham kanthe jagraha (Ibid,, p. 867) ; Kamam Bakamam kuryam (IhiiL, p. 350) ; Candraplcla pidanaya (^Ibid,, p. 870). The ornament of <;le8ha, or paro- nomasia, which seems to arise from the untrained philo- logical instinct of mankind seeking the fundamental identity of like sounds with apparently unlike meaning, and which lends dramatic intensity when, as sometimes in Shakespeare,^ a flash of passionate feeling reveals to the speaker an original sameness of meaning in words seemingly far apart, is by Bfiiia used purely as an adornment. He speaks of pleasant stories interwoven with puns * as jasmine garlands with campak buds,' and they abound in his descriptions. The rasanojiamd^'^ or girdle of similes, is exemplified (p. 115), * As youth to beauty, love to youth, spring to love ' so was Kapifijala to Pundarika. Vishamam (incongruity) is the figure used in * the brightness of his glory, free from heat, consumed his foes ; constant, ever roamed ' (p. 48). It can scarcely be separated from virodha (contradiction)— often used, as in * I will allay on the funeral pyre the fever which the moon, sandal, and all cool things have increased ' (p. 195)— or from vicitram^ (Btrangeness), where an act is contrary to its apparent purpose : * There lives not the man whom the virtues of the most courteous lady Kfidambari do not discourteously enslave* (p. 159). Arthdpatti^ (a fortiori conclusion) is exemplified in * Even the senseless trees, robed in bark, seem like fellow-ascetics of this holy man. How much more, then, living beings endowed with sense !' (p. 43). Time and space would alike fail for analysis of Bana's similes according to the rules of the * Sahitya-Darpana.'^ * * Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, Thou makest thy knife keen.' * Merchant of Venice,* IV. 1, 128 (Globe edition). * Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough, When there is in it but one only man.' ♦ Julius Ceesar,' I. 2, 166. '^ V. ♦ Bahitya-Darpana,' § 664. ^ Ibid., § 718-722. . * Ibid., § 788. * V. Peterson, ' Kadambari,' p. 86. i XX I The auihor of the * Raghavapaudaviya ' considers Subandhu and £ana as his only equals in vakrokti, or crooked speech, and the fault of a * meaning to be guessed out * (* Sahitya- Darpana,* § 674) is not rare. The * Kavya-Prakri9a,' in addition to the references given by Professor Peterson, quotes a stanza describing a horse in the * Harsha-Carita * (chap, iii.) as an example of svahhdvulcti. The hero belongs to the division described as the high- spirited, but temperate and firm (* Sahitya-Darpana,* § 64), f.f., he who is *not given to boasting, placable, very profound, with great self-command, resolute, whose self- esteem is concealed, and faithful to his engagements,' and who has the * eight manly qualities ' of * brilliancy, vivacity, sweetness of temper, depth of character, steadfastness, keen sense of honour, gallantry, and magnanimity * {Ihid,^ § 89). Kadambarl is the type of the youthful heroine who feels love for the first time, is shy, and gentle even in indigna- tion (Ihi(Ly § 98). The companions of each are also those declared in the books of rhetoric to be appropriate. The work which most invites comparison with * Kadam- barl * is one far removed from it in place and Parallels, time— Spenser's * Faerie Queene.' Both have in great measure the same faults and the same virtues. The lack of proportion, — due partly to too large a plan, partly to an imagination wandering at will— the absence of visualization — which in Spenser produces sometimes a line like * A lovely Ladie rode him faire beside Upon a lowly Asse more white then snow, Yet ahc much whiter t* and in Bana many a description like that of Maha^veta'B fairness (pp. 95-97)— the undiscriminating praise bestowed on those whom they would fain honour, the shadowy nature of many of their personages, and the intricacies in which the story loses itself, are faults common to both. Both, too, by a, strange coincidence, died with their work un- finished. But if they have the same faults, they have also many of the same virtues. The lo¥e of what is XXI beautiful and pure both in character and the world around, tendernesR of heart, a gentle spirit troubled by the disquiet of life,^ grace and sweetness of style, and idyllic simplicity, are common to both. Though, however, Candraplda may have the chivalry and reverence of the Red Cross Knight, and Una share with Kadambari or Rohiiii * nobility, tender- ness, loftiness of soul, devotion and charm,'- the English hero and heroine are more real and more strenuous. We are, indeed, told in one hurried sentence of the heroic deeds of Candrapicja in his world-conquest, and his self- control and firmness are often insisted on; but as he appears throughout the book, his self-control is constantly broken down by affection or grief, and his firmness destroyed by a timid balancing of conflicting duties, while his real virtue is his unfailing gentleness and courtesy. . Nor could Kadambari, like Una, bid him, in any conflict, * Add faith unto your force, and be not faint.' She is, perhaps, in youth and entire self -surrender, more like Shakespeare's Juliet, but she lacks her courage and resolve. The likeness of spirit between these two leads to the ques- tion, Had Bana, like Spenser, any purpose, OF 'KadamuauI/ ethical or political, underlying his story? On the surface it is pure romance, and it is hard to believe that he had any motive but the simple delight of self-expression and love for the children of his own imagination. He only claims to tell a story * tender with the charm of gracious speech, that comes of itself, like a bride, to the possession of its lord 'f but it may be that he gladly gathered up in old age the fruits of his life's experience, and that his own memory of his father's tender- ness to his childhood, of the temptations of youth, and of the dangers of jn'osperity and flattery that assail the heart of kings, was not used only to adorn a tale, but to be a guide to others on the perilous path of life. Be that as it may, the interest of * Kadambari,' like that, of the * Faerie ' Cf. Spenaer's stanzas on Mutability. " V. infra, p. 20S. , » F.Vn/ra, p. 2. xxu Queene,' does not depend for us now on any underlying purpose, but on the picture it presents in itself of the life and thought of a world removed in time, but not in sympathy, from our own; on the fresh understanding it gives of those who are in the widest sense our fellow- countrymen; and on the charm, to quote the beautiful words of Professor Peterson, * of a story of human sorrow and divine consolation, of death and the passionate longing for a union after death, that goes straight from the heart of one who had himself felt the pang, and nursed the hope, to us who are of like frame with him . . . the story which from the beginning of time mortal ears have yearned to hear, but which mortal lips have never spoken.* The translation of Bana presents much difficulty from the elaboration of his style, and it has been a The Plan of the - ^^ ^ •, , ^ i i- Translation. specially hard task, and sometmies an im- possible one, to give any rendering of the constant play on words in which he delights. I have some- times endeavoured to give what might be an English equiva- lent, and in such cases I have added in a note the literal meaning of both alternatives ; perhaps too much freedom may have been used, and sometimes also the best alterna- tive may not have been chosen to place in the text ; but those who have most experience will know how hard it is to do otherwise than fail. Some long descriptions have been omitted, such, f.//., as a passage of several pages describ- ing how the dust rose under the feet of Candrripl(la*s army, and others whore there seemed no special interest or variety to redeem their tediousness. A list of these omissions^ is given at the end, together with an appendix, in which a few passages, chiefly interesting as mentioning religious sects, are added. I have acted on Professor Cowell's advice •as to the principle on which omissions are made, as also in giving only a full abstract, and not a translation, of the continuation of ^Kadambari' by * The list looks long, but the pages in the • Nirnaya-Sagara ' edition contain frequently but few lines, and many of the omi^ions are a lino or two of oft-repeated similes. XXIU Bhushana. It is so entirely an imitation of his father's work in style, with all his faults, and without the originality that redeems them, that it would not reward translation. In my abstract I have kept the direct narration as more simple, but even when passages are given rather fully, it does not profess in any case to be more than a very free rendering ; sometimes only the sense of a whole passage is summed up. I regret that the system of transliteration approved by the Royal Asiatic Society came too late for adoption here. The edition of * Kadambarl ' to which the references in the text are given is that of the Niniaya-Sfigara Press (Bombay, 181)0), which the full commentary makes indispensable, but I have also throughout made use of Professor Peterson's edition (Bombay Sanskrit Series, No. xxiv.). For the last half of the Second Part^ I have referred to an anonymous literal translation, published by the New Britannia Press Depository, 78, Amherst Street, Calcutta. I have now to offer my grateful thanks to the Secretary of State for India, without whose kind help the volume could not have been published. I have also to thank Miss G. M. Duff for allowing me to use the MS. of her ' Indian Chronology ' ; Miss E. Dale, of Girton College, for botanical notes, which I regret that want of space prevented my printing in full ; Mr. C. Tawney, librarian of the Indian Office, for information as to the sources of Indian fiction ; Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot and Professor lihys-Davids, for valu- able advice; Professor C. Bendall, for his description of the Kaniandaklya-Niti-Castra, and his constant kindness about my work ; Mr. F. W. Thomas, of Trinity College, for letting me see the proof- sheets of the translation of the * Harslia Carita ' ; and others for suggested renderings of difficult phrases, and for help of various kinds. But especially my thanks are due to Professor Cowell'^ * Beginning at p. 686 of the ' Nirnaya-Sagara ' edition. * I here take the opportunity to acknowledge what by an oversight was omitted in its proper place, my indebtedness to Professor Cowell for the rendering into English verso of two couplets given on pp. 11 and 113. XXIV for a generosity and unwearied helpfulness which all his pupils know, and which perhaps few but they could imagine. I read through with him the whole of the First Part before translating it myself, so that mistakes in the translation, many as they may be, can arise only from mis- understanding on my part, from too great freedom of rendering, or from failing to have recourbe to the know- ledge he so freely gives. * Vrihatsahriyali karyuntjuii kHhodtyunapi gacchati ; Sainbhuyrunbodhiin abhyeti luahanadya nagapajj^a.' ^ i KADAMBARI. (1) Hail to the Birthless, the cause of creation, continaanee, and destruction, triple^ in form and quality, who shows activity in the birth of things, goodness in their continu* ance, and darkness in their destruction. (2) Glory to the dust of Tryambaka's feet, caressed by the diadem of the demon Bfina ^ ; even that dust that kisses the circle of Eavana's ten crest-gems, that rests on the crests of the lords of gods and demons, and that destroys our transitory life. (3) Glory to Vishnu, who, resolving to strike from afar, with but a moment's glance from his wrath-inflamed eye stained the breast of his enemy, as if it had burst of itself in terror. I salute the lotus feet of Bhatsu,^ honoured by crowned Maukharis : the feet which have their tawny toes rubbed on a footstool made by the united crowns of neighbouring kings. Who is there that fears not the wicked, pitiless in cause- less enmity ; in whose mouth calumny hard to bear is always ready as the poison of a serpent ? The wicked, like fetters, echo harshly, wound deeply, and leave a scar; while the good, like jewelled anklets, ever charm the mind with sweet sounds. (4) In a bad man gentle words sink no- deeper than the throat, like nectar swallowed by Eahu. The good man bears them constantly on his heart, as Hari his pure gem. * As the three Vedas, or the triad. * Vishnu, Purana, Bk. v., ch. 88. ^ His guru. 1 2 A Btory tender with the charm of gracious speech, creates in the heart joy full of fresh interest^ ; and it comes of itself, with native feeling, to its lord's possession, like a fresh bride.* ♦ Who is not carried captive by tales fashioned in freshness of speech, all alight with similes, and the lamps of glowing words* : pleasant tales interwoven with many a contrast of words,* as jasmine garlands with campak buds ? There was once a Brahman, Kuvera by name, sprung from the race of Vatsyayana, sung throughout the world for his virtue, a leader of the good : his lotus feet were worshipped by many a Gupta, and he seemed a very portion of Brahma. (5) On his month SarasvatI ever dwelt : for in it all evil was stilled by the Veda ; it had lips purified by sacrificial cake, and a palate bitter with soma, and it was pleasant with smriti and ^astra. In his house frightened boys, as they repeated verses of the Yajur and Sama Veda, were chidden at every word by caged parrots and mainas, who were thoroughly versed in everything belonging to words. From him was born Arthapati, a lord of the twice-born, as Hiranyagarbha from the world-egg, the moon from the Milky Ocean, or Garuda from Vinata. As he unfolded his spreading discourse day by day at dawn, new troops of pupils, intent on listening,* gave him a new glory, like fresh sandal-shoots fixed on the ear. (G) With countless sacrifices adorned with gifts duly offered,^ having glowing Mahavlra fires in their midst,^ and raising the sacrificial posts as their hands,^ he woii easily, . as if with a troop of elephants, the abode of the gods. \ > Raaa={a) tho eight raaaa ; (6) love. * f«2/y^^=(^) coj^position ; (6) couch. ^ {a) Which sparkle with emphatic words and similes ; (6) like flashing lamps. * (a) Pun ; (b) proximity. * Hanging on his ear (as an ornament). * In the case of elephants, * having their ichor rogulatqd by a proper regimen.' - .U ' With renowned warriors on their backs. : ' * Having trunks as thick as sacrificial posts. ^ .8 He in due course obtained a son, Citrabhanu, who amongst his other noble and glorious sons, all versed in 9ruti and 9astra, shone as crystal, like Kailasa among mountains. The virtues of that noble man, reaching far and gleam- ing bright as a digit of the moon, yet without its spot, pierced deep even into the hearts of his foes, like the budding claws of Nrisimha (Vishnu). The dark smoke of many a sacrifice rose like curls on the brow of the goddesses of the sky; or like shoots of tamala on the oar of the bride, the Threefold Veda, and only made his own glory shine more bright. From him was born a son, Bilna, when the drops that rose from the fatigue of the soma sacrifice were wiped from his brow by the folded lotus hands of SarasvatI, and when the seven worlds had been illuminated by the rays of his glory. (7) By that Brahman, albeit with a mind keeping even in his unspoken words its original dulness blinded by the darkness of its own utter folly, and simple from having never gained the charm of ready wit, this tale, surpassing the other two,^ was fashioned, even Kadambarl. There was once upon a time a king named Cudraka. Like a second . Indra, he had his commands honoured by the bent heads of all kings ; he was lord of the earth girt in by the four oceans ; he had an army of neighbouring chiefs bowed down in loyalty to his majesty ; he had the signs of a universal emperor; (8) like Vishnu, his lotus-hand bore the sign of the conch and the quoit ; like Civa, he had overcome Love ; like Kartikeya, he was unconquerable in might'^; like Brahma, he had the circle of great kings humbled'* ; like the ocean, he was the source of Lakshml ; like the stream of Ganges, he followed in the course of the pious king Bhaglratha ; like the sun, he rose daily in fresh splendour ; like Meru, the brightness of his foot was * I.e., Vasavadatta and the Brihatkatha ; or, r., adinifi/d, unrivaUed. * (a) Unconquerable in might ; (b) having unconquerable shafts. * In the case of Brahma, *he made his chariot of flamingoes." V: honoured by aU the world ; like the elephant of the quarters,* he constantly poured forth a stream of generosity. He was a worker of wonders, an offerer of sacrifices, a mirror of moral law, a source of the arts, a native home of virtue ; a spring of the ambrosial sweetness of poetry, a mountain of sunrise to all his friends,^ and a direful comet to all his foes. (9) He was, moreover, a founder of literary societies, a refuge for men of taste, a rejecter of haughty bowholders, a leader among the bold, a chief among the wise. He was a cause of gladness to the humble, as Yainateya^ was to Vinata. He rooted up with the point of his bow the boundary-mountains of his foes as Prithuraja did the noble mountains. He mocked Krishna, also, for while the latter made his boast of his man-lion form, he himself smote down the hearts of his foes by his very name, and while Krishna wearied the universe with his three steps, he subdued the whole world by one heroic effort. Glory long dwelt on the watered edge of his sword, as if to wash off the stain of contact with a thousand base chieftains, which had clung to her too long. By the indwelling of Dharma in his mind, Yama in his wrath, Kuvera in his kindness, Agni in his splendour, Earth in his arm, Lakshml in his glance, SarasvatI in his eloquence, (10) the Moon in his face, the Wind in his might, Brihaspati in his knowledge. Love in his beauty, the Sun in his glory, he resembled holy Narayana, whose nature manifests every form, and who is the very essence of deity. Boyal glory came to him once for all, like a woman coming to meet her lover, on the nights of battle stormy with the showers of ichor from the elephants* temples, and stood by him in the midst of the darkness of thousands of coats of mail, loosened from the doors of the breasts of warriors. She seemed to be drawn irresistibly by his sword, which was uneven in its edge, by reason of the drops of water forced out by the pressure of his strong hand, and which * (a) His hand was wot with a stream of constant giving ; (b) the trunk was wot with ichor. ' Or, to tho sun's orb. ^ Vinata = (a) mother of Garuda ; (bX humble. was decked with large pearls clinging to it when he clove the frontal bones of wild elephants. The flame of his majesty burnt day and night, as if it were a fire within his foes* fair wives, albeit reft of their lords, as if he would destroy the husbands now only enshrined in their hearts. (11) While he, having subdued the earth, was guardian of the world, the only mixing of colour^ was in painting ; the only pulling of hair in caresses ; the only strict fetters in the laws of poetry ; the only care was concerning moral law ; the only deception was in dreams ; the only golden rods^ were in umbrellas. Banners alone trembled ; songs alone showed variations'^ ; elephants alone were rampant ;* bows alone had severed cords f lattice windows alone had ensnaring network ; lovers' disputes alone caused sending of messengers ; dice and chessmen alone left empty squares ; and his subjects had no deserted homes. Under him, too, there was only fear of the next world, only twisting in the curls of the zenana women, only loquacity in anklets, only taking the hand^ in marriage, only shedding of tears from the smoke of ceaseless sacrificial fires ; the only sound of the lash was for horses, while the only twang of the bow was Love's. (15) WJian the thousand-rayed sun, bursting open the young lotus-buds, had not long risen, though it had lost somewhat of the pinkness of dawn, a portress approached the king in his hall of audience, and humbly addressed him. Her form was lovely, yet awe-inspiring, and with the scimitar (a weapon rarely worn by women) hanging at her left side, was like a sandal-tree girt by a snake. Her bosom glistened with rich sandal ointment like the heavenly Ganges when the frontal-bone of Airavata rises from its waters. (16) The chiefs bent before her seemed, by her reflection on their crests, to bear her on their fore- heads as a royal command in human form. Like autumn,^ she was robed in the whiteness of hamsas ; like the blade ^ Or, caste. « Qr, fines of gold. ^ Qr, fickle affections. * Had, viada^{a) pride ; (6) ichor. * Or, breaking away from virtue. * Or, tribute. ^ In autumn, the haitisaa^ or wild geese, return. 6 " of Para9urama she held the circle of kings in submission ; like the forest land of the Vindhyas, she bore her wand,^ and she seemed the very guardian-goddess of the realm. Placing on the ground her lotus hand and knee, she thus spake : * Sire, there stands at the gate a Gandala maiden from the South, a royal glory of the race of that Tri9ai?iku^ who climbed the sky, but fell from it at the murmur of wrathful Indra. She bears a parrot in a cage, and bids me thus hail your majesty : ** Sire, thou, like the ocean, art alone worthy to receive the treasures of the whole earth. In the thought that this bird is a marvel, and the treasure of the whole earth, I bring it to lay at thy feet, and desire to behold thee." (17) Thou, king, hast heard her mes- sage, and must decide !* So saying, she ended her speech. The king, whose curiosity was aroused, looked at the chiefs around him, and with the words * Why not? Bid her enter ?* gave his permission. Then the portress, immediately on the king's order, ushered in the Candala maiden. And she entered and beheld the king in the midst of a thousand chiefs, like ! golden-peaked Meru in the midst of the noble moun- tains crouching together in fear of Indra's thunderbolt ; or, in that the brightness of the jewels scattered on his dress almost concealed his form, like a day of storm, whereon the eight quarters of the globe are covered by Indra*s thousand bows. He was sitting on a couch studded with moon-stones, beneath a small silken canopy, white as the foam of the rivers of heaven, with its four jewel-encrusted pillars joined by golden chains, and enwroathed with a rope of large pearls. Many cowries with golden handles waved around him ; (18) his left foot rested on a footstool of crystal that was like the moon bent in humiliation before the flashing beauty of his countenance, and was adorned by the brightness of his feet, which yet were tinged with blue from the light rays of the sapphire pavement, as though darkened by the sighs of his conquered foes. His breast, crimsoned by the rubies which shone on his throne, recalled » Or, bamboos. « Ram. I. 60. Erish^^, red with blood from the fresh slaughter of Madha- kaitabha; his two silken garments, white as the foam of ambrosia, with pairs of hamsas painted in yellow on their hem, waved in the wind raised by the cowries ; the fragrant sandal unguent with which his chest was whitened, be- sprinkled with saffron ointment, was like snowy Kailasa with the early sunshine upon it ; his face was encircled by pearls like stars mistaking it for the moon ; the sapphire bracelets that clasped his arms were as a threat of chains to bind fickle fortune, or as snakes attracted by the smell of sandal-wood ; (19) the lotus in his ear hung down slightly ; his nose was aquiline, his eyes were like lotuses in full blossom, the hair grew in a circle between his brows, and was purified by the waters that inaugurated his possession of universal rule ; his forehead was like a piece of the eighth-day moon made into a block of pure gold, garlanded with sweet jasmine, like the Western Mountain in the dawn with the stars growing pale on its brow. He was like the God of Love when struck by (Jiva's fire, for his body was tawny from the colour of his ornaments. His hand- maidens surrounded him, as if they were the goddesses of the quarters of the globe come to worship him ; the earth bore him, as on her heart, through loyalty, in the reflection of his image in her clear mosaic pavement ; fortune seemed his alone, though by him she was given to all to enjoy. (20) He was without a second, though his followers were without number ; he trusted only to his own sword, though he had countless elephants and horses in his retinue; he filled the whole earth, though he stood in a small space of ground ; he rested only on his bow, and yet was seated on his throne ; ho shone with the flame of majesty, though all the fuel of his enemies was uprooted ; he had large eyes, and yet saw the smallest things ; he was the home of all virtues, and yet was overreaching ;* he was beloved of his wives, and yet was a despotic lord ; he was free from in- toxication, though he had an unfailing stream of bounty ; he was fair in nature, yet in conduct a Krishna -? he laid * He had (a) groat faults ; (6) a long arm. * Dark. 8 no heavy hand* on his subjects, and yet the whole world rested in his grasp. Such was this king. And she yet afar beholding him, with a hand soft as the petal of a red lotus, and sur- rounded by a tinkling bracelet, and clasping the bamboo with its end jagged, (21) struck once on the mosaic floor to arouse the king ; and at the sound, in a moment the whole assemblage of chiefs turned their eyes from the king to her, like a herd of wild elephants at the falling of the cocoanut. Then the king, with the words, * Look yonder,* to his suite, gazed steadily upon the Cane Jala maiden, as she was pointed out by the portress. Before her went a man, whose hair was hoary with age, whose eyes were the colour of the red lotus, whose joints, despite the loss of youth, were firm from incessant labour, whose form, though that of a Matanga, was not to be despised, and who wore the white raiment meet for a court. Behind her went a Cantjala boy, with locks falling on either shoulder, bearing a cage, the bars of which, though of gold, shone like emerald from the reflection of the parrot's plumage. (22) She herself seemed by the darkness of her hue to imitate Krishna when he guilefully assumed a woman's attire to take away the amrita seized by the demons. She was, as it were, a doll of sapphire walking alone ; and over the blue garment, which reached to her ankle, there fell a veil of red silk, like evening sunshine falling on blue lotuses. The circle of her cheek was whitened by the ear- ring that hung from one ear, like the face of night inlaid with the rays of the rising moon ; she had a tawny tilaka of gorocana, as if it were a third eye, like ParvatI in mountaineer's attire, after the fashion of the garb of ^iva. She was like Cri, darkened by the sapi3hire glory of Narayana reflected on the robe on her breast ; or like Eati, stained by smoke which rose as Madana was burnt by the fire of wrathful Civa ; or like Yamuna, fleeing in fear of being drawn along by the ploughshare of wild Balarama ; * I.e., imposed no heavy tribute. ^ or, from the rich lac that turned her lotus feet into budding shoots, like Durga, with her feet crimsoned by the blood of the Asura Mahisha she had just trampled upon. (23) Her nails were rosy from the pink glow of her fingers ; the mosaic pavement seemed too hard for her touch, and she came forward, placing her feet like tender twigs upon the ground. The rays of her anklets, rising in flame-colour, seemed to encircle her as with the arms of Agni, as though, by his love for her beauty, he would purify the stain of her birth, and so set the Creator at naught. Her girdle was like the stars wreaihed on the brow of the elephant of Love : and her necklace was a rope of largo bright pearls, like the stream of Ganga just tinged by Yamuna. Like autumn, she opened her lotus eyes ; like the rainy season, she had cloudy tresses ; like the circle of the Malaya Hills, she was wreathed with sandal ; (24) like the zodiac, she was decked with starry gems ;^ like (yrl, she had the fairness of a lotus in her hand ; like a swoon, she entranced the heart ; like a forest, she was endowed with living- beauty ; like the child of a goddess, she was claimed by no tribe ;^ like sleep, she charmed the eyes ; as a lotus-pool in a wood is troubled by elephants, so was she dimmed by her Mfitanga'* birth ; like a spirit, she might not be touched ; like a letter, she gladdened the eyes alone ; like the blossoms of spring, she lacked the jati flower f her slender waist, like the line of Love's bow, could be spanned by the hands ; with her curly hair, she was like the Lakshmi of the Yaksha king in Alaka.^ She had but reached the flower of her youth, and was beautiful exceed- ingly. And the king was amazed ; and the thought arose in his mind, (25) * Ill-placed was the labour of the Creator in producing this beauty ! For if she has been created as ^ Or, ' with citrCi and cjavana^' lunar mansions. 2 Or, living creatures. 3 {a) Of lowly birth ; (6) not dwelling on earth. * {ii) Caiulala ; (6) elephant. •'• Or, ajdti^ without caste. ^ Alaka = {a) curls ; (b) a city. 10 though in mockery of her Candala form, such that all the world's wealth of loveliness is laughed to scorn by her own, why was she born in a race with which none can mate ? Surely by thought alone did Prajapati create her, fearing the penalties of contact with the Matanga race, else whence this unsullied radiance, a grace that belongs not to limbs sullied by touch ? Moreover, though fair in form, by the baseness of her birth, whereby she, like a Lakshml of the lower world, is a perpetual reproach to the gods,^ she, lovely as she is, causes fear in Brahma, the maker of so strange a union.' While the king was thus thinking the maiden, garlanded with flowers, that fell over her ears, bowed herself before him with a confidence beyond her years. And when she had made her reverence and stepped on to the mosaic floor, her attendant, taking the parrot, which had just entered the cage, advanced a few steps, and, showing it to the king, said : * Sire, this parrot, by name Vai^ampayana, knows the meaning of all the 9astras, is expert in the practice of royal policy, (26) skilled in tales, history, and Puranas, and acquainted with songs and with musical intervals. He recites, and himself composes graceful and incomparable modern romances, love-stories, plays, and poems, and the like ; he is versed in witticisms, and is an unrivalled disciple of the Vina, flute, and drum. He is skilled in displaying the different movements of dancing, dextrous in painting, very bold in play, ready in resources to calm a maiden angered in a lover's quarrel, and familiar with the characteristics of elephants, horses, men, and women. He is the gem of the whole earth ; and in the thought that treasures belong to thee, as pearls to the ocean, the daughter of my lord has brought him hither to thy feet, king! Let him be accepted as thine.' Having thus said, he laid the cage before the king and retired. (27) 'And when he was gone, the king of birds, standing before the king, and raising his right foot, having uttered the words, * All hail!' recited to the king, in a song 1 Or, whose love would be a reproach. 11 perfect in the enunciation of each syllable and accent, a verse* to this effect : * The bosoms of your foemen'e queens now mourn, Keeping a fast of widowed solitude, Bathed in salt tears, of pearl-wreaths all forlorn, Scorched by their sad hearts' too close neighbourhood.* And the king, having heard it, was amazed, and joyfully addressed his minister Kumarapalita, who sat close to him on a costly golden throne, like Brihaspati in his mastery of political philosophy, aged, of noble birth, first in the circle of wise councillors : ' Thou hast heard the bird's clear enunciation of consonants, and the sweetness of his intonation. This, in the first place, is a great marvel, that he should raise a song in which the syllables are clearly separated ; and there is a combination of correctness with clearness in the vowels and annndsikas, (28) Then, again, we had something more than that : for in him, though a lower creation, are found the accomplishments, as it were, of a man, in a pleasurable art, and the course of his song is inspired by knowledge. For it was he who, with the cry, ** All hail !" straightened his right foot and sang this song concerning me, whereas, generally, birds and beasts are only skilled in the science of fearing, eating, pairing, and sleeping. This is most wonderful.' And when the king had said this, Kumarapfilita, with a slight smile, replied : * Where is the wonder ? For all kinds of birds, beginning with the parrot and the maina, repeat a sound once heard, as thou, king, knowest ; so it is no wonder that exceeding skill is produced either by the efforts of men, or in con- sequence of perfection gained in a former birth. Moreover, they formerly possessed a voice like that of men, with clear utterance. The indistinct speech of parrots, as well as the change in elephants' tongues, arose from a curse of Agni.' Hardly had he thus spoken when there arose the blast of the mid-day conch, following the roar of the drum distinctly struck at the completion of the hour, and * A verse in the drya measure. 12 announcing that the sun had reached the zenith. (29) And, hearing this, the king dismissed his band of chiefs, as the hour for bathing was at hand, and arose from his hall of audience. Then, as he started, the great chiefs thronged together as they rose, tearing their silk raiment with the leaf-work of their bracelets, as it fell from its place in the hurried movement. Their necklaces were swinging with the shock ; the quarters of space were made tawny by showers of fragrant sandal-powder and salYron scattered from their limbs in their restlossnoss ; the boos arose in swarms from their garlands of mfilatl flowers, all quivering ; their cheeks were caressed by the lotuses in their ears, half hanging down ; their strings of pearls were trembling on their bosoms — each longed in his self-consciousness to pay his respects to the king as he departed. The hall of audience was astir on all sides with the sound of the anklets of the cowrie bearers as they disappeared in all directions, bearing the cowries on their shoulders, their gems tinkling at every step, broken by the cry of the kalahamsas, eager to drink the lotus honey ; (30) with the pleasant music of the jewelled girdles and wreaths of the dancing-girls coming to pay their respects as they struck their breast and sides ; with the cries of the kalahamsas of the palace lake, which, cliarmod by the sound of the anklets, whitened the broad steps of the hall of audience ; with the voices of the tame cranes, eager for the sound of the girdles, screaming more and more with a prolonged outcry, like the scratching of bell-metal ; with the heavy tramp on the floor of the hall of audience struck by the feet of a hundred neighbouring chiefs suddenly departing, which seemed to shake the earth like a hurricane ; with the cry of ' Look !' from the wand-bearing ushers, who were driving the people in confusion before them, and shouting loudly, yet good-naturedly, * Behold !' long and shrill, resounding far by its echo in the bov;ers of the palace ; (31) with the ringing of the pavement as it was scratched by the points of diadems with their projecting aigrettes, as the 13 kings swiftly bent till their trembling crest-gems touched the ground ; with the tinkling of the earrings as they rang on the hard mosaic in their owners* obeisance ; with the space-pervading din of the bards reciting auspicious verses, and coming forward with the pleasant continuous cry, * Long life and victory to our king !' ; with the hum of the bees as tliey rose up leaving the flowers, by reason of the turmoil of the hundreds of departing feet ; with the clash of the jewelled pillars on which the gems were set jangling from being struck by the points of the bracelets as the chieftains fell hastily prostrate in their confusion. The king then dismissed tlie assembled chiefs, saying, /liest awhile *; and after saying to the Caiiijrda maiden, * Let Vai^ampayana be taken into the inner apartments,' and giving the order to his betel-nut bearer, he went, accompanied by a few favourite princes, to his private apartments. There, laying aside his adornments, like the sun divested of his ra3'8, or the sky bare of moon and stars, he entered the hall of exercise, where all was duly prepared. Having taken pleasant exercise therein with the princes of his own age, (82) he then entered the bathing-place, which was covered with a white canopy, surrounded by tlie verses of many a bard. It had a gold bath, filled with scented water in its midst, with a crystal bathing-seat placed by it, and was adorned with pitchers placed on one side, full of most fragrant waters, having their mouths darkened by bees attracted by the odour, as if they were covered with blue cloths, from fear of the heat. (88) Then the hand- maidens, some darkened by the reflection of their emerald jars, like embodied lotuses with their leafy cups, some holding silver pitchers, like night with a stream of light shed by the full moon, duly besprinkled the king. (84) Straightway there arose a blare of the trumpets sounded for bathing, penetrating all the hollows of the universe, accompanied by the din of song, lute, flute, drum, cymbal, and tabor, resounding shrilly in diverse tones, mingled with the uproar of a multitude of bards, and cleaving the path of hearing. Then, in due order, the 1 14 king put upon him two white garments, light as a shed snake-skin, and wearing a turban, with an edge of fine silk, pure as a fleck of white cloud, like Himalaya with the stream of the heavenly river falling upon it, he made his libation to the Pitris with a handful of water, consecrated by a hymn, and then, prostrating himself before the sun, proceeded to the temple. When he had worshipped (yiva, and made an offering to Agni, (35) his limbs were anointed in the perfuming-room with sandal-wood, sweetened with the fragrance of saffron, camphor, and musk, the scent of which was followed by murmuring bees ; he put on a chaplet of scented malati flowers, changed his garb, and, with no adornment save his jewelled earrings, he, together with the kings, for whom a fitting meal was prepared, broke his fast, with the pleasure that arises from the enjoyment of viands of sweet savour. Then, having drunk of a fragrant drug, rinsed his mouth, and taken his betel, he arose from his dais, with its bright mosaic pavement. The portress, who was close by, hastened to him, and leaning on her arm, he went to the hall of audience, followed by the attendants worthy to enter the inner apartments, whose palms were like boughs, very hard from their firm grasp of their wands. The hall showed as though walled with crystal by reason of the white silk that draped its ends ; the jewelled floor was watered to coolness with sandal-water, to which was added very fragrant musk ; the pure mosaic was ceaselessly strewn with masses of blossoms, as the sky with its bevy of stars; (36) many a golden pillar shone forth, purified with scented water, and decked with countless images, as though with the household gods in their niches ; aloe spread its fragrance richly ; the whole was dominated by an alcove, which held a couch white as a cloud after storm, with a flower-scented covering, a pillow of fine linen at the head, castors encrusted with gems, and a jewelled footstool by its side, like the peak of Himalaya to behold. Reclining on this couch, while a maiden, seated on the ground, having placed in her bosom the dagger she was 16 wont to bear, gently rubbed his feet with a palm soft as the leaves of fresh lotuses, the king rested for a short time, and held converse on many a theme with the kings, ministers, and friends whose presence was meet for that hour. He then bade the portress, who was at hand, to fetch Vai9ampayana from the women's apartments, for he had become curious to learn his story. And she, bending hand and knee to the ground, with the words * Thy will shall be done!' taking the command on her head, fulfilled his bidding. (37) Soon Vai9ampayana approached the king, having his cage born by the portress, under the escort of a herald, leaning on a gold staff, slightly bent, white robed, wearing a top-knot silvered with age, slow in gait, and tremulous in speech, like an aged flamingo in his love for the race of birds, who, placing his palm on the ground, thus delivered his message : * Sire, the queens send thee word that by thy command this Vai^ampayana has been bathed and fed, and is now brought by the portress to thy feet.' Thus speaking, he retired, and the king asked Vai9ampayana : * Hast thou in the interval eaten food sufficient and to thy taste ?' * Sire,' replied he, * what have I not eaten ? I have drunk my fill of the juice of the jambu fruit, aromatically sweet, pink and blue as a cuckoo's eye in the gladness of spring ; I have cracked the pomegranate seeds, bright as pearls wet with blood, which lions' claws have torn from he frontal bones of elephants. I have torn at my will old myrobalans, green as lotus leaves, and sweet as grapes. (38) But what need of further words ? For everything brought by the queens with their own hands turns to ambrosia.' And the king, rebuking his talk, said : 'Let all this cease for a while, and do thou remove our curiosity. Tell us from the very beginning the whole history of thy birth — in what country, and how wert thou born, and by whom was thy name given ? Who were thy father and mother ? How came thine attainment of the Vedas, and thine acquaintance with the Castras, and thy skill in the fine arts ? What caused thy remembrance of a 16 former birth ? Was it a special boon given thee ? Or dost thou dwell in disguise, wearing the form only of a bird, and where didst thou formerly dwell ? How old art thou, and how came this bondage of a eago, and the falling into the hands of a Candula maiden, and thy coming hither?' Thus respectfully questioned by the king, whose curiosity was kindled, Vaiyampayana thought a moment, and reverently replied, * Sire, the tale is long ; but if it is thy l^leasure, let it be heard.' ' There is a forest, by name Vindhya, that embraces the shores of the eastern and western ocean, and decks the central region as though it were the earth's zone. (39) It is beauteous with trees watered with the ichor of wild elephants, and bearing on their crests masses of white blossom that rise to the sky and vie with the stars ; in it the popper-trees, bitten by ospreys in their spring gladness, spread their boughs ; tamala branches trampled by young elephants lill it with fragrance ; shoots in hue like the wine-flushed cheeks of Malabarls, as though roseate witli lac from the feet of wandering wood-nymphs, overshadow it. Bowers there are, too, wet with drippings from parrot- pierced pomegranates ; jjowers in wliich the ground is covered with torn fruit and leaves shaken down by restless monkeys from the kakkola trees, or sprinkled with pollen from ever-falling blossoms, or strewn with couches of clove- branches by travellers, or hemmed in by fnie cocoanuts, ketakis, karlras, and bakulas ; bowers so fair that with their areca trees girt about with betel vines, they make a fitting home for a woodland Lakshml. Thickly growing iJlas make the wood dark and fragrant, as with the ichor of wild elephants; (40) hundreds of lions, who meet their death from barbaric leaders eager to seize the pearls of the elephants' frontal-bones still clinging to their mouth and claws, roam therein ; it is fearful as the haunt of death, like the citadel of Yama, and filled with the buffaloes dear to him ; like an army ready for battle, it has bees resting on its arrow-trees, as the points on arrows, and the roar of 17 the lion is clear as the lion-cry of onset ; it has rhinoceros tusks dreadful as the dagger of Durga, and like her is adorned with red sandal-wood ; like the story of Karnlsuta, it haH its Vipula, Acala and ('ac/a in the wide mountains haunted by haros,^ that lie near it ; as the twilight of the last eve of an aeon has the frantic dance of blue-necked (^'iva, so has it the dances of blue-necked peacocks, and bursts into crimson ; as the time of churning the ocean had the glory of CrI and the tree which grants all desires, and was surrounded by sweet draughts of Yaruna,- so is it adorned by Cyri trees and Varuna- trees. It is densely dark, as the rainy season with clouds, and decked with pools in countless hundreds ;-^ like the moon, it is always the haunt of the bears, and is the home of the deer.** (41) Like a king's palace, it is adorned by the tails of cowrie deer,'' and jH'otected by troops of fierce elephants. Like Durga, it is strong of nature,^ and haunted by the lion. Like Sita, it has its Ku^a, and is held by the wanderer of night." Like a maiden in love, it wears the scent of sandal and musk, and is adorned with a tilaha of bright aloes ;^ like a lady in her lover's absence, it is fanned with the wind of many a bough, and possessed of Madana f like a child's neck, it is bright with rows of tiger 's-claws,''^ and adorned with a rhinoceros ;^^ like a hall of revelry with its honeyed draughts, it has hundreds of beehives^- visible, and is strewn with tiowers. In parts it has a circle of earth torn up by the tusks of large boars, like the end of the world when the circle of the earth was lifted up by the tusks of Mahavaraba ; * Vipula, Acala, and (^ara, characters in the Brihatkatlia. Or, broad mountains and hares. - V'(inii/a, tree ; vdrutia^ wine. •■' Or, with h^'htniufjf. ^ ConstellationH. The moon was supposed to have a deer dwelHng in it. '' {a) The cowries held by the suite ; (6) different kinds of deer. " {a) Rocky ; (6) having (,'iva. " Ku(;a : (a) Sita's son ; {h) grass. Nujacara : (a) Havana ; (b) owls. ^ (a) Mark of aloes on the brow ; (b) tilaka trees and aloe trees aU briglit. » (a) Love ; (h) madana trees. • ^^ Ah an amulet. •' Name of an ornament. ^'^ Wine-cups. 2 18 here, like the city of Ravana, it is filled with lofty q&i&B^ inhabited by restless monkeys ; (42) here it is, like the scene of a recent wedding, bright with fresh ku(^a grass, fuel, flowers, acacia, and palaya ; here, it seems to bristle in terror at the lions* roar ; here, it is vocal with cuckoos wild for joy ; here it in, as if in excitement, resonant with the sound of palms^ in the strong wind ; hero, it drops its palm-leaves like a widow giving up her earrings ; liere, like a field of battle, it is filled with arrowy reeds ;^ here, like Indra's body, it has a thousand iictras ;* here, like Vishnu's form, it has the darkness of tamalas ;^ here, like the banner of Arj Una's chariot, it is blazoned with monkeys; here, like the court of an earthly king, it is hard of access, through the bamboos ; here, like the city of King Virata, it is guarded by a Kicaka ;'^ here, like the Lakshml of tlie sky, it has the tremulous eyes of its deer pursued by the hunter ;^ here, like an ascetic, it has bark, bushes, and ragged strips and grass.** (IJJ) Though adorned with Saptapariia,'' it yet possesses leaves innumerable ; though honoured by ascetics, it is yet very savage ;'^ though in its season of blossom, it is yet most pure. * In that forest there is a hermitage, famed throughout the world — a very birthplace of Dharma. It is adorned with trees tended by Lopamudra as her own children, fed with water sprinkled by her own hands, and trenched round by herself. She was the wife of the great ascetic Agastya ; he it was who at the prayer of Indra drank up the waters of ocean, and who, when the Vindhya moun- tains, by a thousand wide peaks stretching to the sky in * (a) Halls ; (b) (.fil trees. * (a) Clapping of hands ; (6) pahn-trees. 3 (a) Arrows ; (b) reeds. * (a) Trees ; (6) eyes. * (a) As tamfila trees (very dark) ; (6) with taniala trees. « Virata, a king who befriended the ruiulavas. Tlie chief of his army was named Kicaka. V. Mbh., Bk. iv., 815. Kicaka also means * bamboo.' ^ Or, the twinkling stars of the Deer constellation, pursued by the Hunter (a constellation). * Bark garments, matted locks, and rags of grass. ® (a) Seven leaves; (6) a tree. ^^ (a) Of fierce disposition ; (6) full of wild beasts. 19 rivalry of Mera, were striving to stop the course of the sun's chariot, and were despising the prayers of all the gods, yet had his commands obeyed by them ; who digested the demon Vatapi by his inward fire ; who had the dust of his feet kissed by the tips of the gold ornaments on the crests of gods and demons ; who adorned the brow of the Southern Region; and who manifested his majesty by casting Nahusha down from heaven by the mere force of his murmur. (44) * The hermitage is also hallowed by Lopamudra's son Driijhadasyu, an ascetic, bearing his staff of pala(;a,^ wearing a sectarial mark made of purifying ashes, clothed in strips of ku(;a grass, girt with mufija, holding a cup of green leaves in his roaming from hut to hut to ask alms. From the large supply of fuel he brought, he was surnamed by his father Fuelbearer. * The place is also darkened in many a spot by green parrots and by plantain groves, and is girt by the river Godaverl, which, like a dutiful wife, followed the path of the ocean when drunk by Agastya. * There, too, Efima, when he gave up his kingdom to keep his father's promise, dwelt happily for some time at Paiicavatl with Sltfi, following the great ascetic Agastya, living in a pleasant hut made by Lakshmana, even Rama, the vexer of the triumphs of Ravana's glory .^ * There, even now, the trees, though the hermitage has long been empty, show, as it were, in the lines of white doves softly nestling in the boughs, the hermits' pure lines of sacrificial smoke clinging to them ; and there a glow bursts forth on the shoots of creepers, as if it had passed to them from Slta's hand as she offered flowers of oblation ; (45) there the water of ocean drunk and sent forth by the ascetic seems to have been wholly distributed among the great lakes round the hermitage; there the wood, with its fresh foliage, shines as if its roots had been ^ The si^ of a Vow. * Or perhaps, ' not caring for the fascination of the beauty of Rivana,' i.e. his sister. He was loved by Ravana's sister. 20 watered with the blood of countless hosts of demons struck down by Rfima's many keen shafts, and as if now its palfi^as were stained with their crimson hue ; there, even yet, the old deer nurtured by Slta, when they hear the deep roar of fresh clouds in the rainy seanon, think on the twang of llfima's bow penetrating all the hollows of the universe, and refuse their mouthfuls of fresh grass, while their eyes are dimmed by ceaseless tears, as they see a deserted world, and their own horns crumbling from age ; there, too, the golden deer, as if it had been incited by the rest of the forest deer slain in the ceaseless chase, deceived Slta, and led the son of liaghu far astray ; there, too, in their grief for the bitter loss of Sltfi, lifima and Lakslimana seized by Kabandha, like an eclipse of sun and moon heralding the death of liavaiia, filled the universe with a mighty dread ; (4G) there, too, the arm of Yojanabahu, struck off by Eama's arrow, caused fear in the saints as it lay on the ground, lest it should be the serpent form of Nahuslia, brought back by Agastya's curse ; there, even now, foresters behold Slta painted inside the hut by her husband to solace his bereavement, as if she were again rising from the ground in her longing to see her husband's home. * Not far from that hermitage of Agastya, of which the ancient history is yet clearly to be seen, is a lotus lake called Pampa. It stands near that hermitage, as if it were a second ocean made l)y the Creator in rivalry with Agastya, at the prompting of Varuna, wrathful at the drinking of ocean ; it is like the sky fallen on earth to bind together the fragments of the eight quarters when severed in the day of doom.^ (48) It is, indeed, a peerless home of waters, and its depth and extent none can tell. There, even now, the wanderer may see pairs of cakravakas, with their wings turned to blue by the gleam of the blossoming lotuses, as if they were swallowed up by the impersonate curse of Rama. * On the left bank of that lake, and near a clump of palms » Does this refer to the reflection of tlio sky in its clear water ? 21 broken by Rama's arrows, was a large old 9almall tree.* It shows as though it were enclosed in a large trench, because its roots are always encircled by an old snake, like the trunk of the elephants of the quarters; (M)) it seems to bo mantled with the slough of serpents, which hangs on its lofty trunk and waves in the wind ; it strives to compasH tlie measuromont of the circle of space by its many boughs spreading through the lirmament, and so to imitate Civa, whose thousand arms are outstretched in his wild dance at the day of doom, and who wears the moon on his crest. Through its weight of years, it clings for support even to the shoulder of the wind ; it is girt with creepers that cover its whole trunk, and stand out like the thick veins of old age. Thorns have gathered on its surface like the moles of old age ; not even the thick clouds by which its foliage is bedewed can behold its top, when, after drinking the waters of ocean, they return from all sides to the sky, and pause for a moment, weary with their load of water, like birds amongst its boughs. From its great height, it seems to be on tiptoe to look- at the glory of the Nandana* Wood ; its topmost branches are whitened by cotton, which men might mistake for foam dropped from the corners of their mouths by the sun's steeds as, ])eset with weariness of their path through the sky, they come near it in their course overhead ; (50) it h&s a root that will last for an aeon, for, with the garland of drunken bees sticking to the ichor which cHngs to it where the cheeks of woodland elephants are rubbed against it, it seems to be held motionloss by iron chains ; it seems alive with swarms of bees, Hasliing in and out of its hollow trunk. It beholds the alighting of the wings of birds, as Duryodhana receives proofs of (Jakuni's^ partizanship ; like Krishna, it is en- circled by a woodland chaplet ;^ like a mass of fresh clouds its rising is seen in the sky. It is a temple whence wood- * (_^'dl null f=- Bilk cotton-tree. - Lit., * Htrivin^ upwards to see,' •* Iiulra's wood. * rakuni = {a) bird ; (h) name of Duryodhana's supporter. '• Or, ' by Vanamdhl,' Krishna'H chaplet. 22 land goddesses can look out upon the whole world. It is the king of the Dandaka Wood, the leader of the] lordly trees, the friend of the Vindhya Mountains, and it seems to embrace with the arms of its boughs the whole Vindhya Forest. There, on the edge of the boughs, in the centre of the crevices, amongst the twigs, in the joints of the trunks, in the holes of the rotten bark, flocks of parrots have taken their abode. From its spaciousness, they have conlidently built in it their thousand nests ; from its stoepnoss, they have come to it feurloHsly from every quartor. Though its leaves are thin with ago, this lord of the forest still looks green with dense foliage, as they rest upon it day and nigiit. (51) In it they spend the nights in their own nests, and daily, as they rise, they form lines in the sky ; they show in heaven like Yamuna with her wide streams scattered by the tossing of Jiala's ploughshare in his passion ; they suggest a lotus-bed of the heavenly Ganges flowing away, uprooted by the elephant of heaven; they show forth a sky streaked, as it were, with the brightness of the steeds of the sun's chariot ; they wear the semblance of a moving floor of emerald ; they stretch out in the lake of heaven like long twines of Vallisneria ; they fan the faces of the quarters wearied with the muss of the sun's keen rays, with their wings spread against the sky like plantain leaves ; they form a grassy path stretching through the heaven, and as they roam they grace the firmament with a rainbow. After their meal they return to the young birds which stay in the nest, and give them, from beaks pink as tiger's claws reddened with the blood of slain deer, the juice of fruits and many a dainty morsel of rice-clusters, for by their deep love to their children all their other likings are subdued ; (52) then they spend the night in this same tree with their young under their wings. * Now my father, who by reason of his great age barely dragged on his life, dwelt with my mother in a certain old hollow, and to him I was, by the decree of Fate, born as his only son. My mother, overcome by the pains of child- birth when I was born, went to another world, and, in 28 spite of his grief for the death of his loved wife, my father, from love to his child, checked the keen onrush of his sorrow, and devoted himself in his loneliness wholly to my nurture. From his great age, the wide wings he raised had lost their power of flight, and hung loose from liis shoulders, so that when he shook them he seemed to be trying to shake off the painful old age that clung to his body, while his few remaining tail feathers wore broken liko a tatter of ku(;a grass ; and yet, though he was unable to wander far, he gathorcd up bits of fruit torn down by parrotH and fallen at the foot of the tree, and picked up grains of rice from rico-stalkH that had fallen from other nohtH, with a boak the point of which was broken and the edge worn away and rubbed by breaking rice-clusters, and pink as the stalk of the sophalikfi ilower when still hard, and ho daily made his own meal on what I left. (53) * But one day I hoard a sound of the tumult of the chaso. The moon, reddened by the glow of dawn, was de- scending to the shore of the Western Ocean, from the island of the h(3avenly (langoH, like an old lianisa ^vith its wings reddenfjd by the honey of the heavenly lotus-bed ; the circle of space was widening, and was white as the hair of a ranku deer; the throng of stars, like flowers strewn on the pavement of heaven, were being cast away by the sun's long rays, as if they were bioonis of rubies, for they were red as a lion's mane dyed in elephant's blood, or pink as sticks of burning lac ; the cluster of the Seven Sages was, as it were, de- scending the l)ank of the Mfmasa Lake, and rested on the northern quarter to worship the dawn ; the Western Ocean was lifting a mass of pearls, scattered from open shells on its shore, as though the stars, melted by the sun's rays, had fallen on it, whitening the surface of its alluvial islands. The wood was dropping dew ; its peacocks were awake ; its lions were yawning ; (54) its wild elephants were wakened by herds of she-elephants, and it, with its boughs raised like reverential hands, sent up towards the sun, as he rested on the peak of the Eastern Mountain, a mass of flowers, the filaments of which were heavy with 24 the night dews. The lines of sacrificial smoke from the hermitages, gray as the hair of an ass, were gleaming like banners of holiness, and rested like doves on the tree-tops whereon the wood-nymphs dwelt. The morning breeze was blowing, and roamed softly, for it was weary at the end of night ; it gladdened swarms of bees by the Howers' perfume ; it rained showers of honey dew from the opened lotuses; it was eager to teach the dancing creepers with their waving boughs ; it carried drops of foam from the rumination of woodland buffaloes ; it removed the perspira- tion of the weary mountaineers ; it shook the lotuses, and bore with it the dewdrops. The bees, who ought to be the drums on the elephant's frontal-bones to recite auspicious songs for the wakening of the day lotus-groves, now sent up their hum from the hearts of the night-lotuses, as their wings were clogged in the closing petals ; (55) the deer of the wood had the markings on their breast, gray with resting on the salt ground, and slowly opened eyes, the pupils of which were still squinting with the remains of sleep, and were caught by the cool morning breeze as if their eyelashes were held together by heated lac ; foresters were hastening hither and thither; the din of the kala- hamsas on the Pampa Lake, sweet to the ear, was now beginning ; the pleasant flapping of the wild elephant's ea^s breaking forth caused the peacocks to dance ; in time the sun himself slowly arose, and wandered among the tree-tops round the Pampu Lake, and haunted the mountain peaks, with rays of madder, like a mass of cowries bending downwards from the sun's elephant as he plunges into the sky; the fresh light sprung from the sun banished the stars, falling on the wood like the monkey king who had again lost Tara ;' the morning twilight became visible quickly, occupying the eighth part of the day, and the Bun's liglit became clear. * The troops of parrots had all started to the places they desired ; that tree seemed empty by reason of the grent ' Tt}rtl=^{a) wife of Sugrlva, the monkey king; (b) star. 26 stillness, though it had all the young parrots resting quietly in their nests. (56) My father was still in his own nest, and I, as from my youth my wings were hardly fledged and had no strength, was close to him in the hollow, when I suddenly heard in that forest the sound of the tumult of the chase. It terrified every woodland creature ; it was drawn out by a sound of birds* wings flying hastily up ; it was mingled with cries from the frightened young elephants ; it was increased by the hum of drunken bees, disturbed on the shaken creepers ; it was loud with the noise of wild boars roaming with raised snouts ; it was swollen by the roar of lions wakened from tlieir sleep in mountain caves ; it seemed to shake the trees, and was great as the noise of the torrents of Ganges, when brought down by Bhaglratha ; and the woodland nymphs listened to it in terror. * When I heard this strange sound I began to tremble in my childishness ; the cavity of my ear was almost l)roken ; I shook for fear, and thinking that my father, who was close by, could help me, I crept within his wings, loosened as they were by age. * Straightway I heard an outcry of ** Hence comes the scent of the lotus beds the leaders of the elephants have trampled ! Hence the perfume of rushes the boars have chewed ! Hence the keen fragrance of gum-olibanum the young elephants have divided ! Hence the rustling of dry leaves shaken down ! (57) Hence the dust of antheaps that the horns of wild buftaloes have cleft like thunderbolts! Hence came a herd of deer ! Hence a troop of wild elephants ! Hence a band of wild boars ! Hence a multitude of wild buffaloes! Hence the shriek of a circle of peacocks! Hence the murmur of partridges ! Hence the cry of ospreys ! Hence the groan of elephants with their frontal bones torn by lion's claws ! This is. a boar's path stained with fresh mud! This a nuiss of foam from the rumina- tion of deer, darkened by the juice of mouthfuls of grass just eaten ! This the hum of bees garrulous as they cling to the scent left by the rubbing of elephants' foreheads with 26 ichor flowing ! That the path of the ruru deer pink with withered leaves bedewed with blood that has been shed. That is a mass of shoots on the trees crushed by the feet of elephants ! Those are the gambols of rhinoceroses ; that is the lion's track jagged with pieces of the elephant's pearls, pink with blood, and engraved with a monstrous device by their claws ; that is the earth crimsoned with the blood of the newly born olVspring of the does ; that is the path, like a widow's braid, darkened with the ichor of the lord of the herd wandering at his will ! Follow this row of yaks straight before us ! (Quickly occupy this part of the wood where the dung of the doer is dried ! (58) Climb the tree- top ! Look out in this direction ! Listen to this sound ! Take the bow ! Stand in your places ! Let slip the hounds !" The wood trembled at the tumult of the hosts of men intent on the chase shouting to each other and concealed in the hollows of the trees. * Then tliat wood was soon shaken on all sides by the roar of lions struck by the (^abaras' arrows, deepened by its echo rebounding from the hollows of the mountains, and strong as the sound of a drum newly oiled ; by the roar from the throats of the elephants that led the herd, like the growl of thunder, and mixed with the ceaseless lashing of their trunks, as they came on alone, separated from the fright- ened herd ; by the piteous cry of the deer, with their tremulous, terrified eyes, when the hounds suddenly tore their limbs ; by the yell of she-elephants lengthening in grief for the death of their lord and leader, as they wandered every way with ears raised, ever pausing to listen to the din, bereft of their slain leaders and followed by their young ; (51)) by the bellowing of she-rhinoceroses seeking with outstretched necks their young, only born a few days before, and now lost in the panic ; by the outcry of birds flying from the tree-tops, and wandering in confusion ; by the tramp of herds of deer with all the haste of limbs made for speed, seeming to make the earth quake as it was struck simultaneously by their hurrying feet ; by the twang of bows drawn to the ear, mingled, as they rained their arrows, 27 with the cry from the throats of the loving she-OBpreye ; by the clash of swords with their blades whizzing against the wind and falling on the strong shoulders of buffaloes ; and by the baying of the hounds which, as it was suddenly sent forth, penetrated all the reccHses of the wood. * When soon aftorwardw the noise of the chase was stilled and the wood had become quiet, like the ocean when its water was stilled by the censing of the churning, or like a masH of cloudH nilent iifter the rainy Bcason, I felt loss of fear and became curious, and so, moving a little from my fathor's embrace, ((50) 1 stood in the hollow, stretched out my neck, and with eyes that, from my childishness, were yet tremulous with fear, in my eagerness to see what this thing was, I cast my glance in that direction. * Before me I saw the (^'abara^ army come out from the wood like the stream of Narmada tossed by Arjuna's*'' thousand arms; like a wood of tamalas stirred by the wind; like all the nights of the dark fortnight rolled into one ; like a solid pillar of antimony shaken by an earthquake ; like a grove of darkness disturbed by sunbeams ; like the followers of death roaming ; like the demon world that had burst open hell and risen up ; like a crowd of evil deeds come together ; like a caravan of curses of the many hermits dwelling in the ])an(jaka Forest ; like all the hosts of Dfishana** and Kliara struck by llama as he rained his ceaseless shafts, and they turned into demons for their hatred to him ; like the whole confraternity of the Iron Age come together; like a band of bullaloes prepared for a plunge into the water ; like a mass of black clouds broken by a blow from a lion's paw as he stands on the mountain peak;^ like a throng of meteors risen for the destruction of all form ; it darkened the wood ; it numbered many thousands ; it Mountainoor. Arjumi, or KarttavTrya, was captured by IMvai.ia wlien sporting in NerlnuUlha, and was killed by Paravurnma. V. Vishnu Punlna, ^ Mountainoor. 2 the Bk. iv., ch. 11. 3 Dushana was one of Havana's generals; Khara was Havana's brother, and was slain by Kama. * Cf. Uttararamacarita, Act V. 28 inspired great dread ; it was like a multitude of demons portending disasters. (01) * And in the midst of that great host of (Jabaras I beheld the Cabara leader, MiTtanga by name. He was yet in early youth ; from his great hardness he seemed made of iron ; ho was Hko Ekalavya^ in another birth ; from his growing beard, ho was like a young royal elephant with its temples encircled by its first Hne of ichor ; he filled the wood with bcjuuty that Htreunicd from him sombre as dark lotuses, like the waters of Yamuna ; he had thick locks curled at the ends and hanging on his shoulders, like a lion with its mane stained by elephant's ichor ; his brow was l)road ; his nose was stern and aquiline ; his left side shone red- dened by the faint pink rays of a jewelled snake's hood that was made the ornament for one of his ears, like the glow of shoots that had clung to him from his resting on a leafy couch ; he was perfumed with fragrant ichor, bearing the scent of saptacchada blossoms torn from the cheeks of an elephant freshly slain, like a stain of black aloes ; ((52) he had the heat warded off by a swarm of bees, liko a l)eacock-feather parasol, flying about blinded by the sccnit, as if they were a la'anch of tamfda ; he was marked with lines of perspiration on his cheek rubbed by his hand, as if Vindhya Forest, being conquered by his strong arm, were timidly offering homage under the guise of its slender waving twigs, and he seemed to tinge space by his eye somewhat pink, as if it were bloodshot, and shedding a twilight of the night of doom for the deer ; he had mighty arms reaching to his knees, as if the measure of an elephant's trunk had been taken in making them, and his shoulders were rough with scars from keen weapons often used to make an offering of blood to Kfill ; the space round his eyes was bright and broad (is the Vindhya ^Mountain, and with the drops of dried deer's blood clinging on it, and the marking of drops of perspiration, as if they were adorned by large pearls from an elephant's frontal bone mixed with gunja fruit; his chest was scarred by constant and ceaseless * Ekalavya, king of the Nishfidas, killed by Krishna. Mbh., I., 132. / 29 fatigue ; he was clad in a silk dress red with cochineal, and with his strong legs he mocked a pair of elephants' posts stained with elephants' ichor; he seemed from his causeless fierceness to have been marked on his dread brow by Vi frown that formed three banners, as if iJurga, pro- pitiated by his great devotion, had marked him with a trident to denote that he was her servant. (OH) He was accompanied by houndn of every colour, wliicli were his familiar friends; tlioy showed their weariness by tongues that, dry as they were, seoniod l)y their natural pinkness to drip deer's blood, and which hung down far from tiredness ; as their mouths were open they raised the corners of their lips and showed their flashing teeth clearly, like a lion's mane caught between the teeth ; their throats were covered with strings of cowries, and they were hacked by blows from the large boars' tuf-ks ; though but small, from their great strength they were like lions' cubs with their manes ungrown ; they were skilled in initiating the does in widow- hood ; with them came their wives, very large, like lionesses coming to beg an amnesty for the lions. He was surrounded by troops of (aburasof all kinds: some had sei/ed elephants' tusks and the long hair of yaks ; some had vessels for hoiu^y made of leaves closely bound ; some, like lions, had hands filled with many a pearl from the frontal bones of elephants; some, like demons, had pieces of raw flesh ; some, like goblins, were carrying the skins of lions ; some, like Jain ascetics, held peacocks' tails; some, like children, wore crows' feathers;^ some represented Krishna's''^ exploits by bearing the elephants' tusks they had torn out ; (G4) some, like the days of the rainy season, had garments dark as clouds.-^ He had his sword-sheath, as a wood its rhino- ceroses ;* like a fresh cloud, he held a bow^ bright as peacocks' tails; like the demon Yaka," he possessed a peerless army; like Garu) mountain slope. ' Or, the moon. " Or, with. *" in) A'/w7;(( = comi)a8Hion ; (b) Kripa was tlio teacher of AvvatthJlma,. or Drauni. '• Or, Virgo, CervuH, the Pleiads and Draco. ^'^ (a) Having twihglit drunk up; {b) liaving many faults eradicated^ " li(ijaH^{a) dust; (6) passion. 87 waters ;^ like Krishna, he had banished the fear of hell ;' like the beginning of twilight, he had eyes tawny as the glow of dawn ;^ like early morn, he was gilded with fresh sunlight ; like the chariot of the sun, he was controlled in his course ;* like a good king, he brought to nought the secret guiles of the foe i'^ (77) like the ocean, his temples were cavernous with meditation ;" like Bhaglratha, he had often beheld the descent of Ganges f like a bee, he had often tasted life in a wator-ongirt wood f though a woodsman, ho yet entered a great home;" though unrestrained, he longed for release ;^^ though intent on works of peace, he bore the rod ;^^ though asleep, he was yet awake ;^'^ thougli with two well-placed eyes, he had his sinister eye abolished.^* Sucli was ho who approached the lotus-lake to bathe. ' Now the mind of the good is ever wont to be com- pasttioiiate and kind instinctively. Wherefore he, seeing my plight, was lillod with pity, and said to another young ascetic standing near : (78) ** This little half-fledged parrot has somehow fallen from the top of that tree, or perhaps from a hawk's mouth. For, owing to his long fall, he has hardly any life left ; his eyes are closed, and he ever falls on his face and pants violently, and opens his beak, nor can he hold up his neck. Come, then, take him before his breath deserts him. Carry him to the water." Ho saying, * In porfonunnco of a vow. V. Maiui, vi. 2Ji. '^ Or, * of tho dc'iiion Nanika,' Hlain by KriHlii.ia. Harivaiiiva, 122. ^ Or, liad HtarH tawny at tho junction of niglit and day. * Lit., (a) lloldin/,' all hiH passionH in firm roHtraint ; (6) having the axlo of itH wIiooIb firm. ^ Lit., {(i) Ho liad a body waHt(3d by Hccret porfonnance of ponanco ; (h) ho brougiit to nought the ononiioH' plana of battlo by secret counnol and by Iuh army. " Or, having cavca with wlilrlpoola and tho circles of sholls oblique. ' Or, (juayH. " (a) PurhapH Pushkara, tho place of pilgrimage in Ajmere ; (b) lotui- grovo. (a) Having entrance into great halls ; {h) being absorbed in Brahma. *•* Or, salvation. " Or, inllicted punishment; or, though intent on the Sama veda, he was yet a (hitidl ; t.t'., an ascetic wlio despises ritual. '^ llaving beautiful matted locks. " {a) Having no left eye ; (6) having no crooked glances. 88 he had me taken to the edge of the lake; and, coming there, he laid down his staff and pitcher near the water, and, taking me himself, just when I had given up all effort, he lifted up my head, and with his finger made me drink a few drops of water ; and when I had been sprinkled with water and had gained fresh breath, he placed me in the cool wet shade of a fresh lotus-leaf growing on the bank, and went through the wonted rites of bathing. After that, ho purified himself by often holding his breath, and murmuring the cleansing ag]minarHlnina\ and tlion he arose and, with upraised face, made an ollering to the sun with freshly-plucked red lotuses in a cup of lotus-leaves. Having taken a pure white robe, so that he was like the glow of evening sunlight accompanied by the moon's radiance, he rubbed liis hair with his hands till it shone, and, (71)) followed by the band of ascetic youths, with their hair yet wet from recent bathing, he took me and went slowly towards the penance grove. * And after going but a short way, I beheld the penance grove, hidden in thick woods rich in flowers and fruit. (80) * Its precincts were filled by munis entering on all sides, followed ))y pupils murmuring the Vedas, and bearing fuel, ku(;a grass, flowers, and earth. There the sound of the filling of the pitchers was eagerly heard by the pea- cocks ; there appeared, as it were, a bridge to heaven under the guise of smoke waving to exalt to the gods the muni race while yet in the body by fires satisfied with the cease- less offering of ghee ; all round were tanks with their waves traversed by lines of sunbeams stainless as though from contact with the hermits they rested upon, plunged into by the circle of the Seven Kishis who had come to see their i)enance, and lifting by night an open moon-lotus-bed, like a cluster of constellations descending to honour the rishis; the hermitage received homage from woodland creepers with their tops bent by the wind, and from trees with their ever-falling blossoms, and was worshipped by trees with the afijali of interlaced boughs ; parched grain 1 11. v., X. 190. 89 was scattered in the yards round the huts, and the fruit of the myrobalan, lavall, jujubo, banana, bread-tree, mango, panasa,^ and palm pressed on each other ; (81) the young Brahmans were eloquent in reciting the Vedas ; the parrot- race was garrulous with the prayer of oblation that; they learnt by hearing it incessantly; the subrahmanyu- was recited by many a maina ; the balls of rice offered to the deities wore devoured by tlia cocks of the forest, and the offering,' of wild rice was eaten by the youn^' kalabamHas of tlio tanks close by. The eating-places of the sages were protected from pollution by aslies cast round tliem. (82) Tlie lire for ilio munis' honia sacrifice was fanned by the tails of their friends the peacocks ; the sweet scent of the oblation prepared witli nectar, the fragrance of the half- cooked sacrifieiiil cake was spread around ; the crackling of flames in the ofTering of a stream of unbroken libations made the place resonant ; a host of guests was waited upon ; the ritris were honoured ; Vishnu, Tiva, and Brahma were worshipped. The performance of (/raddha rites was taught ; the science of sacrifice explained ; the (/astras of right conduct examined ; good books of every kind recited ; and the meaning of the (/astras pondered. Leafy huts were being begun ; courts smeared with paste, and the inside of the huts scrubbed. Meditation was being firmly grasped, mantras duly carried out, yoga practiscjd, and offerings made to woodland deities. Brahmanical girdles of munja grass wore being made, bark garments washed, fuel brought, deer- skins decked, grass gathered, lotus-seed dried, rosaries strung, and bamboos laid in order for future need.'* "Wandering ascetics received hospitality, and pitchers were filled. (84) * There defilement is found in the smoke of the obla- tions, not in evil conduct ; redness of face in parrots, not in angry men ; sharpntjss in blades of grass, not in disposi- tions ; wavering in i)lantain-leave8, not in minds ; red eyes* in cuckoos alone ; clasping of necks with pitchers only ; * Aiiotlior kind of broad-treo. ^ Tlu* (lomiiR'Htary expliiiim it as 'Veda.' •' Tlu) tridandaUa or three Htaven of the mendicant 13ralinmn who lja» reHi^'iied tlie world. * Or, hupaHnioned ghmceH. 40 bliMlin^of ^inllo(ly ; )oMt< of Uh'Mh hy thd naintn in tho jiractico of >ta(tril)raMily provokcul, lik(t lir(» hwiflly falliofi, on dry roodn, kMra f^ranH, or llow(»rH. (ilO) How nno li ni, tloMi. thai of litdy nion liko IIioho, whomt fo(«t * (lO Muiillliifi ; (/)) piu OMMnrililp, ** /',l/.i-(.i) l»nii , ^/0 tliililrni. ^ /I'.OnJ, wttmiui, * r.t/.iMM — (•!) li lilnl ; {!>) hurNoilliitMa'n un«'lo. ^ ( .i//(i (ill wliitii (/•) ^r«Milli. " ^ii^ 'IVolli ; {tt) \\i'i\\\uu\\\H, " (l|, titlllionn, " Ol , »MM>KlllK lUOMjMMilV. ♦• Ol, dmpK rii)«iviiii Uioliit)>iii,Nti, haKnhlvM. iOlil AllHMilM.Mt l\ri) slau<,'hter of the demon Tfiraka by Kfirtikeya. ' ^ A star in the Scorpion's tail. ^ Seizing of tribute. 60 ment, unshaken in resolve by the greatest difficulties, he was the castle of constancy, the station of steadfastness, the bridge of bright truth, the guide to all goodness, the con- ductor in conduct, the ordainer of all ordered life. Like the serpent Cesha, enduring the weight of the world ; like the ocean, full of life ; like Jarasandha, shaping war and peace ;^ (118) like Civa, at home with Durgfr; like Yuddhishthira, a daysin-ing of Dharma, he knew all the Yedaa and Yedangas, and was the essence of the kingdom's prosperity. He was like Brihaspatr^ to Sunfisira ; like Cukra to Vrisha- parvan ; like Yavislitha to Da(;aratha ; like Yi^vfimitra to Enma; like Dhaumya to Ajfita^atru ; like Damanaka to Nala. He, by the force of his knowledge, thought that Lakshml was not hard to win, resting though she were on the breast of Nurfiyana, terrible with the scars of the weapons of the demons of hell, and a strong shoulder hardened by the pitiless pressure of Mount Mandara as it moved to and fro. Near him knowledge spread wide, thick with many a tendril, and showed the fruits gained from conquered realms like a creeper near a tree. (119) To him throughout the earth's surface, measured by the circum- ference of the four oceans, and filled with the goings to and fro of many thousands of spies, every whisper of the kings was known as though uttered in his own palace. * ** Now, Tarfipiila while yet a child had conquered the whole earth ringed by the seven Dvlpas by the might of his arm, thick as the trunk of Indra's elephant, and he devolved the weight of the empire on that councillor named (^'uka- nfisa, and having made his subjects perfectly contented, he searched for anything else that reniained to be done. ***Andas he had crushed his enemies and had lost all cause for fear, and as the strain of the world's affairs had become a little relaxed, for the most part he began to pursue the ordinary pleasures of youth. (124) * ** And some time i^assed while the king pursued ' Or, haviii^^ his body united. V. Dowsoii, ' Cljissical Dictionary.' 2 Having fortresses subdued. These are teachers of tlie gods and lieroes. 61 the pleasures of youth, and entrusted the afifairs of state to his minister ; and after a time he came to the end of all the other pleasures of life, and the only one he did not get was the sight of a son born to him ; so that his zenana was like reeds showing only flowers without fruit ; and as youth went by there arose in him a regret produced by childless- ness, and his mind was turned away from the desire of the pleasures of sense, and ho felt himself alone, though surrounded by a thousand princes ; blind, though possessed of sight ; without support, though supporting the world. (125) ***But the fairest ornament of this king was his queen YilrisavatI ; as the moon's digit to the braided hair of (^'iva, as the splendour of the Kaustubha gem to the breast of the foe^ of Kaitabha, as the woodland garland to Bala- rama, as the shore to the ocean, as the creeper to the tree, as the outburst of tiowers to the spring, as the moonlight to the moon, as the lotus-bed to the lake, as the array of stars to the sky, as the circling of hamsas to Lake Manasa, as the line of sandal- woods to Mount Malaya, as the jewelled crest to C,'esha, so was she to her lord ; she reigned i)eerles8 in the zenana, and created wonder in the three worlds, as though she were the very source of all womanly grace. * ** And it chanced once that, going to her dwelling, he beheld her seated on a stately- couch, weeping bitterly, surrounded by her household mute in grief, their glances fixed in meditation, and attended by her chamberlains, who waited afar with eyes motionless in anxious thought, while the old women of the zenana were trying to console her. Her silken robes were wet with ceaseless tears; her orna- ments were laid aside ; her lotus-face rested on her left hand ; and her tresses were unbound and in disorder. As she arose to welcome him, the king placed her on the couch again, and sitting there himself, ignorant of the cause of her weeping, and in great alarm, wiped away witli his hand the tears from her cheeks, saying: (120) * My queen, what means this weeping, voiceless and low with the weight of the heavy sorrow concealed in thy heart ? For these eye- 1 Vishnu. - Lit., * tiriii.' 62 lashes of thine are stringing, as it were, a network of pearls of dropping tears. Why, slender one, art thou unadorned ? and why has not the stream of lac fallen on thy feet like early sunlight on rosy lotus -buds? And why are thy jewelled anklets, with their murmur like teals on the lake of love, not graced with the touch of thy lotus-feet? And' why is this waist of thine bereft of the music of the girdle thou hast laid aside ? And why is thore no device painted on thy breast like the deer on the moon ? and why is that slender nock of thine, fair-limbed quoon, not adorned with a rope of pearls as the crescent on (^iva's brow by the heavenly stream ? and why dost thou, erst so gay, wear in vain a face whose adornment is washed away with flowing tears? And why is this hand, with its petal-like cluster of soft fingers, exalted into an ear-jewel, as though it were a rosy lotus? (127) And why, froward lady, dost thou raise thy straight brow undecked with the mark of yellow pigment, and surrounded by the mass of thine un))ound tresses ? For these flowing locks of thine, bereft of flowers, grieve my eyes, like the loss of the moon in the dark fortnight, clouded in masses of thickest gloom. Be kind, and tell me, my queen, the cause of thy grief. For this storm of sighs with which the robe on thy breast is quivering bows my loving heart like a ruddy tendril. ]fas any wrong been done by me, or by any in thy service? Closely as I examine myself, I can truly see no failure of mine towards thee. For my life and my kingdom are wholly thine. Let the cause of thy woe, fair queen, be told.' But Vilasavatl, thus addressed, made no reply, and turning to her attendants, he asked the cause of her ex- ceeding grief. Then her betel-nut bearer, Makarikfi, who was always near her, said to the king : ' My lord, how could any fault, however slight, be committed by thee ? (128) and how in thy presence could any of thy followers, or anyone else, offend ? The sorrow of the queen is that her union with the king is fruitless, as though she were seized by lifihu, and for a long time she has been suffering. For at first our lady was like one in heavy grief, was only occupied 68 with difficulty by the persuasion of her attendants in the ordinary duties of the day, however fitting they might be, such as sleeping, bathing, eating, putting on of ornaments, and the like, and, like a Lakshml of the lower world, ceaselessly upbraided divine love.^ But in her longing to take away the grief of my lord's heart, she did not show her sad change. Now, however, as it was the fourteenth day of the month, she went to worship holy Mahfikfda, and hoard in a rocitation of the Malifiblifirata, *' No bright abodoH await tlie childless, for a son is he who delivers from the sunloss sliadoH"; and when she heard this, she returned to her palace, and now, though reverently entreated thereto by her attendants, she takes no pleasure in food, nor does she busy herself in putting on her jewels, nor does she vouchsafe to answer us ; (12eerless in prowess, fatal to his foes. Dayaratha, too, when very old, received by the favour of Rishyayringa, 1 (rt) The gods; (b) love. 64 son of the great saint Yibhanclaka, four sons, unconquerable as the arms of Narayana, and unshaken as the depths of the oceans.! And many other royal sages, having conciliated ascetics, have enjoyed the happiness of tasting the ambrosia of the sight of a son. For the honour paid to saints is never without its reward. * *' * And for me, when shall I behold my queen ready to bear a child, pale as the fourteenth night when the rising of the full moon is at hand ; and when will her attendants, hardly able to bear the joy of the great festival of the birth of my son, carry the full basket of gifts ? When will my queen gladden me wearing yellow robes, and holding a son in her arms, like the sky with the newly-risen sun and the early sunlight ; and when will a son give me joy of heart, with his curly hair yellow with many a plant, a few ashes mixed with mustard-seed on his palate, which has a drop of ghi on it as a talisman, (llJl) and a thread bright with yellow dye round his neck, as he lies on his back and smiles with a little toothless mouth ; when will this baby destroy all the darkness of sorrow in my eyes like an auspicious lamp welcomed by all the people, handed from one to another by the zenana attendants, shining tawny with yellow dye ; and when will he adorn the courtyard, as he toddles round it, followed by my heart and my eyes, and gray with the dust of the court ; and when will he walk from one place to another and the power of motion be formed in his knees, so that, like a young lion, he may try to catch the young tame deer screened behind the crystal walls ? and when, running about at will in the courtyard, will he run after the tame geese, accompanied by the tinkling of the anklets of the zenana, and weary his nurse, who will hasten after him, following the sound of the bells of his golden girdle ; (182) and when will he imitate the antics of a wild elephant, and have his cheeks adorned with a line of ichor painted in black aloe, full of joy at the sound of the bell held" in his mouth, gray with the dust of sandal-wood scattered by his uplifted hand, shaking his • Four was the number of the oceans and of the arms of Naruyana. 66 head at the beckoning of the hooked finger; and when will he disguise the faces of the old chamberlains with the juice of handfuls of lac left after being used to colour his mother's feet; and when, with eyes restless in curiosity, will he bend his glance on the inlaid floors, and with tottering steps pursue his own shadow ; and when will he creep about during the audience in front of me as I stand in my audience-hall, with his eyes wandering be- wildered by the rays of the gems, and have his coming welcomed by the outstretched arms of a thousand kings ? Thinking on a hundred such desires, I pass my nights in Buflering. Me, too, the grief arising from our want of children burns like a fire day and night. The world seems empty ; I look on my kingdom as witliout fruit. But what can I do towards 13rahmri, from whom there is no appeal ? Therefore, my quoen, cease thy continual grief. Let thy heart be devoted to endurance and to duty. For increase of blessings is ever nigh at hand for those who set their thoughts on duty.' (IBIJ) Thus saying, with a hand like a fresh tendril, he took water and wiped her tear-stained face, which showed as an 02)ening lotus ; and having comforted her again and again with many a speech sweet with a hundred endearments, skilled to drive away grief, and full of instruction about duty, he at last left her. And when he was gone, Yilfisavatl's sorrow was a little soothed, and she went about her usual daily duties, such as putting on of her adornments. And from that time forth she was more and more devoted to propitiating the gods, honouring ^ Brahmans, and paying reverence to all holy persons; whatever recommendation she heard from any source she practised in her longing for a child, nor did she count the fatigue, however great; she slept within the temples of Duv^'d, dark with smoke of bdellium ceaselessly burnt, on a bed of clubs covered with green grass, fasting, her pure form clothed in white raiment; (134) she bathed under cows endued with auspicious marks, adorned for the occasion by the wives of the old cowherds in the herd- stations, with golden pitchers laden with all sorts of jewels, 56 decorated with branches of the pipal, decked with divers fruits and flowers and filled with holy water; every day she would rise and give to Brahmans golden mustard-leaves adorned with every gem ; she stood in the midst of a circle drawn by the king himself, in a place where four roads meet, on the fonrteonth night of the dark fortnight, and performed auspicious rites of bathing, in which the gods of the quarters were gladdened by the various oblations offered ; she honoured the shrines of the siddhas and sought the houses of neighbouring Mutrikas,^ in which faith was displayed by the pooi)lo ; she bathed in all the celebrated snake-ponds ; with a sun-wine turn, she wor- shipped the pipal and othi>r trees to which honour was wont to be shown ; after bathing, with hands circled by swaying bracelets, she herself gave to the birds an oH'oringof curds and boiled rice placed in a silver cup ; she ofYered daily to the goddess ])urgrt a sacrifice consisting of parched grain of oblation, boiled rice, scKaniuni sweetmeats, cakes, unguents, incense, and flowers, in abundance ; (15^5) she besought, with a mind prostrate in adoration, the naked wandering ascetics, bearing the name of siddhas, and carrying their begging -bowls filled by her; she greatly honoured the directions of fortune-tellers ; she frequented all the sooth- sayers learned in signs ; she showed all respect to those who understood the omens of birds ; she accepted all the secrets handed down in the tradition of a succession of venerable sages ; in her longing for the sight of a son, she made the Brahmans who came into her presence chant the Veda; she heard sacred stories incessantly repeated ; she carried about little caskets of mantras filled with l)irch- leaves written over in yellow letters ; she tied strings of medicinal plants as anuilets ; even her attendants went out to hear passing sounds and grasped the omens arising from them ; she daily threw out lumps of flesh in the evening for the jackals ; she told the pandits the wonders of her dreams, and at the cross-roads she ofTered oblation to C^'iva. ***And as time went on, it chanced once tliat near the * The (livlno inothorM, or poiHoniflt'd ciiiTgioH of tlio chief iloitioH. 67 end of night, when the sky was gray as an old pigeon's wing, and but few stars were left, the king saw in a dream the full moon entering the mouth of Vilasavatl, as she rested on the roof of her white palace, like a ball of lotus- fibres into the mouth of an elephant. (1B6) Thereupon he woke, and arising, shedding brightness through his dwelling by tlio joyous dilation of his eyes, he straightway called (/ukanfiHa and told him tlie dream ; whereto the latter, filled with sudden joy, replied : * Sire, our wishes and those of thy subjects are at length fulfilled. After a few days my lord will doubtloHs oxporionco the happinosH of beholding the lotuH-faco of a son ; for I, too, this night in a d:eam saw a whito-robod linihman, of godlike bearing and calm aspect, place in Munorama's^ lap a lotus that rained drops of honey, with a hundred outspread white petals, like the moon's digits, and a thousand (juivering stamens forming its matted locks. Now, all auspicious omens which come to us forotell the near approach of joy ; and what other cause of joy can there be than this? for dreams seen at the close of night are wont to l)car fruit in truth. (VM) Certainly ere long the queen shall bear a son that, like Mandhatri, shall bo a leader among all royal sages, and a cause of joy to all the world ; and he shall gladden thy heart, king, as the lotus-pool in autumn with its burst of fresh lotuses gladdens the royal elephant ; by him thy kingly line shall become strong to bear the weight of the world, and shall be unbroken in its succession as the stream of a wild elephant's ichor.' As ho thus spoke, the king, taking him by the hand, entered the inner apartments and gladdened the queen with both their dreams. And after some days, ])y the grace of the gods, the hope of a child came to Vilasavatl, like the moon's image on a lake, and she became thereby yet more glorious, like the line of the Nandana wood with the tree of Paradise, or the breast of Vishnu with the Kaustubha gem. (1.S8) '"On one memorable day the king had gone at evening to an inner pavilion, where, encircled by a ' Wifo of (JuUiuiAhii. 58 thousand lamps, burning bright with abundance of scented oil, he was like the full moon in the midst of stars, or like Narayana seated among the thousand jewelled hoods of the king of snakes; he was surrounded only by a few great kings who had received the sprinkling of coronation ; his own attendants stood at some distance; close by Qukanasa was sitting on a hi^'h stool, clad in white silk, with little adornment, a statesman profound as the depths of ocean ; and with him the king was holding a conversation on many topics, full of the confidence that had grown with their growth, when he was approached by the handmaiden Kulavardliana, the queen's chief attendant, always skilled in the ways of a court, well trained by nearness to royalty, and versed in all auspicious ceremonies, who whispered in his ear the news about Vilasavatl. (181)) At her words, so fresh to his ears, the king's limbs were bedewed as if with ambrosia, a thrill passed through his whole body, and he was bewildered with the draught of joy ; his cheeks burst into a smile ; under the guise of the bright flash of his teeth he scattered abroad the liappinoss that overflowed his heart, and his eye, with its pupil quivering, and its lashes wet with tears of gladness, fell on the face of (^'ukanasa. And when ('ukanfisa saw the king's exceeding joy, such as he had never seen before, and beheld the approach of Kulavardhanri with a radiant smile on her face, though he had not heard the tidings, yet, from constantly revolving the matter in his mind, he saw no other cause befitting the time of this excess of gladness ; (110) he saw all, and bringing his sen,,t closer to the king, said in a low voice : * ^fy lord, there is some truth in that dream ; for Kulavar- dliana has her eyes radiant, and thy twin eyes announce a cause of great joy, for they are dilated, their pupils are tremulous, and they are bathed in tears of joy, and as they seem to creep to the lobes of thy ears in their eagerness to hear the good tidings, they produce, as it were, the beauty of an ear-pendant of blue lotuses. My longing heart yearns to hear the festival that has sprung up for it. Therefore let my lord tell me what is this news.' When he had thus 59 said, the king replied with a smile : ' If it is true as she saysi then all our dream is true ; hut I cannot helieve it. How should so great a happiness fall to our lot? For we are no fitting vessel for the hearing of such good tidings. Kulavardhanfi is always truthful, and yet when I consider how unworthy I am of such joy, I look upon her as having changed her nature, liise, therefore ; I myself will go and ask the queen if it is true, and then I shall know.* (141) So saying, he dismissed all the kings, and taking off his orna- ments, gave them to Kulavardhana, and when, on his gracious dismissal of her with gifts, he received her homage paid with a deep reverence as she touched the earth with her straight brow, he rose with Tukanasa and wont to the inner apartments, hurried on by a mind iilled with exceed- ing happiness, and gladdened by the throbbing of his right eye, which seemed to mimic the play of a blue lotus-petal stirred by the wind. He was followed by a scanty retinue, as befitted so late a visit, and had the thick darkness of the courtyard dispelled by the brightness of the lamps of the women who went before him, though their steady flame ilickered in the wind." ' (Brina then describes the birth of Tfiraplija's son, who is named Candrupliia, from the king's dream about the moon, and also that of Cukanasa's son Vaivampayana.^] (155) * ** And as Candrapuja underwent in due course all the circle of ceremonies, beginning with the tying of his top-knot, his childhood i)asKed away; and to prevent distraction, Taraplcja had built for him a palace of learnhig outside the city, stretching half a league along the Sipra river, surrounded by a wail of white bricks like the circle of peaks of a snow-mountain, girt with a great moat run- ning along the walls, guarded by very strong gates, having one door kept open for ingress, with stables for horses and palanquins close l>y, and a gymnasium constructed beneath — a fit palace for the immortals. He took infinite pains in gathering there teachers of every science, and having placed ^ Sinnniiuy of pp. Hl-ir^O. 60 the boy there, like a young lion in a cage, forbidding all egress, surrounding him with a suite composed mainly of the sons of liis teachers, removing every allurement to the sports of boyhood, and keeping his mind free from dis- traction, on an auspicious day (15C) he entrusted him, together with Vaic/ampfiyana, to masters, that they might acquire all knowledge. Every day when ho rose, the king, with Vilasavatl and a small retinue, went to watch him, and Candrfiplija, undisturbed in mind and kept to his work by the king, quickly grasped all the sciences taught him by teachers, whose efforts were quickened by his great powers, as they brought to light his natural abilities ; the whole range of arts aKsoniblod in his mind as in a pure jewelled mirror. lie gained tlie higliost skill in word, sentence, proof, law, and royal policy ; in gymnastics ; in all kinds of weapons, sucli as the bow, quoit, shield, scimitar, dart, mace, battle-axe, and club; in driving and elephant-riding ; in musical instruments, sucl? as the lute, life, drum, cymbal, and pipe ; in the laws of dancing laid down by Jiharata and others, and the science of music, such as that of NTirada ; in the management of elephants, the knowledge of a horse's age, and the marks of men ; in painting, leaf-cutting, the use of books, and writing ; in all the arts of gambling, knowledge of the cries of birds, and astronomy ; in testing of jewels, (157) carpentry, the work- ing of ivory ; in architecture, physic, mechanics, antidotes, mining, crossing of rivers, leaping and jumping, and sleight of hand ; in stories, dramas, romances, poems ; in the Mahabharata, the Puraiias, the Itihasas, and the Bfanayana ; in all kinds of writing, all foreign languages, all technicalities, all mechanical arts ; in metre, and in every other art. And while he ceaselessly studied, even in his childhood an inborn vigour like that of ]3hTma shone forth in him and stirred the world to wonder. For when he was but in play the young elephants, who had attacked him as if he were a lion's whelp, had their lim])s bowed down by his grasp on their ears, and could not move ; with one stroke of his scimitar he cut down palm-trees as 61 if they were lotus-stalks ; his shafts, like those of Para^u- rama when he blazed to consume the forest of earth's royal stems, cleft only the loftiest peaks; ^e exercised himself with an iron club which ten men were needed to lift ; and, except in bodily strength, he was followed close in all hig accomplishments by Vaivampayana, (1''38) who, by reason of the honour Candrripula felt for his deep learning, and of hiH reverence due to (/ukanfiHa, and because they had played in the dust and f^rown up together, was the prince's chief friend, and, as it were, his second heart, and the home of all his confidences. He would not bo without Vaic/ampfiyana for a moment, while Vaivampayana never for an instant ceased to follow him, any more tlian the day would cease to follow the sun. * ** And while Candraplda was thus pursuing his acquaint- ance witli all knowledge, the spring of youth, loved of the three worlds as theamiita draught of the ocean, gladdening the hearts of men as moonrise gladdens the gloaming; transient in change of iridescent glow, like the full arch of Indra's bow to the rainy season ; weapon of love, like the outburst of flowers to the tree of desire ; beautiful in ever freshly revealed glow, like sunrise to the lotus-grove ; ready for all play of graceful motion, like the plumes of the peacock, became manifest and brought to flower in him, fair as he was, a double beauty; love, lord of the hour, stood ever nigh, as if to do his bidding ; his chf^st expanded like his beauty ; his limbs won fulness, like the wishes of his friends ; his waist became slender, like the host of his foes ; (ir>i)) his form broadened, like his liberality ; his majesty grew, like his hair; his arms hung down more and more, like the plaits of his enemies' wives ; his eyes became brighter, like his conduct; his shoulders broad, like his knowledge ; and his heart deep, like his voice. *** And so in due course the king, learning that Candra- pl(ja had grown to youth, and had completed his knowledge of all the arts, studied all the sciences, and won great praise from his teachers, sunnnoned Jklfdiaka, a mighty warrior, and, with a large escort of cavalry and infantry, sent him j 62 on a very auspicious day to fetch the prince. And Balahaka, going to the palace of learning, entered, announced by the porters, and bending his head till its crest-jewels rested on the ground, sat down, by the prince's permission, on a seat befitting his office, as reverently as though in the king's presence; after a short pause he approached Candraplda and respectfully gave the king's message : * Prince, the king bids me say : ** Our desires are fulfilled ; the ^astras have been studied ; all the arts have been learnt ; thou hast gained the highest skill in all the martial sciences. (160) All thy teachers give tliee permission to leave the house of learning. Let the people see that thou hast received thy training, like a young royal elephant come out from the enclosure, having in thy mind the whole orb of the arts, like the full moon newly risen. Let the eyes of the world, long eager to behold thee, fulfil their true function ; for all the zenanas are yearning for thy sight. This is now the tenth year of thine abode in the school, and thou didst enter it having reached the ex- perience of thy sixth year. This year, then, so reckoned, is the sixteenth of thy life. Now, therefore, when thou hast come forth and shown thyself to all the mothers longing to see thee, and hast saluted those who deserve thy honour, do thou lay aside thy early discipline, and experience at thy will the pleasures of the court and the delights of fresh youth. Pay thy respects to the chiefs; honour the Brahmans ; protect thy peojile ; gladden thy kinsfolk. There stands at the door, sent by the king, this horse, named Lidrayudha, swift as Garuda or as the wind, the chief jewel of the three worlds; (161) for in truth the monarch of Persia, who esteemed him the wonder of the universe, sent him with this message : ' This noble steed, sprung straight from the waters of ocean, was found by me, and is worthy for thee, king, to mount;' and when he was shown to those skilled in a horse's points, they said : * He has all the marks of which men tell us as belonging to Uccaiheravas ; there never has ])een nor will be a steed like him.' Therefore let him ])e honoured by tliy mounting 68 him. These thousand princes, all sons of anointed kings, highly-trained, heroic, wise, and accomplished, and of long descent, sent for thine escort, wait on horseback, all eager to salute thee." * Having thus said, Balahaka paused, and Candraplda, laying his father's command on his head, in a voice deep as a new cloud gave the order, * Let Indrayudha be brought,' for he desired to mount him. * ** Immediately on his command Indrayudha was brought, and he beheld that wondrous steed, led by two men on each side grasping the circle of the bit, and using all their efforts to curb him. He was very large, his back being just within reach of a man's ui)lifted hand ; he seemed to drink the sky, which was on a level with his mouth ; with a neigh which shook the cavity of his belly, and filled the hollows of the three worlds, he, as it were, ui)l)raicled Garuda for his vain trust in his fabled speed ; (102) with a nostril snorting in wrath at any hindrance to his course, he, in his pride, examined the three worlds, that he might leap over them ; his body was variegated with streaks of black, yellow, green, and pink, like Indra's bow ; he was like a young elephant, with a many-hued rug spread over him ; like Civa's bull, pink with metallic dust from butting at Kailasa's peaks; like PrirvatT's lion, with his mane crimsoned with the red streak of the demon's clotted blood ; and like the very incarnation of all energy, with a sound emitted from his ever-quivering nostrils, he seemed to pour forth the wind inhaled in his swift course ; he scattered the foam-fiakes that frothed from his lips from the champing of the points of the bit which rattled as he rolled it in his mouth, as if they were mouthf uls of ambrosia drunk in his ocean home. (164) And, beholding this steed, whose like was never before seen, in form fit for the gods, meet for the khigdom of the whole universe, (105) possessed of all the favourable marks, the perfection of a horse's shape, the heart of Candraplcja, though of a nature not easily moved, was touched with amazement, and the thought arose in his mind : * What jewel, if not this wondrous horse, was brought up by the Suras and Asuras ( 64 ! - •• ■ when they churned the waters of ocean and whirled round Mount Mandara with the serpent Vasuki revolving in cease- less gyration ? And what has Indra gained by his lordship of the three worlds if he did not mount this back, broad as Mount Meru? Surely Indra was cheated by the ocean when his heart was gladdened by Uccaihyravas ! And I think that so far he has not crossed the sight of holy Narayaiia, who even now does not give up his infatuation for riding Garucla. My father's royal glory surpasses the riches of the kingdom of heaven, in that treasures such as this, which can hardly be gained in the whole universe, come here into servitude. From its magnificence and energy, this form of his seems the shrine of a god, and the truth of this makes me fear to mount him. For forms like this, lit for the gods and the wonder of the universe, l)elong to no common horse. Even deities, subject to a muni's curse, have been known to leave their own bodies and inhabit other bodies brought to them by the terms of the curse. (lOG) For there is a story of old how Sthula(;iras, a muni of great austerity, cursed an Apsaras named Eambha, the ornament of the three worlds ; and she. leaving heaven, entered the heart of a horse, and thus, as the story goes, dwelt for a long time on earth as a mare, in the service of King (Jatadhanvan, at MrittikavatI ; and many other great-souled beings, having had their glory destroyed by the curse of munis, have roamed the world in various forms. Surely this must be some noble being subject to a curse ! My heart declares his divinity.' Thus thinking, he rose, wishing to mount ; and in mind only approaching the steed, he prayed thus : * Noble charger, thou art that thou art ! All hail to thee ! Yet let my audacity in mounting thee be forgiven ! for even deities whose presence is unknown taste of a contumely all unmeet for them.' * ** As if knowing his thought, Indrayudha looked at him with eye askance, the pupil turned and partly closed by the lashing of his tossing mane, (167) and repeatedly struck the ground with his right hoof, till the hair on his chest 65 was gray with the dust it cast up, as though summoning the prince to mount, with a pleasant whinnying long drawn out into a gentle soft murmur blent with the snorting of his quivering nostrils. Whereupon Candraplda mounted IndnTyudha, as though invited thereunto by his pleasant neighing; and, having mounted, he passed out, thinking the whole universe but a span long, and beheld a cavalcade of which the furthest limits could not be seen ; it deafened the hollows of the three worlds with the clatter of hoofs breaking up the earth, fierce as a shower of stones let fall from the clouds, and with a neighing sounding the fiercer from nostrils choked with dust ; it decked the sky with a forest of lances all horrent, whose shafts gleamed bright when touclied by the sun, like a lake half hidden in a grove of blue lotus-buds upborne on their stalks ; from its darkening the eight quarters with its thousand umbrellas all raised, it was like a mass of clouds iridescent with the full arch of Indra's bow shining on them; (1()8) while from the horses' mouths being white with foam -flakes cast abroad, and from the undulating line of their ceaseless curvetting, it rose to sight like a mass of ocean billows in the flood of final destruction ; all the horses were in motion at Candraplda's approach, as the waves of ocean at the moon's rising ; and the princes, each wishing to be first in their eagerness to pay their homage, having their heads unprotected by the hasty removal of their umbrellas, and weary with trying to curb their horses, which were wild with trampling on each other, drew around the prince. As Iklahaka presented each by name, they bowed, bending low their heads, which showed the glow of loyalty under the guise of the rays uprising from the rubies in their waving crests, and which, from their having buds held up in adoration, were like lotuses resting on the water in the pitchers of coronation. Having saluted them, Can- drapida, accompanied by Yaicampayana, also mounted, straightway set out for the city. (1G9) He was shaded by a very large umbrella with a gold stick, borne above him, formed like the lotus on which royal glory might dwell, 5 66 like the moon's orb to the moon-lotus grove of royal races, like an island being formed by the flow of the cavalcade, in hue like the circle of Vasuki's hood whitened by the sea of milk, garlanded with many a rope of pearls, bearing the devico of a lion designed above. The flowers in his ears were set dancing by the wind of the cowries waved on either side, and his praises were sung by many thousands of retainers running before him, young, for the most part, and brave, and by the bards, who ceaselessly recited aloud auspicious verses, with a soft cry of *Long life and victory.' * '* And as he passed on his way to the city, like a mani- festation of the god of love no longer bodiless,^ all the people, like a lotus-grove awakened by the moon's rising, left their work and gathered to behold him. * *' * Kartikeya scorns the name of Kumara,^ since his own form is looked on with scorn by the throng of lotus-faces when this prince is by. Surely we reap the reward of great virtue in that we behold that godlike form with eyes wide with the overllow of love sprung up within us, and upraised in eager curiosity. (170) Our birth in this world has now brought forth its fruit. Nevertheless, all hail to blessed Krishna, who in the guise of Candraplda has assumed a new form!' With such words the city folk folded their hands in adoration and bowed before him. And from the thousand windows which were unclosed from curiosity to behold Candrfiplda, the city itself became as it were a mass of open eyes ; for straightway on hearing that he had left the palace of learning filled with all knowledge, women eager to see him mounted the roofs hastily throughout the city, leaving their half-done work ; some with mirrors in their left hand were like the nights of the full moon, when the moon's whole orb is gleaming , some, with feet roseate with fresh lac, were like lotus -buds whose flowers had drunk the early su4ilight; some, with their tender feet * Or, Ananga, naino of Kama. " Since ho can only give it the name, not the substance or meaning. Kuindra = {a) nauio of Kartikeya ; (6) prince. 67 enmeshed in the bells of their girdle, fallen to the ground in their haste, were like elephants moving very slowly, checked by their chain ; some were robed in- rainbow hues, like the beauty of a day in the rainy season ; some raised feet that bloHHomed into the white rays of their nails, like tame kalaliamsas drawn by the sound of the anklets ; (171) some held strings of large pearls in their hands, as if in imitation of R;iti with her crystal rosary gras2)ed in grief for the death of Love ; some, with wreaths of pearls falling between their breasts, were like the glory of evening when the pairs of cakravakas are separated by a pure slender stream ; some, with rainbow flashes rising from the gems of their anklets, shone as if lovingly accompanied by tame peacocks ; some, with their jewelled cups half drunk, distilled, as it were, from their rosy Hower-like lips a sweet nectar. Others, too, with their orbed faces appearing at the interstices of the emerald lattices, presented to the eyes a lotus-grove with its opening buds traversing the sky, as they gazed on the prince. On a sudden there arose a tinkling of orna- ments born of hasty motion, with many a sound of lutes struck sweetly on their chords, blended with the cry of cranes summoned by the clanging of the girdles, accom- panied by the noise of peacocks shut up in the zenana and rejoicing in the thunder caused by the stairs being struck by stumbling feet, (172) soft with the murmur of kala- liamsas fluttering in fear of the clash of fresh clouds, imitating the triumphant cry of Love, taking captive the ears of lovely women with their ropes of jewels resounding shrilly as they touched one another, and re-echoing through all the corners of the houses. In a moment the dense throng of maidens made the palaces seem walled with women ; the ground seemed to blossom by the laying on it of their lac-strewn lotus-feet ; the city seemed girt with grace by the stream of fair forms ; the sky seemed all moon by the throng of orbed faces; the circle of space seemed a lotus-grove by reason of the hands all raised to ward off the heat ; the sunshine seemed robed in rainbows by the mass of rays from the jewels, and the day seemed 68 formed of blue lotus -petals by the long line oi bright glances. As the women gazed on him with eyes fixed and widened in curiosity, the form of Candrapida entered into their hearts as though they were mirrors or water or crystal ; and as the glow of love manifested itself there, their graceful speech became straightway mirthful, con- fidential, confused, envious, scornful, derisive, coquettish, loving, or full of longing. (17Ji) As, for instance : * Hasty one, wait for me ! Drunk with gazing, hold thy mantle ! Simpleton, lift up the long tresses that hang about thy face ! Remove thy moon-digit ornament ! IMinded with love, thy feet are caught in the flowers of thine offering, and tliou wilt fall! Love -distraught, tie up thy hair! Intent on the sight of Candrripl