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 NAGANANDA 
 
 OB 
 
 THE JOY OF THE SNAKE-WOELD. 
 
 •a Buti^^tst Srama m f I'be ^cts. 
 
 TRANSLA TED INTO ENGLISH PKOSE, WITH EXPLANA TORY 
 NOTES, FROM THE SANSKRIT OF S Rf-IIARSHA-DEVA. 
 
 BY 
 
 PALMER BOYD, B.A. 
 
 SANSKKIT SCHOLAR OF TRIKITV COLLEGE, CAilBP.lDCE. 
 
 S^litb an |ntrobutlion 
 
 BY 
 
 PROFESSOR COWELL. 
 
 LONDON: 
 TRiJBNER & CO., 60 PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1872. 
 [All riiihts reserved.] 
 
 Q G :-; A 'I
 
 NOTiut: Ti'js patenal may be protectsd 
 by copyright law (TiUe 17 U.S. Code) 
 
 Messrs Trdbxer & Co. have also Published 
 
 SELECT SPECIMENS OP THE THEATEE OP 
 THE HINDUS. 
 
 Translated from the Original Sanskrit, 
 
 By HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, M.A., F.R.S. 
 Late Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, (fee. Ac. 
 
 Third corrected Edition. In Two Volumes, Svo, pp, 392 and 420, 
 handaoruely bound in cloth, price 21s. 
 
 CONTENTS OP VOL. I. 
 
 Preface. — Treatise on the Dramatic System of the Hinrlus : 
 
 i; The Authorities of the Hindu i 4. Conduct of the Plot. 
 
 Dramatic System. i 6. Chaiacters of the Druma. 
 
 2. Different kinds of Dramatic Enter- j tj. Ohject.s of Dramatic Representation 
 
 tainmeuts. ! 7. Dictiim. 
 
 3, Dramatic Arrangement. I 8. Scenic Apparatus. 
 
 List of Hindu Laws. 
 
 Dram.is translated from the Original Sanskrit: The IMrichchhakatf; or, The 
 Toy-Cart. Vikrama and Urva.s'f ; or, Tlie Hero and the Nymph. L'ttara-Ruma- 
 Charitra ; or, Continuation of the U istory of Kama. 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. II. 
 
 Dramas translated from the Original Sanskrit : Malati and Madhava ; or, The 
 Stolen Marriage. Mudra-P.akshasa ; or, The Signet of the Jlinist-.r. Ratuavali : 
 or, The Necklace. 
 
 APP-ENDIX, containing short accounts of difTcront Dramas. 
 
 1. Mah'ivi'ra-Charitra. i 11. Diita'n.'ada ; or, The .'^Ii.--ioii of 
 
 2. Vi>rif Saihh.ira. | Aiifrada. 
 
 3. JI.;i;<vik,;i'Qimit)-a; or, Agnimicra i 12. Jlrig.inkalokh.i. 
 
 and .Mdlavika. ' 13. Vldagdha-.>t,;dhava. 
 
 ■1. Viddha-Salabhanjika ; or. The 14. Abli:r,;ma>Ia)ii 
 
 jtatue. I 15. .'Madliur.inivuddha. 
 
 * 0. Pracliiwifii-P'uidava. \ 10. Kaiasa-l'.adha. 
 
 »j. ilanilmau N.if.ika. I 17. Pradyuniii:'.-Vi,jaya. 
 
 7. Dharauj.ava-Vijaya. | IS. .S'ri-Dama-Cliaritra. 
 
 § ALargha-R.ighava ; or, Murari- ; 1!^. Dluirta-Nartaka. 
 
 Naf.ika. . 20. Dhiirta-Samagama. 
 
 9. S;rad,;-Tilaka. ! 21. llasyar^Kiva. 
 
 10. Yav.ai-Charitra. ' 22. Kautuka-Sirvasiva. 
 
 •'•; 
 
 Chitra-Yajna.
 
 2 
 
 '•It \ras not till Sir "William Jones publiilieil a translation into prose of 
 KaliiJa.-i's beautiful Sakuntala, that the WcJioi-n world were aware that the 
 Iliadus had a national Drama. We gave a fxll analysis of it, and many long 
 sp-cimens, about a dozen years a^'O. I>ut her- we have translations into verse 
 of seve:-al dramas ; expositions of many more : and notices of tlie wliok- Hindu 
 Theatr-, .The Prabodha Chandrodaya. or, lii-r of the Moon of Intellect, trans- 
 lated by the late Dr Taylor, of Bombay, thron? more lijrht on the metaphysics 
 than tl;? ;lrama of tlie Hindus ; and the acoou-,.: v'iven of the Malati M.iilliava ia 
 the A-ia'.ic Researclies by Mr Colebrooke, was s'lbordinate to the objei-t of hii 
 Essay on Sanskrit and Prakrit Prosoily. Neit:. :r of the Dramas hitherto pub- 
 lished can be considered to convey an accara:r notion of ttie ITindu Theatre. 
 The one belongs to the metaiihy.-,ical, the othrr'to the mythojcustnnd cla>s of 
 Sanskrit jilays ; but there is a wide ran'.'e between, and we are conducted tliroufxh 
 it all I'.n ler the learned guiilance of Professcr Horace Wilson. His Essay on 
 'Tlie Dramatic System of the Hindoo' is a rd-terpiece of philoaojiiiical criti- 
 cism, m;;ny of his notes are in themsehes poem? ; and his Prefaces to the Plavs 
 are full of the rarest and most interesting? h:-:orical erudition, often throwiiiir 
 great lizht on the manners and cu.-tonis of Anoieut India The whole work is 
 deli.srhtful from its novelty ; but its true prais-: is th.it it unfolds before us the 
 whole of the finest part of a national literature, ^nd thereby illustnites a hi^-'hly 
 interestin? national cba'acter. . That ther- i> a Hindu Drani.a. and a noble 
 
 one, was hanlly known till Professor Wilson lablished his select .ii>ecimens ; 
 and how few people in England even now kLow anything' more al)"Ut it than 
 what We showed by e.^tracts arid analv^is of tl.r beautiful Komance i>f Vikrama 
 and Ur-a^i, or. The Hero and the Nymph? .^lany thousands mu-t have been 
 surprise 1 to find so much of finest fancy ai:'. of purst feeling in a |i0"try 
 wh;ch tiiev had before supposed wa-^ all euiptin-s-! or iuHation, —like air-l'ulibles, 
 brigh: p -rhap.-. with vari-gated colours, but brtakin.s at a touch ; or like ill- 
 as=ovteI bunches of gaudy and daring flower-, tit only for the few hours of h 
 holiday-^iiow, faded and sceiitl ■^s ere nighfiil. as so many weeds. They 
 wonderi-d to soe how geniu->. in spite of the many (lelia.-.ing superstition.s 
 which tiiey thought had killed all genius, lial there the haj'py and he.aven- 
 taui:lita.-t to beautify nature; ami tliat the HIl i.;s have a .'^liakes)ir-.ii-r in their 
 Kalid.'isa — such a Shakespeare as was pl.l^.?ible t !,umanity so e.\isting, for as th-' 
 people are so must lie their poet, — his inspi.-.ition coming from e</niniuiiiun 
 between his heart and tli'-irs. and tliea.-h we t.u; it heavenly. — and thoii'.'li iu one 
 iv.>.~e it be ev( n so, — yet of ver.ty bom of earti. ' — CiiRisropiiKR NoiiTU. * 
 
 MAHA-VIRA-CHARITA. 
 
 THE ADVENTL'UES OF THE GREAT HERO RA:\IA. 
 
 Ay IXDIAy DRAMA IX SEVEX ACTS. 
 
 Tran.^Iatetl into Eiij,'li.-5li Prose fruin th? Sanskrit of BhavaLbuti, 
 
 By JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. 
 
 Late Scholar of Bra:-enose College, and Boden Scliolar in the University of 
 
 O.vford, Profesior of Sani-V.rit, Madras. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, pp. svi. an J 172, price Ss.
 
 V 
 
 
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 <im<^ 
 
 \< 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 \f^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^i^ 
 
 »« 
 
 / 
 
 The NAgAnanda, the sister-play to the RatnAvali, was 
 edited in Calcutta in 1861, hv an old student of the 
 Sanskrit College, JMudhava Chandra Ghcsha. ]\IS. 
 copies of it are rather scarce, and Professor Wilson does 
 **• — - not mention it in his notices of untranslated plays at the 
 ^ , end of the " Hindu Drama." By Dr Hall's assistance, 
 "-. - however,. I procured two copies from the Xorth-west, an^l 
 3> these, with one or two j\ISS. from Bengal, enabkd the 
 editor to print an accurate text. Mr Bo}-<l, a Cambridge 
 O pupil of mine, has now prepared an English translation ; 
 ■^ and I have been asked, by way of preface, to give some 
 ^ account of the date and authorship of the book. 
 
 The play is st-veral times quoted, like the Ratndvali, in 
 the SAhitya-darpa/Ki (pp. 89, 184, 189, and 249), and in 
 the Dasa-riipa (pp. G4, 65, 74, 178).* Dhananjaya, the 
 
 * I do not distinguish between the tost of the Dii';i-ru]).i and the 
 Commentary, as I fe'-l sure that if Dhananjaya, the son of Vish/iii, 
 the author of th» one, was nat the same persou as Dhauika, the sou 
 of yi.sh«u, the aut'ior of the other, they were at auj- rate brothers, 
 and so the chronological vahie of the two remaius unaltered. 
 There is no hint given of any difference of authurihip, and the two 
 works read everv.vLiere as if they were from the same pen, like the 
 
 h
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 author of the Da^a-rupa, flourished at the court of King 
 Munja ; and a.s no other sovereign of that name occurs 
 in any known list of kings, this is no doubt the uncle 
 and predecessor of Bhoja of Dhara. AVe know, from a 
 date given in a Jaina poem (Colebrooke, Essays, 11. 53), 
 that Munja was reigning A.D. 993. Dhananjaya's date 
 is also confirmed by the fact that Hemachandra, who 
 lived A.D. 1174, quotes the Da^^a-nipa, in his Commen- 
 tary on his own Abhidluina-chintama?a, which proves 
 that the author was then of sufficient antiquity to be 
 taken as an authority in a grammarian's work. The 
 Ratn^vali is also quoted in the Saraswati-kanthalharana, 
 which is ascribed to King Bhoja, who reigned in the 
 beginning of the eleventh century. The Ratnavali, 
 therefore, and the Nagananda, and the King S'ri Harslia 
 Deva, who is mentioned as their author, must be placed 
 in an earlier period than that of Bhoja or his uncle 
 Munja. This at once shows that "Wilson's conjecture is 
 untenable, that the S'ri Ilarsha of the Eatnavali could 
 have been the Harsha Deva of Cashmir, who reigned 
 from A.D. 1113 to 1125. 
 
 Dr Hall has given some good reasons for his adjudica- 
 tion of the liatnAvali to the poet Ba/ta. He was for- 
 tunate enough to obtain three MSS. of Ba/?a's poem, the 
 Harsha-charitra (alluded to in the Sahitya-darpa/;a, p. 
 210), and in it he found the well-known verse beginning 
 (ho'tpa'd anyasmdd (qn, with which the first act of the 
 Katnavali opens. It is hardly likely tluit any one but 
 
 text aud commentary of the SiiLitya-darpa/?a. I maj', however, 
 add, that Dhanika is quoted by name in the Suhitya-daq.ana, jj. 
 118 (cf. Dasa-rupa, p. 171).
 
 : PREFACE. VIX 
 
 '; the author himself -would have been guilty of the 
 
 i plagiarism. It is true that the author of the Kdvya- 
 
 ' praka^a, in his enumeration of the advantages of poetrj-, 
 
 i after mentioning Kdlidasa as an instance of its procuring 
 
 .' fame, brings forward, as an instance of its procuring 
 
 wealth, Dhavaka in his relation Avith King S'ri Harsha ; 
   V, and most of his commentators add that this poet com- 
 
 ■i posed the Eatnavali under that king's name. Dr Hall, 
 
 ': i however, has shoAvn that one commentator reads Ba«a 
 
 I instead of Dhavaka ; and I need hardly add that these 
 
 1 oral traditions, like those current about KalidAsa, 
 
 Vararuchi. and Chaura, are of but Httle historical value. 
 The author of the Saliitya Sara improves upon his pre- 
 decessors by relating that Dhavaka was excessively 
 poor, in spite of the learning which he had obtained by 
 the virtue of a certain Mantra ; at last, however, he com- 
 posed the NaishndJuya, in one hundred cantos, and on 
 showing it to King S'rl Harsha, received a large jagir 
 as his reward.* But the Naishadhiya, as will be seen 
 in the sequel, belongs to a different S'ri Harsha. The 
 story no doubt has a certain foundation of truth, but its 
 exact details, as in all popular legends, waver and dis- 
 solve into mi.^t directly we touch them. 
 
 The Eatni'ivali and the NAgananda would at first 
 sight seem to belong to the same author; half the pro- 
 lojTue is the same in each, as also the stanza where the 
 manager says that S'ri Harsha is a clever poet, and tlu^ 
 subject of the play attractive ; but there is little simi- 
 larity in the plays themselves. Of course their subjects 
 
 * The author adds as his authority — id vv'iddhair updkhjui/atc, 
 " thus it is related by the elders."
 
 Vm PREFACE. 
 
 are very different, and we might expect to find even 
 the same author assuming different styles when treating 
 an heroic legend like the Nagananda, and a genteel 
 comedy of domestic manners like the Eatnivali. But 
 the difference in the religion of the two plays is a strong 
 argument against identity of authorship; and I can 
 hardly believe that the same poet could have written 
 the invocations to Buddha and to S'iva, though I hope 
 to be able to show that the same king may have put 
 them forth under his name. If I might be allowed to 
 venture a conjecture amidst such uncertainty, I should 
 claim (with Dr Hall) the Ratnavali for Bdwa, the well- 
 known author of the Kudambari ; but I should be in- 
 clined to attribute the Buddhist play to the DhAvaka 
 mentioned in the Kavya-praka^a. It is true that not a 
 solitary fragment of poetry is attributed to an author of 
 that name. " About a dozen unprinted collections, in 
 which some five hundred names of authors are adduced, 
 have been diligently explored in quest of DhAvaka, but 
 without success."* But Brabmanical memory might 
 easily drop a Buddhist poet, or retain only a confused 
 idea of his works. In this way the brief legend pre; 
 sen'ed in the KAvya-prakasa may be right as to the poe \s 
 name. l)ut the commentators may be wrong in their men-"" 
 tion of the Eatnavali instead of the Xagananda. 
 
 Dr Hall has thrown considerable light on the time 
 when Ba?ia and the king who patronised him flourished, 
 by his discovery of tlic Harsha-charitra. In this poem 
 Tjixnci celebrates the family and reign of his patron 
 
 * Dr Hull's Preface to Tu-savadatta, p. 17. Cf. C.A.S. Jouni. l?.G2.
 
 PREFACE. LX 
 
 Harsha or Harsha-vardliana, and the history agrees so 
 remarkably with that given in Hiouen Thsang of 
 Harsha- vardhan a, or S'iladitya,* the King of Kanouj, 
 in the first half of the seventh century, that we can 
 hardly feel any doubt as to their being the same per- 
 son. 
 
 Now Hiouen Th.sang's account of the court of Kanouj 
 may throw some light on these dramas. Whether they 
 were really written by the same poet or not, they pro- 
 fess to be the composition of the same king ; and the 
 similarity of much of the prologue, and the identity of 
 one of the verses, give an external appearance of identity 
 of authorship in spite of the diiference in the style; and 
 this may have been part of the deception practised ou 
 the audience. Ba«a may have afterwards inserted a 
 verse from the EatnAvali in his unfinished Harsha- 
 charitra, as a tacit assertion of his claim to the author- 
 ship of that work, just as Sostratus is said to have en- 
 graved his own name beneath the royal inscription on the 
 Pharos. Still the difficulty remains as to the Hindu and 
 Buddhist character of the plays ; and I think tiiis is 
 much better explained by the character of the king than 
 by assuming such an almost unparalleled versatility of 
 faith in a poet. 
 
 Hiouen Thsang is loud in his praises of Harsha-var- 
 dhana's devotion to Buddhism ; but surely his own 
 narrative is sufficient to warn us against taking these 
 eulogies too literally. The king may have built the 
 hundreds of stupas along the Ganges, he may have 
 
 • Julien's "Voyages des Ptlerins Eouddliistes;' vol. ii. 247 ff.
 
 X PRRFACE. 
 
 erected the almshouses for the poor, and the resting- 
 places for pilgrims ; and there can be no doubt that he 
 favoured the Buddhist faith, and presided at their as- 
 semblies, and honoured their holy men. But in the 
 descriptions of the t^vo great convocations, at which 
 Hiouen Thsang was present, we can see that the king 
 was by no means the thorough Buddhist which we 
 might have expected. In the first, twenty tributary 
 princes take a part, and each brings with him the most 
 distinguished Buddhist and Brahman doctors in his 
 realm, and both parties are welcomed with the same 
 hospitality; and though we only read of the homage 
 paid to a golden statue of Buddha, we can hardly 
 believe that, with all these Brahman guests invited, 
 there Avas no other ceremony. But in the second con- 
 vocation, which is described in Hiouen Thsang's life by 
 his disciples, we have a fuller account. This was held 
 at PrayAga, at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges; 
 eighteen kings were present, and five hundred thousand 
 monks and laymen. The first day they installed the 
 statue of Buddha, the second day the statue of the Sun, 
 and the third day that of Maheswara, so that the king's 
 official patronage was shared by the Brahmans even 
 more than by the Buddhists. Similarly at the distribu- 
 tions of alms, we read that on the fourth day the king 
 distributed his bounty to twenty thousand Buddhist 
 ascetics ; but Ave read immediately afterwards, that simi- 
 lar distributions were made to the Brahmans and other 
 heretics, and these lasted respectively tAventy and ten 
 days ; and last of all, the nirgranthas, or naked mendi- 
 cants (Avho were especially disliked by the Buddhists, cf.
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 Burnouf, Infrocl, p. 312), came in for their share, for ten 
 days. Xow this narrative seems to reveal a state of things 
 which would completely account for these two plays. 
 Hiouen Thsang expressly says of the kingdom of Kanouj, 
 that half the inhabitants held " the true doctrine," and 
 half were attached to "error;" and no doubt a .similai* 
 division existed to a greater or less extent in each of 
 the subject kingdoms. "We have only to suppose some 
 such convocation at Kanouj as these which he has 
 described ; and what more natural than that the 
 tributary princes, whom the manager mentions in the 
 prologue, should, on the day of the Buddhist ceremonies, 
 witness the XAgananda, with its invocatory stanzas to 
 Jina, and, on the day of installing the image of ^lahes- 
 wara, should witness the Eatnavali, with its opening 
 Xandis to S'iva ] The ]\Iulati-raAdhava of Bhavabhuti 
 (who flourished at Kanouj about a.d. 7*20) presents the 
 same toleration of the two rival religions ; the play is 
 Hindu, and the Nandi is addressed to S'iva, but a ft-male 
 Buddhist ascetic, with one of her disciples, is a leading 
 character ; she is the nurse of the heroine, and the con- 
 fidante of her father the minister, in his desire to marry 
 his daughter to the son of an old friend, and JMadhava, 
 the young hero, studies logic in Buddhist schools.* 
 
 • "We know tbr.t the r.nddliists \n\[(\ great attention to the study 
 of logic, from the frequent references iu Hiouen Thsang to hcta- 
 rldijd, "the science of reasons." In a pass: ige which I haveqaoted 
 from the Xi/i'ii/"->drttiLvi-l<itpayi/a-tibi, in the preface to my tran.s- 
 lation of the Kusuniiinjali, Vachaspati-mis'ra states that tlie 
 Nyiiya-s'astra was originally delivered by Akshapa'da, or G.Jtama, 
 and completed by Pak.-:hila-.s\vaniin, and that Utidyotakara com- 
 piled hid Vdrttika, or " Annotations," iu order to clear away the
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 There can be no doubt, I think, that the Iving S'rl 
 Harsha Deva of our two plays is a different person from 
 the S'rl Harsha who wrote the Naishadha and the 
 Kha?2(/ana-Kha?u/a-Khadya, as the latter, in the closing 
 verses of both works, speaks of himself as the dependant 
 of the king of Kanouj, and boasts of the allowance 
 of betel granted him at the court. His age is un- 
 certain. Babu Eiijendra lal Mitra (B.A.S. Journ. 1864) 
 has conjectured that he may have been the S'ri Harsha, 
 who, according to tradition, was one of the five Kanouj 
 Brahmans who were invited into Bengal by Adi S'ur, in 
 the tenth century. His chief arguments are that the 
 author of the Naishadha names among his works a 
 ''description of the sea," and *• a history of the Icings 
 of Bengal." But I find, from a notice in the first num- 
 ber of the " Indian Antiquary," that Dr Biihler of Bom- 
 bay has recently fixed his date in the twelfth century. 
 
 The story of the Nagananda is no doubt a Buddhist 
 legend. It is found twice in the KathA-sarit-s:'igara, in 
 which are incorporated so many legends of Buddhist 
 origin. In chapter xxii., we have aversion which gives 
 the latter part of the story as it is told in the two last 
 acts, but the earlier acts are only alluded to ; but in 
 chapter xc, in the Yetdla book, we have a second 
 version, which follows the whole play very closely. 
 Thus Malayavati's singing at the temple is described 
 as in the first act ; the love-scenes of the second are 
 
 erroneous interpretations of Bin^/nnfja and others. Ding-naga was 
 a celebrated Buddhist teaclier, and his logical works are still ex- 
 tant, i^ee Prof. Weber's Note, Zeitschrift d. Morgenl. Gesellschaft, 
 sxii 727.
 
 PREFACE. Xm 
 
 also imitated, and we have the same sentiment as in 
 the fourth, where Jimiitavahana wonders that the King 
 of Snakes, with all his thousand mouths, had not even 
 one wherewith to offer himself as a victim to save 
 his subjects. In hi. 197, we have evidently an allusion 
 to the name of the play, — the bones of the dead snakes 
 are brought to life again, and it is said, 
 
 " Te 'pi sarve samuttasthus tad-vantmT'/tajivitd^ ; 
 Surair Nagair muni-ganaiA sdnnndaiv militair atha 
 Sa loka-tritayabhikhyiim babhaia MalayachalaA." 
 
 Mr Boyd has pointed out in his notes the allusions in 
 the play to Buddhist doctrines. Professor Wilson re- 
 marks, in the Introduction to his translation of the 
 Mr/chchhakarika, " Many centuries have elapsed since 
 Hindu writers were acquainted with the Buddhists in 
 their genuine characters ; their tenets are preserved in 
 philosophical treatises with something like accuracy, 
 but any attempt to describe their persons and practices 
 invariably confounds them with the Jainas;"^and this 
 very confusion occurs in the Mudra-rakshasa, which he 
 attributes to the twelftli century. But the present 
 drama is correct in its allusions, M'hich may be another 
 argument in favour of the comparatively early date 
 which I have advocated. 
 
 The two last acts are in the true style of Buddhist 
 invention ; but I do not remember to have seen any 
 direct reference to Jimiitavahana in any Buddhist 
 legend. Burnouf mentions (Lilrod., p. 620) that, 
 though the goilnlia sandal is frequentlj* alluded to in 
 Buddhist books, he had only found one allusion to the
 
 XIV PUEFACE. 
 
 chandana of Malaya, This occurred iu a legend of the 
 Suvarna-prabhAsa, whicli relates how a prince gave his 
 body to feed a hungry tigress. But there is a distinct 
 reference to some such legend as that of our drama, in 
 the second Xepalese Buddhist tract translated by Wilson, 
 in the 16th vol. of the "Asiatic Eesearches." We read 
 there, " May the holy Tirtha be propitious to you, where 
 the Xaga obtained rest from Tar.skshya (Garuf/a)." This 
 is explained by the Xepalese as referring to a local shrine 
 called Gokarwa, but it no doubt orig-inally referred to the 
 far more celebrated Gokar/ia of Malabar. The Nagas play 
 an important part in many Buddhist legends (as, for in- 
 stance, in that of Sangha-rakshita) ; and Mr Fergusson 
 has shown that they are introduced in the Bud'ihist 
 sculptures at Sanchi and Amaravati, and in the latter 
 as objects of worship. The description of the Xagas 
 in the fifth act, with their human forms, but scaly skins 
 and tliree hoods, singularly agrees with some of the 
 drawings in his book. 
 
 The appearance of the goddess Gauii is a curious 
 feature of the drama, and seems to point to that gradual 
 mixture of Buddhist with S'aiva notions, which we find 
 fully developed hit he Tantras of XepaL There female 
 S'aiva deities, such as Durga, jNIahakdli, itc, are continu- 
 ally invoked to grant protection to the Buddhist wor- 
 shipper. Wilson supposes that the Tantras were intro- 
 duced into Xepal between the seventh and twelfth 
 centnries, but Eurnouf has pointed out some traces of 
 S'aiva influence even in the "Lotus de la bonne Loi," 
 and other " developed Sutras." E. B. Cowell.
 
 " Wobhvollen und Erbarmen, oder genauer allgemeiue Wesens- 
 liebe ist der positive Kern der buddhistiscben Moral." 
 
 Kveiypen,
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONiE. 
 
 MEN. 
 
 JimUavdhana, the hero, a prince of the ViJyudharas or celestial 
 
 choristers. 
 Jimutaketa, his father, king of the Vidyiidharas. 
 Vis'vdvasu, king of the Siddhas. 
 Mitrdvasu, his son. 
 
 Sankhachiida, a prince of the Xaga? or snake deities. 
 Garuda, king of the birds and mortal foe of the N;iga3. 
 Atreya, a Brahman, the vidiishaka or king's jester. 
 The Vita, or parasite. 
 Sananda, the doorkeeper. 
 The Chatuberlaiu. 
 A Slave. 
 A Nuga attendant. 
 
 WOMEN. 
 
 The Goddess Gaurl. 
 
 The Queen of the Vidy;idharas, mother of JlhvUo.idhaiin. 
 
 Malaijavat'i, daughter of Vis'viivasu. . 
 
 Chaturihi, her attendant. / 
 
 Sankhachnda's mother. \, 
 
 Several female attendants. 
 
 The scene lies pctrtli/ in the Palace nf the ,'i'iddha King, and partly on 
 the Moanlains of Malabar.
 
 THE JfAGlNANDA. 
 
 IJ r a 1 s u c. 
 xAndi, or opening benediction.* 
 
 " Of Avhom dost thou think, putting on a pretence of 
 religious abstraction, yet opening for an instant thine 
 eyes? See ! saviour thougli thou art, thou dost not pro- 
 tect us, sick with the shafts of Love. Falsely art thou 
 compassionate. Who is more cruel than thou 1 " 
 
 I\Iay Buddha, the conqueror, who was thus jealously 
 addressed by the nymphs of j\L'ira,t protect you ! 
 
 * Everv Sanskrit play opens with one or more Nanrli?, or bene- 
 dictions, in wluch the blessing of some deity is invoked upon the 
 audience. This is the only in.stance in Sanskrit literature where the 
 power thus invoked is Buddha. 
 
 •i* One of the most celebrated scenes in the mythic liistory of 
 Buddha is his temptation iiUtLr tlie Eodhi tree by Mara, the 
 Buddhist Eros, corresponding to the Hindu K;Inia. Mara at first 
 attempted to frighten him by legions of armed warriors ; failing in 
 this, he trieel to seduce him by his daughters, the Apsarasas. The 
 sage, however, endures both teraj'tations withuurufiled equanimity, 
 and eventually the tempter reiires utterly baffled. — Sec Lulit^.i- 
 I'iitara, ch. .Kxi. 
 
 A
 
 2 THE NAGANANDA. 
 
 May the Lord of ^Munis protect you ! who, lost in 
 reflection, and tilled Avith transcendent knowledge, was 
 seen to be utterly unmoved by Indra,* whose every hair 
 was on end through astonishment; by the Siddhas,t 
 their heads bent low in obeisance; by the n^Tnphs, whose 
 eyes quivered, as they alternately smiled, yawned, 
 trembled, and frowned ; by the heroes of Mara, dancing 
 vnih harshly-beaten drums ; and by Mdra himself, who 
 had drawTi his bow to the full ! 
 
 {At the conclusion of the henedktion) — 
 
 Stage JNIanager. 
 
 Enough of this prolixity. To-day, at tlie feast of 
 Indra, I was thus addressed by the company of kings, 
 AVho have arrived from various countries, dependants 
 on the lotus feet of the noble King S'ri-harsha-deva, 
 after they had summoned me respectfully, " That play 
 named Nugananda, connected with the sovereign of the 
 celestial choristers, :j: and adorned with a new arrangement 
 of the incidents by our Lord, S'ri-harsha-deva, has been 
 heard of by us through successive report, but has never 
 been seen by us on the stage ; therefore you should per- 
 form it to-day with suitable dramatic appliances, both 
 
 * In the Buddhist mythology, Indra is the king of the lotvest 
 he.aven but one ; JIara being located in the sixth or highest, anJ 
 having more or less influence over all the beings beneath him. 
 
 + Siddha, a divine person of undefined attributes and character — 
 a sort of demigod or spirit, inhabiting, together with the A'idya- 
 dh'<.ras, Munis, fcc, the region between the earth and the sun. — St". 
 W"dion''i Dktionary. 
 
 ^ i.e. Vidyiidharus.
 
 THE XAG.VN'ANDA. 3 
 
 through your respect for that great king, -who rejoices 
 the hearts of all people, and through your mllingness to 
 oblige us." Therefore, after I have adjusted my attire, I 
 will carry out this recjuest, {JValking and looking about.) 
 I have no doubt that I have -won the hearts of all the 
 spectators, since S'rl-harsha-deva is a clever poet ; and 
 this assembly are good judges of merit. The history of 
 the king of the Siddhas is very attractive in the world, 
 and we ourselves are skilful actors. Each of these thinscs 
 by itself would be sufficient for success ; how much more 
 the whole assemblage of them, brouglit together by my 
 accumulation of good luck ! So, after I have gone to my 
 house and called my wife, I will commence the enter- 
 tainment. {JFalhinrj about, looking towards the tiring room. ) 
 Here is my house. I will enter. {After entering.) O 
 lady, come here a moment ! 
 
 An Actress {entering in tears). 
 ;^^y lord, here am I, unlucky one that I am, let the 
 son of my lord say what is to be done. 
 
 Manager {looking at Actress). 
 lady, why do you thus vreep unreasonably, when 
 the Nagiinauda is to be performed 1 
 
 Actress. 
 Sir, how should I not Avct-p, since just now my father, 
 having disco\ered that he is old, and inHueuced by a 
 sudden disgust for the Avorld, saying to himself, " Art 
 ihm lit to support the duties of a household ? " is gone 
 with his wife to a sacred grove ?
 
 4 THE NAOAN-AXDA. 
 
 Manager {in disfradion). 
 What ! How ! Mj two parents, leaving me, are gone 
 to a sacred grove 1 "What is now seemly to be done ? 
 {After thinkintj.) But how shall I remain at home, 
 giving up the pleasure of attendance on my father? 
 For, in order to perform the service of my father, I will 
 quit the possessions fallen to my lot, and go off tliis day 
 to the forest, as did Jimutavahnna.* 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 END OV Pr.OLOGUE. 
 
 ACT I.   
 Then enter Jimutavaiiana and the Vidushaka. 
 
 JfMlJTAVAHANA 
 
 {in a tone of apif/iij tov.-ards the world). 
 
 friend, Atreya, well do I know that youth is an 
 abode of passion. I am certain that it is transient. 
 Who in the world does not know that it is averse to 
 investigation of right and wrong 1 Yet, worthless as it 
 is, it may still be used for the attainment of the deiired 
 end, if it is thus spent by n:e, devotedly obeying my 
 parents. 
 
 Vidushaka {vlfh vcx'.tth>u). 
 
 Alas, my friend, no wonder you are despondent, en- 
 
 * The Hiuclu dramafi.^ts always endeavour to connect the 
 busines:^ of the prologue with that of the n;ain action. The 
 spectat'T thus gradually passes from the real world iu which the 
 actors live, to the imaginary one in which the pera^^uages of the 
 drama move.
 
 THE NAGANAXDA. O 
 
 during the annoyance of linng for so long a time in the 
 forest, for the sake of these t-.vo, who are already half 
 dead. So now do me a fiivour. Having turned aside 
 from the strictness of your attendance on your father, 
 let the pleasure of sovereignty, sweet through the attain- 
 ment of every wish, be tasted by you. 
 
 Jiilt^TAVAHANA. 
 
 O . friend, you speak not well. For, in this world, 
 what is the splendour of one sitting on a throne com- 
 pared with that of one in attendance on his father? 
 "What enjoyment is there to a king such as that of one 
 shampooing his father's feet 1 What satisfaction in en- 
 joying the whole world, such as in eating a father's 
 leavings ] Sovereignty is in fact only a trouble to one 
 who has deserted his father. Is there one good thing 
 in it? 
 
 VlDUSHAKLV (aside). 
 
 Bother his " penchant "' for Avaiting on his father ! 
 (After consider Inr/.) Xever mind. I will put it to him 
 in this way. (Aloud.) friend, I do not in truth speak 
 only of the enjoyment of sovereignty. There is another 
 thing which you should do. 
 
 JiMutaVaHAXA (siniiinr/). 
 friend, has not all that sliould have been done, been 
 done 1 See hero. My subjects are placed in the right 
 path; the virtuous arc happy; my relatives are placed on 
 an equality with myself, and a regency is made in the 
 kingdom ; to the poor man a tree of Paradise has been 
 given, whose fruit gives even more than he wislies for.
 
 THE NAGAKAXDA. 
 
 Say, what more than this should be done] or what 
 remains in your mind 1 
 
 friend, your enemy, the base Matanga, is very 
 daring ; and, whilst he is at hand, the kingdom, though 
 duly governed by the prime minister, does not, in your 
 absence, appear very firmly settled. 
 
 Jimutavahana. 
 Fie ! fool, dost thou fear that Matanga will seize 
 the kingdom ■? 
 
 o^ 
 
 VIDUSHAKLA.. 
 
 What else ? 
 
 Jimltavahaxa. 
 
 If even it were so, why should it not be ] Is not all 
 I possess, even to my very body, kept for the benefit 
 of others 1 That it is not given up to him of my oAvn 
 accord is through compliance with my father. AVhat, 
 then, is the use of this pointless consideration ? Better 
 that the command of my fiither be at once undertaken. 
 " my child JimutavAhana," he said, " by the spending 
 of many days here this place has its flower>, ku.^a-grass, 
 and fuel used up, and its rice, plants, fruits, and roots 
 well-nigh consumed, therefore go hence to the Malayn* 
 mountain, and seek there for a hermitage suited for our 
 occupation." Come, then, Itt us g'* to the IMalaya 
 mountain. 
 
 * Mulaya — the 'Wedtern Glidts — whence the ua.v^e Malabar 
 (ir.aliya-vPira).
 
 THE NAGANA^-DA. I 
 
 ViDUSHAKA. \ 
 
 Whatever your highness orders. Let your highness \ 
 
 come. 
 
 [Both ualh about. 
 
 ViDUSHAKA {looUng in advance). 
 friend ! see, see ! Here in good truth comes the 
 wind from jMalaya, which removes the fatigue of the 
 journey, Hke the clasping of the neck of the long-desired 
 loved one on first meeting, — bearing cool showers of 
 drops, caught up from the cascade as it falls broken 
 from the crj'stal rocks, and strongly fragrant through its 
 contact with the mountain slopes, covered with groves of 
 dense and juicy sandal trees ; it thrills every limb of your 
 
 bodv. 
 
 JliluTAVAllANA (Joolclng with sui-jprise). 
 
 Ah ! we have already reached the Malaya hill. 
 {Looking all round.) Oh, how pleasant it is ! Inasmuch 
 as this Malaya hill, with its sandal exuding from the 
 wounds made by the mighty elephants as they rub their 
 cheeks in their passion against the trunks, and Avith the 
 fastnesses of its caves resounding when lashed by the 
 ocean waves, and with its rocks of pearl stained by the 
 foot-dye of the women of the Siddhas as they pass — the 
 sight of it gives to my mind some longing for the joys of 
 earth. Come, we will ascend and seek for some suitable 
 site for a hermitage. 
 
 VlDU.SHAKA. 
 
 Let us do so. {Standiii'j in advance.) Let your high- 
 ness come on. 
 
 \_Ti'.:U a-<Cfnd.
 
 8 THE >-AGA-VAXDA. 
 
 Ji'muTAVaHANA {star tmrj from a throbVing of his rlfjlit Cfj).* 
 
 My right eye throbs, though I have no object of 
 desire. Yet the saying of the wise cannot prove f.ilse. 
 "What, then, can this portend ] 
 
 ViDUSHAKA. 
 It shows undoubtedly that some loved object is at 
 
 hand. 
 
 Ji^iutavaHANA. 
 
 ' It must be as you say. 
 
 ViDUSHAKA {loohn.fj oTi all sides). 
 
 friend, look ! look ! Here in good truth is all the 
 appearance of an ascetic grove, resplendent with un- 
 usually thick and dense trees, its crowd of young 
 animals reclining at ease unalarmed, and its smoke 
 freely issuing laden with scent from the sacrificial ghee. 
 
 Jimutavahana. 
 
 You conjecture rightly. This is an ascetic grove. 
 The bark of the trees is stripped off for clothing, thou;4h 
 not in too wide strips, as if out of pity for them. The 
 pure water of the cascade has broken fragments of old 
 waterpots t just visible at the bottom ; and here and 
 there appear the broken girdles of munja grass :{: ca;t off 
 
 * The Hindus believe that the throbbing of the right eye or rirm 
 is a good omen for a man, but of the left, a bad omen. The reverse 
 of this hoMs in the case of a woman. 
 
 + Compare Manu II. 6i : — " Kis girdle, his deerskin, his staff, 
 his sacrificial cord, and his waterpot, he must throw into the water 
 when they are worn out, and take otbers with sacred tests." 
 
 * Munja-gr;\i3s, the Saccharuni muinn , irom the fibres of which 
 the string is prepared tj form the thread worn by the EraLi-ans. 
 Mauu II. 43.
 
 THE NAGANAXDA. 9 
 
 by tlie voung Brr.hmans ; whilst a verse of the Sama 
 Yeda is recited hy a parrot, vho has learnt it from con- 
 stantly hearing it. Come, then, avc uill enter and look 
 about us. 
 
 [They enter. 
 
 JimutavaHAXA (looUufj aloid, with astonishment). 
 Oh, the tranquil charms of an ascetic grove ! The 
 basins at the foot of the young trees are kept full b}^ the 
 dautrhters of the hermits. Its fuel is cut fresh and 
 fresh by the reciting pupils, "whilst the detail of the 
 doubtful passages of the Veda is constantly discussed 
 by the ^Munis, Avho delight in ' the task. Even these 
 trees, taught respect for a guest, seem to utter a sweet 
 welcome with the murmuring of bees, and make, so to 
 speak, an obeisance with their heads bowed down with 
 fruit ; sprinkling a rain of flowers, they present me, as it 
 were, a propitiatory offering. Hence this ascetic grove 
 is well suited for a dwelling place. I think we shall 
 have Deace while livimr here. 
 
 VlDL^SIIAKA. 
 
 What is this, friend ? Tiie deer, with their necks a 
 little bent, the mouthfuls of darbha grass falling half- 
 chewed from their motionless mouths, their e} es tran- 
 quilly closed in complete content, seem to listen with 
 one ear pricked up. 
 
 JiMLTAVAiiANA {uftcT Ustcnimj). 
 
 Friend, you have seen correctly ; for these antelopes, 
 their bodies bent sideways, stopping the noise of chew-
 
 10 THE KAGANAXDA. 
 
 iug the mouthfiils of darbha grass between their teeth, 
 listen to the distinct melodious Avords of a song, possess- 
 ing, through due regard to the laws of harmony, the 
 treble and bass tones impartially developed from their 
 respective organs,* mingled with the notes of the strings 
 of the resounding lute, as with the hum of bees. 
 
 VlDiSHAKA. 
 
 "Who, then, my fiiend, sings here in the sacred grove 1 
 
 JiMUTAVaH-\NA. 
 
 Inasmuch as these notes sound clearly, struck by the 
 tips of soft fingers, I conjecture that it is sung with 
 Kakili t for its key-note. [Puiating forwards icith his 
 
 * This passage is difficult, as it alludes to some tecliuicalitiea of 
 Hindu music. The Hindus place the bass (mandra), the tenor 
 (madhya), and the treble (tara), in the che.;t, throat, and top of 
 the palate respectively. Thus the Sangita-ratuakara, "iti vastu- 
 sthitis tavad gaue tredha bhaved asaa ; hr/di, mandro ; gale, mad- 
 hyo ; murdhui, tara ; iti kramat." Compare Prof. Aiurecht's 
 Cataloiue of Oxford MSS., 200 b 3. 
 
 t Kakili is explained as a sweet soft sound, corresponding to the 
 cuckoo's note. Hindu j^oots give to the kokila, or cuckoo, the fifth 
 note of their scale. Compare Browning : — 
 
 " Here 's the spring back, or close, 
 When the almond bl^siom blj-.va, 
 
 AVe shall have the word 
 
 In that minor third 
 There is noii? but the cuckoo knows ; 
 
 Helps of the guelder-ro^e, — 
 I must bear with it, I suppose." 
 
 Which is curiously paralleled by a verse o'loted iu the Silhitya 
 D.irjva/ua : — 
 
 " The bees may fill every quarter with the sound of their hum-
 
 THE NAGAXAXDA. 11 
 
 finger.) In this temple some goddess plays the lute in 
 propitiation of a deitj'. 
 
 ViDUSHAKA. 
 Come, friend, let us too see the temple of the god. 
 
 JfMUTAVAHAXA. 
 
 You say well. The gods should be revered. {Going 
 
 11]) quickly, stopping.) But perhaps we are not worthy to 
 
 look. Let us then enter this tamdla shrub, and wait for 
 
 an opportunity. 
 
 \_Thcij do so. 
 
 Then enter seated on the ground,* plcnjing a lute, JNIalay- 
 AVATi, and a Sekvant Girl. 
 
 ^Ialayavati {sings). 
 
 adored Gauri, resplendent as with white pollen from 
 the filaments of full-blown lotuses, may my desire be 
 accomplished by thy favour ! 
 
 JimutavaHANA {after hearing it). 
 
 friend, a capital song ! and first-rate music ! Dis- 
 tinctness is attained, even though she plays with her 
 bare fingers ; + good time is kejjt, clearly defined in due 
 
 mings ; and the breeze, rising from the gnjves of sandalwood, 
 may gently ainu-uach ; the playful t mu cu'.koj.-j on t!ie niango's top 
 may make their uinsical fifth note; but may my vital spii-it, hard 
 as adamant, quickly go from me — let it be gone." Comm. on ("JIo). 
 
 * This was managed by drawing a»ide a curtain or drup-»ceue. 
 
 t Literally, "Diilinetness is attained by the organ cf touch, 
 though it be tenfold,"' meaning that the playing was clear, thou^'h 
 she played without the metal instrument which they geueraily 
 use.
 
 12 THE XAGANANDA. 
 
 divisions of slow, medium, avA quick ; the three pauses 
 are rendered in proper order with the "gopuchchha" 
 first ; tlie three modes of playing are fully shown in the 
 slow and quick accompaniments.* 
 
 Girl (nfedionatcli/). 
 
 princess, you have been playing for a long time. 
 How is it that your fingers are not tired ? 
 
 Malaya VATi {rq/roachfully).   
 
 Girl, how should my fingers be weary, when playing 
 before the goddess ? 
 
 GlKL. 
 
 princess, in my opinion there is little use in playing 
 before this cruel one, who, up to this time, shows no 
 favour to you ; though you have been so long a time 
 conciliating her with due observances, which come hard 
 on a young i;irl. 
 
 VlDUSHAKA. 
 
 It is only a girl after all. "Why should we not look ? 
 
 JlMuTAVAnANA, 
 
 "What harm would tlare \<t in so doins;? "Women 
 may be looked at wiiliout -in. Yet, perhaps, if she 
 
 * Here .ignin there is d;£c'ilty frini the contiuual reference to 
 musical techuicalities, and the tr'i:;.~latiou is only conjectural. 
 The yati-trayam occurs in the M>'.:k:irK/eya Pura/!a, sxiii. 54. I 
 have corrected the reading ia the fo..r:h line from tittK-od'juniKjolds 
 to tattiC'iiif/hditurfnt'U, from Dasa-nV.: i, p. 178, where the passage ia 
 quoted ; tiittwa is " slow," o^'ha "t.-:ick" tiiac.
 
 THE N^GANANDA. 13 
 
 saw US, through fear, which is easily excited in one at 
 her time of life, and of her character, she would not 
 remain long here. So we ^vilI simply look tlirough this 
 network of Tamala branches. 
 
 ViDUSHAKA. 
 
 "We will do so. 
 
 [Both of them peep through. 
 
 VlDuSHAlCV (after looI:inn, with astonish ment). 
 friend, see, see ! how wonderful ! Xot only by her 
 knowledcre of the lute does she cause delight, but her 
 beauty, corresponding to her skill, chamis the eye. 
 Who can she be ? Is she a goddess or a woman of 
 the Xagas ? A princess of the Vidvildharas, or born of 
 the family of Siddhas ? 
 
 JiJIuTAVaHAXA {hoUng lonrjinghf). 
 Friend, who it is, I know not ; but this I do know, 
 if she be a goddess, the thousand eyes of Hari have 
 all they can wish. If she be a Avoman of the Nagas, 
 then, whilst her face is there, the lowest hell is not 
 witliout its moon. If slie be of the Vidyadharas, then 
 our race surpasses all otliers. If slie be born of a 
 family of Siddhas, tlien in the three wori<]s are the 
 Siddhas glorious. 
 
 VIDUSIIAKA 
 {'ftrr lo'juui'j at tlic hero, j'llfolhj, asiJ.-j). 
 
 Good luck ! Though after a long delay, he is at last 
 fallen ir.to the power of love, or rather — {looh/Dn vt
 
 14 THE NAGANANDA. 
 
 himself, and gesticulating eating) — not so; but into the 
 power of me single-handed, the Brahman.* 
 
 Girl {affectionately) . 
 O princess, do I not say. " Where is the use of play- 
 ing before this cruel one 1 " 
 
 \She throws down the lute. 
 
 MaLAYAVATI {rrnnrilij). 
 
 Girl ! offend not the revered Gauri. Has not a favour 
 been done me by her this very day ? 
 
 Girl {with joy). 
 O princess, Avhat can it be ? 
 
 ;MALAYAVATi. 
 Girl, I know it well. To-day in a dream, as I was 
 playing this very lute, I was tlms addressed by the 
 revered Gauri, — " Child ^falayavati, I am well pleased 
 with your perfect knowledge of the lute, and with your 
 excessive devotion towards me, which is hard for a 
 young girl; therefore before long a sovereign of the 
 Vidyddharas shall be your husband." 
 
 Girl {with delight). 
 If it is so, why do you call it a dream ? Has not the 
 goddess given you the very desire of your heart ? 
 
 * The buffoon, who, as usual, is a Brahman, seems to anticipate 
 the pleasures of the coming wedding-feast. He feek that his 
 mivster is stepping from his sublime asccdc elevation down to his 
 own more mundane level.
 
 THE XAGAXAXDA. 15 
 
 ViDuSHAKA (having heard). 
 Friend, surely this is a good opportunity to sliow 
 ourselves to the princess. Come, then, we will go up. 
 
 JiMUTAVlHAXA. 
 I will not yet enter. 
 
 ViDUSHAKA 
 (going up and forciUy dragging the hero, v:ho resisf^). 
 Welcome to your highness ! Chaturika speaks the 
 truth. Here is the husband promised by the goddess. 
 
 Malayavati 
 
 {.standing itp hashfidhj, iminting to the hero). 
 
 Girl, who is this ? 
 
 Girl (after looking at the hero, aside). 
 
 From this form of his, mIucIi surpasses all others, I 
 conjecture that he is the man given through the iixvour 
 of the goddess. 
 
 [The Iteroine looks at the hero u-islfuJhj, and ivith modesty. 
 
 Jimutavahaxa. 
 This form of thine, oh tremulous-eyed one, whose 
 full breasts are agitated by tliy breathing, is sutficiently 
 fatigued by deV(;tions. "Why then, oh timid one, is it 
 further distressed at my presence 1 
 
 jMalayavati (a-<i(k.) 
 Through excessive alarm I cannot stand facing him. 
 [Looking at the hero sidcicags, ai>d ivith a Idiuh, 
 she stands sonieichat turned away.
 
 ic the nagaxanda. 
 
 Girl. 
 Princess, what docs all this mean 1 
 
 Malayavati. 
 I cannot remain in his neighbourhood, so come away. 
 "We will go elsewhere. 
 
 [She wishes to rise. 
 
 ViDUSHAKA. 
 Alas ! she is scared. Shall I keep her just for a 
 moment, as I do any learning that I may have read 1 
 
 Ji^iutavahaxa. 
 Where would be the harm of it ? 
 
 ViDIJSHAKA. 
 
 lady ! why this behaviour of yours in such a grove 
 as thii, that a guest just arrived is not favoured by you 
 \^-ith a single word ? 
 
 Girl {('ffi^r lodkhnj id /Jn' h' roinr, to herself). 
 Her eye seems pleased. I will speak to her. {Aloud.) 
 princess, the Brahman speaks fittingly. Good be- 
 haviour towards guests is becoming in you. Why, 
 then, do you stand as if distraught in your behaviour 
 towards so distinguished a one ; or rather, remain so if 
 you will, — I Avill do what is seemly. {Addresser/ the 
 hrro.) Welcome to your highness! by occupying this 
 seat, let your highness add beauty to the spot. 
 
 VlDL'SIIAKA. 
 
 Frit- nd, she says well. Let us sit down here and rest 
 for a m >meut.
 
 You are ri;rht. 
 
 o 
 
 THE NAGANANDA. 17 
 
 JtllUTAVAHANA. 
 
 [Both sit down. 
 
 ilALAYAVATi {addressing the servant girl). 
 
 laughter-loving one, act not thus. Perhaps some 
 Ascetic is looking, and he will set me down as a giddy 
 
 one. 
 
 Then enters an Ascetic. 
 
 Ascetic. 
 
 I am thus bidden by Kausika, the head of the family : 
 " My child, Sa«(^?ilya, the young king of the Siddhas, 
 Mitravasu, is gone to-day, at his father's request, to seek 
 Prince Jimutavahana, the future monarch of the Vidyd,- 
 dliaras, who is somewhere here on the ^lalaya Mount, as 
 a husband for his sister Malayavati, and perhaps the 
 limit of the time for the mid-day oblation will pass by 
 while Malayavati awaits his return. Go, therefore, and 
 fetch her with you." I am going, therefore, to the 
 temple of Gauri in the sacred grove. 
 
 (JValkimj about, looking doicn on iJw ground, irith surirrise.) 
 
 Ah ! "Whose footsteps have we here on the dusty 
 ground, having the sign of the chakra manifest] {Look- 
 ing fonrard and seeing Jtinutavdhn.vn.) Assuredly it will 
 be the footstep of tliis mighty man. For there is the 
 turban-like mass of hair visible on the scalp ; there 
 shines a woolly tuft between the eyebrows ; "^^ his eyes 
 resemble a lotus ; his chest vies with Hari ; and since 
 
 * Compare the signs of Euddba in Lalita-Vistar.i, ch. viL 
 
 B
 
 18 THE NAG-VNAXDA. 
 
 his feet are marked with the chakra, I conjecture that 
 he who rests here is assuredly one who has attained the 
 dio-nity of an emperor of the Vidyadharas. However, 
 away with doubt. It must surely be Jlmutavdhana him- 
 self, (Seeing Malayavati) Ah ! here is the princess 
 too. (LooJiing at them both.) Destiny would at length 
 be actintr in a straiditforward manner did she unite this 
 pair, mutually suited to one another. (Going vp and 
 addressing the hero.) Wek;ome to your highness ! 
 
 JiMUTAVAlIAN.L 
 
 Jimiitavdhana salutes your honour. 
 
 [Irishes to rise. 
 
 Ascetic. 
 Do not rise ; your highness should be respected by us, 
 for "A guest is every one's master."* Eemain, then, 
 at your ease. 
 
 Malayavati. 
 Sir, I bow to you. 
 
 Ascetic (turning to her). 
 My child, mayst thou marry a suitable husband ! 
 princess, Kausika, the head of the family, sends word 
 to thee, " Tlie time of the mid-day oblation passes by, 
 come therefore quickly." 
 
 jMalayavati. 
 As the "Guru"t orders. (To herself .) On the one 
 side the orders of the " Guru," on the other the pleasure 
 • Compare Hitopaddsa, i. 62. t The spiritual parent.
 
 THE nIgaN'AXDA. 19 
 
 of the sight of the dear one. Thus my heart swings me 
 to and fro, perched on a see-saw of going and not going. 
 [Rising icith a sigh, and looking at the hero icith modesty 
 and affection, she goes out with the Ascetic. 
 
 JiilUTAVAlIANA 
 {icith a sigh, looking longingly after the heroine). 
 
 By her whose departure is slow, by reason of the 
 rounded beauty of her form, an impress is stamped upon, 
 my heart, even though she leaves me. 
 
 VlDUSHAILV. 
 
 Well, you have seen all there was to be seen! 
 The fire of my appetite rages, its fury doubled, so 
 to speak, by the heat of the rays of the mid-day sun. 
 Come, then, let us go forth, that I, the Brahman, having 
 become some one's guest, may support my life with 
 bulbs, roots, and fruit, obtained from the Munis. 
 
 JiMutavaHANA {looking vjucards). 
 
 The adorable thousand-rayed one has reached the 
 zenith ; for see, the lord of elephants with pallid cheeks, 
 their sandal-juice instantaneously dried off by the 
 excessive heat, as he fans his face with the breezes of 
 his broad ears, his chest all wc-t with the drops falling 
 from his trunk, endures a state of existence hard to be 
 borne even by the fainting Bignonia. 
 
 [E.reunt onuics. 
 
 END OF THK FIKbT ACT OF THE xXcaXAND.V,
 
 20 TH£ NAGANANDA. 
 
 ACT IL 
 
 Then enters a Sekvan't Girl. 
 Girl. 
 
 I am bidden by tlio Piiucess ]\Ialayavati, " Mano- 
 liarika, my respected brother, ^Mitrdvaau, tarries long 
 to-day j go, then, and inquire whether he has come or 
 not." (She waits about.) Who can this be coming 
 hither in such haste. {Loohing.) Why ! it is Chaturika. 
 
 Then enters a Second Servant Girl. 
 
 First Girl {going np to her). 
 
 Holla, Chaturika ! why, avoiding me, do you go thus 
 hastily ? 
 
 Second Girl. 
 
 ]\Ianoharilva, I am bidden l>y the Princess !Malaya- 
 vati, " Chaturika, my body cannot endure the fatigue 
 of gathering flowers. My passion exceedingly torments 
 me, as though produced by autumnal sunshine. Go, then, 
 prepare the seat of moonstone in the arbour of sandal- 
 creepers, shadowed with the leaves of young plantain 
 trees." I have done as ordert^d, and am going to inform 
 the princess. 
 
 First Girl. 
 
 Go, then, quickly and tell her, so tliat having gone 
 thither her fever mav be alleviated. 
 
 V 
 
 Second Girl {Injgliinihj to herself). 
 Her fever is not of a nature to be thus relieved. In
 
 THE NAGANANDA. 21 
 
 my opinion, her fever will be augmented on seeing the 
 bower of sandal-creepers witli its various delights. 
 {Aloud.) Go on, then, you. I too will go and inform 
 the princess that the moonstone seat is prepared, 
 
 . [Exeunt. 
 
 END OF INTERLUDE. 
 
 Then enters with a lonrjhirj looTc Malaya vatI and a 
 Servant Girl. 
 
 Malaya VATI {with a sigh, to herself). •■ 
 heart ! after having made my mouth dumb through 
 shyness towards him, thou art now gone to him of thine 
 own accord. Alas! for thy selfishness! {Aloud.) 
 Chaturika ! point out to me the temple of Gaurl. 
 
 Girl {lo herself). 
 Though on the way to the bower of sandal-creepers, she 
 says, •• To the temple of Gauri I " {Aloud.) The princess 
 is on the way to the bower of young sandal-trees. 
 
 Malayavati {with confusion). 
 
 It is well that you remind me. Come then, we will 
 go thither. 
 
 Girl. 
 Let the princess come. 
 
 [Malayavati (jols to a difj'trcnl part of the stuge. 
 
 Girl {looldivj had- with vneasiness, to herself). 
 Alas, for her absence of mind ! AYliy, she is actually 
 gone towards the temple of the goddess ! {Aloud.)
 
 22 THE NAGANAXDA. 
 
 lady ! is not the sandal-creeper bower in this directiuu ? 
 Come this way, then. [The heroine does so icith a mean- 
 ingless smile Y Here we are at the sandal-creeper bower, 
 therefore lot your ladyship enter and sit down on the 
 moonstone seat to recover yourself. 
 
 [Both sit down. 
 
 IMalayavati [v:ith a sigh, to herself). 
 
 Lord of the flower-tipped arrows,t a,2:ainst that man 
 who surpasses you in beauty of form you do nothing at 
 all ; but against me, though blameless, you are not 
 ashamed to strilve, saying to yourself, " She is a weak 
 woman." (Looking at herself, and gesticvlating as one in love. 
 Aljud.) Girl, how is it that even this sandal-creeper 
 bower, from which the sun's rays are kept by the density 
 of the shoots, does not alleviate the pain of my fever 1 
 
 Girl. 
 I know the cause of this fever, but the princess is 
 unwilling to avow it. 
 
 Malaya VATi (to herself). 
 I am seen through by her. Still I will ask. (Aloud.) 
 Gii'l, what is that which I will not avow 1 Come, tell 
 me this cause of yours. 
 
 Girl. 
 It is the man placed in your heart. 
 
 * This is one of the syruptoms of love in a Hiutiu heroine. See 
 Sabity;i-Darpa;ia, sec. 15L 
 
 t kduia, the Hiuuu Ciipi.l, bears a bow with its string made of 
 be-.-s, aud its five airows each tipi)od with a pccidiar f!'>wor.
 
 THE NAGAXANDA. 23 
 
 ]\LiLAYAVATi (ivithjoy and agitation, after rising and 
 advancing two or three stej^-s). 
 
 Where — where is he ? 
 
 Girl {rising, with a smile). 
 
 lady, \yhat he ? 
 
 [Heroine silting doivn ashamed, leeps her face lent down. 
 
 Girl. 
 
 Well, I will explain. This man who is established in 
 your affections was promi.sed to you by the goddess in 
 a dream, and a moment after he was seen by you, 
 resembling Cupii.l without his flowery aiTOws. This 
 man, then, is the cause of your anguish, so that even 
 this bower of young sandal-trees, though cool in its very 
 nature, does not relieve the pain of your fever. 
 
 Mal-VYAVATi (to herself). 
 
 1 am found out by Chaturika. (Aloud.) Girl, well are 
 you named ChaturikA.* Why should I longer conceal 
 it from you? I will tell you all. 
 
 Girl. 
 
 lady ! it is as good as told already. Where is the 
 use of more talk? You have had enouLrh agitation. 
 Do not further e.\cite yourself. As sure as my name is 
 Chaturika, he too Avill not enjoy a moment of happiness 
 until he has again scon you. I have found out this too. 
 
 * Chatui;k;i. from chntitra, clever, expert.
 
 24 THE XAGANAXDA. 
 
 Malayavati (ivilh tears). 
 AMience should I obtain so great bliss ? 
 
 G II 111. 
 
 Say not so. How can he be happy when even VLsh/zu 
 has no happiness without Lakslinn on his bosom. 
 
 ]\LVLAYAVATf. 
 
 Can a friend say anything but what is kind? But it 
 makes my passion distress me more, when I think how 
 I did not honour the noble hero with a single word, so 
 that he will say to himself, " That awkward girl is 
 wanting in respectful behaviour." {She icee^s.) 
 
 Girl. 
 
 lady, do not give way ! (To herself.) Yet how 
 should she not weep, since the great passion of her heai-t 
 distresses her more and more 1 What then shall I now 
 do? I will place on her breast the juice of a sandal- 
 creeper spray. (Iliibuj and plncUiKj a t^ftrig of sandal, and 
 sgiieezinn out the juice, she places it on her breast. Aloud.) 
 O lady, do I not say, " Weep not ? " Even this sandal- 
 juice, notA^ithstanding its nature, does not relieve thy 
 breast, since it is rendered warm by these tear-drops 
 falling unchecked, 
 
 [TaJ:cs a plantain leaf and fans her. 
 
 ^Malayavati (chcds h r with a hnuT). 
 
 Do not fixn me. Even the wind of the plantain Itaf 
 is warm.
 
 the nagananda. 25 
 
 Girl. 
 
 Do not impute the fault to it. It is you who make 
 warm this wind of the plantain leaf, which is cool 
 through its contact with the gathered sandal shoots, 
 changing its nature with your sighs. 
 
 Malay AVATi {ivith tears). 
 Is there any means of checking this fever ? 
 
 Girl. 
 There is indeed. If he would but now come. 
 
 Then enters the hero ivifh the YiDtSBAKA. 
 
 JlMUTAVAlLlNA. 
 
 O Cupid, why are these purposeless arrows flung 
 against me, already so deeply wounded 1 Since I was 
 looked on by her, regardless of the Muni's presence, 
 when, as she turned, though but for a moment, she caused, 
 by the glance of her bright black eye, the trees of the 
 hermitage to appear flecked,* as though they had masses 
 of the skins of the dappled antelope gleaming suspended 
 from their bou<?hs. 
 
 'o' 
 
 VlDUSHAKA. 
 friend, Avhere now is all thy firmness gone 1 
 
 Ji.mltavahan.v, 
 Am I not firm beyond measure ? What ! have I not 
 passed through the nights, though radiant with the moon ? 
 
 * The Hindus imagined that light came from the eye, aud lighted 
 up any object gazed upon.
 
 26 THE NAGANANDA. 
 
 Do I not drink in the scent of the blue lotus ? and endure 
 the jasmine-scented evening Aviuds 1 Hear I not the 
 humming of the bees upon the lotus pond 1 That you 
 should tluis openly taunt me, saying, " He is wanting in 
 firmness in difficulties." {After considering.) Or rather, 
 it was not so wrongly said, my friend Atreya, for am I 
 not really wanting in firmness, since I cannot bear even 
 flowery arrows, shot by a bodiless archer, woman-hearted 
 that I am ! How then can I say to you, " I am firm 1 " 
 
 ViDuSHAKA {to him.<elf). 
 Since he confesses his want of firmness, he reveals how 
 excessively troubled his heart must be. How shall I 
 divert iti {Aloud.) friend, how is it that, neglecting 
 your parents, you have again come hither already ? 
 
 JbruTAVAHANA. 
 
 It is a suitable question. To whom should I tell it, 
 if not to you ? This very day I had a dream. I saw 
 you loved one — {pointing icith a finger) — seated on u 
 moonstone seat in this sandal-creeper bower, in tears, as 
 if reproaching me in some love quarrel. I wish, there- 
 fore, to spend the remainder of the day in this sandal- 
 creeper bower, made pleasant by the late presence of the 
 loved one, as seen in my dream. Come, then, we will 
 
 go- 
 
 [They iraU: ahout. 
 
 Girl {(ifter listening in tre})idalion). 
 O lady, there is a noise like footsteps.
 
 THE KAGAN'AND.'L 27 
 
 Malayavati (lonUng at herself, with agitation). 
 Do not let any one, by seeing the state that I am in, 
 suspect the secret of my heart. Rise then. We will 
 conceal ourselves in this red asoka tree, and just see who 
 
 it is. 
 
 {They do so. 
 
 ViDUSHAlLV. 
 Here is the sandal- creeper bower. So come along. 
 We will enter. 
 
 [Theij enter. 
 
 JiMCTAVaHANA. 
 
 Even this sandal-creeper l>ower with its moonstone 
 seat delights me not, abandoned as it is by the moon- 
 faced one, Hke the face of night without its moonlight. 
 
 Girl (having peeped). 
 Lady, I give you joy. Is not this the very person 
 on whom your heart is set ? 
 
 Malayavati {viihjoij and agitation, after looking). 
 girl, now that I have seen him, through my extreme 
 agitation I cannot remain here so near him. Suppose 
 he should see us ! Come, we will go elsewhere. (After 
 going one sltp, hnginghi.) How my feet tremble ! 
 
 Girl (n-ili'- a ^milr). 
 timid one! who can see you tx-i you stand here? 
 Do you forget the red asoka tree \ Let us then sit down, 
 
 and remain here. 
 
 [They do so.
 
 28 THE NAGAXANDA. 
 
 YlDusHAKA {lookinrj about). 
 Here, my friend, is that very moonstone seat. 
 
 [Rero sighs icith tears. 
 Girl. 
 
 la<ly, I think their talk is about a dream. Let us 
 listen then attentivel}'. 
 
 \_Tlie]j both listen. 
 
 ViDL'SHAKA {touching him with his hand). 
 
 My friend, do I not say, " Here is that moonstone 
 seat 1 " 
 
 JiMutavaHAXA {sighing, with a tear). 
 It is well guessed. {Pointing to it v:ith his hand.) 
 This is that very moonstone seat on which I saw the 
 loved one ; her pale face reclined upon her left shoot- 
 like hand, and her breast heaving with deep sobs. "When 
 I delayed to soothe her, her fit of anger passed away ; 
 and her sliglitly-quivering lip and burst of tears betrayed 
 the real state of her feelings. We will sit therefore on 
 this moonstone seat. 
 
 [Theg both sit doicn. 
 
 ]Malayavati {('ftcr considering). 
 Who now can she be whom he thus talks about ? 
 
 Girl. 
 
 Just as we unobserved are looking at him, so I hope 
 you too have not been seen by him. 
 
 Malayavati, 
 It is possible. But then again, he is talking fondly 
 about some one with whom he had a love quarrel.
 
 the nagan'axda. 29 
 
 Girl, 
 
 Lady, do not have such a suspicion, but let us listen 
 further.- 
 
 ViDuSHAKA {to himself). 
 This sort of talk pleases hira, so I "w-ill continue it, 
 (Aloud.) Friend, how then -vvas this weeping one ad- 
 dressed by you ? ~ 
 
 Jljiutavahana. 
 
 She was thus addressed : " This moonstone seat, mois- 
 tened with the water of tears, seems us if oozing with 
 dew from the rising of thy moonface," 
 
 Malayavati [angrilij). 
 
 Chaturikd ! wliat more than this need we hear ? 
 Come, then, we will go. 
 
 Girl (taUnrj her hy ih.e hand). 
 Lady, say not so. It is you alone Avhom he saw in his 
 dream. His glance, resting on another, would find no 
 pleasure. 
 
 Malayavati. 
 My heart is not com-inccd. So we will just wait until 
 the end of this conversation. 
 
 Ji^IUTAVAlIAXA. 
 
 1 know Avhat I will do. I will -iraw lier on this stone 
 seat, and amuse myself b}" looking on her picture. Go, 
 then, and fetch me souie pieces uf red arsenic irom tlic 
 muiUiLain side.
 
 30 THE NAGAXANDA. 
 
 ViDUSILAJvA. 
 
 Whatever your highness orders. {Walhnrj about, he 
 picks vp something, and returns to him.) You asked for 
 one colour ; but I have brought you some pieces from 
 which you may easily get the five colours.* Let your 
 hishness draw. 
 
 [Gives him something. 
 
 'o' 
 
 JlMLTAVillAXA. 
 Well done, my friend. (He takes it and droics upon the 
 stone, v:ith rapture.) See, my friend, even the sight of 
 this first outline of the beloved face gladdens me, as a 
 digit of the new moon, — that face which is a very feast 
 to the eyes, beautiful as its full unimpaired disc. 
 
 \He continues draicing. 
 
 ViDuSH-AJvA (looking on ivith curiosifij). 
 
 Though she is not in sight, her very form is depicted. 
 Well, it is marvellous. 
 
 JimutavaHANA (ivith a smile). 
 O friend ! the beloved is in my presence, brought be- 
 fore me by my wishes. If, as I continually see her, I 
 draw her, where is the marvel 1 
 
 ]\LA.LAYAVATi (u'ith tears). 
 
 Chaturikd ! I knoAv well the end of this discourse. 
 Come, then, we will go and look for Mitravasu. 
 
 • The Jive colours. — The St Petersburg Dictionaiy, under "vania/' 
 gives a reference for these five colours to KKty;lvana's S'rauta-sut^^ 
 xxii. 9, 13, where they are described as — blue, yellow, red, brown, 
 aud variegated (?).
 
 THE NAGANANDA, 31 
 
 Girl {ivith despair, to herself). 
 
 Her impatience is regardless even of her very life. 
 {Aloud.) lady ! has not Manoliarika gone to him? 
 Perhaps, then, your brother MitrAvasu is on his way 
 here. 
 
 Then enters Mitravasu. 
 
 Mitravasu. 
 
 I am thus bidden by my father, " My child ]\Iitr^- 
 vasu, this Jlmutavi'diana, by living so near us, has been 
 well observed ; therefore he is a suitable son-in-law. 
 Let, then, our child Alalayavati be given to him." As 
 for myself, through my dependence on her affection, I 
 suffer a variable state of feeling ; fur, on the one hand, 
 this young man is the ornament of the race of Vidya- 
 dhara kings, is clever, approved by the good, unrivalled 
 in beauty, endowed with valour, is wise and modest ; 
 but, on the other hand, he would readily give up his 
 life, through pity, on behalf of any li\-ing creature. 
 Thus, when yielding up my peerless sister to such an one, 
 I feel both satisfaction and sorrow. I have heard that 
 Jimutavahana is in the sandal-creeper bower, adjoining 
 the grove of Gauri. This is that bower, so I will enter. 
 — ' [Erders. 
 
 VlDuSIlAKA [seeing him, ivith excitement). 
 
 friend ! cover over with this plantain leaf, that girl 
 you have just drawn in the picture. Here, surely, is 
 Mitrdvasu, the young prince of the Siddhas, just arrived. 
 Perhaps he will see it. 
 
 \The hero covers it with the plantain haf.
 
 32 THE NAQANANDA. 
 
 Mitravasu {entering). 
 Prince, Mitrdvasu bows to you. 
 
 JljujtavaHANA {looking at Jiim). 
 . Welcome to Mitravasu. Take a seat here. 
 
 Girl. 
 
 lady ! your brother, Mitrdvasu, has arrived. 
 
 Malayavati. 
 
 1 am well pleased to hear it. 
 
 JblUTAVAHANA. 
 
 Mitravasu ! is Visvavasu, the king of the Siddhas, 
 well? 
 
 jNIitravasu. 
 
 He is well. By the command of my father I am come 
 into your presence. 
 
 Ji.MUTAVAlLVNA. 
 
 What says his Highness 1 
 
 MALxVYAVATI, 
 
 1 will just hear what salutation has been sent by my 
 fiither. 
 
 ^Mitravasu {idth tears). 
 
 My father says, " I have a daughter, by name^Malaya- 
 vati, who is, so to speak, the very life of all this race of 
 Siddlia-nijas. She is presented by me to thee. Let her 
 be accepted."
 
 THE XAGANANDA. 33 
 
 Girl (smiling). 
 lady ! why are you not angry now ? 
 
 MaL-VYAVATi (ii-ith a hlush and smilinfj, standinj vsith 
 face lent down). 
 
 Do not laugh, girl. Have you forgotten that his 
 heart is set on another ? 
 
 JlMuTAVAHANA (aside). 
 My friend, we are fallen into a difficulty. 
 
 ViDUSHAKA (aside). , 
 
 Ah ! I perceive. With the exception of ha; your 
 mind is not satisfied with any other. Let him, then, be 
 dismissed with some civil speech or other. 
 
 jMai^VYAVATi (anrjrihj, to herself). 
 Cruel one, who does not know what this means ] 
 
 Ji.AruTAVAlIANA. 
 
 Who in the world would not desire so honourable an 
 alliance as that with your Highness ? But a mind set 
 in one direction cannot be readily turned in another. 
 So that I cannot accept her. 
 
 [Heroine faints. 
 GlEL. 
 Revive, my lady. 
 
 ViDu.snAK.i (to Mitrdvam). 
 
 Since he is altogether dependent on others, what is 
 the use of questioning him? Go, then, to his parents 
 and ask them. 
 
 c
 
 34 THE NAGAXAXDA. 
 
 MitraVASU {to himself). 
 It is well said. He will not disobey his parents. 
 His father dwells here in the precinct of Gauri. So I 
 will go there, and cause IMalayavati to be accepted for 
 him by his father. 
 
 \The heroine comes to herself. 
 
 j\IitraVASU. 
 
 Assuredly the prince knows best, who has refused us 
 after we have opened our hearts. 
 
 .Malaya VATi [lav/jhing angrily). 
 
 How ! Mitravasu still talks with him, thoucrh 
 humbled by rejection ! 
 
 {Exit Mitravasu. 
 
 Malayavati {to herself, looUmj at herself iciih fears).   
 What is the use of still supporting this body of mine, 
 defiled by ill-fortune, filled Avith excessive woe ! I will 
 hang myself to yonder Asoka tree with this Atimukta 
 creeper, and so put an end to my life. So it shall be. 
 {Aland, ivilh a meaningless smile.) Girl, just see whether 
 Mitravasu has gone or not, so that I, too, may depart. 
 
 Girl 
 
 {having gone a fcv slej''-^, and looling lad': to herself). 
 
 I see that she has some intention different to her 
 words ; so I will not go, but, concealed here, will see 
 what she intends to do. 
 
 ]\lALAYAVATi 
 
 {looking all round, and taling the noose, with tears). 
 revered Gauri ! since your promise has not been
 
 THE NAGANANDA. 35 
 
 fulfilled in this world, you -vvill contrive that I be not 
 equally full of sorrow in another state of existence. 
 
 [So speaking, she ])laces the noose on her neck. 
 
 Girl (running up with agitation). 
 
 Help, your highness, help ! Here is the princess 
 trying to destroy herself by hanging. 
 
 JiJ\iuTAVAiiA:s'A {I'ushing up with excitement). 
 Where 1 AMiere is she 1 
 
 Girl. 
 Here, in this Asoka tree. 
 
 JLaiutavailvn.a [loohing joyfuUij). 
 
 This is the very object of my passion. 
 
 [He talcs the heroine hj the hand, and casts aside 
 the noose. 
 
 Jimutavahana. 
 
 Assuredly no such attempt should be made. O lovely 
 one ! remove from the creeper this hand, wliich vies with 
 it in beauty. H<nv could that hand, which I do not 
 consider strong enough even to gather tiowers, grasp a 
 noose to hang yourself with ? 
 
 Mal-VYAVati {icitli arjitation). 
 
 Girl, who is this ? (Looking at him angriJij, she wislies 
 
 to cast off hi:! hand.) Loose me, let go my hand. "Who 
 
 are you to stop me ? What ! must you be sued even in 
 death ?
 
 36 TUE nagananda. 
 
 JtllUTAVAlIANA. 
 
 How should I release your guilty hand, which was 
 caught in the very act of placing a noose on a neck fit 
 only for strings of pearls ? 
 
 VmusHAKA. 
 
 What could have been the cause of this determination 
 of hers to die 1 
 
 Girl. 
 Was it not this friend of yours 1 
 
 JiMUTAViHANA. 
 
 How ! / the cause of her death ? I do not under- 
 stand. 
 
 VIDUSHAKA. 
 lady ! how do you mean ] 
 
 Girl {mranhvjhj). 
 
 It was that loved one, whoever she is, that was painted 
 by your friend on the stone. My mistress took this 
 determination in a fit of despair, sajing to herself, 
 " Through his devotion to that woman, I am not ac- 
 cepted, even when offered to him by Mitravasu." 
 
 Jimutavahana {joijfulhj, to himself). 
 How, then ! This is that ^Malayavati, daughter of 
 Yisvavasu ! Yet, except from the ocean, how could 
 there be the birth of a digit of the moon ? * Ah ! How 
 I have been taken in by her ! 
 
 * The moon is fabled to have been produced from the ocean 
 when it was churned by th'; gods for ambrosia.
 
 THE NAGANANDA. 37 
 
 YiDUSHAKA. 
 
 lady ! if this be so, my friend here is blameless. If 
 you do not believe me, however, go yourself and look 
 on the surface of the stone. 
 
 [The heroine, icilh joy and modesty, looUng at the 
 hero, draxos away her hand. 
 
 Jimutavahana {with a smile). 
 
 1 will not release it, until you have seen the object of 
 my passion, drawn on the stone. 
 
 [All icalk about. 
 
 YiDUSHAKA {having taken off the plant ain leaf). 
 
 lady ! look. Behold the individual his heart is 
 set on. 
 
 JNIalayayati {having loohed at it^ aside, srailing). 
 
 Chaturika! it is as if my very self were drawn 
 there. 
 
 Girl {looUng at tlie incture and at the heroine). 
 
 lady ! wliy do you siiy, " It is as if myself were • 
 drawn there"? So exact is the likeness, that I do not 
 know whetlier it is a roflectiou of you cast on the stone, 
 or a drawintr. 
 
 O' 
 
 j\lAL.VY.A.VATi {with a smile). 
 
 Girl, I am put to shame by liim, sho\nng me drawn 
 in a picture. 

 
 38 THE NAG An AND A. 
 
 ViDUSKAKA. 
 
 Your Gdndharva marriage* is now complete, so you 
 may release her hand. Here comes some one in great 
 haste. 
 
 [The hero releases her. 
 
 {Then enters a Servant Girl.) 
 Servant Girl {jo'fulhj). 
 
 lady ! good luck to you. You are accepted by the 
 parents of Jimutavcihana. 
 
 ViDiJsHAKA {dancing about). 
 
 He ! he ! The desires of my friend are fulfilled, or 
 rather, I should say, of her highness ]\Ialayavati ; or 
 still better, not so much of either of these, as Ojesticulat- 
 ing eating) of me, the Brahman. 
 
 Servant Girl {addressing M.vlayavati). 
 
 1 am bidden by the young king Mitravasu, " This is 
 the marriage day of jNIalayavati ; go therefore quickly, 
 and fetch her." Come, then, let us go. 
 
 VlDUSHAILV. 
 
 daughter of a slave, hovr can my friend remain here, 
 when you have taken her away 1 
 
 * A gandharva marriage is one of tL^e eight forms of marriage 
 mentioned by Manu, Book III. It is farmed by the parties them- 
 selves through mutual affection, witujut any previous family 
 
 arrangement.
 
 THE NAGANAVDA. 39 
 
 Servant Girl. 
 
 Desist, base one. Hasten, hasten. It is full time for 
 your bath. 
 
 [The heroine, looking affeci'wnafehj and icith modesfij 
 at the hero, goes out vjiili her attendants. 
 
 Herald {reciting hehind the scenes). 
 
 Lending to Mount Malaya a splendour like that of 
 Meru, by reason of the showers of scented powder, — and 
 all at once having the beauty of the mild sunshine of 
 early dawn, through the red-lead dust, — the Siddha-world 
 announces, by the songs of nymphs, rendered delightful 
 by the sounding of their jingling anklets of red gems, 
 that tbe time for your marriage bathing has arrived, 
 which brings completion of your wishes. 
 
 ViDuSHAKA {after hearing this). 
 friend ! the time for bathing has come opportunely, 
 
 Jimijtavahaxa {joufidhj). 
 
 If so, why do we stop here ? Come on. We will 
 salute my father, and go to the bath. 
 
 [Exeunt uranes. 
 
 END OF SKCOXD ACT OK THE XACANANDA.
 
 40 THE XaGaKAXDA- 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 Then enters intoxkafed, his garments tumbled and stained, 
 tcith a cup in his hand, a Parasite, and a Sl^v\'E, 
 carryinrj a vessel of v:ine on his shrnild^r. 
 
 Parasite. 
 These are the only two gods for me — the one who is 
 always drinking, and the one who brings lovers together 
 — Baladeva* and Kama- deva. {Reels about.) Assuredly 
 the life of me, S'ekharaka, is very prosperous, since in 
 my bosom is a loved lady, in my mouth lotus-scented 
 wine, and on my head a garland, like a perpetual 
 minister to my wants. (Stumbles.) Halloa ! "VMio is 
 pushing against me now? (/7'7//i jot/.)' Assuredly 
 ^v^avamalika makes game of me. 
 
 Slave. 
 She is not yet come, sir. 
 
 Parasete {angrily). 
 
 The marriage of iMalayavati took place in the first 
 watch ; how, then, is she not come yet, though it is 
 morning ] {Thinking for a time, with ji'y.) I suppose 
 that at the marriage feast all the Siddha and Vidyadhara 
 people, with their friends and acquaintances, are enjoy- 
 mz the delidit of drinking in the tiower-crarden ; so 
 tliat there Navamiiliku will be looking out f.-r me. So 
 
 * Balaileva, the eMer brother of Knshna, celebrated ioT his 
 drinking exploits ; a sort of Bacchus.
 
 THE XAGANANDA. 41 
 
 I will now go there. AYbat is S'ekharaka without 
 NavamdlikA ? * 
 
 [Re lejlns to go out, stajgering. 
 
 Slave, " 
 
 Come along, sir. Here is the flower-gai-den. Be 
 pleased to enter. 
 
 Then enters the Yidusil\ka, kWi a pair of garments 
 on his shoulder. 
 
 ViDUSHAKA. 
 
 The desires of my dear friend are fulfilled. I am told 
 that he is on his way to the fluwer-garden. So I will 
 now go there. (JFalk'tng oiul looUng about.) Here is the 
 flower-garden. I will enter. {After entering, gesticulat- 
 ing as if annoyed by bees.) Halloa ! AVhy now do these 
 odious bees attack me '? (Smelling himself.) Ah! I see 
 how it is. I have been respectfully decked with per- 
 fumes by the relations of Malayavati, as the bride- 
 groom's friend, and a garland of Santana flowers has 
 been placed upon my head, and now that very respect 
 has become a cause of annoyance. What shall I do 1 
 Having dressed myself as a woman with these pieces of 
 red cloth, which I have brought from jMalayavati, I will 
 go on, using the upper garment as a veil. We Avill seii 
 what these villauous bcc- will then do. 
 
 [He does so. 
 
 Parasite {i>U':rring him, joyfully). 
 
 Halloa ! slave. {Poiaiii^g laughingly icith hi.i fngcr.) 
 
 * Both these names are signiiicant. Sukharaka properly means 
 a garland, and NavauiiUika iLe uouble-ja.^mine.
 
 42 THE NAGAXANDA. 
 
 Here is surely NavamdlikA. She has seen me, and, in 
 a rage at my long delay, puts on her veil and turns 
 away. So I will appease her with caresses. 
 
 [Going up, with a lavgh, and embracing the YiDusiLVKA, 
 he tries to put some heftl nut in his mouth. 
 
 ViDuSHAKA {perceiving the smtU of v:ine, holds his nose, 
 and turns awa>j las face). 
 
 How now 1 Having but just escaped the attack of 
 bees of one sort, I am assailed by an odious bee of a 
 different nature.* 
 
 Parasite. 
 "WTiy do you turn away your face in anger ? {Prostrat- 
 ing himself, and plnch>g the Vidushaka'S foot on his head.) 
 Be appeased, Navamalikd ! 
 
 Then enters a Servant Girl. 
 
 Girl. 
 I am bidden by the queen — " NavamAlika, go to the 
 flower-garden, and say to the keeper, Pallavika, ' To-day, 
 prepare the tamdla-bower Avith especial care, for the 
 bridegroom and INIalayavati are going thither.' " I have 
 given the message to Pallavika ; and I will now seek my 
 dear friend, S'ekharaka, whose passion will be increased 
 by my night's absence. {S>cing him.) Here he is. 
 {Angrily.) How now ! He is courting some other 
 woman ! I will just stop, and find out who she is. 
 
 * A pun on the word " madhukara," whicli means both a " bee" 
 and a "lover."'
 
 THE NAGANANTJA. 43 
 
 Parasite {joyfully). 
 He who, through excessive pride, bows not to S'iva, 
 Vishwu, or Brahma, that same S'ekharaka falls at thy 
 feet, NavamAUkd. 
 
 Vidl'shaka. 
 Oh drunken wretch, there is no Navamdlikd here. 
 
 Girl {looking, iclth a smile). 
 S'ekharaka, overcome with wine, is soothing his 
 reverence Xtreya in mistake for me. I will put on a 
 pretence of anger, and have a game with them. 
 
 Slave {having seen the Servant Girl, shaking S'ek- 
 haraka r.ilh his hand). 
 Sir, let her go. It is not NavamAlika. Here is 
 NavamaUkd, just come, and looking on, with eyes lit up 
 with anger. 
 
 Girl {going itj)). 
 Well, S'ekharaka, whom are you courting here ? 
 
 VlDi^SiiAKA {J 'f ting the veil drop). 
 O lady, it is only I, an ill-fated Brahman. 
 
 Parasite {recngni.iing the YiDuSlIAKA). 
 Halloa ! You tawny monkey, would you too deceive 
 S'ekharaka ? Come, slave, take hold of him, whilst I 
 soothe Navamdlika. 
 
 Slave. 
 "Whatever my master orders.
 
 44 THE NaGAXAXDA. 
 
 Parasite {letting go the Vidushaka, and falling at the 
 fed of the Servant Girl). 
 Be be appeased, appeased, Xavamdlikd ! 
 
 ViDusHAiL.! {tn himself). 
 This seems a good opportunity to make off. 
 
 [^Tries to get aicay. 
 
 Sl.A-VE {gras])tng the VlDuSHAKA hj his Brahmanical cord, 
 which is broken in the struggle). 
 
 Where are you off to, you tawny monkey ? 
 
 [Binding him round the neck hg the upper 
 garment, he drags him along. 
 
 Vidushaka. 
 lady, Xavamalika, be appeased. jMake him release 
 me. 
 
 Girl. 
 
 If you fall at my feet, with your head on the ground. 
 
 [She laughs. 
 
 ViDuSHLVKA {mlh anger, and trembling). 
 Alas ! How can T, who am a Brahman, and friend of 
 the kin£c of the Gandharvas, fall at the feet of the 
 dauGfhter of a slave ? 
 
 -•o 
 
 GiRL {shaldng her f.nger at him, and smiling). 
 I will compel you to bow piesently. — Get up, S'ek- 
 haraka, get up. I am satisfied. (She emlraces him.) 
 But here the dear friend of the bridegroom has been
 
 THE NAGAS'AKDA. 45 
 
 insulted by you, and I daresay your master, ^Mitravasu, 
 will be angry on hearing of it. So you had better pay 
 respect to him. 
 
 Parasite. 
 
 Whatsoever XavamAlika orders. {After emhracing the 
 ViDuSHAKA.) sir, you were joked with by me, think- 
 ing you were one of my relations. [Redinrj about.) Am 
 I really S'ekharaka ? Has any joke really been made ? 
 {Making his npi)er garment into a hiindle, he. offers it as a 
 seat.) Let my relation take a seat here, 
 
 ViDuSHAKA {to himself). 
 
 Thank goodness ! he has passed the violent stage of 
 his drunkenness. 
 
 [He sits down. 
 
 Parasite. 
 Navamalikd, do you take a seat at his side, so that 
 1 may pay my respects to you both at once. 
 
 [Servant Girl, with a laugh, sits down. 
 
 Parasite {taling vj} the drinking-ciq'). 
 
 Slave, fill this to the brim with wine. 
 
 [Slave gesticuhdes the filling of the cup. 
 
 Parasite {tal-ing some fmvcrs from the garland on his head, 
 puts them info the cup, and tntcling on hoik knees, pre- 
 sents it to Navamalika). 
 
 NavaraAlika, taste it. aiul pass it to him.
 
 46 THE nAgananda. 
 
 Girl {wilh a smile). 
 
 Whatever you "vnsh. 
 
 [Tastes, and gives it hack. 
 
 Parasite 
 {presenting the cnj) to the Yidcshaka). 
 
 This cup, with its contents specially flavoured by con- 
 tact with the lips of NavamdlikA, has never before been 
 tasted, except by S'elcharaka. Drink, therefore. What 
 greater honour could I show you 1 
 
 ViduSHAKa (tvith a very forced smile). 
 O S'ekharaka, I am a Brahman. 
 
 Parasite. 
 If so, where is your ninefold thread ? * " 
 
 ViDUSHAIwY. 
 
 It was dragged and broken by that slave. 
 
 Girl {Janghinghi). 
 Recite to us, then, some verses of the Vedas. 
 
 VlDUSHAK^V. 
 
 O lady, what have the smell of ^nne and verses of the 
 Yedas in common 1 1 However, I have no wish to argue 
 with you. The Brahman falls at your feet. 
 
 [Qlftrs to fall at her feel. 
 
 * See Mann II. 44, Comm. 
 
 t In Maim IV. 3, a priest is forbidden to pronounce texts of the 
 Veda, " a.^ long as the scent and iiuctuusiiy of perfumes remain on 
 hid body" after an eutertaiument.
 
 THE NAGANANDA. 47 
 
 Girl (checking him icith loth hands). 
 Your reverence must not do so. O S'ekharaka, get 
 away, get away ; he is really a Brahman,* {She falls at 
 the feet of the Vidushaka.) sir, do not nurse your 
 wrath. This was only a piece of friendly joking. 
 
 Parasite {to himself). 
 I too had better appease him. {Falling at his feet, 
 aloud.) Let your reverence forgive me for having 
 offended under the influence of wine. I will now go 
 with Navamalikd to the drinkinfr-booth. 
 
 Vidushaka. 
 I forgive you. Be off, both of you. I too will go 
 and see my dear patron. 
 
 [Exeunt Parasite, u-ilh Slave, and 
 Serva_nt Girl. 
 
 Vidushaka. 
 The untimely death of a Brahman has been averted. 
 But since I am defiled by contact with this drunken 
 youth, I will just bathe in this tank. {He does so. 
 Looking ioioards the tiring-room.) Here comes my dear 
 friend, supporting Malayavati, like Krishna supporting 
 Rukmini.f I will go and attend upon them. 
 
 Then enters the hero, dressed in marriage garments, uifh 
 Malayavati, and a suitahlc retinae. 
 
 JiMUTAVAlLVXA 
 
 {looking, v:Hh ruiAare, at ^Ialayavati). 
 
 When looked upon, she casts down her eyej when 
 
 • See Manu XL 206. 
 
 t Riikmini wai the chief wife of Krishna. See Prem Sagar, 
 ch. Ixiiiii.
 
 48 THE NAGA.VANDA. 
 
 addressed, she makes no reply ; on the couch, she remains 
 turned away ; ■when excessively embraced, she trembles ; 
 when her friends leave the room, she too wishes to go 
 out : through the very perversity of her behaviour my 
 newly-married love is still more to my liking. {Looldng 
 at jMalayavati.) beloved Malay avati, a vow of 
 silence was kept by me, though accustomed to answer 
 in haughty tones ; this body of mine was bathed in the 
 rays of the sun and moon, and in the flames of forest 
 fires ; and I was rapt in total abstraction of mind for 
 many days and nights. Surely the fruit of all that 
 penance is, that I now behold this face of thine. 
 
 Malaya VATf (aside). 
 
 O Chaturikd, he is not only pleasant to the eye, but 
 he knows also how to speak in a flattering manner. 
 
 Girl {smUing). 
 
 You might say so, if he wa$ flattering. But where is 
 the flattery in this ? 
 
 JlilUTAVAHANA. 
 ChaturikA, point out the path to the flower-garden. 
 
 Girl. 
 This way, my lord. 
 
 Jimutavahana 
 {ivalh'mg about, addressing the heroine). 
 Let your ladyship come just as you are. The weight 
 of your breasts themselves tends to weary you ; "svhy,
 
 THE NAGANANDA. 49 
 
 then place a pearl ornament on your waist 1 The 
 weight of your hips is wearisome, — much more this 
 girdle ! There is hardly suflScient power in your feet to 
 carry your limbs, far less your anklets ! Your limbs 
 being so lovely, why should you wear ornaments that 
 only tend to weary you ? 
 
 Girl. 
 Here is the flower-garden. Be pleased to enter. 
 
 [All enter. 
 
 Jimutavahana {loohlng round). 
 
 Well, truly the beauty of the flower-garden is great ! 
 Here the droppings from the sandal-trees cool the 
 creeper-bower with its tesselated pavement. The pea- 
 cock dances yet more wildly to the shrill sound of the 
 shower-baths. The cascade, brown with the pollen of 
 flowers, shaken from the trees by the impetuous foam, 
 falls with a rush from the machine, and fills the basins 
 at the foot of the trees. Again, these bees, making the 
 creeper-bower resound with their attempts at song, 
 as they drink in abundant honey, in company with 
 their wives, covered with a perfumed dust by the 
 pollen of flowers, seem to enjoy on every side a drinking 
 festival. 
 
 [ViDi;siiAK.\ comes v^). 
 
 ViDUSIIAI'LV. 
 
 Victory to your highness ! "Welcome to your ladyship ! 
 Ji.MUTAVAHANA. 
 
 friend ! you have been very long in coming. 
 
 D
 
 50 THE NAGANANDA. 
 
 VlDljSnAKA. 
 
 I am come as soon as I could. But I delayed so long 
 ■walking about, tlirough curiosity to see the drinking of 
 the Vidyddharas and Siddhas, intermingled at the mar- 
 riage feast. Do you, too, just take a look at them. 
 
 Jil^IUTAA'.vHANA. 
 "We will do as you say. {Looking on all sides.) Friend, 
 see, see ! Their limbs anointed with yellow sandal, and 
 wearing wreaths of Santdna flowers, with their bright 
 garments variegated by the mixture of rays from their 
 jewelled ornaments, these Vidyddharas and Siddhas, in- 
 termingled beneath the shade of the sandal-trees, drink 
 the nectar, just tasted and left by their loved ones. 
 Come, we will go to the tamdla avenue. 
 
 [TFallcs about. 
 
 VIDUSHAKA. 
 
 - Here is the tamdla avenue. Her ladyship appears 
 fatigued with walking to it. Let us therefore sit down 
 on this crystal seat, and rest. 
 
 JiilUTAVAHANA. 
 
 Friend, it is well suggested. The face of my dear one, 
 after having worsted the moon by the pale beauty of its 
 cheeks, now surely wishes to surpass the lotus when 
 reddened by the sun's rays. [Taldivj the heroine hy the 
 hand.) Dear one, let us sit down. 
 
 Mai^vyavati, 
 "Whatever my husband bids me. 
 
 \_All sit down.
 
 THE NAGANANDA. 51 
 
 JblUTAVAHANA. 
 (raising the heroines face, and looking at it). 
 
 Dear one, to no purpose hast thou been wearied by 
 us, through our anxiety to see the flower garden, since 
 this face of tliine, resplendent with its creepers of eye- 
 brows and shoot-like pink lips, is a very garden of para- 
 dise. Compared with this, every garden is but a jungle. 
 
 Girl (addressing the Yidushaka, with a smile). 
 
 You have heard how he describes the princess. I will 
 now paint you. 
 
 Yidushaka (gladly). 
 
 O lady! I am alive again now. Pray, then, do me 
 the favour in your best style, that yon fello\7 may never 
 again call me a tawny monkey. 
 
 Girl. 
 
 Sir, you seemed lovely to me at the marriage Avatcli, 
 with your eyes shut through drowsiness. Therefore 
 stand like that for me to paint you. 
 
 [Vii>u.siiAKLV docs i>0. 
 
 Girl (to herself ). 
 
 Whilst he stands with his eyes shut, I vrill blacken his 
 face with the juice of a tamula shoot, which will do as 
 well as indigo. 
 
 [Ilising and sr^ucezing a tamdla shoot, 
 she llackcns his face.
 
 52 THE NAGAN-^^DA. 
 
 {The hero and heroine look at the Yidl^shaka.) 
 
 JiML^TAVAZLiNA. 
 
 Friend, you are in luck, being painted, with us for 
 spectators. 
 
 {Heroine laughs on seeing ViDiJsHAKA's face. 
 
 Jf mutavaHANA {loohiag in her face). 
 
 lovely-eyed one ! the springing of the blossom of a 
 smile is seen on your shoot-like lower lip, but the fruit 
 is seen elsewhere, namely, in the eyes of me as I gaze. 
 
 Vmi'SH.VKA. 
 
 Madam, what have you done ? * 
 
 Girl. , 
 
 "Why, are you not painted ? 
 
 VrOL^SHAKLA. (after rubbing his hand over his face and 
 looking at it, raising his staff). 
 
 O daughter of a slave ! the royal family are present. 
 "What shall I do to you 1 — Alas ! notwithstanding your 
 royal presence, I am blackened by this daughter of a 
 slave. How can I remain here ? I will be off. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Girl. 
 
 His reverence Atreya is vexed with me. I will go 
 and conciliate him. 
 
 M.\LAYAVATI. 
 
 ChaturikA ! whither do vou cro, lca\-incr me all alone ?
 
 THE nagananda. 53 
 
 Girl (pointing to the hero, and siniling). 
 May you be long in such solitude ! 
 
 [Exit 
 
 JisiutavaHANA (looking -in the face of heroine). 
 
 lovely one ! if this face of thine, with its pink flush 
 as it is lighted up by the sun's rays, and with its soft down 
 revealed by the spreading gleam of its teeth, is really a 
 lotus, why is not a bee seen drinking the honey from it?* 
 
 (Heroine, laughing, turns her face another icay.) 
 
 (Hero repeats the same sentence.) 
 
 Girl 
 (entering icith a h.irried toss of the curtain, and coming vj)). 
 Here is the noble ]\Iitrdvasu, desirous to see the prince 
 on some business. 
 
 Ji'mutayahana. 
 
 Dear one, do you go to the house. I too will soon 
 come, after I have seen ]\IitrAvasu. 
 
 [Exit heroine with servant girl. 
 
 Then enters ]\Iitravasi7. 
 
 jNIitravasu. 
 
 "Whilst that enemy is still unslain, ho^v can I without 
 a sense of sliaine say to Jiniutavdliana, "Your kingdom 
 is seized by an enemy?" Still, it is not right to go 
 without informing him. So I avUI tell him and then go. 
 prince ! ]Mitravasu salutes you. 
 
 * A polite way of askins for a kiss. See note on p. 42.
 
 54 THE NAGANA>T)A. 
 
 JiML^TAvilLVNA {on seeing MiTRiVASU). 
 
 Pray, be seated. 
 [MiTKAVASU takes a seat, keeping his eyes fixed on him. 
 
 Jimutavahana {looking stmdily at him). 
 Mitrdvasu ! you seem vexed. 
 
 MiTRAVASU. 
 
 AVlio would be put out by one so despicable as 
 Matanga 1 
 
 JfMUTAV.vHAXiV. 
 
 What has Matanga been doing ? 
 
 MiTRAVASU. 
 
 Assuredly to his ovnx destruction, he has attacked 
 your kingdom. 
 
 Jiml^tavahana {uith joy, to himself). 
 Oh ! would that it were true ! 
 
 MiTRAVASr. 
 
 Therefore let the prince deign to give orders for his 
 destruction. WTiat need of talking long about it ? As 
 soon as, at thy command, the Siddhas are gone hence to 
 battle, making the day dark by clouding the sun, as if it 
 were the rainy season, with their heaven-traversing chariots 
 crowding on every side, — your monarchy, whose zemin- 
 dars are temporarily bowing through fear of this haughty 
 enemy, will at once be regained. What need though of 
 great nmltitudesl By me, single-handed, shining with 
 an aureole of rays from the quickly-drawn sword, behold
 
 THE NAGANA.NDA. 55 
 
 the coward Matanga already slain on the battle-field, 
 like a mighty elephant by a lion which has sprung on 
 him from afar. 
 
 Jimutavahana {to himself, covering his ears). 
 
 Ah ! how cruelly he speaks ! However, let it pass. 
 (Aloud.) MitrAvasu ! what is all this 1 Even some- 
 thing more than this might be possible for you, with 
 such strong arms. But how should I, a man who through 
 pity, though unasked, would give up his own body for 
 the sake of anotlier, permit the cruelty of destroying life 
 for the sake of a kingdom 1 For my part, I can conceive 
 no enemy except the Klesas.* If, then, you would 
 please me, pity that poor wretch, who, for the sake of 
 kingly power, has become a slave to the Klesas. 
 
 Miteavasu {Uttedy). 
 One, forsooth, who has done so much good to us, and 
 is in such misfortune, is well worthy of pity ! 
 
 JiiVruTAVAiiAXA {to himself). 
 
 His wrath is not to be averted. His mind, swayed 
 by passion, cannot be turned aside. "Well, let it be. 
 {Aloud.) Itise, we will go in- doors. There I will advise 
 you. The day is now ended, — for yonder sun, the sole 
 object \v'ortliy of adulation, whose favour is solely for 
 
 * Klesas. — The klcgis are well known in BiuUlbist theology. 
 See Biirnouf, " Lotus de la bonne loi,*' App. II. Tliey are the tea 
 vices, thus divided: — Three of the body, murder, theft, adultery; 
 four of speech, lying, slander, abuse, unprofitable couver.satiun ; 
 three of the mind, covetousness, malice, scepticism. In the Yoga 
 philosophy there are five : ignorance, egotism, desire, hatred, tena- 
 city of exbteuce.
 
 56 THE NaGAN'ANDA. 
 
 the good of others, is loolced on by the Siddhas, TA-ith 
 their voices loud in continual praise, as he goes to rest, 
 having vivified the universe with his rays, whose sole 
 business is to fill the eight quarters with light, and to 
 keep off from the lotus buds the binding seal of sleep. 
 
 [Exeunt omnes. 
 
 BSD OF THE THIRD ACT. 
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 Then enter a Ch.v^iberlain carnjing tico red gai-ments, 
 ' and a Doorkeeper. 
 
 CH-\3rBERLAIN. 
 I, who issue commands for the seraglio, who watch 
 for trippings at every step, now, weak through old age, 
 make my resemblance to a king perfect by handhng a 
 »da72f/a."* 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 
 reverend Vasubhadra ! whither are you going 1 
 
 Cha^ieerlaix. 
 
 1 am bidden by the queen, the mother of Mitrdvasu : "0 
 chamberlain ! for ten days you should take red garments 
 to jMalayavati and my son-in-law." Now the daughter 
 is remainin? in her father-in-law's household, and Jimu- 
 tavahana is gone to-day with the young king to see the 
 
 * We have here a pun, as the word daH'?a-niti means both "pun- 
 ishment and policy " and "the handling of a staff."
 
 THE ^'AGANA^'DA. 57 
 
 sea-shore, as I have heard. Whether, then, shall I go 
 to the king's daughter or to the son-in-law 1 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 Sir, you had better go to the princess, for perhaps by 
 this time the son-in-law will have come there of liis own 
 accord. 
 
 Chamcerl.\in. 
 You advise well. But whither are you yourself now- 
 going? 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 I am commissioned by King Vi:^v<ivasu to go and tell 
 Mitrdvasu, "Since in this festival of 'Dipa-pratipad'* 
 some present should be given to Malay avati and the 
 bridegroom, therefore come and think of something 
 suitable to the occasion." 
 
 [Exeunt both. 
 
 Then enter JiMuTAVAHAXA and Mitravasu. 
 
 JlMUTAVinANA. 
 
 A green glade for a couch, a white stone for a seat, a 
 dwelling beneath the trees, the cool water of a cascade 
 for drink, roots for fooil, the deer for companions, — in 
 the forest which thus abounds in all that one could wish, 
 unsought, there is tliis one fault, that, through the ab- 
 sence of suppliants, we live there to no purpose, ha\'iiig 
 no oi^portunity of assisting others. 
 
 * " Dlpa-pratipad '" in^iy me.in the first day of the brigbt fortnig!;t, 
 or perhaps a festival correspoii'litig to the Feast of Lauterns.
 
 58 THE NAGANANDA. 
 
 MitraVASU (looking upicards). 
 Prince, hasten, hasten ! It is time for the flow of the 
 tide. 
 
 Jiml^tavaHANA {listening). 
 
 You are right. An ear-deafening noise arises, made' 
 by the repeated flappings of the ears of the sea-monsters 
 as they emerge, and causing the interiors of all the 
 mountain caves to re-echo. Here comes the tide, white 
 with the innumerable shells which it tosses on its waves. 
 
 MitraVASU. 
 
 It is indeed come. See ! this ocean tide is brilliant 
 with its many-coloured gems, and has its waters scented 
 by the eructations of the sea-monsters, who have fed on 
 the young shoots of the clove-trees.* 
 
 Jimutavahana. 
 
 Mitrdvasu ! see again. These slopes of Malaya have 
 all the splendour of the peaks of the snow mountains, 
 by reason of the veils of white autumnal clouds. 
 
 MitraVASU. , , 
 
 These are not the slopes of Malaya. These are heaps 
 of the bones of Ndgas. 
 
 JimctavaHANA {sorrowfully) . 
 
 Alas ! wherefore were they thus slain by wholesale 1 
 
 * Compare the passage in Indumiiti's Swayainvcara, Raghuvansa, 
 vi. 57, where Sunanda recommends the princess to choose the King 
 of Kalinga or Coromandel : " "Wander -with him on the banks of the 
 ocean, resonant with the murmurs of the palm groves, while the 
 summer heat is cooled by the breezes which bear the flowers of the 
 clove-tree, wafted from other lands."
 
 the nagana^^)a. 59 
 
 ]\Iitravasu. 
 They were not slain by wholesale. Just listen to this : 
 At this place Garu(?a* was in the habit of devouring 
 one snake daily, catching it up from hell, whilst the 
 whole contents of the ocean were cleft asunder from top 
 to bottom by the wind of his wings. 
 
 JiMuTAVAHANA (in a mournful tone). 
 Alas ! his deed was most cruel. And then 1 
 
 Mitravasu. 
 Then GarufZa was addressed by Vdsulci,t who feared 
 annihilation of the whole serpent race 
 
 JfiiL^TAVAHANA {with respcd). 
 Did he say, " Eat me first " ? . 
 
 No, no. 
 
 What then ? 
 
 Mitravasu. 
 
 JiMUTAVAHANA. 
 
 ]\Iitravastj. 
 This is what he said : " Through fear of your furious 
 descent, the embryos of the snakes are prematurt-ly born 
 by thousands, and the young ones perish; so that our 
 continuous line of descent is cut otT, and your own in- 
 terests are destroyed. Therefore tb.at snake, for the 
 
 * Garuf/a, son of Vinat;i and Kasyapa, is the king of birds, like 
 the fabled roc, and the ruthless enemy of the snakes or ^Ylgas. 
 t Vasuki is king of the Ndgas, and resides in the infernal re gions.
 
 60 THE NAGANAXDA. 
 
 sake of which you make your descent into hell, I "will 
 send to you daily to this place." 
 
 Ji3lUTAVAHANA. 
 
 How -well were the snakes defended by their king ! 
 Amidst his thousand double tongues was there not one 
 with which he could say, " Myself is given by me this 
 day to save the life of a snake." 
 
 Mitravasu. 
 This, then, was agreed to by the king of birds. So, 
 these conditions being thus settled by the king of the 
 NAgas, these are the heaps, white as the snow peaks, 
 from the bones of the snakes, which the king of birds 
 devours, and which have been increasing, do increase, 
 and will increase as days go by, 
 
 Jl':MuTAVAnANA. 
 
 "Wonderful ! Fools commit sin even for the sake of 
 a worthless body, which soon perishes, is ungrateful, 
 and is a store-house of all uncleanness. Well, this 
 destruction of the Ndgas will assuredly bring some 
 judgment. {To himself.) Would that, by giving up my 
 own body, I might save the life of a single Naga ! 
 
 TJien enters the Doorkeeper, 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 I have ascended the mountain peak and will now seek 
 Mitravasu. {IFulIdng uhoiiL) Here stands Mitrdv;isu 
 with the bridegroom, (Goinr/ iij).) ^lay the princes be 
 victorious !
 
 the nagananda. 61 
 
 :Mitravasu, 
 
 Sunanda, why are you come 1 ' (DoorJceeper whispers 
 in his ear.) prince, my father has sent for me. 
 
 JiMUTAVAHANA. 
 
 Go, then. 
 
 Mitravasu. 
 
 The prince should not stay too long in this ill-omened 
 
 region. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 JtSIlJ-TAVAHANA. 
 
 1 will descend from this mountain peak and look at 
 the sea-shore. {JFulks about.) 
 
 Behind the scenes. 
 Alas ! my darling son, S'aukhachutZa, how can I 
 endure to see thee slain to-day ? 
 
 JiMutavaHANA {after hearing this). 
 
 Ha ! a cry of distress as if from a woman ! "Who can 
 it be 1 of what is she afraid 1 I will try to know. 
 
 [fValJcs about. 
 
 Then enters S'ankiiachuzia, fuUou-cd by an Old "Wc^lvn, 
 
 crying, and a Serva>;t icitli, a pair of garments fur 
 one cample tchj rciled. 
 
 Old Wo.ALix (u-ith tears). 
 Alas ! my son, S'ankhachi'u/a, how can I endure to see 
 you slain this day? [Taking hold of his chin."'') Deprived 
 of this moonface. Hades will become midnight. 
 
 * The Nagas are generally represeuted in old sculptures as bear- 
 ing the human form, but with a snake attached to their backs and 
 the hooded head rinsing behiud their necks.
 
 62 THE NAGANANDA. 
 
 S'ANKHACHtfZJA. 
 
 mother, why do you harass me yet more by 
 weeping? 
 
 Old Wo^IAN {loolinj at him and stroking his limbs). 
 
 Alas ! my son ! how will pitiless Garu^a devour thy 
 beauteous body, that has never felt the sun's rays 1 
 
 [Embracing him, she wee^s. 
 
 S'ANKHACHU2?A. 
 Enough of lamentation. See here — since mortality 
 as the nurse first clasps the new-born child to its bosom, 
 and the mother comes onl}^ second — what room is there 
 for sorrow 1 
 
 [JFishes to depart. 
 
 Old "Woman. 
 
 son, stay for a moment whilst I look on your face. 
 
 Servant. 
 
 Come, Prince SankhachiWa, never mind her words. 
 Infatuated by affection for her son, she forgets the duty 
 to our kins. 
 
 S'.\NKHACnL^Z?A. 
 
 1 am coming. 
 
 Servant {to himself, looking in advance). 
 
 I have brought him to the rock of execution ; so I 
 will now give him the distinguishing badge of one con- 
 demned to death.
 
 THE NAGANAM)-L 63 
 
 JiMUTAVlHANA. 
 This must be the woman that I heard — {looking at 
 ^ankhachuda)—Cinil this must be her son. Why, then, 
 does she weep 1 (Looks on all sides.) I do not perceive 
 the very least cause for her fear. I will go near and 
 see whence her fear is. Their conversation relates 
 to it, perhaps from it I may get some explanation. I 
 will get inside a bush and listen. 
 
 Servant {rcilh tears, putlinj his hands torjdhcr). 
 
 Prince S'ankhachi'u/a, since it is the command of 
 my lord, this so cruel message must be delivered. 
 
 S'ANKHACIIUZ)A. 
 
 Say on. 
 
 Servant. 
 The king of the Ndgas orders 
 
 S'ANKHACnuZ)A. 
 {puttinrj his hands together to his head, resi^cdfdhj). 
 What does our lord order 1 
 
 Servant. 
 "Having put on this jtalr of red garments, mount 
 upon the rock of execution, that Gamt/a, on seeing the 
 red garments, may eat you." 
 
 Ji'mCtavaHANA {having overheard). 
 How ! Is he, then, abandoned by Vdsuki ]
 
 64 the nagaxanda. 
 
 Servant. 
 prince, take then this pair of garments. 
 
 [Presents them. 
 
 S'ankhachu/^a (respecffulhj). 
 
 Give them to me. (Takes them.) The mandate of our 
 lord is on my head. 
 
 Old "WOiLiN (liavhiQ seen the clothes in the hand of her son, 
 striking/ her breast). 
 
 Alas ! my child, this seems like a flash of lightning. 
 
 [Faints. 
 
 Serv.vxt. 
 
 The time for Guruc^a's approach is close at hand. I 
 ■will be off. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 S'ANKnACHUZ)A. 
 mother, recover thyself. 
 
 Old WolUN (coining to herself, tearfnlhj). 
 
 Alas ! my son, alas ! thou obtained by a hundred 
 vows ! Where shall I again behold tliee 1 
 
 [She clas])s him round the neck 
 
 Jimutavahana. 
 Alas ! the pitilessness of Garuf/a. I should think 
 that the heart of the lord of birds must be made of very 
 adamant, if, casting away all pity, he can eat this child 
 in his mothers lap, while she, distracted, utters vain 
 complaints, \vith tears streaming from her eyes, and,
 
 THE NAGAN'ANDA. 65 
 
 glancing in all directions, pitifully repeats — " My cliild, 
 ■vvho will deliver thee ? " 
 
 S'ankiiaciiuz'A {chcclinrj his own fears). 
 mother, where is the use of excessive grief? Do I 
 not keep saying, " Cheer up," " Cheer up?" 
 
 Old "\Vo3IAN (with tears). 
 How can I cheer up, seeing that thou, my son, my 
 only son, art banished l)y the compassionate king of the 
 Nagas ! Alas ? why in the universal world was mi/ son 
 thought of? I am utterly unfortunate. 
 
 [She faints. 
 Jim utavaitaxa {dole/ all ij). 
 If I do not protect this wTetched one, who is at the 
 very point of death, abandoned by his relations, then 
 what good is there in my body ? So I will go up to 
 them. s 
 
 S'axkhachu/pa. 
 
 mother, be comforted. 
 
 Old ■vyo:\LA.N. 
 Alas ! my son, when you are given up b}- Vdsuki, the 
 protector of the Niiga-world, who else wiU be your i)ro- 
 tector ? 
 
 JiMi;TA\'AirAXA {rj'nnrj vj)). 
 Shall not I? 
 
 Old Wojlvx (mi secini] him, having hid lier son icith her 
 vjjptr fjanncnt, gin.< vp t^j him and falls upon her knees). 
 O son of Vinata, destroy me. I am prepared for thy 
 
 food by the Naga king. 
 
 E
 
 QS THE NAGANAXDA. 
 
 JilluTAVAliANA (uith tears). 
 
 Alas ! the love of offspring ! I should think that after 
 seeing this sorrow of hers, arising from affection for her 
 son, even the enemy of the Nagas, whose heart is piti- 
 less, will feel pity. 
 
 S'.VXKHACHU27A. 
 
 O mother, away with your fear, this is not the enemy 
 of the Nagas. See the difference between this holy one, 
 whose appearance indicates a beauteous nature, and 
 Garuffa, with his fierce beak smeared with clots of blood, 
 which have dropped whilst he was piercing the brains of 
 the mighty Ndgas. 
 
 Old Wom-a>,'. 
 
 In truth, through fear of thy death, I regard this 
 whole world as Garurfa. 
 
 Ji.MUTAVAlIAXA. 
 
 mother, what need of saying it again and again 1 
 Will not I accomplish his deliverance ? 
 
 Old "VVo^ian (daspinff her hands on her heafi). 
 My son, live long ! 
 
 JimiJtavahaxa. 
 
 Mother, give me this distinguishing badge of a con- 
 demned one. I will put it on and offer to the son of 
 Vinatd, my own body as food, to save the life of thy son. 
 
 Old "Woman {stopping her ears). 
 God forbid ! Thou also art a son equally with Sank-
 
 THE nagAnanda. 67 
 
 hachut?a, or even more so than he, since thou -tvishest 
 to preserve my son by giving up thy own body, even 
 though he is deiierted by his own kinsfolk. 
 
 S'ANKHACHUZ)A. 
 How different from the world in general is the mind 
 of this magnanimous one ! For this good man, moved 
 by pity, gives up for the sake of another as though it 
 were but a straw, that life, for the sake of which, in 
 olden times, VisvAmitra* ate dog's flesh, like a dog- 
 cooker ; and Na'iija/?gha t was slain by Gautama, even 
 though he had done a kindness to him ; and this Garuf?a, 
 son of Kasyapa, daily eats Nagas. {Addressing the hero.) 
 magnanimous one, unfeigned compassion for me has 
 been fully shown by thee in the determination to give 
 up thyself ; but do not obstinately insist on it. Low- 
 born people like me are born and die ; but whence are 
 those produced like thee, who gird up their loins for the 
 sake of others'? What, then, is the use of this fixed 
 determination 1 Let this resolution be abandoned. 
 
 JLmutavahana. 
 S'ankhachuf/a, do not put any obstacle in the way 
 of this desire of mine of giving myself up for the sake 
 of another, which only now has got an opportunity of 
 accomplishment, after so long a time. Do not, then, 
 hesitate, but give me the distinctive badge of those 
 appointed to be slain. 
 
 * Compare Mann x. lOS, "And Visvdrnitra, who knew right 
 and wrong, resulved to eat a do-^'s thigh, takiug it from the hauJ 
 of a cha/irfala." 
 
 t For the story of XicHja/igha, see Mahab. xii. ?§ 170-172.
 
 68 THE XAGAXAN'DA. 
 
 S'AXKILVCIIUiOA. 
 
 magnanimous one, -^vlieru is the use of this fruitless 
 perseverance ? Xever will S'ankhachuJa sully the family 
 honour of S'ankhapala, which is white as a shell. If we 
 are indeed objects worthy of thy pity, then let some 
 expedient be devii-ed, so that this woman may not quit 
 life, overcome by my calamity. 
 
 Jimutayahan.l 
 What can possibly be devised '? She who dies in your 
 death and lives only in your life, — if you wish her to 
 live, save yourself by my life. This is the only remedy, 
 so give me quickly the badge of death, that, having 
 disguised myself in it, I may mount the execution rock. 
 And do you, thinking of your mother before all, retire 
 from your post. Probably your mother, if .she stood in 
 view of the place of execution, would abandon life. 
 Do you not see the great cemetery, filled with many 
 skeletons of the ill-fated Xagas 1 See here, rows upon 
 rows of the crests of the .slain Xagas, coated thick witli 
 oozing brains, splash as they fall from the jaws of the 
 jackalls into the stream of carrion-smelling gore, while 
 the scene is shrouded in awful darkness by the flapping 
 wings of the vultures, their greed increased by the 
 gobbets of raw flesh which fall mangled from their 
 chatterincr beaks ! 
 
 •"o 
 
 S'AXKHACni:z>A. 
 How should I not see '? This cemetery, which afTords 
 delight to Garu(/a, v.ith a snake for his daily food, is
 
 THE nagLvaxd.^ 69 
 
 like the body of S'iva, with its skulls and bones white 
 as the moon.* 
 
 JiMUTAVAlIAN.V. 
 
 S'ankhachurZa, go then. What is the use of these 
 well-meant ohjections ? 
 
 S'axkhachupa. 
 The time for the approach of Garu(?a is close at hand. 
 {Goes on his knees before Jus muther.) mother, do you 
 now go away. In Avhatever state we may be born again, 
 mavst tliou alone be mv mother, dotini? one ! 
 
 [Falls at her feet. 
 
 Old Woman (with tears.) 
 
 How ! Is this the very last speech 1 son, my feet 
 
 assuredly will not bear me from thee, therefore I will 
 
 stay here. 
 
 S'ankhachuz)A (rising). 
 
 After I have quickly walked round the southern 
 
 Gokar?(a,t which is close at hand, I will carry out the 
 
 command of mj. lord. 
 
 [Exeunt loth. 
 
 JniUT.VVAHANA. 
 
 (havinrj seen so?ne one coining, jiinf'iU)/, to hirnsi'If). 
 Good luck ! I have got what I wanted, through the 
 unexpected acquisition of this pair of red garments. 
 
 * Siva is often rcj resented as wearing an ckpbani'o skin and a 
 necklace of t^kulls. 
 
 f Cokar/M — there are two c^lclirated ]ili ces of pilgriniage called 
 Gi>kar«a, — tin; noriliei!! one in Nci>a!. tl'.e .southern nu the Malabar 
 coast. See Wi!ov,'ii'o *' E.ssavd on the luiigiou of the Ilindu.-i," ii. 
 16, 19. The manner >d " walkiri: rouiur' was, to ke..-p the right 
 shoulder always townnls the sacred iilaco.
 
 70 THE XAGANANDA. 
 
 Chamelrlain [enlcring). 
 
 This pair of garments is sent hy the Queen, the 
 mother of Mitravasu, to the prince. Let, then, the 
 prince put them on. 
 
 Jimutavahana {with respect). 
 
 Give them to me. {Clmmherlain gives them, — to himself). 
 My marriage with Mahiyavati has borne good fruit. 
 (Alond.) You may depart. Let the Queen be saluted 
 from me. 
 
 Chamberlain. 
 
 Whatever your highness orders. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Jl]MUTAV.\mVNA. 
 The seasonable arrival of this pair of red garments 
 gives me tiie greatest pleasure, inasmuch as I desire 
 to give myself up for another. {Loolcing in all directions.) 
 From the violence of this wind, which shakes the mighty 
 rocks of the ^Lalayan peaks. I suspect that the king of 
 birds is noAv close at hand. See, the expanse of his 
 wings obscures the sky, like the clouds at doomsday ; 
 the wind caused by his rush casts the Avaters of ocean 
 on the shore, as if for another deluge ; and, — raising an 
 apprehension of the sudden ending of the world, and 
 watched with terror by the elephants that support the 
 earth, — Avith the refulgence of his body, which shines like 
 the twelve suns/' he spreads a lurid red gleam over the ten 
 
 * Twelve suns or Xdltyas. These twelve Adityas are forms of 
 the sun, who, according to the later mythology of the Hindus, had 
 a different form for each month.
 
 THE \AGANA^'DA. 71 
 
 quarters of the sky. Therefore now, while S'ankhachuia 
 is away, I will quickly mount the execution rock. 
 {Doe?' so and sits down, starting as if enraptured.) Oh, 
 the rapture of its touch ! Not so much does Malaya- 
 vatl delight me, moist Avith sandal-juice of Malaya, as 
 this rock of execution, which I embrace to the further- 
 ance of my desired object. Or rather — what need of 
 mentioning Malay avati 1 Not such joy is attained by 
 one in childhood, lying peacefully in his mother's lap, 
 as by me on the slope of this rock of execution. Here 
 comes Garuc^a. I must veil myself. 
 
 \_Does so. 
 
 Then enters Garuzja. 
 
 Garvda. 
 
 Here I am, in a moment arrived on the shore side 
 of the Malayan Mount, greedy to devour the Naga. 
 When I saw the moon's disk, I was reminded of the 
 form of S'esha * coiled up in a circle through fear. My 
 elder brother + joyfully recognised me, when the sun 
 was shaken by the sudden start of his chariot steeds as 
 I passed. My long wings, as I fly, strutch out still 
 longer by reason of the clouds, that hang from tlieui in 
 festoons. 
 
 Jl.:iUTA\AIIA\A (nilh ]■>'/). 
 
 Through the niurit that I gain to-day, by prote:ting 
 a Ndga at tlie sacrifice of mys'-'li', may I still obtain, 
 
 * Seaha is tbo tbuu.--;iin.1-hcadei.l cn.iLe which serves VisLiin as 
 bis couch n.n<\ canojpy. 
 
 t Aiu/ia, \vL',' ia tho j>ersoiiiri'.<l d.iwn, -.uA tL-irlotwr ui iLc »uu.
 
 72 THE NAGANAXDA. 
 
 in succeeding existences, a body to be sacrificed for 
 others !* 
 
 Gaeuz»A {loohing at the hero). 
 Speedily will I catch up and eat this Xaga, dressed 
 in red garments, who looks as if besmeared with 
 blood, which gushes from his heart that has burst 
 through fear of me. I will first split open vith my 
 beak, which is fiercer than the fierceness of a thunder- 
 bolt, the breast of this one, Avho has fallen on the surface 
 of the execution rock, to save the rest of Nagas. 
 
 \_MuJdng a descent, he seizes the hero.   
 
 Bthind the scenes flowers shoiccr down, and drums sound.' 
 
 Gaujida (astonished). 
 Why now does this shower of flowers fall, rejoicing 
 the bees with their fragrance ? Or why does this noise 
 of drums cause to re-echo the quarters of the sky? 
 (Smiling.) Ah ! I know what it is. I conjecture that 
 even the tree of Paradise itself is shaken by the wind of 
 my speed ; and that the clouds of doomsday give forth 
 their growl, anticipating the world's immediate anni- 
 hilation. 
 
 Ji.MlJ'TAVAHANA (to himself). 
 Good luck ! I have attained my desire. 
 
 Garu/?a (seizing the hero). 
 Although this protector of the Snakes seems to me 
 
 * This wish, to a Buddhist, would seem the ne pins ultra of self- 
 sacrifice, since to escape from the necessity of future birth, and to 
 obtain nirvdna, is the supreme end of their system.
 
 THE NAOAXANDA. 73 
 
 more like a human being, still verily he shall satiate 
 to-day my hunger for snake-flesh. So 1 will take him 
 and ascend the Malayan mountain, there to eat him at 
 my pleasure. 
 
 [Exeunt omnes. 
 
 END OF FOURTH ACT OF THE KAGaNANDA. 
 
 ACT V. 
 
 Then enters a DoonKEEPER. 
 
 DoOnKEEPEU. 
 
 Through affection, one fears danger to a beloved ob- 
 ject, even if he be only gone into the garden of his own 
 house ; how much more, when placed in the midst of an 
 awful forest, whose mighty dangers are well known. 
 The mighty king Vitivdvasu sits in sorrow, saying to 
 himself, " Jimutavdhana, Avho is gone to see the ocean's 
 shore, stops a long time ; " and he has given me these 
 orders — " Since, Sunanda I I have heard that my son- 
 in-law, Jimutavilhana, has gon*,- to the diitiict rendered 
 terrible by the proximity of C!:uu'/'a, I am fearful for 
 him. Go, then, and ascertain (piickly whether lu' has 
 returned to his <jwn house or not." So I am now g"ing 
 thither. {^Jl'idhhij aljDijt, and biu]:'iivi (nfmr him.) Here 
 is the royal sage, Jimutaketu. Jiiuutav.-lhana's father, 
 standing in the conipuund of his hut, rt-sjiectfully at- 
 tended by his wife and the king's daughter. Sue !
 
 74 THE NAGANAXBA. 
 
 Jlmutaketu has a splendour like the ocean, wearing as 
 he does two linen garments, with ripples tremulous as 
 waves and white as the ocean's foam, and adorned by 
 his queen, as the ocean is by the Ganges, each alike 
 possessed of great holiness, and abundant in maternal 
 streams ; and at their side shines Malayavatl, like the 
 ocean's shore. I will go up to them. 
 
 Then enters King JisruTAKEXU, with his wife and 
 daughter-in-law. 
 
 King. 
 
 I have enjoyed all the pleasures of youth, and held 
 sway in a kingdom full of glory ; I have steadily exer- 
 cised devotion ; my son is of great renown, and my 
 daughter-in-law here is of fitting parentage; now that 
 all my desires are fulfilled, should I not contemplate 
 death ? 
 
 Doorkeeper (corning vp mddenlij). 
 — Of Jimutaviihana — 
 
 King [stopping his ears). 
 Cease ! An ill-omen ! * 
 
 Queen. 
 May this ill-omen be averted ! 
 
 Malayavati. 
 This bad omen causes my heart to palpitate. 
 
 * The utterance hy the doorkeeper of the genitive case of Jimu- 
 tavahann, immediately succeeding, as it does, the word " death," 
 uttered by the king, forms an inauspicious omen.
 
 THE NAGANAKDA. 75 
 
 King 
 
 {starting as though he felt a throlhing of the left eye). 
 
 Good sir, what of Jircutavdhana 1 
 
 DOORKEEPEK. 
 
 I am sent to you by king Yi-svavasu to learn tidings 
 of Jimutavahana. 
 
 King. 
 Is not my child there with him ? 
 
 Queen {sorrov fully). 
 
 king ! if ho is not there, where can my boy l)e 
 gone ? 
 
 King. 
 Assuredly he will be gone somevrhere for our benefit. 
 
 Malay AV ATI {ivlth grief, to herself). 
 
 1 dread something very different, from the non-appear- 
 ance of my husband. 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 Give your orders. What message am I to take my 
 lord? 
 
 King 
 
 (stiirfi)irf as though he felt a throhliiKj of the left eye). 
 
 I am perfectly bewildered in my mind with the 
 thought that Jimutavahana delays so long. Why do 
 you keep tiirobbing, left eye. again and again, indicat- 
 ing some evil as about to happen ] Base that you arc, 
 yonder sun shall stop your ihrobbiugs. {Looking xq>.)
 
 76 THE nIgananda. 
 
 Yonder bright thousand-rayed one, sole eye of the tliree 
 worlds, shall soon bring to light the happiness of Jimu- 
 tavahana. {Looking astonhhcd.) "What is this that has' 
 suddenly fallen in front of me from the sky ? as it were 
 a star, loosened by a portentous wind, shooting forth 
 red streaks, bright as rays, and giving excessive pain to 
 the eye of the beholder. How is this ? It has fallen at 
 my very feet. {All look at it.) Alas ! it is a crest-jewel, 
 with moist flesh adhering to it ! Whose can it be ! 
 
 QuEEX {in a tone of distress). 
 king ! it is the crest-jewel of my poor boy. 
 
 MALAYAVATi. 
 mother ! say not so. 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 king ! do not distress yourself through ignorance 
 of facts. In this place many crest-jewels of the chiefs 
 of the Nagas, who are devoured by Garuf/a, fall torn off 
 by his beak and claws. 
 
 King. 
 queen ! there is some reason in what he says. I 
 hope that it may prove so ! 
 
 Queen. 
 O Sunanda ! assuredly by this time my son will have 
 arrived at his father-in-law's liouse from that shore. 
 Go, then, and ascertain for us quickly. 
 
 Doorkeeper. 
 As the queen orders. 
 
 [Exit.
 
 THE NAGAXANDA, 77 
 
 King. 
 
 O queen ! would tliat it might prove to be the crest 
 of a Ndga. 
 
 Then enters S'ankhachu^a, clad in red garments. 
 
 S'ANKllACHL-i9A {shedding tears). 
 
 After hastily paying my rp.-pects at the shrine of 
 Gokarna, on tlie ocean's shore, I am again come ta this 
 slauditer-house of the Xat^as. But Garu^Za has taken 
 that Vidyadhara, after tearing open his breast with his 
 beak and claws, and is flown up towards heaven. 
 (Sobbing.) Alas ! Thou excessively magnanimous and 
 affectionate one ! Alas ! My only true friend, though 
 indeed thou hadst no cause to be so ! Alas ! Thou that 
 sufferest for another's sake, whither art thou gone 1 
 Give me an answer. Alas ! Base S'ankhachiu^a, thou 
 art utterly undone, since thou hast not obtained the merit 
 of saving the Nagas, even for one day, nor even the 
 praisewortliincss arising from obedience to thy lord's 
 commands. Thou art to be pitied, since thou hast been 
 saved at the expense of another, wlio gave up his life 
 for thine. Woe ! Woe ! How thou hast been de- 
 ceived ! How thou hast been deceived ! This being the 
 state of things, I will not live to be made a laughing- 
 stock, but will at once endeavour to follow him. {Walk- 
 ing ahoiif, and looLinj infently on fhc nround.) I proceed, 
 full of desire to see Garut/a, tracking carefully this line 
 of blood, which, through its purple hue, is hard to be 
 traced on this rock, which is variegated with minerals, 
 and rendered obscure by the thick trees. At first the
 
 78 THE nagAnanda. 
 
 track is broad, as if from the sudden giish, and then the 
 drops become clotted, and at wider intei-vals ; next, a 
 few drops are seen, scattered among the stones in a 
 broken line, and then they are full of insects on the 
 level ground. 
 
 Queen (imIiA alarm). 
 
 king ! this man, coming hither hastily, with his 
 face fiuslied, appears troubled, and fills my heart with 
 alarm. Let us ascertain who he is. 
 
 King. 
 
 As the queen says. [Listening; with joy, and smiling.) 
 queen ! cease from sorrow. Assuredly this crest- 
 jewel must be his, let fall on this spot by some bird, 
 who snatched it from his head, thinking from its colour 
 that it was a piece of flesH. 
 
 Queen {joyfulhj, embracing AlALAYAVATf). 
 thou saved from widowhood, be calm. Such a form 
 as this was not made to suffer the pains of widowhood. 
 
 Mala YAV ATI {with joy). 
 mother ! it must be then through the efficacy of thy 
 blessing. 
 
 [Falls at her fat. 
 
 King ( to S'axkil\.chuz?a). 
 My child, what is the matter ? 
 
 S'ANKHACIIL^27A. 
 My throat being obstructed "with tears through the 
 excess of my grief, I am totally unable to tell you.
 
 THE NAGANAXDA. 79 
 
 King. 
 
 My son, tell me thy sorrow, that it may become more 
 endurable from participation. At present it is intoler- 
 able, while shut up in thine own heart. 
 
 S'ANKHACUUiyA. 
 Hear it, then. I am a Ndga, S'ankhachuf^a by name. 
 I was sent by Vilsuki, as a meal for Garu(/a. But why 
 waste time in words 1 Even as we talk, perhaps these 
 tracks of drops of blood mingled with dust are disap- 
 pearing. I will therefore tell it in a breath. By a 
 certain VidyAdhara, whose mind was full of compassion, 
 my life has been preserved. He has given himself up 
 to Garu(/a. 
 
 King, 
 Who else would thus undergo calamity for another 1 
 My child, you might as well have said at once, '• By 
 Jimutavahana ! " Alas ! I am undone, ill-fated man that 
 I am. 
 
 Queen. 
 Alas ! my child, how could you do this 1 
 
 Malayavati. 
 
 How true has my foreboding proved ! 
 
 [They all fain [. 
 
 S^ANKllACliUi9A (iritli tears). 
 Surely these must be the parents of that magnanimous 
 one, otherwise they would not be brought into this con- 
 dition by my evil tidings. But what else should issue 
 from the mouth of a venomous seii)ent, except poison?
 
 80 THE NAGANANDA. 
 
 Assuredly, S'ankhachufZa lias worthily repaid his bene- 
 factor ! In what way, now, shall I put an end to myself? 
 But I must first revive these two. Re\'ive, my father ! 
 Cheer up, mother ! 
 
 \Thc\j both revive. 
 
 Queen. 
 Stand up, my child. Do not weep. Shall we live 
 without Jimiitavahana ? Clieer up, then. 
 
 Malay Av ATI {recovering). 
 husband ! where shall I see you again? 
 
 King. 
 Alas ! my child, who knew so well how to perform 
 the duty of honouring thy father's feet, even in another 
 world the practice of good behaviour is not forgotten by 
 thee, since thou hast dropped thy crest-jewel at my feet. 
 {Takes up the crest-jeiccl.) Alas! my child, is it only in 
 this way that I can now behold thee? {Puts it to his 
 hreast.) Alas ! Alas ! tliou, whose head was con- 
 tinually bowed at my feet in constant devotion, thy 
 crest-jewel, polished by their contact as by a touchstone, 
 was never guilty of injuring any one ; why, then, does it 
 now rudely pierce my breast ? 
 
 QUEEX. 
 Alas ! my son Jimutavahana, whose only pleasure 
 was in obedience to thy father, how could'st thou leave 
 him, and go to enjoy the delights of heaven ? 
 
 King {with tears). 
 O queen ! can we live without Jimutavahana, that 
 you talk thus ?
 
 THE NagAjTANDA. 81 
 
 IMalayavati 
 (Jailing at his feet, and ch:is;ping her hand.?). 
 Give me the crest-jewel, as a memorial of my husband, 
 that, wearing it in my bosom, I may mount the funeral 
 pile, and quench my burning sorrows in the fire. 
 
 King. 
 
 O devoted one ! why do you thus trouble me ? Is 
 not this the fixe'd deteimination of us all 1 
 
 Queen. 
 King, why do we then delay ] 
 
 King. 
 
 There is no reason. But one, who has always main- 
 tained a sacred lire, obtains purification from no other. 
 Therefore, we will fetch fire from the sacred fire-cell, and 
 bum ourselves.* 
 
 S'ankhachujDA {to himself). 
 Alas! for the sake of me, a single indi^^dual, this 
 whole family of VidyAdharas is utterly destroyed. I 
 will see Avhat can be done. [Aloud.) father, not 
 without due deliberation should such a rash purpose be 
 carried out. The sportings of destiny demand thought. 
 Perhaps, when he finds that he is not a Ndga, the enemy 
 of the Ndgas will lot him go again. Let us then follow 
 Garut/a in this direction. 
 
 * Compare Colebrooke'.s E.ssays, I., paje 157. At the obsequies 
 of a priest, v:\io maintained a consecrated fire, his funeral pile must 
 be lighted from that fire.
 
 82 THE nagIxanda. 
 
 Queen. 
 It will assuredly be by tlie special favour of the gods 
 if "we look on tbe face of our son, yet living. 
 
 MalaYAVATi {io herself). 
 
 Most assuredly I, ill-fated that I am, can hardly look 
 for such a blessing. 
 
 King. 
 
 child, may this speech * of thine prove true ! Still 
 it is fitting that we should take the fires with us, as we 
 follow. Do you, then, follow the track ; and we will come 
 as soon as we have brought the fire from the fire-cell. 
 
 [Exit, vnth ivife and daughter-in-law.. 
 
 S'ANKHACHtJz?A. 
 
 1 will now follow Garuc/a. {Looking in front.) Yonder, 
 afar off, I see the enemy of the Xdgas, on a pinnacle of 
 Malaya, making new galleys in the mountain-side, as he 
 rubs his gory beak. The woods around are all uprooted 
 and burnt by the streaks of flaming fire from his eyes, 
 and the ground is hollowed round him by his dreadful 
 adamantine claws. 
 
 Then enters Garuz)A, seated on a rod, ivith the hero 
 lyinrj in front of hivi. 
 
 Never since my birth has so wonderful a thing been 
 seen by me in my feasts on the lords of the Ndgas ! Not 
 
 • Thb of course is said in ans— er to S'ankhachiic^a's sug^sstion 
 above.
 
 THE NAGANANDA, 83 
 
 only is tliis hero unterrified, but he even appears almost 
 delighted. There is no lassitude seen in him, though 
 most of his blood is drunk up. His face, through its 
 heroic endurance, even when he is suffering the pangs 
 from the tearing of his flesh, seems serene as in ecstacv. 
 Every limb, which is not actually destroyed, bristles with, 
 rapture. His glance falls on me, whilst doing him an 
 injury, as though I were doing him a fiivour. Hence, by 
 his heroism, my curiosity is excited. I will not eat him. 
 I will ask who he is. 
 
 JiMUTAV.vHANA. 
 There is yet flesh in my body, whose blood pours forth 
 from every vein ; and you, magnanimous one, do not 
 seem satiated. Why, then, Garut/a, do you stop 
 eating 1 
 
 GaPvUzjA (to hwiself). 
 
 Wonder of wonders ! How! Even in this state does 
 he still speak thus stoutly ! {Aloud.) This heroism of 
 tliine seems to call back the heart's blood that has been 
 poured out by my beak. I wish, then, to hear who thou 
 art. 
 
 Jf^n-TAVAHANA. 
 
 It is not fit that you should hear, while tormented 
 by hunger. Satiate yourself, then, with my flesh and 
 blood. 
 
 S'ANKHACnui7A {corainrj vp in haste). 
 Garuf?a, not indeed, not hideed should this cruelty 
 be done. This is no Na^a. Let him go. Eat me. I 
 am sent by Yasuki for thy food. 
 
 [Presents his breast.
 
 84 THE NAGAXANDA. 
 
 JiMuTAYaHANA {on seeing S'ankhachuz)A). 
 
 Alas ! my desire lias become fruitless tlirougli the 
 arrival of S'ankbacliucZa. 
 
 GaeUz^A {lool"ing at them both). 
 
 Both of you Tvear the distinctive badge of victims. 
 "Wliich is really the Kdga I know not. 
 
 S'ankh.\chuz?A. 
 
 The error is a likely one, forsooth. Not to mention 
 the mark of the Swastika * on the breast, are there not 
 the scales on my body 1 Do you not count my two 
 tongues as I speak 1 Nor see these three hoods of mine, 
 the compressed wind hissing through them in my insup- 
 portable anguish ? While the brightness of my gems is 
 distorted by the thick smoke from the fire of my direful 
 poison. 
 
 Garu/?A {holing at hoth, and noticing the hood 
 of S'AXKHACHUZJA). 
 
 "Who, then, is this that I have destroyed ? 
 
 S'ANKHACHUiDA. 
 
 It is Jimutavahana, the ornament of the race of 
 Vidyddharas. How was this done by thee, merciless 
 one ? 
 
 GARUi?A {to hlmsdf). 
 
 All ! How, indeed, -was it done ? This, then, is that 
 
   "Swastika" is a mystical figure in the form ot a cross. This 
 passage might serve as a "locus classkm" for the Hindu concep- 
 tion ot a Xiiga. Mr Fergus-jon give? pictures, taken from sculptures, 
 of Isugai with three, five, or sevi-u hoods.
 
 THE XAGAXANDA. 85 
 
 JimutavAhana, prince of the Yidyddharas, whose fame I 
 have repeatedly heard sung by the hosts of bards who 
 traverse Lokdloka,* sung on the slopes of Meru, in the 
 caves of Mandara, on the table-land of Himavat, on 
 mount !Mahendra, on the peaks of Kailasa, even on 
 these heights of Malaya, and in the various caverns of 
 the mountains that bound the world. Of a truth, I am 
 plunged in a vast quagmire of iniquity ! 
 
 JiMutavahana. 
 lord of snakes, why art thou thus troubled ? 
 
 S'ANKHACnuiJA. 
 
 Is it not a time for excessive trouble ? If my body 
 were preserved from Gaioir^a by the sacrifice of thine, 
 verily it were right that thou shouldst hurl me to a 
 depth lower than the deepest hell. 
 
 GARUZ)A. 
 
 Alas ! alas ! His own body has been of his own 
 accord presented for my food by this noble-minded one, 
 through pity, to save the life of a NAga, who had fallen 
 within the reach of my voracity. "What, a terrible sin 
 then have I committed ! In a wt)rd, this is a " Bodhi- 
 sattwa," t whom I have slain. I see no way of expiating 
 my sin, except by entering the fire. "Where then shall 
 
 * " Lokdloka," a mountainous chain surrounding the outermost 
 of the seven seas, and which bounds the world, with the Hindus. 
 
 + " Bodhi-sattwa " is a technical term in BmUlUist theology, 
 denoting a potential Buddha, or one who has only one mure birth 
 remaining before he becomes a j^erfect BuJJha, and meanwhile 
 waits in heaven until Lis period comes round.
 
 86 THE n1gana>t)a. 
 
 I find fire? [Looking round.) Ah! Here come some 
 ■with fire. I will wait till they arrive. 
 
 S'ankhachuz»a. 
 O prince, your parents are come. 
 
 JiJIUTAVaHANA {ivitli agitation). 
 
 Sankhachuf/a, do you sit down, and conceal my 
 
 "body with my upper garment. Otherwise, perhaps, 
 
 my mother might die, if she suddenly saw me in this 
 
 state. 
 
 [S'ANKHilCHtJzJA tales up the garment f alien 
 
 at his side, and does so. 
 
 Then enters KiNG Ji:3li;TAKETU, with his wife and 
 daughter-in-laio. 
 
 King [sorroivfulhj). 
 Alas ! son Jirautavdhana, whence came this exalted 
 degree of compassion — " Another is as one's-self ? " How 
 was it that the thought did not occur to you — " Are 
 many to be saved, or one ? " For, by giving up your 
 life to save a Ndga from Garut/a, yourself, your parents, 
 your wife, yea the whole family is destroyed. 
 
 Queen (addressing ]MALAYAVATi). 
 O daughter, desist. You will extinguish the fire 
 with your incessant tears. 
 
 [All ualk round. 
 
 King. 
 
 Alas ! my son Jirautavuhaua !
 
 THE NAG AN AND A. 8T 
 
 GakuzjA (on hearing this). 
 He says — " Alas ! my son JimutavAhana ! " TMs 
 then is doubtless his father. How can I bum myself in 
 tliis fire ] I am ashamed to appear before them after 
 slaying their son. Yet why should I be troubled about 
 a fire 1 Am not I on the ocean's brink ] I will cast 
 myself into the- submarine fire,* terrible as the destined 
 consumer of the world at the end of a " kalpa," having 
 kindled it by the wind of my own wings, fiercer than 
 any supernatural blast, which will make the flames 
 flicker liivc the tips of the tongue of Death, when enjoy- 
 ing the relish of licking up the three worlds, and which 
 span the sea, and reach even to threaten the sun's 
 
 domain. 
 
 [^He wishes to rise. 
 
 Jimutavahaxa. 
 
 king of birds, away with this resolve ! This would 
 be no expiation for your sin. 
 
 Gael'X'A {falling on his knees, and putting his 
 hands together). 
 
 magnanimous one, tell me then what e"!cpiation is 
 there ? 
 
 * " VdJava," or subuiariue fire. " lu Hindu mythology this 
 is represented as a being ct'osisting of flauie, but with the head of 
 a mare, who sprang from the thigh of Urva, and was received by 
 the ocean." — ]Vilso)i''is Dictionary. He ia also called Aurva 
 Bhargava, .He will destroy the world at the end of the " kalpa " 
 or aeon. The Brahmanical " kalpa " consists of four thousand, three 
 hundred, aud twenty millions ox solar years.
 
 88 the nagananda. 
 
 Jimutavahana. 
 
 Wait a moment. My parents are come. I "vnll first 
 pay my respects to them. 
 
 Garuzja. 
 Do so. 
 
 King {idth jotj, having seen him). 
 
 O queen, fortune favours you ! Here is our son 
 Jimutavdhana, not only alive, but respectfully waited 
 on by Garuc/a, ■with his hands folded like a disciple. 
 
 Queen. 
 O mighty king, my desires are all accomplished. I 
 shall see his face, and surely his body must be un- 
 injured. ' . 
 
 Malaya vATi. 
 
 Even though I see my husband, I cannot beUeve it. 
 It is too dear to be true ! 
 
 King {golnr/ np). 
 
 Come, my child, embrace me. 
 
 [JimuTAVaHANA u'ishing to rise, the garment 
 falls off, and he faints. 
 
 S'ankhachuzja. ' .   
 prince, revive, revive ! 
 
 King. 
 Alas ! my child, haWng seen me, are you gone with- 
 out an embrace ?
 
 the nagaxanda. 89 
 
 Queen. 
 
 Alas ! my child, do you not greet me vrith a single 
 
 word 1 
 
 Malayavati. 
 
 Alas ! my husband, are not even your parents worthy 
 of a glance ? 
 
 [They all faint. 
 
 S'ANKHACHUZ'A {to Jdmself). . . 
 
 villain S'ankliachilf/a, why did you not perish, 
 whilst yet unborn? Seeing that moment by moment 
 you endure pangs worse than death itself? 
 
 Gabjjda. 
 All this is caused by my inconsiderate action. Base 
 wretch that I am ! But I will do what I can. {Fanning 
 with his wings.) noble one, revive, revive ! 
 
 JImuTAVaHANA {recovering). 
 S'ankhachuf?a, revive my parents. 
 
 S'ANKHACHTjZJA. 
 O father, recover ! mother, revive ! 
 
 [Both come to their senses. 
 
 Queen. 
 son, does that villain Death carry you oif in our 
 very sight ? 
 
 King. 
 queen, speak not so inausplciously. The long-lived 
 one * yet breathes. See to his wife, 
 
 • jCyusliman, long-lived one, is here used as an address of good 
 omen, and implies aa understood prajer. It ia a favourite 
 Buddkist espresaiun.
 
 90 THE NiGAJ^A^•DA. 
 
 Queen 
 {weeping, having covered her face tvilh her dress). 
 The omen be averted ! I will not "weep. Malay- 
 avati, revive. Kise, my child, rise. At this time, if 
 ever, look on the face of thy husband. 
 
 Malaya VATi {coming to herself). 
 Alas ! my husband ! 
 
 Queen {stopping the mouth of ^Malayavati). 
 child, act not thus. Mav this omen be averted. 
 
 King {to himself, with tears). 
 "Why do I not burst into a hundred pieces through 
 sorrow, as I behold my son giving up his life, ^yhich, 
 the rest of his body being destroyed, has retreated to 
 his throat as to its last remaining stronghold ? 
 
 Malayavati. 
 
 Alas ! my husband ! I must indeed be very ■wicked, 
 since, even when I see my husband in such a state, I 
 yet live on ! 
 
 Queen {stvoking the limhs of the hero, and 
 addressing GarUzjA). 
 
 thou who fearest naught, how could this body of 
 my son, in the fresh bloom of youth, be brought by thee 
 to such a state as this] 
 
 JiMUTAVlE.^'A- 
 mother, not so indeed. What harm has been done 
 by him 1 Was it not in reality just the same before ?
 
 THE NAGAXANDA. 91 
 
 See. "What beauty can there be in a body, loathsome 
 to the sight, and consisting of blood, marrow, flesh, 
 bones, and fat, covered in by skin ] 
 
 Gaeuz?a. 
 noble-minded one, I stand in pain, regarding my- 
 self as already consumed by the fiery flames of hell. 
 Point out, then, I pray, how I can be cleansed from my 
 guilt. 
 
 JLmutavahana. 
 If my father gives me leave, I will point out the 
 expiation for this fault. 
 
 King. 
 Do so, my child. 
 
 JblUTAVAHANA- 
 Listen then, Garuf?a. 
 
 Garuz>A [ijuttinf] his hands together). 
 Give your instructions. 
 
 JLmutavahana. 
 Cease for ever from destroying life ; repent of thy 
 former deeds ; labour to gather together an unbroken 
 chain of good actions, by inspiring confidence in all livhig 
 beings ; so that this sin, which has its origin in the 
 destruction of living beings, rnay not ripen to bear fruit, 
 but may be all absorbed in thy merits, as a morsel of 
 salt thrown into the depths of yonder ocean. 
 
 GARUZ)A. 
 
 "Whatever you order. I, who was lying in a sleep of
 
 92 THE NAGAXANDA. 
 
 ignorance, now, awakened by you, have from this day 
 ceased from destroying living beings. Now let the race 
 of Ndgas wander happily in the mighty ocean — at times 
 stretching from shore to shore like bridges — at times 
 taken for wliirlpools, through the coiling of their 
 bodies — and at times resembling continents, from the 
 multitude of their hoods, large as alluvial islands. 
 Again, let the damsels of the Ndgas in yon grove of 
 sandal trees celebrate joyfully this glory of thine, think- 
 ing lightly of the fatigue, though their bodies faint with 
 the exertion, and though their cheeks, browned by the 
 touch of the rays of the early sun, seem as if bedaubed 
 with red lead, while their hair let fall to their feet 
 resembles the darkness of clouds. 
 
 Jimutavahana. 
 Well said, magnanimous one ! "We are delighted. 
 By all means keep firm to your purpose. {Addressing 
 S'axkhachuzja.) S'aulvliachucZa, do you now go 
 home. 
 
 [S'ANKHACnuz)A, sighing, stands with downcast looJcs. 
 
 Jimutavahana {sighing as he looJcs at his mother). 
 For assuredly thy mother will be sitting full of grief 
 for thy pain, as she looks up, expecting to see thee drop, 
 mangled by GarutZa's beak. 
 
 Queen {ivith tears). 
 Blessed indeed is that mother, who will behold the 
 face of her son, with his body uninjured, though he was 
 actually in the very jaws of GarutZa.
 
 THE NAGA2fA2IDA. 93 
 
 S'ANKHi\CHUZ>A. 
 
 O mother, it is indeed as you say. Would that the 
 Prince might he saved ! 
 
 JiiluTAVlHANA {s2)eaJdn(j as though in agony). 
 
 Ah ! oh ! These joint-racking pangs •were not felt by 
 me before, through the excess of pleasure, which I felt 
 in doing good to another, but now they begin to hem 
 me round. 
 
 \H.e mils in a dying state. 
 
 King (tuith agitation). 
 Alas ! my son, why this posture ? 
 
 Queen. 
 
 Alas ! alas ! "Why does he talk thus ? {Seating her 
 breast.) Help ! help ! My child is dying ! 
 
 Malayavati. 
 Ah I my husband, you appear in a hurry to leave us. 
 
 JiMutAVaHANA {trying to place his hands together). 
 S'ankhachu(7a ! place my hands together. 
 
 S'ANKHACIIUiPA {doing so). 
 Alas 1 the world is robbed of its master. 
 
 JiMUTAVAlI.^JN'A {Judf oiKuing his eyis, and loohing 
 at his father). 
 
 father, mother ! This is my last salutation. 
 These limbs retain no consciousness — my ear hears no 
 sound, however distinct the articulation — alas ! my eye
 
 94 THE NAGANAXDA. 
 
 is fast closing — my father, these vital airs are quicldy- 
 leaving me in my powerlessness — but, " Through the 
 merit that I gain to-Jay by protecting a Naga at the 
 sacrifice of myself, may 1 still obtain in succeeding exist- 
 ences a body to be sacrificed for others."* 
 
 [Ee falls. 
 Queen. 
 
 Alas, my son ! Alas, my child ! Alas, darling of 
 thy parents ! Where art thou 1 Tell me ! 
 
 King. 
 
 Alas, child Jimutavdhana ! Alas, the darling of thy 
 companions ! Alas, thou possessed of all virtues, where 
 art thou 1 Tell me ! {Throwing zip his hands.) Alas ! 
 alas ! woe ! Firmness has now no home. To whom can 
 modesty go for protection 1 Who in the whole world 
 now possesses patience 1 Liberality has ceased, and 
 truth has verily perished ! Whither now can pity go, 
 itself worthy of pity ? The whole world has become 
 void by tliy departure to anotlior, my sou ! 
 
 ]\lALAYAVATi. 
 
 Alas, my husband ! How could you leave me and 
 depart 1 jMalayavati, how cruel you are ! What do 
 you not deserve for hving so long after your husband 1 
 
 S'axkhachuzja. 
 O Prince, where art thou gone, forsaking these people, 
 dearer to thee than life itself J Assuredly now S'anka- 
 chutZa will follow thee. 
 
 • He repeats this sentence from the end of the fourth act, where 
 Garuda first seizes him.
 
 the ^^agana^'da. 95 
 
 Garuzia. 
 
 Alas ! This noble-minded one is dead. What shall I 
 now do 1 
 
 Queen {looHng up toith tears). 
 
 Oh revered guardians of the -world, bring my son to 
 life by sprinkling him in some way with ambrosia. 
 
 GarUZ»A {joyfully to himself). 
 
 Ah ! The mention of ambrosia reminds me oppor- 
 tunely. I think I may yet wipe out my disgrace. I 
 will pray to Indra, and persuade him by a shower of 
 ambrosia to restore to life not only Jimutavahana, but 
 all those lords of Nagas that have heretofore been eaten 
 by me, and who are now merely skeletons. If he will 
 not grant it, then, — having drunk up the ocean with my 
 wings, and borne along by mighty winds of ever- 
 increasing violence, while the twelve suns fall fainting, 
 bewildered by the flaming fierceness of my eyes. — I will 
 break to pieces with my beak the thunderbolt of Indra, 
 the club of Kuvera, and the staff of Yama, the lord of 
 the dead, and, having conquered the Gods in battle, will 
 at once by my own might let fall an ambrosial shower. 
 Here, then, I go. 
 
 [^Exity after v:alhing round havfjJdili/. 
 
 King. 
 
 child, S'ankhachu'ia, why do you still delay 1 Col- 
 lect wood, and build a funeral pile for my son, that we 
 too may go with him.
 
 96 THE nagananda. 
 
 Queen. 
 
 son, Sankhachuf/a, quickly get it ready. Thy 
 brother remains in pain, T\-ithout our company. 
 
 S'AXKnACHuz>A [tearfully). 
 
 "Whatever my parents order. Am not I -willing to 
 lead the wayl {Rises and builds a funeral pile.) O 
 father, mother, here is the funeral pile prepared. 
 
 King. 
 Queen, why do you still weep? Else, we will 
 mount the pile. 
 
 [All stand vp. 
 
 i jVLuAYAVATf {looTcing up ivith her hands together). 
 
 revered Gauri, it was promised by thee — '" An 
 emperor of the Vidyadharas shall be thy husband." 
 How, then, in my case, ^Tetched one that I am, have 
 thy words proved untrue ? 
 
 {Then enters Gauki, as in haste.) ^ 
 
 Gauri. 
 mighty King Jimutaketu, assuredly this rash act 
 must not be done. 
 
 King. 
 Oh ! How can the sight of Gauri be in vain 1 
 
 Gauri {addressing ^lAL^VYAVATi). 
 Child, how could I prove untrue ? {Going up to the 
 hero, and sprinlcUng him with water from a xcater-pot.) 
 I am well pleased ^nth thee, who even at the cost of thy
 
 i 
 
 THE NAGAXA>'DA. 9" 
 
 own life "vvouKr-sfc benefit the world. Live, Jimutavd- 
 hana ! 
 
 [The hero stands vp. 
 
 King {joyfuU^j). 
 
 Queen ! joy ! joy ! Our son is restored to life I 
 
 QUEEX. 
 
 Bv the hiessinc? of Gnuri. 
 
 JlMUTAVAHAXA 
 {having seen Gmjki, putting his luiivJs together). 
 Ah ! how should the sight of Gauri be in vain ? 
 thou who grantest all desires, and removest all pain from 
 thy prostrate worshippers, protectress, I bow at thy 
 feet, — Gauri, ever celebrated in song by the Vidyd- 
 dharas ! 
 
 [He /(.ills at thejiet of GaURi. 
 
 All look tipwards. 
 
 King. 
 Ah ! what means this shower, when no clouds are 
 seen 1 revered one, what is this ? 
 
 Gauui. 
 
 King Jimutaketu, this shower of ambrosia is caused 
 to fall by the repentant lord of birds, to restore to life 
 Jimutavahana, and these lords of the Xdgas, now only 
 skeletons. [Fointing vnth a finger.) Do you not see 
 these lords of Kdgas ? Xow they reach S'ankhachu'7a, 
 their heads bright with the rays of their unveiled crest- 
 jewels — now they lick up the ver^- ground in their haste 
 
 G
 
 98 THE NAGAXANT)A. 
 
 to devour the ambrosia -with their two-forked toncraes — 
 
 O 
 
 and now, hurrj-ing along, they plunge into the ocean by 
 tortuous paths, like the v/aters of the rivers of the Malaya 
 hills. (Addressing the hero.) child Jimutavahana, 
 thou art worthy of something more than the mere gift 
 of life, therefore this is my further blessing to thee — I 
 on this very spot will make thee in a moment an uni- 
 versal emperor of the Vidyiidharas, having sprinkled 
 thee with purifying waters produced ready at hand from 
 my Manasa lake, oidy sullied by the dust of the golden 
 lotuses, shaken by the pinions of the wild geese, — and 
 placed in jewelled jars created by my will. Let the 
 jewel of the golden wheel come first, then the elephant 
 with the four white tusks, and the dark coloured horse, ' 
 and next Malay avatl.'"' emperor, behold these are the 
 the jewels which I give thee. Yet further, — bchoM 
 these nobles of the Vidyiidharas, bearing in their hands 
 chowries of the yak's tail, white as the juituinnal m<>'>n, 
 making, as they walk, and bow, and bfn<l their b-. idles 
 low in devotion, very rainbows with the rays of th"ir 
 sems, — and among them the villain ^latanira and hi.s 
 fellows. Tell me, now, what yet further boon I can 
 grant thee ] 
 
 JlMuTAYAirAXA. 
 
 What boon can there be beyond this ? S'ankhacli 'i'?a 
 
 is delivered from him who was the dread of all the 
 
 shakes ; Garuf/a has been brought to a better mind ; 
 
 all the lords of the Nagas, whom he had ever eaten, 
 
 * The wheel, the elephant, the horse, and the queen, are fuiir ..f 
 the seven jewels (ratnuui) which distiugiiish the universal crnf.ercr 
 (CLakravartiu) among the Buddhists. See Lalita-Viitara, III.
 
 ADDITIOI(AL NOTES. 
 
 -C"- 
 
 Page 1 , line 9. 
 
 The words which I render " Buddha, the conqueror," are Bmidho 
 iinah. 
 
 " Le nom de Djina est un des synonymes de celui de Baddha, ou 
 plutot c'est un des nombreuses dpithetes que Ton donue Ji un 
 Buddha. II signi^e vainqueur dans un sens moral et religieux. Ou 
 sait qu'il est commun aux Buddhi3te3 et aux Djainas." — Bur.vouf 
 
 Page 20, line 18. 
 
 I have translated chandana-latd as "sandal-creeper," as the 
 St Peteraburg Dictionary only explains lata by " Sehlinggewachs," 
 " Ranke ; " but the sandal-tree is not properly a creeper. Santalum 
 album is described by Roxburgh as having a stem only a few feet 
 high ; it then divides into numerous branches, which spread and 
 rise in every direction, forming nearly a spherical head. Lata, 
 therefore, seems to be used here to express the spreading branches 
 of any tree which can be formed into a bower. 
 
 The Santa'' um album is found in the mountainous parts of 
 Malabar. Dr Buchanan {Journey II. 53G) says that it does not 
 grow on the coast, but is found on the eastern side of the western 
 Ghats. The Santalum (or sirium) w.yrtifoUum appears to be a 
 difiFerent tree. Roxburgh describes it as a " native of the Circar 
 mountains, where it is but of a small size, and the wood of little 
 or no value." 
 
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