Story of Suprabha.
For he, possessing divine foresight, foresaw that in seven days he would fall from heaven on account of the exhaustion of his merits, and be conceived in the body of a sow. Then that son of a god, reflecting on the misery of dwelling in the body of a sow, regretted with himself those heavenly enjoyments: “Alas for heaven! Alas for the Apsarases! Alas for the arbours of Nandana! Alas! how shall I live in the body of a sow, and after that in the mire?” When the king of the gods heard him indulging in these lamentations, he came to him, and questioned him, and that son of a god told him the cause of his grief. Then Indra said to him, “Listen, there is a way out of this difficulty open to you. Have recourse to Śiva as a protector, exclaiming ‘Om! Honour to Śiva!’ If you resort to him as a protector, you shall escape from your guilt and obtain merit, so that you shall not be born in the body of a pig nor fall from heaven.” When the king of the gods said this to Suprabha, he followed his advice, and exclaiming “Om! Honour to Śiva!” he fled to Śiva as an asylum. After remaining wholly intent on him for six days, he not only by his favour escaped being sent into the body of a pig, but went to an abode of bliss higher than Svarga. And on the seventh day, when Indra, not seeing him in heaven, looked about, he found he had gone to another and a superior world.
“As Suprabha lamented, beholding pollution impending, so I lament, beholding the impending death of the king.” When Earth said this, Víravara answered her:—“If there is any expedient for rescuing this king, as there was an expedient for rescuing Suprabha in accordance with the advice of Indra, pray tell it me.” When Earth was thus addressed by Víravara, she answered him: “There is an expedient in this case, and it is in your hands.” When the Bráhman Víravara heard this, he said joyfully—[10]
“Then tell me, goddess, quickly; if my lord can be benefited by the sacrifice of my life, or of my son or wife, my birth is not wasted.” When Víravara said this, Earth answered him—“There is here an image of Durgá near the palace; if you offer to that image your son Sattvavara, then the king will live, but there is no other expedient for saving his life.” When the resolute Víravara heard this speech of the goddess Earth, he said—“I will go, lady, and do it immediately.” And Earth said “What other man is so devoted to his lord? Go, and prosper.” And the king, who followed him, heard all.
Then Víravara went quickly to his house that night, and the king followed him unobserved. There he woke up his wife Dharmavatí and told her, that, by the counsel of the goddess Earth, he must offer up his son for the sake of the king. She, when she heard it, said—“We must certainly do what is for the advantage of the king; so wake up our son and tell him.” Then Víravara woke up his son, and told him all that the goddess Earth had told him, as being for the interest of the king, down to the necessity of his own sacrifice. When the child Sattvavara heard this, he, being rightly named, said to his father,[11] “Am I not fortunate, my father, in that my life can profit the king? I must requite him for his food which I have eaten; so take me and sacrifice me to the goddess for his sake.” When the boy Sattvavara said this, Víravara answered him undismayed, “In truth you are my own son.” When king Vikramatunga, who was standing outside, heard this, he said to himself—“Ah! the members of this family are all equally brave.”
Then Víravara took that son Sattvavara on his shoulder, and his wife Dharmavatí took his daughter Víravatí on her back, and the two went to the temple of Durgá by night.
And the king Vikramatunga followed them, carefully concealing himself. When they reached the temple, Sattvavara was put down by his father from his shoulder, and, though he was a boy, being a store-house of courage, he bowed before the goddess, and addressed this petition to her: “Goddess, may our lord’s life be saved by the offering of my head! And may the king Vikramatunga rule the earth without an enemy to oppose him!” When the boy said this, Víravara exclaimed, “Bravo! my son!” And drawing his sword, he cut off his son’s head, and offered it to the goddess Durgá, saying, “May the king be prosperous!” Those who are devoted to their master grudge them neither their sons’ lives nor their own. Then a voice was heard from heaven, saying, “Bravo, Víravara! you have bestowed life on your master by sacrificing even the life of your son.” Then, while the king was seeing and hearing with great astonishment all that went on, the daughter of Víravara, named Víravatí, who was a mere girl, came up to the head of her slain brother, and embraced it, and kissed it, and crying out “Alas! my brother!” died of a broken heart. When Víravara’s wife, Dharmavatí, saw that her daughter also was dead, in her grief she clasped her hands together, and said to Víravara; “We have now ensured the prosperity of the king, so permit me to enter the fire with my two dead children. Since my infant daughter, though too young to understand anything, has died out of grief for her brother, what is the use of my life, my two children being dead?” When she spoke with this settled purpose, Víravara said to her; “Do so, what can I say against it? For, blameless one, there remains no happiness for you in a world, which will be all filled for you with grief for your two children; so wait a moment while I prepare the funeral pyre.” Having said this, he constructed a pyre with some wood, that was lying there to make the fence of the enclosure of the goddess’s temple, and put the corpses of his children upon it, and lit a fire under it, so that it was enveloped in flames. Then his virtuous wife, Dharmavatí, fell at his feet, and exclaiming, “May you, my husband, be my lord in my next birth, and may prosperity befall the king!” she leapt into that burning pyre, with its hair of flame, as gladly as into a cool lake. And king Vikramatunga, who was standing by unperceived, remained fixed in thought as to how he could possibly recompense them.
Then Víravara, of resolute soul, reflected—“I have accomplished my duty to my master, for a divine voice was heard audibly, and so I have requited him for the food which I have eaten, but now that I have lost all the dear family I had to support,[12] it is not meet that I should live alone, supporting myself only, so why should I not propitiate this goddess Durgá by offering up myself?” Víravara, firm in virtue, having formed this determination, first approached with a hymn of praise that goddess Durgá, the granter of boons. “Honour to thee, O great goddess, that givest security to thy votaries, rescue me plunged in the mire of the world, that appeal to thee for protection. Thou art the principle of life in creatures, by thee this world moves. In the beginning of creation Śiva beheld thee self-produced, blazing and illuminating the world with brightness hard to behold, like ten million orbs of fiery suddenly-produced infant suns rising at once, filling the whole horizon with the circle of thy arms, bearing a sword, a club, a bow, arrows and a spear. And thou wast praised by that god Śiva in the following words—‘Hail to thee Chaṇḍí, Chámuṇḍá, Mangalá, Tripurá, Jayá, Ekánanśá, Śivá, Durgá, Náráyaṇí, Sarasvatí, Bhadrakálí, Mahálakshmí, Siddhá, slayer of Ruru. Thou art Gáyatrí, Mahárájní, Revatí, and the dweller in the Vindhya hills; thou art Umá and Kátyáyaní, and the dweller in Kailása, the mountain of Śiva.’ When Skandha, and Vasishṭa, and Brahmá, and the others heard thee praised, under these and other titles, by Śiva well skilled in praising, they also praised thee. And by praising thee, O adorable one, immortals, ṛishis, and men obtained, and do now obtain, boons above their desire. So be favourable to me, O bestower of boons and do thou also receive this tribute of the sacrifice of my body, and may prosperity befall my lord the king!” After saying this, he was preparing to cut off his own head,[13] but a bodiless voice was heard at that moment from the air, “Do not act rashly, my son, for I am well-pleased with this courage of thine, so crave from me the boon that thou dost desire.” When Víravara heard that, he said, “If thou art pleased, goddess, then may king Vikramatunga live another hundred years. And may my wife and children return to life.” When he craved this boon, there again sounded from the air the words “So be it!” And immediately the three, Dharmavatí, Sattvavara, and Víravatí rose up with unwounded bodies. Then Víravara was delighted, and took home to his house all those who had been thus restored to life by the favour of the goddess, and returned to the king’s gate.
But the king, having beheld all this with joy and astonishment, went and again ascended the roof of his palace unobserved. And he cried out from above—“Who is on guard at the palace-gate?” When Víravara, who was below, heard that, he answered—“I am here, and I went to discover that woman, but she vanished somewhere as soon as I saw her, like a goddess.” When king Vikramatunga heard this, as he had seen the whole transaction, which was exceedingly wonderful, he reflected with himself alone in the night: “Oh! surely this man is an unheard of marvel of heroism, to perform such an exceedingly meritorious action, and not to give any account of it. The sea, though deep, and broad, and full of great monsters,[14] does not vie with this man, who is firm even in the shock of a mighty tempest. What return can I make to him, who secretly redeemed my life this night by the sacrifice of his son and wife?” Thus reflecting, the king descended from the roof of the palace, and went into his private apartments, and passed that night in smiling. And in the morning, when Víravara was present in the great assembly, he related his wonderful exploit that night. Then all praised that Víravara, and the king conferred on him and his son a turban of honour. And he gave him many domains, horses, jewels, and elephants, and ten crores of gold pieces, and a salary sixty times as great as before. And immediately the Bráhman Víravara became equal to a king, with a lofty umbrella, being prosperous, himself and his family.
When the minister Gomukha had told this tale, he again said to Naraváhanadatta, summing up the subject—“Thus, king, do sovereigns, by their merit in a previous life, sometimes fall in with exceptionally heroic servants, who, in their nobility of soul, abandoning regard for their lives and all other possessions for the sake of their master, conquer completely the two worlds. And Pralambabáhu, this lately arrived heroic Bráhman servant of yours, my king, is seen to be such, of settled virtue and character, a man in whom the quality of goodness is ever on the increase.” When the noble-minded prince Naraváhanadatta heard this from his minister, the mighty-minded Gomukha, he felt unsurpassed satisfaction in his heart.
[1] The word in the original is kárpaṭika. Böhtlingk and Roth explain it in this passage as “ein im Dienste eines Fürsten stehender Bettler.” It appears from Taranga 81, that a poor man became a kárpaṭika by tearing a karpaṭa, a ragged garment, in a king’s presence. The business of a kárpaṭika seems to have been to do service without getting anything for it.
[2] Cp. the 1st Novel in the 10th Day of the Decameron and Ralston’s Russian Folk Tales, p. 197.
[3] There is a pun here. The word paláśa also means “cruel, unmerciful.”
[4] The word used shews that he was probably a Buddhist mendicant.
[5] Cp. Miss Frere’s Old Deccan days, p. 171, and Giles’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, p. 430, where the young lady says to Ma; “You have often asked me for money, but on account of your weak luck I have hitherto refrained from giving you any.”
[6] This story is found in the Hitopadeśa, p. 89 of Johnson’s translation.
[7] These two lines are an elaborate pun—ku = evil, and also earth, guṇa = virtue, and also string, avichára = injustice, also the movement of sheep.
[8] I follow the MS. in the Sanskrit College which reads rodorandhre.
[9] Here with the Sanskrit College MS. I read ruditam for the unmetrical kranditam.
[10] I read dhṛishyan, i. e., rejoicing, from hṛish.
[11] The word sattvavara here means “possessing pre-eminent virtue.”
[12] In śl. 163 (a) I read mama for mayá with the Sanskrit College MS.
[13] The story, as told in Chapter 78, is somewhat different from this.
[14] There is a pun in this word mahásattva. It means noble, good, virtuous, and also full of great monsters.