Story of the chanter of the Sáma Veda.
In another place a Bráhman who had got eight gold máshas as a present, a chanter of the Sáma Veda, received the following piece of advice from a man who was a bit of a roué, “You get enough to live upon by your position as a Bráhman, so you ought now to employ this gold for the purpose of learning the way of the world in order that you may become a knowing fellow.” The fool said “Who will teach me?” Thereupon the roué said to him, “This lady[8] named Chaturiká, go to her house.” The Bráhman said, “What am I to do there”? The roué replied—“Give her gold, and in order to please her make use of some sáma.”[9] When he heard this, the chanter went quickly to the house of Chaturiká; when he entered, the lady advanced to meet him and he took a seat. Then that Bráhman gave her the gold and faltered out the request, “Teach me now for this fee the way of the world.” Thereupon the people who were there began to titter, and he, after reflecting a little, putting his hands together in the shape of a cow’s ear, so that they formed a kind of pipe, began, like a stupid idiot, to chant with a shrill sound the Sáma Veda, so that all the roués in the house came together to see the fun; and they said “Whence has this jackal blundered in here? Come, let us quickly give him the half-moon[10] on his throat.” Thereupon the Bráhman supposing that the half-moon meant an arrow with a head of that shape, and afraid of having his head cut off, rushed out of the house, bellowing out, “I have learnt the way of the world;” then he went to the man who had sent him, and told him the whole story. He replied “when I told you to use sáma, I meant coaxing and wheedling; what is the propriety of introducing the Veda in a matter of this kind? The fact is, I suppose, that stupidity is engrained in a man who muddles his head with the Vedas?” So he spoke, bursting with laughter all the while, and went off to the lady’s house, and said to her, “Give back to that two-legged cow his gold-fodder.” So she laughing gave back the money, and when the Bráhman got it, he went back to his house as happy as if he had been born again.
Witnessing strange scenes of this kind at every step, I reached the palace of the king which was like the court of Indra. And then I entered it, with my pupils going before to herald my arrival, and saw the king Sátaváhana sitting in his hall of audience upon a jewelled throne, surrounded by his ministers, Śarvavarman and his colleagues, as Indra is by the gods. After I had blessed him and had taken a seat, and had been honoured by the king, Śarvavarman and the other ministers praised me in the following words, “This man, O king, is famous upon the earth as skilled in all lore, and therefore his name Guṇáḍhya[11] is a true index of his nature.” Sátaváhana hearing me praised in this style by his ministers, was pleased with me and immediately entertained me honourably, and appointed me to the office of Minister. Then I married a wife, and lived there comfortably, looking after the king’s affairs and instructing my pupils.
Once, as I was roaming about at leisure on the banks of the Godávarí out of curiosity, I beheld a garden called Devíkṛiti, and seeing that it was an exceedingly pleasant garden, like an earthly Nandana,[12] I asked the gardener how it came there, and he said to me, “My lord, according to the story which we hear from old people, long ago there came here a certain Bráhman who observed a vow of silence and abstained from food, he made this heavenly garden with a temple; then all the Bráhmans assembled here out of curiosity, and that Bráhman being persistently asked by them told his history. There is in this land a province called Vakakachchha on the banks of the Narmadá, in that district I was born as a Bráhman, and in former times no one gave me alms, as I was lazy as well as poor; then in a fit of annoyance I quitted my house being disgusted with life, and wandering round the holy places, I came to visit the shrine of Durgá the dweller in the Vindhya hills, and having beheld that goddess, I reflected, ‘People propitiate with animal offerings this giver of boons, but I will slay myself here, stupid beast that I am.’ Having formed this resolve, I took in hand a sword to cut off my head. Immediately that goddess being propitious, herself said to me, ‘Son, thou art perfected, do not slay thyself, remain near me;’ thus I obtained a boon from the goddess and attained divine nature; from that day forth my hunger and thirst disappeared; then once on a time, as I was remaining there, that goddess herself said to me, ‘Go, my son, and plant in Pratishṭhána a glorious garden;’ thus speaking, she gave me, with her own hands, heavenly seed; thereupon I came here and made this beautiful garden by means of her power; and this garden you must keep in good order. Having said this, he disappeared. In this way this garden was made by the goddess long ago, my lord.” When I had heard from the gardener this signal manifestation of the favour of the goddess, I went home penetrated with wonder.