Subsequent adventures of the second Bráhman.
When I went out that night from the temple in Madirávatí’s dress, her attendants surrounded me under the impression that I was their mistress. And being bewildered with dancing, singing and intoxication, they put me in a palanquin[15] and took me to the house of Somadatta, which was in festal array. In one part it was full of splendid raiment, in another of piled up ornaments; here you might see cooked food provided, there an altar-platform made ready; one corner was full of singing female slaves, another of professional mimes; and a third was occupied by Bráhmans waiting for the auspicious moment.
Into one room of this house I was ushered in the darkness, veiled, by the servants, who were beside themselves with drink and took me for the bride. And when I sat down there, the females surrounded me, full of joy at the wedding festival, busied with a thousand affairs.
Immediately the sound of bracelets and anklets was heard near the door, and a maiden entered the room surrounded by her attendants. Like a female snake, her head was adorned with flashing jewels, and she had a white skin-like boddice; like a wave of the sea, she was full of beauty,[16] and covered with strings of pearls. She had a garland of beautiful flowers, arms shapely as the stalk of the creeper, and bright bud-like fingers; and so she looked like the goddess of the garden moving among men. And she came and sat down by my side, thinking I was her beloved confidante. When I looked at her, I perceived that that thief of my heart had come to me, the maiden that I saw at the Śankha lake whither she had come to bathe; whom I saved from the elephant, and who, almost as soon as seen, disappeared from my sight among the crowd. I was overpowered with excess of joy, and I said to myself, “Can this be mere chance, or is it a dream, or sober waking reality?”
Immediately those attendants of Madirávatí said to the visitor, “Why do you seem so disturbed in mind, noble lady?” When she heard that, she said, concealing her real feelings,[17] “What! are you not aware what a dear friend of mine Madirávatí is. And she, as soon as she is married, will go off to her father-in-law’s house, and I shall not be able to live without her; this is why I am afflicted. So leave the room quickly, in order that I may have the pleasure of a little confidential chat with Madirávatí.”
With these words she put them all out, and fastened the door herself, and then sat down, and under the impression that I was her confidante, began to speak to me as follows; “Madirávatí, no affliction can be greater than this affliction of yours, in that you are in love with one man, and you are given by your father in marriage to another; still you may possibly have a meeting or be united with your beloved, whom you know by having been in his society. But for me a hopeless affliction has arisen, and I will tell you what it is; for you are the only repository of my secrets, as I am of yours.
“I had gone to bathe on a festival in the lake named the lake of Śankha,[18] in order to divert my mind which was oppressed with approaching separation from you. While thus engaged, I saw in the garden near that lake a beautiful blooming young Bráhman, whose budding beard seemed like a swarm of bees come to feed on the lotus of his face; he himself looked like the moon come down from heaven in the day, like the golden binding-post of the elephant of beauty. I said to myself, ‘Those hermits’ daughters who have not seen this youth, have only endured to no purpose hardship in the woods; what fruit have they of their asceticism?’ And even as I thought this in my heart, the god of Love pierced it so completely with his shafts, that shame and fear at once left it together.
“Then, while I looked with sidelong looks at him, whose eyes were fixed on me, there suddenly came that way a furious elephant that had escaped from its binding-post. That scared away my attendants and terrified myself; and the young man, perceiving this, ran, and taking me up in his arms, carried me along way into the midst of the crowd. While in his arms, I assure you, my friend, I was rendered dead to all beside by the joy of his ambrosial touch, and I knew not the elephant, nor fear, nor who I was, nor where I was. In the meanwhile my attendants came up, and thereupon the elephant rushed down on us like Separation incarnate in bodily form, and my servants, alarmed at it, took me up and carried me home; and in the mêlée my beloved disappeared, whither I know not. Ever since that time I do nothing but think on him, who saved my life, but whose name and dwelling I know not, who was snatched from me as one might snatch away from my grasp a treasure that I had found; and I weep all night with the female chakravákas, longing for sleep, that takes away all grief, in order that I may behold him in a dream.
“In this hopeless affliction my only consolation, my friend, is the sight of yourself, and that is now being far removed from me. Accordingly, Madirávatí, the hour of my death draws nigh, and that is why I am now enjoying the pleasure of beholding your face.”
When she had uttered this speech, which was like a shower of nectar in my ears, staining all the while the moon of her face with tear-drops mixed with the black pigment of her eyes, she lifted up the veil from my face, and beheld and recognized me, and then she was filled with joy, wonder, and fear. Then I said, “Fair one, what is your cause of alarm? Here I am at your service. For Fate, when propitious, brings about unexpected results. I too have endured for your sake intolerable sorrow; the fact is, Fate produces a strange variety of effects in this phenomenal universe. Hereafter I will tell you my story at full length; this is not the time for conversation; now devise, if you can, my beloved, some artifice for escaping from this place.” When I said this to the girl, she made the following proposal, which was just what the occasion demanded; “Let us slip out quietly from this house by the back-door; the garden belonging to the house of my father, a noble Kshatriya, is just outside: let us pass through it and go where chance may take us.” When she had said this, she hid her ornaments, and I left the house with her by the way which she recommended.
So in that night I went a long distance with her, for we feared detection, and in the morning we reached together a great forest. And as we were going along through that savage wilderness, with no comfort but our mutual conversation, noon gradually came on. The sun, like a wicked king, afflicted with his rays the earth that furnished no asylum for travellers, and no shelter.[19] By that time my beloved was exhausted with fatigue and tortured with thirst, so I slowly carried her into the shade of a tree, which it cost me a great effort to reach.
There I tried to restore her by fanning her with my garment, and while I was thus engaged, a buffalo that had escaped with a wound, came towards us. And there followed in eager pursuit of it a man on horseback armed with a bow, whose very appearance proclaimed him to be a noble-minded hero. He slew that great buffalo with a second wound from a crescent-headed arrow; striking him down as Indra strikes down a mountain with the dint of a thunder-bolt. When he saw us, he advanced towards us, and said kindly to me, “Who are you, my good sir; and who is this lady; and why have you come here?”
Then I shewed my Bráhmanical thread, and gave him an answer which was half truth and half falsehood; “I am a Bráhman, this is my wife: business led us to a foreign land, and on the way our caravan was destroyed by bandits, and we, separating from it, lost our way, and so came to enter this forest; here we have met you, and all our fears are at an end.” When I said this, he was moved by compassion for my Bráhmanical character, and said “I am a chief of the foresters, come here to hunt; and you way-worn travellers have arrived here as my guests; so now come to my house, which is at no great distance, to rest.”
When he had said this, he made my wearied darling got up on his horse, and himself walked, and so he led us to his dwelling. There he provided us with food and other requisites, as if he had been a relation.[20] Even in bad districts some few noble-hearted men spring up here and there. Then he gave me attendants, who enabled me to get out of that wood, and I reached a royal grant to Bráhmans, where I married that lady. Then I wandered about from country to country, and meeting with a caravan, I have to-day come here with her to bathe in the water of the Ganges. And here I have found this man whom I selected for myself as a friend; and I have seen your Highness; this, prince, is my story.”
When he had said this, he ceased, and the prince of Vatsa loudly praised that Bráhman, who had obtained the prize he desired, the fitting reward of his genuine goodness; and in the meanwhile the prince’s ministers, Gomukha and the others, who had long been roaming about looking for him, came up and found him. And they fell at the feet of Naraváhanadatta, and tears of joy poured down their faces; while he welcomed them all with due and fitting respect. Then the prince, accompanied by Lalitalochaná, returned with those ministers to his city, taking with him those two young Bráhmans, whom he valued on account of the tact and skill they had displayed in attaining worthy objects.
[1] There is of course an allusion to the Mánasa lake.
[2] Here there is a pun; the word translated “bees” can also mean “arrows.”
[3] The god of love, the Buddhist devil.
[4] The word “rati” in Sanskrit means “joy.”
[5] No. 1882 has dhanyá sa cha naro, No. 2166 dhanyaḥ sa cha naro, i. e., Happy is that man.
[6] Two of the India Office MSS. read álinganadhikam̱.
[7] I read sammadaḥ for sampadaḥ. I find it in MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2166.
[8] MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2166 give cha tat for tathá.
[9] More literally “creeper-like chain.”
[10] I have followed Brockhaus’s text, which is supported by MS. No 3003. The other two read tatpremabhayasotkampam.
[11] The words denoting “reflection” “headache” and “ignorance” are feminine in Sanskrit and so the things denoted by them have feminine qualities attributed to them. Ignorance means perhaps “the having no news of the beloved.” All the India Office MSS. read vṛiddhayá for vṛittayá.
[12] Here the reading of MS. No. 1882 is Pápamúlá yatah pápaphalabháram̱ prasúyate Tatkshaneṇaiva bhajyante śíghram̱dhanavishadrumáh. No. 3003 reads práptamulá, tadbhareṇaiva, and bhujyante. No. 2166 agrees with No. 1882 in the main, but substitutes tana for dhana.
I have followed No. 1882, adopting tadbhareṇaiva from No. 3003.
[13] I read yaś chádharmyo ’gradútuḥ. MS. No. 1882 reads yaś chádhamyo; No. 3003 reads yaś chádharmo and No. 2166 reads as I propose.
[14] The word may mean “bridegroom.”
[15] I adopt Dr. Kern’s conjecture áropya sibikám. It is found in two out of three India Office MSS. for the loan of which I am indebted to Dr. Rost.
[16] The word which means “boddice,” means also “the skin of a snake;” and the word translated “beauty” means also “saltness.”
[17] Because she really wanted to talk to Madirávatí about her own love affair.
[18] I omit cha after vinodayitum as it is not found in the three India Office MSS.
[19] The whole passage is an elaborate pun resting upon the fact that the same word means “tribute” and “ray” in Sanskrit. Ákranda sometimes means a protector.
[20] I read bándharavat so. The late Professor Horace Hayman Wilson observes of this story. “The incidents are curious and diverting, but they are chiefly remarkable from being the same as the contrivances by which Mádhava and Makaranda obtain their mistresses in the drama entitled Málatí and Mádhava or the Stolen Marriage.”