Chapter LI.
We bow before that Gaṇeśa before whom, when dancing, even the mountains seem to bow, for they are made to stoop, owing to the earth being bent by the weight of Niśumbha.
Thus Naraváhanadatta, the son of the king of Vatsa, dwelt in Kauśámbí in the palace of his father, having heard with astonishment of the reign of the king of the Vidyádharas. And once on a time, having gone out hunting, he dismissed his army, and entered a great forest, with Gomukha as his only companion. There the throbbing of his right eye indicated the approach of good fortune, and he soon heard the sound of singing mixed with the notes of a heavenly lyre. After going a short distance to find whence the sound proceeded, he beheld a Svayambhú[1] temple of Śiva, and after tying up his horse, he entered it. And there he beheld a heavenly maiden, surrounded by many other lovely maidens, praising Śiva with the harp. As soon as he saw her, with the effluent streams of her loveliness she disturbed his heart, as the orb of the moon disturbs the heart of the sea. She too looked on him with impassioned, loving, and bashful eye, and had her mind solely fixed on him, and forgot to pour forth her notes. Then Gomukha, who read his master’s soul, began to ask her attendants—“Who is she, and whose daughter is she?” But in the meanwhile a Vidyádharí of mature age, resembling her in feature, descended from heaven, preceded by a gleam red as gold. And she came down, and sat by the side of that maiden, and then the maiden rose up, and fell at her feet. And that mature dame blessed that girl, saying, “Obtain without impediment a husband, who shall be king of all the Vidyádharas.” Then Naraváhanadatta came to that gentle-looking Vidyádharí, and bowed before her, and after she had given him her blessing, he slowly said to her: “Who is this maiden of thine, mother, tell me?” then that Vidyádharí said to him “Listen, I will tell you.”
Story of Alankáravatí.
There is on the mountain-heights of the father of Gaurí,[2] a city named Śrísundarapura, and in it there dwells a king of the Vidyádharas, named Alankáraśíla. That lofty-souled king had a wife named Kánchanaprabhá, and in course of time a son was born to the king by her. And, when Umá announced to his father in a dream that he should be devoted to religion, he named him Dharmaśíla. And in course of time that son Dharmaśíla grew up to be a young man, and the king, having had him taught the sciences, appointed him Crown-prince. Then Dharmaśíla, when appointed Crown-prince, being exclusively devoted to virtue, and self-controlled, delighted the subjects even more than did his father. Then the queen Kánchanaprabhá, the consort of king Alankáraśíla, became pregnant again, and gave birth to a daughter. Then a heavenly voice proclaimed, “This daughter shall be the wife of the emperor Naraváhanadatta.” Then her father gave her the name of Alankáravatí, and the girl gradually grew like a digit of the moon. And in course of time she attained mature youth, and learned the sciences from her own father, and through devotion to the god Śiva, began to roam from temple to temple of his. In the meanwhile that brother of hers, Dharmaśíla, who was saintly, though in the bloom of youth, said in secret to his father Alankáraśíla—“My father, these enjoyments, that vanish in a moment, do not please me; for what is there in this world which is not distasteful at the last? Have you not heard on this point the saying of the hermit Vyása? ‘All aggregations end in dissolution, all erections end in a fall, all unions end in separation, and life ends in death.’ So what pleasure can wise men take in these perishable objects? Moreover, neither enjoyments nor heaps of wealth accompany one into the other world, but virtue is the only friend that never moves a step from one’s side. Therefore I will go to the forest, and perform a severe penance, in order by it to attain everlasting supreme felicity.” When the king’s son Dharmaśíla said this, his father Alankáraśíla was perturbed, and answered him with tears in his eyes; “My son, what is this sudden delusion that has overtaken you while still a boy? For good men desire a life of retirement after they have enjoyed their youth. This is the time for you to marry a wife, and rule your kingdom justly, and enjoy pleasures, not to abandon the world.” When Dharmaśíla heard this speech of his father’s, he answered: “There is no period for self-control or absence of self-control fixed by age; any one, even when a child, attains self-control, if favoured by the Lord, but no bad man attains self-control even when old. And I take no pleasure in reigning, nor in marrying a wife; the object of my life is to propitiate Śiva by austerities.” When the prince said this, his father Alankáraśíla, seeing that he could not be turned from his purpose even by the greatest efforts, shed tears, and said; “If you, who are young, my son, display such freedom from passion, why should not I, who am an old man? I too will go to the forest.” He said this, and went to the world of men, and bestowed on Bráhmans and the poor a myriad loads of gold and jewels. And returning to his city, he said to his wife Kánchanaprabhá: “You must, if you wish to obey my commands, remain here in your own city, and take care of this daughter of ours, Alankáravatí, and when a year has past, there will be on this very day an auspicious moment for her marriage. And then I will give her in marriage to Naraváhanadatta, and that son-in-law of mine shall be an emperor, and shall come to this city of ours.” Having said this to his wife, the king made her take an oath, and then made her return weeping with her daughter, and himself went with his son to the forest. But his wife Kánchanaprabhá lived in her own city with her daughter; what virtuous wife would disobey her husband’s commands? Then her daughter Alankáravatí wandered about to many temples together with her mother, who accompanied her out of affection. And one day the science named Prajnapti said to her, “Go to the holy places in Kaśmíra named Svayambhú, and there offer worship, for then you will obtain without difficulty for a husband, Naraváhanadatta, the sole emperor of all the Vidyádhara kings.” After hearing this from the science, she went with her mother to Kaśmíra and worshipped Śiva in all the holy places, in Nandikshetra, in Mahádevagiri, in Amaraparvata, in the mountains of Sureśvarí, and in Vijaya, and Kapaṭeśvara. After worshipping the husband of Párvatí in these and other holy places, that princess of the Vidyádharas and her mother returned home.
Know, auspicious youth, that this is that very maiden Alankáravatí, and that I am her mother Kánchanaprabhá. And to-day she came to this temple of Śiva without telling me. Then I, perceiving it by the Prajnapti science, came here, and I was told by the same science that you had come here also. So marry this daughter of mine who has been ordained your wife by the god. And to-morrow arrives the day of her marriage appointed by her father, so return for this day, my son, to Kauśámbí your own city. And we will go hence, but to-morrow the king Alankáraśíla will come from the grove of asceticism, and himself give you this daughter of his.
When she said this, Alankáravatí and Naraváhanadatta were thrown into a strange state of distraction, for their eyes were full of tears, since their hearts could not bear that they should be separated from one another even for a night, and they were like chakravákas when the end of the day is near. When Kánchanaprabhá saw them in such a state, she said: “Why do you show such a want of self-restraint because you are to be separated for one night. People, who possess firmness, endure for a long time mutual separation to which no termination is assigned; hear in proof of this the tale of Rámabhadra and Sítá.”