[17] A tree of Indra’s Paradise that grants all desires.
Chapter II.
Then Pushpadanta wandering on the earth in the form of a man, was known by the name of Vararuchi and Kátyáyana. Having attained perfection in the sciences, and having served Nanda as minister, being wearied out he went once on a time to visit the shrine of Durgá.[1] And that goddess, being pleased with his austerities, ordered him in a dream to repair to the wilds of the Vindhya to behold Káṇabhúti. And as he wandered about there in a waterless and savage wood,[2] full of tigers and apes, he beheld a lofty Nyagrodha tree.[3] And near it he saw, surrounded by hundreds of Piśáchas, that Piśácha Káṇabhúti, in stature like a Śála tree. When Káṇabhúti had seen him and respectfully clasped his feet, Kátyáyana sitting down immediately spake to him. “Thou art an observer of the good custom; how hast thou come into this state?” Having heard this Káṇabhúti said to Kátyáyana, who had shewn affection towards him, “I know not of myself, but listen to what I heard from Śiva at Ujjayiní in the place where corpses are burnt; I proceed to tell it thee.” The adorable god was asked by Durgá—“Whence, my lord, comes thy delight in skulls and burning-places?” He thereupon gave this answer.
“Long ago when all things had been destroyed at the end of a Kalpa, the universe became water: I then cleft my thigh and let fall a drop of blood; that drop falling into the water turned into an egg, from that sprang the Supreme Soul,[4] the Disposer; from him proceeded Nature,[5] created by me for the purpose of further creation, and they created the other lords of created beings,[6] and those in turn the created beings, for which reason, my beloved, the Supreme Soul is called in the world the grandfather. Having thus created the world, animate and inanimate, that Spirit became arrogant:[7] thereupon I cut off his head: then through regret for what I had done, I undertook a difficult vow. So thus it comes to pass that I carry skulls in my hand, and love the places where corpses are burned. Moreover this world resembling a skull, rests in my hand; for the two skull-shaped halves of the egg before mentioned are called heaven and earth.” When Śiva had thus spoken, I, being full of curiosity, determined to listen; and Párvatí again said to her husband, “After how long a time will that Pushpadanta return to us?” Hearing that, Maheśvara spoke to the goddess, pointing me out to her; “That Piśácha whom thou beholdest there, was once a Yaksha, a servant of Kuvera, the god of wealth, and he had for a friend a Rákshasa named Sthúlaśiras; and the lord of wealth perceiving that he associated with that evil one, banished him to the wilds of the Vindhya mountains. But his brother Dírghajangha fell at the feet of the god, and humbly asked when the curse would end. Then the god of wealth said—“After thy brother has heard the great tale from Pushpadanta, who has been born into this world in consequence of a curse, and after he has in turn told it to Mályaván, who owing to a curse has become a human being, he together with those two Gaṇas shall be released from the effects of the curse.” Such were the terms on which the god of wealth then ordained that Mályaván should obtain remission from his curse here below, and thou didst fix the same in the case of Pushpadanta; recall it to mind, my beloved.” When I heard that speech of Śiva, I came here overjoyed, knowing that the calamity of my curse would be terminated by the arrival of Pushpadanta. When Káṇabhúti ceased after telling this story, that moment Vararuchi remembered his origin, and exclaimed like one aroused from sleep, “I am that very Pushpadanta, hear that tale from me.” Thereupon Kátyáyana related to him the seven great tales in seven hundred thousand verses, and then Káṇabhúti said to him—“My lord, thou art an incarnation of Śiva, who else knows this story? Through thy favour that curse has almost left my body. Therefore tell me thy own history from thy birth, thou mighty one, sanctify me yet further, if the narrative may be revealed to such a one as I am.” Then Vararuchi, to gratify Káṇabhúti, who remained prostrate before him, told all his history from his birth at full length, in the following words:
Story of Vararuchi, his teacher Varsha, and his fellow-pupils Vyáḍi and Indradatta.
In the city of Kauśámbí there lived a Bráhman called Somadatta, who also had the title of Agniśikha, and his wife was called Vasudattá. She was the daughter of a hermit, and was born into the world in this position in consequence of a curse; and I was born by her to this excellent Bráhman, also in consequence of a curse. Now while I was still quite a child my father died, but my mother continued to support me, as I grew up, by severe drudgery; then one day two Bráhmans came to our house to stop a night, exceedingly dusty with a long journey; and while they were staying in our house there arose the noise of a tabor, thereupon my mother said to me, sobbing, as she called to mind her husband—“there, my son, is your father’s friend Bhavananda, giving a dramatic entertainment.” I answered, “I will go and see it, and will exhibit the whole of it to you, with a recitation of all the speeches.” On hearing that speech of mine, those Bráhmans were astonished, but my mother said to them—“Come, my children, there is no doubt about the truth of what he says; this boy will remember by heart everything that he has heard once.”[8] Then they, in order to test me, recited to me a Prátiśákhya[9]; immediately I repeated the whole in their presence, then I went with the two Bráhmans and saw that play, and when I came home, I went through the whole of it in front of my mother: then one of the Bráhmans, named Vyáḍi, having ascertained that I was able to recollect a thing on hearing it once, told with submissive reverence this tale to my mother.
Mother, in the city of Vetasa there were two Bráhman brothers, Deva-Swámin and Karambaka, who loved one another very dearly; this Indradatta here is the son of one of them, and I am the son of the other, and my name is Vyáḍi. It came to pass that my father died. Owing to grief for his loss, the father of Indradatta went on the long journey,[10] and then the hearts of our two mothers broke with grief; thereupon being orphans though we had wealth,[11] and, desiring to acquire learning, we went to the southern region to supplicate the lord Kártikeya. And while we were engaged in austerities there, the god gave us the following revelation in a dream. “There is a city called Páṭaliputra, the capital of king Nanda, and in it there is a Bráhman, named Varsha, from him ye shall learn all knowledge, therefore go there.” Then we went to that city, and when we made enquiries there, people said to us: “There is a blockhead of a Bráhman in this town, of the name of Varsha.” Immediately we went on with minds in a state of suspense, and saw the house of Varsha in a miserable condition, made a very ant-hill by mice, dilapidated by the cracking of the walls, untidy,[12] deprived of eaves, looking like the very birth-place of misery.
Then, seeing Varsha plunged in meditation within the house, we approached his wife, who shewed us all proper hospitality; her body was emaciated and begrimed, her dress tattered and dirty; she looked like the incarnation of poverty, attracted thither by admiration for the Bráhman’s virtues. Bending humbly before her, we then told her our circumstances, and the report of her husband’s imbecility, which we heard in the city. She exclaimed—“My children, I am not ashamed to tell you the truth; listen! I will relate the whole story,” and then she, chaste lady, proceeded to tell us the tale which follows: