'"(102) There is a city named Ujjayini, the proudest gem of earth,

the very home of the golden age, created by Mahakala, [195] creator,

preserver, and destroyer of the three worlds, and lord of Pramathas,

as a habitation meet for himself, as it were a second earth. There

the sun is daily seen paying homage to Mahakala, for his steeds vail

their heads at the charm of the sweet chant of the women singing in

concert in the lofty white palace, and his pennon droops before him.

(109) '"There darkness never falls, and the nights bring no separation

to the pairs of cakravakas; nor need they any lamps, for they pass

golden as with morning sunshine, from the bright jewels of women,

as though the world were on fire with the flame of love. (110) There

the only unending life is in jewelled lamps, the only wavering in

pearl necklaces, the only variations in the sound of drum and song,

the only disunion of pairs in cakravakas, the only testing of colour

[196] in gold pieces, the only unsteadiness in banners, the only

hatred of the sun [197] in night-lotuses, the only concealment of

metal in the sheathing of the sword. (111) Why should I say more? For

he whose bright feet are kissed by the rays of the jewelled crests

of gods and demons, who hath the river of heaven wandering lost in

his locks tawny with a wreath of flame for the burning of the world;

he the foe of Andhaka; he the holy one; he who hath given up his

love for his home on Kailasa; even he whose name is Mahakala hath

there made a habitation for himself. And in this city was a king

named Tarapida. He was like unto the great kings Nala, Nahusha,

Yayati, Dundhumara, Bharata, Bhagiratha, and Daçaratha; by the might

of his arm he conquered the whole world; he reaped the fruits of the

three powers; [198] wise and resolute, with an intellect unwearied in

political science, and a deep study of the law books, he made in light

and glory a third with the sun and moon. (112) His form was purified

by many a sacrifice; by him the calamities of the whole world were

set at rest; to him Lakshmi openly clung, deserting her lotus-woods

and despising the happiness of her home in the breast of Narayana,

she the lotus-handed, who ever joys in the contest of heroes. He was

the source of truth, ever honoured by the race of saints, as the foot

of Vishnu was of the stream of the heavenly Ganges.

'"From him arose glory, as from the ocean of the moon, for his

brightness, free from heat, consumed his foes; constant, ever roamed;

stainless, darkened the brightness of the lotus-faced widows of his

foes; white, made all things gay. (113) He was the incarnation of

justice, the very representative of Vishnu and the destroyer of all

the sorrows of his people.

(115) '"When he approached the throne that blossomed with the rays of

many gems and was hung with clusters of pearls, like the elephant of

space approaching the tree of desire, all the wide quarters of space,

like creepers weighed down by bees, bowed down before his majesty;

and of him, I think, even Indra was envious. From him, too, proceeded a

host of virtues, like a flock of hamsas from Mount Krauñca, brightening

the earth's surface, and gladdening the hearts of all mankind. His

fame wandered, so that the world echoed with it throughout the ten

regions, making fair the world of gods and demons, like a streak of

foam of the stream of milk tossed by Mandara, ambrosial sweet. His

royal glory never for a moment laid aside the shade of her umbrella,

as though scorched by the heat of a splendour hard to bear. (116)

His achievements were heard by the people like news of good fortune,

were received like the teaching of a guru, were valued like a good

omen, were murmured like a hymn, and were remembered like a sacred

text. And while he was king, though the flight of the mountains was

stayed, the flight of thought was free; suffixes alone were dependent,

and the people feared no foe; nought dared to face him but his mirror;

the pressure of Durga [199] was given to Çiva's image alone; the bow

was only borne by the clouds; there was no uprising save of banners, no

bending save of bows, no shaft sped home save the bee's on the bamboo,

no enforced wandering save of the images of gods in a procession,

no imprisonment save of flowers in their calyx, no restraint save of

the senses; wild elephants entered the pale, but none paled before

the water-ordeal; the only sharpness was in the edge of the sword;

the only endurance of the flame [200] was by ascetics; the only passing

the Balance [201] was by the stars; the only clearing of baneful [202]

waters was in the rising of Agastya; the only cutting short was of

hair and nails; the only stained garb was of the sky on stormy days;

the only laying bare was of gems, and not of secret counsels; the only

mysteries [203] were those of religion; (117) none ceased to behold

the light save slaughtered Taraka [204] in the praises of Kumara; none

dreaded eclipse save the sun; none passed over the First-born [205]

save the moon; none heard of the Disobedient save in the Mahabharata;

none grasped the rod [206] save in the decline of life; none clung

to a sinister object save the sword-sheath; no stream of liberality

was interrupted save the elephant's ichor; no squares were deserted

save those on the dice-board.

'"That king had a minister, by name Çukanasa, a Brahman, whose

intelligence was fixed on all the affairs of the kingdom, whose

mind had plunged deeply into the arts and çastras, and whose strong

affection for the king had grown up in him from childhood. Skilled in

the precepts of political science, pilot of the world's government,

unshaken in resolve by the greatest difficulties, he was the castle of

constancy, the station of steadfastness, the bridge of bright truth,

the guide to all goodness, the conductor in conduct, the ordainer

of all ordered life. Like the serpent Çesha, enduring the weight of

the world; like the ocean, full of life; like Jarasandha, shaping

war and peace; [207] (118) like Çiva, at home with Durga [208];

like Yuddhishthira, a dayspring of Dharma, he knew all the Vedas

and Vedangas, and was the essence of the kingdom's prosperity. He

was like Brihaspati [209] to Sunasira; like Çukra to Vrishaparvan;

like Vaçishtha to Daçaratha; like Viçvamitra to Rama; like Dhaumya to

Ajataçatru; like Damanaka to Nala. He, by the force of his knowledge,

thought that Lakshmi was not hard to win, resting though she were on

the breast of Narayana, terrible with the scars of the weapons of the

demons of hell, and a strong shoulder hardened by the pitiless pressure

of Mount Mandara as it moved to and fro. Near him knowledge spread

wide, thick with many a tendril, and showed the fruits gained from

conquered realms like a creeper near a tree. (119) To him throughout

the earth's surface, measured by the circumference of the four oceans,

and filled with the goings to and fro of many thousands of spies, every

whisper of the kings was known as though uttered in his own palace.

'"Now, Tarapida while yet a child had conquered the whole earth ringed

by the seven Dvipas by the might of his arm, thick as the trunk of

Indra's elephant, and he devolved the weight of the empire on that

councillor named Çukanasa, and having made his subjects perfectly

contented, he searched for anything else that remained to be done.

'"And as he had crushed his enemies and had lost all cause for fear,

and as the strain of the world's affairs had become a little relaxed,

for the most part he began to pursue the ordinary pleasures of youth.

(124) '"And some time passed while the king pursued the pleasures of

youth, and entrusted the affairs of state to his minister; and after

a time he came to the end of all the other pleasures of life, and the

only one he did not get was the sight of a son born to him; so that

his zenana was like reeds showing only flowers without fruit; and as

youth went by there arose in him a regret produced by childlessness,

and his mind was turned away from the desire of the pleasures of sense,

and he felt himself alone, though surrounded by a thousand princes;

blind, though possessed of sight; without support, though supporting

the world.

(125) '"But the fairest ornament of this king was his queen Vilasavati;

as the moon's digit to the braided hair of Çiva, as the splendour

of the Kaustubha gem to the breast of the foe [210] of Kaitabha,

as the woodland garland to Balarama, as the shore to the ocean, as

the creeper to the tree, as the outburst of flowers to the spring,

as the moonlight to the moon, as the lotus-bed to the lake, as the

array of stars to the sky, as the circling of hamsas to Lake Manasa,

as the line of sandal-woods to Mount Malaya, as the jewelled crest to

Çesha, so was she to her lord; she reigned peerless in the zenana,

and created wonder in the three worlds, as though she were the very

source of all womanly grace.

'"And it chanced once that, going to her dwelling, he beheld her

seated on a stately [211] couch, weeping bitterly, surrounded by

her household mute in grief, their glances fixed in meditation, and

attended by her chamberlains, who waited afar with eyes motionless

in anxious thought, while the old women of the zenana were trying

to console her. Her silken robes were wet with ceaseless tears; her

ornaments were laid aside; her lotus-face rested on her left hand; and

her tresses were unbound and in disorder. As she arose to welcome him,

the king placed her on the couch again, and sitting there himself,

ignorant of the cause of her weeping, and in great alarm, wiped away

with his hand the tears from her cheeks, saying: (126) 'My queen,

what means this weeping, voiceless and low with the weight of the

heavy sorrow concealed in thy heart? For these eyelashes of thine are

stringing, as it were, a network of pearls of dropping tears. Why,

slender one, art thou unadorned? and why has not the stream of lac

fallen on thy feet like early sunlight on rosy lotus-buds? And why

are thy jewelled anklets, with their murmur like teals on the lake

of love, not graced with the touch of thy lotus-feet? And why is

this waist of thine bereft of the music of the girdle thou hast laid

aside? And why is there no device painted on thy breast like the deer

on the moon? and why is that slender neck of thine, fair-limbed queen,

not adorned with a rope of pearls as the crescent on Çiva's brow by

the heavenly stream? And why dost thou, erst so gay, wear in vain

a face whose adornment is washed away with flowing tears? And why

is this hand, with its petal-like cluster of soft fingers, exalted

into an ear-jewel, as though it were a rosy lotus? (127) And why,

froward lady, dost thou raise thy straight brow undecked with the

mark of yellow pigment, and surrounded by the mass of thine unbound

tresses? For these flowing locks of thine, bereft of flowers, grieve

my eyes, like the loss of the moon in the dark fortnight, clouded in

masses of thickest gloom. Be kind, and tell me, my queen, the cause

of thy grief. For this storm of sighs with which the robe on thy

breast is quivering bows my loving heart like a ruddy tendril. Has

any wrong been done by me, or by any in thy service? Closely as I

examine myself, I can truly see no failure of mine towards thee. For

my life and my kingdom are wholly thine. Let the cause of thy woe,

fair queen, be told.' But Vilasavati, thus addressed, made no reply,

and turning to her attendants, he asked the cause of her exceeding

grief. Then her betel-nut bearer, Makarika, who was always near her,

said to the king: 'My lord, how could any fault, however slight,

be committed by thee? (128) And how in thy presence could any of thy

followers, or anyone else, offend? The sorrow of the queen is that her

union with the king is fruitless, as though she were seized by Rahu,

and for a long time she has been suffering. For at first our lady

was like one in heavy grief, was only occupied with difficulty by

the persuasion of her attendants in the ordinary duties of the day,

however fitting they might be, such as sleeping, bathing, eating,

putting on of ornaments, and the like, and, like a Lakshmi of the lower

world, ceaselessly upbraided divine love. [212] But in her longing

to take away the grief of my lord's heart, she did not show her sad

change. Now, however, as it was the fourteenth day of the month,

she went to worship holy Mahakala, and heard in a recitation of the

Mahabharata, "No bright abodes await the childless, for a son is he

who delivers from the sunless shades"; and when she heard this, she

returned to her palace, and now, though reverently entreated thereto

by her attendants, she takes no pleasure in food, nor does she busy

herself in putting on her jewels, nor does she vouchsafe to answer

us; (129) she only weeps, and her face is clouded with a storm of

ever-flowing tears. My lord has heard, and must judge.' So saying,

she ceased; and, with a long and passionate sigh, the king spoke thus:

'"'My queen, what can be done in a matter decreed by fate? Enough of

this weeping beyond measure! For it is not on us that the gods are

wont to bestow their favours. In truth, our heart is not destined to

hold the bliss of that ambrosial draught, the embrace of a child of

our own. In a former life no glorious deed was done; for a deed done

in a former life brings forth fruit in man's life on earth; even the

wisest man cannot change destiny. Let all be done that may be done in

this mortal life. Do more honour to the gurus; redouble thy worship of

the gods; let thy good works be seen in thy reverence to the rishis;

for the rishis are a powerful deity, and if we serve them with all our

might, they will give boons that fulfil our heart's desire, hard though

it be to gain. (130) For the tale is an old one how King Brihadratha

in Magadha won by the power of Candakauçika a son Jarasandha, victor

of Vishnu, peerless in prowess, fatal to his foes. Daçaratha, too,

when very old, received by the favour of Rishyaçringa, son of the great

saint Vibhandaka, four sons, unconquerable as the arms of Narayana,

and unshaken as the depths of the oceans. [213] And many other royal

sages, having conciliated ascetics, have enjoyed the happiness of

tasting the ambrosia of the sight of a son. For the honour paid to

saints is never without its reward.

'"'And for me, when shall I behold my queen ready to bear a child,

pale as the fourteenth night when the rising of the full moon is at

hand; and when will her attendants, hardly able to bear the joy of

the great festival of the birth of my son, carry the full basket of

gifts? When will my queen gladden me wearing yellow robes, and holding

a son in her arms, like the sky with the newly-risen sun and the early

sunlight; and when will a son give me joy of heart, with his curly

hair yellow with many a plant, a few ashes mixed with mustard-seed

on his palate, which has a drop of ghi on it as a talisman, (131)

and a thread bright with yellow dye round his neck, as he lies on his

back and smiles with a little toothless mouth; when will this baby

destroy all the darkness of sorrow in my eyes like an auspicious lamp

welcomed by all the people, handed from one to another by the zenana

attendants, shining tawny with yellow dye; and when will he adorn the

courtyard, as he toddles round it, followed by my heart and my eyes,

and gray with the dust of the court; and when will he walk from one

place to another and the power of motion be formed in his knees,

so that, like a young lion, he may try to catch the young tame deer

screened behind the crystal walls? And when, running about at will

in the courtyard, will he run after the tame geese, accompanied

by the tinkling of the anklets of the zenana, and weary his nurse,

who will hasten after him, following the sound of the bells of his

golden girdle; (132) and when will he imitate the antics of a wild

elephant, and have his cheeks adorned with a line of ichor painted in

black aloe, full of joy at the sound of the bell held in his mouth,

gray with the dust of sandal-wood scattered by his uplifted hand,

shaking his head at the beckoning of the hooked finger; and when

will he disguise the faces of the old chamberlains with the juice of

handfuls of lac left after being used to colour his mother's feet;

and when, with eyes restless in curiosity, will he bend his glance

on the inlaid floors, and with tottering steps pursue his own shadow;

and when will he creep about during the audience in front of me as I

stand in my audience-hall, with his eyes wandering bewildered by the

rays of the gems, and have his coming welcomed by the outstretched

arms of a thousand kings? Thinking on a hundred such desires, I pass

my nights in suffering. Me, too, the grief arising from our want of

children burns like a fire day and night. The world seems empty;

I look on my kingdom as without fruit. But what can I do towards

Brahma, from whom there is no appeal? Therefore, my queen, cease

thy continual grief. Let thy heart be devoted to endurance and to

duty. For increase of blessings is ever nigh at hand for those who

set their thoughts on duty.' (133) Thus saying, with a hand like

a fresh tendril, he took water and wiped her tear-stained face,

which showed as an opening lotus; and having comforted her again and

again with many a speech sweet with a hundred endearments, skilled to

drive away grief, and full of instruction about duty, he at last left

her. And when he was gone, Vilasavati's sorrow was a little soothed,

and she went about her usual daily duties, such as putting on of her

adornments. And from that time forth she was more and more devoted to

propitiating the gods, honouring Brahmans, and paying reverence to

all holy persons; whatever recommendation she heard from any source

she practised in her longing for a child, nor did she count the

fatigue, however great; she slept within the temples of Durga, dark

with smoke of bdellium ceaselessly burnt, on a bed of clubs covered

with green grass, fasting, her pure form clothed in white raiment;

(134) she bathed under cows endued with auspicious marks, adorned for

the occasion by the wives of the old cowherds in the herd-stations,

with golden pitchers laden with all sorts of jewels, decorated with

branches of the pipal, decked with divers fruits and flowers and

filled with holy water; every day she would rise and give to Brahmans

golden mustard-leaves adorned with every gem; she stood in the midst

of a circle drawn by the king himself, in a place where four roads

meet, on the fourteenth night of the dark fortnight, and performed

auspicious rites of bathing, in which the gods of the quarters were

gladdened by the various oblations offered; she honoured the shrines

of the siddhas and sought the houses of neighbouring Matrikas, [214]

in which faith was displayed by the people; she bathed in all the

celebrated snake-ponds; with a sun-wise turn, she worshipped the pipal

and other trees to which honour was wont to be shown; after bathing,

with hands circled by swaying bracelets, she herself gave to the

birds an offering of curds and boiled rice placed in a silver cup;

she offered daily to the goddess Durga a sacrifice consisting of

parched grain of oblation, boiled rice, sesamum sweetmeats, cakes,

unguents, incense, and flowers, in abundance; (135) she besought,

with a mind prostrate in adoration, the naked wandering ascetics,

bearing the name of siddhas, and carrying their begging-bowls filled

by her; she greatly honoured the directions of fortune-tellers;

she frequented all the soothsayers learned in signs; she showed all

respect to those who understood the omens of birds; she accepted all

the secrets handed down in the tradition of a succession of venerable

sages; in her longing for the sight of a son, she made the Brahmans

who came into her presence chant the Veda; she heard sacred stories

incessantly repeated; she carried about little caskets of mantras

filled with birch-leaves written over in yellow letters; she tied

strings of medicinal plants as amulets; even her attendants went

out to hear passing sounds and grasped the omens arising from them;

she daily threw out lumps of flesh in the evening for the jackals;

she told the pandits the wonders of her dreams, and at the cross-roads

she offered oblation to Çiva.

'"And as time went on, it chanced once that near the end of night,

when the sky was gray as an old pigeon's wing, and but few stars

were left, the king saw in a dream the full moon entering the mouth

of Vilasavati, as she rested on the roof of her white palace, like a

ball of lotus-fibres into the mouth of an elephant. (136) Thereupon

he woke, and arising, shedding brightness through his dwelling by

the joyous dilation of his eyes, he straightway called Çukanasa

and told him the dream; whereto the latter, filled with sudden joy,

replied: 'Sire, our wishes and those of thy subjects are at length

fulfilled. After a few days my lord will doubtless experience the

happiness of beholding the lotus-face of a son; for I, too, this night

in a dream saw a white-robed Brahman, of godlike bearing and calm

aspect, place in Manorama's [215] lap a lotus that rained drops of

honey, with a hundred outspread white petals, like the moon's digits,

and a thousand quivering stamens forming its matted locks. Now,

all auspicious omens which come to us foretell the near approach of

joy; and what other cause of joy can there be than this? for dreams

seen at the close of night are wont to bear fruit in truth. (137)

Certainly ere long the queen shall bear a son that, like Mandhatri,

shall be a leader among all royal sages, and a cause of joy to all the

world; and he shall gladden thy heart, O king, as the lotus-pool in

autumn with its burst of fresh lotuses gladdens the royal elephant;

by him thy kingly line shall become strong to bear the weight of

the world, and shall be unbroken in its succession as the stream of

a wild elephant's ichor.' As he thus spoke, the king, taking him by

the hand, entered the inner apartments and gladdened the queen, with

both their dreams. And after some days, by the grace of the gods,

the hope of a child came to Vilasavati, like the moon's image on a

lake, and she became thereby yet more glorious, like the line of the

Nandana wood with the tree of Paradise, or the breast of Vishnu with

the Kaustubha gem.

(138) '"On one memorable day the king had gone at evening to an inner

pavilion, where, encircled by a thousand lamps, burning bright with

abundance of scented oil, he was like the full moon in the midst of

stars, or like Narayana seated among the thousand jewelled hoods of

the king of snakes; he was surrounded only by a few great kings who

had received the sprinkling of coronation; his own attendants stood

at some distance; close by Çukanasa was sitting on a high stool, clad

in white silk, with little adornment, a statesman profound as the

depths of ocean; and with him the king was holding a conversation on

many topics, full of the confidence that had grown with their growth,

when he was approached by the handmaiden Kulavardhana, the queen's

chief attendant, always skilled in the ways of a court, well trained

by nearness to royalty, and versed in all auspicious ceremonies,

who whispered in his ear the news about Vilasavati. (139) At her

words, so fresh to his ears, the king's limbs were bedewed as if

with ambrosia, a thrill passed through his whole body, and he was

bewildered with the draught of joy; his cheeks burst into a smile;

under the guise of the bright flash of his teeth he scattered abroad

the happiness that overflowed his heart, and his eye, with its pupil

quivering, and its lashes wet with tears of gladness, fell on the face

of Çukanasa. And when Çukanasa saw the king's exceeding joy, such as he

had never seen before, and beheld the approach of Kulavardhana with a

radiant smile on her face, though he had not heard the tidings, yet,

from constantly revolving the matter in his mind, he saw no other

cause befitting the time of this excess of gladness; (140) he saw

all, and bringing his seat closer to the king, said in a low voice:

'My lord, there is some truth in that dream; for Kulavardhana has

her eyes radiant, and thy twin eyes announce a cause of great joy,

for they are dilated, their pupils are tremulous, and they are bathed

in tears of joy, and as they seem to creep to the lobes of thy ears

in their eagerness to hear the good tidings, they produce, as it were,

the beauty of an ear-pendant of blue lotuses. My longing heart yearns

to hear the festival that has sprung up for it. Therefore let my lord

tell me what is this news.' When he had thus said, the king replied

with a smile: 'If it is true as she says, then all our dream is true;

but I cannot believe it. How should so great a happiness fall to

our lot? For we are no fitting vessel for the bearing of such good

tidings. Kulavardhana is always truthful, and yet when I consider

how unworthy I am of such joy, I look upon her as having changed her

nature. Rise, therefore; I myself will go and ask the queen if it is

true, and then I shall know.' (141) So saying, he dismissed all the

kings, and taking off his ornaments, gave them to Kulavardhana, and

when, on his gracious dismissal of her with gifts, he received her

homage paid with a deep reverence as she touched the earth with her

straight brow, he rose with Çukanasa and went to the inner apartments,

hurried on by a mind filled with exceeding happiness, and gladdened

by the throbbing of his right eye, which seemed to mimic the play of

a blue lotus-petal stirred by the wind. He was followed by a scanty

retinue, as befitted so late a visit, and had the thick darkness of

the courtyard dispelled by the brightness of the lamps of the women

who went before him, though their steady flame flickered in the wind."'

[Bana then describes the birth of Tarapida's son, who is named

Candrapida, from the king's dream about the moon, and also that of

Çukanasa's son Vaiçampayana. [216]]

(155) '"And as Candrapida underwent in due course all the circle of

ceremonies, beginning with the tying of his top-knot, his childhood

passed away; and to prevent distraction, Tarapida had built for him

a palace of learning outside the city, stretching half a league along

the Sipra river, surrounded by a wall of white bricks like the circle

of peaks of a snow-mountain, girt with a great moat running along

the walls, guarded by very strong gates, having one door kept open

for ingress, with stables for horses and palanquins close by, and

a gymnasium constructed beneath--a fit palace for the immortals. He

took infinite pains in gathering there teachers of every science, and

having placed the boy there, like a young lion in a cage, forbidding

all egress, surrounding him with a suite composed mainly of the sons

of his teachers, removing every allurement to the sports of boyhood,

and keeping his mind free from distraction, on an auspicious day (156)

he entrusted him, together with Vaiçampayana, to masters, that they

might acquire all knowledge. Every day when he rose, the king, with

Vilasavati and a small retinue, went to watch him, and Candrapida,

undisturbed in mind and kept to his work by the king, quickly grasped

all the sciences taught him by teachers, whose efforts were quickened

by his great powers, as they brought to light his natural abilities;

the whole range of arts assembled in his mind as in a pure jewelled

mirror. He gained the highest skill in word, sentence, proof, law,

and royal policy; in gymnastics; in all kinds of weapons, such as

the bow, quoit, shield, scimitar, dart, mace, battle-axe, and club;

in driving and elephant-riding; in musical instruments, such as the

lute, fife, drum, cymbal, and pipe; in the laws of dancing laid down

by Bharata and others, and the science of music, such as that of

Narada; in the management of elephants, the knowledge of a horse's

age, and the marks of men; in painting, leaf-cutting, the use of

books, and writing; in all the arts of gambling, knowledge of the

cries of birds, and astronomy; in testing of jewels, (157) carpentry,

the working of ivory; in architecture, physic, mechanics, antidotes,

mining, crossing of rivers, leaping and jumping, and sleight of hand;

in stories, dramas, romances, poems; in the Mahabharata, the Puranas,

the Itihasas, and the Ramayana; in all kinds of writing, all foreign

languages, all technicalities, all mechanical arts; in metre, and

in every other art. And while he ceaselessly studied, even in his

childhood an inborn vigour like that of Bhima shone forth in him

and stirred the world to wonder. For when he was but in play the

young elephants, who had attacked him as if he were a lion's whelp,

had their limbs bowed down by his grasp on their ears, and could not

move; with one stroke of his scimitar he cut down palm-trees as if

they were lotus-stalks; his shafts, like those of Paraçurama when

he blazed to consume the forest of earth's royal stems, cleft only

the loftiest peaks; he exercised himself with an iron club which

ten men were needed to lift; and, except in bodily strength, he was

followed close in all his accomplishments by Vaiçampayana, (158)

who, by reason of the honour Candrapida felt for his deep learning,

and of his reverence due to Çukanasa, and because they had played in

the dust and grown up together, was the prince's chief friend, and,

as it were, his second heart, and the home of all his confidences. He

would not be without Vaiçampayana for a moment, while Vaiçampayana

never for an instant ceased to follow him, any more than the day

would cease to follow the sun.

'"And while Candrapida was thus pursuing his acquaintance with all

knowledge, the spring of youth, loved of the three worlds as the amrita

draught of the ocean, gladdening the hearts of men as moonrise gladdens

the gloaming; transient in change of iridescent glow, like the full

arch of Indra's bow to the rainy season; weapon of love, like the

outburst of flowers to the tree of desire; beautiful in ever freshly

revealed glow, like sunrise to the lotus-grove; ready for all play

of graceful motion, like the plumes of the peacock, became manifest

and brought to flower in him, fair as he was, a double beauty; love,

lord of the hour, stood ever nigh, as if to do his bidding; his chest

expanded like his beauty; his limbs won fulness, like the wishes of his

friends; his waist became slender, like the host of his foes; (159)

his form broadened, like his liberality; his majesty grew, like his

hair; his arms hung down more and more, like the plaits of his enemies'

wives; his eyes became brighter, like his conduct; his shoulders broad,

like his knowledge; and his heart deep, like his voice.

'"And so in due course the king, learning that Candrapida had grown to

youth, and had completed his knowledge of all the arts, studied all the

sciences, and won great praise from his teachers, summoned Balahaka,

a mighty warrior, and, with a large escort of cavalry and infantry,

sent him on a very auspicious day to fetch the prince. And Balahaka,

going to the palace of learning, entered, announced by the porters,

and bending his head till its crest-jewels rested on the ground,

sat down, by the prince's permission, on a seat befitting his office,

as reverently as though in the king's presence; after a short pause

he approached Candrapida and respectfully gave the king's message:

'Prince, the king bids me say: "Our desires are fulfilled; the çastras

have been studied; all the arts have been learnt; thou hast gained

the highest skill in all the martial sciences. (160) All thy teachers

give thee permission to leave the house of learning. Let the people

see that thou hast received thy training, like a young royal elephant

come out from the enclosure, having in thy mind the whole orb of

the arts, like the full moon newly risen. Let the eyes of the world,

long eager to behold thee, fulfil their true function; for all the

zenanas are yearning for thy sight. This is now the tenth year of

thine abode in the school, and thou didst enter it having reached

the experience of thy sixth year. This year, then, so reckoned, is

the sixteenth of thy life. Now, therefore, when thou hast come forth

and shown thyself to all the mothers longing to see thee, and hast

saluted those who deserve thy honour, do thou lay aside thy early

discipline, and experience at thy will the pleasures of the court

and the delights of fresh youth. Pay thy respects to the chiefs;

honour the Brahmans; protect thy people; gladden thy kinsfolk. There

stands at the door, sent by the king, this horse, named Indrayudha,

swift as Garuda or as the wind, the chief jewel of the three worlds;

(161) for in truth the monarch of Persia, who esteemed him the wonder

of the universe, sent him with this message: 'This noble steed, sprung

straight from the waters of ocean, was found by me, and is worthy for

thee, O king, to mount;' and when he was shown to those skilled in a

horse's points, they said: 'He has all the marks of which men tell us

as belonging to Uccaihçravas; there never has been nor will be a steed

like him.' Therefore let him be honoured by thy mounting him. These

thousand princes, all sons of anointed kings, highly-trained, heroic,

wise, and accomplished, and of long descent, sent for thine escort,

wait on horseback, all eager to salute thee."' Having thus said,

Balahaka paused, and Candrapida, laying his father's command on his

head, in a voice deep as a new cloud gave the order, 'Let Indrayudha

be brought,' for he desired to mount him.

'"Immediately on his command Indrayudha was brought, and he beheld that

wondrous steed, led by two men on each side grasping the circle of

the bit, and using all their efforts to curb him. He was very large,

his back being just within reach of a man's uplifted hand; he seemed

to drink the sky, which was on a level with his mouth; with a neigh

which shook the cavity of his belly, and filled the hollows of the

three worlds, he, as it were, upbraided Garuda for his vain trust

in his fabled speed; (162) with a nostril snorting in wrath at any

hindrance to his course, he, in his pride, examined the three worlds,

that he might leap over them; his body was variegated with streaks

of black, yellow, green, and pink, like Indra's bow; he was like a

young elephant, with a many-hued rug spread over him; like Çiva's

bull, pink with metallic dust from butting at Kailasa's peaks; like

Parvati's lion, with his mane crimsoned with the red streak of the

demon's clotted blood; and like the very incarnation of all energy,

with a sound emitted from his ever-quivering nostrils, he seemed

to pour forth the wind inhaled in his swift course; he scattered

the foam-flakes that frothed from his lips from the champing of

the points of the bit which rattled as he rolled it in his mouth,

as if they were mouthfuls of ambrosia drunk in his ocean home. (164)

And, beholding this steed, whose like was never before seen, in form

fit for the gods, meet for the kingdom of the whole universe, (165)

possessed of all the favourable marks, the perfection of a horse's

shape, the heart of Candrapida, though of a nature not easily moved,

was touched with amazement, and the thought arose in his mind: 'What

jewel, if not this wondrous horse, was brought up by the Suras and

Asuras when they churned the waters of ocean and whirled round Mount

Mandara with the serpent Vasuki revolving in ceaseless gyration? And

what has Indra gained by his lordship of the three worlds if he did not

mount this back, broad as Mount Meru? Surely Indra was cheated by the

ocean when his heart was gladdened by Uccaihçravas! And I think that

so far he has not crossed the sight of holy Narayana, who even now

does not give up his infatuation for riding Garuda. My father's royal

glory surpasses the riches of the kingdom of heaven, in that treasures

such as this, which can hardly be gained in the whole universe, come

here into servitude. From its magnificence and energy, this form of

his seems the shrine of a god, and the truth of this makes me fear to

mount him. For forms like this, fit for the gods and the wonder of

the universe, belong to no common horse. Even deities, subject to a

muni's curse, have been known to leave their own bodies and inhabit

other bodies brought to them by the terms of the curse. (166) For

there is a story of old how Sthulaçiras, a muni of great austerity,

cursed an Apsaras named Rambha, the ornament of the three worlds; and

she, leaving heaven, entered the heart of a horse, and thus, as the

story goes, dwelt for a long time on earth as a mare, in the service of

King Çatadhanvan, at Mrittikavati; and many other great-souled beings,

having had their glory destroyed by the curse of munis, have roamed the

world in various forms. Surely this must be some noble being subject

to a curse! My heart declares his divinity.' Thus thinking, he rose,

wishing to mount; and in mind only approaching the steed, he prayed

thus: 'Noble charger, thou art that thou art! All hail to thee! Yet

let my audacity in mounting thee be forgiven! for even deities whose

presence is unknown taste of a contumely all unmeet for them.'

'"As if knowing his thought, Indrayudha looked at him with eye

askance, the pupil turned and partly closed by the lashing of his

tossing mane, (167) and repeatedly struck the ground with his right

hoof, till the hair on his chest was gray with the dust it cast up,

as though summoning the prince to mount, with a pleasant whinnying

long drawn out into a gentle soft murmur blent with the snorting of

his quivering nostrils. Whereupon Candrapida mounted Indrayudha,

as though invited thereunto by his pleasant neighing; and, having

mounted, he passed out, thinking the whole universe but a span long,

and beheld a cavalcade of which the furthest limits could not be seen;

it deafened the hollows of the three worlds with the clatter of hoofs

breaking up the earth, fierce as a shower of stones let fall from the

clouds, and with a neighing sounding the fiercer from nostrils choked

with dust; it decked the sky with a forest of lances all horrent,

whose shafts gleamed bright when touched by the sun, like a lake half

hidden in a grove of blue lotus-buds upborne on their stalks; from its

darkening the eight quarters with its thousand umbrellas all raised,

it was like a mass of clouds iridescent with the full arch of Indra's

bow shining on them; (168) while from the horses' mouths being white

with foam-flakes cast abroad, and from the undulating line of their

ceaseless curvetting, it rose to sight like a mass of ocean billows

in the flood of final destruction; all the horses were in motion at

Candrapida's approach, as the waves of ocean at the moon's rising;

and the princes, each wishing to be first in their eagerness to pay

their homage, having their heads unprotected by the hasty removal of

their umbrellas, and weary with trying to curb their horses, which

were wild with trampling on each other, drew around the prince. As

Balahaka presented each by name, they bowed, bending low their heads,

which showed the glow of loyalty under the guise of the rays uprising

from the rubies in their waving crests, and which, from their having

buds held up in adoration, were like lotuses resting on the water

in the pitchers of coronation. Having saluted them, Candrapida,

accompanied by Vaiçampayana, also mounted, straightway set out for

the city. (169) He was shaded by a very large umbrella with a gold

stick, borne above him, formed like the lotus on which royal glory

might dwell, like the moon's orb to the moon-lotus grove of royal

races, like an island being formed by the flow of the cavalcade,

in hue like the circle of Vasuki's hood whitened by the sea of milk,

garlanded with many a rope of pearls, bearing the device of a lion

designed above. The flowers in his ears were set dancing by the wind

of the cowries waved on either side, and his praises were sung by many

thousands of retainers running before him, young, for the most part,

and brave, and by the bards, who ceaselessly recited aloud auspicious

verses, with a soft cry of 'Long life and victory.'

'"And as he passed on his way to the city, like a manifestation

of the god of love no longer bodiless, [217] all the people, like

a lotus-grove awakened by the moon's rising, left their work and

gathered to behold him.

'"'Kartikeya scorns the name of Kumara, [218] since his own form is

looked on with scorn by the throng of lotus-faces when this prince is

by. Surely we reap the reward of great virtue in that we behold that

godlike form with eyes wide with the overflow of love sprung up within

us, and upraised in eager curiosity. (170) Our birth in this world

has now brought forth its fruit. Nevertheless, all hail to blessed

Krishna, who in the guise of Candrapida has assumed a new form!' With

such words the city folk folded their hands in adoration and bowed

before him. And from the thousand windows which were unclosed from

curiosity to behold Candrapida, the city itself became as it were a

mass of open eyes; for straightway on hearing that he had left the

palace of learning filled with all knowledge, women eager to see

him mounted the roofs hastily throughout the city, leaving their

half-done work; some with mirrors in their left hand were like the

nights of the full moon, when the moon's whole orb is gleaming; some,

with feet roseate with fresh lac, were like lotus-buds whose flowers

had drunk the early sunlight; some, with their tender feet enmeshed in

the bells of their girdle, fallen to the ground in their haste, were

like elephants moving very slowly, checked by their chain; some were

robed in rainbow hues, like the beauty of a day in the rainy season;

some raised feet that blossomed into the white rays of their nails,

like tame kalahamsas drawn by the sound of the anklets; (171) some

held strings of large pearls in their hands, as if in imitation of

Rati with her crystal rosary grasped in grief for the death of Love;

some, with wreaths of pearls falling between their breasts, were like

the glory of evening when the pairs of cakravakas are separated by a

pure slender stream; some, with rainbow flashes rising from the gems of

their anklets, shone as if lovingly accompanied by tame peacocks; some,

with their jewelled cups half drunk, distilled, as it were, from their

rosy flower-like lips a sweet nectar. Others, too, with their orbed

faces appearing at the interstices of the emerald lattices, presented

to the eyes a lotus-grove with its opening buds traversing the sky,

as they gazed on the prince. On a sudden there arose a tinkling of

ornaments born of hasty motion, with many a sound of lutes struck

sweetly on their chords, blended with the cry of cranes summoned by

the clanging of the girdles, accompanied by the noise of peacocks

shut up in the zenana and rejoicing in the thunder caused by the

stairs being struck by stumbling feet, (172) soft with the murmur of

kalahamsas fluttering in fear of the clash of fresh clouds, imitating

the triumphant cry of Love, taking captive the ears of lovely women

with their ropes of jewels resounding shrilly as they touched one

another, and re-echoing through all the corners of the houses. In

a moment the dense throng of maidens made the palaces seem walled

with women; the ground seemed to blossom by the laying on it of their

lac-strewn lotus-feet; the city seemed girt with grace by the stream

of fair forms; the sky seemed all moon by the throng of orbed faces;

the circle of space seemed a lotus-grove by reason of the hands all

raised to ward off the heat; the sunshine seemed robed in rainbows

by the mass of rays from the jewels, and the day seemed formed of

blue lotus-petals by the long line of bright glances. As the women

gazed on him with eyes fixed and widened in curiosity, the form of

Candrapida entered into their hearts as though they were mirrors or

water or crystal; and as the glow of love manifested itself there,

their graceful speech became straightway mirthful, confidential,

confused, envious, scornful, derisive, coquettish, loving, or full

of longing. (173) As, for instance: 'Hasty one, wait for me! Drunk

with gazing, hold thy mantle! Simpleton, lift up the long tresses

that hang about thy face! Remove thy moon-digit ornament! Blinded

with love, thy feet are caught in the flowers of thine offering, and

thou wilt fall! Love-distraught, tie up thy hair! Intent on the sight

of Candrapida, raise thy girdle! Naughty one, lift up the ear-flower

waving on thy cheek! Heartless one, pick up thine earring! Eager in

youth, thou art being watched! Cover thy bosom! Shameless one, gather

up thy loosened robe! Artfully artless, go on quicker! Inquisitive

girl, take another look at the king! Insatiable, how long wilt thou

look? Fickle-hearted, think of thine own people! Impish girl, thy

mantle has fallen, and thou art mocked! Thou whose eyes art filled

with love, seest thou not thy friends? Maiden full of guile, thou wilt

live in sorrow with thy heart in causeless torment! Thou who feignest

coyness, what mean thy crafty glances? (174) look boldly! Bright with

youth, why rest thy weight against us? Angry one, go in front! Envious

girl, why block up the window? Slave of love, thou bringest my outer

robe to utter ruin! Drunk with love's breath, restrain thyself! Devoid

of self-control, why run before thine elders? Bright in strength, why

so confused? Silly girl, hide the thrill of love's fever! Ill-behaved

girl, why thus weary thyself? Changeful one, thy girdle presseth thee,

and thou sufferest vainly! Absent-minded, thou heedest not thyself,

though outside thy house! Lost in curiosity, thou hast forgotten how

to breathe! Thou whose eyes art closed in the happy imagination of

union with thy beloved, open them! He is passing! Bereft of sense by

the stroke of love's arrow, place the end of thy silken robe on thy

head to keep off the sun's rays! Thou who hast taken the vow of Sati,

thou lettest thine eyes wander, not seeing what is to be seen! Wretched

one, thou art cast down by the vow not to gaze on other men! Vouchsafe

to rise, dear friend, and to look at the blessed fish-bannered god,

[219] without his banner and bereft of Rati, visibly present. (175)

His crest of malati flowers under his umbrella looks like a mass

of moonbeams fallen in under the idea that night has set in, on

his head dark with swarms of bees. His cheek is fair as a garland

of open çirisha flowers touched with green by the splendour of his

emerald earring. Our youthful glow of love, under the guise of rich

ruby rays among the pearl necklaces, shines out eager to enter his

heart. It is so seen by him among the cowries. Moreover, what is he

laughing at as he talks to Vaiçampayana, so that the circle of space

is whitened with his bright teeth? Balahaka, with the edge of his

silken mantle green as a parrot's plumage, is removing from the tips

of his hair the dust raised by the horses' hoofs. His bough-like foot,

soft as Lakshmi's lotus-hand, is raised and sportively cast athwart

his horse's shoulder. His hand, with tapering fingers and bright

as pink lotus-buds, is outstretched to its full length to ask for

betel-nut, just as an elephant's trunk in eagerness for mouthfuls

of vallisneria. (176) Happy is she who, a fellow-bride with earth,

shall, like Lakshmi, win that hand outvying the lotus! Happy, too,

is Queen Vilasavati, by whom he who is able to bear the whole earth

was nourished in birth, as the elephant of the quarters by Space!'

'"And as they uttered these and other sayings of the same kind,

Candrapida, drunk in by their eyes, summoned by the tinkling of their

ornaments, followed by their hearts, bound by the ropes of the rays

of their jewels, honoured with the offering of their fresh youth,

bestrewn with flowers and rice in salutation like a marriage fire,

advancing step by step on a mass of white bracelets slipping from

their languid arms, reached the palace."'

[Dismounting and leaning on Vaiçampayana, he entered the court,

preceded by Balahaka, and passing through the crowd of attendant

kings, beheld his father seated on a white couch and attended by his

guards. [220]]

'"(189) And on the chamberlain's saying 'Behold him!' the prince,

with his head bent low, and its crest shaking, while yet afar off

made his salutation, and his father, crying from afar, 'Come, come

hither!' stretched forth both arms, raised himself slightly from his

couch, while his eyes filled with tears of joy and a thrill passed over

his body, and embraced his reverently-bent son as though he would bind

him fast [221] and absorb him, and drink him in. And after the embrace,

Candrapida sat down on the bare ground by his father's footstool,

kicking away the cloak which had been rolled up and hastily made into

a seat by his own betel-nut bearer, and softly bidding her take it

away; (190) and then Vaiçampayana, being embraced by the king like his

own son, sat down on a seat placed for him. When he had been there a

short time, assailed, as it were, by glances from the women who stood

motionless, with the waving of the cowries forgotten, glances of love,

long as strings of lotus stirred by the wind, from fine eyes tremulous

and askant, he was dismissed with the words, 'Go, my son, salute thy

loving mother, who longs to see thee, and then in turn gladden all

who nurtured thee by thy sight.' Respectfully rising, and stopping

his suite from following him, he went with Vaiçampayana to the zenana,

led by the royal servants meet to enter therein, and approaching his

mother, saluted her"' [as she sat surrounded by her attendants and

by aged ascetic women, who read and recited legends to her [222]].

'"(191) She raised him, while her attendants, skilled in doing her

commands, stood around her, and, with a loving caress, held him in

a long embrace, as though thinking inwardly of a hundred auspicious

words to say, and straightway, when the claims of affection had been

satisfied, and she had embraced Vaiçampayana, she sat down, and drew

Candrapida, who was reverently seated on the ground, forcibly and

against his will to rest in her arms; (192) and when Vaiçampayana

was seated on a stool quickly brought by the attendants, she embraced

Candrapida again and again on brow, breast, and shoulders, and said,

with many a caressing touch: 'Hard-hearted, my child, was thy father,

by whom so fair a form, meet to be cherished by the whole universe,

was made to undergo great fatigue for so long! How didst thou endure

the tedious restraint of thy gurus? Indeed, young as thou art, thou

hast a strong man's fortitude! Thy heart, even in childhood, has lost

all idle liking for childish amusement and play. Ah well, all devotion

to natural and spiritual parents is something apart; and as I now see

thee endowed, by thy father's favour, with all knowledge, so I shall

soon see thee endowed with worthy wives.' Having thus said as he bent

his head, smiling half in shame, she kissed him on the cheek, which was

a full reflection of her own, and garlanded with open lotuses; and he,

when he had stayed a short time, gladdened in turn by his presence the

whole zenana. Then, departing by the royal door, he mounted Indrayudha,

who was standing outside, and, followed by the princes, went to see

Çukanasa,"' [and at the gate of an outer court, filled with priests

of many sects, he dismounted [223]] '"(194) and entered the palace

of Çukanasa, which resembled a second royal court. On entering he

saluted Çukanasa like a second father as he stood in the midst of

thousands of kings, showing him all respect, with his crest bent

low even from afar. Çukanasa, quickly rising, while the kings rose

one after another, and respectfully advancing straight to him, with

tears of joy falling from eyes wide with gladness, heartily, and with

great affection, embraced him, together with Vaiçampayana. Then the

prince, rejecting the jewelled seat respectfully brought, sat on the

bare ground, and next to him sat Vaiçampayana; and when he sat on the

ground, the whole circle of kings, except Çukanasa, leaving their own

seats, sat also on the ground. Çukanasa stood silent for a moment,

showing his extreme joy by the thrill that passed over his limbs,

and then said to the prince: 'Truly, my child, now that King Tarapida

has seen thee grown to youth and possessed of knowledge, he has at

length gained the fruit of his rule over the universe. Now all the

blessings of thy parents have been fulfilled. Now the merit acquired

in many other births has borne fruit. Now the gods of thy race are

content. (195) For they who, like thee, astonish the three worlds,

do not become the sons of the unworthy. For where is thy age? and

where thy superhuman power and thy capacity of reaching boundless

knowledge? Yea, blessed are those subjects who have thee for their

protector, one like unto Bharata and Bhagiratha. What bright deed

of merit was done by Earth that she has won thee as lord? Surely,

Lakshmi is destroyed by persisting in the caprice of dwelling in

Vishnu's bosom, that she does not approach thee in mortal form! But,

nevertheless, do thou with thine arm, as the Great Boar with his

circle of tusks, bear up for myriads of ages the weight of the earth,

helping thy father.' Thus saying, and offering homage with ornaments,

dresses, flowers, and unguents, he dismissed him. Thereupon the

prince, rising, and entering the zenana, visited Vaiçampayana's

mother, by name Manorama, and, departing, mounted Indrayudha, and

went to his palace. It had been previously arranged by his father,

and had white jars filled and placed on the gates, like an image of

the royal palace; it had garlands of green sandal boughs, thousands of

white flags flying, and filled the air with the sound of auspicious

instruments of music; open lotuses were strewn in it. A sacrifice to

Agni had just been performed, every attendant was in bright apparel,

every auspicious ceremony for entering a house had been prepared. On

his arrival he sat for a short time on a couch placed in the hall,

and then, together with his princely retinue, performed the day's

duties, beginning with bathing and ending with a banquet; (196) and

meanwhile he arranged that Indrayudha should dwell in his own chamber.

'"And in these doings of his the day came to a close; the sun's orb

fell with lifted rays like the ruby anklet--its interstices veiled in

its own light--of the Glory of Day, as she hastens from the sky. (198)

And when evening had begun, Candrapida, encircled by a fence of lighted

lamps, went on foot to the king's palace, (199) and having stayed a

short time with his father, and seen Vilasavati, he returned to his

own house and lay down on a couch, many-hued with the radiance of

various gems, like Krishna on the circle of Çesha's hoods.

'"And when night had turned to dawn, he, with his father's leave,

rose before sunrise, in eagerness for the new delight of hunting, and,

mounting Indrayudha, went to the wood with a great retinue of runners,

horses, and elephants. His eagerness was doubled by huntsmen leading

in a golden leash hounds large as asses. With arrows whose shafts

were bright as the leaves of a blossoming lotus, and fit to cleave

the frontal bones of young wild elephants, he slew wild boars, lions,

çarabhas, [224] yaks, and many other kinds of deer by thousands,

(200) while the woodland goddesses looked at him with half-closed

eyes, fluttered by fear of the twanging of his bow. Other animals by

his great energy he took alive. And when the sun reached the zenith,

he rode home from the wood (201) with but a few princes who were well

mounted, going over the events of the chase, saying: 'Thus I killed

a lion, thus a bear, thus a buffalo, thus a çarabha, thus a stag.'

'"On dismounting, he sat down on a seat brought hastily by his

attendants, took off his corselet, and removed the rest of his riding

apparel; he then rested a short time, till his weariness was removed

by the wind of waving fans; having rested, he went to the bathroom,

provided with a hundred pitchers of gold, silver, and jewels, and

having a gold seat placed in its midst. And when the bath was over,

and he had been rubbed in a separate room with cloths, his head

was covered with a strip of pure linen, his raiment was put on,

and he performed his homage to the gods; and when he entered the

perfuming-room, there approached him the court women attendants,

appointed by the grand chamberlain and sent by the king, slaves of

Vilasavati, with Kulavardhana, and zenana women sent from the whole

zenana, bearing in baskets different ornaments, wreaths, unguents,

and robes, which they presented to him. Having taken them in due order

from the women, he first himself anointed Vaiçampayana. When his own

anointing was done, and giving to those around him flowers, perfumes,

robes, and jewels, as was meet, (202) he went to the banquet-hall,

rich in a thousand jewelled vessels, like the autumn sky gleaming with

stars. He there sat on a doubled rug, with Vaiçampayana next him,

eagerly employed, as was fitting, in praising his virtues, and the

host of princes, placed each in order of seniority on the ground,

felt the pleasure of their service increased by seeing the great

courtesy with which the prince said: 'Let this be given to him,

and that to him!' And so he duly partook of his morning meal.

'"After rinsing his mouth and taking betel, he stayed there a short

time, and then went to Indrayudha, and there, without sitting down,

while his attendants stood behind him, with upraised faces, awaiting

his commands, and talking mostly about Indrayudha's points, he himself,

with heart uplifted by Indrayudha's merits, scattered the fodder

before him, and departing, visited the court; and in the same order

of routine he saw the king, and, returning home, spent the night

there. Next day, at dawn, he beheld approaching a chamberlain, by

name Kailasa, the chief of the zenana, greatly trusted by the king,

accompanied by a maiden of noble form, in her first youth, from

her life at court self-possessed, yet not devoid of modesty, (203)

growing to maidenhood, and in her veil of silk red with cochineal,

resembling the Eastern quarter clothed in early sunshine. (204) And

Kailasa, bowing and approaching, with his right hand placed on the

ground, spoke as follows:

'"'Prince, Queen Vilasavati bids me say: "This maiden, by name

Patralekha, daughter of the King of Kuluta, was brought with the

captives by the great king on his conquest of the royal city of

Kuluta while she was yet a little child, and was placed among the

zenana women. And tenderness grew up in me towards her, seeing she

was a king's daughter and without a protector, and she was long

cared for and brought up by me just like a daughter. Therefore,

I now send her to thee, thinking her fit to be thy betel-bearer;

but she must not be looked on by thee, great prince of many days,

as thine other attendants. She must be cared for as a young maiden;

she must be shielded from the thoughtless like thine own nature;

she must be looked on as a pupil. (205) Like a friend, she must

be admitted to all thy confidences. By reason of the love that has

long grown up in me, my heart rests on her as on my own daughter;

and being sprung from a great race, she is fitted for such duties;

in truth, she herself will in a few days charm the prince by her

perfect gentleness. My love for her is of long growth, and therefore

strong; but as the prince does not yet know her character, this is

told to him. Thou must in all ways strive, happy prince, that she may

long be thy fitting companion."' When Kailasa had thus spoken and was

silent, Candrapida looked long and steadily at Patralekha as she made

a courteous obeisance, and with the words, 'As my mother wishes,'

dismissed the chamberlain. And Patralekha, from her first sight of

him, was filled with devotion to him, and never left the prince's

side either by night or day, whether he was sleeping, or sitting,

or standing, or walking, or going to the court, just as if she were

his shadow; while he felt for her a great affection, beginning from

his first glance at her, and constantly growing; he daily showed

more favour to her, and counted her in all his secrets as part of

his own heart.

'"As the days thus passed on, the king, eager for the anointing of

Candrapida as crown prince, (206) appointed chamberlains to gather

together all things needful for it; and when it was at hand, Çukanasa,

desirous of increasing the prince's modesty, great as it already was,

spoke to him at length during one of his visits: 'Dear Candrapida,

though thou hast learnt what is to be known, and read all the çastras,

no little remains for thee to learn. For truly the darkness arising

from youth is by nature very thick, nor can it be pierced by the sun,

nor cleft by the radiance of jewels, nor dispelled by the brightness

of lamps. The intoxication of Lakshmi is terrible, and does not cease

even in old age. There is, too, another blindness of power, evil, not

to be cured by any salve. The fever of pride runs very high, and no

cooling appliances can allay it. The madness that rises from tasting

the poison of the senses is violent, and not to be counteracted by

roots or charms. The defilement of the stain of passion is never

destroyed by bathing or purification. The sleep of the multitude

of royal pleasures is ever terrible, and the end of night brings no

waking. Thus thou must often be told at length. Lordship inherited even

from birth, fresh youth, peerless beauty, superhuman talent, all this

is a long succession of ills. (207) Each of these separately is a home

of insolence; how much more the assemblage of them! For in early youth

the mind often loses its purity, though it be cleansed with the pure

waters of the çastras. The eyes of the young become inflamed, though

their clearness is not quite lost. Nature, too, when the whirlwind of

passion arises, carries a man far in youth at its own will, like a dry

leaf borne on the wind. This mirage of pleasure, which captivates the

senses as if they were deer, always ends in sorrow. When the mind has

its consciousness dulled by early youth, the characteristics of the

outer world fall on it like water, all the more sweetly for being

but just tasted. Extreme clinging to the things of sense destroys

a man, misleading him like ignorance of his bearings. But men such

as thou art the fitting vessels for instruction. For on a mind free

from stain the virtue of good counsel enters easily, as the moon's

rays on a moon crystal. The words of a guru, though pure, yet cause

great pain when they enter the ears of the bad, as water does; (208)

while in others they produce a nobler beauty, like the ear-jewel on

an elephant. They remove the thick darkness of many sins, like the

moon in the gloaming. [225] The teaching of a guru is calming, and

brings to an end the faults of youth by turning them to virtue, just

as old age takes away the dark stain of the locks by turning them to

gray. This is the time to teach thee, while thou hast not yet tasted

the pleasures of sense. For teaching pours away like water in a heart

shattered by the stroke of love's arrow. Family and sacred tradition

are unavailing to the froward and undisciplined. Does a fire not burn

when fed on sandal-wood? Is not the submarine fire the fiercer in

the water that is wont to quench fire? But the words of a guru are a

bathing without water, able to cleanse all the stains of man; they are

a maturity that changes not the locks to gray; they give weight without

increase of bulk; though not wrought of gold, they are an ear-jewel

of no common order; without light they shine; without startling they

awaken. They are specially needed for kings, for the admonishers of

kings are few. (209) For from fear, men follow like an echo the words

of kings, and so, being unbridled in their pride, and having the cavity

of their ears wholly stopped, they do not hear good advice even when

offered; and when they do hear, by closing their eyes like an elephant,

they show their contempt, and pain the teachers who offer them good

counsel. For the nature of kings, being darkened by the madness of

pride's fever, is perturbed; their wealth causes arrogance and false

self-esteem; their royal glory causes the torpor brought about by the

poison of kingly power. First, let one who strives after happiness

look at Lakshmi. For this Lakshmi, who now rests like a bee on the

lotus-grove of a circle of naked swords, has risen from the milk ocean,

has taken her glow from the buds of the coral-tree, her crookedness

from the moon's digit, her restlessness from the steed Uccaihçrava,

her witchery from Kalakuta poison, her intoxication from nectar, and

from the Kaustubha gem her hardness. (210) All these she has taken

as keepsakes to relieve her longing with memory of her companions'

friendship. There is nothing so little understood here in the world

as this base Lakshmi. When won, she is hard to keep; when bound fast

by the firm cords of heroism, she vanishes; when held by a cage of

swords brandished by a thousand fierce champions, she yet escapes;

when guarded by a thick band of elephants, dark with a storm of ichor,

she yet flees away. She keeps not friendships; she regards not race;

she recks not of beauty; she follows not the fortunes of a family;

she looks not on character; she counts not cleverness; she hears

not sacred learning; she courts not righteousness; she honours not

liberality; she values not discrimination; she guards not conduct;

she understands not truth; she makes not auspicious marks her guide;

like the outline of an aërial city, she vanishes even as we look on

her. She is still dizzy with the feeling produced by the eddying of

the whirlpool made by Mount Mandara. As if she were the tip of a

lotus-stalk bound to the varying motion of a lotus-bed, she gives

no firm foothold anywhere. Even when held fast with great effort

in palaces, she totters as if drunk with the ichor of their many

wild elephants. (211) She dwells on the sword's edge as if to learn

cruelty. She clings to the form of Narayana as if to learn constant

change of form. Full of fickleness, she leaves even a king, richly

endowed with friends, judicial power, treasure, and territory, as she

leaves a lotus at the end of day, though it have root, stalk, bud, and

wide-spreading petals. Like a creeper, she is ever a parasite. [226]

Like Ganga, though producing wealth, she is all astir with bubbles;

like the sun's ray, she alights on one thing after another; like the

cavity of hell, she is full of dense darkness. Like the demon Hidamba,

her heart is only won by the courage of a Bhima; like the rainy season,

she sends forth but a momentary flash; like an evil demon, she, with

the height of many men, [227] crazes the feeble mind. As if jealous,

she embraces not him whom learning has favoured; she touches not

the virtuous man, as being impure; she despises a lofty nature as

unpropitious; she regards not the gently-born, as useless. She leaps

over a courteous man as a snake; (212) she avoids a hero as a thorn;

she forgets a giver as a nightmare; she keeps far from a temperate man

as a villain; she mocks at the wise as a fool; she manifests her ways

in the world as if in a jugglery that unites contradictions. For,

though creating constant fever, [228] she produces a chill; [229]

though exalting men, she shows lowness of soul; though rising from

water, she augments thirst; though bestowing lordship, [230] she

shows an unlordly [231] nature; though loading men with power, she

deprives them of weight; [232] though sister of nectar, she leaves a

bitter taste; though of earthly mould, [233] she is invisible; though

attached to the highest, [234] she loves the base; like a creature of

dust, she soils even the pure. Moreover, let this wavering one shine

as she may, she yet, like lamplight, only sends forth lamp-black. For

she is the fostering rain of the poison-plants of desire, the hunter's

luring song to the deer of the senses, the polluting smoke to the

pictures of virtue, the luxurious couch of infatuation's long sleep,

the ancient watch-tower of the demons of pride and wealth. (213) She is

the cataract gathering over eyes lighted by the çastras, the banner of

the reckless, the native stream of the alligators of wrath, the tavern

of the mead of the senses, the music-hall of alluring dances, the lair

of the serpents of sin, the rod to drive out good practices. She is

the untimely rain to the kalahamsas [235] of the virtues, the hotbed

of the pustules of scandal, the prologue of the drama of fraud, the

roar of the elephant of passion, the slaughter-house of goodness,

the tongue of Rahu for the moon of holiness. Nor see I any who has

not been violently embraced by her while she was yet unknown to him,

and whom she has not deceived. Truly, even in a picture she moves;

even in a book she practises magic; even cut in a gem she deceives;

even when heard she misleads; even when thought on she betrays.

'"'When this wretched evil creature wins kings after great toil by

the will of destiny, they become helpless, and the abode of every

shameful deed. For at the very moment of coronation their graciousness

is washed away as if by the auspicious water-jars; (214) their heart

is darkened as by the smoke of the sacrificial fire; their patience is

swept away as by the kuça brooms of the priest; their remembrance of

advancing age is concealed as by the donning of the turban; the sight

of the next world is kept afar as by the umbrella's circle; truth is

removed as by the wind of the cowries; virtue is driven out as by the

wands of office; the voices of the good are drowned as by cries of

"All hail!" and glory is flouted as by the streamers of the banners.

'"'For some kings are deceived by successes which are uncertain as the

tremulous beaks of birds when loose from weariness, and which, though

pleasant for a moment as a firefly's flash, are contemned by the wise;

they forget their origin in the pride of amassing a little wealth,

and are troubled by the onrush of passion as by a blood-poisoning

brought on by accumulated diseases; they are tortured by the senses,

which though but five, in their eagerness to taste every pleasure,

turn to a thousand; they are bewildered by the mind, which, in

native fickleness, follows its own impulses, and, being but one,

gets the force of a hundred thousand in its changes. Thus they fall

into utter helplessness. They are seized by demons, conquered by imps,

(215) possessed by enchantments, held by monsters, mocked by the wind,

swallowed by ogres. Pierced by the arrows of Kama, they make a thousand

contortions; scorched by covetousness, they writhe; struck down by

fierce blows, they sink down. [236] Like crabs, they sidle; like

cripples, with steps broken by sin, they are led helpless by others;

like stammerers from former sins of falsehood, they can scarce babble;

like saptacchada [237] trees, they produce headache in those near them;

like dying men, they know not even their kin; like purblind [238] men,

they cannot see the brightest virtue; like men bitten in a fatal hour,

they are not waked even by mighty charms; like lac-ornaments, they

cannot endure strong heat; [239] like rogue elephants, being firmly

fixed to the pillar of self-conceit, they refuse teaching; bewildered

by the poison of covetousness, they see everything as golden; like

arrows sharpened by polishing, [240] when in the hands of others they

cause destruction; (216) with their rods [241] they strike down great

families, like high-growing fruit; like untimely blossoms, though

fair outwardly, they cause destruction; they are terrible of nature,

like the ashes of a funeral pyre; like men with cataract, they can

see no distance; like men possessed, they have their houses ruled by

court jesters; when but heard of, they terrify, like funeral drums;

when but thought of, like a resolve to commit mortal sin, they bring

about great calamity; being daily filled with sin, they become wholly

puffed up. In this state, having allied themselves to a hundred sins,

they are like drops of water hanging on the tip of the grass on an

anthill, and have fallen without perceiving it.

'"'But others are deceived by rogues intent on their own

ends, greedy of the flesh-pots of wealth, cranes of the palace

lotus-beds! "Gambling," say these, "is a relaxation; adultery a sign

of cleverness; hunting, exercise; drinking, delight; recklessness,

heroism; neglect of a wife, freedom from infatuation; (217) contempt

of a guru's words, a claim to others' submission; unruliness of

servants, the ensuring of pleasant service; devotion to dance, song,

music, and bad company, is knowledge of the world; hearkening to

shameful crimes is greatness of mind; tame endurance of contempt is

patience; self-will is lordship; disregard of the gods is high spirit;

the praise of bards is glory; restlessness is enterprise; lack of

discernment is impartiality." Thus are kings deceived with more than

mortal praises by men ready to raise faults to the grade of virtues,

practised in deception, laughing in their hearts, utterly villainous;

and thus these monarchs, by reason of their senselessness, have their

minds intoxicated by the pride of wealth, and have a settled false

conceit in them that these things are really so; though subject to

mortal conditions, they look on themselves as having alighted on

earth as divine beings with a superhuman destiny; they employ a pomp

in their undertakings only fit for gods (218) and win the contempt

of all mankind. They welcome this deception of themselves by their

followers. From the delusion as to their own divinity established in

their minds, they are overthrown by false ideas, and they think their

own pair of arms have received another pair; [242] they imagine their

forehead has a third eye buried in the skin. [243] They consider the

sight of themselves a favour; they esteem their glance a benefit; they

regard their words as a present; they hold their command a glorious

boon; they deem their touch a purification. Weighed down by the

pride of their false greatness, they neither do homage to the gods,

nor reverence Brahmans, nor honour the honourable, nor salute those

to whom salutes are due, nor address those who should be addressed,

nor rise to greet their gurus. They laugh at the learned as losing

in useless labour all the enjoyment of pleasure; they look on the

teaching of the old as the wandering talk of dotage; they abuse the

advice of their councillors as an insult to their own wisdom; they

are wroth with the giver of good counsel.

'"'At all events, the man they welcome, with whom they converse,

whom they place by their side, advance, (219) take as companion of

their pleasure and recipient of their gifts, choose as a friend,

the man to whose voice they listen, on whom they rain favours, of

whom they think highly, in whom they trust, is he who does nothing

day and night but ceaselessly salute them, praise them as divine,

and exalt their greatness.

'"'What can we expect of those kings whose standard is a law of

deceit, pitiless in the cruelty of its maxims; whose gurus are family

priests, with natures made merciless by magic rites; whose teachers

are councillors skilled to deceive others; whose hearts are set on a

power that hundreds of kings before them have gained and lost; whose

skill in weapons is only to inflict death; whose brothers, tender as

their hearts may be with natural affection, are only to be slaughtered.

'"'Therefore, my Prince, in this post of empire which is terrible in

the hundreds of evil and perverse impulses which attend it, and in this

season of youth which leads to utter infatuation, thou must strive

earnestly not to be scorned by thy people, nor blamed by the good,

nor cursed by thy gurus, nor reproached by thy friends, nor grieved

over by the wise. Strive, too, that thou be not exposed by knaves,

(220) deceived by sharpers, preyed upon by villains, torn to pieces

by wolvish courtiers, misled by rascals, deluded by women, cheated by

fortune, led a wild dance by pride, maddened by desire, assailed by the

things of sense, dragged headlong by passion, carried away by pleasure.

'"'Granted that by nature thou art steadfast, and that by thy father's

care thou art trained in goodness, and moreover, that wealth only

intoxicates the light of nature, and the thoughtless, yet my very

delight in thy virtues makes me speak thus at length.

'"'Let this saying be ever ringing in thine ears: There is none so

wise, so prudent, so magnanimous, so gracious, so steadfast, and

so earnest, that the shameless wretch Fortune cannot grind him to

powder. Yet now mayest thou enjoy the consecration of thy youth to

kinghood by thy father under happy auspices. Bear the yoke handed down

to thee that thy forefathers have borne. Bow the heads of thy foes;

raise the host of thy friends; after thy coronation wander round the

world for conquest; and bring under thy sway the earth with its seven

continents subdued of yore by thy father.

'"'This is the time to crown thyself with glory. (221) A glorious

king has his commands fulfilled as swiftly as a great ascetic.'

'"Having said thus much, he was silent, and by his words Candrapida

was, as it were, washed, wakened, purified, brightened, bedewed,

anointed, adorned, cleansed, and made radiant, and with glad heart

he returned after a short time to his own palace.

'"Some days later, on an auspicious day, the king, surrounded by a

thousand chiefs, raised aloft, with Çukanasa's help, the vessel of

consecration, and himself anointed his son, while the rest of the

rites were performed by the family priest. The water of consecration

was brought from every sacred pool, river and ocean, encircled by

every plant, fruit, earth, and gem, mingled with tears of joy, and

purified by mantras. At that very moment, while the prince was yet wet

with the water of consecration, royal glory passed on to him without

leaving Tarapida, as a creeper still clasping its own tree passes

to another. (222) Straightway he was anointed from head to foot by

Vilasavati, attended by all the zenana, and full of tender love, with

sweet sandal white as moonbeams. He was garlanded with fresh white

flowers; decked [244] with lines of gorocana; adorned with an earring

of durva grass; clad in two new silken robes with long fringes, white

as the moon; bound with an amulet round his hand, tied by the family

priest; and had his breast encircled by a pearl-necklace, like the

circle of the Seven Rishis come down to see his coronation, strung

on filaments from the lotus-pool of the royal fortune of young royalty.

'"From the complete concealment of his body by wreaths of white flowers

interwoven and hanging to his knees, soft as moonbeams, and from his

wearing snowy robes he was like Narasimha, shaking his thick mane,

[245] or like Kailasa, with its flowing streams, or Airavata, rough

with the tangled lotus-fibres of the heavenly Ganges, or the Milky

Ocean, all covered with flakes of bright foam.

(223) '"Then his father himself for that time took the chamberlain's

wand to make way for him, and he went to the hall of assembly and

mounted the royal throne, like the moon on Meru's peak. Then, when he

had received due homage from the kings, after a short pause the great

drum that heralded his setting out on his triumphal course resounded

deeply, under the stroke of golden drum-sticks. Its sound was as the

noise of clouds gathering at the day of doom; or the ocean struck by

Mandara; or the foundations of earth by the earthquakes that close an

aeon; or a portent-cloud, with its flashes of lightning; or the hollow

of hell by the blows of the snout of the Great Boar. And by its sound

the spaces of the world were inflated, opened, separated, outspread,

filled, turned sunwise, and deepened, and the bonds that held the

sky were unloosed. The echo of it wandered through the three worlds;

for it was embraced in the lower world by Çesha, with his thousand

hoods raised and bristling in fear; it was challenged in space by the

elephants of the quarters tossing their tusks in opposition; it was

honoured with sunwise turns in the sky by the sun's steeds, tossing

[246] their heads in their snort of terror; (224) it was wondrously

answered on Kailasa's peak by Çiva's bull, with a roar of joy in the

belief that it was his master's loudest laugh; it was met in Meru by

Airavata, with deep trumpeting; it was reverenced in the hall of the

gods by Yama's bull, with his curved horns turned sideways in wrath

at so strange a sound; and it was heard in terror by the guardian

gods of the world.

'"Then, at the roar of the drum, followed by an outcry of 'All

hail!' from all sides, Candrapida came down from the throne, and

with him went the glory of his foes. He left the hall of assembly,

followed by a thousand chiefs, who rose hastily around him, strewing

on all sides the large pearls that fell from the strings of their

necklaces as they struck against each other, like rice sportively

thrown as a good omen for their setting off to conquer the world. He

showed like the coral-tree amid the white buds of the kalpa-trees;

[247] or Airavata amid the elephants of the quarters bedewing him with

water from their trunks; or heaven, with the firmament showering stars;

or the rainy season with clouds ever pouring heavy drops.

(225) '"Then an elephant was hastily brought by the mahout, adorned

with all auspicious signs for the journey, and on the inner seat

Patralekha was placed. The prince then mounted, and under the shade of

an umbrella with a hundred wires enmeshed with pearls, beauteous as

Kailasa standing on the arms of Ravana, and white as the whirlpools

of the Milky Ocean under the tossing of the mountain, he started on

his journey. And as he paused in his departure he saw the ten quarters

tawny with the rich sunlight, surpassing molten lac, of the flashing

crest-jewels of the kings who watched him with faces hidden behind the

ramparts, as if the light were the fire of his own majesty, flashing

forth after his coronation. He saw the earth bright as if with his own

glow of loyalty when anointed as heir-apparent, and the sky crimson

as with the flame that heralded the swift destruction of his foes,

and daylight roseate as with lac-juice from the feet of the Lakshmi

of earth coming to greet him.

'"On the way hosts of kings, with their thousand elephants swaying

in confusion, their umbrellas broken by the pressure of the crowd,

their crest-jewels falling low as their diadems bent in homage, (226)

their earrings hanging down, and the jewels falling on their cheeks,

bowed low before him, as a trusted general recited their names. The

elephant Gandhamadana followed the prince, pink with much red lead,

dangling to the ground his ear-ornaments of pearls, having his head

outlined with many a wreath of white flowers, like Meru with evening

sunlight resting on it, the white stream of Ganges falling across it,

and the spangled roughness of a bevy of stars on its peak. Before

Candrapida went Indrayudha, led by his groom, perfumed with saffron

and many-hued, with the flash of golden trappings on his limbs. And

so the expedition slowly started towards the Eastern Quarter. [248]

'"Then the whole army set forth with wondrous turmoil, with its forest

of umbrellas stirred by the elephants' movements, like an ocean

of destruction reflecting on its advancing waves a thousand moons,

flooding the earth.

(227) '"When the prince left his palace Vaiçampayana performed every

auspicious rite, and then, clothed in white, anointed with an ointment

of white flowers, accompanied by a great host of powerful kings, shaded

by a white umbrella, followed close on the prince, mounted on a swift

elephant, like a second Crown Prince, and drew near to him like the

moon to the sun. Straightway the earth heard on all sides the cry:

'The Crown Prince has started!' and shook with the weight of the

advancing army.

(228) '"In an instant the earth seemed as it were made of horses;

the horizon, of elephants; the atmosphere, of umbrellas; the sky,

of forests of pennons; the wind, of the scent of ichor; the human

race, of kings; the eye, of the rays of jewels; the day, of crests;

the universe, of cries of 'All hail!'

(228-234 condensed) '"The dust rose at the advance of the army like

a herd of elephants to tear up the lotuses of the sunbeams, or a

veil to cover the Lakshmi of the three worlds. Day became earthy;

the quarters were modelled in clay; the sky was, as it were, resolved

in dust, and the whole universe appeared to consist of but one element.

(234) '"When the horizon became clear again, Vaiçampayana, looking at

the mighty host which seemed to rise from the ocean, was filled with

wonder, and, turning his glance on every side, said to Candrapida:

'What, prince, has been left unconquered by the mighty King

Tarapida, for thee to conquer? What regions unsubdued, for thee

to subdue? (235) What fortresses untaken, for thee to take? What

continents unappropriated, for thee to appropriate? What treasures

ungained, for thee to gain? What kings have not been humbled? By whom

have the raised hands of salutation, soft as young lotuses, not been

placed on the head? By whose brows, encircled with golden bands,

have the floors of his halls not been polished? Whose crest-jewels

have not scraped his footstool? Who have not accepted his staff of

office? Who have not waved his cowries? Who have not raised the cry of

"Hail!"? Who have not drunk in with the crocodiles of their crests,

the radiance of his feet, like pure streams? For all these princes,

though they are imbued with the pride of armies, ready in their rough

play to plunge into the four oceans; though they are the peers of

the great kings Daçaratha, Bhagiratha, Bharata, Dilipa, Alarka, and

Mandhatri; though they are anointed princes, soma-drinkers, haughty in

the pride of birth, yet they bear on the sprays of crests purified with

the shower of the water of consecration the dust of thy feet of happy

omen, like an amulet of ashes. By them as by fresh noble mountains,

the earth is upheld. These their armies that have entered the heart of

the ten regions follow thee alone. (236) For lo! wherever thy glance

is cast, hell seems to vomit forth armies, the earth to bear them, the

quarters to discharge them, the sky to rain them, the day to create

them. And methinks the earth, trampled by the weight of boundless

hosts, recalls to-day the confusion of the battles of the Mahabharata.

'"'Here the sun wanders in the groves of pennons, with his orb

stumbling over their tops, as if he were trying, out of curiosity,

to count the banners. The earth is ceaselessly submerged under

ichor sweet as cardamons, and flowing like a plait of hair, from the

elephants who scatter it all round, and thick, too, with the murmur

of the bees settling on it, so that it shines as if filled with the

waves of Yamuna. The lines of moon-white flags hide the horizon, like

rivers that in fear of being made turbid by the heavy host have fled

to the sky. It is a wonder that the earth has not to-day been split

into a thousand pieces by the weight of the army; and that the bonds

of its joints, the noble mountains, are not burst asunder; and that

the hoods of Çesha, the lord of serpents, in distress at the burden

of earth pressed down under the load of troops, do not give way.'

(237) '"While he was thus speaking, the prince reached his palace. It

was adorned with many lofty triumphal arches; dotted with a thousand

pavilions enclosed in grassy ramparts, and bright with many a tent

of shining white cloth. Here he dismounted, and performed in kingly

wise all due rites; and though the kings and ministers who had come

together sought to divert him with various tales, he spent the rest

of the day in sorrow, for his heart was tortured with bitter grief for

his fresh separation from his father. When day was brought to a close

he passed the night, too, mostly in sleeplessness, with Vaiçampayana

resting on a couch not far from his own, and Patralekha sleeping hard

by on a blanket placed on the ground; his talk was now of his father,

now of his mother, now of Çukanasa, and he rested but little. At dawn

he arose, and with an army that grew at every march, as it advanced

in unchanged order, he hollowed the earth, shook the mountains, dried

the rivers, emptied the lakes, (238) crushed the woods to powder,

levelled the crooked places, tore down the fortresses, filled up the

hollows, and hollowed the solid ground.

'"By degrees, as he wandered at will, he bowed the haughty, exalted

the humble, encouraged the fearful, protected the suppliant, rooted

out the vicious, and drove out the hostile. He anointed princes in

different places, gathered treasures, accepted gifts, took tribute,

taught local regulations, established monuments of his visit,

made hymns of worship, and inscribed edicts. He honoured Brahmans,

reverenced saints, protected hermitages, and showed a prowess that won

his people's love. He exalted his majesty, heaped up his glory, showed

his virtues far and wide, and won renown for his good deeds. Thus

trampling down the woods on the shore, and turning the whole expanse

of ocean to gray with the dust of his army, he wandered over the earth.

'"The East was his first conquest, then the Southern Quarter, marked

by Triçanku, then the Western Quarter, which has Varuna for its sign,

and immediately afterwards the Northern Quarter adorned by the Seven

Rishis. Within the three years that he roamed over the world he had

subdued the whole earth, with its continents, bounded only by the

moat of four oceans.

(239) '"He then, wandering sunwise, conquered and occupied Suvarnapura,

not far from the Eastern Ocean, the abode of those Kiratas who dwell

near Kailasa, and are called Hemajakutas, and as his army was weary

from its worldwide wandering, he encamped there for a few days to rest.