Like autumn, she opened her lotus eyes; like the rainy season, she had cloudy tresses; like the circle of the Malaya Hills, she was wreathed with sandal; (24) like the zodiac, she was decked with starry gems; [65] like cri, she had the fairness of a lotus in her hand; like a swoon, she entranced the heart; like a forest, she was endowed with living [66] beauty; like the child of a G.o.ddess, she was claimed by no tribe; [67] like sleep, she charmed the eyes; as a lotus-pool in a wood is troubled by elephants, so was she dimmed by her Matanga [68] birth; like a spirit, she might not be touched; like a letter, she gladdened the eyes alone; like the blossoms of spring, she lacked the jati flower; [69] her slender waist, like the line of Love"s bow, could be spanned by the hands; with her curly hair, she was like the Lakshmi of the Yaksha king in Alaka. [70] She had but reached the flower of her youth, and was beautiful exceedingly. And the king was amazed; and the thought arose in his mind, (25) "Ill-placed was the labour of the Creator in producing this beauty! For if she has been created as though in mockery of her Candala form, such that all the world"s wealth of loveliness is laughed to scorn by her own, why was she born in a race with which none can mate? Surely by thought alone did Praj.a.pati create her, fearing the penalties of contact with the Matanga race, else whence this unsullied radiance, a grace that belongs not to limbs sullied by touch? Moreover, though fair in form, by the baseness of her birth, whereby she, like a Lakshmi of the lower world, is a perpetual reproach to the G.o.ds, [71] she, lovely as she is, causes fear in Brahma, the maker of so strange a union." While the king was thus thinking the maiden, garlanded with flowers, that fell over her ears, bowed herself before him with a confidence beyond her years. And when she had made her reverence and stepped on to the mosaic floor, her attendant, taking the parrot, which had just entered the cage, advanced a few steps, and, showing it to the king, said: "Sire, this parrot, by name Vaicampayana, knows the meaning of all the castras, is expert in the practice of royal policy, (26) skilled in tales, history, and Puranas, and acquainted with songs and with musical intervals. He recites, and himself composes graceful and incomparable modern romances, love-stories, plays, and poems, and the like; he is versed in witticisms, and is an unrivalled disciple of the vina, flute, and drum. He is skilled in displaying the different movements of dancing, dextrous in painting, very bold in play, ready in resources to calm a maiden angered in a lover"s quarrel, and familiar with the characteristics of elephants, horses, men, and women. He is the gem of the whole earth; and in the thought that treasures belong to thee, as pearls to the ocean, the daughter of my lord has brought him hither to thy feet, O king! Let him be accepted as thine."
Having thus said, he laid the cage before the king and retired. (27) And when he was gone, the king of birds, standing before the king, and raising his right foot, having uttered the words, "All hail!" recited to the king, in a song perfect in the enunciation of each syllable and accent, a verse [72] to this effect:
"The bosoms of your foemen"s queens now mourn, Keeping a fast of widowed solitude, Bathed in salt tears, of pearl-wreaths all forlorn, Scorched by their sad hearts" too close neighbourhood."
And the king, having heard it, was amazed, and joyfully addressed his minister k.u.marapalita, who sat close to him on a costly golden throne, like Brihaspati in his mastery of political philosophy, aged, of n.o.ble birth, first in the circle of wise councillors: "Thou hast heard the bird"s clear enunciation of consonants, and the sweetness of his intonation. This, in the first place, is a great marvel, that he should raise a song in which the syllables are clearly separated; and there is a combination of correctness with clearness in the vowels and anunasikas. (28) Then, again, we had something more than that: for in him, though a lower creation, are found the accomplishments, as it were, of a man, in a pleasurable art, and the course of his song is inspired by knowledge. For it was he who, with the cry, "All hail!" straightened his right foot and sang this song concerning me, whereas, generally, birds and beasts are only skilled in the science of fearing, eating, pairing, and sleeping. This is most wonderful." And when the king had said this, k.u.marapalita, with a slight smile, replied: "Where is the wonder? For all kinds of birds, beginning with the parrot and the maina, repeat a sound once heard, as thou, O king, knowest; so it is no wonder that exceeding skill is produced either by the efforts of men, or in consequence of perfection gained in a former birth. Moreover, they formerly possessed a voice like that of men, with clear utterance. The indistinct speech of parrots, as well as the change in elephants" tongues, arose from a curse of Agni."
Hardly had he thus spoken when there arose the blast of the mid-day conch, following the roar of the drum distinctly struck at the completion of the hour, and announcing that the sun had reached the zenith. (29) And, hearing this, the king dismissed his band of chiefs, as the hour for bathing was at hand, and arose from his hall of audience.
Then, as he started, the great chiefs thronged together as they rose, tearing their silk raiment with the leaf-work of their bracelets, as it fell from its place in the hurried movement. Their necklaces were swinging with the shock; the quarters of s.p.a.ce were made tawny by showers of fragrant sandal-powder and saffron scattered from their limbs in their restlessness; the bees arose in swarms from their garlands of malati flowers, all quivering; their cheeks were caressed by the lotuses in their ears, half hanging down; their strings of pearls were trembling on their bosoms--each longed in his self-consciousness to pay his respects to the king as he departed.
The hall of audience was astir on all sides with the sound of the anklets of the cowrie bearers as they disappeared in all directions, bearing the cowries on their shoulders, their gems tinkling at every step, broken by the cry of the kalahamsas, eager to drink the lotus honey; (30) with the pleasant music of the jewelled girdles and wreaths of the dancing-girls coming to pay their respects as they struck their breast and sides; with the cries of the kalahamsas of the palace lake, which, charmed by the sound of the anklets, whitened the broad steps of the hall of audience; with the voices of the tame cranes, eager for the sound of the girdles, screaming more and more with a prolonged outcry, like the scratching of bell-metal; with the heavy tramp on the floor of the hall of audience struck by the feet of a hundred neighbouring chiefs suddenly departing, which seemed to shake the earth like a hurricane; with the cry of "Look!" from the wand-bearing ushers, who were driving the people in confusion before them, and shouting loudly, yet good-naturedly, "Behold!" long and shrill, resounding far by its echo in the bowers of the palace; (31) with the ringing of the pavement as it was scratched by the points of diadems with their projecting aigrettes, as the kings swiftly bent till their trembling crest-gems touched the ground; with the tinkling of the earrings as they rang on the hard mosaic in their owners" obeisance; with the s.p.a.ce-pervading din of the bards reciting auspicious verses, and coming forward with the pleasant continuous cry, "Long life and victory to our king!"; with the hum of the bees as they rose up leaving the flowers, by reason of the turmoil of the hundreds of departing feet; with the clash of the jewelled pillars on which the gems were set jangling from being struck by the points of the bracelets as the chieftains fell hastily prostrate in their confusion. The king then dismissed the a.s.sembled chiefs, saying, "Rest awhile"; and after saying to the Candala maiden, "Let Vaicampayana be taken into the inner apartments," and giving the order to his betel-nut bearer, he went, accompanied by a few favourite princes, to his private apartments. There, laying aside his adornments, like the sun divested of his rays, or the sky bare of moon and stars, he entered the hall of exercise, where all was duly prepared. Having taken pleasant exercise therein with the princes of his own age, (32) he then entered the bathing-place, which was covered with a white canopy, surrounded by the verses of many a bard. It had a gold bath, filled with scented water in its midst, with a crystal bathing-seat placed by it, and was adorned with pitchers placed on one side, full of most fragrant waters, having their mouths darkened by bees attracted by the odour, as if they were covered with blue cloths, from fear of the heat. (33) Then the hand-maidens, some darkened by the reflection of their emerald jars, like embodied lotuses with their leafy cups, some holding silver pitchers, like night with a stream of light shed by the full moon, duly besprinkled the king. (34) Straightway there arose a blare of the trumpets sounded for bathing, penetrating all the hollows of the universe, accompanied by the din of song, lute, flute, drum, cymbal, and tabor, resounding shrilly in diverse tones, mingled with the uproar of a mult.i.tude of bards, and cleaving the path of hearing. Then, in due order, the king put upon him two white garments, light as a shed snake-skin, and wearing a turban, with an edge of fine silk, pure as a fleck of white cloud, like Himalaya with the stream of the heavenly river falling upon it, he made his libation to the Pitris with a handful of water, consecrated by a hymn, and then, prostrating himself before the sun, proceeded to the temple. When he had worshipped civa, and made an offering to Agni, (35) his limbs were anointed in the perfuming-room with sandal-wood, sweetened with the fragrance of saffron, camphor, and musk, the scent of which was followed by murmuring bees; he put on a chaplet of scented malati flowers, changed his garb, and, with no adornment save his jewelled earrings, he, together with the kings, for whom a fitting meal was prepared, broke his fast, with the pleasure that arises from the enjoyment of viands of sweet savour. Then, having drunk of a fragrant drug, rinsed his mouth, and taken his betel, he arose from his das, with its bright mosaic pavement. The portress, who was close by, hastened to him, and leaning on her arm, he went to the hall of audience, followed by the attendants worthy to enter the inner apartments, whose palms were like boughs, very hard from their firm grasp of their wands.
The hall showed as though walled with crystal by reason of the white silk that draped its ends; the jewelled floor was watered to coolness with sandal-water, to which was added very fragrant musk; the pure mosaic was ceaselessly strewn with ma.s.ses of blossoms, as the sky with its bevy of stars; (36) many a golden pillar shone forth, purified with scented water, and decked with countless images, as though with the household G.o.ds in their niches; aloe spread its fragrance richly; the whole was dominated by an alcove, which held a couch white as a cloud after storm, with a flower-scented covering, a pillow of fine linen at the head, castors encrusted with gems, and a jewelled footstool by its side, like the peak of Himalaya to behold.
Reclining on this couch, while a maiden, seated on the ground, having placed in her bosom the dagger she was wont to bear, gently rubbed his feet with a palm soft as the leaves of fresh lotuses, the king rested for a short time, and held converse on many a theme with the kings, ministers, and friends whose presence was meet for that hour.
He then bade the portress, who was at hand, to fetch Vaicampayana from the women"s apartments, for he had become curious to learn his story. And she, bending hand and knee to the ground, with the words "Thy will shall be done!" taking the command on her head, fulfilled his bidding. (37) Soon Vaicampayana approached the king, having his cage borne by the portress, under the escort of a herald, leaning on a gold staff, slightly bent, white robed, wearing a top-knot silvered with age, slow in gait, and tremulous in speech, like an aged flamingo in his love for the race of birds, who, placing his palm on the ground, thus delivered his message: "Sire, the queens send thee word that by thy command this Vaicampayana has been bathed and fed, and is now brought by the portress to thy feet." Thus speaking, he retired, and the king asked Vaicampayana: "Hast thou in the interval eaten food sufficient and to thy taste?" "Sire," replied he, "what have I not eaten? I have drunk my fill of the juice of the jambu fruit, aromatically sweet, pink and blue as a cuckoo"s eye in the gladness of spring; I have cracked the pomegranate seeds, bright as pearls wet with blood, which lions" claws have torn from the frontal bones of elephants. I have torn at my will old myrobalans, green as lotus leaves, and sweet as grapes. (38) But what need of further words? For everything brought by the queens with their own hands turns to ambrosia." And the king, rebuking his talk, said: "Let all this cease for a while, and do thou remove our curiosity. Tell us from the very beginning the whole history of thy birth--in what country, and how wert thou born, and by whom was thy name given? Who were thy father and mother? How came thine attainment of the Vedas, and thine acquaintance with the castras, and thy skill in the fine arts? What caused thy remembrance of a former birth? Was it a special boon given thee? Or dost thou dwell in disguise, wearing the form only of a bird, and where didst thou formerly dwell? How old art thou, and how came this bondage of a cage, and the falling into the hands of a Candala maiden, and thy coming hither?" Thus respectfully questioned by the king, whose curiosity was kindled, Vaicampayana thought a moment, and reverently replied, "Sire, the tale is long; but if it is thy pleasure, let it be heard."
"There is a forest, by name Vindhya, that embraces the sh.o.r.es of the eastern and western ocean, and decks the central region as though it were the earth"s zone. (39) It is beauteous with trees watered with the ichor of wild elephants, and bearing on their crests ma.s.ses of white blossom that rise to the sky and vie with the stars; in it the pepper-trees, bitten by ospreys in their spring gladness, spread their boughs; tamala branches trampled by young elephants fill it with fragrance; shoots in hue like the wine-flushed cheeks of Malabaris, as though roseate with lac from the feet of wandering wood-nymphs, overshadow it. Bowers there are, too, wet with drippings from parrot-pierced pomegranates; bowers in which the ground is covered with torn fruit and leaves shaken down by restless monkeys from the kakkola trees, or sprinkled with pollen from ever-falling blossoms, or strewn with couches of clove-branches by travellers, or hemmed in by fine cocoanuts, ketakis, kariras, and bakulas; bowers so fair that with their areca trees girt about with betel vines, they make a fitting home for a woodland Lakshmi. Thickly growing elas make the wood dark and fragrant, as with the ichor of wild elephants; (40) hundreds of lions, who meet their death from barbaric leaders eager to seize the pearls of the elephants" frontal-bones still clinging to their mouth and claws, roam therein; it is fearful as the haunt of death, like the citadel of Yama, and filled with the buffaloes dear to him; like an army ready for battle, it has bees resting on its arrow-trees, as the points on arrows, and the roar of the lion is clear as the lion-cry of onset; it has rhinoceros tusks dreadful as the dagger of Durga, and like her is adorned with red sandal-wood; like the story of Karnisuta, it has its Vipula, Acala and caca in the wide mountains haunted by hares, [73] that lie near it; as the twilight of the last eve of an aeon has the frantic dance of blue-necked civa, so has it the dances of blue-necked peac.o.c.ks, and bursts into crimson; as the time of churning the ocean had the glory of cri and the tree which grants all desires, and was surrounded by sweet draughts of Varuna, [74] so is it adorned by cri trees and Varuna2 trees. It is densely dark, as the rainy season with clouds, and decked with pools in countless hundreds; [75] like the moon, it is always the haunt of the bears, and is the home of the deer. [76]
(41) Like a king"s palace, it is adorned by the tails of cowrie deer, [77] and protected by troops of fierce elephants. Like Durga, it is strong of nature, [78] and haunted by the lion. Like Sita, it has its Kuca, and is held by the wanderer of night. [79] Like a maiden in love, it wears the scent of sandal and musk, and is adorned with a tilaka of bright aloes; [80] like a lady in her lover"s absence, it is fanned with the wind of many a bough, and possessed of Madana; [81] like a child"s neck, it is bright with rows of tiger"s-claws, [82] and adorned with a rhinoceros; [83] like a hall of revelry with its honeyed draughts, it has hundreds of beehives [84] visible, and is strewn with flowers. In parts it has a circle of earth torn up by the tusks of large boars, like the end of the world when the circle of the earth was lifted up by the tusks of Mahavaraha; here, like the city of Ravana, it is filled with lofty calas [85] inhabited by restless monkeys; (42) here it is, like the scene of a recent wedding, bright with fresh kuca gra.s.s, fuel, flowers, acacia, and palaca; here, it seems to bristle in terror at the lions" roar; here, it is vocal with cuckoos wild for joy; here it is, as if in excitement, resonant with the sound of palms [86] in the strong wind; here, it drops its palm-leaves like a widow giving up her earrings; here, like a field of battle, it is filled with arrowy reeds; [87] here, like Indra"s body, it has a thousand netras; [88] here, like Vishnu"s form, it has the darkness of tamalas; [89] here, like the banner of Arjuna"s chariot, it is blazoned with monkeys; here, like the court of an earthly king, it is hard of access, through the bamboos; here, like the city of King Virata, it is guarded by a Kicaka; [90] here, like the Lakshmi of the sky, it has the tremulous eyes of its deer pursued by the hunter; [91] here, like an ascetic, it has bark, bushes, and ragged strips and gra.s.s. [92] (43) Though adorned with Saptaparna, [93] it yet possesses leaves innumerable; though honoured by ascetics, it is yet very savage; [94] though in its season of blossom, it is yet most pure.
"In that forest there is a hermitage, famed throughout the world--a very birthplace of Dharma. It is adorned with trees tended by Lopamudra as her own children, fed with water sprinkled by her own hands, and trenched round by herself. She was the wife of the great ascetic Agastya; he it was who at the prayer of Indra drank up the waters of ocean, and who, when the Vindhya mountains, by a thousand wide peaks stretching to the sky in rivalry of Meru, were striving to stop the course of the sun"s chariot, and were despising the prayers of all the G.o.ds, yet had his commands obeyed by them; who digested the demon Vatapi by his inward fire; who had the dust of his feet kissed by the tips of the gold ornaments on the crests of G.o.ds and demons; who adorned the brow of the Southern Region; and who manifested his majesty by casting Nahusha down from heaven by the mere force of his murmur.
(44) "The hermitage is also hallowed by Lopamudra"s son Dridhadasyu, an ascetic, bearing his staff of palaca, [95] wearing a sectarial mark made of purifying ashes, clothed in strips of kuca gra.s.s, girt with munja, holding a cup of green leaves in his roaming from hut to hut to ask alms. From the large supply of fuel he brought, he was surnamed by his father Fuelbearer.
"The place is also darkened in many a spot by green parrots and by plantain groves, and is girt by the river G.o.daveri, which, like a dutiful wife, followed the path of the ocean when drunk by Agastya.
"There, too, Rama, when he gave up his kingdom to keep his father"s promise, dwelt happily for some time at Pancavati with Sita, following the great ascetic Agastya, living in a pleasant hut made by Lakshmana, even Rama, the vexer of the triumphs of Ravana"s glory. [96]
"There, even now, the trees, though the hermitage has long been empty, show, as it were, in the lines of white doves softly nestling in the boughs, the hermits" pure lines of sacrificial smoke clinging to them; and there a glow bursts forth on the shoots of creepers, as if it had pa.s.sed to them from Sita"s hand as she offered flowers of oblation; (45) there the water of ocean drunk and sent forth by the ascetic seems to have been wholly distributed among the great lakes round the hermitage; there the wood, with its fresh foliage, shines as if its roots had been watered with the blood of countless hosts of demons struck down by Rama"s many keen shafts, and as if now its palaacas were stained with their crimson hue; there, even yet, the old deer nurtured by Sita, when they hear the deep roar of fresh clouds in the rainy season, think on the tw.a.n.g of Rama"s bow penetrating all the hollows of the universe, and refuse their mouthfuls of fresh gra.s.s, while their eyes are dimmed by ceaseless tears, as they see a deserted world, and their own horns crumbling from age; there, too, the golden deer, as if it had been incited by the rest of the forest deer slain in the ceaseless chase, deceived Sita, and led the son of Raghu far astray; there, too, in their grief for the bitter loss of Sita, Rama and Lakshmana seized by Kabandha, like an eclipse of sun and moon heralding the death of Ravana, filled the universe with a mighty dread; (46) there, too, the arm of Yojanabahu, struck off by Rama"s arrow, caused fear in the saints as it lay on the ground, lest it should be the serpent form of Nahusha, brought back by Agastya"s curse; there, even now, foresters behold Sita painted inside the hut by her husband to solace his bereavement, as if she were again rising from the ground in her longing to see her husband"s home.
"Not far from that hermitage of Agastya, of which the ancient history is yet clearly to be seen, is a lotus lake called Pampa. It stands near that hermitage, as if it were a second ocean made by the Creator in rivalry with Agastya, at the prompting of Varuna, wrathful at the drinking of ocean; it is like the sky fallen on earth to bind together the fragments of the eight quarters when severed in the day of doom. [97] (48) It is, indeed, a peerless home of waters, and its depth and extent none can tell. There, even now, the wanderer may see pairs of cakravakas, with their wings turned to blue by the gleam of the blossoming lotuses, as if they were swallowed up by the impersonate curse of Rama.
"On the left bank of that lake, and near a clump of palms broken by Rama"s arrows, was a large old calmali tree. [98] It shows as though it were enclosed in a large trench, because its roots are always encircled by an old snake, like the trunk of the elephants of the quarters; (49) it seems to be mantled with the slough of serpents, which hangs on its lofty trunk and waves in the wind; it strives to compa.s.s the measurement of the circle of s.p.a.ce by its many boughs spreading through the firmament, and so to imitate civa, whose thousand arms are outstretched in his wild dance at the day of doom, and who wears the moon on his crest. Through its weight of years, it clings for support even to the shoulder of the wind; it is girt with creepers that cover its whole trunk, and stand out like the thick veins of old age. Thorns have gathered on its surface like the moles of old age; not even the thick clouds by which its foliage is bedewed can behold its top, when, after drinking the waters of ocean, they return from all sides to the sky, and pause for a moment, weary with their load of water, like birds amongst its boughs. From its great height, it seems to be on tiptoe to look [99] at the glory of the Nandana [100] Wood; its topmost branches are whitened by cotton, which men might mistake for foam dropped from the corners of their mouths by the sun"s steeds as, beset with weariness of their path through the sky, they come near it in their course overhead; (50) it has a root that will last for an aeon, for, with the garland of drunken bees sticking to the ichor which clings to it where the cheeks of woodland elephants are rubbed against it, it seems to be held motionless by iron chains; it seems alive with swarms of bees, flashing in and out of its hollow trunk. It beholds the alighting of the wings of birds, as Duryodhana receives proofs of cakuni"s [101]
partizanship; like Krishna, it is encircled by a woodland chaplet; [102] like a ma.s.s of fresh clouds its rising is seen in the sky. It is a temple whence woodland G.o.ddesses can look out upon the whole world. It is the king of the Dandaka Wood, the leader of the lordly trees, the friend of the Vindhya Mountains, and it seems to embrace with the arms of its boughs the whole Vindhya Forest. There, on the edge of the boughs, in the centre of the crevices, amongst the twigs, in the joints of the trunks, in the holes of the rotten bark, flocks of parrots have taken their abode. From its s.p.a.ciousness, they have confidently built in it their thousand nests; from its steepness, they have come to it fearlessly from every quarter. Though its leaves are thin with age, this lord of the forest still looks green with dense foliage, as they rest upon it day and night. (51) In it they spend the nights in their own nests, and daily, as they rise, they form lines in the sky; they show in heaven like Yamuna with her wide streams scattered by the tossing of Bala"s ploughshare in his pa.s.sion; they suggest a lotus-bed of the heavenly Ganges flowing away, uprooted by the elephant of heaven; they show forth a sky streaked, as it were, with the brightness of the steeds of the sun"s chariot; they wear the semblance of a moving floor of emerald; they stretch out in the lake of heaven like long twines of Vallisneria; they fan the faces of the quarters wearied with the ma.s.s of the sun"s keen rays, with their wings spread against the sky like plantain leaves; they form a gra.s.sy path stretching through the heaven, and as they roam they grace the firmament with a rainbow. After their meal they return to the young birds which stay in the nest, and give them, from beaks pink as tiger"s claws reddened with the blood of slain deer, the juice of fruits and many a dainty morsel of rice-cl.u.s.ters, for by their deep love to their children all their other likings are subdued; (52) then they spend the night in this same tree with their young under their wings.
"Now my father, who by reason of his great age barely dragged on his life, dwelt with my mother in a certain old hollow, and to him I was, by the decree of Fate, born as his only son. My mother, overcome by the pains of child-birth when I was born, went to another world, and, in spite of his grief for the death of his loved wife, my father, from love to his child, checked the keen onrush of his sorrow, and devoted himself in his loneliness wholly to my nurture. From his great age, the wide wings he raised had lost their power of flight, and hung loose from his shoulders, so that when he shook them he seemed to be trying to shake off the painful old age that clung to his body, while his few remaining tail feathers were broken like a tatter of kuca gra.s.s; and yet, though he was unable to wander far, he gathered up bits of fruit torn down by parrots and fallen at the foot of the tree, and picked up grains of rice from rice-stalks that had fallen from other nests, with a beak the point of which was broken and the edge worn away and rubbed by breaking rice-cl.u.s.ters, and pink as the stalk of the sephalika flower when still hard, and he daily made his own meal on what I left.
(53) "But one day I heard a sound of the tumult of the chase. The moon, reddened by the glow of dawn, was descending to the sh.o.r.e of the Western Ocean, from the island of the heavenly Ganges, like an old hamsa with its wings reddened by the honey of the heavenly lotus-bed; the circle of s.p.a.ce was widening, and was white as the hair of a ranku deer; the throng of stars, like flowers strewn on the pavement of heaven, were being cast away by the sun"s long rays, as if they were brooms of rubies, for they were red as a lion"s mane dyed in elephant"s blood, or pink as sticks of burning lac; the cl.u.s.ter of the Seven Sages was, as it were, descending the bank of the Manasa Lake, and rested on the northern quarter to worship the dawn; the Western Ocean was lifting a ma.s.s of pearls, scattered from open sh.e.l.ls on its sh.o.r.e, as though the stars, melted by the sun"s rays, had fallen on it, whitening the surface of its alluvial islands. The wood was dropping dew; its peac.o.c.ks were awake; its lions were yawning; (54) its wild elephants were wakened by herds of she-elephants, and it, with its boughs raised like reverential hands, sent up towards the sun, as he rested on the peak of the Eastern Mountain, a ma.s.s of flowers, the filaments of which were heavy with the night dews. The lines of sacrificial smoke from the hermitages, gray as the hair of an a.s.s, were gleaming like banners of holiness, and rested like doves on the tree-tops whereon the wood-nymphs dwelt. The morning breeze was blowing, and roamed softly, for it was weary at the end of night; it gladdened swarms of bees by the flowers" perfume; it rained showers of honey dew from the opened lotuses; it was eager to teach the dancing creepers with their waving boughs; it carried drops of foam from the rumination of woodland buffaloes; it removed the perspiration of the weary mountaineers; it shook the lotuses, and bore with it the dewdrops. The bees, who ought to be the drums on the elephant"s frontal-bones to recite auspicious songs for the wakening of the day lotus-groves, now sent up their hum from the hearts of the night-lotuses, as their wings were clogged in the closing petals; (55) the deer of the wood had the markings on their breast, gray with resting on the salt ground, and slowly opened eyes, the pupils of which were still squinting with the remains of sleep, and were caught by the cool morning breeze as if their eyelashes were held together by heated lac; foresters were hastening hither and thither; the din of the kalahamsas on the Pampa Lake, sweet to the ear, was now beginning; the pleasant flapping of the wild elephant"s ears breaking forth caused the peac.o.c.ks to dance; in time the sun himself slowly arose, and wandered among the tree-tops round the Pampa Lake, and haunted the mountain peaks, with rays of madder, like a ma.s.s of cowries bending downwards from the sun"s elephant as he plunges into the sky; the fresh light sprung from the sun banished the stars, falling on the wood like the monkey king who had again lost Tara; [103] the morning twilight became visible quickly, occupying the eighth part of the day, and the sun"s light became clear.
"The troops of parrots had all started to the places they desired; that tree seemed empty by reason of the great stillness, though it had all the young parrots resting quietly in their nests. (56) My father was still in his own nest, and I, as from my youth my wings were hardly fledged and had no strength, was close to him in the hollow, when I suddenly heard in that forest the sound of the tumult of the chase. It terrified every woodland creature; it was drawn out by a sound of birds" wings flying hastily up; it was mingled with cries from the frightened young elephants; it was increased by the hum of drunken bees, disturbed on the shaken creepers; it was loud with the noise of wild boars roaming with raised snouts; it was swollen by the roar of lions wakened from their sleep in mountain caves; it seemed to shake the trees, and was great as the noise of the torrents of Ganges, when brought down by Bhagiratha; and the woodland nymphs listened to it in terror.
"When I heard this strange sound I began to tremble in my childishness; the cavity of my ear was almost broken; I shook for fear, and thinking that my father, who was close by, could help me, I crept within his wings, loosened as they were by age.
"Straightway I heard an outcry of "Hence comes the scent of the lotus beds the leaders of the elephants have trampled! Hence the perfume of rushes the boars have chewed! Hence the keen fragrance of gum-olibanum the young elephants have divided! Hence the rustling of dry leaves shaken down! (57) Hence the dust of antheaps that the horns of wild buffaloes have cleft like thunderbolts! Hence came a herd of deer! Hence a troop of wild elephants! Hence a band of wild boars! Hence a mult.i.tude of wild buffaloes! Hence the shriek of a circle of peac.o.c.ks! Hence the murmur of partridges! Hence the cry of ospreys! Hence the groan of elephants with their frontal bones torn by lion"s claws! This is a boar"s path stained with fresh mud! This a ma.s.s of foam from the rumination of deer, darkened by the juice of mouthfuls of gra.s.s just eaten! This the hum of bees garrulous as they cling to the scent left by the rubbing of elephants" foreheads with ichor flowing! That the path of the ruru deer pink with withered leaves bedewed with blood that has been shed. That is a ma.s.s of shoots on the trees crushed by the feet of elephants! Those are the gambols of rhinoceroses; that is the lion"s track jagged with pieces of the elephant"s pearls, pink with blood, and engraved with a monstrous device by their claws; that is the earth crimsoned with the blood of the newly born offspring of the does; that is the path, like a widow"s braid, darkened with the ichor of the lord of the herd wandering at his will! Follow this row of yaks straight before us! Quickly occupy this part of the wood where the dung of the deer is dried! (58) Climb the tree-top! Look out in this direction! Listen to this sound! Take the bow! Stand in your places! Let slip the hounds!" The wood trembled at the tumult of the hosts of men intent on the chase shouting to each other and concealed in the hollows of the trees.
"Then that wood was soon shaken on all sides by the roar of lions struck by the cabaras" arrows, deepened by its echo rebounding from the hollows of the mountains, and strong as the sound of a drum newly oiled; by the roar from the throats of the elephants that led the herd, like the growl of thunder, and mixed with the ceaseless lashing of their trunks, as they came on alone, separated from the frightened herd; by the piteous cry of the deer, with their tremulous, terrified eyes, when the hounds suddenly tore their limbs; by the yell of she-elephants lengthening in grief for the death of their lord and leader, as they wandered every way with ears raised, ever pausing to listen to the din, bereft of their slain leaders and followed by their young; (59) by the bellowing of she-rhinoceroses seeking with outstretched necks their young, only born a few days before, and now lost in the panic; by the outcry of birds flying from the tree-tops, and wandering in confusion; by the tramp of herds of deer with all the haste of limbs made for speed, seeming to make the earth quake as it was struck simultaneously by their hurrying feet; by the tw.a.n.g of bows drawn to the ear, mingled, as they rained their arrows, with the cry from the throats of the loving she-ospreys; by the clash of swords with their blades whizzing against the wind and falling on the strong shoulders of buffaloes; and by the baying of the hounds which, as it was suddenly sent forth, penetrated all the recesses of the wood.
"When soon afterwards the noise of the chase was stilled and the wood had become quiet, like the ocean when its water was stilled by the ceasing of the churning, or like a ma.s.s of clouds silent after the rainy season, I felt less of fear and became curious, and so, moving a little from my father"s embrace, (60) I stood in the hollow, stretched out my neck, and with eyes that, from my childishness, were yet tremulous with fear, in my eagerness to see what this thing was, I cast my glance in that direction.
"Before me I saw the cabara [104] army come out from the wood like the stream of Narmada tossed by Arjuna"s [105] thousand arms; like a wood of tamalas stirred by the wind; like all the nights of the dark fortnight rolled into one; like a solid pillar of antimony shaken by an earthquake; like a grove of darkness disturbed by sunbeams; like the followers of death roaming; like the demon world that had burst open h.e.l.l and risen up; like a crowd of evil deeds come together; like a caravan of curses of the many hermits dwelling in the Dandaka Forest; like all the hosts of Dushana [106] and Khara struck by Rama as he rained his ceaseless shafts, and they turned into demons for their hatred to him; like the whole confraternity of the Iron Age come together; like a band of buffaloes prepared for a plunge into the water; like a ma.s.s of black clouds broken by a blow from a lion"s paw as he stands on the mountain peak; [107] like a throng of meteors risen for the destruction of all form; it darkened the wood; it numbered many thousands; it inspired great dread; it was like a mult.i.tude of demons portending disasters.
(61) "And in the midst of that great host of cabaras I beheld the cabara leader, Matanga by name. He was yet in early youth; from his great hardness he seemed made of iron; he was like Ekalavya [108]
in another birth; from his growing beard, he was like a young royal elephant with its temples encircled by its first line of ichor; he filled the wood with beauty that streamed from him sombre as dark lotuses, like the waters of Yamuna; he had thick locks curled at the ends and hanging on his shoulders, like a lion with its mane stained by elephant"s ichor; his brow was broad; his nose was stern and aquiline; his left side shone reddened by the faint pink rays of a jewelled snake"s hood that was made the ornament for one of his ears, like the glow of shoots that had clung to him from his resting on a leafy couch; he was perfumed with fragrant ichor, bearing the scent of saptacchada blossoms torn from the cheeks of an elephant freshly slain, like a stain of black aloes; (62) he had the heat warded off by a swarm of bees, like a peac.o.c.k-feather parasol, flying about blinded by the scent, as if they were a branch of tamala; he was marked with lines of perspiration on his cheek rubbed by his hand, as if Vindhya Forest, being conquered by his strong arm, were timidly offering homage under the guise of its slender waving twigs, and he seemed to tinge s.p.a.ce by his eye somewhat pink, as if it were bloodshot, and shedding a twilight of the night of doom for the deer; he had mighty arms reaching to his knees, as if the measure of an elephant"s trunk had been taken in making them, and his shoulders were rough with scars from keen weapons often used to make an offering of blood to Kali; the s.p.a.ce round his eyes was bright and broad as the Vindhya Mountain, and with the drops of dried deer"s blood clinging on it, and the marking of drops of perspiration, as if they were adorned by large pearls from an elephant"s frontal bone mixed with gunja fruit; his chest was scarred by constant and ceaseless fatigue; he was clad in a silk dress red with cochineal, and with his strong legs he mocked a pair of elephants" posts stained with elephants"
ichor; he seemed from his causeless fierceness to have been marked on his dread brow by a frown that formed three banners, as if Durga, propitiated by his great devotion, had marked him with a trident to denote that he was her servant. (63) He was accompanied by hounds of every colour, which were his familiar friends; they showed their weariness by tongues that, dry as they were, seemed by their natural pinkness to drip deer"s blood, and which hung down far from tiredness; as their mouths were open they raised the corners of their lips and showed their flashing teeth clearly, like a lion"s mane caught between the teeth; their throats were covered with strings of cowries, and they were hacked by blows from the large boars" tusks; though but small, from their great strength they were like lions" cubs with their manes ungrown; they were skilled in initiating the does in widowhood; with them came their wives, very large, like lionesses coming to beg an amnesty for the lions. He was surrounded by troops of cabaras of all kinds: some had seized elephants" tusks and the long hair of yaks; some had vessels for honey made of leaves closely bound; some, like lions, had hands filled with many a pearl from the frontal bones of elephants; some, like demons, had pieces of raw flesh; some, like goblins, were carrying the skins of lions; some, like Jain ascetics, held peac.o.c.ks" tails; some, like children, wore crows" feathers; [109]
some represented Krishna"s [110] exploits by bearing the elephants"
tusks they had torn out; (64) some, like the days of the rainy season, had garments dark as clouds. [111] He had his sword-sheath, as a wood its rhinoceroses; [112] like a fresh cloud, he held a bow [113]
bright as peac.o.c.ks" tails; like the demon Vaka, [114] he possessed a peerless army; like Garuda, he had torn out the teeth of many large nagas; [115] he was hostile to peac.o.c.ks, as Bhishma to cikhandi; [116]
like a summer day, he always showed a thirst for deer; [117] like a heavenly genius, he was impetuous in pride; [118] as Vyasa followed Yojanagandha, [119] so did he follow the musk deer; like Ghatotkaca, he was dreadful in form; [120] as the locks of Uma were decked with civa"s moon, so was he adorned with the eyes in the peac.o.c.ks" tails; [121] as the demon Hiranyakacipu [122] by Mahavaraha, so he had his breast torn by the teeth of a great boar; (65) like an ambitious man, [123] he had a train of captives around him; like a demon, he loved [124] the hunters; like the gamut of song, he was closed in by Nishadas; [125] like the trident of Durga, he was wet with the blood of buffaloes; though quite young, he had seen many lives pa.s.s; [126] though he had many hounds, [127] he lived on roots and fruits; though of Krishna"s hue, [128] he was not good to look on; though he wandered at will, his mountain fort [129] was his only refuge; though he always lived at the foot of a lord of earth, [130] he was unskilled in the service of a king.
"He was as the child of the Vindhya Mountains, the partial avatar of death; the born brother of wickedness, the essence of the Iron Age; horrible as he was, he yet inspired awe by reason of his natural greatness, [131] and his form could not be surpa.s.sed. [132] His name I afterwards learnt. In my mind was this thought: "Ah, the life of these men is full of folly, and their career is blamed by the good. (66) For their one religion is offering human flesh to Durga; their meat, mead, and so forth, is a meal loathed by the good; their exercise is the chase; their castra [133] is the cry of the jackal; their teachers of good and evil are owls; [134] their knowledge is skill in birds; [135] their bosom friends are dogs; their kingdom is in deserted woods; their feast is a drinking bout; their friends are the bows that work their cruel deeds, and arrows, with their heads smeared, like snakes, with poison, are their helpers; their song is what draws on bewildered deer; their wives are the wives of others taken captive; their dwelling is with savage tigers; their worship of the G.o.ds is with the blood of beasts, their sacrifice with flesh, their livelihood by theft; the snakes" hood is their ornament; their cosmetic, elephants"
ichor; and the very wood wherein they may dwell is utterly destroyed root and branch."
"As I was thus thinking, the cabara leader, desiring to rest after his wandering through the forest, approached, and, laying his bow in the shade beneath that very cotton-tree, sat down on a seat of twigs gathered hastily by his suite. (67) Another youthful cabara, coming down hastily, brought to him from the lake, when he had stirred its waters with his hand, some water aromatic with lotus-pollen, and freshly-plucked bright lotus-fibres with their mud washed off; the water was like liquid lapis lazuli, or showed as if it were painted with a piece of sky fallen from the heat of the sun"s rays in the day of doom, or had dropped from the moon"s...o...b.. or were a ma.s.s of melted pearl, or as if in its great purity it was frozen into ice, and could only be distinguished from it by touch. After drinking it, the cabara in turn devoured the lotus-fibres, as Rahu does the moon"s digits; when he was rested he rose, and, followed by all his host, who had satisfied their thirst, he went slowly to his desired goal. But one old cabara from that barbarous troop had got no deer"s flesh, and, with a demoniac [136] expression coming into his face in his desire for meat, he lingered a short time by that tree. (68) As soon as the cabara leader had vanished, that old cabara, with eyes pink as drops of blood and terrible with their overhanging tawny brows, drank in, as it were, our lives; he seemed to reckon up the number in the parrots"
nests like a falcon eager to taste bird"s flesh, and looked up the tree from its foot, wishing to climb it. The parrots seemed to have drawn their last breath at that very moment in their terror at the sight of him. For what is hard for the pitiless? So he climbed the tree easily and without effort, as if by ladders, though it was as high as many palms, and the tops of its boughs swept the clouds, and plucked the young parrots from among its boughs one by one, as if they were its fruit, for some were not yet strong for flight; some were only a few days old, and were pink with the down of their birth, so that they might almost be taken for cotton-flowers; [137]
some, with their wings just sprouting, were like fresh lotus-leaves; some were like the Asclepias fruit; some, with their beaks growing red, had the grace of lotus-buds with their heads rising pink from slowly unfolding leaves; while some, under the guise of the ceaseless motion of their heads, seemed to try to forbid him, though they could not stop him, for he slew them and cast them on the ground.
(69) "But my father, seeing on a sudden this great, destructive, remediless, overwhelming calamity that had come on us, trembled doubly, and, with pupils quivering and wandering from fear of death, cast all round a glance that grief had made vacant and tears had dimmed; his palate was dry, and he could not help himself, but he covered me with his wing, though its joints were relaxed by fear, and bethought himself of what help could avail at such a moment. Swayed wholly by love, bewildered how to save me, and puzzled what to do, he stood, holding me to his breast. That miscreant, however, wandering among the boughs, came to the entrance of the hollow, and stretched out his left arm, dreadful as the body of an old black snake, with its hand redolent of the raw fat of many boars, and its forearm marked with weals from ceaseless drawing of the bowstrings, like the wand of death; and though my father gave many a blow with his beak, and moaned piteously, that murderous wretch dragged him down and slew him. (70) Me, however, he somehow did not notice, though I was within the wings, from my being small and curled into a ball from fear, and from my not having lived my fated life, but he wrung my father"s neck and threw him dead upon the ground. Meanwhile I, with my neck between my father"s feet, clinging quietly to his breast, fell with him, and, from my having some fated life yet to live, I found that I had fallen on a large ma.s.s of dry leaves, heaped together by the wind, so that my limbs were not broken. While the cabara was getting down from the tree-top, I left my father, like a heartless wretch, though I should have died with him; but, from my extreme youth, I knew not the love that belongs to a later age, and was wholly swayed by the fear that dwells in us from birth; I could hardly be seen from the likeness of my colour to the fallen leaves; I tottered along with the help of my wings, which were just beginning to grow, thinking that I had escaped from the jaws of death, and came to the foot of a very large tamala tree close by. Its shoots were fitted to be the earrings of cabara women, as if it mocked the beauty of Vishnu"s body by the colour of Balarama"s dark-blue robe, (71) or as if it were clad in pure strips of the water of Yamuna; its twigs were watered by the ichor of wild elephants; it bore the beauty of the tresses of the Vindhya Forest; the s.p.a.ce between its boughs was dark even by day; [138] the ground round its root was hollow, and unpierced by the sun"s rays; and I entered it as if it were the bosom of my n.o.ble father. Then the cabara came down and gathered up the tiny parrots scattered on the ground; he bound them hastily in a basket of leaves with a coil of creepers, and going off with hasty steps by the path trodden by his leader, he made for that region. I meanwhile had begun to hope for life, but my heart was dried up with grief for my father"s recent death; my body was in pain from my long fall, and I was possessed by a violent thirst, caused by fright, which tortured all my limbs. Then I thought, "The villain has now gone some way," so I lifted my head a little and gazed around with eyes tremulous with fear, thinking even when a blade of gra.s.s moved that the wretch was coming back. I watched him go step by step, and then, leaving the root of the tamala tree, I made a great effort to creep near the water. (72) My steps were feeble, because my wings were not yet grown, and again and again I fell on my face; I supported myself on one wing; I was weak with the weariness [139]
of creeping along the ground, and from my want of practice; after each step I always lifted my head and panted hard, and as I crept along I became gray with dust. "Truly even in the hardest trials,"
I reflected, "living creatures never become careless of life. Nothing in this world is dearer to all created beings than life, seeing that when my honoured father, of well-chosen name, is dead, I still live with senses unimpaired! Shame on me that I should be so pitiless, cruel, and ungrateful! For my life goes on shamefully in that the grief of my father"s death is so easily borne. I regard no kindness; truly my heart is vile! I have even forgotten how, when my mother died, my father restrained his bitter grief, and from the day of my birth, old as he was, reckoned lightly in his deep love the great toil of bringing me up with every care. And yet in a moment I have forgotten how I was watched over by him! (73) Most vile is this breath of mine which goes not straightway forth to follow my father on his path, my father, that was so good to me! Surely there is none that thirst of life does not harden, if the longing for water can make me take trouble in my present plight. Methinks this idea of drinking water is purely hardness of heart, because I think lightly of the grief of my father"s death. Even now the lake is still far off. For the cry of the kalahamsas, like the anklets of a water-nymph, is still far away; the cranes" notes are yet dim; the scent of the lotus-bed comes rarely through the s.p.a.ce it creeps through, because the distance is great; noontide is hard to bear, for the sun is in the midst of heaven, and scatters with his rays a blazing heat, unceasing, like fiery dust, and makes my thirst worse; the earth with its hot thick dust is hard to tread; my limbs are unable to go even a little way, for they are weary with excessive thirst; I am not master of myself; (74) my heart sinks; my eyes are darkened. O that pitiless fate would now bring that death which yet I desire not!" Thus I thought; but a great ascetic named Jabali dwelt in a hermitage not far from the lake, and his son Harita, a youthful hermit, was coming down to the lotus-lake to bathe. He, like the son of Brahma, had a mind purified with all knowledge; he was coming by the very path where I was with many holy youths of his own age; like a second sun, his form was hard to see from its great brightness; he seemed to have dropped [140]
from the rising sun, and to have limbs fashioned from lightning and a shape painted with molten gold; he showed the beauty of a wood on fire, or of day with its early sunlight, by reason of the clear tawny splendour of his form flashing out; he had thick matted locks hanging on his shoulders red as heated iron, and pure with sprinkling from many a sacred pool; his top-knot was bound as if he were Agni in the false guise of a young Brahman in his desire to burn the Khandava Wood; [141] he carried a bright crystal rosary hanging from his right ear, like the anklets of the G.o.ddesses of the hermitage, and resembling the circle of Dharma"s commandments, made to turn aside all earthly joys; (75) he adorned his brow with a tripundraka [142] mark in ashes, as if with threefold truth; [143] he laid his left hand on a crystal pitcher with its neck held ever upwards as if to look at the path to heaven, like a crane gazing upwards to the sky; he was covered by a black antelope skin hanging from his shoulders, like thick smoke that was coming out again after being swallowed [144] in thirst for penance, with pale-blue [145] l.u.s.tre; he wore on his left shoulder a sacrificial thread, which seemed from its lightness to be fashioned from very young lotus-fibres, and wavered in the wind as if counting the framework of his fleshless ribs; he held in his right hand an ashadha [146] staff, having on its top a leafy basket full of creeper-blossoms gathered for the worship of civa; he was followed by a deer from the hermitage, still bearing the clay of the bathing-place dug up by its horns, quite at home with the hermits, fed on mouthfuls of rice, and letting its eyes wander on all sides to the kuca gra.s.s flowers and creepers. Like a tree, he was covered with soft bark; [147] like a mountain, he was surrounded by a girdle; [148] like Rahu, he had often tasted Soma; [149] like a day lotus-bed, he drank the sun"s rays; (76) like a tree by the river"s side, his tangled locks were pure with ceaseless washing; like a young elephant, his teeth were white as [150] pieces of moon-lotus petals; like Drauni, he had Kripa [151] ever with him; like the zodiac, he was adorned by having the hide [152] of the dappled deer; like a summer day, he was free from darkness; [153]
like the rainy season, he had allayed the blinding dust of pa.s.sion; [154] like Varuna, he dwelt on the waters; [155] like Krishna, he had banished the fear of h.e.l.l; [156] like the beginning of twilight, he had eyes tawny as the glow of dawn; [157] like early morn, he was gilded with fresh sunlight; like the chariot of the sun, he was controlled in his course; [158] like a good king, he brought to nought the secret guiles of the foe; [159] (77) like the ocean, his temples were cavernous with meditation; [160] like Bhagiratha, he had often beheld the descent of Ganges; [161] like a bee, he had often tasted life in a water-engirt wood; [162] though a woodsman, he yet entered a great home; [163] though unrestrained, he longed for release; [164] though intent on works of peace, he bore the rod; [165] though asleep, he was yet awake; [166] though with two well-placed eyes, he had his sinister eye abolished. [167] Such was he who approached the lotus-lake to bathe.
"Now the mind of the good is ever wont to be compa.s.sionate and kind instinctively. Wherefore he, seeing my plight, was filled with pity, and said to another young ascetic standing near: (78) "This little half-fledged parrot has somehow fallen from the top of that tree, or perhaps from a hawk"s mouth. For, owing to his long fall, he has hardly any life left; his eyes are closed, and he ever falls on his face and pants violently, and opens his beak, nor can he hold up his neck. Come, then, take him before his breath deserts him. Carry him to the water." So saying, he had me taken to the edge of the lake; and, coming there, he laid down his staff and pitcher near the water, and, taking me himself, just when I had given up all effort, he lifted up my head, and with his finger made me drink a few drops of water; and when I had been sprinkled with water and had gained fresh breath, he placed me in the cool wet shade of a fresh lotus-leaf growing on the bank, and went through the wonted rites of bathing. After that, he purified himself by often holding his breath, and murmuring the cleansing aghamarshana [168], and then he arose and, with upraised face, made an offering to the sun with freshly-plucked red lotuses in a cup of lotus-leaves. Having taken a pure white robe, so that he was like the glow of evening sunlight accompanied by the moon"s radiance, he rubbed his hair with his hands till it shone, and, (79) followed by the band of ascetic youths, with their hair yet wet from recent bathing, he took me and went slowly towards the penance grove.
"And after going but a short way, I beheld the penance grove, hidden in thick woods rich in flowers and fruit.
(80) "Its precincts were filled by munis entering on all sides, followed by pupils murmuring the Vedas, and bearing fuel, kuca gra.s.s, flowers, and earth. There the sound of the filling of the pitchers was eagerly heard by the peac.o.c.ks; there appeared, as it were, a bridge to heaven under the guise of smoke waving to exalt to the G.o.ds the muni race while yet in the body by fires satisfied with the ceaseless offering of ghee; all round were tanks with their waves traversed by lines of sunbeams stainless as though from contact with the hermits they rested upon, plunged into by the circle of the Seven Rishis who had come to see their penance, and lifting by night an open moon-lotus-bed, like a cl.u.s.ter of constellations descending to honour the rishis; the hermitage received homage from woodland creepers with their tops bent by the wind, and from trees with their ever-falling blossoms, and was worshipped by trees with the anjali of interlaced boughs; parched grain was scattered in the yards round the huts, and the fruit of the myrobalan, lavali, jujube, banana, bread-tree, mango, panasa, [169] and palm pressed on each other; (81) the young Brahmans were eloquent in reciting the Vedas; the parrot-race was garrulous with the prayer of oblation that they learnt by hearing it incessantly; the subrahmanya [170] was recited by many a maina; the b.a.l.l.s of rice offered to the deities were devoured by the c.o.c.ks of the forest, and the offering of wild rice was eaten by the young kalahamsas of the tanks close by. The eating-places of the sages were protected from pollution by ashes cast round them. (82) The fire for the munis"
homa sacrifice was fanned by the tails of their friends the peac.o.c.ks; the sweet scent of the oblation prepared with nectar, the fragrance of the half-cooked sacrificial cake was spread around; the crackling of flames in the offering of a stream of unbroken libations made the place resonant; a host of guests was waited upon; the Pitris were honoured; Vishnu, civa, and Brahma were worshipped. The performance of craddha rites was taught; the science of sacrifice explained; the castras of right conduct examined; good books of every kind recited; and the meaning of the castras pondered. Leafy huts were being begun; courts smeared with paste, and the inside of the huts scrubbed. Meditation was being firmly grasped, mantras duly carried out, yoga practised, and offerings made to woodland deities. Brahmanical girdles of munja gra.s.s were being made, bark garments washed, fuel brought, deer-skins decked, gra.s.s gathered, lotus-seed dried, rosaries strung, and bamboos laid in order for future need. [171] Wandering ascetics received hospitality, and pitchers were filled.
(84) "There defilement is found in the smoke of the oblations, not in evil conduct; redness of face in parrots, not in angry men; sharpness in blades of gra.s.s, not in dispositions; wavering in plantain-leaves, not in minds; red eyes [172] in cuckoos alone; clasping of necks with pitchers only; binding of girdles in vows, not in quarrels; pakshapata [173] in c.o.c.ks, not in scientific discussions; wandering in making the sunwise turn round the soma fire, but not error in the castras; mention of the Vasus in legends, but not longing for wealth; counting of beads for Rudra, but no account made of the body; loss of locks by the saints in the practice of sacrifice, but not loss of their children [174] by death; propitiation of Rama by reciting the Ramayana, not of women [175] by youth; wrinkles brought on by old age, not by pride of riches; the death of a cakuni [176] in the Mahabharata only; only in the Purana windy talk; [177] in old age only loss of teeth; [178] coldness only in the park sandal-trees; [179] (85) in fires only turning to ashes; [180] only deer love to hear song; only peac.o.c.ks care for dancing; only snakes wear hoods; [181] only monkeys desire fruit; [182] only roots have a downward tendency.
(85-89, condensed) "There, beneath the shade of a red ac.o.ka-tree, beauteous with new oblations of flowers, purified with ointment of fresh gomaya, garlanded with kuca gra.s.s and strips of bark tied on by the hermitage maidens, I saw the holy Jabali surrounded by most ascetic sages, like time by aeons, the last day by suns, the sacrifice by bearers of the three fires, [183] the golden mountain by the n.o.ble hills, or the earth by the oceans.
(89) "And as I looked on him I thought: "Ah! how great is the power of penance! His form, calm as it is, yet pure as molten gold, overpowers, like lightning, the brightness of the eye with its brilliance. Though ever tranquil, it inspires fear at first approach by its inherent majesty. The splendour of even those ascetics who have practised but little asceticism is wont to be easily provoked, like fire swiftly falling on dry reeds, kaca gra.s.s, or flowers. (90) How much more, then, that of holy men like these, whose feet are honoured by the whole world, whose stains are worn away by penance, who look with divine insight on the whole earth as if it were a myrobalan [184] in the hand, and who purge away all sin. For even the mention of a great sage has its reward; much more, then, the sight of him! Happy is the hermitage where dwells this king of Brahmans! Nay, rather, happy is the whole world in being trodden by him who is the very Brahma of earth! Truly these sages enjoy the reward of their good deeds in that they attend him day and night with no other duty, hearing holy stories and ever fixing on him their steady gaze, as if he were another Brahma. Happy is Sarasvati, who, encircled by his shining teeth, and ever enjoying the nearness of his lotus-mouth, dwells in his serene mind, with its unfathomable depths and its full stream of tenderness, like a hamsa on the Manasa lake. The four Vedas, that have long dwelt in the four lotus-mouths of Brahma, find here their best and most fitting home. (91) All the sciences, which became turbid in the rainy season of the Iron Age, become pure when they reach him, as rivers coming to autumn. Of a surety, holy Dharma, having taken up his abode here after quelling the riot of the Iron Age, no longer cares to recall the Golden Age. Heaven, seeing earth trodden by him, no longer takes pride in being dwelt in by the Seven Rishis. How bold is old age, which fears not to fall on his thick matted locks, moonbeam-pale as they are, and hard to gaze on as the rays of the sun of doom. [185]
For it falls on him as Ganges, white with flecks of foam, on civa, or as an offering of milk on Agni. Even the sun"s rays keep far from the penance-grove, as if terrified by the greatness of the saint whose hermitage is darkened by the thick smoke of many an oblation. These fires, too, for love of him, receive oblations purified by hymns, for their flames are pressed together by the wind, like hands reverently raised. (92) The wind itself approaches him timidly, just stirring the linen and bark dresses, fragrant with the sweet creeper blossoms of the hermitage, and gentle in motion. Yet the glorious might of the elements is wont to be beyond our resistance! But this man towers above [186]
the mightiest! The earth shines as if with two suns, being trodden by this n.o.ble man. In his support the world stands firm. He is the stream of sympathy, the bridge over the ocean of transient existence, and the home of the waters of patience; the axe for the glades of the creepers of desire, the ocean of the nectar of content, the guide in the path of perfection, the mountain behind which sets the planet of ill, [187]
the root of the tree of endurance, the nave of the wheel of wisdom, the staff of the banner of righteousness, the holy place for the descent of all knowledge, the submarine fire of the ocean of craving, the touch-stone of the jewels of the castras, the consuming fla