The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXVIII.
DESCRIPTION OF A RAKSHASA (OR FEMALE
FIEND).[4]
[4] The black Rākshasas were believed to have
been a colony of African
Negroes in southern India and Ceylon. The Rakhs is Rax, as
Sycorax of
Shakespeare.
Note:—The whole story of the fiendish Sūchī is an allegory of
the
human mind, and its rapacity. The transformation
of the huge to the thin
pinnate body, and again its assumption of the
big form, are allegorical
of the change of the corporeal and spiritual
bodies—the Sthūla and
Sūkshma sarīras, in the course of the repeated transmigrations of
the
soul from its gross to subtle forms by the
desire of the mind. Tired of
the world the mind forsakes the gross body
upon death, and assumes the
finer spiritual form, but being soon
dissatisfied with it reverts to its
former gross form again. It is also explained
to be the two states of
animā and garimā, the
minuteness and bulkiness, which the Yogi
attains by his yoga.
Argument. Story of Karkatī the female fiend,
and her
austerities for extirpation of Human Kind.
Vasishtha said:—Hear me relate to you, Rāma!
an old anecdote bearing
upon this subject, and relating to a
difficult proposition adduced by
the Rākshasī for solution.
2. There lived on the north of Himālaya a heinous Rākshasī, by name of
Karkatī—a crooked crab; who was as dark as
ink and stalwart as a rock,
with limbs as strong as could split the
sturdy oak.
3. She was also known by the title of Visūchī
or choleric pain, by which
she was ever afflicted, and which had reduced
her frame like that of the
Vindhyā hill, which was cowered down (by the
curse of Agastya).
4. Her eye-balls were as blazing as fires;
and her stature reaching half
way to the sky, was girt by a blue garment,
like the shade of night
wrapping the atmosphere.
5. A white mantle formed the covering of her
head, like the fragment of
a cloud; and the long erect hairs of her
head, stood like a sable cloud
on her crest.
6. Her eyes flashed as lightnings, and her
sharp hooked nails glistened
as sapphires; her legs were as long as tamāla trees, and her loud
laughter was as a burst of frost.
7. A string of dried bones decorated her
body, like a wreath of flowers;
and the relics of dead bodies, adorned every
part of her body.
8. She frolicked in the company of Vetālas,
with human skulls hanging
down her ears as ear-rings; and stretched out
her arms aloft, as if she
was going to pluck the sun from his sphere.
9. Her huge body being in want of its
necessary aliment, caused her
culinary fire to blaze like the submarine
flame, which the waters of the
deep are unable to quench. (The latent heat
in water).
10. Nothing could ever satiate the insatiable
hunger, of this big
bellied monster; nor satisfy her lickerish
tongue, which was always
stretched out like a flame of fire.
11. She thought in herself saying:—Oh! if I
could but once go to the
Jambu-dwīpa—the land of Asia,
I would devour all its men in one swoop,
and feast on them continually, like the
submarine fire upon the waters.
12. As the clouds cool the burning sands by
their rain, so will I allay
the burning fire of my hunger there. It is
settled as the best plan to
support my life, at this critical moment.
13. All men are well guarded by means of
their mantras, medicines,
austerities, devotions and charities, from
all evils of the world;
whence it is impossible for any body to
destroy the indestructible
devotee. (My all destructive devotion will
destroy all; but render me
indestructible).
14. I will perform the most rigorous
austerities, with an unflinching
heart and mind; because it is by intensity of
painstaking, that we may
gain what is otherwise hard to be had. (Industria vincit
omnia.—Labour conquers all).
15. Having thought so, she repaired to an
inaccessible mountain, for the
purpose of destroying all animal beings. (The
Rākshasa cannibals are
devourers of all flesh; and are of the omnivorous
kind).
16. She climbed to the top of the mountain,
by scrambling over it with
her hands and feet; and stood on it with her
body resembling a cloud,
and her eye-balls flashing as lightnings (i. e. Her body and eyesight,
were similar to the cloud and lightning on
the mountain top).
17. Having got to the summit, she made her
ablution and then sat at her
devotion; with her steadfast eyeballs
resembling the two orbs of the sun
and moon, and fixed on one object.
18. She passed there many a day and month,
and saw the course of many a
season and year. She exposed her huge body to
the rigor of heat and
cold, like the hill itself (on which she
sat).
19. She with her huge black body, remained
unmoved as a thick sable
cloud, on the mountain top; and her jet black
hairs stood up as if to
touch the sky.
20. Seeing her body beaten by the blasts, and
covered with nothing but
her ragged skin; and her hairs standing up to
their end, to be tossed to
and fro by the raging winds; while the
twinklings of her eyelids, shed a
whitish glare on her sable frame, the god
Brahmā made his appearance
before her.
CHAPTER LXIX.
STORY OF VISﾚCHIKﾁ—(Continued).[5]
[5] It is a curious fact in the theological
works of Vedānta, that
princes and ladies, employed themselves much
more to the cultivation of
their minds, and to the investigation of
mental and spiritual
Philosophy, than other persons and tribes. So
we see Surūchi, Līlā,
Visūchī and Sarasvātī were all female
interlocutors in this work and
some Upanishads also, though female education
was subsequently abrogated
by law.
Argument. Brahmā's boon to Visūchī, and the mantra against
her Power.
Vasishtha resumed:—After the lapse of a
thousand years, Brahmā appeared
to her, in order to put an end to the ardour
of her austerities, and
crown her with success or the reward of her
devotion. (Ardent devotion
has the power of displacing even the gods
from their heavenly seats).
2. She saluted him internally in her mind,
and remained fixed in her
position; thinking about the boon she should
beg of him, for allaying
her keen appetite.
3. She soon recollected a certain request,
which she should prefer to
her complying god; and it was to transform
her soft and flexible form to
the shape of an inflexible iron-nail,
wherewith she could torment all
living beings (i. e. to make her fleshy form as stiff as a poker, so
as to be able to pierce all others without
being pierced herself).
4. At Brahmā's bidding, she bethought in
herself: "I will become as thin
as a minute pin, in order to enter
imperceptibly into the hearts of
animals, as the odor of flowers enters the
nostrils."
5. "By this means will I suck the
heart-blood of beings, to my heart's
satisfaction; in this way will my hunger be
satiated, and the
gratification of my appetite, will give the
greatest delight to my
soul."
6. As she was thinking in this manner, the
God discovered her sinister
motives, contrary to the character of a yogi;
and accosted her in a
voice resembling the roaring of clouds.
7. Brahmā said:—Daughter Karkatī, of the
Rākshasa race, that sittest
here like a cloud on the inaccessible top of
this mountain; know that I
am pleased with thy devotion, and bid thee
now to raise thyself, and
receive the boon that thou desirest of me.
8. Karkatī answered:—"O Lord of the past
and future! If thou art
inclined to grant my request, then please to
confer on me the boon, of
transforming my unironlike body to the form
of an iron needle."
9. Vasishtha said:—The God pronounced
"Be it so," and joined, "thou
wilt be as a pin, and shalt be called the
choleric pain, for thy giving
pain to all bodies."
10. "Thou shalt be the cruel cause of
acute pain and pang to all living
being; and particularly to the intemperate
and hard-working fools, and
loose libertines, who are destined to be thy
devoted victims".
11. "Moreover shalt thou molest the
dwellers of unhealthy districts, and
the practicers of malpractices; by entering
their hearts with thy
infectious breath, and by disturbing their
sleep, and deranging the
liver and other intestinal parts of the
body."
12. "Thou shalt be of the form of wind
(in the bowels), and cause bile
and flatulence under the different names of
colic diseases, and attack
the intemperate both among the wise and
unwise."
13. "The wise when attacked by thee,
will be healed by repeating this
runic mantra, which I will here propound for their benefit."
14. The mantra runs thus:—"There lives
Karkatī, the Rākshasī, in the
north of the snowy mountain; her name is
Visūchikā, and it is for
repelling her power that I repeat this
mantra; Om, I bow to hring,
hrang and ring, rang—the
powers of Vishnu, and invoke the Vaishnavi
powers to remove, destroy, root out, drive
away this choleric pain, far
beyond the Himālayas,
and afar to the orb of the moon. Om (amen) and
swāhā (soho), be it so". Let these lines be held on the
left arm as an
amulet.
15. "Then rub the painful part with the
palm of that hand, and think the
colic Karkatī to be crushed under the mallet
of this amulet, and driven
back beyond the hills with loud
wailing."
16. "Let the patient think the medicinal
moon to be seated in his heart,
and believe himself to be freed from death
and disease; and his faith
will save his life and heal his pain."
17. "The attentive adept, who having
purified himself with sprinkling
the water in his mouth, repeats this formula,
he succeeds in a short
time to remove the colic pain
altogether."
18. The lord of the three worlds then
disappeared in the air, after
delivering this efficacious amulet to the Siddhas attending upon him.
He went to his splendid seat in heaven, where
he was received by the god
Indra, who advanced to hail him with his
hosannas.
CHAPTER LXX.
CONDUCT OF VISﾚCHﾍ, OR THE ADVENTURES OF THE
NEEDLE.
Argument. The gradual leanness of Sūchī, and her entrance in
Human bodies.
Vasishtha continued:—Now this Sūchī who had
been as tall as a
mountain-peak, and a Rākshasī of the blackest
kind, resembling a thick
and dark cloud of the rainy season; began
gradually to fade away, and
grow leaner and leaner day by day.
2. Her gigantic cloud-like form, was soon
reduced to the shape of the
branch of a tree, which afterwards became of
the figure of a man, and
then of the measure of a cubit only.
3. It next became of the length of a span in
its height, and then of a
finger's length in all. Growing by degrees
thinner and thinner like a
corn or grain, it became at last as lean as a
needle or pin.
4. She was thus reduced to the thinness of a
needle, fit only to sew a
silken robe; and became as lean as the
filament of the lotus flower by
her own desire; which can change a hill to a
grain of sand. (This
passage bears reference to the microcosm of
human soul).
5. The unmetallic Sūchī, was thus transformed to the form of a black
and slender iron needle; which containing all
her limbs and organs of
her body in it, conducted her in the air and
everywhere as she liked.
(Thus the gross human body being reduced to
its subtle ātivāhika or
spiritual form, it is possible for the Yogi
to traverse through the air,
as we perceive in the course of our minds).
6. She viewed her person as an iron pin, and
having neither any
substance nor length or breadth of her body.
(The false idea of length
and breadth of the soul is a fallacy of our
understanding; because the
soul like a geometrical line, has no dimension
nor substance whatever in
it).
7. Her mind with its power of thought,
appeared as bright as a golden
needle (pointing to the point); and as a
streak of the sapphire
impregnated by solar ray.
8. Her rolling eye-balls, were as dark as the
spots of black clouds,
moved to and fro by the winds; and her
sparkling pupils were gazing at
the bright glory (of God); piercing through
their tenuous pores. (It is
explained also as fixing the eye-sight to
some chink (as that of a wall
or other), through which the light of God
enters the sensory of sight,
and then penetrates into the soul as in Yoga
meditation).
9. She had observed the vow of her
taciturnity (mauna-vrata), for
reducing the plumpness of her person, and was
gladdened in her face, to
become as lean as the filament of a feather.
(The vow of keeping silence
is said to be of great good, by increasing
the power of thought; for he
who speaks little thinks much, and whoso
talks much, must talk in vain.
It is the practice of munis or saints to remain silent, whence the vow
has its name).
10. She beheld a light alighting on her, from
the air at a distance; and
she was glad in her face to find her inward
spirit, to be sublimated as
air. (The internal light and lightness of the
body are results of yoga
practice).
11. With her contracted eye brows, she beheld
the rays of light
extending to her from afar; which caused the
hairs on her body, to stand
up like those of babies at bathing.
12. Her grand artery called Brahmānādī or sushumnā, was raised about
its cavity in the head called the Brahma-randhra; in order to greet
the holy light, as the filaments of the
lotus, rise to receive the solar
light and heat.
13. Having subdued the organs of her senses
and their powers, she
remained as one without her organic frame, and
identified with her
living soul; and resembled the intelligent
principle of the Bauddhas and
Tārkikas, which is unseen by others (i. e. in her spiritual form
only).
14. Her minuteness seemed to have produced
the minutiae of minute
philosophers, called the siddhārthas; and her
silence was like that of
the wind confined in a cave. Her slender form
of the puny pin, resembled
the breath of animal life, which is
imperceptible to the eye.
15. The little that remained of her person,
was as thin as the last hope
of man (which sustains his life). It was as
the pencil of the
extinguished flame of a lamp; that has its
heat without the light.
16. But alas! how pitiable was her folly,
that she could not understand
at first, that she was wrong to choose for
herself the form of a slender
pin, in order to gratify her insatiable
appetite.
(This is a ridicule to Yogis and students,
that emaciate themselves with
intense study and Yoga, only with a desire to
pamper their bodies
afterwards, with luxuries and carnal
enjoyments).
17. Her object was to have her food, and not
the contemptible form of
the pin; her heart desired one thing, and she
found herself in another
form, that was of no use to her purpose.
18. It was her silliness, that led her to
make the injudicious choice of
needleship for herself; and so it is with the
short witted, that they
lack the sense of judging beforehand, about
their future good.
19. An arduous attempt to accomplish the
desired object, is often
attended by a different result; and even
success on one hand, becomes a
failure on another; just as the mirror is
soiled by the breath, while it
shows the face to the looker. (Disappointment
lurks in many a shape, and
often stings us with success).
20. How be it, the Rākshasī soon learnt to be
content with her
needleship, after she had relinquished her
gigantic form; although she
viewed her transformation as worse, than her
dissolution itself. (Utter
annihilation is more desirable to the Yogi
than his metamorphosis to
meaner forms).
21. Lo! the contrariety in the desires of the
infatuated, who distaste
in a trice, what they fondly wished at one
time; as this fiend was
disgusted at her pinship in lieu of her
monstrous figure. (And so they
wilfully shun the object of their former
fondness, as the suicides and
dying people quit their fond bodies without
remorse).
22. As one dish of food is easily replaced by
another, suiting the taste
of the voluptuary; so this fiend did not
hesitate to shun her gigantic
body, which she took to taste the heart blood
of animals in her pinnate
form.
23. Even death is delectable to the giddy
headed, when they are overfond
of some thing else; as the minim of a meagre
needle was desirable to the
monstrous fiend for the gratification of her
fiendish desire.
24. Now this needle took the rarefied form of
air, and moved about as
the colic wind (colica flatulenta), after all
living beings, in quest of
her suction of animal gore.
25. Its body was that of fiery heat, and its
life the vital breath of
animals; its seat was in the sensitive heart,
and it was as swift as the
particles of solar and lunar beams.
26. It was as destructive as the blade of the
deadly sword, and as fleet
as the effluvia flying in air. It penetrated
into the body in the form
of the minutiae of odor.
27. It was ever bent to do evil, like an evil
spirit, as she was now
known by that name; and her sole object was
to kill the lives of others
at her pleasure.
28. Her body was afterwards divided into two
halves; one of which was as
fine as a silken thread, and the other as
soft as a thread of cotton.
29. Sūchī ranged all about the ten sides of
the world, in these two
forms of hers; and pierced and penetrated
into the hearts of living
beings, with all her excruciating pains.
30. It was for the accomplishment of all
these purposes of hers, whether
they be great or little; that Karkatī forsook
her former big body, and
took the form of the acute and small needle.
(Because humbleness and
acuteness are the means of success in every
project).
31. To men of little understanding, a slight
business becomes an arduous
task; as the foolish fiend had recourse to
her austerities, in order to
do the mean work of the needle.
32. Again men however good and great, can
hardly get rid of their
natural disposition; and it was for this
reason that the great Rākshasī,
performed her austere devotion, in order to
become a vile pin for
molesting mankind.
33. Now as Sūchī was roving about in the sky,
her aerial form which was
big with her heinous ambition, disappeared in
air like vapour, or as a
thick cloud in autumn.
34. Then entering in the body of some
sensualist or weak or too fat a
person, this inward colic flatulence of
Sūchī, assumed the shape of
Visūchikā or cholera.
35. Sometimes she enters in the body of some
lean person, as also in
those of healthy and wise people; and
appearing at first as a choleraic
pain, becomes a real cholera at last.
36. She is often delighted, to take her seat
in the hearts of the
ignorant; but is driven back afterwards by
the good acts and prayers,
and mantras and medicines of the wise.
37. In this manner she continued many years
in her rambles; her
bipartite body kept sometimes flying up in
the air, and oftentimes
creeping low on the ground.
38. She lies concealed in the dust of the
ground, and under the fisted
fingers of hands; she hides herself in the
sun-beams, in air and in the
threads of cloths. (All this refers to the
pestilential air).
39. She is hid in the intestines, entrails
and genitals, and resides in
the bodies of pale and ash coloured persons;
she abides in the pores,
lines and lineaments of the body; as also in
dry grass and in the dried
beds of rivers (All these are abodes of
malaria).
40. She has her seat among the indigent, and
in the naked and uncovered
bodies of men; as also in those which are
subject to hard breathings.
She dwells in places infested by flies and of
obstructed ventilation, as
also in green verdures excepting only of the
mango and woodapple (bel)
trees.
41. She lurks in places scattered with bones
and joints of animal
bodies, and such as are disturbed by violent
winds, and gusts of air,
she lies in dirty places, and in cold and icy
grounds and likewise in
polluted cloths and places polluted by them.
42. She sits in holes and hollow places,
withered trees, and spots
infested by crows, flies and peacocks. Also
in places of dry, humid and
high winds, and in benumbed fingers and toes.
43. As also in cloudy regions, in cavernous
districts of the form of
rotten bodies; in regions of melting and
driving snows, and in marshy
grounds abounding in ant hills and hills of mālūra
trees.[6]
[6] Mālūra or Kapitha or Kath-bel, which is deemed unwholesome.
44. She exhibits herself in the mirage of
desert sand, and in
wildernesses abounding with ravenous beasts
and snakes. Sometimes she is
seen in lands infested by venomous reptiles,
and disgusting leeches and
worms.
45. She frequents the stagnate pools, soiled
by dry leaves and those
chewed by the Pisāchas; and haunts the hovels
beside the cross ways,
where passengers halt and take shelter from
cold.
46. She rambles in all places, ever where the
leeches suck the blood of
men, and vile people tear them with their
nails and hold them in their
fists for feeding upon them. (Here is a
relation between the blood
sucking Sūchī or Needle and the leeches).
47. In this manner she passes in all places,
that we view in the
landscape of cities in drawings; until she is
tired with her long
journey through them.
48. She then stops in her course like a tired
bullock, whose body is
heated by travelling through towns, with
loads of cotton and utensils on
their backs.
49. She afterwards lays her down to rest in
some hidden place, like a
needle tired with continued sewing; and there
drops down like it, from
its bridling thread in the hand of the sewer.
50. The hard needle held in the hand of the
sewer, never hurts his
finger; because a servant however sharp he
may be, is never faithless or
is injurious to his master.
51. The iron needle growing old in its
business of stitching, was at
last lost by itself; like the rotten plank of
a boat, bearing the
burthensome ballast of stones in it.
52. It wandered about on all sides of its own
accord, and was driven to
and fro like chaff by the driving winds,
according to the course of
nature (with all things).
53. Being taken up by some one, it is fed
with the fag end of a thread
put into its mouth, as the malady of cholera
is caught by those human
parasites, who glut themselves with food
supplied by the sap of another.
54. The malady of colic, like the needle, is
ever fond of feeding on the
pith of others with its open mouth; and
continually finds the
thread-like heartstring of some body put into
its hole.
55. Thus the strong bodies of greedy and
heinous beings, are nourished
by the sap of the weak and innocent, as the
colic disease preys on the
lean bodies of the poor; and the sharp needle
is supported by the thin
thread of the needy (who cannot afford to buy
new suits).
56. Though the heart of Sūchī like the hole
of the needle, was to
receive the thread-like sap of the patient's
heart; yet her power to
pierce it, was like that of the sewing
needle, which is as potent as the
piercing sun-beams, to penetrate into the
toughest substances.
57. At last Sūchī came to find on a sudden,
the fault of her wrong
choice of the puny body (of the needle);
which was to be filled with her
scanty fare of a bit of thread, and then she
began to repent for her
folly.
58. She continued however with all her might,
to trudge on in her wonted
course, of pricking and piercing the bodies
of others; and
notwithstanding her great regret, she could
not avoid the cruelty of her
nature.
59. The sewing man cuts and sews the cloth;
agreeably to his own liking;
but the weaver of destiny weaves the long
loom of lengthened desires in
all bodies, and hides their reason under the
garb of her own making.
60. The colic Sūchī went on like the sewing
needle, in her business of
piercing the hearts of people by hiding her
head; as it is the practice
of robbers to carry on their rogueries, by
covering their faces. (All
the three are sly boots, and carry on their
trades under the seal of
secrecy).
61. She like the needle with the sewing
thread behind it, raises her
head to make and look at the loop-hole, that
she should penetrate in the
manner of burglars, making and marking the
holes in the wall for their
entry.
62. She entered alike in the bodies of the
weak and strong, like the
needle stitching cloths of all textures
(whether silken, linen or
fibrous); as it is the custom of the wicked
to spare neither the just
nor unjust (from their calumny and villainy).
63. The colic pain like the piercing needle,
being pressed under the
fingers, lets off its griping, like the
thread of the needle in its act
of sewing. (So the wicked when caught in the
act, let out and give up
their wickedness).
64. The acute and unfeeling colic, being as
ignorant as the stiff and
heartless needle, of the softness or dryness
of the object; pierces the
hardiest breast, without deriving any
sweetness from it. (So the
unfeeling ruffians molest the moneyless, to
no benefit to themselves).
65. The needle is compared with a rich widow,
being both equally stern
and full of remorse; both equally veiled and
speechless, and with their
eye of the needle, are empty in their joyless
hearts.
66. The needle hurts no body (but rather does
good in clothing mankind,
by mending their tattered habits); and yet
she is dragged by the thread,
which is no other than the thread of her fate
(woven by the fatal
sisters for her drudgery).
67. Slipt from the finger of her master, the
needle sleeps in peace
after her trudging, in company with her
fellows of dirt and dregs; for
who is there that does not deem himself
blest, in the company of his
equals, when he is out of employ?
68. The herd of common people, is ever fond
of mixing with the ignorant
rabble in their modes of life; because there
is no body that can avoid
the company of his equals. (Kind flies with
its own kind; or, Birds of
one feather fly together).
69. The lost needle when found by a
blacksmith and heated in the hearth,
flies to heaven by the breath of the bellows,
after which it disappears
in the air. (So the society of the good
elevates one to heaven, which
leads at last to his final liberation).
70. In this manner the current of vital airs,
conducts the breath of
life in to the heart; which becomes the
living spirit, by force of the
acts of its prior states of existence.
71. The vital airs being vitiated, in the
body, cause the colic pains
known by different names; such as flatulence,
bile and the like.
72. The colic caused by vitiation of the Vyāna
air, produces many
diseases, and affects all the members of the
body with a watery fluid.
When it comes by breathing of the lungs, it
causes the Vāya sūla or
pulmonary colic of lungs, and is attended by
disfigurement of the body,
and insanity or hysteria known as the
hysteric colic.
73. Sometimes it comes from the hands of
sheepkeepers, and by the smell
of the sheep's wool in blankets; and at
others it seizes the fingers of
children, and causes them to tear their bed
cloths therewith.
74. When it enters the body by the foot, it
continues in sucking the
blood; and with all its voracity, becomes
satisfied with very little
food.
75. It lies in the glandular vessel of the
faeces, with its mouth placed
downward; and takes at pleasure any form, it
likes to assume as its
prerogative.
76. It is the nature of the malicious, to
show the pervertedness of
their hearts by doing injury to others; as it
is characteristic of the
base people to raise a row for their
pleasure, and not for any gain or
good to themselves.
77. The miserly think much of their gain of
even a single cowry: so
deeprooted is the avaricious selfishness of
human nature. (All little
gain is no gain, compared with the wants of
men).
78. It was but for a particle of blood, or as
much as could be picked
out by the point of a pin, that the colic
Sūchī was bent on the
destruction of men: so the wise are fools in
their own interests (and so
do cut-throats kill others for a single
groat).
79. How great is my master-stroke, says the
needle, that from stitching
the shreds of cloth, have come to the pitch
of piercing the hearts of
men; so be it and I am happy at my success.
80. As the rust of the lazy needle passes off
in sewing, without being
rubbed with dust; so must it take the rust,
unless it is put in the
action of piercing the patient and passive
shreds. (The rolling stone
gathers no moss).
81. The unseen and airy darts of fate, are as
fatal as the acts of the
cruel Vīsūchi; though both of them have their
respite at short intervals
of their massacres.
82. The needle is at rest after its act of
sewing is done; but the
wicked are not satisfied, even after their
acts of slaughter are over.
83. It dives in the dirt and rises in the
air, it flies with the wind
and lies down wherever it falls; it sleeps in
the dust and hides itself
at home and in the inside, and under the
cloths and leaves. It dwells in
the hand and ear-holes, in lotuses and heaps
of woolen stuffs. It is
lost in the holes of houses, in clefts of
wood and underneath the
ground. (Compare the adventures of a pin in
Gay's Fables).
84. Vālmīki added:—As the sage was speaking
in this manner, the sun
went down in the west, and the day departed
to its evening service. The
assembly broke after mutual salutations, to
perform their sacred
ablution; and joined again on the next
morning, with the rising beams of
the sun to the royal palace.
CHAPTER LXXI.
REMORSE OF SﾚCHﾍ.
Argument. Remorse of Karkatī at her
transformation to a Needle
from her former gigantic form.
Vasishtha continued:—After the carnivorous
fiend—Karkatī, had feasted
for a long period on the flesh and blood of
human kind; she found her
insatiable voracity to know no bounds, and
never to be satisfied with
anything.
2. She used to be satisfied erewhile, with a
drop of blood in her form
of the needle; and she now became sorry, at
the loss of the insatiable
thirst and appetite of her former state.
3. She thought in herself, O pity it is! that
I came to be a vile
needle; with so weak and slender a body, that
I can take nothing for my
food.
4. How foolish I have been to forego my
former gigantic form, and change
my dark cloudy figure for something as the
dry leaf of a forest tree.
5. O wretch that I am, to have foregone my
dainty food of flesh
flavoured with fat. (The Rāskshasa cannibals
are raw flesh-eaters and
feeders on the fat of animals).
6. I am doomed to dive in dirt, and drop down
on the ground; to be
trodden and trampled over under the feet of
people, and soiled and
sullied in the filth.
7. O me miserable, helpless and hopeless
thing, and without any support
or status of mine; from one woe I fall to
another, and one danger is
succeeded by another unto me!
8. I have no mistress nor maidservant, nor my
father nor mother; I have
got no son nor brother, nor any one to serve
or befriend me.
9. I have no body nor abode, nor any refuge
nor asylum anywhere; nor
have I a fixed dwelling in any spot, but am
driven about, like the
fallen leaves of forest trees by the driving
winds.
10. I am subject to all accidents, and
exposed to every kind of
calamity; I wish for my extinction, but it
wishes not to approach unto
me. (Death flies from the destitute).
11. What else have I done to have given away
my own big body, in the
foolishness of my heart; than parted like a
madman, with a precious
jewel for a paltry piece of glass.
12. One calamity is enough to turn the brain
out of order; but what will
be my case when it is followed by other
calamities in endless
succession.
13. I am hung up (with the cloth) to be
suffocated by the smoke, and
dropped down in the streets to be trodden
under foot; I am cast away
with the dirt, and hid under the grass to my
great distress.
14. I serve at another's will, and am guided
by my guide; I am stark
naked while I sew for others, and am ever a
dependant on another's
guidance.
15. Long do I drudge and trudge for a paltry
gain, and stitching alone
is all the work that I have to perform for
life. O unlucky that I am,
that my ill luck even is so very luckless.
16. I see the demon of despair rising before
me, upon my penitence of
this day; and threatening to make an end of
this body, of which I have
made an offering to him.
17. What better fate can await on me, after
my loss of so big and bulky
a body by my foolishness; than to be
annihilated into nothing, rather
than be a thing which is good for nothing.
18. What man will pick me up, who am as lean
as a mollusk (or thread
worm); from the heap of ashes, under which I
lie buried by the wayside.
19. No keensighted man will take into his
consideration a wretched and a
forlorn being; as nobody living on a high
hill, ever stoops to take
notice of the grass growing on the ground
below.
20. I cannot expect to raise myself higher,
while I am lying in the sea
of ignorance; what blind man can perceive the
glorious sun-light, who is
guided by the flash of fireflies?
21. I know not therefore how long I shall
have to labour under my
difficulties, when I find myself already
drowned in a sea of misery.
22. When shall I be restored again to the
form of the daughter of
Anjanāgiri mountain; and will stand as a
pillar over the ruins of the
nether and upper worlds?
23. When shall I have my arms reaching to the
clouds, and my eyes
flashing as lightning; my garb becoming as
white as snow, and my hairs
touching the sky.
24. My big belly resembling a huge cloud, and
my long breasts hanging
below as pillows; shaking with the motion of
my body, in its dancing
like the pinions of a peacock.
25. The ash-white light emitted by my
laughter, cast the light of the
sun into the shade; and my former high
stature, threatened to devour the
terrible god of death.
26. My hollow sockets deep as the holes of
mortars, flashed erewhile
with living fire; like the rays of the sun;
and my large legs moved as
two monumental pillars in my rambling.
27. When shall I have my big belly, with its
large cavity like a
pot-belly; and when shall I have again my
soft black nails, resembling
the dark and humid clouds of autumn.
28. When will those tender smiles return to
me, whereby I moved the
great Rākshasas to my favour; and when shall
I dance in my giddy
circles, at the music of the tabor amidst the
forests.
29. When will that big belly of mine, be
filled with potfuls of fattened
liquor; and be fed with heaps of the flesh
and bones of dead bodies.
30. When shall I get me drunk, with drinking
the blood of human gores;
and become merry and giddy, until I fall fast
asleep.
31. It was I who destroyed my former
brilliant body, by my bad choice of
austerities, and accepted this petty needlish
form, like one taking the
sulphate of gold, instead of that precious
metal.
32. Ah! where is that huge body which filled
all sides, and shone as the
sable hill of Anjanāgiri; and what is this
puny and pinny form of the
shape of a spider's leg, and as thin and lean
as a tender blade of
grass.
33. The ignorant are found to throw away a
golden jewel, as useless on
the ground as a piece of glass; and so have I
cast aside my shining
body, for a bit of this blackest needle.
34. O great Vindhyā with thy hollow and snow
covered caves! why dost
thou not destroy thy dull elephants by thy
native lions? It is I that am
as silly as an elephant—gaja mūrkha.
35. O my arms! which used to break down
mountain peaks, why do ye fail
to pluck the butter-like moon with thy moony
nails?
36. O my breast! which was as fair as the
side of the snowy mountain,
even without my glassy ornaments; why dost
thou not show thy hairs,
which were as large as leeches that feed on
lion's flesh?
37. O my eyes! that used to dispel the
darkness of the darkest night,
and kindle the dry fuel with your glaring
fire; why do ye cease to
lighten the air with your effulgence?
38. O my shoulder blades! are ye broken down
and levelled with the
earth? or are ye crushed and smashed or
mouldered and worn out by age?
39. O my moonbright face! why dost thou not
shine over me with thy
bright beams; resembling the everlasting
light of the orb of the moon,
now at an end for ever?
40. O my hands! where is your strength fled
today? See ye not, how I am
transformed to an ignoble needle, that is
moved about by the touch of
the foot of a fly?
41. Alas! the cavity of my navel, which was
as deep as a well, and beset
by hairs resembling rows of beautiful plants
about it; and my
protuberant posteriors, which likened to the
bottom of the Vindyā hills.
42. Where is that towering stature reaching
to the sky, and what is this
new earned contemptible form of the needle;
where is that mouth, hollow
as the vault of the sky, and what is this
hole of the needle? Where is
that heap of my flesh meat, and what is this
drop of watery food? Ah!
how lean have I grown, but who is to be
blamed for an act of my own
doing?
CHAPTER LXXII.
FERVOUR OF SﾚCHﾍ'S DEVOTION.
Argument. Ardour of Sūchī's austerities and
Indra's Inquiry of
it.
Vasishtha continued:—Afterwards Sūchī became
silent and motionless, and
thought of resuming her austerities for the
sake of regaining her long
lost body.
2. With this intention she returned to the
Himālayas; and there
abstaining from her desire of human gore, she
sat reiterating her
castigations.
3. She saw in her mind her form of the
needle, entering into her heart
with her breathings.
4. Thus meditating on her mental form of the
needle, she was wafted by
her vital breath to the top of the hill, and
alighted on it like a
vulture from high.
5. There she remained alone and apart from
all living beings, and sat
amidst burning fires, with her form of an
ash-coloured stone (i. e.
besmeared by ashes like a yogi).
6. She sat there as a sprout of grass,
springing in that dry and
grassless spot; but soon faded away, to a
blade of withered hay in the
sandy desert.
7. She remained standing on tip-toe of her
only one foot, and continued
in the castigation of her own self. (Standing
of the one legged needle,
represented the posture of devotees standing
on one leg).
8. She lightly touched the ground with her
tiptoe stature, and avoiding
all sidelong looks, gazed on the upper sky
with her upraised face and
uplifted eyes.
9. The acute point of the black iron needle,
firmly preserved its
standing posture by penetrating the ground;
while it fed itself upon the
air, which it inhaled by its uplifted mouth.
10. The scarcity of food in the forest, made
it look up as in quest of
some prey coming from a distance; while its
lower part shaking with the
wind, enticed the unwary to approach towards
it.
11. The ray of light issuing as a pencil from
the needle hole, became
like its attendant guard on the hinder part.
12. As men are kindly disposed towards the
mean, that are favourites to
them; so was the needle attached to the
pencil of ray, that became its
constant attendant.
13. The needle had another constant
companion, of its devotion in its
own shadow; but the blackness of its person,
made it always to remain
behind the back. (The shadow of a thing ever
remains behind it).
14. Thus the shadowy needle and pencil of
ray, having firmly adhered
themselves to the iron needle; these three
have always become intimate
friends, like all good people mutually
assisting one another.
15. The trees and plants of the mountain
forest, felt compassion for
Sūchī on seeing her in this plight; for who
is there, that bears no
sympathy for the pious devotee, or her
penances and austerities?
16. The needle that was thus stuck fast to
the ground by its foot, and
had sprung up like some faculty of the mind;
was fed with the fragrance
of the fruitage, blown and borne by the
breeze to its uplifted mouth.
17. The woodland gods and demigods, continued
to fill its mouth with the
dust; of blown and unblown flowers in the
woods.
18. But it did not swallow the powdered dust of
meat; which the god
Indra had caused to be thrown into its mouth,
for the purpose of
frustrating the efficacy of its devotion.
19. Its fixity of purpose, did not permit it
to swallow the delicious
powder; because a person however mean he may
be, is sure of success by
his firmness of mind.
20. The god of winds, with his power of
uprooting the mountains; was
astonished to find the needle, averse to
swallow the food, ministered to
it in the form of the pollen of flowers.
21. The resolute devotee is never to be
shaken from his purpose, though
he is plunged in the mud or drowned in water,
or scattered by the winds
and thrown into the burning fire.
22. Or when he is shattered by showers of
hailstones, or struck by the
lightning or battered by rain drops, and intimidated
by thunder claps.
23. The resolute mind is not changed in a
thousand years, and the feet
of the firm, like those of the drowsy and
dead drunk, never move from
their place.
24. The holy hermit who is devoted to his
purpose, loses in time the
motion of his external organs; but obtains by
the exercise of his
reason, the light of true knowledge in his
soul.
25. Thus did Sūchī gain the light of
knowledge, and become a seer of the
past and future. She became cleansed of the
dross of her sins, and her
Visūchī or impurity was turned to Sūchī or
purity.
26. She came to know the truly knowable, in
her own understanding; and
she felt true bliss in her soul, after the
removal of her sins by
devotion.
27. She continued for many thousand years in
her austere devotion, to
the great astonishment of seven times seven
worlds, that got affrighted
at her austerities. (The cause of their fright
was, lest she should take
possession of their happy states, by the
merit of her devotion).
28. The great mountain was set in a blaze, by
the fervour of her
devotion; and that flame spread to all the
worlds, like the blaze of a
portentous meteor.
29. This made Indra the god of heaven, to ask
Nārada respecting the
cause of this intense devotion; saying
"Who is it that engrosses to her
the fruition of worlds, by her austere
devotion"? To whom Nārada thus
replied:
30. "It is Sūchī, who by her continued
devotion of thousands of years,
has attained her highest state of
enlightenment; and it is that light
that now enflames all the worlds."
31. It is Sūchī's devotion, O lord of gods,
that makes the Nāgās to sigh
and the hills to tremble. It causes the
celestials to fall down, and the
sea to overflow on earth. It dries up all
things, and casts to shade the
bright orb of the sun itself.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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