The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER CII.
Repose of Sikhidhwaja in the Divine spirit.
Argument.--Anxiety of the Prince at the Disappearance of
Kumbha,
and his falling to a trance in his deep and hypnotic
meditation.
Kumbha continued:--I have alreay[**already] related to
you, O
prince, how have all this phenomenon of the world sprung
from Brahma, add how it disappears also in him.
2. Having thus heard from me, and understood and
reflectted[**reflected]
in yourself all what I have said; you are at liberty, O
sagely
prince, to repose in the supreme bliss, which you have
well
known and felt within yourself.
3. I am now to repair to my heavenly abode, at this time
of
the conjunction of the moon, when it is very likely that
the sage
N疵ada, may have come before the assembledge[**assemblage]
of the
gods
from his seat in the high heaven of Brahm・
4. He may be angry in not finding me there, and it is not
mannerly in youth to tease their superiors at any time.
5. May you ever abide at your ease, by your utter
abandonment
of every tint of desire, and by your firm reliance in
this[**these]
holy precepts, which the wise have always in their view.
6. Vasishtha said:--At hearing these words, as
sikhidhwaja[**Sikhidhwaja]
was about to throw his handful of flowers, and make his
obeisance
to his departing monitor, he vanished immediately from
his sight and mixed in the etherial air.
7. As one absorbed in meditation, does not see the things
present before him even in his waking state; so the
prince lost
sight of Kumbha from before his presence.
8. The prince was plunged in deep sorrow, after the
departure
of Kumbha from before him; and remained as a painted
picture, with his thoughts dwelling on his vanished
friend.
9. He thought how marvellous it was, and how very
inscrutable
are the ways of providence, that it should bring him to
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the light of the self-manifest Lord, through the means of
strange person of Kumbha.
10. Where is this sage N疵ada, said he, and who is his son
this Kumbha to me; and how came it to happen after so
long,
that I should come to be awakened by him.
11. O! how very fully has that son of the divine sage,
explained
every thing to me with his good reasons; and O how I
am now awakened[**space added] from my long slumber in
ignorance.
12. How had I been plunged in the mud of my acts for
such a long time, and was rolling on the wheels of
distinguishing
between what was wright[**right] or wrong to be done.
13. O how very pure and cold, tranquil and quiet is my
present state; and I find my essence to be as cooling to
me, as
I am washed in the cold bath of refrigeratory.
14. I am quite calm and lost in my trance, and sit alone
as
one with the unity; I have no desire for even a straw,
but remain
solely by myself.
15. Thinking thus in himself, he sat as quiet as a statue
carved in wood or stone.
16. He then became silent, and had no desire nor refuge
for his reliance; and remained in his immovable posture,
like the
peak of mountain.
17. Being then freed from fear in an instant, he remained
a long time with the tranquility of his soul and mind;
and
being united with the holy spirit in his hypnotism, he
continued long in his sleepy trance, with his soul
shining as the
rising sun.
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CHAPTER CIII.
Return of Kumbha to the Hermitage of Sikhidhwaja.
Argument.--Chud疝a's return after three days, and her
rousing the
Prince from his trance.
Vasishtha said.--Now hear me relate to you about
sikhidhwaja[**Sikhidhwaja],
sitting a block of wood on one side, and the reappearance
of chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 to him from the other.
2. After chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 had hypnotized her husband
sikhidhwaja[**Sikhidhwaja],
in her guise of the sagely Kumbha; she disappeared from
her,
and traversed into the regions of air.
3. She forsook her form of the son of the Divine sage in
the empty sky, and which she had took upon her by her
magic
spell. The enchanted form melted away in the air, and she
appeared in her female form of beauteous fair.
4. She bent her airy course to her palace in the city,
where
she showed herself as their queen, before her assembled
attendants
and courtiers, and discharged the royal duties of her
absent lord.
5. After three days she took again to her aerial journey,
retook her enchanted form of Kumbha, and advanced to the
hermitage of Sikhidhwaja in the forest.
6. She saw there the prince in his woodland retreat, and
sitting
in his posture of deep meditation and resemblimg[**resembling]
a figure
carved in wood.
7. Seeing him thus, she exclaimed repeatedly in herself;
O heyday! that he is reposing here in his own soul, and
is
sittting[**sitting] quiet and tranquil in himself.
8. I most[**must] now awaken him from his trance in the
supreme
Being, or else his soul will soon forsake its mortal
frame, owing
to his disregard of it, and the end of his worldly
bondage by
his excessive devotion.
9. It is desirable that he should live some time longer,
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either with his royalty in the palace or with devotion in
this
forest; and then we both of us will depart together, by
shuffling our mortal coils.
10. It would be difficult to instruct him, in all (seven)
stages of devotion (saptama bhumi); and as there is no
end
of these things, I will try to train him in the practical
part
of yoga only.
11. Thus pondering in herself she made a loud shout,
which
startled the wild beasts; but did not rouse the entranced
prince,
though she repeated her loud shouts before him.
12. When neither her shouts and shrieks could rouse him,
who remained unshaken as a stone in the rock; she shook
him
with her hands, to bring him back to his sense.
13. Though shaken and moved and thrown down on the
ground, yet the prince neither awoke nor came to his
senses;
then chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 thought on another expedient in his
guise of
Kumbha.
14. She said, Ah! I see my lord is absorbed in his
prophetic
trance, and I must find some expedient to rouse him to
his
sense.
15. Or why should I try to rouse him deified spirit back
to its sensation, when he so well absorbed in his state
of disembodied
or abstract meditation; (in which he enjoys himself
and has forgotten his embodiment in the material frame
and
become as the disembodied or videha spirit).
16. I also wish to get rid of my female form, and to
reach
that state of supreme beatitude like him, which is free
from
further births and transmigrations.
17. Thus thinking in herself, chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 was about to
abandon
her own body; when her better understanding recalled her
undertaking that attempt.
18. Let me feel the body of the prince at first, she
said,
whether there is an end of his life, or there is any
feeling or
pulsation in his heart.
19. Should he [**[be]] alive, he must come back to his
sense; as
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the juicy root of trees, recalls the flowers in the
flowering season
of spring.
20. If he is alive he will walk about like myself, in his
state
of a living liberated soul; but if he be found to be no
longer
living, then I shall follow him to the next world.
21. With this mind chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 felt his person, and
examined
it with her eyes; and then perceiving him to be living,
she thus
said rejoicingly to herself.
22. He has still the relic of his life, pulsating in his
breast,
the beating of the pulse and the throbbing of his breast,
show
his life to be not yet extinct.
23. R疥a said--How can the little spark of the vital
flame,
be known to reside in the body of the self distracted
yogi;
whose mind is as cold as stone, and whose body becomes as
callous as a clod of earth or a block of wood.
24. Vasishtha replied.--The relic of life remains in the
heart, as an imperceptible atom and in the manner of
sensibility;
just as the future fruits and flowers, are contained in
their seeds.
25. The calm and cold yogi, who is devoid of his
knowledge
of unity and duality, and views all things in the same
light;
who remains as quite[**quiet] as a rock and without the
pulsation of his
heart, has yet the vibration of his
entellect[**intellect] within him;
(which keeps him alive).
26. The body of the temperate and tranquil minded man,
never wastes or swells in bulk; it never decays nor grows
up in
heights, but ever remains in the same state.
27. The man whose mind vibrates with its thoughts of
unity and duality, (i.e. which perceives the difference
of things[**)];
has the change and decay of his body, which is never the
case
with the yogi of unchangeful mind. (The action of the
mind
impairs the body, but its inaction preserves it entire).
28. The action of the heart, is the spring of the life of
every
body in this world, just as the honey in the flower cup,
is the
cause of its future fruit.
29. These frail bodies of mortals, are notwithstanding
sub-*
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*ject to the fits of joy and anger, and of the quickness
and
dulness every moment; and these, O R疥a! are the seeds of
repeated births, and are hard to be checked or subdued.
30. The mind being still and quiet, the body becomes as
dull as it were lifeless; when it is subject to no
passion nor
change whatever; but remains as even as the still and
clear
fermament[**firmament] which nothing can disturb.
31. The man of even and dispassionate mind, is never
ruffled
nor tainted by any fault; but remains as calm as the
waters of
the billowless and breezeless ocean.
32. The body is never lifeless, nor is its life ever
imperceptible
unless the mind is defunct in its action; and is in
course of
long practice, that the mind becomes inexcitable and numb
in
itself.
33. The body which is without the action of its mind and
vitality, quickly melts away to rottenness; as the snow
melts
away under the solar heat.
34. The body of Sikhidhwaja was felt to be hot, though it
was without its active mind; it was therefore known to be
possessed
of its vitality, which prevented it from wasting and
rotting
away.
35. The noble lady, having perceived the body of her
husband
to be in that plight; held it fastly with her hands, and
began to consider what to do with it.
36. She said, I will try to raise him by infusion of my
intellection into his mind; and this will no doubt bring
him
back to his senses.
37. If I do not raise him now, he must rise himself after
sometime; but why should I wait till then, and must
remain
alone all the while.
38. Having thought so, Chud疝a left her body--the frame
work of the senses; and entered into the body of the body
and
joined with the intellectual essence of the same.
39. She then gave a vibration to the intellection of her
living lord, and after putting it in its action and
motion, she
returned to her own body; as a bird flits on the twig of
a
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tree which is shaken thereby, it comes back to its own
nest
again.
40. She rose in her figure of the Bhahman[**Brahman] boy
Kumbha,
and sat upon a flowery bed, where she began to chaunt her
hymns of the s疥a veda (psalmody); with her soft tunes
resembling the melodious chyme[**chime, see next verse]
of buzzing
bees.
41. The prince felt an intellectual exhilaration, on
hearing
the tuneful chime of the psalms; and his dormant life was
awakened to its sensibility, as the lotus bud comes to
blown
by the breath of the vernal season.
42. His eyelids oped to light, as the lotus bud blooms at
the sunlight; and the whole body of the prince, became
vivid
with his renewed life.
43. He beheld the Brahman boy Kumbha, singing s疥a
psalms before him; and appeared in his divinely fair
form, as
the divinity of music was present in person.
44. O fortunate am I, said he, to have found my friendly
Kumbha again before me; and so saying, he picked up some
flowers and offered them to him.
45. O how great is my good fortune, said he to his guest,
to be thus recalled to your gracious memory; or what else
is
it, that could cause a divine personage like yourself, to
be so
favourably disposed towards me.
46. It is only the cause of my salvation, that has caused
you
to come to and call at mine, or else what else can it be
to
bring a godson down to revisit me.
47. Kumbha spoke:--O sinless prince, my mind was ever
intent on thee, ever since I departed from thee; and now
it has
come back to me, to have found thee well in this place.
48. I do not reap so much delight in the ever delightful
region of heaven, as I do here in your presence; because
I have
the great work of your redemption not pending before me.
49. I have no friend or companion, that is dearer to my
soul
than yourself; nor have I any faithful pupil, nor
confidential
desciple[**disciple] like you in this world.
50. Sikhidhwaja replied.--Ah! I see now that the arbours
of this mountain, are about to yield the fruits of my
meritorious
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acts, that have made a retired recluse like yourself to
condescend
to desire my company.
51. If these woods and trees and myself who am so devoted
to you, should find favour in your sight than the bliss
of your
heavenly abode, then may you please to take your
residence
with me in this lonely forest.
52. For my part who am so blest with the gift of thy
sam疆hi, that I have always my perfect repose in God even
in
this place; have no desire for heavenly delights, (which
cannot
be better than my absorption in the Divine spirit).
53. Recling[**reclining] in that state of pure
effulgence, I enjoy my
fill of heavenly bliss even in this earth below.
54. Kumbha interrogated--Have you ever had your repose
in the state of supreme felicity, and were you ever freed
from
the infelicity, which is ever attendant on the knowledge
of
duality.
55. Have you ever felt a disgust to all temporary
enjoyments,
and have rooted out your taste for insipid pleasures of
this earth.
56. Has your mind ever rested in that state of even
indifference,
which has no liking for the desirable nor dislike to
what is undesirable, but is ever content with whatever
awaits
upon it at any time?
57. Sikhidhwaja replied.--It is by your favour sir, that
I
have seen all what transcends human sights; that I have
reached beyond the verge of the universe, and obtained
the best
obtainable and most certain bliss.
58. It is after long that I am freed from decay and
disease,
and gained all which is to be gained, and wherewith I am
quite
content.
59. I require no further advice, from anyone for my
edification;
I feel fully gratified with every thing in all places,
and
am quite at ease and out of disease everywhere.
60. I have nothing to know that is unknown to me, and
nothing to obtain that is not obtained by one; I have
forsaken
whatever is not worth have, and my soul has its reliance
in the
supreme essence.
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61. I rest quite aloof of all, being devoid my fear and
error
and apathy at any thing; I am always manifest in the even
and equal tenor of my mind, and in the equality of my
soul
with all others; I am free from all imagination, as the
clear
sky is free from all tent[**tint] and cloud.
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CHAPTER CIV.
On the conduct of living-liberated men.
Argument.--Kumbha and Sikhidhwaja's travel, and their
conversation
on various subjects; Kumbha's ideas of the predestined
law of nature[**.]
Vasishtha related.--In this manner did these knowers of
the knowable God, oontinued in their mutual conversation
on spiritual matters, until the third watch of the day in
that
forest.
2. Then rising together they wondered in the delightful
dales, and about in cooling lakes and pleasant rills.
3. In this manner they kept roving in that forest for
full
eight days, and passed their time in conversations on
various
subjects.
4. Then said Kumbha to the prince, let us walk to some
other forest to which he gave his consent, with uttering
the word
om, and then they walked forward in each other's company.
5. In this manner they walked over many forest lands, and
passed beside many jungles and shores; and they saw many
lakes and thick woods, and rising hills and their
thickets of
dense woods and plants.
6. They traversed many wood land tracts and rivers, and
saw many villages, towns and woods on their way; they
passed
by many sweet sounding rivers and groves, and many holy
places and the abodes of men.
7. They were united together in equal love and
friendship,
and being of equal age and the same tenor of mind, they
were of
equal vivacity; and both walked or stayed together with
their
unanimity.
8. They worshipped the gods and the manes of their
ancestors
in the holy places, and ate what they got at any place;
and lived together both in marshy and drylands in concord
and
peace.
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9. The loving pair bearing equal affection to one another
in
their hearts, dwelt together in mutual concord amidst the
tum疝a[**or tam疝a?] woods and in the forests of the Mand疵a
hills.
10. To them no place was their home or own, but they
alike
in all; nothing occured to disturb their minds, which
were
always as undisturbed as a mountain amidst the winds.
11. They walked sometimes amidst the flying dust, and at
others amidst the far stretching fragrance of
sandal[**changed sandel to
sandal - see two lines down] wood forests.
They were now daubed with ashes, and then besmeared with
the
sandal paste.
12. They were sometimes clad in good garments, and
sometimes
in variegated raiments; now they were covered with the
leaves of trees, and were decorated with flowers at
another.
13. Remaining thus in mutual company for some days, and
having the unanimity of their hearts and minds; the
prince
turned to be as perfected in his nature, as another
Kumbha
himself.
14. The holy and faithful chud疝a, seeing the divine
from[**should be
form?] of
her husband Sikhidhwaja, began to reflect within herself
in the
following manner.
15. How divinely fair has my husband become, and how
very charming[** space added] are these wood-land scenes;
by living long
in
this place, we must be an easy prey to the God of love.
16. I see that although one is liberated in his life
time, yet
the sense of his liberation, cannot give him
freedem[**freedom?] from his
obligation of testing the pleasures that are presented
before him.
I think it is ignorance to refuse the king of a proffered
enjoyments.
17. Seeing the husband to be noble minded, and free from
all bodily disease and debility; and having a flowery
grove before,
it must be a wretched woman, that rejects to advance to
her lord at such a time.
18. That wretched woman is verily undone, who in seated
in her bower of flowers and has her husband presented
before
her; and yet fails to approach to him for her
satisfaction.
19. Accursed is the woman, who being wedded to a hand-*
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*some husband, and having[**space added] alone in her
company fails to
associate
with him.
20. Of what good is it to one acquainted with true
knowledge,
to reject a lawful pleasure that presents itself before
that
person.
21. So I must contrive some artifice in this forest,
whereby
I may be successful to make my husband join with me.
22. Having thought so in her mind, chud疝a who was
disguised
in the from of Kumbha, thus uttered to the prince, as
the female cokila mutters to her mate from her flowery
bower
in the forest.
23. This is the first day of the new moon of the lunar
month of chaitra, and this is a day of great festivity in
the court
of Indra in heaven.
24. So I must have to repair to the synod of the gods,
and
present myself before my father in that assembly. So my
departure
is ordained by destiny, nor can it be averted by any
means.
25. You shall have to expect my return till eve in this
forest, and spend the mean time, by diverting yourself in
these
flowery arbours, which will lull your anxiety for me to
rest.
26. I shall positively return here from the azure sky, by
the dusk of this day; and soon join your company, which
is
ever delightful to me.
27. So saying, she gave a stalk of flowers of the Nandana
forest to her beloved, to serve as a token of her
affection for
him, (and as a pledge of her return to him before it
fades
away).
28. The prince said "you must return soon" to
me; and she
instantly, disappeared from his sight, and mixed with the
air,
as the light autumnal cloud vanishes in the empty sky.
29. He flung flowers after her, as she mounted in the
sky;
and these floated in the air, like icicles in the cold
season.
30. Sikhidhwaja standing on the spot, first beheld her
flight,
and then her disappearance from him; as the peacock looks
at
the flight of a cloud with uplifted eyes: (so immutable
is the
friendship of true friend).
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31. At last the body of Kumbha vanished from the sight
of Sikhidhwaja, and mixed in the open air, as the waves
of the
sea subside in the still and smooth waters.
32. Chud疝a then reached her celestial city, resembling
the
garden of paradise with its Kalpa arbours in full bloom,
and its
shining turrets waving with flags, hoisted on both sides
of its
charming paths.
33. She entered secretly her private apartment, and met
the company of the maids waiting for her; as the graceful
beauty of the vernal season, meets the long expectant
arbours
of the forest.
34. She attended to her state affairs, and discharged
them
quickly; and then flew aloft in the air and dropped at
Sikhidhwaja's[**corrected typo Sikhidwaja] abode, as the
autumnal[**corrected typo atumnal] fruits and flowers
drop on
the ground.
35. She appeared there with a melancholy face, and as
deeply dejected in her mind; just as the fair moon is
darkened
under the mist, and the beauteous lotus are hid under a
fog.
36. Believing her as his Kumbha, Sikhidhwaja rose up and
stood in his presence; but being troubled in his mind to
see him so sad and sorry, he asked the cause and thus
addressed
him saying:--
37. I greet thee, O Kumbha, but why appearest thou so
sad to day; thou art the son of a deity and must not be
sorry
at anything, but please to take thy seat here.
38. Holy saints and the knowers of the knowable one like
you, are never moved by joy or grief; but remain untouched
by them, as the lotuses remain intact in the water.
39. Vasishtha said:--Being thus accosted by the prince,
Kumbha sat on his seat, and then said in reply, with a
voice as
thin and soft as the sound of a bamboo flute.
40. I know that the knowers of truth, who are not patient
under all bodily accidents and mental anxieties, are not
truthful
men, but cheats who cheat people by their pretended
truthfulness.
41. Know prince that the most learned are the most
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ignorant, who expect foolishly to evade the condition in
which
they are exposed by their nature.
42. The sesame seed has naturally the oil inherent in it,
and the body has also its incidents con-natural with it;
be who
is not subject to his bodily accidents, is able to sever
the wind
and air with his sword.
43. It is of course to evade the evils that are
incidental to
the body, but it is to undergo patiently what is
unavoidable by
our bodily powers.
44. Again as long as we have our bodies, we must exert
our
bodily organs to their proper actions; and never attempt
to
suppress by our understanding, as it is done by many wise
men.
45. Even the great Brahm・and the gods, are subject to the
conditions of their bodily frames; nor have they with
their great
understandings, the power to avoid what is determined by
irrevocable destiny.
46. It is beyond the power of both the wise and unwise,
to
deter the power of distiny; which makes all things to run
in
their destined course, as the waters of rivers run into
the sea.
47. The same irrevocable destiny, determines equally the
fates of the wise and unwise, and guides them as by her
fingers
to the same goal, until they get their release from the
body.
48. The ignorant however, whether exposed to their states
of prosperity and adversity, are always destined to
undergo
their effects upon their bodies.
49. Thus therefore it must be known by both the wise and
unwise, that all beings are destined to roll in their
re-iterated
rotations of pleasure and pain, (according to the results
of their
prior merits and demerits); and that there is no power to
change
the ever chanceful ordinances of unchanging destiny.
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CHAPTER CV.
METAMORPHOSES OF KUMBHA TO A FEMALE FROM[** typo for
form?].
Argument:--Kumbha's relation of her transformation to a
woman by
right, and her attachment to the prince.
SIKHIDHWAJA said--If such is the case, sir, that destiny
over rules all events, why should you be sorry for aught
that has befallen to you, knowing that you are a godson
and
knowing the knowable also.
2. Kumbha replied:--Hear, O prince, the wonderful
accident
that has befallen on me; and I will relate to you all
that
has happened to me in body.
3. The heart becomes light when its griefs are imparted
to
a friend, as the thickened gloominess of the cloudy
atmosphere,
is dissipated after discharge of its waters in rains.
4. The troubled mind is restored to its serenity, by its
communication
with a sincere friend, as the turbid waters of a jar
is cleared by its being filtered with kata seeds.
5. Hear now that after I departed from here, by handing
over the spike of flowers to you; I traversed though the
regions
of air, till I reached the hevenly[** heavenly?] abode of
the god.
6. There I met my father, and accompanied him to the
court of the great Indra, where having sat a while, I got
up
with my father and then parted from him at his abode.
7. Leaving the seat of the Gods in order to come down on
earth, I entered the region of air; and kept my pace with
the
fleet steeds of the chariot of the sun, in the airy paths
of the
skies.
8. Thus wafted together with the sun, I reached the point
of my separation from him; and there took my path through
the midway sky, as if I were sailing in the sea.
9. I saw there in a track before me, a path stretching
amids[add t?]
the watery clouds of air, and marked the indignant sage
Durv疽a gliding swiftly by it.
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10. He was wrapt in the vest of clouds, and girt with
girdles
of flashing lightnings; the sandal taints on his body
were washed
off by showering rains, and he seemed as a maiden making
her
way in haste, to meet her lover at the appointed place.
11. Or as a devotee he hastened to discharge in due time
his fond devotion, on the beach of the river
(ganges[**Ganges]), flowing
under the shade of the beaching boughs of the rows of
trees on
the shore. (This refers to the custom of hastening to
perform
the sandhy・rites on the river side in the evening, as it
is customary
with other nations to hasten to the mosque or church
at the call to prayers and the striking of the
church-bell).
12. I saluted the sage from my aerial seat, and said,
you,
wrapt as you are in your blue vest of the cloud, seem to
advance
in haste, as an amorous woman to meet her lover; (by
hiding
herself in her black mantle in the darkness of night).
13. Hearing this, the reverend sage was incensed and
pronounce[**pronounced]
his curse upon me; saying, "Be thou transformed to
an amorous woman as thou thinkest me to be."
14. "Go thy way, and bear my curse, that every night
thou
shall become a woman, with thy protuberent[**protuberant]
breasts and
long
braids of hairs on thy heads[**head], and fraught with
all womanish
grace and dalliance, (and seek about thy
lover)[**"].
15. As I was thunderstruck and deeply dejected at this
imprecation, I found the old muni had already disappeared
from before me; and then I bent my course this way from
the
upper sky, being quite sick in my heart, (at this direful
fulmination).
16. Thus I have related to you all, regarding my being
changed to a damsel at the approach of night; and my
constant
thought of the manner, how I shall manage myself under my
womanhood.
17. How shall I divulge to my father, the shame of my
being a swollen breasted maid at night; and can I
reconcile
myself to my dire fate[**space added], throughout the
course of my life.
O how wonderful is the decree of fate, that we are fated
to
bear in this world in the course of time!
18. I am now illfated to become a prey to young men, and
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the subject of fighting among them, like a piece of flesh
among
ravenous vultures.
19. O what a fun have I become to the ludicrous boys of
the Gods in heaven, and ah! how shameful have I been
before
the sages, who must be quite ashamed of me, and how shall
I
remain anywhere and before any body in my female form at
night.
20. Vasishtha said.--After saying so far, chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩
become[**became]
as mute as a silent muni; and remained as quiet as if she
were
in a swoon.
21. The pretended Kumbha then, seeming to recover his
senses and his patience also, thus spoke out to himself;
ah! why
do I wail like the ignorant, (for this change in my
changeful
body), when my soul suffers no change by this?
22. Sikhidhwaja spoke.--Why sorrow you sir for the body,
that art the son of a God; let it become whatever may
become
of it, it can never affect the intangible soul.
23. Whatever pain or pleasure betides us in this life, is
all concomittant[**concomitant] with the changing body,
and can never
touch
the unchanging soul.
24. If you who are acquainted with the vedas, and
fortified
against all events; should allow yourself to be so much
moved
by this[**these] accidents, say what will be the case
with others, at all
the causualties[**casualties] of life, to which they are
incessantly
subject.
25. To be sorry in sorrow; is very sorrowful in the wise;
and therefore you who have yourself spoken this[**these]
precepts before,
should now be overwhelmed in sorrow, but remain as
unmoved,
as you are wont to [**[be]] unshaken all along.
26. Vasishtha related:--In this did the two hearty
friends,
continue to condole with one another; and console
themselves
by turns, under the cooling shade of the grove where they
sat
together.
27. At last[**space added] the bright sun who is the
light of the world, set
down in darkness like an oilless lamp, by involving
Kumbha
under despondency of her female form.
28. The full blown lotuses closed their foliums[**folia],
like the
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closing eyelids of the busy worldlings; and the foot
paths
became as deserted by their passengers, as the hearts of
loving
wives are forlorn in the absence of their husbands,
devoted to
travelling and staying in distant countries.
29. The upper sky borrowed the semblance of the lower
earth, by its spreading the curtain of darkness over the
groups
of its twinkling stars, like the outstretched nets of
fishermen
enfolding the finny tribe. (The similarity of the dark
curtain
of the sky overspreading its shining stars, to the black
nets
of fishers enveloping the silvery fishes under them).
30. The black vault of the sky, was smiling above with
its
train of shining stars, as the blue bed of lakes was
rejoicing
with its chain of blooming lilies below; and the sounding
black bees and beetles on the land, resounded to the
cries of the
ruddy geese in the water.
31. The two friends then rose and offered their evening
prayers at the rising of the moon, and chanted their
hymns and
muttered their mantras, and took their shelter under the
sylvan
retreat.
32. Afterwards Kumbha, changed as he was in the female
form, and sitting before Sikhidhwaja, lisped his
faltering[**space
removed]
speech to him in the following manner.
33. Sir, I seem to fall down and cry out and melt away
in my tears, to see myself even now changed to my
feminine
figure in your presence.
34. See Sir, how quickly are the hairs on my head
lengthened
to curling locks, and to how they sparkle with strings
of pearls fastened to them, like the brilliant clusters
of stars
in the azure sky.
35. Look here at these two snowy balls bulging out of my
bosom, like two white lotus-buds rising on the surface of
waters
in the vernal season.
36. Look how my long robe is stretched down to the
heels, and how it mantles my whole body, like the person
of
a female.
37. Look at these gemming ornaments and wreathes of
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flowers decorating my person, like the blooming blossoms
of
spring ornamenting the forest tree.
38. Lo! the moon-bright vest covering the crown of my
head, (like the disk of the moon resting on the hairy
crest of
Siva); and the necklaces hanging about my body, (like the
flowery wreathes of K疥a).
39. Look at my features, how they are converted to their
effiminate[**effeminate] comeliness, and see how my whole
frame, graced
all
over with feminine loveliness.
40. O! how very great is my sorrow, at this sudden change
of mine to a woman; and ah! tell me friend, what am I to
do,
and where to go with this my female form.
41. I perceive also the change to take place in my inner
parts, and in my thighs and posteriors; Kumbha said so
far
to her friend, and then remained quite mute and silent.
42. The prince also, seeing him thus, remained in his
mute
gaze and silence, and then after a while, he oped his
mouth and
spoke as follows:--
43. It is of course very sorrowful and pitiable, to see
you
thus transformed to a female; but you, sir, who know the
truth,
know also that there is no contending with fate.
44. Whatever is destined, must come to pass; and wise men
must not be startled at or feel sorry for the same;
because all
those events betake the body only, and cannot affect the
inward
soul.
45. Kumbha replied--So it is, and I must bear with my
feminine form, with an unfeminine soul. (So it is no
disgrace
to be an effeminate female, combined with the grace of a
manly
soul).
46. I will no more sorrow for, what is never to be
averted;
but must endure with patience what I cannot abjure.
Relying on
this principle, they alleviated their sorrow for what was
impossible
to avoid.
47. They passed their nights in peace, and slept in the
same
bed without touching one another; and Kumbha rose in the
morning in his masculine form again, without any trace of
his
female features and feminine beauty or grace.
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48. Kumbha was Kumbha again, by being shorn of his female
form; and thus he passed as bisex[**bisexual] and
biformal[**biform]
being of
the Brahman-boy Kumbha by day, and of chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 the
princess
by night.
49. In his male form, Kumbha continued as a friend to the
prince in the day time; and in female form of
chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩, he lived
as a virgin maid with him at night.
50. Thus did chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 cling to her husband, as a
string of
necklace hangs upon the neck and breast of a person. They
then continued to wander in the company of one another,
to different countries and over distant hills, to satisfy
their
curiosity.
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CHAPTER CVI.
MARRIAGE OF CHUDﾁLA WITH SIKHIDHWAJA.
Argument.--The Gandharba[**Gandharva] form of marriage,
its Courtship
and ceremonial rites.
Vasishtha resumed:--After the lapse of some days in
this manner, chud疝a[**Ch棈疝畩 thus bespoke to her husband,
in her
guise of the pretended Brahman boy (or Kumbha).
2. Hear me, O lotus eyed prince, she said, what I tell
you in
good earnest; that since I am obliged to become a woman
every
night, and continue to be so for ever more.
3. I wish to fulfill the part of my womanhood, by joining
myself to a husband by legal marriage for all that time.
4. I want to taste the pleasure of conjugal union, with
dear friend, who is of his own accord so very friendly to
me, and
without any endeavour on my part: so I hope you will
interpose
no difficulty in my way.
5. So I choose you sir, as my husband, of all others in
the
three worlds: therefore be pleased to accept me for your
wife
every night.
6. The delightsome pleasure of conjugal union, has come
down to us ever since the comment[**commencement] of
creation; and
therefore
our obedience to the ordinance of nature, can entail no
guilt on
our part.
7. I desire this that we may do as we like, without
desiring
or disliking anything; and be far from expecting the
consequence
of what we like or dislike.
8. Sikhidhwaja answered:--I see friend, neither any good
nor evil, of accepting your proposal; so you are at
liberty to
do as you like.
9. Being possessed of the indifference of my mind, at
every
thing in the world; I see everything in the same and in
an
equal light: so I let you have your option as you may
like.
10. Kumbha replied:--If so, then I say that this day is
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very favourable for celebrating the marriage ceremony; it
is
the full moon of Sr疱ana, and all lucky asterism according
to
my best calculation.
11. On this day of the full moon, our marriage may take
place both in the day as well as night-time in the
G疣dharva
form (by mutual choice and cansent[**consent])[**.]
12. It will be celebrated either on the summit of the
Mahendra mountain, or on the delightful table-land there
abouts; or in the grotto of some mineral mine, and in the
light of the shining gems and mineral ores in the
mountain;
(serving as lamps and candle lights in the festivity).
13. The rows of stately trees all around, will shed their
flowers at the nuptial ceremony; and the twining creepers
on
them, will represent the dance of nauch girls by their
tremulous
shaking. (Dance and music being necessary accompaniments
of marriage festivities).
14. Let the bright luminary of the night, accompanied by
his consort train of shining stars, witness our marriage
from
the high sky with their wide open and glaring eyes.
15. Rise, O prince, for your marriage; and let us both
hie
to cull the forest flowers, and prepare the sandal paste
and
collect the scattered gems, in order to deck our nuptial
seats
therewith.
16. Saying so, they both rose together, and culled the
flowers and collected the gems.
17. Then in a short time, they repaired to the gemming
steppe, and heaped it with flowers of various kinds.
18. They had their marriage vests and necklaces ready on
the spot, and the god of love helped with the supply of
every
thing requite[**required] on the occasion.
19. Having thus prepared the paraphernalia of their
nuptials,
and stored them in a golden grotto of the mountain, they
both repaired to sacred stream of the heavenly Ganges
Mand疚ini,
for making their holy ablutions therein.
20. Here Kumbha served as the priest, to lave the holy
water
profusely on the lofty head and elevated shoulders of the
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prince; as the elephantine clouds of Indra, pour the rain
water
in plenteous showers, on the towering tops and height of
hills.
21. So also did the prince act the part of the
ministering
prince, and washed the body of his beloved
princes[**princess] now in the
form of Kumbha. Thus did the two friends anoint and
absterge
by turns, the persons of their quondom[**quondam] and
future
consorts.
22. Bathed and purified, they adored the gods, the munis
and the manes of their ancestors, for the sake of their
honour,
and without any desire of getting any good or gain from
them:
for they well knew that they could benefit nothing their
service, as the deities, the deified spirits and the
divine sages.
23. They took their frugal and repast, as their nature
and
the course of the world required; and seasoned with the
nectarine
juice of their good and refined intelligence.
24. They wore the whitish barks of Kalpa trees, as their
clean marriage raiments, and ate its fruits as their
wedding
cakes; then they repaired to the altar for their nuptial
ceremony.
25. At this time the sun descended below his setting
mountain,
as if to consummate their conjugal union in secret.
26. As it now became dark and dusk they discharged their
evening service and offered their prayers; and groups of
stars
now appeared on the plain of the firmament, to witness
their
union in marriage.
27. Then came the sable night the only friend of the
happy
pair, spreading the veil of darkness over the face of
nature, and
smiling with the blushing of snow white lotuses and
lilies of
the valley.
28. Kumbha collected the rich stones, and placed those
gemming on the table land of the mountain, while Brahma
lighted his two lamps of the sun and moon together in the
heavens.
29. Being then changed to the female form, Kumbha
anointed
the prince with the fragrant sandal paste,
agallochium[**agallochum],
camphor powder and pulverised musk.
30. She adorned his person with strings, bracelets and
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wristlets of flowers, and dressed in a robe of the thin
bark of
Kalpa tree.
31. His body was also decorated with the filaments of
Kalpa
plant, and clusters of p疵ij疸a flowers and with many other
flowers and gems from his head to foot.
32. She appeared also at this time in her bridle garb and
maiden like figure, with her big and swollen breasts, and
with
all her youthful grace and blandishments.
33. She thought that as she was now attired and appeared
as a nuptial bride, she must now offer herself to a
husbnnd[**husband]
worthy to her.
34. Hear[**Here] am I as a lovely bride, said she to
herself, and
there is my husband in my presence, I must ask him to
accept
my hand, nor is this time to be slipped from hand.
35. So saying, she approached her husband sitting apart
from her in the wood; and appeared as Rati--the goddess
of
love, was advancing towards her loving K疥a.
36. She went to him and said:--"I am Madanik・by name
and thy loving wife I therefore bow down at your feet,
with
the regard due to a husband.
37. So saying, the beauteous lady, bent down her head
with
female bashfulness; and made her obeisance to her lord,
with
the pendant locks on her head.
38. And then she said to him;--"O thou my lord! do
thou
adorn me with ornaments also, and then light the nuptial
fire,
to attest thy acceptance of my hand."
39. Thou appearest as exceedingly fair to my eyes, and
makest me quite fond of thee; and thou seemest to me to
surpass the god of love in the beauty of person, even
when he
wedded his Rati at first in his youthfull[**youthful]
bloom.
40. O prince, these wreathed flowers on thy person,
appear
as the brightsome beams in the body of the moon; and
those
strings of flowers pendant on thy bosom, seem to me as
the
stream of Ganges, gliding on the breast of the Sumeru
mountain.
41. With the flowing braided hairs on thy head, thou
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appearest as the mount of Mand疵a, with the clusters of
creepers
hanging down from its top; while thy head itself appears
as
golden lotus, with its hanging hairs resembling the
filaments
of the flower, and studded with strings of blackening
bees.
42. The gemming ornaments and flowery decorations of
thy person, add to it the lustre and gracefulness of the
mount
Meru, with its mineral ores on one side and its
floral[**space added]
beauty on
the other.
43. After her flattering speech was over, the new bride
and
bridegroom, and future husband and wife sat contented
together,
unmindfull[**unmindful] and forgetful of their past
conjugal relation.
44. The brave princess now Madanik・by name, and the
noble prince Sikhidhwaja the saint, both sat together on
a
golden seat (of the mineral mountain); which added fresh
lustre to the beauty and decoration of their persons.
45. They were bedecked with their head dresses, garlands
of
flowers and ornaments of gems and pearls, and were
furnished
with flowers and ointments, and clad in fine cloths all
over
their bodies.
46. The young lady Madanik・blazed as venus[**Venus] with
her
maddening beauty, and appeared as the goddess Gowri--the
surpassing
paragon of beauty, at her wedding festivity.
47. The noble lord having embellished his noble lady with
his own hands, thus spoke to her after her toilet;
"O thou
fawn eyed fairy, thou art as graceful as the goddess of
grace
and prosperity".
48. I pray for all that prosperity to attend on thee, as
it
does with Sach・--The queen of heaven, in the company of
her
lord Indra; and as it subsisted between the mutual pairs
of Hara
and Gowri; and Hari and his consort Lakshm・-the goddess
of fortune.
49. Thou appearest as a limpid lake of lotuses, with thy
breasts blooming like lotus buds; and thy black blue
eyes,
resembling the cerulean lotuses (nilumbiums); and the
sweet
fragrance of thy lotus like person, inviting the buzzing
bees
fluttering all about thee.
50. Thou appearest likewise as a tender shoot of the Kalpa
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plant of Cupid, with thy rubicund palms resembling its
reddish
leaves; and thy swollen breasts likening to its blooming
buds,
and every part of thy body, is as delicate as its
delicious fruits.
51. With thy cold and cooling body, and thy moon like
face and its smiles as moon beams, thou art as beautiful
as the
full-moon, and equally delightful to sight.
52. Rise therefore my beauteous lady and ascend on the
matrimonial altar, and there perform the marriage
cerimony[**ceremony],
standing on the slab of stone, marked with creeping
plants and
their fruits. (The gloss says, that this stone or stool,
is also
painted with the colours of the nine sorts of precious
gems
nava-ratna, that are sacred to the nine planets[**)].
53. Vasishtha said.--The altar was studded with strings
of
pearls, and bunches of flowers suspended on all sides;
and it
had four large cocoanut fruits, hang over the four sides
of its
square.
54. There were pots filled with the holy water of
gang畆**Gang畩
set about it, and the sacred matrimonial fire was lighted
amidst
it, and fed with the fuel of the sandal wood and other
fragrances.
55. They turned round the flaming fire by the right hand
side, and then sat on seats of leaves with their faces
turned
towards the east.
56. After sitting on the altar, the matrimonial couple
kindled the nuptial fire, and made offerings of sesame
seeds,
and fried rice upon its flames.
57. Having lifted the wife with his own hands, the husband
and wife
appeared like Siva and P疵vat・in the forest. [**This verse
is missing in the
LPP ed. but available in the Parimal ed. The numbering of
the following
verses should be adjusted accordingly.]
57. The married pair turned again about the sacred fire,
and
offered to each other their own selves[**space added] and
loves as their
marriage
doweries[**dowries].
58. They showed to one another their shining faces, as
their nuptial presents; and completed the ceremony by
going
round the fire, and scattering the fried rice upon it.
59. The husband and wife now parted other hands, from
their hold of the palms of one another; and their smiling
faces,
appeared as the lunar disk on the new moon.
60. After this they went to sleep on a flowery bed-stead
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which they had newly prepared before, when the moon had
already run her course of the first watch of the night.
61. She cast her beams to fall aslant on the bed stead,
as
when the attendant women cast their glances askance on
the
bridal bed.
62. She next spread her bright beams all about the leafy
bower of the pair; as if to listen to the pleasant
conversation,
of the new married couple.
63. The pair having sat there awhile, in the light of the
mineral lamps, retired to their sleeping bed, which they
had
prepared beforehand in a secluded spot.
64. It was a bedding of flowers, and beset by heaps of
flowers of various kinds. (It is called the
pushpa-talpa[**changed -- to -]
and
is still in vogue even in the present form of marriage).
65. There were heaps of lotuses of golden hue, as also
mand疵a
and other sorts of flowers, to drive away fatigue by
their
fragrance.
66. The flat of the flowery bed of the bridal pair,
resembled
the plane of the broad and bright moon, and a level
surface
covered by the cooling ice.
67. It bore likewise the resemblance of the wide sea,
whose
waters are impregnated by the bright moon, and whose
surface
supplies a bed to Ananta--the sleeping spirit of the
endless
God.
68. The loving pair then lay themselves down, and rolled
upon their snow white bed of flowers; as when
mandara[**Mandara]
mountain,
rolled about and churned the Milky ocean.
69. They passed their bridal night in mutual caresses and
conversation on topics of love, and the live long night
glided
before them as a few moments only.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the collection)
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