After a time, all things having been prepared for the bath according to the command of the king, he entered the blood-filled tank and came forth from it again, and then the Brahmans licked his feet with their tongues. When, subsequently to this, all things had been set in order for the bath according to the commands of the king, and he had entered the blood-filled tank and emerged from it again, then the tongues of the Brahmans licked his feet. After that the supernatural being was brought forward. When Manohara was ordered to draw nearer, she immediately rose heavenwards, saying, "After being seized and bound, after having laughed and played, like a cow freed from its bonds, will I flee away." When the king saw her sweeping through the air, fear came upon him, and he said to the Purohita, "How comes it that the Kinnari Manohara has flown away before our preparations were carried into effect?" The Purohita said, Your majesty, the end is now attained, and your nature is made free from sin." While Manohara was wending her way through the air she said to herself, "The directions of the Rishi were the cause of my passing into this condition. Had he not given these directions I should not have been captured. So I will go to him for awhile." On reaching the Rishi's hermitage she touched his feet and said, "Great Rishi, in consequence of your directions, I have been captured and exposed to the touch of man, and have nearly lost my life. Now then, if the youth Sudhana should happen to come here in search of me, give him my ring, and say to him these words: 'O youth, turn back again, for the way is full of woe and hard to tread. But if you cannot turn back, it is right to show you the way. Thus, O youth, does Manohara point it out. In the north there are three black mountains. When these are surmounted, there rise three more. When these three have been surmounted, there rise three more again. And when these three also have been surmounted, there remains the prince of moun tains, Himavant. On its north side are the mountains. Utkilaka, Jalapatha, Khadiraka, Ekadāraka, Vajraka, Kāmarūpin, Kīlaka, Airāvata, Adhovāna, and Pramuchapa. Over these mountains you must make your way. Traverse Khadiraka, Ekadāraka, and Utkilaka by the cavern. The king of the birds will carry you over Vajraka. In such a way will you traverse these mountains. You will overcome magic creatures, ram-like and goat-faced, and also a man having the form of the Rakshasa Pingalā. In the cavern is a huge snake, which rolls with the force of a foaming stream. This snake you must tame by force. When you see the black snake half coiling in the cavern, you must slay it, bending the bow and shooting the arrow. When you see two rams butting one another, break a horn off each of them, and you will find the way. If you see two iron men with fear-inspiring weapons, and you slay one of them, you will find the way. If you see an ironlipped Rakshasi opening and shutting her mouth, you must fling a wedge at her forehead. Likewise must you spring across the fount with the wild whirlpool, which measures sixty fathoms. Bending your bow, you must slay Yakshas and Rakshasas with lion-yellow hair and eyes, difficult to resist and hard to approach. Many rivers, also, full of tens of thousands of alligators, must you cross. You will see the Crocodile, the Butterfly, the Sad, the Gay, the Weeper, the Laugher, a river full of snakes, and another full of reeds. In the Crocodile is Rakshasī-anger, in the Butterfly a demon, in the Sad are many water-monsters, in the Gay is a Vidyadhara, in the Weeper is a Kinnari servingmaid, in the Laugher is a Kinnarī, in the snake-filled river are many snakes, in the river rich in reeds is Salmali [the Seemul or silk-cotton tree]. In the presence of the Crocodile [river] you must stand firm, and be bold in that of the Butterfly. On reaching the Sad, you must bind the jaws of the water-monsters. With the Gay you will succeed by the help of some Nagas, with the Weeper by means of courage, with the Laugher by means of silence. The snake-filled river you must pass by means of snakecharms, and the reed-producing river by means of the charm of sharp weapons beaten together. Having crossed all the rivers, you will come to a wild country wherein five hundred Yakshas dwell. Opposing these, overcome them. Then will appear the capital of the Kinnarī king. To him address yourself."" Having spoken these words to the Rishi, Manohara touched his feet with her head and went away. Great was the joy when the king heard that the youth Sudhana had returned to Hastinapura with the army after subduing the mountaineers. As soon as the youth had rested, he went to his father, made obeisance, and took his place before him. The king began to speak with great joy, and said, "O youth, have you been successful?" "Your majesty, through your grace have the mountaineers been overcome, hostages have been taken, and chiefs appointed. Tribute and taxes have also been levied. Be pleased to have all this taken into the treasury." The king said, "O son, as you have done well, I will receive these things." Then the son made obeisance to his father, and was about to depart when the king said, "Stay, O youth, in order to take food with your father." 1 This passage is extremely obscure. It is evident that Professor Schiefner was puzzled by it, for he has on the sheets prepared for the present translation made considerable alterations in his version as it originally appeared. There appears to be good reason for supposing that the Crocodile and the Butterfly, the Sad and the Gay, the Weeper and the Laugher, are names of rivers, but at present we must be contented with a hypothesis. The German text originally ran as follows: "Viele Flüsse, die mit zehntausend Alligatoren angefüllt sind, musst du über schreiten. Krokodile, Schmetterling, "Your majesty, as it is a long time since I saw Manohara, I wish to go to her." "O youth, put off going to her for to-day and go tomorrow." "Father, I will certainly go to-day," said the youth, moving restlessly this way and that. Whereupon the king made no reply. When the youth entered his house, and did not see the fair one at the door of the women's chamber, he was utterly cast down. As he did not see Manoharā, his mind became disordered, and he ran hither and thither, calling out, "Manohara! Manohara!" When the women had repeated these words to the winds, and he in his grief of heart had many times questioned them, they told him the whole story. Clouded over was his mind with grief. The women said, "Why should you be so cast down? In the band of women are those who are much more beautiful than she was." When he had learnt how cruelly his father had acted, he went to his mother, touched her feet, and said, "O mother, as Manohara is not here, Manohara who was endowed with every virtue that could be wished for, and endowed with admirable beauty, where then has she gone? Thinking ever so rapidly, I am all confused in mind. On account of being separated from her my mind is exceedingly sad. As Manohara dwells within my mind, pleasing to my mind and my mind's joy, as through separation from Manohara my body is saddened, what is there that will make my pain diminish?" His mother said, "O son, as intolerable fear came upon Manohara, I let her go away." "Mother, how did that come to pass?" His mother gave him a complete account of the matter. He said, "That was a cruel misdeed on my father's part." He said, moreover," Mother, whither has she gone? which way lies. the road?" His mother replied, "The road which Manohara has taken is that of the mountains where Rishis and lions ever dwell, and which are the abode of the Dharma E raja." In his intolerable grief at being separated from Manohara, the prince renewed his sad wailings, crying, "As Manohara is not here, Manohara who was endowed with every virtue that could be desired," and so on down to the words, "What is there that will make my pain diminish?" Then his mother said, "My son, as there are women in this band of wives who are more beautiful than she is, wherefore are you sad?" The youth replied, "Mother, how can I be happy if I find her not?" Although his mother tried to console him, he still remained sad; but as he wandered hither and thither, looking for Manohara and seeking for information as to her abode, a bright idea occurred to him. "Where I obtained her," he thought, "there will I go again and make inquiries." So he went to the hunter Phalaka, and asked him where it was that he had got possession of Manohara. The hunter replied, "On the slope of such and such a mountain dwells a Rishi, in whose hermitage there is a pool, Brahmasabha by name. Going there to bathe, I captured her according to the Rishi's directions." Sudhana said to himself, "I will go to the Rishi's abode, and there obtain information." Hearing that the youth was greatly depressed by his separation from Manohara, the king said, "O youth, wherefore are you so depressed? I will now give you a much more beautiful wife." The prince replied, " Father, as she is not here, I shall certainly betake me to her tarrying-place." The king could not dissuade him from this, though he repeatedly attempted to do so. Then the king ordered watchers to be set at the gates and outlets from the walls, in order to prevent the youth from going forth. Thereupon the youth could not sleep the whole night long. Five are there who on their nightly couch are sleepless all night long, namely, the man whose mind is enchained by love for his wife, the wife who loves her husband, the red duck, the robber chieftain, the Bhikshu who studies zealously. The youth 1 Dharma-rāja, "king of justice,' an epithet of Yama." |