{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_18285/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_18285","id":"gutenberg_18285","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18285","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Plays/Films/Dramas","Hinduism","India","Sanskrit drama -- Adaptations"],"text":"Produced by Justin Kerk, Janet Blenkinship and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  TALES FROM\n\n  THE HINDU DRAMATISTS.\n\n  BY\n\n  R. N. DUTTA, B.A., B.L.,\n\n  _Late Officiating Head-Master, Metropolitan Institution,\n  Bowbazar Branch, Calcutta;_\n\n  AUTHOR OF \"THE BOY'S RAMAYANA.\"\n\n\n  REVISED BY\n  J. S. ZEMIN,\n\n  _Professor of English Literature, Bishop's College, and\n  Central College, Calcutta;\n  Late Principal, Doveton College, Calcutta;\n  Hon. Fellow and Examiner, University of Calcutta_.\n\n\n\n  Calcutta.\n  B. BANERJEE & Co.,\n  26, Cornwallis Street, and 54, College Street.\n\n\n  1912.\n\n  [_All Rights Reserved._]                     Ans. 12.\n\n\n  CALCUTTA,\n\n  PRINTED BY K.C. DATTA AT THE VICTORIA PRINTING WORKS\n  203/2 CORNWALLIS STREET.\n\n  PUBLISHED BY\n  B. BANERJEE & Co.,\n  25, Cornwallis Street, and 54, College Street.\n\n\n  To\n\n  The Hon'ble Sir Justice\n\n  ASHUTOSH MOOKERJEE, SARASWATI, Kt.\n\n  C.S.I., M.A., D.L., D.S.C., F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E.\n\n  _Vice-Chancellor of the University of\n  CALCUTTA._\n\n  THIS BOOK\n\n  IS\n\n  DEDICATED\n\n  as a sincere token of the esteem and admiration of the\n\n  AUTHOR\n\n  for his eminent services to the cause of the\n\n  ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.\n\n\n+-------------------------------------------------------------------+\n| Transcriber's Note: There are some inconsistencies in spelling and|\n|punctuation which have been left as the original.                  |\n+-------------------------------------------------------------------+\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nMany educationists think that our Indian boys should be encouraged to\nread the stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two great\nEpics of India and Tales from the Sanskrit Dramatists when they are\nrecommended to read \"The Boy's Odyssey,\" \"Legends of Greece and Rome,\"\n\"Arabian Nights' Tales\" and Lamb's \"Tales from Shakespeare.\" It was\nperhaps from this view of the matter that the University of Calcutta\nrecommended \"The Boy's Ramayana\" and \"Tales from the Hindu Dramatists\"\nfor the Matriculation Examination. As no books were published in time,\nthe University had to issue an amended notice omitting the books from\nthe list. To supply the want, I have ventured to write the \"Boy's\nRamayana\" and this humble book. I have tried my best to narrate briefly,\nin simple and idiomatic English, the stories on which the chief Sanskrit\ndramas are based. I hope that the University will be pleased to\nre-insert \"The Boy's Ramayana\" and this book in the list of books\nrecommended for the Matriculation Examination.\n\n  BALARAMADHAM,            }\n  4, Madan Mitter's Lane,  } RAMA NATH DUTT.\n  Calcutta                 }\n  _1911--December._        }\n\n\n\n\nTALES\n\nFROM\n\nTHE HINDU DRAMATISTS.\n\n\n\n\nSAKUNTALA OR THE LOST RING.\n\n\nIn ancient days, there was a mighty king of the Lunar dynasty by name\nDushyanta. He was the king of Hastinapur. He once goes out a-hunting and\nin the pursuit of a deer comes near the hermitage of the sage Kanwa, the\nchief of the hermits, where some anchorites request him not to kill the\ndeer. The king feels thirsty and was seeking water when he saw certain\nmaidens of the hermits watering the favourite plants. One of them, an\nexquisitely beautiful and bashful maiden, named Sakuntala, received him.\nShe was the daughter of the celestial nymph Menaka by the celebrated\nsage Viswamitra and foster-child of the hermit Kanwa. She is smitten\nwith love at the first sight of the king, standing confused at the\nchange of her own feeling. The love at first sight which the king\nconceives for her is of too deep a nature to be momentary. Struck by her\nbeauty he exclaims:--\n\n\"Her lip is ruddy as an opening bud; her graceful arms resemble tender\nshoots; attractive as the bloom upon the tree, the glow of youth is\nspread on all her limbs.\"\n\nSeizing an opportunity of addressing her, he soon feels that it is\nimpossible for him to return to his capital. His limbs move forward,\nwhile his heart flies back, like a silken standard borne against the\nbreeze. He seeks for opportunities for seeing her. With the thought\nabout her haunting him by day and night, he finds no rest, and no\npleasure even in his favourite recreation--sporting. Mathavya, the\njester, friend and companion of the king, however, breaks the dull\nmonotony of his anxious time. The opportunity which the king seeks\noffers itself. The hermits send an embassy to the king asking him to\ncome over to the hermitage to guard their sacrifices. As he was making\npreparations for departure to the hermitage, Karavaka, a messenger from\nthe queen-mother, arrives asking his presence at the city of Hastinapur.\n\nHe is at first at a loss to extricate himself from this difficulty but a\nthought strikes him and he acts upon it. He sends the jester as his\nsubstitute to the city. He is now at leisure to seek out the love-sick\nSakuntala who is drooping on account of her love for the king and is\ndiscovered lying on a bed of flowers in an arbour. He comes to the\nhermitage, overhears her conversation with her two friends, shows\nhimself and offers to wed her. For a second time, the lovers thus meet.\nHe enquires of her parentage to see if there is any obstacle to their\nbeing united in marriage; whereupon Sakuntala asks her companion\nPriyambada to satisfy the king with an account of her birth. The king\nhearing the story of her birth asks the companion to get the consent of\nSakuntala to be married to him according to the form known as\n_gandharva_.\n\nSakuntala requests the king to wait till her foster-father Kanwa, who\nhad gone out on a pilgrimage, would come back and give his consent. But\nthe king, becoming importunate, she at last gives her consent. They are\nmarried according to the _gandharva_ form, on the condition that the\nissue of the marriage should occupy the throne of Hastinapur. She\naccepts from her lord a marriage-ring as the token of recognition.\n\nThe king then goes away, after having promised to shortly send his\nministers and army to escort her to his Capital. When Kanwa returns to\nthe hermitage, he becomes aware of what has transpired during his\nabsence by his spiritual powers, and congratulates Sakuntala on having\nchosen a husband worthy of her in every respect. Next day, when\nSakuntala is deeply absorbed in thoughts about her absent lord, the\ncelebrated choleric sage Durvasa comes and demands the rights of\nhospitality. But he is not greeted with due courtesy by Sakuntala owing\nto her pre-occupied state. Upon this, the ascetic pronounces a curse\nthat he whose thought has led her to forget her duties towards guests,\nwould disown her.\n\nSakuntala does not hear it, but Priyambada hears it and by entreaties\nappeases the wrath of the sage, who being conciliated ordains that the\ncurse would cease at the sight of some ornament of recognition.\n\nSakuntala becomes quick with child and in the seventh month of her\npregnancy is sent by her foster-father to Hastinapur, in the company of\nher sister Gautami, and his two disciples Sarngarva and Saradwata.\nPriyambada stays in the hermitage. Sakuntala takes leave of the sacred\ngrove in which she has been brought up, of her flowers, her gazelles and\nher friends.\n\nThe aged hermit of the grove thus expresses his feelings at the\napproaching loss of Sakuntala:--\n\n\"My heart is touched with sadness at the thought, \"Sakuntala must go\nto-day\"; my throat is choked with flow of tears repressed; my sight is\ndimmed with pensiveness but if the grief of an old forest hermit is so\ngreat, how keen must be the pang a father feels when freshly parted from\na cherished child!\"\n\nThen he calls upon the trees to give her a kindly farewell. They answer\nwith the Kokila's melodious cry.\n\nThereupon the following good wishes are uttered by voices in the air:--\n\n\"Thy journey be auspicious; may the breeze, gentle and soothing, fan the\ncheek; may lakes, all bright with lily cups, delight thine eyes; the\nsun-beam's heat be cooled by shady trees; the dust beneath thy feet be\nthe pollen of lotuses.\"\n\nOn their way, Sakuntala and her companions bathe in the Prachi\nSaraswati, when, as Fate would have it, she carelessly drops the ring of\nrecognition into the river, being unaware of the fact at the time. At\nlast they arrive at Hastinapur, and send words to the king.\n\nThe king asks his family priest Somarata to enquire of them the cause of\ntheir coming. Whereupon the priest meets them at the gate, knows the\nobjects of their coming and informs the king of it. The curse of Durvasa\ndoes its work. The king denies Sakuntala. At the intercession of the\npriest, she and her companions are brought before the king. The king\npublicly repudiates her. As a last resource, Sakuntala bethinks herself\nof the ring given her by her husband, but on discovering that it is\nlost, abandons hope. Sarnagarva sharply remonstrates against the conduct\nof the king and presses the claim of Sakuntala.\n\nGentle and meek as Sakuntala is, she undauntedly gives vent to her moral\nindignation against the king. The disciples go away saying that the king\nwould have to repent of it.\n\nSakuntala falls senseless on the ground. After a while, she revives, the\npriest then comes forward and asks the king to allow her to stay in his\npalace till her delivery. The king consents, and when Sakuntala is\nfollowing the priest, Menaka with her irradiant form appears and taking\nhold of her daughter vanishes and goes to a celestial asylum. Everyone\npresent there is astonished and frightened.\n\nAfter this incident, one day while the king is out on inspection, a\ncertain fisherman, charged with the theft of the royal signet-ring which\nhe professes to have found inside a fish, is dragged along by constables\nbefore the king who, however, causes the poor accused to be set free,\nrewarding him handsomely for his find.\n\nRecollection of his former love now returns to him. His strong and\npassionate love for Sakuntala surges upon him with doubled and\nredoubled-force.\n\nIndulging in sorrow at his repudiation of Sakuntala, the king passes\nthree long years; at the end of which Matali, Indra's charioteer,\nappears to ask the king's aid in vanquishing the demons. He makes his\naerial voyage in Indra's car. While he is coming back from the realm of\nIndra, he alights on the hermitage of Maricha.\n\nHere he sees a young boy tormenting a lion-whelp. Taking his hand,\nwithout knowing him to be his own son, he exclaims:--\"If now the touch\nof but a stranger's child thus sends a thrill of joy through all my\nlimbs, what transports must be awakened in the soul of that blest father\nfrom whose loins he sprang!\"\n\nFrom the vaunting speeches of the boy, the king gathers that the boy is\na scion of the race of Puru. His heart everflows with affection for him.\nA collection of circumstantial evidence points the boy to be his son.\nThe amulet on the boy indicates his parentage.\n\nBut while he is in a doubtful mood as to the parentage of the refractory\nboy, he meets the sage Maricha from whom he learns everything. The name\nof the boy is Sarvadamana, afterwards known as Bharata, the most famous\nking of the Lunar race, whose authority is said to have extended over a\ngreat part of India, and from whom India is to this day called Bharata\nor Bharatavarsa (the country or domain of Bharata.)\n\nSoon after, he finds and recognises Sakuntala, with whom he is at length\nhappily re-united.\n\n\n\n\nVIKRAMORVASI OR URVASI WON BY VALOUR\n\nOR\n\nTHE HERO AND THE NYMPH.\n\n\nIn the Himalaya mountains, the nymphs of heaven, on returning from an\nassembly of the gods, are mourning over the loss of Urvasi, a\nfellow-nymph, who has been carried off by a demon. King Pururavas enters\non his chariot, and on hearing the cause of their grief, hastens to the\nrescue of the nymph. He soon returns, after having vanquished the\nrobber, and restores Urvasi to her heavenly companions. While carrying\nthe nymph back to her friends in his chariot, he is enraptured by her\nbeauty, falls in love with her and she with her deliverer. Urvasi being\nsummoned before the throne of Indra, the lovers are soon obliged to\npart. When they part, Urvasi wishes to turn round once more to see the\nking.\n\nShe pretends that a straggling vine has caught her garland, and while\nfeigning to disengage herself, she calls one of her friends to help her.\n\nThe friend replies:--\n\n\"I fear, this is no easy task. You seem entangled too fast to be set\nfree: but, come what may, defend upon my friendship.\" The eyes of the\nking then meet those of Urvasi. They now part.\n\nThe king is now at Prayag, the modern Allahabad, his residence. He walks\nin the garden of his palace, accompanied by a Brahman who is his\nconfidential companion, and knows his love for Urvasi. The companion is\nso afraid of betraying what must remain a secret to everybody at court,\nand in particular to the queen, that he hides himself in a retired\ntemple. There a female servant of the queen discovers him, and 'as a\nsecret can no more rest in his breast than morning dew upon the grass,'\nshe soon finds out from him why the king is so changed, since his return\nfrom the battle with the demon, and carries the tale to the queen. In\nthe meantime, the king is in despair, and pours out his grief. Urvasi\nalso is sighing for him. She suddenly descends with her friend through\nthe air to meet him.\n\nBoth are at first invisible to him, and listen to his confession of\nlove.\n\nThen Urvasi writes a verse on a birch-leaf, and lets it fall near the\nbower where her beloved reclines.\n\nNext, her friend becomes visible, and at last, Urvasi herself is\nintroduced to the king. After a few moments, however, both Urvasi and\nher friend are called back by a messenger of the gods, and the king is\nleft alone with his jester. He looks for the leaf on which Urvasi had\nfirst disclosed her love, but it is lost, carried away by the wind. But\nworse than this the leaf is picked up by the queen, who comes to look\nfor the king in the garden. The queen severely upbraids her husband,\nand, after a while, goes off in a hurry, like a river in the rainy\nseason.\n\nWhen Urvasi was recalled to Indra's heaven, she had to act before Indra\nthe part of the goddess of beauty, who selects Vishnu for her husband.\nOne of the names of Vishnu is Purushottama.\n\nPoor Urvasi, when called upon to confess on whom her heart was set,\nforgetting the part she had to act, says \"I love Pururavas,\" instead of\n\"I love Purushottama.\"\n\nHer teacher Bharata, the author of the play, is so much exasperated by\nthis mistake, that he pronounces a curse upon Urvasi. \"You must lose\nyour divine knowledge.\" After the close of the performance, Indra,\nobserving her as she stood apart, ashamed and disconsolate, calls her\nand says:--\n\n\"The mortal, who engrosses your thoughts, has been my friend in the days\nof adversity; he has helped me in the conflict with the enemies of the\ngods, and is entitled to my acknowledgements. You must, accordingly,\nrepair to him and remain with him till he beholds the offspring you\nshall bear him.\" The god thus permits her to marry the mortal hero.\n\nAfter transacting public business, the king retires to the garden of the\npalace as the evening approaches. A messenger arrives from the queen,\napprising his Majesty that she desires to see him on the terrace of the\npavilion. The king obeys and ascends the crystal steps while the moon is\njust about to rise, and the east is tinged with red.\n\nAs he is waiting for the queen, his desire for Urvasi is awakened again.\nOn a sudden, Urvasi enters on a heavenly car, accompanied by his friend.\nThey are invisible to the king as on the previous occasion. The moment\nthat Urvasi is about to withdraw her veil, the queen appears. She is\ndressed in white, without any ornaments, and comes to propitiate her\nhusband, by taking a vow.\n\nThen she, calling upon the god of the moon, performs her solemn vow and\nretires.\n\nUrvasi, who is present, though in an invisible state, during this scene\nof matrimonial reconciliation, now advances behind the king and covers\nhis eyes with her hands. The king says:--\n\n\"It must be Urvasi; no other hand could shed such ecstasy through my\nemaciated frame. The solar rays do not wake the night's fair blossom;\nthat alone expands when conscious of the moon's dear presence.\"\n\nShe takes the resignation of the queen in good earnest and claims the\nking as granted her by right. Her friend takes leave and she now remains\nwith the king as his beloved wife in the groves of a forest.\n\nSubsequently the lovers are wandering near Kailasa, the divine mountain,\nwhen Urvasi, in a fit of jealousy, enters the grove of Kumara, the god\nof war, which is forbidden to all females. In consequence of Bharat's\ncurse she is instantly metamorphosed into a creeper. The king beside\nhimself with grief at her loss, seeks her everywhere. The nymphs in a\nchorus deplore her fate. Mournful strains are heard in the air.\n\nThe king enters a wild forest, his features express insanity, his dress\nis disordered. Clouds gather overhead. He rushes frantically after a\ncloud which he mistakes for a demon that carried away his bride.\n\nHe addresses various birds and asks them whether they have seen his\nlove,--the peacock, 'the bird of the dark-blue throat and eyes of\njet,'--the cuckoo, 'whom lovers deem Love's messenger,'--the swans, 'who\nare sailing northward, and whose elegant gait betrays that they have\nseen her,'--the chakravaka, 'a bird who, during the night, is himself\nseparated from his mate,'--but none responds. He apostrophises various\ninsects, beasts and even a mountain peak to tell him where she is.\n\nNeither the bees which murmur amidst the petals of the lotus, nor the\nroyal elephant, that reclines with his mate under the Kadamba tree, has\nseen the lost one.\n\nAt last he thinks he sees her in the mountain stream:--\n\n\"The rippling wave is like her frown; the row of tossing birds her\ngirdle; streaks of foam, her fluttering garment as she speeds along; the\ncurrent, her devious and stumbling gait. It is she turned in her wrath\ninto a stream.\"\n\nAt last the king finds a gem of ruddy radiance. He holds it in his\nhands, and embraces the vine which is now transformed into Urvasi. Thus\nis she restored to her proper form, through the mighty spell of the\nmagical gem. The efficacious gem is placed on her forehead. The king\nrecovers his reason. They are thus happily re-united and return to\nAllahabad.\n\nSeveral years elapse. An unlucky incident now comes to pass. A hawk\nbears away the ruby of re-union. Orders are sent to shoot the bird, and,\nafter a short while, a forester brings the jewel and the arrow by which\nthe hawk was killed. An inscription on the shaft shows that its owner is\nAyus. A female ascetic enters, leading a boy with a bow in hand.\n\nThe boy is Ayus, the son of Urvasi, whom his mother confided to the\nfemale ascetic who generously brought him up in the forest and now;\nsends him back to his mother. The king who was not aware that Urvasi\nhad ever borne him a son, now recognises Ayus as his son. Urvasi also\ncomes to embrace her boy. She now suddenly bursts into tears and tells\nthe king:--\n\n\"Indra decreed that I am to be recalled to heaven when you see our son.\nThis induced me to conceal from you so long the birth of the child. Now\nthat you have accidentally seen the child, I shall have to return to\nheaven, in compliance with the decree of Indra.\"\n\nShe now prepares to leave her husband after she has seen her boy\ninstalled as associate king. So preparations are made for the\ninauguration ceremony when Narada the messenger of Indra, comes to\nannounce that the god has compassionately revoked the decree. The nymph\nis thus permitted to remain on earth for good as the hero's second wife.\n\nNymphs descend from heaven with a golden vase containing the water of\nthe heavenly Ganges, a throne, and other paraphernalia, which they\narrange. The prince is inaugurated as Yuvaraj. All now go together to\npay their homage to the queen, who had so generously resigned her rights\nin favour of Urvasi.\n\n\n\n\nMALAVIKAGNIMITRA,\n\nOR\n\nAGNIMITRA AND MALAVIKA.\n\n\nWe learn a wise sentiment from the prologue. The stage-manager,\naddressing the audience, says:--\"All that is old is not, on that\naccount, worthy of praise, nor is a novelty, by reason of its newness,\nto be censured. The wise do not decide what is good or bad till they\nhave tested merit for themselves: a foolish man trusts to another's\njudgement.\"\n\nPuspamitra was the founder of the Sunga dynasty of Magadha kings, having\nbeen the general of Vrihadratha, the last of the Maurya race, whom he\ndeposed and put to death: he was succeeded by his son Agnimitra who\nreigned at Vidica (Bhilsa) in the second century B.C. King Agnimitra has\ntwo queens Dharini and Iravati. Malavika belongs to the train of his\nqueen Dharini's attendants. The maid was sent as a present to the queen\nby her brother, Virsena, governor of the Antapala or barrier-fortress on\nthe Nermada.\n\nThe queen jealously keeps her out of the king's sight on account of her\ngreat beauty. The king, however, accidentally sees the picture of\nMalavika, painted by order of the queen for her _chitrasala_, or\npicture-gallery. The sight of the picture inspires the king with an\nardent desire to view the original, whom he has never yet beheld.\n\nHostilities are about to break out between Agnimitra and Yajnasena, king\nof Viderbha (Berar). The first, on one occasion, had detained captive\nthe brother-in-law of the latter, and Yajnasena had retaliated by\nthrowing into captivity Madhavasena, the personal friend of Agnimitra,\nwhen about to repair to Vidisa to visit that monarch. Yajnasena sends to\npropose an exchange of prisoners, but Agnimitra haughtily rejects the\nstipulation, and sends orders to his brother-in-law, Virasena, to lead\nan army immediately against the Raja of Viderbha. This affair being\ndisposed of, he directs his attention to domestic interests, and employs\nhis Vidushaka or confidant, Gotama, to procure him the sight of\nMalavika. To effect this, Gotama instigates a quarrel between the\nprofessors, Ganadas and Haradatta, regarding their respective\npre-eminence.\n\nThey appeal to the Raja, who, in consideration of Ganadasa's being\npatronised by the queen, refers the dispute to her. She is induced to\nconsent reluctantly to preside at a trial of skill between the parties,\nas shown in the respective proficiency of their select scholars. The\nqueen is assisted by a protege, a _Parivrajaka_, or female ascetic and\nwoman of superior learning.\n\nThe party assembles in the chamber where the performance is to take\nplace, fitted up with the _Sangitarachana_, or orchestral decorations.\nThe king's object is attained, for Ganadasa brings forward Malavika as\nthe pupil on whom he stakes his credit. Malavika sings an _Upanga_ or\nprelude, and then executes an air of extraordinary difficulty.\nMalavika's performance is highly applauded, and, of course, captivates\nthe king and destroys his peace of mind; the Vidushaka detains her\nuntil the queen, who has all along suspected the plot, commands her to\nretire. The warder cries the hour of noon, on which the party breaks up,\nand the queen, with more housewifery than majesty, hastens away to\nexpedite her royal husband's dinner.\n\nThere stands an _asoka_ tree in the garden. The Hindus believe that this\ntree, when barren, may be induced to put forth flowers by the contact of\nthe foot of a handsome woman. The tree in question does not blossom, and\nbeing the favourite of Dharini, she has proposed to try the effect of\nher own foot. Unluckily however, the Vidhushaka, whilst setting her\nswing in motion, has tumbled her out of it and the fall has sprained her\nankle, so that she cannot perform the ceremony herself: she therefore\ndeputes Malavika to do it for her, who accordingly comes to the spot\nattired in royal habiliments, and accompanied by her friend Vakulavali.\nIn the conversation that ensues, she acknowledges her passion for the\nking, who with his friend Gotama has been watching behind the tree, and\noverhears the declaration; he therefore makes his appearance and\naddresses a civil speech, to Malavika when he is interrupted by another\npair of listeners, Iravati and her attendant. She commands Malavika's\nretreat, and leaves the king, in a violent rage, to inform Dharini of\nwhat is going forward. The King never behaves as a despot but always\nwith much consideration for the feelings of his spouses.\n\nThe Vidushaka now informs the king that Malavika has been locked in the\n_Sarabhandagriha_ or the store or treasure room by the queen. The room\nwas no enviable place, as the Vidusaka compares it to Patala, the\ninfernal regions. He undertakes, however, to effect her liberation; and\nwhilst he prepares for his scheme, the Raja pays a visit to the queen.\n\nWhilst the Raja is engaged in tranquil conversation with Dharini, and\nthe parivrajaka, the vidushaka rushes in, exclaiming he has been beaten\nby a venomous snake, whilst gathering flowers to bring with him as a\npresent on his visit to the queen, and he exhibits his thumb bound with\nhis cord, and marked with the impressions made by the teeth of the\nreptile. The parivrajaka, with some humour as well as good surgery,\nrecommends the actual cautery, or the amputation of the thumb; but the\nvidushaka pretending to be in convulsions and dying, the snake-doctor is\nsent for, who having had his clue refuses to come, and desires the\npatient may be sent to him: the vidushaka is accordingly sent. The queen\nis in great alarm, as being, however innocently, the cause of a\nBrahman's death. Presently the messenger returns, stating that the only\nhope is the application of the snake-stone to the bite, and requesting\nthe Raja to order one to be procured: the queen has one in her\nfinger-ring, which she instantly takes off and sends to the vidushaka.\nThis is his object, for the female jailor of Malavika has, as he has\nascertained, been instructed to liberate her prisoner only on being\nshown the seal ring or signet of the queen, and having got this in his\npossession, he immediately effects the damsel's release, after which the\nring is returned to the queen, and the Vidushaka is perfectly recovered.\n\nThe king then being summoned away by a concerted pretext, hastens to\nthe Samudra pavilion, where Malavika has been conveyed with her friend\nand companion, Vakulavali. This pavilion is decorated with portraits of\nthe king and his queens, and Malavika is found by her lover engrossed\nwith their contemplation. Vakulavali retires. The Vidushaka takes charge\nof the door, but he no sooner sits down on the threshold than he falls\nasleep. The Raja and Malavika, consequently, have scarcely time to\nexchange professions of regard, when they are again disturbed by the\nvigilant and jealous Iravati, who sends information of her discoveries\nto Dharini, and in the meantime remains sentinel over the culprits. The\nparty, however, is disturbed by news, that Agnimitra's daughter has been\nalmost frightened to death by a monkey, and Iravati and the Raja hasten\nto her assistance, leaving Malavika to the consolation derived from\nhearing that the _Asoka_ tree is in blossom, an omen of the final\nsuccess of her own desires.\n\nThe Raja, Dharini and the Parivrajaka, with Malavika and other\nattendants, gather about the _Asoka_ tree, when some presents arrive\nfrom the now submissive monarch of Viderbha, against whom the troops of\nVirashena have been successful. Amongst the gifts are two female slaves,\nwho immediately recognize in Malavika the sister of Madhavasena, the\nfriend of Agnimitra, whom the armies of the latter have just extricated\nfrom the captivity to which the Viderbha sovereign had consigned him. It\nappears that when he was formerly seized by his kinsman, his minister,\nSumati, contrived to effect his own escape, along with his sister and\nthe young princess. That sister, Kausika, now reveals herself in the\nperson of the Parivrajaka, and continues the story of their flight.\nSumati joined a caravan bound to Vidisa On their way to the Vindhya\nmountains, they were attacked by the foresters, who were armed with bows\nand arrows, and decorated with peacock's plumes: in the affray Sumati\nwas slain and Malavika was lost.\n\nKausika, left alone, committed her brother's body to the flames, and\nthen resumed her route to Vidisa, where she assumed the character of a\nfemale ascetic The Raja observes she did wisely. Kausika soon found out\nMalavika, but forebore to discover herself, confiding in the prophecy of\na sage, who had foretold that the princess, after passing through a\nperiod of servitude, would meet with a suitable match.\n\nIt thus finally turns out that Malavika is by birth a princess, who had\nonly come to be an attendant at Agnimitra's court through having fallen\ninto the hands of robbers.\n\nThe king issues his orders respecting the terms to be granted to\nYajnasena, the king of Viderbha, the half of whose territory he assigns\nto Madhavasena, the brother of Malavika.\n\nA letter arrives from the general Pushpamitra, giving an account of some\ntransactions that have occurred upon the southern bank of the Indus.\n\nOn his own behalf, or that of his son, he had undertaken to celebrate an\n_aswamedha_, or horse-sacrifice, for which it was essential that the\nsteed should have a free range for twelve months, being attended only by\na guard to secure him. This guard had been placed by Pushpamitra under\nthe command of Agnimitra's son, Vasumitra. Whilst following the victim\nalong the Indus, a party of Yavana horse attempted to carry off the\ncourser, but they were encountered by the young prince, and after a\nsharp conflict, defeated.\n\nPushpamitra concludes with inviting his son to come with his family to\ncomplete the sacrifice.\n\nThe queen, Dharini, overjoyed with the news of her son's success and\nsafety, distributes rich presents to all her train and the females of\nAgnimitra's establishment, whilst to him she presents Malavika. Iravati\ncommunicates her concurrence in this arrangement, and the Raja obtains a\nbride, whom his queens accept as their sister. The difficulty of\nconciliating his queens is thus removed. The king now marries Malavika\nand all ends happily.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VIRA CHARITA OR THE MAHAVIRA CHARITA\n\nOR\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE GREAT HERO.\n\n\nDasaratha, the king of Ayodhya (Oudh), is the father of four sons Rama,\nLakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna. Rama and Lakshmana visit Viswamitra's\nhermitage. Kusadhwaja, the king of Sankasya and the brother of Janaka,\nthe king of Mithila, accompanied by his two nieces, Sita and Urmila,\nenters the hermitage of Viswamitra on the borders of the Kausiki (Cosi),\nhaving been invited by the sage to his sacrifice. He is met by the sage\nwith the two youths Rama and Lakshmana, and the young couples become\nmutually enamoured. Meanwhile Ahalya--the cursed wife of Gautama--gets\ncleared of her guilt through the purifying influence of Rama.\n\nA messenger from Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, arrives, who has\nfollowed them from Mithila, and comes to demand Sita as a wife for his\nmaster.\n\nThey are further disturbed by Taraka, a female fiend, the daughter of\nSuketu, wife of Sunda and mother of Maricha. Rama, by command of\nViswamitra slays her. Viswamitra is exceedingly pleased with the deed\nand invokes and gives to Rama the heavenly weapons with all their\nsecrets of discharge and dissolution. The sage recommends Kusadhwaja to\ninvite the bow of Siva for Rama's present trial, and consequent\nobtaining of Sita. The bow arrives, self-conveyed, being, as the weapon\nof so great a deity, pregnant with intelligence. Rama snaps it asunder,\nin consequence of which feat it is agreed that Sita shall be wedded to\nhim; Urmila her sister, to Lakshmana; and Mandavi and Srutakirti, the\ndaughters of Kusadhwaja, to Bharata and Satrughna respectively. The\nparty is again disturbed by Suvahu and Maricha, the first of whom is\nkilled and the second, thrown at a distance by Rama.\n\nThe messenger of Ravana then goes away mortified to represent the matter\nto the minister of Ravana. The saint and his visitors then retire into\nthe hermitage.\n\nMalyavan, the minister and maternal grandfather of Ravana and the king's\nsister Surpanakha have heard the news of Rama's wedding with Sita from\nSiddhasrama and discuss the consequences with some apprehension. The\nminister takes the marriage as an insult to his master.\n\nA letter arrives from Parasurama partly requesting and partly commanding\nRavana to call off some of his imps, who are molesting the sages in\nDandakaranya. He writes from Mahendra Dwipa.\n\nMalyavan takes advantage of this opportunity to instigate a quarrel\nbetween the two Ramas, anticipating that Parasurama, who is the pupil of\nSiva, will be highly incensed when he hears of Rama's breaking the bow\nof that divinity. The hero comes to Videha, the palace of Janaka, to\ndefy the insulter of his god and preceptor. He enters the interior of\nthe palace, the guards and attendants being afraid to stop him, and\ncalls upon Rama to show himself. The young hero is proud of Parasurama's\nseeking him and anxious for the encounter but detained awhile by Sita's\nterrors: at last the heroes meet. Parasurama alludes to his own history\nhow he, having overcome his fellow-pupil, Kartikeya, in a battle-axe\nfight, received his axe from his preceptor, Siva, as the prize of his\nprowess.\n\nParasurama addresses Rama thus:--\n\n\"How dost thou presume to bend thy brow in frowns on me? Thou must be an\naudacious boy, a scion of the vile Kshatriya race. Thy tender years and\nnewly wedded bride teach me a weakness I am not wont to feel.\n\nThroughout the world the story runs, I, Rama, and the son of Jamadgni,\nstruck off a mother's head with remorseless arm. This vengeful axe has\none and twenty times destroyed the Kshatriya race, not sparing in its\nwrath the unborn babe hewn piecemeal in the parent womb.\n\nIt was thus I slaked the fires of a wronged father's wrath with blood,\nwhose torrents, drawn unsparingly from martial veins, fed the vast\nreservoir in which I love to bathe.\"\n\nRama replies thus:--\n\n\"Give over thy vaunts--I hold thy cruelty a crime, not virtue.\"\n\nThe combat between the two Ramas is suspended by the arrival of Janaka\nand Satananda, and Rama's being summoned to attend the Kanchana Mochana,\nthe loosening of Sita's golden bracelet.\n\nParasurama awaits Ramachandra's return. He is accosted in succession by\nVasishtha, Viswamitra, Satananda, Janaka and Dasaratha, who first\nendeavour to soothe and then to terrify him; but he outbullies them all:\nat last Ramachandra returns from the string-removing ceremony and is\nheard calling on Parasurama, and the combat ensues. Ramachandra comes\nout victorious.\n\nThe two kings Janaka and Dasaratha congratulate each other on the\nvictory of Ramachandra. Parasurama is now as humble as he was before\narrogant: he calls upon the earth to hide his shame. Whilst Rama regrets\nBhargava's departure, Surpanakha, disguised as Manthara, the favourite\nof Kaikeyi, Dasaratha's second wife, arrives with a letter to Rama,\nrequesting him to use his influence with his father to secure Kaikeyi\nthe two boons which Dasaratha was pledged to grant her; specifying one\nto be her son Bharata's inauguration, and the other, assent to Rama's\nvoluntary exile. In the meantime, Dasaratha, who has determined to raise\nRama to the participation of regal dignity, communicates his intention\nto his son. Rama replies by informing him of Kaikeyi's message, and is\nearnest with his father to accede to her request.\n\nBharata and his maternal uncle Yuddhajit arrive, and ask Dasaratha to\ncrown Rama and all are full of wonder and concern: however, as there is\nno help for it, Dasaratha consents and orders preparations for the\nceremony.\n\nLakshmana and Sita are alone to accompany Rama, on which her father\nJanaka exclaims, \"My child, what happiness it will be to wait upon thy\nhusband in the hour of trouble, permitted to partake and cheer his\nwanderings!\" Bharata requests permission to go with them, but Rama\nrefuses his assent; on which his brother begs his golden shoes of him,\npromising to instal them in the kingdom, and rule thereafter as their\nrepresentative. The seniors are led out in deep despondency, and Rama\nwith his brother and wife set off to the woods.\n\nA dialogue opens between the two birds, Jatayu and Sampati, the\nvulture-descendants of Kasyapa, who have seen successive creations. They\nrelate Rama's progress towards the south; and Sampati, the elder leaves\nhis brother Jatayu, with strict injunctions to assist Rama, if needed.\nHe then goes to the ocean to perform daily duties and Jatayu to Malaya.\nJatayu perches on the mountain and marks the hero Rama in pursuit of the\nswift deer. Lakshmana directs his remote course thither. A holy seer\napproaches the bower and the dame gives him meet welcome. His form\nexpands.\n\nIt is he, the felon Ravana--his train crowd from the groves; he seizes\nupon Sita--he mounts the car. Jatayu cries shame on his birth and\nthreatens to rend his limbs and revel in his gore. Jatayu is, however,\nkilled in the conflict. Rama raves with indignation. The brothers set\noff in pursuit of the ravisher, when Sramana, a female devotee sent by\nVibhishana to Rama, calls for succour being seized by Kabandha, a\nheadless fiend. Rama sends Lakshmana to her rescue; he goes off to kill\nthe demon and returns with the dame. She gives Rama a note from\nVibhishana praying for his refuge. Rama asks Lakshmana what reply to be\nsent to (his) \"dear friend--lord of Lanka\" and Lakshman replies that\nthose words are sufficient.\n\n(Two promises are implied--first contraction of friendship and secondly\nbestowal of the Kingdom of Lanka.)\n\nRama, learning from the devotee that Vibhishana is with Sugriva,\nHanuman, and other monkey chiefs at Rishyamuka, and that the monkeys\nhave picked up Sita's ornaments and upper garments in the forest,\ndetermines to go to them. Kabandha then appears, to thank Rama for\nkilling him, being thereby liberated from a curse and restored to a\ndivine condition.\n\nThey then set off to Rishyamuka, the residence of Bali, watered by the\nPampa. In the way Rama performs a miracle by kicking away the skeleton\nof a giant.\n\nWhen the brothers arrive at the mountain, Bali appears like a cloud upon\nits peak and, being instigated by his friend Malyavan, resolves to\noppose Rama. The heroes meet and, after exchange of civilities, go to\nthe conflict.\n\nThe noise brings Vibhishana, Sugriva, and all the monkey chiefs to the\nplace. Bali is overthrown and mortally wounded. He recommends the\nMonkeys to choose Sugriva and his own son Angada for their joint\nsovereigns, and mediates an alliance between Rama and them, as well as\nwith Vibhishana. Rama and Sugriva pledge themselves to eternal\nfriendship, over the sacrificial fire in Matanga's hermitage which stood\nclose by. Bali then repeats his request to the monkey chiefs, as they\nwere attached to him, to acknowledge Sugriva and Angada as their joint\nleaders, and to follow them in aid of Rama against Ravana in the ensuing\ncontest: he then dies.\n\nMalyavan laments over these miscarriages. Trijata, a Rakshasi, adds to\nhis despondency by news of the mischief inflicted by Hanumana, who has\nburnt the town of Lanka and slain a son of Ravana. He goes off to set\nguards, and gather news by means of spies.\n\nRavana meditates on his love. His queen Mahodhari comes to bring him\ntidings of Rama's approach, but he only laughs at her. She tells him of\nthe bridge made by Rama: he replies, if all the mountains of the earth\nwere cast into the ocean, they would not furnish footing to cross it.\nHis incredulity is terminated by a general alarm, and the appearance of\nPrahasta, his general, to announce that Lanka is invested. Angada comes\nas envoy from Rama, to command Ravana to restore Sita and prostrate\nhimself and his family at the feet of Lakshmana. Ravana, enraged, orders\nsome contumely or punishment to be inflicted upon him. He orders him to\nbe shaved. Angada puffs his hair out with rage. The monkey tells Ravana,\nif he were not an ambassador, he would tear off his ten heads, and he\nthen springs away; the tumult increases, and Ravana goes forth to the\ncombat. Indra and Chiraratha then come to see the battle from the air.\n\nAll the chiefs of the two parties engage in promiscuous war. The\nRakshasas have the worst, but Ravana, with his brother Kumbhakarna and\nhis son Meghanada, turns the tide: the monkeys fly, leaving Rama almost\nunsupported. Lakshmana attacks Meghanada: Ravana quits Rama to assist\nhis son.\n\nThe \"serpent band\" of Meghnada is dispersed by the \"eagle-king-weapon\"\nof Lakshmana. The forces of Kumbhakarna are reduced to ashes with a\nfire-weapon by Rama. Rama kills Kumbhakarna, and then goes to the aid of\nLakshmana; the whole of Rama's party are then overwhelmed with magical\nweapons, hurled invisibly by Ravana upon them, and fall senseless. While\nRavana seeks to restore Kumbhakarna, Hanuman, reviving, goes to fetch\n_amrita_, and tearing up the mountain that contains it, returns to the\nfield: his very approach restores Lakshmana, who jumps up with increased\nanimation, like a serpent starting from his shrivelled skin or the sun\nbursting from clouds. So Raghu's youngest hope, restored by heavenly\nherbs, burns with more than wonted ardour, wonders a moment what has\nchanced and then, all on fire for glory, rushes to the fight. Rama also\nrevives, and instigated by the sages, exerts his celestial energies, by\nwhich the daitya, Ravana, and his host speedily perish. Rama is\nvictorious, and Sita is recovered.\n\nVibhishana is now crowned king of Lanka. Alaka, a tutelary deity, comes.\nLanka, another tutelary deity, is consoled by Alaka.\n\nSita passes the fiery ordeal in triumph. The gods cheer her.\n\nRama, accompainied by Sita, Lakshmana, Vibhishana and Sugriva, then\nenters the aerial car Pushpaka which was once wrested from Kuvera by\nRavana, and which is now placed at the disposal of Rama by Vibhishana.\nThe car transports them from Ceylon all the way to Ayodhya. One or other\nof the party points out the places over which they fly viz. the _Setu_\nor bridge of Rama the Malaya mountain, the Kaveri river, the hermitage\nof Agastya, the Pampa river, the residence of Bali and of Jatayu, the\nlimits of the Dandaka forest, the Sahya or Sailadri mountains and the\nboundaries of Aryavarta.\n\nThey then rise and travel through the upper air, approaching near the\nsun, and are met and eulogized by a _Kinnara_ and his bride; they then\ncome to the peaks of the Himalaya, and descend upon Tapavana, whence\nthey go towards Ayodhya, where Rama is welcomed by his brothers Bharata\nand Satrughna, their mothers, Vasistha and Viswamitra.\n\nThe four brothers embrace one another. Rama is now consecrated king by\nVasishtha and Viswamitra.\n\n\n\n\nUTTAR RAMA CHARITA\n\nOR\n\nTHE LATER LIFE OF RAMA.\n\n\nRama, when duly crowned at Ayodhya, enters upon a life of quiet\nenjoyment with his wife Sita. The love of Rama and Sita, purified by\nsorrow during the late exile, is most tender.\n\nAfter a stay of a few days at Ayodhya, Janaka, the father of Sita, goes\nback to his country Mithila. Rama consoles his queen for her father's\nabsence. The sage Ashtavakra comes in and delivers a message to Rama\nfrom his spiritual preceptors to satisfy the wishes of Sita and please\nhis people. Then the sage goes away.\n\nThe family priest Vasishtha, having to leave the capital for a time to\nassist at a sacrifice, utters a few words of parting advice to Rama,\nthus:--\n\n\"Remember that a king's real glory consists in his people's welfare.\"\n\nRama replies: \"I am ready to give up everything, happiness, love,\npity--even Sita herself--if needful for my subjects' good.\"\n\nIn accordance with this promise, he employs an emissary named Durmukha\nto ascertain the popular opinion as to his own treatment of his\nsubjects.\n\nLakshmana now asks Rama and Sita to come out and see their early history\ndrawn on the terrace of the palace. They move about and the different\nparts of the picture are shown to Sita, when the eyes of Sita turn on\nthe 'yawn-producing' weapons. Rama asks her to salute them so that they\nwould attend also on her children. Sita then feels tired and lays her\nhead on the arm of her husband and sleeps.\n\nThen Durmukha, who, as an old and trusted servant, had free admission to\nthe inner apartments, comes and whispers to him that people condemn his\nreceiving back a queen, abducted by a fiend, after her long residence in\na stranger's house. In short, he is told that they still gossip and talk\nscandal about her and Ravana. The scrupulously correct and\nover-sensitive Rama, though convinced of his wife's fidelity after her\nsubmission to the fiery ordeal, and though she is now likely to become a\nmother, feels himself quite unable to allow the slightest cause of\noffence to continue among his subjects.\n\nHe has no other resource. People must be satisfied. He orders his dear\nSita's exile, and the messenger goes away to deliver the order to\nLakshmana to seclude her somewhere in the woods. He is torn by\ncontending feelings. He is overpowered with grief, withdraws his arm\nfrom his sleeping wife and pours forth pathetic lamentation. Then he\ntakes up her feet and cries when the announcement of the arrival of\nfrightened Rishis makes him go out to send Satrughna to their succour.\nThe messenger Durmukha then enters and takes Sita unsuspectingly to\nmount the chariot which is to lead her to exile.\n\nLakshmana takes Sita to the forest and leaves her there.\n\nShe is protected by divine agencies. Her twin sons, Kusa and Lava, are\nborn and entrusted to the care of the sage Valmiki, the author of the\nRamayana, who brings them up in his hermitage. The boys have no\nknowledge of their royal descent.\n\nAn incident now occurs which leads Rama to revisit the Dandaka forest,\nthe scene of his former exile. The child of a Brahman dies suddenly and\nunaccountably. His body is laid at Rama's door. Evidently some national\nsin is the cause of such a calamity, and an aerial voice informs him\nthat an awful crime is being perpetrated; for a Sudra, named Sambuka, is\npractising religious austerities, instead of confining himself to his\nproper vocation of waiting on the twice-born castes. Rama instantly\nstarts for the forest, discovers Sambuka in the sacrilegious act and\nstrikes off his head. But death by Rama's hand confers immortality on\nthe Sudra, who appears as a celestial spirit, and thanks his benefactor\nfor the glory and felicity thus obtained.\n\nBefore returning to Ayodhya, Rama is induced to visit the hermitage of\nthe sage Agastya in Panchavati. Sita now reappears. She is herself\ninvisible to Rama through the favour of the Bhagirathi but able to\nthrill with emotions by her touch. Rama is greatly distracted.\n\nHe faints with old remembrances but revives on the touch of Sita. He\nobserves, \"What does this mean? Heavenly balm seems poured into my\nheart; a well-known touch changes my insensibility to life. Is it Sita,\nor am I dreaming?\"\n\nHe vainly seeks for her possession, but at last goes away on the advice\nof his companion Visanti.\n\nThe sage Valmiki makes great preparations for receiving Vasishtha,\nJanaka, Kaushalya, the mother of Rama and other eminent guests. The\npupils are delighted because the visit of the guests affords hopes of a\nfeast at which flesh meat is to constitute one of the dishes.\n\nAs the boys have got a holiday in honour of the guests, they are playing\nat some distance from a tree outside the hermitage. Among them,\nKaushalya notices a boy with the features of her son, who is called in\nbut whom the guests do not yet know to be a son of Rama.\n\nSoon after, the horse of the horse-sacrifice of Rama comes near and he\ngoes out with other boys to see the fun while the elders go to see the\nhost.\n\nThe attendant soldiers cry out that Rama is the only hero of the world.\nLava--for such is the boy's name,--cannot brook such vaunts and removes\nthe banner. Soldiers crowd upon him and Lava draws his bow. Lakshmana's\nson Chandraketu--the general of the army--arrives surprised at the\nslaughter of his army and asks Lava to leave the incapable army and\nfight with himself. Lava obeys the call and after some conversation in\nwhich he ridicules the powers of Rama and infuriates his antagonist,\nthey go out to fight.\n\nThe discharge and repulsion of the divine weapons occur.\n\nThe approach of Rama puts an end to the contest. Lava's elder brother\nKusa has heard of his fight and comes to \"eradicate from the world the\nname of emperor.\" But Lava has become calm and asks his brother to pay\nrespects to the hero of the Ramayana.\n\nRama embraces both of them and is moved with their son-like touch. He\nnotices in them the features of his wife He knows that his children\nalone could possess the divine weapons. He recollects that his wife was\nleft in that part of the forest and instinctively comes to the\nconclusion that they are his children. He wishes to ask about their\nbirth in a roundabout way, but before proceeding to the end, is asked to\nsee his spiritual preceptor.\n\nThe desertion of Sita is acted by nymphs on the banks of the Ganges\nbefore Rama and other high guests invited by Valmiki.\n\nSita, from behind the stage, cries out \"the beasts of prey desire [to\ndevour] me in the forest (left) alone and unprotected. I will throw\nmyself into the Bhagirathi.\" She enters supported by her mother\nPrithivi, the Earth and Ganga, each carrying a baby in the lap. Ganga\ntells her of the birth of the twins and consoles her, but Earth is\ngreatly distressed with the conduct of Rama. Ganga replies \"who can\nclose the door of Fate?\"\n\nBut Earth says, \"has it been proper for the good Rama? He disregarded\nthe hand he pressed when a boy. He disregarded me and Janaka. He\ndisregarded Fire (who shewed her purity). He disregarded the children\nshe was about to bring forth.\"\n\nBut Ganga pacifies her and they agree to make over the children to\nValmiki, when they become a little old. Earth then asks her daughter to\ncome to the nether world, to which she agrees and with their exit closes\nthe play.\n\nAt the close of the play, Rama faints. Then the real Sita enters with\nArundhuti, the wife of Rama's preceptor and touches and revives her\nhusband. The people are satisfied with her purity and Rama takes her\nback with the children who are introduced by Valmiki. The husband and\nwife are thus re-united after twelve years of grievous solitude, and\nhappiness is restored to the whole family. The re-union is witnessed not\nonly by the people of Ayodhya, but by the congregated deities of earth\nand heaven.\n\nRama thus describes his love for his wife:--\n\n\"Her presence is ambrosia to my sight; her contact, fragrant sandal; her\nfond arms, twined round my neck; are a far richer clasp than costliest\ngems, and in my house she reigns the guardian goddess of my fame and\nfortune. Oh! I could never bear again to lose her.\"\n\n\n\n\nMALATI AND MADHAVA OR THE STOLEN MARRIAGE.\n\n\nThere lived, in the town of Kundinapura in Berar, Devarata, a very calm\nand sagacious minister to the king of Vidarbha. He had a son named\nMadhava. Madhava was very beautiful and of uncommon intelligence. He\nbecame proficient in all branches of learning, in his early age. He now\narrived at a marriageable age. The beautiful town of Padmavati in Malwa\nis situated at the confluence of the two rivers Indus and Madhumati.\nThere lived in Padmavati, Bhurivasu, who was minister to the king of\nPadmavati. He had a very beautiful unmarried daughter named Malati. The\nking indicated an intention to propose a match between Malati and his\nown favourite Nandan, who was both old and ugly, and whom she detested.\nBhurivasu feared to give offence to the king by refusing the match.\nDevarata and Bhurivasu were fellow students. In their academical days\nthey pledged themselves that they should enter into matrimonial\nalliance, if they happen to have children. Malati and Madhava did not\nknow anything about their fathers' promises. There lived in Padmavati,\nKamandaki, an old Buddhist priestess who was nurse of Malati. The\npriestess knew everything about the matrimonial promise. She was a very\nintelligent lady and was respected by all. The two friends concert a\nplan with the priestess to throw the young people in each other's way\nand to connive at a secret marriage. In pursuance of this scheme,\nMadhava is sent to finish his studies at the city of Padmavati with the\nostensible object of studying Logic under the care of the priestess, who\ntakes great care of her pupil and endeavours her utmost to fulfil the\npromise of her two friends. By her contrivance and with the aid of\nMalati's foster-sister Lavangika, the young people meet and become\nmutually enamoured.\n\nKamandaki addresses her favourite disciple Avalokita thus:--\n\n\"Dear Avalokita! Oh how I wish for the marital union of Madhava, the son\nof Devarata, and Malati, the daughter of Bhurivasu! Auspicious signs\nforerun a happy fate. Even now my throbbing eyeball tells that\npropitious destiny shall crown my schemes.\"\n\nAvalokita replies:--\n\n\"Oh, here is a serious cause of anxiety. How strange! You are already\nburdened with the austerities of devotional exercises, Bhurivasu has\ncommissioned you to perform this arduous task. Though retired from the\nworld, you could not avoid this business.\"\n\nKamandaki says, \"Never say so. The commission is an office of love and\ntrust. If my friend's object is gained even at the expense of my life\nand penances, I shall feel myself gratified.\"\n\nThe pupil asks \"why is a stolen marriage intended?\"\n\nThe priestess answers, \"Nandana, a favourite of the king of Padmavati,\nsues him for Malati. The king demands the maiden of her father. To evade\nthe anger of the king, this ingenious device has been adopted. Let the\nworld deem their union was the work of mutual passion only. So the king\nand Nandan will be foiled. A wise man veils his projects from the\nworld.\" The pupil says, \"I take Madhava to walk in the street in front\nof the house of the minister Bhurivasu.\"\n\nThe priestess says,\n\n\"I have heard from Lavangika, the foster-sister of Malati, that Malati\nhas seen Madhava from the windows of her house.\n\nHer waning form faithfully betrays the lurking care she now first learns\nto suffer.\"\n\nThe pupil says, \"I have heard that, to soothe that care, Malati has\ndrawn a picture of Madhava and has sent it through Lavangika to\nMandarika, her attendant.\"\n\nThe priestess perceives that Malati has done so with the object that the\npicture would reach Madhava as Mandarika is in love with Kalahansa, the\nservant of Madhava. Avalokita again says,\n\n\"To-day is the great festival of Madan; Malati will surely come to join\nthe festival, I have interested Madhava to go to the garden of Love's\ngod with a view that the youthful pair may meet there.\"\n\nThe priestess replies, \"I tender my best thanks for your kindly zeal to\naid the object of my wishes. Can you give me any tidings of Soudamini,\nmy former pupil?\"\n\nAvalokita answers, \"she now resides upon mount _Sriparvata_. She has now\narrived at supernatural power by religious austerities. I have learnt\nthe news about her from Kapala Kundala, the female pupil of a tremendous\nmagician Aghorghanta, a seer and a wandering mendicant, but now residing\namidst the neighbouring forest, who frequents the temple of the\ndreadful goddess _Chamunda_ near the city cemetry.\" Avalokita remarks,\n\"Madhava would be highly pleased if his early friend Makaranda is united\nin wedlock with Madayantika, the sister of Nandana.\"\n\nThe priestess observes, \"I have already engaged my disciple\nBuddharakshita for the purpose. Let us go forth and having learnt how\nMadhava has fared, repair to Malati. May our devices prosper!\"\n\nMadhava thus describes to his friend Makaranda his first interview with\nMalati, and acknowledges himself deeply smitten:--\n\n\"One day, advised by Avalokita, I went to the temple of the god of love.\nI saw there a beauteous maid. I have become a victim to her glances. Her\ngait was stately. Her train bespoke a princely rank. Her garb was graced\nwith youth's appropriate ornaments. Her form was beauty's shrine, or of\nthat shrine she moved as the guardian deity. Whatever Nature offers\nfairest and best had surely been assembled to mould her charms. Love\nomnipotent was her creator. Then I too plainly noted that the lovely\nmaid, revealed the signs of passion long entertained for some happy\nyouth.\n\nHer shape was as slender as the lotus stalk. Her pallid cheeks, like\nunstained ivory, rivalled the beauty of the spotless moon. I scarcely\nhad gazed upon her, but my eyes felt new delight, as bathed with nectar.\nShe drew my heart at once towards her as powerfully as the magnet does\nthe unresisting iron. That heart, though its sudden passion may be\ncauseless, is fixed on her for ever, chance what may, and though my\nportion be henceforth despair. The goddess Destiny decrees at pleasure\nthe good or ill of all created beings.\"\n\nMakranda observes, \"Believe me, this cannot be without some cause.\nBehold! all nature's sympathies spring not from outward form but from\ninward virtue. The lotus does not bud till the sun has risen. The\nmoon-gem does not melt till it feels the moon.\" Madhava goes on with his\ndescription thus:--\n\n\"When her fair train beheld me, they exchanged expressive looks and\nsmiles and murmured to one another as if they knew me. What firmness\ncould resist the honest warmth of nature's mute expressiveness? Those\nlooks of love, beaming with mild timidity and moist with sweet\nabandonment, tore off my heart,--nay plucked it from my bosom by the\nroots, all pierced with wounds. Being incredulous of my happiness, I\nsought to mark her passion, without displaying my own. A stately\nelephant received the princess and bore her towards the city. Whilst she\nmoved, she shot from her delicate lids retiring glances, tipped with\nvenom and ambrosia, My breast received the shafts. Words cannot paint my\nagony. Vain were the lunar rays or gelid streams to cool my body's\nfever, whilst my mind whirls in perpetual round and does not know rest.\nRequested by Lavangika, I gave her the flowery wreath. She took it with\nrespect, as if it were a precious gift and all the while the eyes of\nMalati were fixed on her. Bowing with reverence, she than retired.\"\n\nMakaranda remarks--\n\n\"Your story most plainly shows that Malati's affection is your own. The\nsoft cheek, whose pallid tint denoted love pre-conceived, is pale alone\nfor you; She must have seen you. Maidens of her rank do not allow their\neyes to rest on one to whom they have not already given their hearts.\nAnd then, those looks that passed among her maidens plainly showed the\npassion you had awakened in their mistress.\n\nThen comes her foster-sister's clear enigma and tells intelligibly whose\nher heart is.\"\n\nKalahansa, advancing, shows a picture and says, \"This picture is the\nwork of hers who has stolen Madhava's heart. Mandarika gave it to me.\nShe had it from Lavangika, Malati painted it to amuse and relieve\ndistress.\" Makaranda says, \"This lovely maid, the soft light of your\neyes, assuredly regards you bound to her in love's alliance. What should\nprevent your union? Fate and love combined seem labouring to effect it.\nCome, let me behold the wondrous form that works such change in you. You\nhave the skill. Portray her.\"\n\nMadhava, in return, delineates the likeness of Malati on the same tablet\nand Makaranda writes under it the following impassioned love-stanza,\n\n  \"Whatever nature loveliness displays,\n  May seem to others beautiful and bright;\n  But since these charms have broken upon my gaze,\n  They form my life's sole exquisite delight.\"\n\nBeing asked by Makaranda as to how and where Malati first saw Madhava,\nMandarika says, \"Malati was called to the lattice by Lavangika to look\nat him as he passed the palace.\"\n\nThe picture is restored to Mandarika and brought back to Malati.\n\nThe mutual passion of the lovers, encouraged by their respective\nconfidants, is naturally increased.\n\nMadhava thus addresses Makaranda,\n\n\"It is strange, most strange! wherever I turn, the same loved charms\nappear on every side. Her beauteous face gleams as brightly as the\ngolden bud of the young lotus. Alas! my friend, this fascination spreads\nover all my senses. A feverish flame consumes my strength. My heart is\nall on fire. My mind is tossed with doubt. Every faculty is absorbed in\none fond thought.\n\nI cease to be myself or conscious of the thing I am.\"\n\nMalati thus addresses Lavangika:--\n\n\"Love spreads through every vein like subtlest poison and, like fire\nthat brightens in the breeze, consumes this feeble frame. Resistless\nfever preys on each fibre. Its fury is fatal. No one can help me.\nNeither father nor mother nor Lavangika can save me. Life is distasteful\nto me.\n\nRepeatedly recurring to the anguish of my heart, I lose all fortitude\nand in my grief become capricious and unjust. Forgive me. Let the full\nmoon blaze in the mighty sky. Let love rage on. Death screens me from\nhis fury.\"\n\nIn the meantime, the king makes the long-expected demand and the\nminister Bhurivasu returns the following ambiguous answer:--\n\n\"Your Majesty may dispose of your daughter as your Majesty pleases.\"\n\n[This answer is used in a double sense:--\n\n\"Your minister's daughter is your own daughter and you can dispose of\nher as you please,\" and \"You can dispose of your own daughter as you\nplease, but not my daughter.\"\n\nThe father's connivance at his daughter's stolen marriage would appear\ninconsistent if the reply is not understood in its double sense.]\n\nThe intelligence reaches the lovers. They are thrown into despair.\n\nRequested by Lavangika, Kamandaki thus describes Madhava in the presence\nof Malati:--\n\n\"The sovereign of Vidarbha boasts for minister the wise and\nlong-experienced Devarata, who bears the burden of state and spreads\nthroughout the world his piety and fame. Your father knows him well.\nFor, in their youth, they were joined in study and trained to learning\nby the same preceptor.\n\nIn this world we rarely behold such characters as theirs. Their lofty\nrank is the abode of wisdom and of piety, of valour and of virtue. Their\nfame spreads white and spotless through the universe. A son has sprung\nfrom Devarata whose opening virtues early give occasion of rejoicing to\nthe world. Now, in his bloom, this youth has been sent to our city to\ncollect ripe stores of knowledge. His name is Madhava.\"\n\nKamandaki soliloquises thus:--\n\n\"Malati is tutored to our wishes and inspired with hatred of the\nbridegroom Nandan. He is reminded of the examples of _Sakuntala_ and\n_Vasavadatta_ that vindicate the free choice of a husband. Her\nadmiration of her youthful lover is now approved by his illustrious\nbirth and my encomium of his high descent. All this must strengthen and\nconfirm her passion. Now their union may be left to fate.\"\n\nBy the contrivance of Kamandaki, a second interview between the lovers\ntakes place in the public garden of the temple of _Sankara_. Malati is\npersuaded that the god _Sankara_ is to be propitiated with offerings of\nflowers gathered by one's self. Whilst she is collecting her oblation\nshe and Madhava meet as if by accident.\n\nAt this moment, a great tumult and terrific screams announce that a\ntremendous tiger has escaped from an iron cage in the temple of Siva,\nspreading destruction everywhere. Instantly, Nandana's youthful sister,\nMadayantika happens to be passing, and is attacked by the tiger and is\nreported to be in imminent danger.\n\nMadhava and Makaranda both rush to the rescue. The latter kills the\nanimal, and thus saves her who is then brought in a half-fainting state\ninto the garden. He is himself wounded. Mandayantika is thus saved by\nthe valour of Makaranda. The gallant youth is brought in insensible. By\nthe care of the women, he revives.\n\nOn recovering, Madayantika naturally falls in love with her deliverer.\n\nThe two couples are thus brought together. Malati affiances herself\nthere and then to Madhava.\n\nSoon afterwards, the king prepares to enforce the marriage of Malati\nwith Nandan. A messenger arrives to summon Madayantika to be present at\nthe marriage. Another messenger summons Malati herself to the king's\nplace.\n\nMadhava is mad with grief and in despair makes the extraordinary\nresolution of purchasing the aid of ghosts and malignant spirits by\ngoing to the cemetery and offering them living flesh, cut off from his\nown body, as food. He accordingly bathes in the river Sindhu and goes at\nnight to the cemetery. The cemetery happens to be near the temple of the\nawful goddess Chamunda, a form of Durga. The temple is presided over by\na sorceress named Kapalkundla and her preceptor, a terrible necromancer\nAghorghanta. They have determined on offering some beautiful maiden as\na human victim to the goddess. With this object they carry off Malati,\nbefore her departure, while asleep on a terrace and bringing her to the\ntemple, are about to kill her at the shrine when her cries of distress\nattract the attention of Madhava, who is, at the moment, in the cemetery\noffering his flesh to the ghosts.\n\nHe thinks he recognizes the voice of Malati. He rushes forward to her\nrescue. She is discovered dressed as a victim and the magician and the\nsorceress are preparing for the sacrifice.\n\nHe encounters Aghorghanta and, after a terrific hand-to-hand fight,\nkills him and rescues Malati.\n\nShe flies to his arms. Voices are heard as of persons in search of\nMalati. Madhava places her in safety.\n\nThe sorceress vows vengeance against Madhava for slaying her preceptor\nAghorghanta.\n\nMalati is now restored to her friends. The preparations for Malati's\nwedding with Nandana goes on. The old priestess Kamandaki, who favours\nthe union of Malati with her lover Madhava, contrives that, by the\nking's command, the bridal dress shall be put on at the very temple\nwhere her own ministrations are conducted.\n\nThere she persuades Makaranda to substitute himself for the bride. He\nputs on the bridal dress, is carried in procession to the house of\nNandan and goes through the form of being married to him. Nandana, being\ndisgusted with the masculine appearance of the pretended bride, and\noffended by the rude reception given to him, vows to have no further\ncommunication with her and consigns her to his sister's care in the\ninner apartments. This enabled Makaranda to effect an interview with\nNandana's sister Madayantika, the object of his own affections.\n\nMakaranda then discovers himself to his mistress and persuades her to\nrun away with him to the place where Malati and Madhava have concealed\nthemselves.\n\nTheir flight is discovered. The king's guards are sent in pursuit. A\ngreat fight follows; but Makaranda, assisted by Madhava, defeats his\nopponents. The bravery and handsome appearance of the two youths avert\nthe king's anger and they are allowed to join their friends unpunished.\n\nThe friends accordingly assemble at the gate of the temple.\n\nBut the sorceress, who has been watching an opportunity when Malati is\nunprotected, takes advantage of the confusion and carries her off in a\nflying car, in revenge for the death of her preceptor. The distress of\nher lover and friends knows no bounds. They are reduced to despair at\nthis second obstacle to the marriage. They give up all hopes of\nrecovering her when they are happily relieved by the opportune arrival\nof Soudamini, an old pupil of the priestess Kamandaki, who has acquired\nextraordinary magical powers by her penances.\n\nShe rescues Malati from the hands of the sorceress and restores her to\nher despairing lover.\n\nThe two couples are now united in happy wedlock.\n\n\n\n\nHANUMAN NATAKA, OR MAHANATAKA, OR THE GREAT DRAMA.\n\n\nIn Ayodhya, there was an illustrious and powerful monarch, the subduer\nof foes and the renowned ornament of the exalted house of the sun, named\nDasaratha in whose family, for the purpose of relieving the Earth of her\nburden, Bhurisravas (Vishnu) deigned to incorporate his divine substance\nas four blooming youths. The eldest, endowed with the qualities of\nimperial worth, was Rama.\n\nHe goes with his brother Lakshmana to the court of Mithila, to try his\nstrength in the bending of the bow of Siva, and thereby win Sita for his\nbride. The hero triumphs. The bow is broken with a deafening sound which\nbrings Parasurama there. Rama wins his bride. He tries the bow of\nParasurama and shoots an arrow from it which flies to Swerga or heaven.\nThe Brahmin hero now acknowledges the Kshatriya hero to be his superior.\nRama is married to Sita. The sweet loves of the happy pair grows with\nenjoyment.\n\nVarious portents then indicate Rama's impending separation from his\nfather. The sun looks forth dimmed in radiance. Fiery torches wave along\nthe sky. Meteors dart headlong through midheaven. Earth shakes. The\nfirmament rains showers of blood. Around, the horizon thickens. In the\nday, the pale stars gleam. Unseasonable eclipse darkens the noon. Day\nechoes with the howls of dogs and jackals, whilst the air replies with\nhorrid and strange sounds, such as shall peal, when the destroying deity\nproclaims in thunder the dissolution of the world. Rama is exiled. At\nthis, the king dies in agony. It is the result of the stern curse\ndenounced upon the king by the father of the ascetic whom the king,\nhunting in his youthful days, had accidentally slain.\n\nRama fixes his residence at Panchavati. Maricha, a Rakshasa, now appears\nas a deer. The supposed animal is chased by Rama and Lakshmana at Sita's\nrequest.\n\nRavana then comes disguised to see Sita. He mutters, \"pious dame! Give\nme food.\" She heedlessly oversteps the magic ring traced by Lakshmana,\nwhen the Rakshasa seizes her by the hand stretched in charity. She calls\nin vain the sons of Raghu. Jatayu, the vulture, endeavours to rescue\nher, but is slain. She encounters Hanuman, the chief Counsellor of\nSugriva, the dethroned king of the Monkeys, and begs him to carry her\nornaments, which she casts to him, to Rama.\n\nHaving slain the deer, the prince, with his brave brother, returns to\ntheir bower. He seeks Sita, but seeks in vain. His steps tread three\nseveral quarters, the fourth he leaves, overcome with grief and terror,\nunexplored.\n\nRama prosecutes his search after Sita. He fights with Bali, the king of\nthe Monkeys, and triumphs over him.\n\nHe now despatches Hanuman to Lanka, Hanuman pays a visit to Sita.\n\nHe performs various feats at Lanka and returns to Rama whose hosts now\nadvance towards Lanka.\n\nVibhishana, the brother of Ravana, expostulates with his royal brother,\nbut in vain. Consequently he deserts the king and goes over to Rama.\n\nThe Monkeys advance further towards Lanka.\n\nA bridge is built over the sea.\n\nThe troops cross over it.\n\nWhere first the Monkey bands advance, they view a watery belt smoothly\ncircling round the shore: the following troops plough their way through\nthe thick mire with labour; the chief who leads the rear, filled with\nwonder, exclaims, \"Here is Ocean.\"\n\nRama now sends Angada, the son of Bali, to persuade Ravana to relinquish\nSita peaceably. Angada has some feeling of aversion to Rama, who killed\nhis father, but thinks he shall best fulfil his father's wishes by\npromoting the war between Ravana and Rama; he therefore goes to Ravana\nand defies him in very haughty terms.\n\nRavana says:--\n\n\"Indra, the king of the gods, weaves garlands for me; the thousand-rayed\nor the Sun keeps watch at my gate; above my head Chandra or the Moon\nuprears the umbrella of dominion; the wind's and the ocean's monarchs\nare my slaves; and for my board the fiery godhead toils. Knowest thou\nnot this, and canst thou stoop to praise the son of Raghu, whose frail\nmortal body is but a meal to any of my households?\"\n\nAngada laughs and observes:--\"Is this thy wisdom, Ravana? Infirm of\njudgement dost thou deem of Rama thus--a mortal man? Then Ganga merely\nflows a watery stream; the elephants that bear the skies, and Indra's\nsteed, are brutal forms; the charms of Rembha are the fleeting beauties\nof earth's weak daughters, and the golden age, a term of years. Love is\na petty archer; the mighty Hanuman, in thy proud discernment, is an\nape.\"\n\nAngada, having in vain endeavoured to persuade Ravana to restore Sita,\nleaves him to expect the immediate advance of the Monkey host.\n\nVirupaksha and Mahodara, two of Ravana's ministers utter a string of\nmoral and political sentences.\n\nRavana is not to be persuaded, but goes to Sita to try the effect of his\npersonal solicitations--first endeavouring to deceive her by two\nfictitious heads, made to assume the likenesses of Rama and Lakshmana.\nSita's lamentations are stopped by a heavenly monitor, who tells her\nthat the heads are the work of magic and they instantly disappear.\nRavana then vaunts his prowess in war and love, and approaches Sita to\nembrace her. She exclaims \"Forbear, forbear! proud fiend, the jetty arms\nof my loved lord, or thy relentless sword, alone shall touch my neck.\"\n\nThus repulsed, Ravana withdraws, and presently reappears as Rama, with\nhis own ten heads in his hands. Sita, thinking him to be what he\nappears, is about to embrace him, when the secret virtue of her\ncharacter as a faithful wife detects the imposition, and reveals the\ntruth to her. Ravana, baffled and mortified, is compelled to relinquish\nhis design. Sita's apprehensions, lest she should be again beguiled, are\nallayed by a voice from heaven, which announces that she will not see\nthe real Rama until he has beheld Mandodari kiss the dead body of her\nhusband Ravana.\n\nA female Rakhasi attempts to assassinate Rama, but is stopped and slain\nby Angada. The army then advances to Lanka, and Ravana comes forth to\nmeet it. Kumbhakarna, his gigantic and sleepy brother, is disturbed from\nhis repose to combat. He is rather out of humour at first, and\nrecommends Ravana to give up the lady, observing: \"Though the commands\nof royalty pervade the world, yet sovereigns ever should remember, the\nlight of justice must direct their path.\" Ravana answers:--\n\n\"They who assist us with a holy text are but indifferent friends. These\narms have wrested victory from the opposing grasp of gods and demons.\nConfiding in thy prowess, sure in thee to triumph over my foes, I have\nrelaxed their fibre, but again their nerves are braced, I need thee not;\nhence to thy cell and sleep.\" Kumbhakarna replies:--\"King, do not\ngrieve, but like a valiant chief, pluck from thy heart all terror of\nthine enemies, and only deem of thy propitious fortunes, or who shall\nforemost plunge into the fight----I will not quit thee.\"\n\nKumbhakarna's advance terrifies Rama's troops, whom the Kshatriya hero\naddresses thus:\n\n\"Ho! chiefs and heroes, why this groundless panic, the prowess of our\nenemy untried in closer conflict? Ocean's myriad fry would drain the\nfountain, and before the swarm of hostile gnats the mighty lion falls.\"\nKumbhakarna is killed by Rama; on which Indrajit, a son of Ravana,\nproceeds against the brethren. By the arrow called _Nagapasa_,\npresented him by Brahma, he casts Rama and Lakshmana senseless on the\nground, and then goes to Nikumbhila mountain to obtain a magic car by\nmeans of sacrifice. Hanumana disturbs his rites.\n\nRama and Lakshmana revive, and on being sprinkled with drops of amrita\nbrought by Garura, the latter with a shaft decapitates Meghnada, and\ntosses the head into the hands of his father Ravana.\n\nRavana levels a shaft at Lakshmana, given him by Brahma, and charged\nwith the certain fate of one hero. Hanumana snatches it away, after it\nhas struck Lakshmana, before it does mischief. Ravana reproaches Brahma,\nand he sends Nareda to procure the dart again and keep Hanumana out of\nthe way. With the fatal weapon Lakshmana is left for dead. Rama\ndespairs:--\n\n\"My soldiers shall find protection in their caves; I can die with Sita,\nbut thou, Vibhishana, what shall become of thee?\"\n\nHanuman reappears and encourages him. Ravana has a celebrated physician,\nSushena, who is brought away from Lanka in his sleep, and directs that a\ndrug (_Vishalya_) from the Druhima mountain must be procured before\nmorning, or Lakshmana will perish. This mountain is six millions of\n_Yojanas_ remote, but Hanuman undertakes to bring it bodily to Lanka,\nand call at Ayodhya on his way.\n\nHe accordingly roots up the mountain, and is returning with it to Rama,\nvia Ayodhya, when Bharata, who is employed in guarding a sacrifice made\nby Vasishtha, not knowing what to make of him, shoots Hanuman as he\napproaches. He falls exclaiming on Rama and Lakshmana, which leads\nBharata to discover his mistake. Vasishtha restores the monkey who sets\noff for Lanka. On Hanuman's return, the medicament is administered, and\nLakshman revives.\n\nAn ambassador from Ravana comes and offers to give up Sita for the\nbattle-axe of Parasurama, but this, Rama replies, must be reserved for\nIndra. On this refusal, Ravana goes forth after a brief dialogue with\nhis queen Mandodari, who animates his drooping courage with the true\nspirit of the tribe to which she belongs.\n\n\"Banish your sorrow, lord of Lanka, take one long and last embrace. We\nmeet no more. Or give command, and by your side I march fearless to\nfight, for I too am a Kshatriya.\" The progress of Ravana through the air\nappals all Nature. The winds breathe low in timid murmurs through the\nrustling woods; the sun with slackened fires gleams pale abroad and the\nstreams, relaxing from their rapid course, slowly creep along. Ravana\ndefies Rama with great disdain and in derision of his modest demeanour,\nasks him whether he is not overcome with shame by the recollection of\nhis ancestor, Anaranya, killed formerly by Ravana.\n\nRama replies:--\n\n\"I am not ashamed my noble ancestor fell in the combat. The warrior\nseeks victory or death, and death is not disgrace. It ill befits thee to\nrevile his fame. When vanquished, thou couldst drag out an abject life\nin great Haihaya's dungeons, till thy sire begged thee to freedom, as a\nmatter of charity. For thee alone I blush, unworthy of my triumph.\"\n\nRavana falls under the arrows of Rama. The heads, that once, sustained\non Siva's breast, shone with heavenly splendour, now lie beneath the\nvulture's talons. Mandodari bewails the death of her husband. Sita is\nrecovered, but Rama is rather shy of his bride, until her purity is\nestablished by her passing through the fiery ordeal: a test she\nsuccessfully undergoes. Rama returns with Sita and his friends to\nAyodhya, when Angada challenges them all to fight him, as it is now time\nto revenge his father's death. A voice from heaven, however, tells him\nto be pacified, as Bali will be born as hunter in a future age, and kill\nRama, who will then be Krishna: he is accordingly appeased. Rama is now\nseated on the throne of Ayodhya. After some time, he orders the exile of\nSita.\n\n\n\n\nANERGHA RAGHAVA OR MURARI NATAKA.\n\n\nThe sage Viswamitra comes to Dasaratha, the king of Ayodhya, to request\nthe aid of his eldest son Rama. Each tries to outdo the other in\ncomplimentary speeches. The sage observes:--\n\n\"The monarch of the day invests the dawn with delegated rays to scatter\nnight, and ocean sends his ministers the clouds, to shed his waters over\nthe widespread earth.\"\n\nThe king, taking counsel with himself, and being reminded by Vamadeva,\none of his priests and preceptors, that the race of Raghu never sent\naway a petitioner ungratified, sends for Rama and Lakshmana, and allows\nViswamitra to take them with him, to his hermitage, situated on the\nbanks of the Kausiki or Coosy river, to protect him in his rites against\nthe oppression of Taraka, a Rakshasi.\n\nThe cry is heard that Taraka is abroad. Rama, after some hesitation\nabout killing a female, slays her.\n\nViswamitra now proposes that they should visit Mithila. The two princes\nare introduced to Janaka, the king of Mithila, who is urged by the sage\nto let Rama try to bend the bow of Siva. Sanshkala, the messenger of\nRavana, the king of Lanka, now arrives to demand Sita in marriage for\nhis master, refusing, at the same time, on his part, to submit to the\ntest of bending the bow. The demand is refused. Rama tries his fortune,\nbends the bow and wins the lady. The family connection is extended by\nthe promise of Urmila, Mandavi, and Srutakirti, to Rama's brothers.\nSanshkala is highly indignant and carries the information to his\nmaster's minister Malyavan, who is disappointed on Ravana's account.\nMalyavan anticipates that Ravana will carry Sita off; and to render the\nattempt less perilous, projects inveighing Rama into the forests alone,\nfor which he sends Surpanakha, the sister of Ravana, in the disguise of\nManthara, the attendant of Kaukeyi.\n\nParasurama then appears and boasts of his destruction of the Kshatriya\nrace. Rama replies:--\"This flag of your fame is now worn to tatters, let\nus see if you can mount a new one.\" Rama then calls for his bow, and\nParasurama presents him with his axe. They go forth to fight. In the\nend, the two Ramas turn very excellent friends. Parasurama departs.\n\nDasaratha now declares his purpose of relinquishing the kingdom entirely\nto his son Rama, Lakshmana announces the arrival of Manthara, and\npresents a letter from Kaikeyi, the purpose of which is to urge\nDasaratha's fulfilment of his promise, and grant her as the two boons,\nthe Coronation of Bharata, and banishment of Rama. The old king faints.\nRama recommending his father to Janaka, departs for the forests,\naccompanied by Lakshmana and Sita. On their arrival in the forests, they\nare cordially received by Sugriva, the brother of Bali the king of the\nmonkeys. Lakshmana carries on a dialogue with Ravana, disguised as a\njuggler.\n\nJatayu, the king of birds, beholds Sita carried off by Ravana. He\nfollows the ravisher. Rama and Lakshmana both express their grief.\n\nLakshmana observes:--\n\n\"The worse the ill that Fate inflicts on noble souls, the more their\nfirmness; and they arm their spirits with adamant to meet the blow.\"\n\nRama replies:--\n\n\"The firmness I was born with or was reared to, and rage, that fills my\nheart, restrain my sorrows; but hard is the task to fit my soul to bear\nunmurmuringly a husband's shame.\"\n\nA cry of distress is now heard, and on looking out, the youths observe\nGuha, the friendly forest monarch, assailed by the demon Kabandha, or a\nfiend without a head. Lakshmana goes to his aid, and returns with his\nfriend Guha. In the act of delivering him, Lakshmana tosses away the\nskeleton of Dundubhi, a giant, suspended by Bali, who, deeming this an\ninsult, presently appears. After a prolix interchange of civility and\ndefiance, Rama and Bali resolve to determine their respective supremacy\nby single combat. Bali is slain. His brother Sugriva is inaugurated as\nking and determines to assist Rama to recover Sita. A bridge is built\nover the sea. Rama's army advance to Lanka. Kumbhakarna, a brother of\nRavana, and Meghanada, a son of Ravana, go forth to battle. Malyavan\nwishes them prosperity in a phrase perfectly oracular. They are slain.\nRavana now takes the field himself. Malyavan resolves to follow him and\nresign, on the sword, a life now useless to his sovereign. The king is\noverthrown. Sita is recovered.\n\nRama with his wife and brother, accompanied by Vibhishana, the brother\nof Ravana, and Sugriva, mounts the celestial car, which was once\nwrested by Ravana from his brother Kuvera, and sets out to proceed to\nAyodhya.\n\nOn the way the travellers descry the Sumeru mountain, the Malaya\nmountain, the Dandaka forest, the mountain Prasravana, the Godaveri\nriver, mount Malyavan, Kundinipura in the Maharashtra country, the\nshrine of Bhimeswara, the city of Kanchi, Ujayin, the temple of\nMahakala, Mahishmati the capital of Chedi, the Jumna and Ganga rivers,\nVaranasi, Mithila or Tirhut, and Champa near Bhagalpur.\n\nThey then proceed westward to Prayaga, and Antarvedi or Doab, when they\nagain follow an easterly course and arrive at Ayodhya.\n\nBharata, Satrughna, Vasishtha the priest and the people of Ayodhya await\nthe arrival of the party and receive them most cordially. Rama is now\ncrowned king.\n\n\n\n\nVENI SAMVARANA OR VENI SANHARA\n\nOR\n\n\"THE BINDING OF THE BRAID OF HAIR.\"\n\n\nDraupadi, the wife of the Pandavas, is dragged by the _veni_ or braid of\nhair into the public assembly by the hand of Duhsasana, one of the\nKaurava princes, a disgrace that weighs most heavily upon the Pandavas,\nwho contemplate most bitter revenge.\n\nKrishna returns to the Pandava camp from a visit to the Kaurava princes,\nas a mediator between the contending chiefs. Ferocious Bhima expresses,\nto his brother Sahadeva, his refusal to have any share in the\nnegotiations instituted by Krishna and his determination to make no\npeace with the enemy until the insult offered to Draupadi is avenged. He\nannounces his resolution, in case the dispute be amicably adjusted, to\ndisclaim all connection with his own brothers, and throw off obedience\nto Judhishthira.\n\nThe price of peace is the demand of five villages or towns,\nIndraprastha, Tilaprastha, Mansadam, Varanavatam, and another. Sahadeva\nattempts to calm the fury of Bhima, but in vain; and Draupadi, with her\nhair still dishevelled, and pining over her ignominious treatment, comes\nto inflame his resentment. She complains also of a recent affront\noffered by Bhanumati, the queen of Duryodhana, in an injurious comment\nupon her former exposure, which serves to widen the breach.\n\nKrishna's embassy is unsuccessful, and he effects his return only by\nemploying his divine powers against the enemy. All the chiefs are\nsummoned by the trumpet to prepare for battle.\n\nBefore day-break, Bhanumati repeats, to her friend and an attendant, a\ndream in which she has beheld a _Nakula_ or Mungoose destroy a hundred\nsnakes. This is very ominous, _Nakula_ being one of the Pandavas, and\nthe sons of Kuru amounting to a hundred. Duryodhana overhears part of\nthe story, and at first imagines the hostile prince is the hero of the\nvision. He is about to burst upon her, full of rage, and when he catches\nthe true import of the tale, he is at first disposed to be alarmed by\nit, but at last wisely determines to disregard it.\n\nFor, by Angira it is sung, the aspect of the planets, dreams and signs,\nmeteors and portents, are the sports of accident, and do not move the\nwise. Bhanumati offers an _arghya_ of sandal and flowers to the rising\nsun to avert the ill omen, and then the king appears and soothes her.\n\nTheir dialogue is disturbed by a rising whirlwind from which they take\nshelter in a neighbouring pavilion. The mother of Jayadratha, the king\nof Sindhu, then appears, and apprises Duryodhana that Arjuna has vowed,\nif sunset finds Jayadratha alive, he will sacrifice himself in the\nflames. His wrath is especially excited by the death of his son\nAbhimanyu, in which that chieftain had borne a leading part. Duryodhana\nlaughs at her fears and those of his wife, and despises the resentment\nof the Pandavas. He observes, that this was fully provoked by the\ntreatment which Draupadi received by his command, when in the presence\nof the court and of the Pandavas, she called out in vain for mercy.\nDuryodhana then orders his war-chariot and goes forth to the battle. Up\nto the period of the contest, the following chiefs have fallen,\nBhagadatta, Sindhuraja, Angadhipa, Drupada, Bhurisravas, Somadatta, and\nBahlika.\n\nGhatotkacha is also slain, and Bhima is about to avenge his fall, on\nwhich account Hirimba, the queen of the Rakshasas and mother of\nGhatotkacha, has ordered goblins to be ready to assist Bhimasena.\n\nDrona is seized by Dhrishtadyumna and slain. Aswatthama, the son of\nDrona, appears armed and is overtaken by his father's charioteer who\ntells him of the treachery by which Drona was slain, having been induced\nto throw away his arms by a false report that his son Aswatthama had\nperished, and been then killed at a disadvantage. Aswatthama's distress\nis assuaged by his maternal uncle Kripa, who recommends him to solicit\nthe command of the host from Duryodhana.\n\nIn the meantime, proud Kerna, the friend and ally of Duryodhana, fills\nthe mind of the Kuru chief with impressions hostile to Drona and his\nson, persuading him that Drona only fought to secure Aswatthama's\nelevation to royal dignity, and that he threw away his life, not out of\ngrief, but in despair at the disappointment of his ambitious schemes.\nKripa and Aswatthama now arrive and Duryodhana professes to condole with\nAswatthama for his father's loss. Kerna sneeringly asks him what he\npurposes, to which he replies:--\n\n\"Whoever confident in arms is ranked amongst the adverse host--whomever\nthe race of proud Panchala numbers, active youth, weak age or unborn\nbabes, whoever beheld my father's murder, or whoever dares to cross my\npath, shall fall before my vengeance. Dark is my sight with rage, and\nDeath himself, the world's destroyer, should not escape my fury.\"\n\nKripa then requests Duryodhana to give the command of the army to\nAswatthama. The king excuses himself on the plea of having promised it\nto Kerna, to whom he transfers his ring accordingly. A violent quarrel\nensues between Kerna and Aswatthama, and Duryodhana and Kripa have some\ndifficulty in preventing them from single combat. Fiery Aswatthama at\nlast reproaches Duryodhana with partiality, and refuses to fight for him\nmore. Bhima proclaims that he has at last encountered Duhsasana, the\ninsulter of Draupadi, and is about to sacrifice him to his vengeance.\nKerna, instigated by Aswatthama, foregoes his anger and is about to\nresume his arms when a voice from heaven prevents him. He is obliged,\ntherefore, to remain an idle spectator of the fight, but desires Kripa\nto assist the king. They go off to fight.\n\nDuhsasana is killed and the army of the Kauravas is put to the rout.\nDuryodhana is wounded and becomes insensible. On his recovery, he hears\nof Duhsasana's death and gives vent to his sorrows.\n\nIn the conflict between Arjuna and Vrishasena, the son of Kerna, the\nyoung prince is slain to his father's distress. Sundaraka, a follower of\nKerna, brings a leaf on which Kerna has written to Duryodhana, with an\narrow dipped in his own blood, message for aid. Duryodhana orders his\nchariot, and prepares to seek the fight again, when he is prevented by\nthe arrival of his parents, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, who with\nSanjaya, endeavour to prevail upon Duryodhana to sue for peace, but he\nrefuses.\n\nA tumult and the entrance of the king's charioteer announce the death of\nKerna. Duryodhana, after expressing his grief, determines to go and\navenge him, and mount the car of Sanjaya, the charioteer of\nDhritarashtra, for that purpose, when Arjuna and Bhima arrive in search\nof him.\n\nOn finding the seniors there, Arjuna purposes to withdraw; but Bhima\ninsists on first addressing them, which they do, but in insulting terms.\n\nDhritarashtra, reproaching them for this language, is told they use it\nnot in pride, but in requital of his having witnessed, without\ninterfering to prevent, the oppression and barbarous treatment the\nPandavas experienced from his sons. Duryodhana interferes and defies\nBhima, who is equally anxious for the combat; but Arjuna prevents it,\nand the brothers are called off by a summons from Yudhishthira, who\norders the battle to cease for the day and the dead bodies of either\nparty to be burnt. Aswatthama is now disposed to be reconciled to\nDuryodhana; but the prince receives his advances coldly, and he\nwithdraws in disgust. Dhritarashtra sends Sanjaya after him to persuade\nhim to overlook Duryodhana's conduct. Duryodhana mounts his car, and the\naged couple seek the tent of Salya, the king of Madra.\n\nDuryodhana is discovered concealed in a swamp, and compelled to fight\nwith Bhimasena, by whom he is slain. Yudhisthira orders public\nrejoicings on the occasion.\n\nCharvaka, a Rakshasa disguised as a sage, then enters, requiring rest\nand water. He relates that he has seen Arjuna engaged with Duryodhana,\nBhima having been previously slain by the latter, and gives his hearers\nto understand that Arjuna also has fallen. Draupadi determines to mount\nthe funeral pile, and Yudhishthira, to put an end to himself when the\nRakshasa, satisfied with the success of his scheme, which was intended\nto prevail on this couple to perish, departs. The pile is prepared, and\nYudhishthira and Draupadi are about to sacrifice themselves, when they\nare disturbed by a great clamour. Supposing it to precede the approach\nof Duryodhana, Yudhishthira calls for his arms, when Bhima, his club\nbesmeared with blood, rushes in. Draupadi runs away; he catches her by\nthe hair, and is seized by Yudhishthira--on which the mistake is\ndiscovered.\n\nThe braid of Draupadi's hair is now again bound up. Arjuna and Vasudeva\narrive, and announce that they have heard of the fraud of Charvaka. On\nhearing that the mendicant is slain by Nakula, Krishna expresses great\nsatisfaction.\n\n\n\n\nCHANDA KAUSIKA\n\nOR\n\nTHE OFFENDED VISWAMITRA.\n\n\nMaharaja Harischandra, a scion of the solar race, a powerful king,\nendowed with uncommon virtues and skilled in all arts, sees a vision of\nmisfortune to come. Apprehending future evils for his subjects, he\nconfers with his priest, and acting on his advice, spends a whole night\nin religious contemplation in a temple of God. Next morning the king\nenters the inner apartments of his palace to greet his wife. The queen,\nwho is jealous on account of his absence during the night, says to him,\n\"Oh! I see your eyes are red for want of sleep. The sight is not\nuninteresting; only, I am being consumed with the fires of agony of\nmind.\" The king, on hearing this, smiles and says, \"Oh my dear queen! do\nnot be angry. Be assured, you have no rival in Harischandra's\naffections\".\n\nThe queen is not altogether satisfied with this assurance, for love is\nsuspicious. Just then, a messenger comes to request permission to bring\nin a hermit who is standing at the door. The permission is granted and\nthe hermit enters. Addressing the King, he says, \"The family priest has\nsent you some holy water, which will bring you peace of mind and ward\noff the evils for fear of which he made you keep up a whole night.\" The\nking and the queen thankfully accept the water. The hermit retires. The\nqueen, now learning from the hermit the cause of her husband's absence\nfrom her, and of his wakefulness all night, becomes ashamed of herself\nand asks her lord's pardon for the false insinuation she had made. On\nthis he kisses the queen.\n\nAgain, the king goes on a hunting expedition. Hunting is a favourite\npastime with kings. It promotes health and courage and gives immense\npleasure to all who engage in it. When the king enters a thick forest,\nhe finds the great sage Viswamitra deeply engaged in religious\nausterities with the view of acquiring the three unattainable arts of\ncreation, preservation and destruction, which properly belong to Brahma,\nVishnu and Siva respectively. The gods plot to prevent this\nconsummation, and send a servant named Bighna. Bighna assumes the form\nof a boar and appears before the king. The king discharges an arrow at\nhim, but in vain. The animal enters the thick forest. The king follows.\nIt now enters the hermitage of Viswamitra. The king addresses his\nfollowers thus, \"It is the duty of kings to get rid of carnivorous\nanimals from the forest of meditation and austerities. I have, on the\ncontrary, made a carnivorous animal enter it. How can I now retire? But\nthe hermits will be disturbed in their religious exercises if you all\nenter. So, do you all wait here. I will proceed alone.\" With these\nobservations, the king enters the forest of meditation and is charmed\nwith its exquisite beauty.\n\nThe king thinks, \"Tearing off the bonds of the world is the cause of\nhermits' ease and happiness. With no attachments, no desires, no\nbereavements, no worldly anxieties, they are happily absorbed in divine\ncontemplation.\" The king is thinking thus when distant cries are heard,\nas if females are crying out, \"Maharaja Harischandra! save us! save us!\nSave us from the fire-place of this mighty hermit. We three helpless\nwomen are being burnt up.\"\n\nAt this, the king is at a loss. His heart melts at the tender cries of\nthe women. He extinguishes the flame with his weapon dedicated to\nVaruna, the god of the waters.\n\nThe three ladies are the three arts of creation, preservation and\ndestruction. They, thus delivered, go away to Heaven, showering\nblessings of victory on their deliverer.\n\nThe meditations of the dreadful sage Viswamitra are thus broken off. His\neyes are red with anger. Seeing Harischandra standing before him he\ncries out, \"Oh wretch of a Kshattriya! I will burn you up as Siva did\nthe god of love.\"\n\nThe king is at a loss. He trembles as a plantain tree tossed up by\ntempest. He touches the feet of the sage and most piteously begs pardon\nof him.\n\nBut the sage is obdurate. He will not be appeased. He is about to\nconsume the offender with imprecation.\n\nThe Raja again and again implores him thus:--\n\n\"My lord Kausika! Forgive me. I was touched by the piteous appeals of\nthe women and disturbed you for the sake of duty.\"\n\nAt this, the sage becomes still more furious and says trembling, \"O\nVillain! speak of duty! What is your duty?\"\n\nThe king replies,\n\n\"O god! gifts to virtuous Brahmans, protection of those afflicted with\nfear, and fight with enemies are the three chief duties of Kshattriyas.\"\n\nThe sage thereupon observes,\n\n\"If compliance with duties be your aim, make some gift to me\ncommensurate with my merit.\"\n\nThe king replies, \"Oh great sage! what have I got with which to make a\ndue gift to you? I am prepared to give you what I have----this world\nwith all its wealth. Please accept it.\"\n\nThen the sage becomes calm and says,\n\n\"Be it so. I will not burn you up. I accept your gift of a kingdom. Now\nthat you have made a gift, give me a fee of one thousand gold coins,\ncommensurate with the gift. I will not accept the gift without the fee.\nBut as you have made a gift of the world with all its wealth, you must\nnot take the fee-money out of that world. Collect the money elsewhere.\"\n\nAt this, the king is in a fix. After much thought it strikes him that it\nis said in the scriptures that Benares is separate from the world. So he\nresolves to collect money from that holy city.\n\nThen the king placing the crown and the sceptre of royalty at the feet\nof the sage, obtains from him one month's time to pay the fee and taking\nthe queen Saibya and his son Rohitasya with him, starts for Benares. The\nmonth allowed him is drawing to a close. Not a single gold coin has been\ncollected--to say nothing of one thousand coins. Alms is the only way of\ncollection. Alms barely suffices for maintenance. On the morning of the\nlast day, when he is deeply anxious for the money, the sage arrives.\nSeeing the latter, he almost faints.\n\nThe sage whirls his eyes and asks, \"Oh Harischandra! where is my fee?\nPay at once, or I will burn you up.\" He replies in piteous and trembling\ntones, \"The month will be completed by sunset. Please wait till sunset.\"\n\nThe sage observes, \"I will not listen to any more of your\nprevarications. I cannot grant your request.\"\n\nThe king cries and repeatedly entreats the sage to wait till sunset.\n\nAt this the queen and his son both weep.\n\nAfter many entreaties, the sage consents. Then the king again goes out\na-begging, but in vain. Then he resolves to sell his person and goes\nabout hawking himself in the streets.\n\nNo one responds to his efforts. No buyer appears. At this time, a\nBrahmin with a disciple, asks whether a male or a female slave is for\nsale and intimates that he requires a female slave.\n\nThe queen wipes her eyes and replies, \"Yes, a female slave is for sale\nfor fifty thousand gold coins. I, who am for sale as such, will obey all\norders except eating table-refuse and indulging in improper intimacy\nwith males.\" The Brahmin consents to the terms laid down, pays the\nrequired sum into the hands of the king and takes away the queen. The\nking then bewails her thus:--\n\n\"It were far better if a thousand thunderbolts had fallen on my head. Oh\nmy dear queen! Never even in a dream did I think that such a misfortune\nwould befall you. You mistook a poisonous tree for a sandal-tree. Oh,\nhow hard is my heart! It does not melt at the sight of my wife sold away\nas a slave. Even iron is melted by fire. Oh Providence! I can no longer\nbear up my sorrows. Oh Indra I break my head in pieces by thy\nthunderbolts.\"\n\nAt this lamentation of the king, all present become sorry and express\ntheir regrets. After a little while, the sage arrives again, his body\nemitting sparks of fire. Seeing him at a distance, the king begins to\ntremble.\n\nAs the sage comes up, the king bows to him and says,\n\n\"My lord Kausika! I have procured only a half of your fee by the sale of\nmy wife. Accept it. I shall presently pay the remaining half by the sale\nof my own person.\"\n\nThe sage whirls his eyes and exclaims, \"Is it a joke? Am I a fit object\nfor a joke? What shall I do with only half the money? Just pay down the\nwhole amount. See the sun is setting.\"\n\nThe king replies, \"O God! if this does not satisfy you, I pray you wait\na little. If a Chandal is available, I will sell my person to him and\npay your fee.\" The sage remarks:--\n\n\"Then I will stand here and wait. Collect the money without delay.\"\n\nThe king then hawks himself about, \"Will any one buy me with half a lakh\nof gold coins, and deliver me from an ocean of sorrows.\" No one responds\nto his offer. No buyer appears. The sun is about to set. Death stares\nhim in the face. Not that he fears death. Why should he fear it? He has\ngiven away his kingdom. His queen has been sold. Life has no further\nattraction for him. Death has been stripped of its terrors. But death by\nthe fire of a Brahmin's anger leads to everlasting hell. He sees the\nvision of hell, falls down on the ground like a plantain tree blown by a\ntempest, and faints.\n\nVirtue preserves him who practises virtue. Virtue assumes the form of a\nChandal and accompanied by an attendant, makes his appearance, with a\nhalf-burnt bamboo on his shoulders and a chain of skeletons round his\nneck. He is ready to buy the king, who now weeps bitterly, and holding\nthe feet of the sage, entreats him thus:--\n\n\"Oh lord Kausika! Do me a favour I pray you. Do not sell me to a\nChandal. Do _you_ rather buy me. I shall be your slave for ever.\"\n\nOn this, the sage flies into a rage and exclaims:--\n\n\"Oh villain! Do not trifle with me. You have all this time been\npretending that you want buyers. As soon as a buyer appears in the\nfield, you feel ashamed to be sold to a Chandal! I cannot brook any more\ndelay. I take up water to destroy you.\"\n\nThe king begs his pardon, sells himself to the Chandal and pays down the\nfee to the sage, who then retires.\n\nThe king now puts on the dress of a Chandal and is appointed with two\nothers to collect rags in a burning-ground. Hideous is the\nburning-ground. Dogs and jackals are tearing up carcasses which lie\nscattered all round. Vultures are quarrelling among themselves. These\nsights unloosen the bonds that bind him to the world. The king is\ntrembling with fear. His two colleagues have left him. But he will not\nleave his station. He must do his duty. The night deepens. The\nburning-ground becomes still more hideous. To try the king's sense of\nduty, Virtue once more becomes incarnate and this time appears before\nthe king in a horrible form. The king has never before seen such a\nterrible sight, but still he will not leave his station. Not one or two\nbut myriads of such forms dance before him, but in vain. The king\nexclaims, \"No one shall be allowed to burn any corpse without depositing\nrags and couches with me. I am the agent of the lord of this\nburning-ground. I make this proclamation by order of my lord.\"\n\nNo one responds. No voice is heard; only horrible figures are seen\nplaying around him. After a while, a hermit comes and says.\n\n\"I am a hermit. I have resolved to practise some _mantras_. I have come\nto know everything about you by my powers of _yoga_. You are a king and\nyou should protect me from the demons that disturb my meditations.\"\n\nThe king most humbly submits, \"My body is not my own; I have sold it to\nthe lord of the Chandals. How can I forsake my duty to my lord to save\nyou?\"\n\nThe hermit says, \"come and help me if I ever suffer extreme distress.\"\n\nThe king replies, \"If I can ever help you without detriment to the\nbusiness of my lord, I am ready to do it.\" The hermit retires, and after\na short time he returns; and says,\n\n\"By your help I am now versed in all _mantras_. I am prepared to give\nyou such a mantra as by its virtue you will be able at once to repair to\nHeaven. You need not suffer hell by slavery to a Chandal.\"\n\nThe king replies, \"Many thanks for your kind offer. But how can I accept\nyour offer as this body belongs to a Chandal? I will not go anywhere\nbefore death.\"\n\nThe hermit says, \"Then take this money and deliver your wife.\"\n\nThe king thankfully declines the offer with the observation, \"I have\nsold my queen in my hour of need. To buy her back is not in my power.\"\nThe hermit soliloquizes,\n\n\"Blessed is Maharaja Harischandra! What fortitude! what wisdom! what\ngenerosity! what a sense of duty! The world has never produced a nobler\nman. A tempest shakes even the mountains, but behold! this noblest\nspecimen of humanity is not moved by the severest of afflictions!\n\nIt is morning. The birds are singing. The sun is up in the horizon. The\nking is sitting on the banks of the Ganges. He is thinking of his fate\nwhen he hears a female voice crying. He approaches the lady. The scene\nis horrible. An unfortunate lady, the queen Saibya who had been deserted\nby her husband, has come to burn her son, the support of her life. She\nwas serving as a slave in the house of the Brahmin who had bought her.\nHer son Rohitashya, was stung by a deadly poisonous snake. No body would\nhelp her. She has come to the burning-ground to burn the dead body of\nher son. The queen weeps and faints. The king stares at the face of the\ncorpse for a long time and at last recognises his dead son. He too\nfaints. After a long time he recovers, and finds that the queen also has\nrecovered. He thinks of committing suicide, but the body is not his\nown. He thinks of pacifying the queen by introducing himself, but his\npresent costume will perhaps aggravate her sorrows. The queen, looking\nup to the skies, exclaims; \"It is high time for me to return to the\nhouse of my master. I forget I am a slave. My master will be angry if I\nam late. My husband will incur blame if my master is angry. Let me go at\nonce.\"\n\nThe king reflects, \"If my queen is so mindful of her duties to her\nmaster in the midst of such calamities, I must never forget my duty to\nmy master.\"\n\nThen he approaches the queen and addresses her thus:--\n\n\"Who are you? You are not allowed to burn the corpse before you give up\nits clothes to me, the slave of the lord of this place.\" She replies,\n\n\"Please wait a little. I will take off the clothes.\"\n\nAs the queen delivers the clothes into the hands of the slave, she\nnotices signs of royalty in his hands and is surprised that such a hand\nis engaged in so low an office.\n\n\"She looks attentively and exclaims in a wild voice, Oh my lord! Oh\nMaharaja! you a slave in this burning-ground! Oh lord Kausika! are you\nnot yet satisfied?\" The queen rushes to embrace the king. The king\nstarts away from her and forbids her saying, \"Oh my queen! do not touch\nme, I am the slave of a Chandal. Be patient.\" She faints again.\n\nThe king cannot touch her as he is in the garb of a Chandal. After a\nwhile, the queen recovers, and the king addresses her thus:--\n\n\"Oh my lady! Abandon lamentations. It is useless to lament. All this is\nthe result of work in previous lives. I will prepare a funeral pyre.\nApply the sacrament of fire to the dead body and return at once to the\nhouse of your master.\" The queen is disconsolate and wants to remain\nwith her husband, who explains the situation thus:--\"You have no right\nto remain here. Do not forget that your person has been sold to the\nBrahmin.\"\n\nThe queen understands and sighs.\n\nAll on a sudden, flowers are showered on their heads from Heaven, and\nmusical voices are heard on high proclaiming.\n\n\"Blessed is Maharaja Harischandra; Blessed is Rani Shaibya! unrivalled\nin this world is the liberality, the patience, the resolution and the\nwisdom of the king. No nobler man can be found in the three worlds.\"\n\nThe king and the queen stare motionless towards the Heavens.\n\nNow virtue assumes the form of a hermit and makes this address.\n\n\"Victory to Maharaja Harischandra! You have astonished the world, I am\nvirtue incarnate. Virtue is never vain. As you have stuck to me all\nalong, I must reward you. I will send you to the heaven of _Brahma_,\nwhere the greatest kings cannot enter by their truth, charity,\nstraightforwardness and sacrifices. You need not lament any more. Be\npatient. By my blessing, your son Rohitashya will instantly regain\nlife\". Rohitashya now starts up.\n\nThen the king perceives, in clear vision acquired by the blessings of\nVirtue, that lord Kausika, in order to try his virtue, deprived him of\nhis kingdom and placed the government in the hands of his own minister.\nThe Chandal, who is his master, is not a real character but virtue\nincarnate.\n\nThe Brahmin and his wife, who were the master and mistress of the queen,\nwere not ordinary persons. The Brahmin was Siva, the god of gods,\nincarnate. The Brahmani was the goddess Durga incarnate. By order of\nvirtue, the king and queen annoint, on the banks of the Ganges,\nRohitashya as king-associate or Yuvaraja, and return to the capital,\namidst the wild rejoicings of the subjects.\n\nAfter a short stay there, the happy couple repair to the heaven of\n_Brahma_.\n\n\n\n\nMADHURANIRUDDHA.\n\n\nThe secret loves of Usha, the daughter of the Asura Bana, and Aniruddha,\nthe grandson of Krishna, are intense. The sage Nareda apprises Krishna\nand Balarama, that Indra is again in dread of the demons, and especially\nof Bana, who has acquired the particular favour of Siva, and who is\ntherefore not to be easily subdued. The conference ends by Nareda's\ngoing to Sonapur, the capital of the demon, to endeavour to impair the\nfriendship between Bana and Siva, whilst Krishna and his brother await\nthe result.\n\nThe excessive arrogance of Bana, in his anxiety to match himself with\nVishnu, has offended the latter, who has accordingly departed for\nKailas, after announcing that Bana's anxiety shall be alleviated\nwhenever his banner falls. Parvati has also gone to Kailas, after\nannouncing to Usha that she will shortly behold her lover. Usha is\nimpatient for the boon conferred by the goddess.\n\nAniruddha is violently enamoured of a damsel he has seen in his sleep,\nand despairs of discovering who she is, when Nareda comes opportunely to\nhis aid, and informs him that she is the daughter of Bana; on which\nAniruddha determines to go to his capital, first propitiating Jwalamukhi\nby penance, in order to obtain the means of entering a city surrounded\nby a wall of perpetual flame. The goddess is the form of Durga,\nworshipped wherever a subterraneous flame breaks forth, or wherever\njets of carburetted hydrogen gas are emitted from the soil.\n\nBana's banner has fallen. His minister and wife endeavour to prevail on\nhim to propitiate Siva, in order to avert the evil omen, but he refuses.\n\nBringi, a servant of Durga, precedes Aniruddha to prepare the goddess to\ngrant his request. As he proceeds in his aerial car, he notices the\ncountries of Orissa, Bengal, Behar, Oude or Ayodhya, Prayaga, Hastinapur\nor Delhi and Kurujangal or Tahneser, whence he comes to Jwalamukhi.\n\nAniruddha repairs to the shrine of the goddess round which goblins\nsport, and upon the point of offering himself as a sacrifice, is\nprevented by the goddess and receives from her the power of travelling\nthrough the air.\n\nUsha and Chitralekha, her companion, receive a visit from Nareda, in\nwhose presence the latter unfolds a picture containing portraits of all\nthe chief characters in Swerga, Patala, and on earth, or Indra, and\nother gods; Sesha, Takshaka and the Nagas, and different princes, as the\nkings of Magadha, Mathura, Avanti, Madra, Mahishmati, and Viderbha,\nYudhishthira, Krishna, Baladeva, Pradyumna, and finally Aniruddha, whom\nUsha recognizes as the individual seen in her dream, and of whom she is\nenamoured. Nareda recommends that Chitralekha be sent to Dwaravati to\ninvite Aniruddha, whom he enables to fly thither, whilst he remains in\ncharge of Usha, whom he sends to the garden to await her lover's\narrival.\n\nAniruddha and Chitralekha arrive at Sonapur and the former is united to\nhis mistress.\n\nAniruddha is detected by Bana. An engagement ensues. Krishna, Baladeva,\nand Pradyumna coming to the aid of the prince, the day is going ill with\nBana, when Kartikeya, Ganesha, and Siva and Chandi come to his succour.\nNotwithstanding the presence of his allies, Bana has all his thousand\narms cut off by Krishna except four. Siva advances to the aid of his\nvotary, when a combat ensues between the gods which combat Brahma\ndescends to arrest. The gods embrace one another. Parvati and Brahma\nsupport Bana to make his submission.\n\nVishnu declares he is less sensible of the wounds inflicted by Bana,\nthan of the regret he feels at his presumption in contending with Siva.\nThe latter consoles him by telling him he only did a warrior's duty, and\nthat military prowess is independent of all motives of love or hatred.\n\nParvati then brings Usha to the spot, and by her desire, and that of\nSiva, Bana gives his daughter to Aniruddha. Siva then elevates him to\nthe rank of one of his attendants, under the name of Mahakala.\n\n\n\n\nSRIDAMA CHARITA.\n\n\nPoverty and Folly are sent by Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, to assail\nSridama, the early companion and fellow-student of Krishna, who has\nbecome obnoxious to the goddess for his attachment to Saraswati; the\ngoddess of learning. They effect their purpose with Sridama, by\ndemanding the rites of hospitality, and being accordingly admitted into\nhis dwelling.\n\nSridama is persuaded by his wife, Vasumati, who has seen a propitious\ndream, to repair to Krishna, to see if his opulent friend will restore\nhis broken fortunes. He takes with him a handful of rice, dried and\ncleaned after boiling, as a present. He arrives at the palace of\nKrishna, where he is received with great respect by the host and his two\nprincipal wives, Rukmini and Satyabhama; the former washes his feet, the\nlatter wipes them, and Krishna sprinkles the remaining water upon his\nown head. After recalling some of the occurrences of their juvenile\ndays, when they were fellow-students, Krishna leads his friend into the\ngarden, where they remain till towards sunset; when they are summoned to\njoin the queens and their attendants. Krishna indulges in frolics among\nhis women. The buffoonery of the Vidushaka amuses the party.\n\nAfter some time spent in this manner, Sridama takes his leave, and\nalthough dismissed with great reverence, departs as poor as he came. He\nrecollects this on his way back, and consoles himself with observing\nthat wealth intoxicates as well as wine, and that the affection of\nKrishna is a thing which no one can steal from him. His disciple is not\nso submissive, and reminds him that it was not to get mere civility that\nhe was sent on this errand by his wife.\n\nOn arrival, they find, instead of the miserable hovel of Sridama, a\nsplendid and extensive town, and that Sridama is in great affliction at\nthe disappearance of his wife, when he is seen and solicited by a\n_Kanchuli_ or chamberlain, who calls himself his servant, to enter a\nstately palace. Sridama, thinking this is a jest upon his poverty,\nthreatens to beat him if he does not depart, but the chamberlain\nperseveres, and tells him that while he was absent, Krishna had\nconverted his cottage into a town, named after him Sridamapur, and\nsupplied it with every article of use or luxury. With much reluctance\nand unyielding incredulity Sridama is prevailed upon to enter the\npalace, where he finds his wife.\n\nKrishna now comes to pay a visit to his friend. He arrives in his aerial\nchariot, accompanied by Satyabhama and the Vidushaka. His bounties are\nheartily acknowledged by the object on whom they have been bestowed.\n\n\n\n\nKANSA BADHA\n\nOR\n\nTHE DESTRUCTION OF KANSA.\n\n\nKansa, the king of Mathura, alarmed by a voice from heaven, that\nKrishna, the son of his sister, predestined to destroy him, has escaped\nthe precautions taken against him, consults with his minister what he\nshall do.\n\nThe juvenile Krishna performs many exploits. He accomplishes the\ndestruction of the demon Kesi, one of those infernal beings who in vain\nattempted to kill the divine child, instigated by their prescience of\ntheir fate when he should reach maturity.\n\nAkrura, the paternal uncle of Krishna, repairs to Gokul to invite his\nnephew to Mathura. Balarama and Krishna, after bowing to their foster\nparents, Nanda and Yasoda and receiving their benedictions, depart for\nMathura.\n\nThe seniors then express their grief for their loss. While the boys are\nproceeding on their journey, they are overtaken by a messenger from\nRadha, in consequence of which Krishna determines to spend some time at\nVrindavan. They resume their journey to Mathura. On the way, the youths\nkill the royal elephant of Kansa. Then they defeat and slay Kansa's two\nwrestlers Chanura and Mushtika. These occurrences are reported to Kansa.\nThe youths now reach his palace at Mathura and slay him. The boys are\nthen re-united with their mortal parents Vasudeva and Devaki. To console\nDevaki for her brother's death, Krishna installs her father Ugrasena in\nthe sovereignty of Mathura.\n\n\n\n\nYAYATI CHARITRA.\n\n\nSermishtha was the daughter of Vrishaperva, king of the Daityas, and\nDevayani, the daughter of Sukra, regent of the planet Venus and the\nspiritual preceptor of the Daitya race. Devayani having incurred the\ndispleasure of Sermishtha the latter threw the former into a well, where\nshe was found by king Yayati, the son of Nahusha. Devayani, on returning\nto her father, excited his anger against Vrishaperva, who, to appease\nSukra, consented to give his daughter to Devayani as her servant, with a\nthousand other female attendants. Devayani was married to Yayati. At the\ntime of her marriage, Sukra obtained the king's promise that he would\nnever associate with Sermishtha; but after some interval, the king\nmeeting her, fell in love with, and espoused, her privately. The\nintrigue continued secret, until Yayati had two sons by Devayani and\nthree by Sermishtha, when it was discovered by the former, and excited\nher resentment as well as that of her father. The violation of the\nking's promise was punished by premature decay, as denounced upon him by\nSukra, with permission, however, to transfer his infirmities to anyone\nwho would acccept them. Yayati appealed to his sons; of whom the\nyoungest alone, Puru, consented to assume the burden. After a sufficient\nperiod, Yayati took his decrepitude back again, and left the\nsovereignty to Puru in reward of his filial piety.\n\nAll the sons of Yayati were the founders of distinguished families. The\nPauravas were the descendants of Puru in whose line the Kaurava and the\nPandava families were comprised.\n\n\n\n\nKAUTUKA SERVASWA.\n\n\nKalivatsala, or the darling of the age of iniquity, is the sovereign of\nDhermanasa or the destruction of virtue, and he takes as his spiritual\nguide, Kukermapanchanana, the Siva of iniquity.\n\nSatyacharya, a pious Brahman returned from Brindavan, who is treated by\nthe king and his courtiers with great iniquity, holds the following\nconversation with his brethren in jail.\n\nSatyacharya says: \"How now, holy sirs, how fares it with you?\"\n\nThe Brahmans in jail reply: \"We once had lands in free gifts.\"\n\nSatyacharya asks, \"What then?\"\n\nThe Brahmans answer: \"why, know you not the customs of the country? If\nthe god of wealth owned lands here that yielded but a grain of corn, the\nking would send him in three days to beg alms, clad in tatters and with\na platter in his hand. The characteristics of our sovereign are fondness\nfor the intoxicating juice of _bhang_, esteem for the wicked, addiction\nto vice, and detestation of virtue.\"\n\nSatyacharya observes: \"You are right, what chance is there for the good?\nThe king is unwise, his associates are wicked, his chief councillor is a\nknave, and his minister, a scoundrel. Yet the people are many; why is\nnot such misconduct resented?\"\n\nThe Brahmans reply, \"The manners of the people are equally depraved;\nthey are valiant in oppression, skilful in falsehood, and persevering\nonly in contempt for the pious.\"\n\nSatyacharya asks, \"How are the scribes?\"\n\nThe Brahmans answer, \"They collect the revenues by any expedient, and\nvigilantly inflict penalties on the wise. The Brahmans are not allowed\nto keep even the dust upon their bodies; the dust accumulated on their\nfeet is claimed by the Kayeths. What can we say of this reign? The dumb\nalone can speak the truth, the deaf hear the law, the sons of the barren\nare well-behaved, the blind behold the observance of the scriptures. Our\nlands have been given to drunkards, and we are detained in prison for\nwhat our ancestors expended.\"\n\nSatyacharya observes, \"I have heard enough. Better fortunes attend you.\"\n\nThe general Samara Jambuka, the jackal of war, boasts that he can cleave\na roll of butter with his falchion. He trembles from top to toe at the\napproach of a mosquito.\n\nThe king orders vice to be proclaimed virtue by beat of drum. All the\nBrahmans are perpetually banished.\n\n\n\n\nPRACHANDA PANDAVA\n\nOR\n\nTHE OFFENDED SONS OF PANDU\n\nOR\n\nBALA BHARATA.\n\n\nDraupadi is married to the five sons of Pandu, in compliance with the\ncommand of their mother. Yudhishthira, the eldest son of Pandu, loses\nevery thing including Draupadi at chess-play with Duryodhana, the eldest\nof the Kauravas. Draupadi is now dragged by the hair, almost naked, into\nthe public assembly, an insult in revenge for which ferocious Bhima vows\nto slay Duhsasana, the insulter, and drink his blood, and ultimately\nfulfils his vow. The Pandava princes then depart to the forest.\n\n\n\n\nPROBODHA CHANDRODAYA\n\nOR\n\n\"RISE OF THE MOON OF (TRUE) KNOWLEDGE.\"\n\n\nReligion and the noble king Reason, accompanied by all the Virtues\nnamely Faith, Volition, Opinion, Imagination, Contemplation, Devotion,\nQuietude, Friendship and others, are banished, from Benares, by the evil\nking Error who reigns at Benares, surrounded by his faithful adherents,\nthe Follies and Vices namely Self-conceit, Hypocrisy, Love, Passion,\nAnger, Avarice and others. There is, however, a prophecy that Reason\nwill some day be re-united with Revelation; the fruit of the union will\nbe True Knowledge, that will destroy the reign of Error.\n\nThe struggle for this union and its consummation are followed by the\nfinal triumph of the good party.\n\n\n\n\nNAGANANDA\n\nOR\n\nJOY OF THE SERPENTS.\n\n\nJimutavahana, a prince of the Vidyadharas, is a Buddhist. He marries\nMalayavati, daughter of the king of the Siddhas, a votary of the goddess\nGauri, the wife of the great god Siva. When he comes to know that\nGaruda, the bird celebrated in mythology, is used to eat up one snake\neach day, he makes up his mind to offer himself to the bird as a victim,\nand eventually succeeds in converting Garuda to the principle of\n_Ahimsa_ or abstention from slaughter; but he himself is on the point of\nsuccumbing to the wounds he has received, when, through the timely\nintervention of the goddess Gouri, he recovers.\n\n\n\n\nDUTANGADA\n\nOR\n\nTHE MISSION OF ANGADA.\n\n\nAngada, the son of Bali, is sent by Rama to Ravana to demand Sita. He\nexecutes his mission in a most clever and courageous manner. He then\ndeparts from Lanka. Ravana now goes forth to battle and is slain by\nRama. The divine hero then enters the city of Lanka in triumph.\n\n\n\n\nPRADYUMNA VIJAYA.\n\n\nA pair of geese, the _Hansa_ and _Hansi_ inspire Prabhavati, the\ndaughter of Vajranabha, and Pradyumna, the son of Krishna with a mutual\npassion before they have beheld each other. By their contrivance, secret\nnuptials are brought about.\n\nThe sage Nareda communicates the stolen interviews of the lovers to the\nfather of the damsel, to whose vengeance Pradyumna is about to fall a\nvictim, when Krishna and Baladeva with their followers come to the\nrescue. A combat ensues in which Vajranabha is defeated and slain. The\nengagement is seen by two Gandherbas from their chariots in the air.\n\n\n\n\nVIDAGDHA MADHAVA.\n\n\nThe loves of Krishna and Radha are intense. The two lovers often engage\nin jealous squabbles.\n\nChandravali, a nymph of Vrindavan, is enamoured of Krishna and thus\nexcites the jealousy of Radha.\n\nThe Paurnamasi, the personified day of the full moon, interests herself\nin the union of Krishna and Radha.\n\n\n\n\nDHANANYAYA VIJAYA.\n\n\nThe cattle of king Virat are carried off by Karna and the Kuru princes.\nAryuna recovers them after a great battle. The different chiefs appear,\nthreaten one another and praise themselves.\n\nIndra and some of his attendants contemplate the fight from the clouds.\n\n\n\n\nHASYARNAVA.\n\n\nThe king Anasayindhu, in his progress through his city, regrets to find\neverything subverted: that Chandals, not Brahmans, make shoes; that\nwives are chaste and husbands constant; and that respect is paid to the\nrespectable, not to the vile; and that Vyadhisindhu, the doctor, cures\nthe cholic by applying a heated needle to the palate, and perforates the\npupils of the eyes in order to restore vision.\n\nSadhhinsaka, the chief of police, reports with great satisfaction that\nthe city is completely in the hands of thieves; the Commander-in-chief\nRanajambuka, after putting on his armour, valiantly cuts a leech in two.\nMahayatrika, the astrologer, in answer to a question of the time to take\na journey, indicates hours and positions which proclaim approaching\ndeath.\n\nA dispute ensues between Viswabhanda, a Saiva mendicant, and\nKalahankura, his disciple, which they refer to the decision of\nMahanindaka, another Brahman, who asserts that he composed the _vedas_\nand visited _Swerga_, where he treated Vrihaspati and Brahma with\ncontempt and gave Siva a drubbing.\n\n\n\n\nCHITRA YAJNA.\n\n\nDaksha, the father of Sati or Bhavani and father-in-law of the great god\nSiva, institutes a great sacrifice.\n\nThe gods and sages assemble on the occasion, Daksha accords them a\ncordial reception. He bows down to the feet of the gods, and puts the\ndust from under them upon his head. He then proceeds to the place of\nsacrifice, reading or reciting the usual formulae. He orders the\nattendants to distribute rice to the Brahmans, for the purpose of\ninvoking their benedictions. They receive the rice, scatter it and\npronounce the _Swasti Vachana_, or benedictory text. He offers oblation\nto fire.\n\nDadhichi now comes to the sacrifice, when a dispute ensues between him\nand the sacrificer, upon the impropriety of omitting to invite Siva; and\nthe dispute becoming rather hot, Daksha orders his guest to be turned\nout. The gods partake of Dadhichi's indignation at the disrespectful\nmention of Siva, and rise to depart. Daksha orders his servants to guard\nthe door and prevent their going forth: the gods, however, force their\nway.\n\nThe sages then also withdraw, on which Daksha goes out, exclaiming, \"I\nwill give double presents to those who remain.\" Nareda goes to Kailas\nwith the news. He enters playing the _Vina_ and singing hymns in honour\nof the great god. Nareda's communication to Siva and Bhavani is very\nbrief.\n\nSiva asks, \"Now, Nareda, whence come you?\" Nareda replies, \"Your godship\nis omniscient, you know all that has happened, but have asked me through\na wish to hear it from my lips. We were all invited to Daksha's\nsacrifice. Dadhichi, finding that you were not invited, took Daksha to\ntask pretty sharply, and walked off, upon which I come to pay you my\nrespects.\" Having said this and prostrated himself on the ground, the\nsage, with his lute hanging upon his neck, departed.\n\nSati now asks leave to go and see her father.\n\nSiva replies, \"It is quite contrary to etiquette, to go without an\ninvitation.\" She answers, \"I need not stand on ceremony with my father.\"\n\nSiva observes, \"How! would you impose upon me with falsehoods? Daksha is\nnot your father, nor is his wife your mother, you are the father of all\nthings, the mother of the universe. Those versed in the _Vedas_ declare\nyou male and female too.\"\n\nIn the end, she is allowed to follow her own inclinations.\n\nShe comes to her father, and vainly endeavours to impress him with\nrespect for her husband. She quits him to throw herself into the\nsacrificial fire.\n\nNareda then appears and tells Daksha to prepare for the consequences of\nhis folly. Virabhadra, Siva's attendant, then enters and plays some\nantics. Shaking the earth with his tread, and filling space with his\nextended arms, he rolls his eyes in wrath. Some of the gods he casts on\nthe ground and tramples on them; he knocks out the teeth of some with\nhis fists, plucks out the beards of some, and cuts off the ears, arms,\nand noses of others; he smites some, and he tosses others into the\nsacrificial fire. He decapitates the cause of his master's indignation,\nthe haughty Daksha.\n\n\n\n\nMRIGANKALEKHA.\n\n\nMrigankalekha is the daughter of the king of Kamarupa or Assam: she is\nbeheld by Karpuratilaka, the king of Kalinga, whilst hunting, and the\nparties are mutually enamoured.\n\nThe obstacle to their union is the love of Sankhapala, a demon, to\noppose whose supernatural powers, Ratnachura, the minister of the king\nof Kalinga, who alone is aware of the circumstance, invites to the\npalace a benevolent magician, Siddhayogini, and Mrigankalekha is also\nlodged in the palace as the friend of the queen Vilasavati.\n\nNotwithstanding these precautions, she is carried off by Sankhapala to\nthe temple of Kali, which is surrounded by goblins. During the Raja's\nperegrinations in his love-frenzy, he passes disconsolate through a wood\nin which he inquires of different animals if they have seen his\nmistress.\n\nHe now comes to the temple, rescues her, and kills Sankhapala. He is\nthen united to Mrigankalekha in the presence of her father and brother,\nand with the consent of the queen. Before the conclusion of the marriage\nrite, he kills also the brother of Sankhapala, who comes to revenge him\nin the form of a wild elephant.\n\nThe marriage is thus effected through the secret contrivance of the\nminister, because the lady's husband is to become the master of the\nworld.\n\n\n\n\nMUDRARAKSHASA\n\nOR\n\nRAKSHASA (THE MINISTER) WITH THE SIGNET\n\nOR\n\nRAKSHASA AND THE SIGNET-RING\n\nOR\n\nRAKSHASA KNOWN BY THE SIGNET-RING.\n\n\nThe city of Pataliputra or Palibothra, the capital of the Nandas, was\nsituated not far from the confluence of the Ganges and the Sone; and was\non the southern side of the rivers. Nanda, the last king of the Nanda\nline, had for his minister the able and experienced Rakshasa.\nChandragupta also called Vrishala and Maurya is identical with\nSandrakottus represented by the Greek writers as the most powerful Raja\nin India at the time of Alexander the Great's death. He was a sovereign\nof dignity and strength of character and had a high respect for his\nminister Chanakya, the Indian Macchiavelli, who was a crafty,\nclearheaded, self-confident, intriguing and hard politician, with the\nultimate end of his ambition thoroughly well-determined and directing\nall his clearheadedness and intrigue to the accomplishment of that end.\nThis minister, also called Vishnugupta, is famous as a writer on _Nity_\nor \"rules of government and polity\", and the reputed author of numerous\nmoral and political precepts commonly current in India. Nanda is slain\nby the contrivances of this wily Brahman, who thus assists Chandragupta\nto the throne, and becomes his minister. Rakshasa refuses to recognise\nthe usurper and endeavours to be avenged on him for the ruin of his late\nmaster.\n\nAfter the assassination of Nanda, Servarthasiddhi is placed on the\nthrone by Rakshasa but he retires to a life of devotion. Saileswara or\nParvataka or Parvateswara, the king of the Mountains, at first the ally\nof Chandragupta, afterwards befriended his opponents and is therefore\nslain privily by Chanakya. Vairodhaka, the brother of Parvataka, is\nkilled by Rakshasa's emissaries by mistake for Chandragupta.\n\nMalayaketu, the son of Parvataka, is a prince whose confidence and\ndistrust are alike misplaced, who is thoughtless, suspicious, wanting in\ndignity, and almost child-like, not to say childish. He leads an army\nagainst Chandragupta but without success. He is so rash and\ninconsiderate as to resolve most hastily to undertake war against five\nkings at a time.\n\nRakshasa is a brave soldier but a blundering and somewhat soft-natured\npolitician, whose faithfulnesss to his original master Nanda prompts him\nto wreak vengeance on Chandragupta and Chanakya. He has ultimately to\nabandon in despair his self-imposed task, the great aim of his life,\nbeing foiled by the arts of his adversary Chanakya. The proximate motive\nof the abandonment, however, is the duty of repaying favours received by\nhim when he was engaged in his attempts at vengeance. He accidentally\nacquires a ring.\n\nChanakya, whose ability and diplomatic skill are of a high order, lays\nout various plottings and machinations to make Chandragupta the\nparamount sovereign in India, by winning over the noble Rakshasa to his\nmaster's cause. He tries successfully to effect a reconciliation between\nhis protege, and Rakshasa. With this view Rakshasa is rendered by the\ncontrivances of Chanakya an object of suspicion to the prince Malyaketu\nwith whom he has taken refuge and is consequently dismissed by him.\n\nIn this deserted condition he learns the imminent danger of a dear\nfriend Chandandasa whom Chanakya is about to put to death, and in order\nto effect his liberation surrenders himself to his enemies.\n\nThey offer him, contrary to his expectations, the rank and power of\nPrime Minister, and the parties are finally friends.\n\nThe Nanda dynasty thus comes to an end and Chandragupta becomes the\nfounder of the Maurya dynasty.\n\nA curious scene in the last Act may be noticed here. A Chandala or\nexecutioner leads a criminal to the place of execution. The latter bears\na stake (_Sula_) on his shoulder, and is followed by his wife and son\nwho use no expressions suggestive of tenderness but only of sacrifice--a\nstern sense of duty. At the impending execution of her husband, she\nneither faints nor becomes disconsolate but simply weeps and talks of\nher duty.\n\nThe executioner calls out--\"Make way, make way, good people! let every\none who wishes to preserve his life, his property, or his family, avoid\ntransgressing against the king as he would, poison.\" This criminal is\nChandan Das who is put into chains with a view to force his friend\nRakshsa to yield. He gives up his life and property for the sake of his\nfriend Rakshasa. This conduct is described as casting into the shade the\nnoble acts of even the Buddhas.\n\n\n\n\nVIDDHA SALABHANJIKA\n\nOR\n\nTHE CARVED STATUE.\n\n\nVidyadhar Malla, the chief of the Karachuli race, a Rajput tribe, was\nthe king of Triling and Kalinga. Bhagurayana was his minister. Charayana\nwas his Vidushaka or confidential attendant. Chandraverma, the king of\nLata, was the maternal uncle-in-law of Vidyadhar Malla. He had no son.\nTo satisfy his desire for a son, he dressed his only daughter\nMrigankavali as a son to pass her off as such. People knew that the\nchild was a son.\n\nBhagurayana had heard from the sages that \"whosoever shall wed the\ndaughter of Chandravarma shall become the paramount sovereign.\" So he\ntold Chandravarma, \"My king desires to see your son.\" Upon this\nChandravarma sent his child to the queen of Vidyadhara Malla to be taken\ncare of by her. Thus the minister contrived to bring Mrigankavali to the\npalace of his king.\n\nOne day, while the king is asleep, Mrigankavali puts a necklace on the\nneck of the king, being induced by a maid-servant who had instructions\nto do so by the minister. The king takes this as a wonderful dream. The\nvision of a beautiful maid agitates his mind. The king thus relates to\nBidushaka the story of his fancied vision, \"for the burden of the heart\nis lightened by sharing it with a faithful friend.\"\n\n\"A glorious halo appeared before me in my dream, bright as the moon's\nresplendent disk; within the orb a beauteous maiden moved as gently\nradiant as the lunar rays in autumn skies.\n\nAdvancing near me, she inclined her head in reverence, and, as if\npouring ambrosia into my ears, pronounced in softest tones,\n\n'Glory to the deity of love!' Then sighing, she took up this string of\ncostly pearls and placed it on my neck. This awoke me, I started up and\nsaw my vision realised. I caught the nymph by her scarf, but she hastily\nextricated herself from my hands and fled, leaving me this necklace\nalone the evidence of her presence.\" Bidushaka asks his Majesty, \"Was\nnot the queen with you when you dreamt? What did she do?\"\n\nThe king replies, \"The queen got angry and left me.\" Bidushaka remarks,\n\"Why could not you assuage her anger?\"\n\nThe king answers, \"I was absorbed in the maid of my vision.\"\n\nThe Vidushaka, however, treats the whole as a dream, and reproaches the\nking for his fickleness, as he had just before fallen in love with\nKuvalayamala, the princess of Kuntala, and recommends him to be content\nwith the queen, as \"a partridge in the hand is better than a pea-hen in\nthe forest.\"\n\nThe prince and the Vidushaka then go into the garden by the back-door,\nwhere, over the edge of a terrace, they see some of the fair tenants of\nthe inner apartments amusing themselves with swinging. Amongst them the\nking recognises the countenance he has seen in his dream, but the party\ndisappear on the advance of the king and his friend.\n\nThe king then enters a pleasure-house or pavilion called the\n_kelikailas_ or mountain of sport built for him by the minister.\n\nIt is a beautiful palace built of crystal, and decorated with statues\nand paintings. One of the paintings is thus described:\n\n\"There is your Majesty at _pasa_ (dice) with the queen: behind you\nstands one damsel with the betel box, whilst another is waving the\n_chownri_ over your head: the dwarf is playing with the monkey, and the\nparrot abusing the Vidushaka.\" The chamber also contains the portrait of\nMrigankavali, the damsel whom the prince has really seen in his supposed\ndream. There is also a statue of her, whence the drama is named _Viddha\nSalabhanjika_, meaning a curved statue or effigy.\n\nThe king discovers the statue. He thinks, \"Who will carve on the wall\nthe person I dreamed of? No one was present when I dreamt. Has anyone\ncarved the statue out of his fancy? A real person may exist in this\nworld or how can an exact figure come here?\"\n\nHe now verily believes the dream to be a reality. He then puts the\nnecklace of his dream on the neck of the carved statue.\n\nFinally the lady is herself beheld through the transparent wall of the\npavilion, but runs away on being observed. The king becomes enamoured of\nher. He and his friend follow her but in vain. The bards proclaim it at\nnoon, and the two friends repair to the queen's apartments to perform\nthe midday ceremonies.\n\nKuvalayamala, the object of the king's passion before encountering his\nnew flame, is the daughter of Chandramahasena, the king of Kuntala. She\nhas been sent to Vidyadhara Malla's queen, as the betrothed bride of the\nsupposed son of Chandraverma, who is the queen's maternal uncle.\nMekhala, the queen's foster-sister, practises a frolic on Charayana. He\nis promised a new bride by the queen, and the ceremony is about to take\nplace when the spouse proves to be a \"lubberly boy\"; he is highly\nindignant at the trick, and goes off threatening vengeance.\n\nThe king having followed and pacified his companion, they go off into\nthe garden, where they see the damsel Mrigankavali playing with ball:\nshe still however flies their advance. Presently they overhear a\nconversation between her and one of her companions, from which it\nappears, that notwithstanding her shyness she is equally enamoured of\nthe king.\n\nHer dress is the contrivance of the minister, at whose instigation,\nMrigankavali is persuaded by Sulakshana to believe that she is to behold\nthe present deity of love, and is introduced by a sliding door into the\nking's chamber. The consequence of the interview is to render\nMrigankavali passionately enamoured of the king.\n\nOne day, the queen, in order to deceive Charayana, manages to celebrate\na marriage between him and a son of a maid-servant veiled as a female.\nThe trick is discovered. He is highly indignant.\n\nHe now retaliates with the help of the king. He induces Sulakshana, one\nof the female attendants of the queen, to ascend a _Bakula_ tree and\nthence send a message in a nasal tone, as if from the sky, to Mekhala,\nthe foster-sister and chief attendant of the queen.\n\n\"Thou shalt die at this spot on the full moon day of _Baisakh_.\" After\nmany entreaties, the heavenly voice prescribes a relief, \"Thou art safe\nif thou canst pass through the legs of a Brahmin skilled in music and\ngratified with a fee.\" Charayana, just the kind of Brahmin required,\narrives at this juncture. The king and the queen are present. Mekhala\nand the queen, both overcome with concern, entreat Charayana to be the\nBrahmin that shall preserve the life of the former. He consents. As\nMekhala tries to pass between his legs, he mounts on her back and says,\n\"you are now caught in your turn. You deceived me once. Now marry me.\"\nHe triumphs in the humiliation he has inflicted on her. The queen now\nperceives the intrigue of the king, is in her turn incensed, goes off in\na pet and resolves to take revenge.\n\nChandamahasen, the king of Kuntala as a defeated prince now resides with\nhis daughter Kubalayamala under the protection of the victorious king.\nThe king sees her one day as she rises after bathing in the Narbadda. He\nbecomes enamoured of her and wishes to marry her. The queen gets scent\nof the matter. To prevent the curse of co-wifeship, the queen now\nresolves to get her husband married to the son of her maternal uncle so\nthat he may be ashamed into abandoning his polygamous tendency.\n\nThe king and the Vidushaka seek the garden, where it is now moon-light.\nMrigankavali and her friend Vilakshana also come thither, and the lovers\nmeet: this interview is broken off by a cry that the queen is coming,\nand they all separate abruptly.\n\nAt dawn, Charayana's wife is asleep. In her sleep, however, she is very\ncommunicative, and repeats a supposed dialogue between the queen and the\nRaja, in which the former urges the latter to marry Mrigankavali, the\nsister of the supposed Mrigankavarma, come on a visit, it is pretended,\nto her brother--this being a plot of the queen's to cheat the king into\na sham marriage, by espousing him to one she believes to be a boy.\n\nThe Vidushaka suspects the trick, however, and wakes his wife, who rises\nand goes to the queen. The Vidushaka joins his master. The king, who is\nalready the husband of the princesses of Magadha, Malava, Panchala,\nAvanti, Jalandhara and Kerala, is wedded to Mrigankavali. As soon as the\nceremony is gone through, a messenger from the court of Chandraverma\narrives to announce:--\n\n\"O queen! His Majesty Chandravarma wishes it to be known that\nMrigankavarma is not his son but his daughter. In the absence of a son\nhe dressed her as such to satisfy his desire for a son. Now that a son\nhas been born to him, it is not necessary to keep up the pretence. The\nking requests you to settle a suitable marriage for her. The sages have\nprophesied paramount sovereignty for her husband.\"\n\nThe queen becomes stunned and soliloquises:--\n\n\"What is play to me, Providence ordains to be a stern fact. Man\nproposes, God disposes.\" She now finds that she has taken herself in,\nand given herself another rival wife. As the matter is past remedy,\nhowever, she assents with a good grace. The minister is glad that his\naims are fulfilled. All are happy, Why should Kuvalayamala alone be\nsorry? The queen therefore allows her lord to marry Kuvalyamala.\n\nTo crown the king's happiness, a messenger, sent by the General of His\nMajesty's forces, now arrives from the camp with the news that the\nallied armies of Kernata, Simhala, Pandya, Murala, Andhra, and Konkana\nhave been defeated, and Virapala, king of Kuntala, the ally of\nVidyadhara Malla, reseated on a throne, from which his kinsman,\nsupported by those troops, had formerly expelled him. The authority of\nVidyadhara Malla as paramount sovereign is now declared to extend from\nthe mouths of the Ganges to the sea, and from the Narbada to the\nTamraperni in the Deccan.\n\n\n\n\nRATNAVALI OR THE NECKLACE.\n\n\nA holy seer announces to Yaugandharayana, the chief minister of Vatsa,\nthe king of Kausambi, that whoever shall wed Ratnavali, the fair\ndaughter of Vikramabahu, the king of _Sinhala_ or Ceylon and maternal\nuncle of Vasavadatta, the queen of Vatsa, should become the emperor of\nthe world. The faithful minister, desirous of securing paramount\nsovereignty for his master, sends, without his knowledge and consent, an\nenvoy to the court of Vikramabahu to negotiate the match. Vikramabahu\ndeclines to inflict the curse of co-wifeship upon his daughter and\nniece. The disappointed envoy returns home.\n\nThe premier is sorry, but does not lose hope. After much deliberation,\nhe hits upon an ingenious device. He proclaims in Ceylon by agents that\nqueen Vasavadatta is dead, being burnt by chance and that the king,\nthough much grieved, has at last consented, at the request of friends\nand relatives, to marry again. The intelligence reaches the ears of\nVikramabahu who believes it.\n\nThe premier now sends Babhravya as envoy to the Court of Ceylon to\nreopen the question of Ratnavali's marriage with Vatsa. Vikramabahu,\nafter consulting his queen, consents to the proposal. He has Ratnavali\ndecked in all ornaments including a single-stringed necklace round her\nneck and sends her away on board a ship, in company with his own\nambassador Vasubhuti and Babhravya. He waits on the shore till the ship\nis out of sight and then returns home sorry at parting with his\ndaughter.\n\nA terrible tempest wrecks the ship. A merchant of Kausambi finds\nRatnavali floating in mid-sea, saves her life and brings her to the\nminister who thanks him heartily for the favour and offers a reward. The\nmerchant thus expresses his unwillingness to accept it, \"Sir, under the\nrule of our gracious king, the weak do not fear the strong; the rich\ncannot oppress the poor; the word \"robber\" has become obsolete; the sick\nand the orphans are being treated by the best of physicians and are free\nfrom any want of food and clothing; children are being properly\neducated; drought is never heard of; the highways are wide, clean, and\nwell-guarded; communications are safe. If any loyal subject can be of\nany service to such a king, he does only his bare duty and should not\naccept any reward.\" He at last accepts the reward at the repeated\nrequests of the minister and goes home.\n\nThen the minister interviews the queen, conceals the real facts and\naddresses her thus:--\n\n\"May it please your Majesty. I have received this girl from a merchant\nwho told me that he had rescued her in the sea, but could not say\nanything more about her and her whereabouts. From her appearance she\nseems to be a respectable lady. I beseech your Majesty to take care of\nher.\" The queen takes the girl as one of her attendants--the girl who is\ndestined to make her husband the lord of the world! The queen names her\nSagarika or the Ocean Maid. The princess, who has been attended by\nhundreds of maidservants, is now reduced, by a strange irony of fate,\nto the position of a maid-servant herself!\n\nThe Chamberlain Babhravya and Vasubhuti by some means reach the shore\nand are on their way to _Kausambi_.\n\nVatsa comes forth to behold from the terrace of his palace the frolic\nmerriment with which his subjects celebrate the festival of _Kamadeva_,\nthe god of love. Wearied of tales of war, and seeking most his\nreputation in his people's hearts, he issues forth attended by his\nconfidential companion Vasantaka, like the flower-armed deity himself,\ndescended to take a part in the happiness of his worshippers. The king\nobserves:--\n\n\"I scarcely can express the content I now enjoy. My kingdom is rid of\nevery foe; the burden of my government reposes on able shoulders; the\nseasons are favourable; and my subjects, prosperous and happy. In\nVasavadatta, the daughter of Pradyota, I have a wife whom I adore, and\nin Vasantaka, a friend in whom I can confide. Attended by such a friend,\nat such a season, and so disposed I might fancy myself the deity of\ndesire, and this vernal celebration held in honour of myself. Kausambi\noutvies the residence of the god of wealth. Her numerous sons are clad\nin cloth of gold, decked with glittering ornaments and tossing their\nheads proudly with splendid crests.\n\nVasantaka says:--\n\n\"Observe the general joy. As if intoxicated with delight, the people\ndance along the streets, sporting merrily with each other's persons and\nmutually scattering the yellow-tinted fluid. On every side, the music\nof the drum and the buzz of frolic crowds fill all the air. The very\natmosphere is of a yellow hue, with clouds of flowery fragrance.\"\n\nAt the request of the queen, conveyed through her attendants, the king\nproceeds with his friend to join her in offering homage to the image of\nthe flower-armed deity, which stands at the foot of the red _Asoka_\ntree. The queen enters the garden accompanied by Kanchanmala, her\nprincipal attendant, Sagarika and other damsels. Noticing Sagarika, the\nqueen thinks, \"What carelessness! an object I have hitherto so\ncautiously concealed, thus heedlessly exposed! I must remove her hence\nbefore the arrival of the king.\" She says, \"How now, Sagarika, what\nmakes you here? where is my favourite starling, that I left to your\ncharge, and whom it seems you have quitted for this ceremony? Return to\nyour place.\" Sagarika withdraws to a short distance and thinks, \"the\nbird is safe with my friend Susangata. I should like to witness the\nceremony. I wonder if _Annaga_ is worshipped here as in my father's\nmansion! I will keep myself concealed amongst the shrubs and watch them,\nand for my own presentation to the deity I will go, cull a few of these\nflowers.\" The king now joins the queen. Kanchanmala delivers the\naccustomed gifts of sandal, saffron, and flowers to the queen, who\noffers them to the image. The king thus eulogises the beauty of the\nqueen, \"Whilst thus employed, my love, you resemble a graceful creeper\nturning round a coral tree: your robes of the orange dye, your person\nfresh from the bath. As rests your hand upon the stem of the _Asoka_,\nit seems to put forth a new and lovelier shoot. The unembodied god\nto-day will regret his disencumbered essence, and sigh to be material,\nthat he might enjoy the touch of that soft hand.\"\n\nThe worship of the divinity concluded, the queen worships the king.\nSagarika views the scene, mistakes the king for the god and observes,\n\"What do I see? Can this be true? Does then the deity, whose effigy only\nwe adore in the dwelling of my father, here condescend to accept in\nperson the homage of his votaries? I, too, though thus remote, present\nmy humble offering.\"\n\nShe throws down the flowers and continues:--\"Glory to the flower-armed\ngod: may thy auspicious sight both now and hereafter prove not to have\nbeen vouchsafed to me in vain!\"\n\nShe bows down, then rising looks again, and observes:--\n\n\"The sight, though oft repeated, never wearies. I must tear myself from\nthis, lest some one should discover me.\" She then withdraws a little,\nhears a bard sing a ballad in praise of the king, perceives her mistake\nand asks herself, \"Is this Udayana, to whom my father destined me a\nbride?\" She becomes enamoured of the king. The king and the queen now\nrise to return to the palace.\n\nSagarika thinks, \"They come! I must fly hence. Ah me, unhappy! no longer\nto behold him, whom I could gaze upon for ever.\"\n\nThe king addresses his queen thus:--\"Come, love, thou puttest the night\nto shame. The beauty of the moon is eclipsed by the loveliness of thy\ncountenance, and the lotus sinks humbled into shade; the sweet songs of\nthy attendant damsels discredit the murmurs of the bees, and mortified\nthey hasten to hide their disgrace within the flowery blossom.\" The king\nand the queen return to the palace.\n\nSagarika enters a plantain bower with a brush and pallet in order to\npaint a picture and soliloquises thus: \"Be still, my foolish heart, nor\nidly throb for one so high above thy hopes. Why thus anxious to behold\nthat form, one only view of which has inspired such painful agitation?\nUngrateful, too, as weak, to fly the breast that has been familiar to\nthee through life, and seek another, and as yet but once beheld, asylum.\nAlas! Why do I blame thee! the terror of _Ananga's_ shaft has rendered\nthee a fugitive;--let me implore his pity. Lord of the flowery bow,\nvictor of demons and of gods! dost thou not blush to waste thy might\nupon a weak defenceless maiden, or art thou truly without form and\nsense? Ah me, I fear my death impends, and this the fatal cause.\" She\nlooks at the picture and goes on, \"No one approaches; I will try and\nfinish the likeness I am here attempting to portray. My heart beats\nhigh, my hand trembles, yet I must try, and whilst occasion favours me,\nattempt to complete these lineaments, as the only means to retain them\nin my sight.\" She draws the picture, raising her head beholds her friend\nSusangata with a _Sarika_ or talking bird in a cage, and hides the\npicture. Susangata sits down, puts her hand upon the picture and asks,\n\"who is this you have delineated?\"\n\nSagarika answers, \"The deity of the festival, _Ananga_.\" Susangata\nobserves, \"It is cleverly done, but there wants a figure to complete\nit. Let me have it, and I will give the god his bride.\" She takes the\npaper and draws the likeness of Sagarika. Sagarika expresses anger. Her\nfriend remarks, \"Do not be offended without cause. I have given your\n_Kamadeva_ my _Rati_, that is all. But come, away with disguise, and\nconfess the truth.\" Seeing that her friend has discovered her secret,\nSagarika is overcome with shame and entreats her to promise that no body\nelse shall be made acquainted with her weakness. Her friend replies,\n\"why should you be ashamed? Attachment to exalted worth becomes your\nnative excellence. But be assured I will not betray you; it is more\nlikely this prattling bird will repeat our conversation.\" The friend\nbrings some leaves and fibres of the lotus, and binds the former with\nthe latter upon Sagarika's bosom. She exclaims, \"Enough, enough, my\nfriend, take away these leaves and fibres,--it is vain to offer relief.\nI have fixed my heart where I dare not raise my hopes. I am overcome\nwith shame--I am enslaved by passion--my love is without return--death,\nmy only refuge.\" She faints and recovers after a short while. A noise\nbehind proclaims that a monkey has escaped from the stable, and,\nrattling the ends of his broken chain of gold, he clatters along. Afraid\nof the advent of the monkey, they both rush to hide in the shade of a\n_tamala_ grove, leaving the drawing behind. The ape breaks the cage to\nget at the curds and rice and lets the _Sarika_ fly.\n\nVasantaka now notices that the jasmine has been covered with countless\nbuds, as if smiling disdainfully upon the queen's favourite _Madhavi_.\nHe is surprised at the most marvellous power of the venerable\nSri-Khanda-Dasa, a great sage come to court from _Sri-Parvata_, by whose\nsimple will the strange event has happened. He thinks of going to the\nking to inform his Majesty when the king appears. He congratulates his\nMajesty, on his propitious fortune. The king observes, \"Inconceivable is\nthe virtue of drugs, and charms, and gems. Lead the way, and let these\neyes this day obtain by the sight the fruit of their formation.\"\n\nVasantaka advances, stops to listen and turns back in alarm for he\nfancies a goblin in yonder _Bakula_ tree. The goblin turns out a\nstarling. The courtier remarks, \"she says, give the Brahman something to\neat.\" The king observes, \"something to eat is ever the burden of the\nglutton's song. Come, say truly, what does she utter. The friend listens\nand repeats, \"Who is this you have delineated? Do not be offended\nwithout cause; I have given your _Kamadeva_ my _Rati_. Why should you be\nashamed? Attachment to exalted worth becomes your native excellence.\nTake away these lotus leaves and fibres--it is in vain you strive to\noffer me relief. I have fixed my heart where I dare not raise my\nhopes;--I am overcome with shame and despair, and death is my only\nrefuge.\" The king interprets thus:--\"Oh, I suppose some female has been\ndrawing her lover's portrait, and passing it off on her companion as the\npicture of the god of love: her friend has found her out; and\ningeniously exposed her evasion, by delineating her in the character of\n_Kama-deva's_ bride. The lady that is pictured is very handsome. Some\nyoung female may be supposed to have spoken, indifferent to life,\nbecause uncertain of her affection being returned. The delicate maid\nentrusts her companion with the sorrows of her breast: the tattling\nparrot or imitative starling repeats her words, and they find an\nhospitable welcome in the ears of the fortunate. The companion, laughing\nloudly, observes, \"You may as well drop these evasive interpretations;\nwhy not say at once, \"the damsel doubts my returning her passion.\" Who\nbut yourself could have been delineated as the god of the flowery bow?\".\n\nThe friend claps his hands and laughs. His obstreperous mirth frightens\nthe bird away. She perches on the plantain bower. They follow her there.\nVasantaka finds a picture and shows it to the king, who gives him a\ngolden bracelet. Looking at it, the king dwells upon the beauties of the\ndamsel.\n\nSusangata and Sagarika hide themselves behind the plantain trees and\noverhear the conversation between the king and his companion. Susangata\nremarks, \"You are in luck, girl; your lover is dwelling upon your\npraises. The bird, as I told you, has repeated our conversation.\"\nSagarika thinks to herself, \"What will he reply? I hang between life and\ndeath.\" The king remarks farther to his companion, \"My sight insatiate\nrests upon her graceful limbs and slender waist. I cannot deny that she\nhas flatteringly delineated my likeness, nor doubt her sentiments--for\nobserve the traces of the tear that has fallen upon her work, like the\nmoist dew that starts from every pore of my frame.\" Sagarika says to\nherself, \"Heart, be of good cheer! your passion is directed to a\ncorresponding object.\" Susangata now comes forward, so as to be seen by\nVasantaka. At this the king, on the advice of his companion, covers the\npicture with his mantle. Susangata says, \"I am acquainted with the\nsecret of the picture and some other matters of which I shall apprise\nher Majesty.\" The king takes off his bracelet and other ornaments and\noffers them to her with the object of bribing her to be silent. She\nreplies, \"Your Majesty is bountiful. You need not fear me. I was but in\njest, and do not want these jewels. The truth is, my dear friend,\nSagarika is very angry with me for drawing her picture, and I shall be\nmuch obliged to your Majesty to intercede for me and appease her\nresentment.\" The king springs up and exclaims, \"Where is she? Lead me to\nher.\"\n\nThen all advance to Sagarika. She thinks, \"He is here--I tremble at his\nsight. I can neither stand nor move--what shall I do?\" Vasantaka, seeing\nher, exclaims, \"A most surprising damsel, truly; such another is not to\nbe found in this world. I am confident that when she was created,\n_Brahma_ was astonished at his own performance.\" The king is struck with\nher and observes, \"such are my impressions. The four mouths of _Brahma_\nmust at once have exclaimed in concert, bravo, bravo! when the deity\nbeheld these eyes more beauteous than the leaves of his own lotus; and\nhis head must have shaken with wonder, as he contemplated her\nloveliness, the ornament of all the world.\" Sagarika prepares to go away\nwhen the king addresses her thus, \"You turn your eyes upon your friend\nin anger, lovely maid; yet such is their native tenderness that they\ncannot assume a harsh expression. Look thus, but do not leave us, for\nyour departure hence will alone give me pain.\" Susangata now advises the\nking to take Sagarika by the hand and pacify her. The king approves the\nadvice and acts up to it. Vasantaka congratulates the king on his\nunprecedented fortune.\n\nThe king replies, \"You say rightly--she is the very deity Lakshmi\nherself. Her hand is the new shoot of the _Parijata_ tree, else whence\ndistil these dewdrops of ambrosia?\" Susangata remarks, \"It is not\npossible, my dear friend, you can remain inexorable whilst honoured thus\nwith his Majesty's hand.\"\n\nSagarika frowns on her friend and asks her to forbear. At this time,\nVasantaka, in testiness of temper, raises a false alarm by proclaiming\nthat the queen is approaching. The king lets go Sagarika's hand in\nalarm. Sagarika and her companion go off hastily behind the _tamala_\ntree.\n\nAfter a short time, the queen approaches the king. By order of the king,\nVasantaka hides the picture quickly under his arm. The king proposes to\nvisit, in the company of the queen, the Jasmine budded. The queen\ndeclines. Vasantaka takes it as an acknowledgment of defeat on her part\nand cries out Huzza! He waves his hand and dances; the picture falls.\nKanchanmala, an attendant of the queen, picks up the picture and shows\nit to her mistress. The queen, whose jealousy is excited by the\ndiscovery of the picture, demands an explanation from the king.\nVasantaka volunteers to offer the explanation thus:--\"I was observing,\nmadam, that it would be very difficult to hit my friend's likeness, on\nwhich his Majesty was pleased to give me this specimen of his skill.\"\nThe king confirms the explanation. The queen observes, \"And the female\nstanding near you--I suppose this is a specimen of Vasantaka's skill.\"\nThe king replies, \"What should you suspect? That is a mere fancy\nportrait, the original was never seen before.\" Vasantaka supports the\nking thus, \"I will swear to this, by my Brahmanical thread, that the\noriginal was never seen before by either of us.\" Not satisfied with the\nexplanation, the queen remarks, \"My lord, excuse me. Looking at the\npicture has given me a slight headache. I leave you to your amusements.\"\n\nThe king observes, \"What can I say to you, dearest? I really am at a\nloss. If I ask you to forgive me, that is unnecessary, if you are not\noffended; and how can I promise to do so no more, when I have committed\nno fault, although you will not believe my assertions?\" The queen,\ndetaching herself gently and with politeness, takes leave and goes away\nwith her attendant. Vasantaka remarks, \"Your Majesty has had a lucky\nescape. The queen's anger has dispersed like summer clouds.\" The king\nobserves. \"Away, blockhead, we have no occasion to rejoice; could you\nnot discover the queen's anger through her unsuccessful attempts to\ndisguise it? Her face was clouded with a passing frown. As she hung down\nher head, she looked on me with an affected smile. She gave utterance to\nno angry words, it is true, and the swelling eye glowed not with\nrage--but a starting tear was with difficulty repressed; and although\nshe treated me with politeness, struggling indignation lurked in every\ngesture. We must endeavour to pacify her.\"\n\nTo insure the vigilance of Kanchanmala, the queen gives her some of her\nown clothes and ornaments. With these it is plotted to equip Sagarika as\nthe queen. A stolen interview between the king and Sagarika, thus\ndisguised, is arranged to take place at the _Madhava_ bower about\nsunset. The queen gets scent of the matter and forestalls Sagarika by\nmeeting the king at the appointed time and place. The king, mistaking\nher for Sagarika, thus speaks his honest self! \"My beloved Sagarika, thy\ncountenance is radiant as the moon, thy eyes are two lotus buds, thy\nhand is the full blown flower, and thy arms, its graceful filaments.\nCome thou, whose form is the shrine of ecstasy, come to my arms.\"\n\nThe queen throws off her veil and says:--\"Believe me still Sagarika, my\ngood lord; your heart is so fascinated by her, you fancy you behold\nSagarika in everything.\" The king replies, \"forgive me, dearest.\" The\nqueen remarks, \"Address not this to me, my lord--the epithet is\nanother's property.\" The king falls at her feet. The queen observes,\n\"Rise, my lord, rise! that wife must be unreasonable indeed, who, with\nsuch evidence of her lord's affection, can presume to be offended. Be\nhappy, I take my leave.\" She now goes away.\n\nSagarika, dressed as the queen, goes some way to meet the king when she\nthinks of putting an end at once to her sufferings and her life and\nfastens the noose round her neck with the fibres of the _Madhavi_. The\nking, who is seeking for the queen in hopes to pacify her anger,\ndiscovers Sagarika on the way and mistakes her for the queen. He rushes\nto her and tears off the tendril. He soon discovers his mistake,\nembraces her and observes, \"When the bosom of my queen swells with\nsighs, I express concern; when she is sullen, I soothe her; when her\nbrows are bent, and her face is distorted with anger, I fall prostrate\nat her feet. These marks of respect are due to her exalted position; but\nthe regard that springs from vehement affection, that is yours alone.\"\n\nAt this time, the queen, who has overheard the speech, comes forward and\nsays, \"I believe you, my lord, I believe you.\" The king explains his\nconduct thus:--\"Why, then, you need not be offended. Cannot you perceive\nthat I have been attracted hither, and misled by the resemblance of your\ndress and person? Be composed, I beg you.\" He falls at her feet. She\nobserves, \"Rise, rise, let not my exalted station put you to such\nunnecessary inconvenience.\"\n\nVasantaka takes up the noose, shows it to the queen and explains his\nconduct thus, \"It is very true, madam, I assure you, that, deceived by\nthe belief that you were attempting to destroy yourself, I brought my\nfriend to this spot, to preserve, as I thought, your life.\" By order of\nthe queen, Kanchanmala puts the noose over his neck, beats him and\ncarries him off an unfortunate captive. The king thinks, \"What an\nunlucky business this is! What is to be done? How shall I dissipate the\nrage that clouds the smiling countenance of the queen! How rescue\nSagarika from the dread of her resentment, or liberate my friend\nBasantaka? I am quite bewildered with these events, and can no longer\ncommand my ideas. I will go in, and endeavour to pacify the queen.\" The\nqueen regales Vasantaka with cakes from her own fair hands, presents him\nwith a dress and restores him to liberty. Susangata prays him to accept\na diamond necklace which Sagarika has left with her for presentation to\nhim. He declines the offer. Looking at it attentively he wonders where\nshe could have procured such a valuable necklace. They both go to the\nking who has gone from the queen's apartments to the crystal alcove and\nis lamenting thus:--\"Deceitful vows, tender speeches, plausible excuses\nand prostrate supplications had less effect upon the queen's anger than\nher own teaks; like water upon the fire they quenched the blaze of her\nindignation. I am now only anxious for Sagarika. Her form, as delicate\nas the petal of the lotus, dissolving in the breath of inexperienced\npassion, has found a passage through the channels by which love\npenetrates, and is lodged deep in my heart. The friend to whom I could\nconfide my secret sorrows is the prisoner of the queen.\" Vasantaka now\ninforms the king that he has been restored to liberty. Asked about\nSagarika he hangs down his head and declares that he cannot utter such\nunpleasant tidings. The king infers that Sagarika is no more and faints.\nThe friend says, \"my friend, revive--revive! I was about to tell you,\nthe queen has sent her to Ougein--this I called unpleasant tidings,\nSusangata told me so,--and what is more, she gave me this necklace to\nbring to your Majesty.\" Vasantaka gives the king the necklace which he\napplies to his heart to alleviate his despair. By command, the courtier\napplies the ornament round the neck of the king. At this time,\nVijayavarman, the nephew of Rumanwat the general of the state, arrives\nto announce:--\"Glory to your Majesty! your Majesty's fortune is\npropitious in the triumphs of Rumanwat. By your Majesty's auspices the\n_Kosalas_ are subdued. On receiving your Majesty's commands, my uncle\nsoon collected a mighty army of foot, and horse, and elephants, and\nmarching against the king of Kosala, surrounded him in a strong position\nin the Vindhya mountains. Impatient of the blockade, the _Kosala_\nmonarch prepared his troops for an engagement. Issuing from the heights,\nthe enemy's forces came down upon us in great numbers, and the points of\nthe horizon were crowded with the array of mighty elephants, like\nanother chain of mountains: they bore down our infantry beneath their\nponderous masses: those who escaped the shock were transpierced by\ninnumerable arrows and the enemy flattered himself he had for once\ndisappointed our commander's hopes. Fires flashed from the blows of\ncontending heroes, helmets and heads were cloven in twain--the broken\narmour and scattered weapons were carried away in torrents of blood, and\nthe defiance of the king of _Kosala_, in the van of his army, was heard\nby our warriors; when our chief alone confronted him, and slew the\nmonarch on his furious elephant with countless shafts. All honour to our\ngallant foe, the king of _Kosala_; for glorious is the warrior's death\nwhen his enemies applaud his prowess. Rumanwat then appointed my elder\nbrother, Sanjayavarman, to govern the country of _Kosala_, and making\nslow marches in consequence of the number of his wounded, returned to\nthe capital. He is now arrived.\" The king applauds his general and\ncommands the distribution of the treasures of his favour.\n\nSamvarasiddhi, a magician from Ougein, now interviews the king. The\nmagician, waving a bunch of peacock's feathers, observes, \"Reverence to\nIndra, who lends our art his name. What are your Majesty's commands?\nWould you see the moon brought down upon earth, a mountain in mid air, a\nfire in the ocean, or night at noon? I will produce them--Command. What\nneed of many words? By the force of my master's spells, I will place\nbefore your eyes the person whom in your heart you are most anxious to\nbehold.\"\n\nThe king not wishing to see the performance alone, summons the queen who\narrives soon. The king leads her to a seat, sits beside her and commands\nthe magician to display his power.\n\nThe magician waves his plumes and exhibits most wonderful scenes.\n_Brahma_ appears throned upon the lotus; _Sankara_ appears with the\ncrescent moon, his glittering crest; _Hari_, the destroyer of the demon\nrace, in whose four hands the bow, the sword, the mace and the shell are\nborne, is observable. _Indra_, the king of _Swarga_, is seen mounted on\nhis stately elephant. Around them countless spirits dance merrily in mid\nair, sporting with the lovely nymphs of heaven, whose anklets ring\nresponsive to the measure. The king and queen look up and rise from\ntheir seats. At this time, a female attendant appears to announce;--\"So\nplease your Majesty, the minister Yaugandharayana begs to inform you,\nthat Vikrambahu, the king of Ceylon, has sent, along with your own\nmessenger who returns, the councillor Vasubhuti; be pleased to receive\nhim as the season is auspicious. The minister will also wait upon you as\nsoon as he is at leisure.\" The queen observes, \"Suspend this spectacle,\nmy lord. Vasubhuti is a man of elevated rank; he is also of the family\nof my maternal uncle, and should not be suffered to wait; let us first\nsee him.\" The king orders the suspension of the show, the magician\nretires promising to exhibit yet some sights.\n\nVasubhuti, after the customary exchange of courtesies, thus relates his\nstory:--\"In consequence of the prophesy of a seer, that whoever should\nwed Ratnavali, my master's daughter, should become the emperor in the\nworld, your Majesty's minister solicited her for your bride; unwilling,\nhowever, to be instrumental in the uneasiness of Vasavadatta, the king\nof Simhala declined compliance with his suit. My master, understanding\nat last that the queen was deceased, consented to give his daughter to\nyou. We were deputed to conduct her hither, when alas, our vessel was\nwrecked.\" The envoy, overpowered by sorrows, is unable to continue the\nstory and weeps. The queen exclaims, \"Alas, unhappy that I am! Loved\nsister Ratnavali, where art thou? Near me and reply.\"\n\nThe king consoles the queen thus:--\n\n\"The fate that causes, may remove our sorrows.\"\n\nA cry is now heard from behind that the inner apartments are on fire.\nThe king starts up wildly and exclaims, \"Vasavadatta burnt to death! my\nqueen, my love!\"\n\nThe queen exclaims, \"What extravagance is this--behold me at your side.\nBut ah! help, help, my lord. I think not of myself but poor Sagarika.\nShe is in bonds; my cruelty has kept her captive--and she will be lost\nwithout some aid--haste, haste and save her!\" The king flies to her\nrescue, precipitates himself into the flames and takes her in his arms.\nHe pauses--looks around--closes his eyes, and reopens them. The flames\ndisappear. The palace stands unharmed. The king observes, \"This must\nhave been a dream, or is it magic?\" Vasantaka replies, \"The latter, no\ndoubt; did not that conjuring son of a slave say, he had still something\nfor your Majesty to see?\"\n\nThe king says to the queen,\n\n\"Here, madam, is Sagarika rescued in obedience to your commands.\" The\nqueen smiling replies, \"I am sensible of your obedience, my lord.\" She\nnow informs all present, \"Yaugandharayana presented her to me, and told\nme she had been rescued from the sea: it was hence we designated her\nSagarika or the ocean Maid.\" The likeness--the necklace--the recovery of\nthe damsel from the sea--leave no doubt in the mind of Vasubhuti that\nthis is the daughter of the king of Simhala, Ratnavali. Vasubhuti\nadvances to her who looks at him. They recognize each other and both\nfaint. After some time they recover. As Ratnavali goes to embrace the\nqueen at her invitation, she stumbles. At the request of the queen who\nblushes for her cruelty, the king takes the chains off Ratnavali's feet.\nYaugandharayana now explains his conduct thus, \"It was formerly\nannounced to us by a holy seer, that the husband of the princess of\nSimhala should become the emperor of the world. We therefore earnestly\napplied to her father to give her hand to our sovereign; but unwilling\nto be cause of uneasiness to the queen, the monarch of Simhala declined\ncompliance with our request: we therefore raised a report that\nVasavadatta had perished by a fire at Lavanaka, and Babhravya was\ndespatched with the news to the court of Simhala. Vikrambahu then\nconsented to our proposal and sent his daughter on board a ship\naccompanied by Vasubhuti and Babhravya. The ship was wrecked. The\nprincess was rescued from the sea by a merchant who brought her to me. I\nplaced her with the queen in a very unsuitable station as I expected you\nwould see her in the inner apartments, and take pleasure in her sight. I\nhad some concern in the appearance of the magician who had conjured up a\nvision of the gods and a conflagration, as no other means remained of\nrestoring the damsel to your presence and creating an opportunity for\nVasubhuti to see and recognise the princess.\" The queen now puts on\nRatnavali her own jewels, then takes her by the hand and presents her to\nthe king. Ratnavali bows to the queen who embraces her. The king\nobserves, \"My cares are all rewarded. Nothing more is necessary,\nVikrambahu is my kinsman, Sagarika, the essence of the world, the source\nof universal victory, is mine, and Vasavadatta rejoices to obtain a\nsister. The _Kosalas_ are subdued: what other object does the world\npresent for which I could entertain a wish? This be alone my prayer; may\nIndra with seasonable showers render the earth bountiful of grain; may\nthe presiding Brahmans secure the favour of the gods by acceptable\nsacrifices; may the association of the pious confer delight until the\nend of time, and may the appalling blasphemies of the profane be\nsilenced for ever.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\nTHE VALUE OF DRAMA.\n\nThe purposes for which an ancient language may be studied are its\nphilology and its literature, or the arts and sciences, the notions and\nmanners, the history and beliefs of the people by whom it was spoken.\nParticular branches may be preferably cultivated for the understanding\nof each of these subjects, but there is no one species which will be\nfound to embrace so many purposes as the dramatic. The dialogue varies\nfrom simple to elaborate, from the conversation of ordinary life to the\nhighest refinements of poetical taste. The illustrations are drawn from\nevery known product of art, as well as every observable phenomenon of\nnature. The manners and feelings of the people are delineated, living\nand breathing before us, and history and religion furnish the most\nimportant and interesting topics to the bard. Wherever, therefore, there\nexists a dramatic literature, it must be pre-eminently entitled to the\nattention of the philosopher as well as the philologist, of the man of\ngeneral literary tastes as well as the professional scholar.\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF DRAMA.\n\nAmong the various sorts of literary composition the drama holds the most\nimportant position; for it is a picture of real life, and, as such, of\nnational interest. It consists of two principal species, tragedy and\ncomedy; the minor species are tragi-comedy, farce, burlesque and\nmelo-drama. Both tragedy and comedy attained their perfection in Greece\nlong before the Christian era. There it originated in the worship of\nBacchus.\n\nThe English drama took its rise from the mysteries or sacred plays by\nthe medium of which the clergy in the Middle Ages endeavoured to impart\na knowledge of the Christian religion.\n\nThe Sanskrit drama is said to have been invented by the sage Bharata,\nwho lived at a very remote period of Indian history and was the author\nof a system of music. The earliest references to the acted drama are to\nbe found in the _Mahabhashya_, which mentions representations of the\n_Kansabadha_ and the _Balibadha_, episodes in the history of Krishna.\nIndian tradition describes Bharat as having caused to be acted before\nthe gods a play representing the _Svayamvara_ of Lakshmi.\n\nTradition further makes Krishna and his cowherdesses the starting point\nof the _Sangita_, a representation consisting of a mixture of song,\nmusic, and dancing. The Gitagovinda is concerned with Krishna, and the\nmodern _Yatras_ generally represent scenes from the life of that deity.\n\nFrom all this it seems likely that the Hindu drama was developed in\nconnection with the cult of Vishnu-Krishna; and that the earliest acted\nrepresentations were, therefore, like the mysteries of the Christian\nMiddle Ages, a kind of religious plays, in which scenes from the legends\nof the gods were enacted mainly with the aid of songs and dances\nsupplemented with prose dialogues improvised by the performers. These\nearliest forms of Hindu dramatic literature are represented by those\nhymns of the _Rig-Veda_ which contain dialogues such as those of Sarama\nand the Panis, Yama and Yami, Pururava and Urvaci.\n\nThe words for actor (_nata_) and play (_nataka_) are derived from the\nverb _nat_, the Prakrit or vernacular form of the Sanskrit _nrit_, \"to\ndance.\" Hence scholars are of opinion that the Sanskrit drama has\ndeveloped out of dancing. The representations of dramas of early times\nwere attended with dancing and gesticulation. There were rude\nperformances without the contrivances of stage and scenic arrangements,\ndancing and music forming a considerable part. The addition of dialogue\nwas the last step in the development, which was thus much the same in\nIndia and Greece. This primitive stage is represented by the Bengal\n_Yaeras_ and the Gitagovinda. These form the transition to the fully\ndeveloped Sanskrit play in which lyrics and dialogue are blended.\n\nSakuntala belongs to the mytho-pastoral class of Sanskrit plays;\nProbodhchandraudya, to the metaphysical. The Hindu theatre affords\nexamples of the drama of domestic, as well as of heroic life; of\noriginal invention as well as of legendary tradition.\n\nThe Hindus did not borrow their dramatic compositions from foreigners.\nThe nations of Europe possessed no dramatic literature before the\nfourteenth or fifteenth century, at which period the Hindu drama had\npassed into its decline. Mohammedan literature has ever been a stranger\nto theatrical writings, and the Mussalman conquerors of India could not\nhave communicated what they never possessed. There is no record that\ntheatrical entertainments were ever naturalised amongst the ancient\nPersians, Arabs, or Egyptians. With the exception of a few features in\ncommon with the Greek and the Chinese dramas, which could not fail to\noccur independently, the Hindu dramas present characteristic features in\nconduct and construction which strongly evidence both original design\nand national development.\n\nAngustus William Von Schlegel observes:--\n\n\"Among the Indians, the people from whom perhaps all the cultivation of\nthe human race has been derived, plays were known long before they could\nhave experienced any foreign influence.\"\n\n\nTHE CHARACTER OF THE HINDU DRAMA.\n\nSanskrit plays are full of lyrical passages describing scenes or persons\npresented to view, or containing reflections suggested by the incidents\nthat occur. They usually consist of four-line stanzas. The prose of the\ndialogue in the plays is often very commonplace, serving only as an\nintroduction to the lofty sentiment of the poetry that follows.\n\nThe Sanskrit drama is a mixed composition in which joy is mingled with\nsorrow, in which the jester usually plays a prominent part, while the\nhero and heroine are often in the depths of despair. But it never has a\nsad ending. The emotions of terror, grief, or pity, with which the\naudience are inspired, are therefore always tranquillised by the happy\ntermination of the story. Nor may any deeply tragic incident take place\nin the course of the play; for death is never allowed to be represented\non the stage. Indeed, nothing considered indecorous, whether of a\nserious or comic character, is allowed to be enacted in the sight or\nhearing of the spectators, such as the utterance of a curse,\ndegradation, banishment, national calamity, biting, scratching, kissing,\neating, or sleeping.\n\nLove, according to Hindu notions, is the subject of most of their\ndramas. The hero, who is generally a king, and already the husband of a\nwife or wives, is suddenly smitten with the charms of a lovely woman,\nsometimes a nymph, or, as in the case of Sakuntala, the daughter of a\nnymph by a mortal father. The heroine is required to be equally\nimpressible, and the first tender glance from the hero's eye reaches her\nheart. With true feminine delicacy, however, she locks the secret of her\npassion in her own breast, and by her coyness and reserve keeps her\nlover for a long period in the agonies of suspense. The hero, being\nreduced to a proper state of desperation, is harassed by other\ndifficulties. Either the celestial nature of the nymph is in the way of\ntheir union, or he doubts the legality of the match, or he fears his own\nunworthiness, or he is hampered by the angry jealousy of a previous\nwife. In short, doubts, obstacles and delays make great havoc of both\nhero and heroine. They give way to melancholy, indulge in amorous\nrhapsodies, and become very emaciated. So far the story is decidedly\ndull, and its pathos, notwithstanding the occasional grandeur and beauty\nof imagery, often verges on the ridiculous. But, by way of relief, an\nelement of life is generally introduced in the character of the\nVidushaka, or Jester, who is the constant companion of the hero; and in\nthe young maidens, who are confidential friends of the heroine, and soon\nbecome possessed of her secret. By a curious regulation, the jester is\nalways a Brahman, and, therefore, of a caste superior to the king\nhimself; yet his business is to excite mirth by being ridiculous in\nperson, age, and attire. He is represented as grey-haired, hump-backed,\nlame and hideously ugly. In fact, he is a species of buffoon, who is\nallowed full liberty of speech, being himself a universal butt. His\nattempts at wit, which are rarely very successful, and his allusions to\nthe pleasures of the table, of which he is a confessed votary, are\nabsurdly contrasted with the sententious solemnity of the despairing\nhero, crossed in the prosecution of his love-suit. His clumsy\ninterference with the intrigues of his friend, only serves to augment\nhis difficulties, and occasions many an awkward dilemma. On the other\nhand, the shrewdness of the heroine's confidantes never seem to fail\nthem under the most trying circumstances; while their sly jokes and\ninnuendos, their love of fun, their girlish sympathy with the progress\nof the love-affair, their warm affection for their friend, heighten the\ninterest of the plot, and contribute not a little to vary its monotony.\n\nIndeed, if a calamitous conclusion be necessary to constitute a tragedy,\nthe Hindu dramas are never tragedies. They are mixed compositions, in\nwhich joy and sorrow, happiness and misery, are woven in a mingled\nweb,--tragi-comic representations, in which good and evil, right and\nwrong, truth and falsehood, are allowed to mingle in confusion during\nthe first acts of the drama. But, in the last act, harmony is always\nrestored, order succeeds to disorder, tranquillity to agitation; and the\nmind of the spectator, no longer perplexed by the apparent ascendancy of\nevil, is soothed, and purified, and made to acquiesce in the moral\nlesson deducible from the plot.\n\nIn comparison with the Greek and the modern drama, Nature occupies a\nmuch more important place in Sanskrit plays. The characters are\nsurrounded by Nature, with which they are in constant communion. The\nmango and other trees, creepers, lotuses, and pale-red trumpet-flowers,\ngazelles, flamingoes, bright-hued parrots, and Indian cuckoos, in the\nmidst of which they move, are often addressed by them and form an\nessential part of their lives. Hence the influence of Nature on the\nminds of lovers is much dwelt on. Prominent everywhere in classical\nSanskrit poetry, these elements of Nature luxuriate most of all in the\ndrama.\n\nThe dramas of Bhavabhuti except Malati-Madhava, and the whole herd of\nthe later dramatic authors, relate to the heroic traditions of the\nRamayana and the Mahabharata, or else to the history of Krishna; and the\nlater the pieces are, the more do they resemble the so-called\n'mysteries' of the middle ages. The comedies, which, together with a\nfew other pieces, move in the sphere of civil life, form, of course, an\nexception to this. A peculiar class of dramas are the philosophical\nones, in which abstractions and systems appear as the _dramatis\npersonae_. One very special peculiarity of the Hindu drama is that women,\nand persons of inferior rank, station, or caste are introduced as\nspeaking the _Prakrit_ or vulgarised Sanskrit, while the language of the\nhigher and more educated classes is the classical Sanskrit of the\npresent type.\n\n\nTHE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SANSKRIT DRAMA.\n\nAccording to the code of criticism laid down in works on Sanskrit drama,\nit should deal principally either with the sentiment of love, or the\nheroic sentiment; the other sentiments should have a subsidiary\nposition. There should be four or five principal characters, and the\nnumber of acts should vary from five to ten.\n\nThere are several species of the drama,--ten principal, and eighteen\nminor. Of these none has a tragic end.\n\nEvery drama opens with a prologue or, to speak more correctly, an\nintroduction designed to prepare the way for the entrance of the\ndramatis personae. The prologue commences with a prayer or benediction\n(_Nandi_) invoking the national deity in favour of the audience.\n\nThen generally follows a dialogue between the stage-manager and one or\ntwo of the actors, which refers to the play and its author, mentions\npast events and present circumstances elucidating the plot, and\ninvariably ends by adroitly introducing one of the dramatic personages,\nand the real performance begins.\n\nThe play thus opened, is carried forward in scenes and acts; each scene\nbeing marked by the entrance of one character and the exit of another.\nThe stage is never left vacant till the end of an act, nor does any\nchange of locality take place till then. The commencement of a new act\nis often marked, by an introductory monologue or dialogue spoken by one\nor more of the _dramatis personae_, and is called _Viskambhaka_ or\n_Praveshaka_, which alludes to events supposed to have occurred in the\ninterval, and the audience are prepared for national plenty and\nprosperity, addressed by one of the principal personages of the drama,\nto the favourite deity. The development of the plot is brought about\nthrough five divisions called the five _sandhis_. A _sandhi_ is a\ncombination of incidents whereby the object is attained.\n\n\nTHE MANNER OF PERFORMANCE.\n\nThere were no special theatres in the Hindu Middle Ages, and plays seem\nto have been performed in the concert-room (_Sangita-Cala_) of royal\npalaces. A curtain, divided in the middle, was a necessary part of the\nstage arrangement; it did not, however, separate the audience from the\nstage, as in the Roman theatre, but formed the back-ground of the stage.\nBehind the curtain was the tiring-room (_nepathya_), whence the actors\ncame on the stage. When they were intended to enter hurriedly, they\nwere directed to do so \"with a toss of the curtain.\" The stage scenery\nand decorations were of a very simple order, much being left to the\nimagination of the spectator, as in the Shakespearian drama. Weapons,\nseats, thrones, and chariots appeared on the stage; but it is highly\nimprobable that the latter were drawn by the living animals supposed to\nbe attached to them. There may have been some kind of aerial contrivance\nto represent celestial chariots.\n\n\nKALIDASA.\n\nKalidasa is the author of Sakuntala, Vikramorvasi and Malavikagnimitra.\nHe has been designated the Indian Shakespeare. He is reputed to have\nbeen one of the nine ornaments (or \"gems\") of the Court of Vikramaditya,\nking of Ujayin, whose Era, called _Samvat_, begins in 56 B.C. Stories\nextant about him describe him to be the veriest fool. He rose to be a\ngreat poet through the favour of the Goddess of Learning. Those stories\nembody the public opinion that except through Divine Grace or the\nInspiration of the Muse a man cannot rise to such eminence by learning\nand culture alone. His native place is Kashmir or its neighbourhood. He\nhad no doubt suffered from the pangs of poverty and neglect and\ntravelled a great deal. He professed the _Saiva_ form of worship.\n\nHis chief poems are the Raghuvansam, the Kumarasambhavam, the Meghadutam\nand the Ritusanharam. It is believed that he wrote a treatise on\nAstronomy and one on Sanskrit Prosody. His genius was of a versatile\nnature. He was a poet, a dramatist and an astronomer. His works bespeak\nthe superior order of his scholarship--his acquaintance with the\nimportant systems of philosophy, the Upanishads and the Puranas;--his\nclose observation of society and its intricate problems;--his delicate\nappreciation of the most refined feelings, his familiarity with the\nconflicting sentiments and emotions of the human heart,--and his keen\nperception of and deep sympathy with the beauties of Nature. His\nimagination was of a very high order and of a constructive nature. His\npower of depicting all shades of character,--high and low,--from the\nking to the common fisherman, is astonishing. His similes are so very\napt that they touch directly the heart and at once enlist the sympathy\nof the reader. He is called the poet of the sentiment of Love as this\nsentiment was his _forte_. His diction is chaste and free from\nextravagance and is marked by that felicity of expression, spontaneity\nand melody which have earned for him the epithet--\"the favoured child of\nthe Muse.\"\n\n\nSAKUNTALA.\n\nOf all Sanskrit dramas, Sakuntala has acquired the greatest celebrity.\nIt is not in India alone that it is known and admired. Its excellence\nand beauty are acknowledged by learned men in every country of the\ncivilised world. It was the publication of a translation of this play by\nSir William Jones, which Max Muller thinks \"may fairly be considered as\nthe starting point of Sanskrit Philology.\" \"The first appearance of\nthis beautiful specimen of dramatic art,\" he continues, \"created, at\nthe time, a sensation throughout Europe, and the most rapturous praise\nwas bestowed upon it by men of high authority in matters of taste.\"\n\n\nTHE MORAL OF THE PLAY.\n\nThe recovery of the ring, like its loss, was a matter of pure accident\nand points to the moral that the joys and sorrows of human beings depend\nin most cases upon circumstances which lie beyond their control.\n\n\nMALAVIKAGNIMITRA.\n\nThe play was not written at a time when Buddhism was despised, and had\nalready been driven out of India, but when it was still regarded with\nfavour, and was looked up to with reverence.\n\n\nVIKRAMORVASI.\n\nThe root of all the stories of Pururavas and Urvasi were short\nproverbial expressions, of which ancient dialects are so fond.\nThus--'Urvasi loves Pururavas,' meant 'the sun rises'; 'Urvasi sees\nPururavas naked,' meant 'the dawn is gone'; 'Urvasi finds Pururavas\nagain,' meant 'the sun is setting.'\n\nThe same ideas pervade the mythological language of Greece.\n\n\nBHAVABHUTI.\n\nThe name of Bhavabhuti stands high in Sanskrit literature. It is perhaps\nthe highest in eloquence of expression and sublimity of imagination.\nThroughout the whole range of Sanskrit literature--from the simple\nlessons of Hitopadesha to the most elaborate polish of Naishadha--from\nthe terse vigour of Sankaracharjya to the studied majesty of Magha--from\nthe harmonious grace of Kalidasa to the ornate picturesqueness of\nKadambari, there is probably no writer who can come up to Bhavabhuti in\nhis wonderful command of Sanskrit language and surprising fluency and\nelevation of diction.\n\nThe introductions to the Viracharita and the Malati-Madhava tell us that\nhe belonged to Padmapura in Vidarva (Berar) and was the grandson of\nGopal Bhatta and son of Nilkantha and Jatukarni. He was descended from a\nfamily of Brahmans surnamed Udambaras.\n\nHis wonderful memory and vast erudition soon procured for him the title\nof Srikantha or Minerva-throated. He soon removed to the court of\nUjjayini, where before the celebrated Mahakala all his plays were acted.\n\nHe wrote the Viracharita, the Uttarramacharita and the Malati-Madhava.\n\nAccording to Rajatarangini, Bhavabhuti was patronized by Yasovarma, king\nof Kanoja. This Yasovarma was subdued by Lalitaditya, king of Kasmira,\nwho acquired by his conquests a paramount supremacy over a large part of\nIndia.\n\n\nVIRA CHARITA.\n\nThe play throws some light on the condition of women. The princesses of\nVideha publicly go to the hermitage of Vishvamitra. Sita comes out with\nher attendants to dissuade Rama from meeting Jamadagnya and makes a\npublic entry with him on his return to Ayodhya. The old queens come out\nto meet their children. Yet it must not be supposed that Hindu women\nenjoyed the same freedom of intercourse as their European sisters. As\nnow, there used to be separate apartments for women. As now, they were\nnot admitted to an equality with men. The princesses of Videha do not\ncarry on conversation with the princes of Ajodhya. Sita does not come\nout to pay her respects to the seniors, but her salute is announced from\nwithin. There is now more seclusion of Hindu women as the result of the\ninfluence of past Mahammedan rule. The influence of British rule is now\npromoting the cause of female liberty.\n\n\nUTTARRAMACHARITA.\n\nThe mutual sorrows of Rama and Sita in their state of separation are\npleasingly and tenderly expressed. The meeting of the father and his\nsons may be compared advantageously with similar scenes with which the\nfictions of Europe, both poetical and dramatic, abound. The true spirit\nof chivalry pervades the encounter of the two young princes with their\nfather. Some brilliant thoughts occur, the justice and beauty of which\nare not surpassed in any literature. The comparison of Chandraketu to a\nlion's cub turning to brave the thunderbolt is one of these; and another\nis the illustration of the effects of education upon minds possessed or\ndestitute of natural gifts.\n\nMALATI-MADHAVA.\n\nThe marriage dress of high-born females described in the sixth act is\nwell worthy of our observation. It consisted of a corset of white silk\nand a fine red upper garment, besides the usual lower dress, ornaments,\nand a chaplet of flowers. It has received several modifications since\nthe days of Bhavabhuti.\n\nThe sacrifice of good-looking girls, alluded to in the fifth act, was\ncommon in his time and other authors allude to it. The seventh story of\nDasakumar Charita is just like it, when a prince rescues a princess from\na similar Sanyasi and afterwards marries her.\n\nThe story of \"Malati and Madhava\" is one of pure invention. The manners\ndescribed are purely Hindu without any foreign admixture. The appearance\nof women of rank in public, and their exemption from any personal\nrestraint in their own habitations, are very incompatible with the\npresence of Muhammedan rulers. The licensed existence of Buddha\nascetics, their access to the great, and their employment as teachers of\nscience, are other peculiarities characteristic of an early date; whilst\nthe worship of Siva in his terrific forms, and the prevalance of the\npractices of the Yoga, are indications of a similar tendency.\n\n\nMUDRA RAKSHASA.\n\nIt must be acknowledged, that the political code from which the\nstratagems of Chanakya emanate, exhibits a morality not a whit superior\nto that of the Italian school; but a remarkable, and in some respects a\nredeeming principle, is the inviolable and devoted fidelity which\nappears as the uniform characteristic of servants, emissaries, and\nfriends.\n\nThe play is wholly of a political character, and represents a series of\nMachiavellian stratagems, influencing public events of considerable\nimportance.\n\nThe Mudrarakshasa is, in sundry respects, a very unique work in Sanskrit\nliterature. Its plot is not a pure invention, but on the other hand, it\nis not derived from the usual storehouse of legends on which Sanskrit\nauthors have generally drawn for their materials. It has no female among\nits prominent _dramatis personae_, and the business of the play,\naccordingly, is diplomacy and politics, to the entire exclusion of love.\nThere is, in truth, but one female character, with one little child,\nintroduced into the play, and these are Chandanadasa's wife and son, who\ncome in at the beginning of the last act. But even their appearance\nintroduces no passages suggestive of tenderness or the purely domestic\nvirtues, but only of sacrifice--a stern sense of duty.\n\nIn the minor characters we see the principle of faithfulness to one's\nlord, adhered to through good report and evil report. In the more\nprominent ones, the same principle still prevails, and the course of\nconduct to which it leads is certainly quite Machiavellian. And all this\nis brought out in a plot put together with singular skill.\n\nIn the seventh act we have a remarkable stanza, in which the conduct of\nChandanadasa, in sacrificing his life for his friend Rakshasa, is stated\nto have transcended the nobility even of the Buddhas. It seems that\nthis allusion to Buddhism belongs to a period long prior to the decay\nand ultimate disappearance of Buddhism from India. In the time of\nHionen-Tsang--_i.e._ between 629-645 A.D.--it was, however, still far\nfrom being decayed, though it appears to have fallen very far below the\npoint at which it stood in Fa-Hian's time, to have been equal in power\nwith Brahminism only where it was supported by powerful kings, and to\nhave been generally accepted as the prevailing religion of the country\nonly in Kashmir and the Upper Punjab, in Magadha and in Guzerat. In this\ncondition of things, it was still quite possible, that one not himself a\nBuddhist--and Visakhadatta plainly was not one--should refer to Buddhism\nin the complimentary terms we find in the passage under discussion.\n\nThe late Mr. Justice Telang observes:--\"The policy of Chanakya is not\nremarkable for high morality. From the most ordinary deception and\npersonation, up to forgery and murder, every device is resorted to that\ncould be of service in the achievement of the end which Chanakya had\ndetermined for himself. There is no lack of highly objectionable and\nimmoral proceedings. It must be admitted that this indicates a very low\nstate of public morality, and the formal works on politics which exist\ncertainly do not disclose anything better. With reference to the\ncriticisms which have been based on these facts, however, there are one\nor two circumstances to be taken into account. In the first place,\nalthough this is no excuse, it may be said to be an extenuation, that\nthe questionable proceedings referred to are all taken in furtherance of\nwhat is, in itself, a very proper end. Chanakya's ambition is to make\nhis protege, Chandragupta firm upon his throne, and to bring back\nRakshasa to the service of the king who properly represented those old\nmasters of his to whom Rakshasa's loyalty still remained quite firm. If\nthe end could ever be regarded as justifying the means, it might be so\nregarded in this case. And, secondly, it must not be forgotten, that the\ngames of diplomacy and politics have always been games of more or less\ndoubtful morality. When we hear of one great politician of modern days\ndeclaring another to be a great statesman, because, as I believe he\nexpressed it, the latter lied so cleverly, we cannot say that the world\nhas risen to any very perceptibly higher moral plane in the times of\nMetternich and Napoleon, than in those of Chanakya and Rakshasa. Nor are\nsuppressions of important passages in despatches for the purposes of\npublication, or wars undertaken on unjustifiable and really selfish\npretexts, calculated to convince one, that even in Europe in the\nnineteenth century, the transaction of political affairs has been purged\nof the taint of immorality, however different, and I may even add,\ncomparatively innocent, may be the outward manifestations of that\ntaint.\"\n\n\nVISAKHADATTA.\n\nVisakhadatta or Visakhadeva is the author of Mudrarakshasa. We learn\nfrom the Introduction to the drama that Visakhadatta was the son of\nPrithu and grandson of Vatesvaradatta--a Samanta or subordinate chief\nProfessor Wilson was inclined to think that Maharaja Prithu might be the\nChouhan Prince Prithu Rai of Ajmir; but he himself pointed out that the\nChouhan Prince was never called Maharaja; and that the name Nateswara\nDatta would present a serious difficulty in the way of identifying the\npoet's father with the Chouhan Prince Prithu Rai of Ajmir. It will also\nappear that the author of the drama lived in a century which is prior to\nthe age of Prithu Rai of Ajmir by centuries. He was in all probability a\nnative of Northern India. The grandson of a tributary chief and the son\nof a Maharaja he was well-skilled in state-craft and made a special\nstudy of stratagems and crooked policies; in consequence of which the\nbent of his mind was mainly directed to business and did not indulge in\nsentiments. The effect of it is manifest in his poetry which is\nbusiness-like and vigorous, but lacks in sweetness, beauty and the\ntender emotions.\n\n\nYAYATI CHARITA.\n\nThe author may possibly be Pratapa Rudra Deva, sovereign of Telingana in\nthe beginning of the fourteenth century.\n\n\nDUTANGADA.\n\nIt is said to have been written for the yatra of Kumar Pala Deva, by\norder of Tribhuvana Pala Deva, by the poet Subhata.\n\nDHANANJAYA VIJAYA.\n\nIt is the composition of Kanchana Acharya, the son of Narayana, a\ncelebrated teacher of the _yoga_, of the race of Kapi Muni.\n\n\nMRIGANKALEKHA.\n\nThe drama was composed by Viswanath, the son of Trimala Deva, originally\nfrom the banks of the Godaveri, but residing at Benares, where it was\nrepresented at the _yatra_, or festival, of Visweswara, the form under\nwhich Siva is particularly worshipped in that city.\n\n\nKAUTUKA SERVASWA.\n\nThis is a Prahasana or Farce, and is especially a satire upon princes\nwho addict themselves to idleness and sensuality, and fail to patronize\nthe Brahmans.\n\nIt was composed by a Pandit named Gopinath for representation at the\nautumnal festival of the _Durga Puja_.\n\n\nCHITRA YAJNA.\n\nThis heterogeneous composition is the work of a Pandit of Nadiya,\nVaidyanath Vachespati Bhattacharya, and was composed for the festival of\nGovinda, by desire of Iswar Chandra, the Raja of Nadiya.\n\n\nHASYARNAVA.\n\nThis comic play is a severe but grossly indelicate satire upon the\nprofligacy of Brahmans assuming the character of religious mendicants.\nIt satirizes also the encouragement given to vice by princes, the\ninefficacy of ministers, and the ignorance of physicians and\nastrologers.\n\nIt is the work of a Pandit named Jagaddisa, and was represented at the\nvernal festival; but where, or when, it is not known.\n\n\nRATNAVALI.\n\nAlthough the personages are derived from Hindu history, they are wholly\nof mortal mould, and unconnected with any mystical or mythological\nlegend; and the incidents are not only the pure inventions of the\ndramatist, but they are of an entirely domestic nature.\n\nIt is stated in the prelude to be the composition of the sovereign, Sri\nHarsa Deva. A king of this name, and a great patron of learned men,\nreigned over Kashmir; he was the reputed author of several works, being,\nhowever, only the patron, the compositions bearing his name being\nwritten by Dhavaka and other authors.\n\n\nRAJA SEKHAR.\n\nRaja Sekhar is the author of Prachanda Pandava, Biddhasalvanjika, and\nKarpura Manjari.\n\n\nMURARI.\n\nMurari composed Anargha Raghava.\n\n\nVENISANHARA.\n\nThe author is Bhatta Narayana surnamed Mrigaraja or Simha, \"the lion.\"\nHe is one of the five Brahmins who, with five Kayesthas, came from\nKanouj and settled in Bengal at the invitation of Adisura, the then king\nof Bengal.\n\n\nPROBODHA CHANDRODAYA.\n\nThis play was composed by Krishnamisra. It is an allegorical play, the\n_dramatis personae_ of which consist entirely of abstract ideas, divided\ninto two conflicting hosts.\n\n\nHANUMANANATAKA.\n\nThe play is a dramatized version of the story of Rama interspersed with\nnumerous purely descriptive poetic passages. It consists of fourteen\nacts and on account of its great length is also called the Mahanataka,\nor the great drama.\n\nTradition relates that it was composed by Hanuman, the monkey general,\nand inscribed on rocks; but, Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, being\nafraid lest it might throw his own poem into the shade, Hanuman allowed\nhim to cast his verses into the sea. Thence fragments were ultimately\npicked up by a merchant, and brought to King Bhoja, who directed the\npoet Damodara Misra to put them together, and fill up the lacunae; whence\nthe present composition originated. Whatever particle of truth there may\nbe in this story, the \"Great Drama\" seems certainly to be the production\nof different hands.\n\nVASAVADATTA.\n\nVasavadatta of Subandhu is a short romance, of which the story is this.\n\nKandarpaketu, a young and valiant prince, son of Chintamani king of\nKusumapura, saw in a dream a beautiful maiden of whom he became\ndesperately enamoured. Impressed with the belief, that a person, such as\nwas seen by him in his dream, had a real existence, he resolves to\ntravel in search of her, and departs, attended only by his confidant\nMakaranda. While reposing under a tree in a forest at the foot of the\nVindhya mountains, where they halted, Makaranda overhears two birds\nconversing, and from their discourse he learns that the princess\nVasavadatta, having rejected all the suitors who had been assembled by\nthe king her father for her to make choice of a husband, had seen\nKandarpaketu in a dream, in which she had even dreamt his name. Her\nconfidante, Tamalika, sent by her in search of the prince, had arrived\nat the same forest, and was discovered there by Makaranda. She delivers\nto the prince a letter from the princess, and conducts him to king's\npalace. He obtains from the princess the avowal of her love; and her\nconfidante, Kalavati, reveals to the prince the violence of her passion.\n\nThe lovers depart together: but, passing through the forest, he loses\nher, in the night. After long and unsuccessful search, in the course of\nwhich he reaches the shore of the sea, the prince, grown desperate\nthrough grief, resolves on death. But at the moment when he was about to\ncast himself into the sea, he hears a voice from heaven, which promises\nto him the recovery of his mistress, and indicates the means. After\nsome time, Kandarpaketu finds a marble statue, the precise resemblance\nof Vasavadatta. It proves to be she; and she quits her marble form and\nregains animation. She recounts the circumstances under which she was\ntransformed into stone.\n\nHaving thus fortunately recovered his beloved princess, the prince\nproceeds to his city, where they pass many years in uninterrupted\nhappiness.\n\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nOPINIONS OF EMINENT EDUCATIONISTS on \"THE BOY'S RAMAYANA\"\n\nADOPTED BY THE HINDU SCHOOL CALCUTTA, THE KRISHNAGHUR COLLEGIATE\nSCHOOL, BETHUNE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL, DUPLEX COLLEGIATE SCHOOL &c.,\n\n_Rev. George Bruce M. A. Senior Professor of English Literature, the\nScottish churches College, Calcutta and Examiner to the University of\nCalcutta for the M.A. Examinations in English writes;--_\n\n     I have looked over Babu Ramanath Dutt's Ramayana. The English is\n     simple and idiomatic. The story is given in an interesting manner.\n     The style & language are, I think, well-suited for Matriculation\n     students.\n\n    THE SCOTTISH CHURCHES COLLEGE.}\n    4 Cornwallis Square, Calcutta.}  GEORGE BRUCE M. A.\n   _10 Sept.--1910_               }\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n_Mr. Jnan Ranjan Banerjee M. A., B. L. Vice-Principal and Professor of\nEnglish Literature, Philosophy and Law, the Metropolitan Institution,\nCalcutta; University Lecturer in Philosophy and Examiner to the\nUniversity of Calcutta writes:--_\n\n     I have looked through the M. S. of _Boy's Ramayan_ by Ramanath\n     Dutta and am of opinion that it is written in a very aggreable\n     style. It is exactly suited to the capacity of Matriculation\n     students. Its chief characteristics are a very simple style and an\n     interesting manner of relating stories. I feel free to say, that\n     its study will go a long way towards familiarising boys in our\n     schools with simple idiomatic English.\n\n     CALCUTTA,       }             J. R. BANERJEE.\n                     }               Vice-Principal,\n    _29th Aug.--1910_}           Metropolitan Institution.\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n_Mr. C. H. Linton. M.A., Professor of English Literature, The Central\nCollege, Calcutta & Examiner to the University of Calcutta for the\nMatriculation Examinations in English; Late Professor of English\nLiterature, Muir Central College, Allahabad writes:--_\n\n     I have looked carefully through the pages of the \"Boy's Ramayan.\"\n     Mr. Dutt has written his book with commendable care making it one\n     eminently adapted to the needs of Matriculation students. His\n     language is simple clear & idiomatic and his style of narrative\n     bright and entertaining. I feel confident that boys would read such\n     a book over and over again, for the mere pleasure which its perusal\n     afforded them. Were I in charge of a School, I should have no\n     hesitation in including so delightful a work among the text books\n     in English.\n\n    CALCUTTA           }  C. H. LINTON M. A.\n                       }  Prof. of English Literature\n    _Sept. 5th--1910_  }  Central College.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n_Rai Bahadur Rasamaya Mitra M. A. Head Master Hindu School, Calcutta,\nthe premier School of Bengal writes_\n\n     \"The Boy's Ramayana\" by Mr R. N. Dutt and Prof. Headland is a\n     well-written book. The style is simple and correct. I have every\n     reason to believe that the book is very well-suited to the capacity\n     of Matriculation students.\n\n                                              RASAMAYA MITRA.\n     6. 3. 11.                           Head master, Hindu School.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nOPINIONS OF THE PRESS.\n\n_The Amrita Bazar Patrika in its issue of January 2, 1911 writes:--_\n\n     \"The Boy's Ramayana\"--The book is the only one we know of dealing\n     with the subject of Ramayana in English suitable for school boys.\n     It is written in simple and idiomatic English. We recommend the\n     Universities and school committees to adopt it as a text-book.\n\n_The Indian Mirror in its issue of January 17, 1911 reviews the book\nthus:--_\n\n     A book, called \"The Boy's Ramayana\", would be a suitable text-book\n     for Entrance candidates. The language is easy and naturally flowing\n     and the style idiomatic and interesting.\n\n_The Bengalee in its issue of March 4, 1911 says:--_\n\n     The author has given the story of Valmiki's immortal Epic in\n     elegant and idiomatic English and his mode of narration is highly\n     interesting. We are confident that the work under notice is\n     pre-eminently suited to the capacity of Matriculation students of\n     Indian Universities.","title":"Tales from the Hindu Dramatists","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":36148}