Speaker 1: A tale of a demon from the Sanskrit of Somemodiva,
translated by Charles H. Tawny. On the banks of the Godavari,
there is a place named Pratishshana. In it there lived
of old time a famous king named try Vakramasena, the
son of Vaikramasena, equal to Indra in might. Every day,
when he was in his hall of audience, a mendicant
named kashan Tissila came to see him to pay him
his respects, and presented him with a fruit. And every
day the king, as soon as he received the fruit,
gave it into the hand of the superintendent of his treasury,
who was near him. In this way, ten years passed,
But one day, when the mendicant had left the hall
of audience, after giving the fruit to the king, the
king gave it to a young pet monkey that had
escaped from the hands of its keepers, and happened to
enter there. While the monkey was eating that fruit, it
burst open and there came out of it a splendid,
priceless jewel. When the king saw that, he took up
the jewel and asked the treasure the following question, where
have you put all those fruits which I have been
in the habit of handing over to you after they
were given to me by the mendicant. When the superintendent
of the treasury heard that, he was full of fear,
and he said to the King, I used to throw
them into the treasury from the window without opening the door.
If your Majesty orders me, I will open it and
look for them. When the treasurer said this, the King
gave him leave to do so, and he went away,
and soon returned and said to the King, I see
that those fruits have all rotted away in the treasury.
And I also see that there is a heap of
jewels there, resplendent with radiant gleams. When the King heard it,
he was pleased and gave those jewels to the treasurer.
And the next day he said to the mendicant, who
came as before, Mendicant, why do you court me every
day with great expenditure of wealth. I will not take
your fruit to day until you tell me. When the
King said this, the mendicant said to him in private,
I have an incantation to perform which requires the aid
of a brave man. I request hero that you will
assist me in it. When the king heard that, he
consented and promised him that he would do so. Then
the Mendicant was pleased, and he went on to say
to that king that I shall be waiting for you
at nightfall in the approaching black fortnight, in the great
cemetery here under the shade of a banyan tree, and
you must come to me there. The king said, well,
I will do so, and the mendicant Cashantasila, returned, delighted
to his own dwelling. Then the heroic monarch, as soon
as he had got into the black fortnight, remembered the
request of the Mendicant, which he had promised to accomplish
for him, And as soon as night came, he enveloped
his head in a black cloth and left the palace unperceived,
sword in hand, and went fearlessly to the cemetery. It
was obscured by a dense and terrible pall of darkness,
and its aspect was rendered awful by the ghastly flames
from the burning of the funeral pyres, and it produced
horror by the bones, skeletons, and skulls of men that
appeared in it. In it were present formidable buddhas and
vitalas joyfully engaged in their horrible activity, and it was
alive with the loud yells of jackals, so that it
seemed like a second mysterious, tremendous form of bairava. And
after he had searched about in it, he found that
mendicant under a banyan tree, engaged in making a circle.
And he went up to him and said, here, I
am arrived, Mendicant, Tell me, what can I do for you.
When the mendicant heard that and saw the king, he
was delighted and said to him, King, if I have
found favor in your eyes, go alone a long way
from here toward the south, and you will find an
ahsoka tree. On it. There is a dead man hanging up,
Go and bring him here. Assist me in this matter. Hero.
As soon as the brave king, who was faithful to
his promise, heard this, he said, I will do so,
and went toward the south. And after he had gone
some way in that direction, along a path revealed by
the light of flaming pyres, he reached with difficulty in
the darkness that Ahsoka tree. The tree was scorched with
the smoke of funeral pyres and smelled of raw flesh
and looked like a bhuta. And he saw the corpse
hanging on its trunk as it were on the shoulder
of a demon. So he climbed up and cutting the
string which held it, flung it to the ground. And
the moment it was flung down, it cried out as
if in pain. Then the king, supposing that it was
a lie, came down and rubbed its body out of compassion.
That made the corpse utter a loud demoniac laugh. Then
the king knew that it was possessed by a vitala
and said, without flinching, why do you laugh? Come, let
us go off, And immediately he missed from the ground
the corpse possessed by the vitala, and perceived that it
was once more suspended up on that very tree. Then
he climbed up again and brought it down, For the
heart of heroes is a gem more impenetrable than adamant.
Then King tri Vikramasna through the corpse possessed by a
vitala over his shoulder and proceeded to go off with
it in silence. And as he was going along the
Vitala in the corpse that was on his shoulder said
to him, King, I will tell you a story to
beguile the way. Listen the story of the prince who
was helped to a wife by the son of his
father's minister. There is a city, said the demon, named
Vara Nasi, which is the dwelling place of Siva, inhabited
by holy beings, and thus resembles the plateau of Mount Kailasa.
The river Ganges, ever full of water, flows near it
and appears as if it were the necklace ever resting
on its neck. In that city there lived of old
time a king named Prata Pamukuta, who consumed the families
of his enemies with his valor as the fire consumes
the forest. He had a son named vaj Ramukuta, who
dashed the God of Love's pride in his beauty and
his enemy's confidence in their valor. And that prince had
a friend named Buddi Sarira, whom he valued more than
his life, the sagacious son of a minister. Once on
a time, that prince was amusing himself with that friend,
and his excessive devotion to the chase made him travel
along distance. As he was cutting off the long maaned
heads of lions with his arrows, as it were the
chowries that represented the glory of their valor. He entered
a great forest. It seemed like the chosen home of love,
with singing cuckoos for bards, fanned by trees with their
clusters of blossom waving like chowies. In it, he and
the minister's son saw a great lake, looking like a
second sea, the birthplace of lotuses of various colors. And
in that pool, by gods, there were seen by him
a maiden of heavenly appearance, who had come there with
her attendants to bathe. She seemed to fill the splendid
tank with the flood of her beauty, and with her glances,
to create in it a new forest of blue lotuses.
With her face that surpassed the moon in beauty, she
seemed to put to shame the white lotuses, and she
at once captivated with it the heart of that prince.
The youth, too, in the same way, took with a
glance such complete possession of her eyes that she did
not regard her own attire or even her ornaments. And
as he was looking at her, with his attendants, and
wondering who she was, she made, under pretense a pastime,
a sign to tell him her country and other particulars
about her. She took a lotus from her garland of
flowers and put it in her ear, and she remained
for a long time, twisting it into a form of
an ornament called danta patra, or tooth leaf. And then
she took another lotus and placed it on her head,
and she laid her hand significantly upon her heart. The
prince did not at the time understand these signs, but
his sagacious friend, the minister's son, did understand them. The
maiden soon departed, being led away from that place by
her attendants, and when she had reached her own house,
she flung herself down on a sofa, but her heart
remained with that prince to justify the sign she had made.
The prince, for his part, when without her, was like
a vid yahara who has lost his magic knowledge, and
returning to his own city, he fell into a miserable condition,
and one day the minister's son questioned him in private,
speaking of that beauty as easy to obtain, whereupon he
lost his self command and exclaimed how is she to
be obtained when neither her name, nor her village, nor
her origin is known, So why do you offer me
false comfort? When the prince said this to the minister's son,
he answered, what did you not see what she told you?
By her signs. By placing the lotus in her ear,
she meant to say this, I live in the realm
of King karnat Palla. By making it into the tooth
leaf ornament, she meant to say, know that I am
the daughter of a dentist. There By lifting up the lotus,
she let you know her name was Padmavati, And by
placing her hand on her heart, she told you that
it was yours. Now, there is a king named karnot
Palla in the country of Kalinga. He has a favorite courtier,
a great dentist named Sangra Mahvardhana. And he has a
daughter named Padmavati, the pearl of the three worlds, whom
he values more than his life. All this I know
from the talk of the people, and so I understand
her signs, which were meant to tell her country and
the other particulars about her. When that prince had been
told all this by the minister's son. He was pleased
with that intelligent man, and rejoiced as he had now
got an opportunity of attaining his object. And after he
had deliberated with him, he set out with him from
his palace on the pretense of hunting, but really in
search of his beloved, and went again in And on
the way he managed to give his retinue the slip
by the speed of his swift horse, and he went
to the country of Kalinga, accompanied by the minister's son.
Only there they reached the city of King karnat Pala
and searched for and found the palace of that dentist.
And the prince and the minister's son entered the house
of an old woman who lived near there to lodge.
The minister's son gave their horses water and fodder and
placed them there in concealment, and then said to that
old woman, in the presence of the prince, do you
know mother a dentist named Sangra Ma Vardharna. When the
old woman heard that, she said to him courteously, I
know him well. I was his nurse, and he has
now made me attend upon his daughter as duenna. But
I never go there at present, as I have been
deprived of my clothes, for my wicked son, who is
a gambler, takes away my clothes as soon as he
sees them. When the minister's son heard this, he was delighted,
and he gratified the old woman with the gift of
his upper garment and other presents, and went on to
say to her, you are a mother to us, so
do what we request you to do. In secret. Go
to that Padmavati, the daughter of the dentist, and say
to her, the prince whom you saw at the lake
has come here, and out of love, he has sent
me to tell you. When the old woman heard this,
she consented, being won over by the presence, and went
to Padmavati and came back in a moment. And when
the Prince and the minister's son questioned her, she said
to them, I went and told her secretly that you
had come. When she heard that, she scolded me and
struck me on both cheeks with her two hands smeared
with camphor. So I have come back, weeping, distressed at
the insult. See here, my children, these marks of her
fingers on my face. When she said this, the Prince
was despondent, as he despaired of attaining his object. But
the sagacious minister son said to him in private, do
not despond for by keeping her own counsel and scolding
the old woman and striking her on the face with
her ten fingers white with camphor, she meant to say,
wait for these remaining ten moonlight nights of the white fortnight,
for they are unfavorable to an interview. After the minister's
son had comforted the Prince with these words, he went
and sold secretly in the market some gold which he
had about him, and made that old woman prepare a
splendid meal, and then those to aid it with that
old woman. After the minister's son had spent ten days
in this fashion, he again sent the old woman to
Padmavati to see how matters stood, And she, being fond
of delicious food, liquor, and other enjoyments of the kind,
went again to the dwelling house of Padmavati to please
her guests and return and said to them, I went
there to day and remained silent, But she, of her
own accord, taunted me with that crime of having brought
your message, and again struck me here on the breast
with three fingers dipped in red dye. So I have
returned here thus marked by her. When the minister's son
heard this, he said of his own accord to the Prince,
do not entertain any despondent notions, For by placing the
impression of her three fingers marked with red dye on
this woman's heart, she meant to say, I cannot receive
you for three nights. When the minister's son had said
this to the Prince, he waited till three days had passed,
and again sent the old woman to Padmavati. She went
to her palace, and Padmavati honored her and gave her food,
and lovingly entertained her that day with wine and other enjoyments.
And in the evening, when the old woman wished to
go back to her house, there arose outside a terrible tumult,
when the people were heard exclaiming alas alas, a mad
elephant has escaped from the post to which he was
tied and is rushing about trampling men to death. Then
Padmavati said to that old woman, you must not go
by the public road, which is rendered unsafe by the elephant.
So we will put you on a seat with a
rope fastened to it to support it, and let you
down by this broad window here into the garden of
the house. There you must get up a tree and
cross this wall, and then let yourself down by another
tree and go to your own house. After she had
said this, she had the old woman let down from
the window by her maid into the garden by means
of that seat with a rope fastened to it. She
went by the way pointed out to her and related
the whole story exactly as it happened to the Prince
and the minister's son. Then the minister's son said to
the Prince, your desire is accomplished, for she has shown you,
by an artifice, the way you should take. So go
there this very day, as soon as evening sets in,
and by this way enter the palace of your beloved.
When the minister's son said this, the Prince went with
him into the garden by the way over the wall
pointed out by the old woman. There he saw that
rope hanging down with the seat, and at the top
of it were some maids who seemed to be looking
out for his arrival. So he got on the seat,
and the moment those female servants saw him, they pulled
him up with the rope, and he entered the presence
of his beloved through the window. When he had entered,
the minister's son returned to his lodging, and when the
prince entered, he beheld that Padmavati with a face like
a full moon, shedding forth beauty like beams, like the
night of the full moon, remaining concealed through fear of
the black fortnight. As soon as she saw him, she
rose up boldly and welcomed him with affectionate embraces and
other endearments natural in one who had waited for him
so long. Then the prince married that fair one by
the Gandharva form of marriage, and all his wishes, being
now fulfilled, remained with her in concealment. And after he
had lived with her some days, he said to her,
one night, my friend, the minister's son came with me
and is staying here, and he is now left alone
in the house of your duenna. I must go and
pay him a visit, fair one, and then I will
return to you. When the cunning Padmavati heard that she
said to her, lover come, now, my husband, I have
a question to ask you. Did you guess the meaning
of those signs which I made? Or was it that
friend of yours, the minister's son. When she said this,
the Prince said to her, I did not guess anything
at all, but that friend of mine, the Minister's son,
who is distinguished for superhuman insight, guessed it all and
told it to me. When the fair one heard this,
she reflected and said to him, then you have acted
wrongly in not telling me about him before. Since he
is your friend, he is my brother, and I must
always honor him before all others with gifts of betel
and other luxuries. When she had dismissed him with these words,
the Prince left the palace at night by the way
by which he came, and returned to his friend, and
in the course of conversation he told him that he
had told his beloved how he guessed the meaning of
the signs which she made. But the minister's son did
not approve of this proceeding on his part, considering it imprudent,
And so the next day dawned on them conversing. Then,
as they were again talking together. After the termination of
the morning prayer, the confidant of Padnavati came in with
betel and cooked food in her hand. She asked after
the health of the minister's son, and after giving him
the dainties order by an artifice to prevent the Prince
from eating any of them, she said in the course
of conversation that her mistress was awaiting his arrival to
feast and spend the day with her, and immediately she
departed unobserved. Then the minister's son said to the Prince,
now observe, Prince, I will show you something wonderful. Thereupon
he gave that cooked food to a dog to eat,
and the dog, as soon as it had eaten, it
fell dead on the spot. When the Prince saw that,
he said to the minister's son, what is the meaning
of this marvel? And he answered him the truth is
that the lady has found out that I am intelligent
by the fact that I guessed the meaning of her signs,
and so she has sent me this poisoned food in
order to kill me. For she is deeply in love
with you and thinks that you, Prince, will never be
exclusively devoted to her. While I am alive, but being
under my influence, will perhaps leave her and go to
to your own city. So give up the idea of
being angry with her. Persuade the high spirited woman to
leave her relations, and I will invent and tell you
an artifice for carrying her off. When the minister's son
had said this, the Prince said to him, you are
rightly named Buddhisariyra, as being an incarnation of wisdom. And
at the very moment that he was thus praising him,
there was suddenly heard outside a general cry from the
sorrowing multitude alas alas the king's infant son is dead.
The minister's son was much delighted at hearing this, and
he said to the Prince, repair now to Patna Vati's
palace at night, and there make her drink so much
that she shall be senseless and motionless with intoxication and
apparently dead. And when she is asleep, make a mark
on her side with a red hot iron spike, and
take away all her ornaments, and return by letting yourself
down from the window by a rope. And after that
I will take steps to make everything turn out prosperously.
When the minister's son had said this, he had a
three pronged spike man with points like the bristles of
a boar, and gave it to the prince. And the
Prince took in his hand that weapon, which resembled the crooked,
hard hearts of his beloved end of his friend, which
were firm as black iron, and saying I will do
as you direct, went at night to the palace of Padmavati,
as before, for princes should never hesitate about following the
advice of an excellent minister. There he made his beloved
helpless with drink, and marked her on the side with
the spike, and took away her ornaments. And then he
returned to that friend of his, and he showed him
the ornaments and told him what he had done. Then
the minister's son considered his design as good as accomplished.
And the next morning the minister's son went to the
cemetery and prompt disguised himself as an ascetic, and he
made the Prince assume the guise of a disciple, and
he said to him, go and take the pearl necklace,
which is part of this set of ornaments, and pretend
to try to sell it in the market, but put
a high price on it, that no one may be
willing to buy it, and that everyone may see it
being carried about. And if the police here should arrest you,
say intrepidly, my spiritual preceptor gave it to me to sell.
When the minister's son had sent off the prince on
this errand he went and wandered about in the marketplace,
publicly showing the necklace. And while he was thus engaged,
he was seen and arrested by the police, who were
on the lookout for thieves, as information had been given
about the robbery of the dentist's daughter. And they immediately
took him to the chief magistrate of the town, and he,
seeing that he was dressed as an ascetic, said to
him courteously, Reverend sir, where did you get this necklace
of pearls which was lost in this city? For the
ornaments of the dentist's daughter were stolen during the night.
When the Prince, who was disguised as an ascetic, heard this,
he said, my spiritual preceptor gave it to me. Come
and question him. Then the magistrate of the city came
to the minister's son and bowed and said to him reverend, sir,
where did you get this pearl necklace that is in
the possession of your pupil. When the cunning fellow heard that,
he took him aside and said, I am an ascetic
in the habit of wandering perpetually backwards and forwards in
the forest. As chance would have it, I arrived here,
and as I was in the cemetery at night, I
saw a band of witches collected from different quarters, and
one of them brought the prince with the lotus of
his heart laid bare, and offered him to buy rava.
And the witch, who possessed great powers of delusion, being drunk,
tried to take away my rosary while I was recite
my prayers, making horrible contortions with her face. And as
she carried the attempt too far, I got angry, and
heeding with a charm the prongs of my trident, I
marked her on the side, and then I took this
necklace from her neck. And now I must sell this necklace,
as it does not suit an ascetic. When the magistrate
heard this, he went and informed the king. When the
king heard it, he concluded that that was the pearl
necklace which had been lost, and he sent a trustworthy
old woman to see if the dentist's daughter was really
marked with a trident on her side. The old woman
came back and said that the mark could be clearly seen.
Then the king made up his mind that she was
a witch and had really destroyed his child. So he
went in person to that minister's son, who was personating
an ascetic, and asked him how he ought to punish Padmavati,
and by his advice, he ordered her to be banished
from the city, though her parents lamented over her, And
when she was banished and was left in the forest,
though desolate, she did not abandon the body, supposing that
it was all an artifice devised by the minister's son.
And in the evening, the minister's son and the prince,
who had abandoned the dress of ascetics and were mounted
on their horses, came upon her, lamenting, and they consoled
her and mounted her upon a horse and took her
to their own kingdom. There the prince lived happily with her,
but the dentist, supposing that his daughter had been devoured
by wild beasts in the forest, died of grief, and
his wife followed him. When the Vitala had said this,
he went on to say to the King, now I
have a doubt about this story. Resolve it for me.
Was the minister's son guilty of the death of this
married couple or the prince or Padmavati? Tell me, for
you are the chief of sages. And if King you
do not tell me the truth though you know it,
this head of yours shall certainly split into a hundred pieces.
When the Vetala said this, the king, who discerned the
truth out of fear of being cursed, gave him this answer, O,
thou skilt in magic arts? What difficulty is there about it?
Why none of the three was in fault, but the
whole of the guilt attaches to King karnate Paula. The
Vetala then said, why what did the king do? Those
three were instrumental in the matter. Are the crows in
fault when the swans eat the rice? Then the king said, indeed,
no one of the three was in fault, for the
minister's son committed no crime as he was forwarding his
master's interests. And Padmavati and the prince being burned with
the fire of the arrows of the god of love,
and being therefore undiscerning and ignorant, were not to blame,
as they were intent on their own object. But the
King karnate Pala, as being untaught in treatises of policy,
and not investigating by means of spies the true state
of affairs even among his own subjects, and not comprehending
the tricks of rogues, and inexperienced in interpreting gestures and
other external indications, is to be considered guilty on account
of the indiscreet step which he took. When the Vitala,
who was in the corpse, heard this, as the king,
by giving this correct answer, had broken his silence, he
immediately left his shoulder and went somewhere unobserved by the
force of his magic power in order to test his persistence,
and the intrepid king at once determined to recover him