# The Katha Sarit Sagara/Chapter 79

​ his wife braver, who, though a mother, endured to witness with her own eyes the offering up of her son as a victim? And was not his son Sattvavara braver, who, though a mere child, displayed such preëminent courage? So why do you say that king Śúdraka was more heroic than these?"
When the Vetála said this, the king answered him, " Do not say so ! Víravara was a man of high birth, one in whose family it was a tradition that life, son, and wife must be sacrificed to protect the sovereign. And his wife also was of good birth, chaste, worshipping her husband only, and her chief duty was to follow the path traced out for her by her husband. And Sattvavara was like them, being their son; assuredly, such as are the threads, such is the web produced from them. But Śúdraka excelled them all, because he was ready to lay down his life for those servants, by the sacrifice of whose lives kings are wont to save their own.
" When the Vetála heard that speech from that king, he at once left his shoulder, and returned invisibly to his former place by his supernatural power, but the king resolutely set out on his former path in that cemetery at night to bring him back again.
Note.
For the story of Víravara, see Vol. I, pp. 253 and 519. Oesterley refers us to Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 414, where it is shown to be based upon the Asadŗiśa Játaka of Buddha. The story is found in the Persian Tutinámah, No 21, (in Iken, p. 89,) in a form resembling that in the Hitopadeśa. But there is another form which is No. 2 in the same work of Kaderi and found in the older Tútínámah, (p. 17 in Iken,) which seems to be based on the Vetála Panchavinśati. This is also found in the Turkish Tútínámah. Jánbáz saves the life of a king by the mere determination to sacrifice himself and his whole family. ( Oesterley's Baitál Pachísí, pp. 185-187.) Benfey refers us to No. 39 in Basile's Pentamerone, [Liebrecht's German translation, Vol. II, pp. 116-134,] and to No. 6 in Grimm's Kinder-Märchen.
CHAPTER LXXIX.
(Vetála 5.)
Then king Trivikramasena went back again to that aśoka-tree, and saw the Vetála in the corpse again hanging on it as before, and took him down, and after showing much displeasure with him, set out again rapidly towards his goal. And as he was returning along his way, in silence as before, through the great cemetery by night, the Vetála on his shoulder said ​ to him, " King, you have embarked on a toilsome undertaking, and I liked you from the moment I first saw you, so listen, I will tell you a tale to divert your mind."
Story of Somaprabhá and her three suitors.:— In Ujjayiní there lived an excellent Bráhman, the dear dependent and minister of king Punyasena, and his name was Harisvámin. That householder had by his wife, who was his equal in birth, an excellent son like himself, Devasvámin by name. And he also had born to him a daughter, famed for her matchless beauty, rightly named Somaprabhá *When the time came for that girl to be given away in marriage, as she was proud of her exceeding beauty, she made her mother give the following message to her father and brother, " I am to be given in marriage to a man possessed of heroism or knowledge, or magic power; † you must not give me in marriage to any other, if you value my life.
When her father Harisvámin heard this, he was full of anxiety, trying to find for her a husband coming under one of these three categories. And 'while so engaged, he was sent as ambassador by king Punyasena to negotiate a treaty with a king of the Dekkan, who had come to invade him. And when he had accomplished the object, for which he was sent, a noble Bráhman, who had heard of the great beauty of his daughter, came and asked him for her hand. Harisvámin said to the Bráhman suitor, " My daughter will not have any husband who does not possess either valour, knowledge, or magic power; so tell me which of the three you possess." When Harisvámin said this to the Bráhman suitor, he answered, " I possess magic power." Thereupon Harisvámin rejoined, " Then shew me your magic power." So that possessor of supernatural power immediately prepared by his skill a chariot that would fly through the air. And in a moment he took Harisvámin up in that magic chariot, and shewed him heaven and all the worlds. And he brought him back delighted to that very camp of the king of the Dekkan, to which he had been sent on business. Then Harisvámin promised his daughter to that man possessed of magic power, and fixed the marriage for the seventh day from that time.
And in the meanwhile another Bráhman, in Ujjayini, came and asked Harisvámin's son Devasvámin for the hand of his sister. Devasvámin answered, " She does not wish to have a husband who is not possessed of either knowledge, or magic power, or heroism." Thereupon he declared himself to be a hero. And when the hero displayed his skill in the use of missiles and hand-to-hand weapons, Devasvámin promised to give him his sister, who ​ was younger than himself. And by the advice of the astrologers he told him, as his father had told the other suitor, that the marriage should take place on that very same seventh day, and this decision he came to without the knowledge of his mother.
At that very same time a third person came to his mother, the wife of Harisvámin, and asked her privately for the hand of her daughter. She said to him, " Our daughter requires a husband who possesses either knowledge, or heroism, or magic power;" and he answered, " Mother, I possess knowledge." And she, after questioning him about the past and the future, promised to give the hand of her daughter to that possessor of supernatural knowledge on that same seventh day.
The next day Harisvámin returned home, and told his wife and his son the agreement he had made to give away his daughter in marriage; and they told him separately the promises that they had made; and that made him feel anxious, as three bridegrooms had been invited.
Then, on the wedding-day, three bridegrooms arrived in Harisvámin's house, the man of knowledge, the man of magic power, and the man of valour. And at that moment a strange thing took place: the intended bride, the maiden Somaprabhá, was found to have disappeared in some inexplicable manner, and though searched for, was not found. Then Harisvámin said eagerly to the possessor of knowledge; " Man of knowledge, now tell me quickly where my daughter is gone." When the possessor of knowledge heard that, he said, " The Rákshasa Dhúmraśikha has carried her off to his own habitation in the Vindhya forest." When the man of knowledge said this to Harisvámin, he was terrified and said, " Alas ! Alas ! How are we to get her back, and how is she to be married?" When the possessor of magic power heard that, he said, " Be of good cheer ! I will take you in a moment to the place where the possessor of knowledge says that she is." After he had said this, he prepared, as before, a chariot that would fly through the air,provided with all kinds of weapons, and made Harisvámin, and the man of knowledge, and the brave man get into it, and in a moment he carried them to the habitation of the Rákshasa in the Vindhya forest, which had been described by the man of knowledge. The Rákshasa, when he saw what had happened, rushed out in a passion, and then the hero, who was put forward by Harisvámin, challenged him to tight. Then a wonderful fight took place between that man and that Rákshasa, who were contending for a woman with various kinds of weapons, like Ráma and Rávana. And in a short time the hero cut off the head of that Rákshasa with a crescent-headed arrow, though he was a doughty champion. When the Rákshasa was slain, they carried off Somaprabhá whom they found in his house, and they ail returned in the chariot of the suitor who possessed magic power. ​ When they had reached Harisvámin's house, the marriage did not go forward, though the auspicious moment had arrived, but a great dispute arose between the man of knowledge, the man of magic power, and the man of valour. The man of knowledge said, " If I had not known where this maiden was, how would she have been discovered when concealed? So she ought to be given to me." But the man of magic power said, " If I had not made this chariot that can fly through the air, how could you all have gone and returned in a moment like gods? And how could you, without a chariot, have fought with a Rákshasa, who possessed a chariot? So you ought to give her to me for I have secured by my skill this auspicious moment." The brave man said, " If I had not slain the Rákshasa in fight, who would have brought this maiden back here in spite of all your exertions? So she must be given to me." While they went on wrangling in this style, Harisvámin remained for a moment silent, being perplexed in mind.
" So tell me, king, to whom she ought to have been given, and if yo'i know and do not say, your head shall split asunder." When Trivikramasena heard this from the Vetála, he abandoned his silence, and said to him; " She ought to be given to the brave man; for he won her by the might of his arms, at the risk of his life, slaying that Rákshasa in combat. But the man of knowledge and the man of magic power were appointed by the Creator to serve as his instruments; are not calculators and artificers always subordinate assistants to others?"
When the Vetála heard this answer of the king's, he left his seat on the top of his shoulder, and went, as before, to his own place; and the king again set out to find him, without being in the slightest degree discomposed.
Note.
The above story bears a slight resemblance to No. 71 in Grimm's Kinder-und Hausmärchen, Sechse kommen durch die ganze Welt; see the note in the 3rd volume of the third edition, page 120. Cp. also the 74th story in Laura Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, Part II, page 96, and the 45th story in the same book, Part I, p. 305, with Köhler's notes. The 9th story in Sagas from the Far East, p. 105, is no doubt the Mongolian form of the tale in our text. It bears a very strong resemblance to the 47th tale in the Pentamerone of Basile, (see Liebrecht's translation, Vol. II, p. 212,) and to Das weise Urtheil in Waldau's Böhmische Märchen. In this tale there are three rival brothers; one has a magic mirror, another a magic chariot, a third three magic apples. The first finds out that the lady is desperately ill, the second takes himself and his rivals to her, the third raises her to life. An old man decides that the third should have her, as his apples were consumed as medicine, while the other two have still their chariot and mirror respectively. Oesterley refers us to Benfey's articles in Ausland, 1858, pp. 969, 995, 1017, 1038, 1067, in which this story is treated in a masterly and exhaustive manner. He compares a story in the Siddhikür, No. 1, p. 55, in Jülg's ​ version, which seems to be the one above referred to in Sagas from the Far East. The 22nd story in the Persian Tútínámah (Iken, p. 93,) which is found with little variation in the Turkish Tútínámah (Rosen, II, p. 165,) closely resembles the story in our text. The only difference is that a magic horse does duty for a magic chariot, and the lady is carried away by fairies. There is a story in the Tútínámah which seems to be made up of No. 2, No. 5 and No. 21 in this collection. [No. 22, in Somadeva.] It is No. 4 in the Persian Tútínámah, (Iken, p. 37,) and is also found in the Turkish version, (Rosen I, p. 151.)The lady is the work of four companions. A carpenter hews a figure out of wood, a goldsmith adorns it with gems, a tailor clothes it, and a monk animates it with life. They quarrel about her, and lay the matter before a Dervish. He avows that he is her husband. Th head of the police does the same, and the Kazi, to whom it is then referred, takes the same line. At last the matter is referred to a divinity, and the lady is again reduced to wood. This form is the exaggeration of a story in Ardschi Bordschi translated by Benfey in Ausland, 1858, p. 845, (cp. Göttinger gel. Anz. 1858, p. 1517, Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 490 and ff.) A shepherd boy hews a female figure out of wood, a second paints her, a third improves her [by giving her wit and understanding, according to Sagas from the Far East,] a fourth gives her life. Naran Dákiní awards her to the last. (Oesterley's Baitál Pachísí, pp. 192-194). The story in Ardschi Bordschi will be found in Sagas from the Far East, pp. 298-303.
CHAPTER LXXX.
(Vetála 6.)
Then king Trivikramasena again went to the aśoka-tree, and carried off from it that Vetála on his shoulder, as before, and began to return with him swiftly in silence. And on the way the Vetála again said to him, " King, you are wise and brave, therefore I love you, so I will tell you an amusing tale, and mark well my question."
Story of the lady who caused her brother and husband to change heads.:— There was a king famous on the earth by the name of Yaśahketu, and his capital was a city of the name of Śobhávatí. And in that city there was a splendid temple of Gaurí,* and to the south of it there was a lake, called Gaurítírtha. And every year, during a feast on the fourteenth day of the white fortnight of the month Áshádha, large crowds came there to bathe from every part of the world.†
And once there came there to bathe, on that day, a young washerman of the name of Dhavala, from a village called Brahmasthala. He saw there
* ↑ * i.e., Moonlight
* ↑ † Vijnána appears to have this meaning here. In the Pentamcrone of Basile (Liebrecht's translation, Vol. I, p. 266) a princess refuses to marry, unless a bridegroom can be found for her with a head and teeth of gold.
* ↑ * The wife of Śiva, called also Párvatí and Durgá.
* ↑ † The word śukláyám which is found in the Sanskirit College MS., is omitted by Professor Brockhaus.