TALES FROM

 THE HINDU DRAMATISTS. 

 BY

 R. N. DUTTA, B. A. , B. L. , _Late Officiating Head-Master, Metropolitan Institution, Bowbazar Branch, Calcutta;_

 AUTHOR OF "THE BOY'S RAMAYANA. "

 REVISED BY J. S. ZEMIN, _Professor of English Literature, Bishop's College, and Central College, Calcutta; Late Principal, Doveton College, Calcutta; Hon. Fellow and Examiner, University of Calcutta_. 

 Calcutta. B. BANERJEE & Co. , 26, Cornwallis Street, and 54, College Street. 

 1912. 

 [_All Rights Reserved. _] Ans. 12. 

 CALCUTTA, PRINTED BY K. C. DATTA AT THE VICTORIA PRINTING WORKS 203/2 CORNWALLIS STREET. 

 PUBLISHED BY B. BANERJEE & Co. , 25, Cornwallis Street, and 54, College Street. 

 To

 The Hon'ble Sir Justice

 ASHUTOSH MOOKERJEE, SARASWATI, Kt. 

 C. S. I. , M. A. , D. L. , D. S. C. , F. R. A. S. , F. R. S. E. 

 _Vice-Chancellor of the University of CALCUTTA. _

 THIS BOOK

 IS

 DEDICATED

 as a sincere token of the esteem and admiration of the

 AUTHOR

 for his eminent services to the cause of the

 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+| Transcriber's Note: There are some inconsistencies in spelling and||punctuation which have been left as the original. |+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

PREFACE. 

Many educationists think that our Indian boys should be encouraged toread the stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two greatEpics of India and Tales from the Sanskrit Dramatists when they arerecommended to read "The Boy's Odyssey, " "Legends of Greece and Rome, ""Arabian Nights' Tales" and Lamb's "Tales from Shakespeare. " It wasperhaps from this view of the matter that the University of Calcuttarecommended "The Boy's Ramayana" and "Tales from the Hindu Dramatists"for the Matriculation Examination. As no books were published in time, the University had to issue an amended notice omitting the books fromthe list. To supply the want, I have ventured to write the "Boy'sRamayana" and this humble book. I have tried my best to narrate briefly, in simple and idiomatic English, the stories on which the chief Sanskritdramas are based. I hope that the University will be pleased tore-insert "The Boy's Ramayana" and this book in the list of booksrecommended for the Matriculation Examination. 

 BALARAMADHAM, } 4, Madan Mitter's Lane, } RAMA NATH DUTT. Calcutta } _1911--December. _ }

TALES

FROM

THE HINDU DRAMATISTS. 

SAKUNTALA OR THE LOST RING. 

In ancient days, there was a mighty king of the Lunar dynasty by nameDushyanta. He was the king of Hastinapur. He once goes out a-hunting andin the pursuit of a deer comes near the hermitage of the sage Kanwa, thechief of the hermits, where some anchorites request him not to kill thedeer. The king feels thirsty and was seeking water when he saw certainmaidens of the hermits watering the favourite plants. One of them, anexquisitely beautiful and bashful maiden, named Sakuntala, received him. She was the daughter of the celestial nymph Menaka by the celebratedsage Viswamitra and foster-child of the hermit Kanwa. She is smittenwith love at the first sight of the king, standing confused at thechange of her own feeling. The love at first sight which the kingconceives for her is of too deep a nature to be momentary. Struck by herbeauty he exclaims:--

"Her lip is ruddy as an opening bud; her graceful arms resemble tendershoots; attractive as the bloom upon the tree, the glow of youth isspread on all her limbs. "

Seizing an opportunity of addressing her, he soon feels that it isimpossible for him to return to his capital. His limbs move forward, while his heart flies back, like a silken standard borne against thebreeze. He seeks for opportunities for seeing her. With the thoughtabout her haunting him by day and night, he finds no rest, and nopleasure even in his favourite recreation--sporting. Mathavya, thejester, friend and companion of the king, however, breaks the dullmonotony of his anxious time. The opportunity which the king seeksoffers itself. The hermits send an embassy to the king asking him tocome over to the hermitage to guard their sacrifices. As he was makingpreparations for departure to the hermitage, Karavaka, a messenger fromthe queen-mother, arrives asking his presence at the city of Hastinapur. 

He is at first at a loss to extricate himself from this difficulty but athought strikes him and he acts upon it. He sends the jester as hissubstitute to the city. He is now at leisure to seek out the love-sickSakuntala who is drooping on account of her love for the king and isdiscovered lying on a bed of flowers in an arbour. He comes to thehermitage, overhears her conversation with her two friends, showshimself and offers to wed her. For a second time, the lovers thus meet. He enquires of her parentage to see if there is any obstacle to theirbeing united in marriage; whereupon Sakuntala asks her companionPriyambada to satisfy the king with an account of her birth. The kinghearing the story of her birth asks the companion to get the consent ofSakuntala to be married to him according to the form known as_gandharva_. 

Sakuntala requests the king to wait till her foster-father Kanwa, whohad gone out on a pilgrimage, would come back and give his consent. Butthe king, becoming importunate, she at last gives her consent. They aremarried according to the _gandharva_ form, on the condition that theissue of the marriage should occupy the throne of Hastinapur. Sheaccepts from her lord a marriage-ring as the token of recognition. 

The king then goes away, after having promised to shortly send hisministers and army to escort her to his Capital. When Kanwa returns tothe hermitage, he becomes aware of what has transpired during hisabsence by his spiritual powers, and congratulates Sakuntala on havingchosen a husband worthy of her in every respect. Next day, whenSakuntala is deeply absorbed in thoughts about her absent lord, thecelebrated choleric sage Durvasa comes and demands the rights ofhospitality. But he is not greeted with due courtesy by Sakuntala owingto her pre-occupied state. Upon this, the ascetic pronounces a cursethat he whose thought has led her to forget her duties towards guests, would disown her. 

Sakuntala does not hear it, but Priyambada hears it and by entreatiesappeases the wrath of the sage, who being conciliated ordains that thecurse would cease at the sight of some ornament of recognition. 

Sakuntala becomes quick with child and in the seventh month of herpregnancy is sent by her foster-father to Hastinapur, in the company ofher sister Gautami, and his two disciples Sarngarva and Saradwata. Priyambada stays in the hermitage. Sakuntala takes leave of the sacredgrove in which she has been brought up, of her flowers, her gazelles andher friends. 

The aged hermit of the grove thus expresses his feelings at theapproaching loss of Sakuntala:--

"My heart is touched with sadness at the thought, "Sakuntala must goto-day"; my throat is choked with flow of tears repressed; my sight isdimmed with pensiveness but if the grief of an old forest hermit is sogreat, how keen must be the pang a father feels when freshly parted froma cherished child!"

Then he calls upon the trees to give her a kindly farewell. They answerwith the Kokila's melodious cry. 

Thereupon the following good wishes are uttered by voices in the air:--

"Thy journey be auspicious; may the breeze, gentle and soothing, fan thecheek; may lakes, all bright with lily cups, delight thine eyes; thesun-beam's heat be cooled by shady trees; the dust beneath thy feet bethe pollen of lotuses. "

On their way, Sakuntala and her companions bathe in the PrachiSaraswati, when, as Fate would have it, she carelessly drops the ring ofrecognition into the river, being unaware of the fact at the time. Atlast they arrive at Hastinapur, and send words to the king. 

The king asks his family priest Somarata to enquire of them the cause oftheir coming. Whereupon the priest meets them at the gate, knows theobjects of their coming and informs the king of it. The curse of Durvasadoes its work. The king denies Sakuntala. At the intercession of thepriest, she and her companions are brought before the king. The kingpublicly repudiates her. As a last resource, Sakuntala bethinks herselfof the ring given her by her husband, but on discovering that it islost, abandons hope. Sarnagarva sharply remonstrates against the conductof the king and presses the claim of Sakuntala. 

Gentle and meek as Sakuntala is, she undauntedly gives vent to her moralindignation against the king. The disciples go away saying that the kingwould have to repent of it. 

Sakuntala falls senseless on the ground. After a while, she revives, thepriest then comes forward and asks the king to allow her to stay in hispalace till her delivery. The king consents, and when Sakuntala isfollowing the priest, Menaka with her irradiant form appears and takinghold of her daughter vanishes and goes to a celestial asylum. Everyonepresent there is astonished and frightened. 

After this incident, one day while the king is out on inspection, acertain fisherman, charged with the theft of the royal signet-ring whichhe professes to have found inside a fish, is dragged along by constablesbefore the king who, however, causes the poor accused to be set free, rewarding him handsomely for his find. 

Recollection of his former love now returns to him. His strong andpassionate love for Sakuntala surges upon him with doubled andredoubled-force. 

Indulging in sorrow at his repudiation of Sakuntala, the king passesthree long years; at the end of which Matali, Indra's charioteer, appears to ask the king's aid in vanquishing the demons. He makes hisaerial voyage in Indra's car. While he is coming back from the realm ofIndra, he alights on the hermitage of Maricha. 

Here he sees a young boy tormenting a lion-whelp. Taking his hand, without knowing him to be his own son, he exclaims:--"If now the touchof but a stranger's child thus sends a thrill of joy through all mylimbs, what transports must be awakened in the soul of that blest fatherfrom whose loins he sprang!"

From the vaunting speeches of the boy, the king gathers that the boy isa scion of the race of Puru. His heart everflows with affection for him. A collection of circumstantial evidence points the boy to be his son. The amulet on the boy indicates his parentage. 

But while he is in a doubtful mood as to the parentage of the refractoryboy, he meets the sage Maricha from whom he learns everything. The nameof the boy is Sarvadamana, afterwards known as Bharata, the most famousking of the Lunar race, whose authority is said to have extended over agreat part of India, and from whom India is to this day called Bharataor Bharatavarsa (the country or domain of Bharata. )

Soon after, he finds and recognises Sakuntala, with whom he is at lengthhappily re-united. 

VIKRAMORVASI OR URVASI WON BY VALOUR

OR

THE HERO AND THE NYMPH. 

In the Himalaya mountains, the nymphs of heaven, on returning from anassembly of the gods, are mourning over the loss of Urvasi, afellow-nymph, who has been carried off by a demon. King Pururavas enterson his chariot, and on hearing the cause of their grief, hastens to therescue of the nymph. He soon returns, after having vanquished therobber, and restores Urvasi to her heavenly companions. While carryingthe nymph back to her friends in his chariot, he is enraptured by herbeauty, falls in love with her and she with her deliverer. Urvasi beingsummoned before the throne of Indra, the lovers are soon obliged topart. When they part, Urvasi wishes to turn round once more to see theking. 

She pretends that a straggling vine has caught her garland, and whilefeigning to disengage herself, she calls one of her friends to help her. 

The friend replies:--

"I fear, this is no easy task. You seem entangled too fast to be setfree: but, come what may, defend upon my friendship. " The eyes of theking then meet those of Urvasi. They now part. 

The king is now at Prayag, the modern Allahabad, his residence. He walksin the garden of his palace, accompanied by a Brahman who is hisconfidential companion, and knows his love for Urvasi. The companion isso afraid of betraying what must remain a secret to everybody at court, and in particular to the queen, that he hides himself in a retiredtemple. There a female servant of the queen discovers him, and 'as asecret can no more rest in his breast than morning dew upon the grass, 'she soon finds out from him why the king is so changed, since his returnfrom the battle with the demon, and carries the tale to the queen. Inthe meantime, the king is in despair, and pours out his grief. Urvasialso is sighing for him. She suddenly descends with her friend throughthe air to meet him. 

Both are at first invisible to him, and listen to his confession oflove. 

Then Urvasi writes a verse on a birch-leaf, and lets it fall near thebower where her beloved reclines. 

Next, her friend becomes visible, and at last, Urvasi herself isintroduced to the king. After a few moments, however, both Urvasi andher friend are called back by a messenger of the gods, and the king isleft alone with his jester. He looks for the leaf on which Urvasi hadfirst disclosed her love, but it is lost, carried away by the wind. Butworse than this the leaf is picked up by the queen, who comes to lookfor the king in the garden. The queen severely upbraids her husband, and, after a while, goes off in a hurry, like a river in the rainyseason. 

When Urvasi was recalled to Indra's heaven, she had to act before Indrathe part of the goddess of beauty, who selects Vishnu for her husband. One of the names of Vishnu is Purushottama. 

Poor Urvasi, when called upon to confess on whom her heart was set, forgetting the part she had to act, says "I love Pururavas, " instead of"I love Purushottama. "

Her teacher Bharata, the author of the play, is so much exasperated bythis mistake, that he pronounces a curse upon Urvasi. "You must loseyour divine knowledge. " After the close of the performance, Indra, observing her as she stood apart, ashamed and disconsolate, calls herand says:--

"The mortal, who engrosses your thoughts, has been my friend in the daysof adversity; he has helped me in the conflict with the enemies of thegods, and is entitled to my acknowledgements. You must, accordingly, repair to him and remain with him till he beholds the offspring youshall bear him. " The god thus permits her to marry the mortal hero. 

After transacting public business, the king retires to the garden of thepalace as the evening approaches. A messenger arrives from the queen, apprising his Majesty that she desires to see him on the terrace of thepavilion. The king obeys and ascends the crystal steps while the moon isjust about to rise, and the east is tinged with red. 

As he is waiting for the queen, his desire for Urvasi is awakened again. On a sudden, Urvasi enters on a heavenly car, accompanied by his friend. They are invisible to the king as on the previous occasion. The momentthat Urvasi is about to withdraw her veil, the queen appears. She isdressed in white, without any ornaments, and comes to propitiate herhusband, by taking a vow. 

Then she, calling upon the god of the moon, performs her solemn vow andretires. 

Urvasi, who is present, though in an invisible state, during this sceneof matrimonial reconciliation, now advances behind the king and covershis eyes with her hands. The king says:--

"It must be Urvasi; no other hand could shed such ecstasy through myemaciated frame. The solar rays do not wake the night's fair blossom;that alone expands when conscious of the moon's dear presence. "

She takes the resignation of the queen in good earnest and claims theking as granted her by right. Her friend takes leave and she now remainswith the king as his beloved wife in the groves of a forest. 

Subsequently the lovers are wandering near Kailasa, the divine mountain, when Urvasi, in a fit of jealousy, enters the grove of Kumara, the godof war, which is forbidden to all females. In consequence of Bharat'scurse she is instantly metamorphosed into a creeper. The king besidehimself with grief at her loss, seeks her everywhere. The nymphs in achorus deplore her fate. Mournful strains are heard in the air. 

The king enters a wild forest, his features express insanity, his dressis disordered. Clouds gather overhead. He rushes frantically after acloud which he mistakes for a demon that carried away his bride. 

He addresses various birds and asks them whether they have seen hislove, --the peacock, 'the bird of the dark-blue throat and eyes ofjet, '--the cuckoo, 'whom lovers deem Love's messenger, '--the swans, 'whoare sailing northward, and whose elegant gait betrays that they haveseen her, '--the chakravaka, 'a bird who, during the night, is himselfseparated from his mate, '--but none responds. He apostrophises variousinsects, beasts and even a mountain peak to tell him where she is. 

Neither the bees which murmur amidst the petals of the lotus, nor theroyal elephant, that reclines with his mate under the Kadamba tree, hasseen the lost one. 

At last he thinks he sees her in the mountain stream:--

"The rippling wave is like her frown; the row of tossing birds hergirdle; streaks of foam, her fluttering garment as she speeds along; thecurrent, her devious and stumbling gait. It is she turned in her wrathinto a stream. "

At last the king finds a gem of ruddy radiance. He holds it in hishands, and embraces the vine which is now transformed into Urvasi. Thusis she restored to her proper form, through the mighty spell of themagical gem. The efficacious gem is placed on her forehead. The kingrecovers his reason. They are thus happily re-united and return toAllahabad. 

Several years elapse. An unlucky incident now comes to pass. A hawkbears away the ruby of re-union. Orders are sent to shoot the bird, and, after a short while, a forester brings the jewel and the arrow by whichthe hawk was killed. An inscription on the shaft shows that its owner isAyus. A female ascetic enters, leading a boy with a bow in hand. 

The boy is Ayus, the son of Urvasi, whom his mother confided to thefemale ascetic who generously brought him up in the forest and now;sends him back to his mother. The king who was not aware that Urvasihad ever borne him a son, now recognises Ayus as his son. Urvasi alsocomes to embrace her boy. She now suddenly bursts into tears and tellsthe king:--

"Indra decreed that I am to be recalled to heaven when you see our son. This induced me to conceal from you so long the birth of the child. Nowthat you have accidentally seen the child, I shall have to return toheaven, in compliance with the decree of Indra. "

She now prepares to leave her husband after she has seen her boyinstalled as associate king. So preparations are made for theinauguration ceremony when Narada the messenger of Indra, comes toannounce that the god has compassionately revoked the decree. The nymphis thus permitted to remain on earth for good as the hero's second wife. 

Nymphs descend from heaven with a golden vase containing the water ofthe heavenly Ganges, a throne, and other paraphernalia, which theyarrange. The prince is inaugurated as Yuvaraj. All now go together topay their homage to the queen, who had so generously resigned her rightsin favour of Urvasi. 

MALAVIKAGNIMITRA, OR

AGNIMITRA AND MALAVIKA. 

We learn a wise sentiment from the prologue. The stage-manager, addressing the audience, says:--"All that is old is not, on thataccount, worthy of praise, nor is a novelty, by reason of its newness, to be censured. The wise do not decide what is good or bad till theyhave tested merit for themselves: a foolish man trusts to another'sjudgement. "

Puspamitra was the founder of the Sunga dynasty of Magadha kings, havingbeen the general of Vrihadratha, the last of the Maurya race, whom hedeposed and put to death: he was succeeded by his son Agnimitra whoreigned at Vidica (Bhilsa) in the second century B. C. King Agnimitra hastwo queens Dharini and Iravati. Malavika belongs to the train of hisqueen Dharini's attendants. The maid was sent as a present to the queenby her brother, Virsena, governor of the Antapala or barrier-fortress onthe Nermada. 

The queen jealously keeps her out of the king's sight on account of hergreat beauty. The king, however, accidentally sees the picture ofMalavika, painted by order of the queen for her _chitrasala_, orpicture-gallery. The sight of the picture inspires the king with anardent desire to view the original, whom he has never yet beheld. 

Hostilities are about to break out between Agnimitra and Yajnasena, kingof Viderbha (Berar). The first, on one occasion, had detained captivethe brother-in-law of the latter, and Yajnasena had retaliated bythrowing into captivity Madhavasena, the personal friend of Agnimitra, when about to repair to Vidisa to visit that monarch. Yajnasena sends topropose an exchange of prisoners, but Agnimitra haughtily rejects thestipulation, and sends orders to his brother-in-law, Virasena, to leadan army immediately against the Raja of Viderbha. This affair beingdisposed of, he directs his attention to domestic interests, and employshis Vidushaka or confidant, Gotama, to procure him the sight ofMalavika. To effect this, Gotama instigates a quarrel between theprofessors, Ganadas and Haradatta, regarding their respectivepre-eminence. 

They appeal to the Raja, who, in consideration of Ganadasa's beingpatronised by the queen, refers the dispute to her. She is induced toconsent reluctantly to preside at a trial of skill between the parties, as shown in the respective proficiency of their select scholars. Thequeen is assisted by a protegé, a _Parivrajaka_, or female ascetic andwoman of superior learning. 

The party assembles in the chamber where the performance is to takeplace, fitted up with the _Sangitarachana_, or orchestral decorations. The king's object is attained, for Ganadasa brings forward Malavika asthe pupil on whom he stakes his credit. Malavika sings an _Upanga_ orprelude, and then executes an air of extraordinary difficulty. Malavika's performance is highly applauded, and, of course, captivatesthe king and destroys his peace of mind; the Vidushaka detains heruntil the queen, who has all along suspected the plot, commands her toretire. The warder cries the hour of noon, on which the party breaks up, and the queen, with more housewifery than majesty, hastens away toexpedite her royal husband's dinner. 

There stands an _asoka_ tree in the garden. The Hindus believe that thistree, when barren, may be induced to put forth flowers by the contact ofthe foot of a handsome woman. The tree in question does not blossom, andbeing the favourite of Dharini, she has proposed to try the effect ofher own foot. Unluckily however, the Vidhushaka, whilst setting herswing in motion, has tumbled her out of it and the fall has sprained herankle, so that she cannot perform the ceremony herself: she thereforedeputes Malavika to do it for her, who accordingly comes to the spotattired in royal habiliments, and accompanied by her friend Vakulavali. In the conversation that ensues, she acknowledges her passion for theking, who with his friend Gotama has been watching behind the tree, andoverhears the declaration; he therefore makes his appearance andaddresses a civil speech, to Malavika when he is interrupted by anotherpair of listeners, Iravati and her attendant. She commands Malavika'sretreat, and leaves the king, in a violent rage, to inform Dharini ofwhat is going forward. The King never behaves as a despot but alwayswith much consideration for the feelings of his spouses. 

The Vidushaka now informs the king that Malavika has been locked in the_Sarabhandagriha_ or the store or treasure room by the queen. The roomwas no enviable place, as the Vidusaka compares it to Patala, theinfernal regions. He undertakes, however, to effect her liberation; andwhilst he prepares for his scheme, the Raja pays a visit to the queen. 

Whilst the Raja is engaged in tranquil conversation with Dharini, andthe parivrajaka, the vidushaka rushes in, exclaiming he has been beatenby a venomous snake, whilst gathering flowers to bring with him as apresent on his visit to the queen, and he exhibits his thumb bound withhis cord, and marked with the impressions made by the teeth of thereptile. The parivrajaka, with some humour as well as good surgery, recommends the actual cautery, or the amputation of the thumb; but thevidushaka pretending to be in convulsions and dying, the snake-doctor issent for, who having had his clue refuses to come, and desires thepatient may be sent to him: the vidushaka is accordingly sent. The queenis in great alarm, as being, however innocently, the cause of aBrahman's death. Presently the messenger returns, stating that the onlyhope is the application of the snake-stone to the bite, and requestingthe Raja to order one to be procured: the queen has one in herfinger-ring, which she instantly takes off and sends to the vidushaka. This is his object, for the female jailor of Malavika has, as he hasascertained, been instructed to liberate her prisoner only on beingshown the seal ring or signet of the queen, and having got this in hispossession, he immediately effects the damsel's release, after which thering is returned to the queen, and the Vidushaka is perfectly recovered. 

The king then being summoned away by a concerted pretext, hastens tothe Samudra pavilion, where Malavika has been conveyed with her friendand companion, Vakulavali. This pavilion is decorated with portraits ofthe king and his queens, and Malavika is found by her lover engrossedwith their contemplation. Vakulavali retires. The Vidushaka takes chargeof the door, but he no sooner sits down on the threshold than he fallsasleep. The Raja and Malavika, consequently, have scarcely time toexchange professions of regard, when they are again disturbed by thevigilant and jealous Iravati, who sends information of her discoveriesto Dharini, and in the meantime remains sentinel over the culprits. Theparty, however, is disturbed by news, that Agnimitra's daughter has beenalmost frightened to death by a monkey, and Iravati and the Raja hastento her assistance, leaving Malavika to the consolation derived fromhearing that the _Asoka_ tree is in blossom, an omen of the finalsuccess of her own desires. 

The Raja, Dharini and the Parivrajaka, with Malavika and otherattendants, gather about the _Asoka_ tree, when some presents arrivefrom the now submissive monarch of Viderbha, against whom the troops ofVirashena have been successful. Amongst the gifts are two female slaves, who immediately recognize in Malavika the sister of Madhavasena, thefriend of Agnimitra, whom the armies of the latter have just extricatedfrom the captivity to which the Viderbha sovereign had consigned him. Itappears that when he was formerly seized by his kinsman, his minister, Sumati, contrived to effect his own escape, along with his sister andthe young princess. That sister, Kausika, now reveals herself in theperson of the Parivrajaka, and continues the story of their flight. Sumati joined a caravan bound to Vidisa On their way to the Vindhyamountains, they were attacked by the foresters, who were armed with bowsand arrows, and decorated with peacock's plumes: in the affray Sumatiwas slain and Malavika was lost. 

Kausika, left alone, committed her brother's body to the flames, andthen resumed her route to Vidisa, where she assumed the character of afemale ascetic The Raja observes she did wisely. Kausika soon found outMalavika, but forebore to discover herself, confiding in the prophecy ofa sage, who had foretold that the princess, after passing through aperiod of servitude, would meet with a suitable match. 

It thus finally turns out that Malavika is by birth a princess, who hadonly come to be an attendant at Agnimitra's court through having falleninto the hands of robbers. 

The king issues his orders respecting the terms to be granted toYajnasena, the king of Viderbha, the half of whose territory he assignsto Madhavasena, the brother of Malavika. 

A letter arrives from the general Pushpamitra, giving an account of sometransactions that have occurred upon the southern bank of the Indus. 

On his own behalf, or that of his son, he had undertaken to celebrate an_aswamedha_, or horse-sacrifice, for which it was essential that thesteed should have a free range for twelve months, being attended only bya guard to secure him. This guard had been placed by Pushpamitra underthe command of Agnimitra's son, Vasumitra. Whilst following the victimalong the Indus, a party of Yavana horse attempted to carry off thecourser, but they were encountered by the young prince, and after asharp conflict, defeated. 

Pushpamitra concludes with inviting his son to come with his family tocomplete the sacrifice. 

The queen, Dharini, overjoyed with the news of her son's success andsafety, distributes rich presents to all her train and the females ofAgnimitra's establishment, whilst to him she presents Malavika. Iravaticommunicates her concurrence in this arrangement, and the Raja obtains abride, whom his queens accept as their sister. The difficulty ofconciliating his queens is thus removed. The king now marries Malavikaand all ends happily. 

THE VIRA CHARITA OR THE MAHAVIRA CHARITA

OR

THE LIFE OF THE GREAT HERO. 

Dasaratha, the king of Ayodhya (Oudh), is the father of four sons Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna. Rama and Lakshmana visit Viswamitra'shermitage. Kusadhwaja, the king of Sankasya and the brother of Janaka, the king of Mithila, accompanied by his two nieces, Sita and Urmila, enters the hermitage of Viswamitra on the borders of the Kausiki (Cosi), having been invited by the sage to his sacrifice. He is met by the sagewith the two youths Rama and Lakshmana, and the young couples becomemutually enamoured. Meanwhile Ahalya--the cursed wife of Gautama--getscleared of her guilt through the purifying influence of Rama. 

A messenger from Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, arrives, who hasfollowed them from Mithila, and comes to demand Sita as a wife for hismaster. 

They are further disturbed by Taraka, a female fiend, the daughter ofSuketu, wife of Sunda and mother of Maricha. Rama, by command ofViswamitra slays her. Viswamitra is exceedingly pleased with the deedand invokes and gives to Rama the heavenly weapons with all theirsecrets of discharge and dissolution. The sage recommends Kusadhwaja toinvite the bow of Siva for Rama's present trial, and consequentobtaining of Sita. The bow arrives, self-conveyed, being, as the weaponof so great a deity, pregnant with intelligence. Rama snaps it asunder, in consequence of which feat it is agreed that Sita shall be wedded tohim; Urmila her sister, to Lakshmana; and Mandavi and Srutakirti, thedaughters of Kusadhwaja, to Bharata and Satrughna respectively. Theparty is again disturbed by Suvahu and Maricha, the first of whom iskilled and the second, thrown at a distance by Rama. 

The messenger of Ravana then goes away mortified to represent the matterto the minister of Ravana. The saint and his visitors then retire intothe hermitage. 

Malyavan, the minister and maternal grandfather of Ravana and the king'ssister Surpanakha have heard the news of Rama's wedding with Sita fromSiddhasrama and discuss the consequences with some apprehension. Theminister takes the marriage as an insult to his master. 

A letter arrives from Parasurama partly requesting and partly commandingRavana to call off some of his imps, who are molesting the sages inDandakaranya. He writes from Mahendra Dwipa. 

Malyavan takes advantage of this opportunity to instigate a quarrelbetween the two Ramas, anticipating that Parasurama, who is the pupil ofSiva, will be highly incensed when he hears of Rama's breaking the bowof that divinity. The hero comes to Videha, the palace of Janaka, todefy the insulter of his god and preceptor. He enters the interior ofthe palace, the guards and attendants being afraid to stop him, andcalls upon Rama to show himself. The young hero is proud of Parasurama'sseeking him and anxious for the encounter but detained awhile by Sita'sterrors: at last the heroes meet. Parasurama alludes to his own historyhow he, having overcome his fellow-pupil, Kartikeya, in a battle-axefight, received his axe from his preceptor, Siva, as the prize of hisprowess. 

Parasurama addresses Rama thus:--

"How dost thou presume to bend thy brow in frowns on me? Thou must be anaudacious boy, a scion of the vile Kshatriya race. Thy tender years andnewly wedded bride teach me a weakness I am not wont to feel. 

Throughout the world the story runs, I, Rama, and the son of Jamadgni, struck off a mother's head with remorseless arm. This vengeful axe hasone and twenty times destroyed the Kshatriya race, not sparing in itswrath the unborn babe hewn piecemeal in the parent womb. 

It was thus I slaked the fires of a wronged father's wrath with blood, whose torrents, drawn unsparingly from martial veins, fed the vastreservoir in which I love to bathe. "

Rama replies thus:--

"Give over thy vaunts--I hold thy cruelty a crime, not virtue. "

The combat between the two Ramas is suspended by the arrival of Janakaand Satananda, and Rama's being summoned to attend the Kanchana Mochana, the loosening of Sita's golden bracelet. 

Parasurama awaits Ramachandra's return. He is accosted in succession byVasishtha, Viswamitra, Satananda, Janaka and Dasaratha, who firstendeavour to soothe and then to terrify him; but he outbullies them all:at last Ramachandra returns from the string-removing ceremony and isheard calling on Parasurama, and the combat ensues. Ramachandra comesout victorious. 

The two kings Janaka and Dasaratha congratulate each other on thevictory of Ramachandra. Parasurama is now as humble as he was beforearrogant: he calls upon the earth to hide his shame. Whilst Rama regretsBhargava's departure, Surpanakha, disguised as Manthara, the favouriteof Kaikeyi, Dasaratha's second wife, arrives with a letter to Rama, requesting him to use his influence with his father to secure Kaikeyithe two boons which Dasaratha was pledged to grant her; specifying oneto be her son Bharata's inauguration, and the other, assent to Rama'svoluntary exile. In the meantime, Dasaratha, who has determined to raiseRama to the participation of regal dignity, communicates his intentionto his son. Rama replies by informing him of Kaikeyi's message, and isearnest with his father to accede to her request. 

Bharata and his maternal uncle Yuddhajit arrive, and ask Dasaratha tocrown Rama and all are full of wonder and concern: however, as there isno help for it, Dasaratha consents and orders preparations for theceremony. 

Lakshmana and Sita are alone to accompany Rama, on which her fatherJanaka exclaims, "My child, what happiness it will be to wait upon thyhusband in the hour of trouble, permitted to partake and cheer hiswanderings!" Bharata requests permission to go with them, but Ramarefuses his assent; on which his brother begs his golden shoes of him, promising to instal them in the kingdom, and rule thereafter as theirrepresentative. The seniors are led out in deep despondency, and Ramawith his brother and wife set off to the woods. 

A dialogue opens between the two birds, Jatayu and Sampati, thevulture-descendants of Kasyapa, who have seen successive creations. Theyrelate Rama's progress towards the south; and Sampati, the elder leaveshis brother Jatayu, with strict injunctions to assist Rama, if needed. He then goes to the ocean to perform daily duties and Jatayu to Malaya. Jatayu perches on the mountain and marks the hero Rama in pursuit of theswift deer. Lakshmana directs his remote course thither. A holy seerapproaches the bower and the dame gives him meet welcome. His formexpands. 

It is he, the felon Ravana--his train crowd from the groves; he seizesupon Sita--he mounts the car. Jatayu cries shame on his birth andthreatens to rend his limbs and revel in his gore. Jatayu is, however, killed in the conflict. Rama raves with indignation. The brothers setoff in pursuit of the ravisher, when Sramana, a female devotee sent byVibhishana to Rama, calls for succour being seized by Kabandha, aheadless fiend. Rama sends Lakshmana to her rescue; he goes off to killthe demon and returns with the dame. She gives Rama a note fromVibhishana praying for his refuge. Rama asks Lakshmana what reply to besent to (his) "dear friend--lord of Lanka" and Lakshman replies thatthose words are sufficient. 

(Two promises are implied--first contraction of friendship and secondlybestowal of the Kingdom of Lanka. )

Rama, learning from the devotee that Vibhishana is with Sugriva, Hanuman, and other monkey chiefs at Rishyamuka, and that the monkeyshave picked up Sita's ornaments and upper garments in the forest, determines to go to them. Kabandha then appears, to thank Rama forkilling him, being thereby liberated from a curse and restored to adivine condition. 

They then set off to Rishyamuka, the residence of Bali, watered by thePampa. In the way Rama performs a miracle by kicking away the skeletonof a giant. 

When the brothers arrive at the mountain, Bali appears like a cloud uponits peak and, being instigated by his friend Malyavan, resolves tooppose Rama. The heroes meet and, after exchange of civilities, go tothe conflict. 

The noise brings Vibhishana, Sugriva, and all the monkey chiefs to theplace. Bali is overthrown and mortally wounded. He recommends theMonkeys to choose Sugriva and his own son Angada for their jointsovereigns, and mediates an alliance between Rama and them, as well aswith Vibhishana. Rama and Sugriva pledge themselves to eternalfriendship, over the sacrificial fire in Matanga's hermitage which stoodclose by. Bali then repeats his request to the monkey chiefs, as theywere attached to him, to acknowledge Sugriva and Angada as their jointleaders, and to follow them in aid of Rama against Ravana in the ensuingcontest: he then dies. 

Malyavan laments over these miscarriages. Trijata, a Rakshasi, adds tohis despondency by news of the mischief inflicted by Hanumana, who hasburnt the town of Lanka and slain a son of Ravana. He goes off to setguards, and gather news by means of spies. 

Ravana meditates on his love. His queen Mahodhari comes to bring himtidings of Rama's approach, but he only laughs at her. She tells him ofthe bridge made by Rama: he replies, if all the mountains of the earthwere cast into the ocean, they would not furnish footing to cross it. His incredulity is terminated by a general alarm, and the appearance ofPrahasta, his general, to announce that Lanka is invested. Angada comesas envoy from Rama, to command Ravana to restore Sita and prostratehimself and his family at the feet of Lakshmana. Ravana, enraged, orderssome contumely or punishment to be inflicted upon him. He orders him tobe shaved. Angada puffs his hair out with rage. The monkey tells Ravana, if he were not an ambassador, he would tear off his ten heads, and hethen springs away; the tumult increases, and Ravana goes forth to thecombat. Indra and Chiraratha then come to see the battle from the air. 

All the chiefs of the two parties engage in promiscuous war. TheRakshasas have the worst, but Ravana, with his brother Kumbhakarna andhis son Meghanada, turns the tide: the monkeys fly, leaving Rama almostunsupported. Lakshmana attacks Meghanada: Ravana quits Rama to assisthis son. 

The "serpent band" of Meghnada is dispersed by the "eagle-king-weapon"of Lakshmana. The forces of Kumbhakarna are reduced to ashes with afire-weapon by Rama. Rama kills Kumbhakarna, and then goes to the aid ofLakshmana; the whole of Rama's party are then overwhelmed with magicalweapons, hurled invisibly by Ravana upon them, and fall senseless. WhileRavana seeks to restore Kumbhakarna, Hanuman, reviving, goes to fetch_amrita_, and tearing up the mountain that contains it, returns to thefield: his very approach restores Lakshmana, who jumps up with increasedanimation, like a serpent starting from his shrivelled skin or the sunbursting from clouds. So Raghu's youngest hope, restored by heavenlyherbs, burns with more than wonted ardour, wonders a moment what haschanced and then, all on fire for glory, rushes to the fight. Rama alsorevives, and instigated by the sages, exerts his celestial energies, bywhich the daitya, Ravana, and his host speedily perish. Rama isvictorious, and Sita is recovered. 

Vibhishana is now crowned king of Lanka. Alaka, a tutelary deity, comes. Lanka, another tutelary deity, is consoled by Alaka. 

Sita passes the fiery ordeal in triumph. The gods cheer her. 

Rama, accompainied by Sita, Lakshmana, Vibhishana and Sugriva, thenenters the aerial car Pushpaka which was once wrested from Kuvera byRavana, and which is now placed at the disposal of Rama by Vibhishana. The car transports them from Ceylon all the way to Ayodhya. One or otherof the party points out the places over which they fly viz. The _Setu_or bridge of Rama the Malaya mountain, the Kaveri river, the hermitageof Agastya, the Pampa river, the residence of Bali and of Jatayu, thelimits of the Dandaka forest, the Sahya or Sailadri mountains and theboundaries of Aryavarta. 

They then rise and travel through the upper air, approaching near thesun, and are met and eulogized by a _Kinnara_ and his bride; they thencome to the peaks of the Himalaya, and descend upon Tapavana, whencethey go towards Ayodhya, where Rama is welcomed by his brothers Bharataand Satrughna, their mothers, Vasistha and Viswamitra. 

The four brothers embrace one another. Rama is now consecrated king byVasishtha and Viswamitra. 

UTTAR RAMA CHARITA

OR

THE LATER LIFE OF RAMA. 

Rama, when duly crowned at Ayodhya, enters upon a life of quietenjoyment with his wife Sita. The love of Rama and Sita, purified bysorrow during the late exile, is most tender. 

After a stay of a few days at Ayodhya, Janaka, the father of Sita, goesback to his country Mithila. Rama consoles his queen for her father'sabsence. The sage Ashtavakra comes in and delivers a message to Ramafrom his spiritual preceptors to satisfy the wishes of Sita and pleasehis people. Then the sage goes away. 

The family priest Vasishtha, having to leave the capital for a time toassist at a sacrifice, utters a few words of parting advice to Rama, thus:--

"Remember that a king's real glory consists in his people's welfare. "

Rama replies: "I am ready to give up everything, happiness, love, pity--even Sita herself--if needful for my subjects' good. "

In accordance with this promise, he employs an emissary named Durmukhato ascertain the popular opinion as to his own treatment of hissubjects. 

Lakshmana now asks Rama and Sita to come out and see their early historydrawn on the terrace of the palace. They move about and the differentparts of the picture are shown to Sita, when the eyes of Sita turn onthe 'yawn-producing' weapons. Rama asks her to salute them so that theywould attend also on her children. Sita then feels tired and lays herhead on the arm of her husband and sleeps. 

Then Durmukha, who, as an old and trusted servant, had free admission tothe inner apartments, comes and whispers to him that people condemn hisreceiving back a queen, abducted by a fiend, after her long residence ina stranger's house. In short, he is told that they still gossip and talkscandal about her and Ravana. The scrupulously correct andover-sensitive Rama, though convinced of his wife's fidelity after hersubmission to the fiery ordeal, and though she is now likely to become amother, feels himself quite unable to allow the slightest cause ofoffence to continue among his subjects. 

He has no other resource. People must be satisfied. He orders his dearSita's exile, and the messenger goes away to deliver the order toLakshmana to seclude her somewhere in the woods. He is torn bycontending feelings. He is overpowered with grief, withdraws his armfrom his sleeping wife and pours forth pathetic lamentation. Then hetakes up her feet and cries when the announcement of the arrival offrightened Rishis makes him go out to send Satrughna to their succour. The messenger Durmukha then enters and takes Sita unsuspectingly tomount the chariot which is to lead her to exile. 

Lakshmana takes Sita to the forest and leaves her there. 

She is protected by divine agencies. Her twin sons, Kusa and Lava, areborn and entrusted to the care of the sage Valmiki, the author of theRamayana, who brings them up in his hermitage. The boys have noknowledge of their royal descent. 

An incident now occurs which leads Rama to revisit the Dandaka forest, the scene of his former exile. The child of a Brahman dies suddenly andunaccountably. His body is laid at Rama's door. Evidently some nationalsin is the cause of such a calamity, and an aerial voice informs himthat an awful crime is being perpetrated; for a Sudra, named Sambuka, ispractising religious austerities, instead of confining himself to hisproper vocation of waiting on the twice-born castes. Rama instantlystarts for the forest, discovers Sambuka in the sacrilegious act andstrikes off his head. But death by Rama's hand confers immortality onthe Sudra, who appears as a celestial spirit, and thanks his benefactorfor the glory and felicity thus obtained. 

Before returning to Ayodhya, Rama is induced to visit the hermitage ofthe sage Agastya in Panchavati. Sita now reappears. She is herselfinvisible to Rama through the favour of the Bhagirathi but able tothrill with emotions by her touch. Rama is greatly distracted. 

He faints with old remembrances but revives on the touch of Sita. Heobserves, "What does this mean? Heavenly balm seems poured into myheart; a well-known touch changes my insensibility to life. Is it Sita, or am I dreaming?"

He vainly seeks for her possession, but at last goes away on the adviceof his companion Visanti. 

The sage Valmiki makes great preparations for receiving Vasishtha, Janaka, Kaushalya, the mother of Rama and other eminent guests. Thepupils are delighted because the visit of the guests affords hopes of afeast at which flesh meat is to constitute one of the dishes. 

As the boys have got a holiday in honour of the guests, they are playingat some distance from a tree outside the hermitage. Among them, Kaushalya notices a boy with the features of her son, who is called inbut whom the guests do not yet know to be a son of Rama. 

Soon after, the horse of the horse-sacrifice of Rama comes near and hegoes out with other boys to see the fun while the elders go to see thehost. 

The attendant soldiers cry out that Rama is the only hero of the world. Lava--for such is the boy's name, --cannot brook such vaunts and removesthe banner. Soldiers crowd upon him and Lava draws his bow. Lakshmana'sson Chandraketu--the general of the army--arrives surprised at theslaughter of his army and asks Lava to leave the incapable army andfight with himself. Lava obeys the call and after some conversation inwhich he ridicules the powers of Rama and infuriates his antagonist, they go out to fight. 

The discharge and repulsion of the divine weapons occur. 

The approach of Rama puts an end to the contest. Lava's elder brotherKusa has heard of his fight and comes to "eradicate from the world thename of emperor. " But Lava has become calm and asks his brother to payrespects to the hero of the Ramayana. 

Rama embraces both of them and is moved with their son-like touch. Henotices in them the features of his wife He knows that his childrenalone could possess the divine weapons. He recollects that his wife wasleft in that part of the forest and instinctively comes to theconclusion that they are his children. He wishes to ask about theirbirth in a roundabout way, but before proceeding to the end, is asked tosee his spiritual preceptor. 

The desertion of Sita is acted by nymphs on the banks of the Gangesbefore Rama and other high guests invited by Valmiki. 

Sita, from behind the stage, cries out "the beasts of prey desire [todevour] me in the forest (left) alone and unprotected. I will throwmyself into the Bhagirathi. " She enters supported by her motherPrithivi, the Earth and Ganga, each carrying a baby in the lap. Gangatells her of the birth of the twins and consoles her, but Earth isgreatly distressed with the conduct of Rama. Ganga replies "who canclose the door of Fate?"

But Earth says, "has it been proper for the good Rama? He disregardedthe hand he pressed when a boy. He disregarded me and Janaka. Hedisregarded Fire (who shewed her purity). He disregarded the childrenshe was about to bring forth. "

But Ganga pacifies her and they agree to make over the children toValmiki, when they become a little old. Earth then asks her daughter tocome to the nether world, to which she agrees and with their exit closesthe play. 

At the close of the play, Rama faints. Then the real Sita enters withArundhuti, the wife of Rama's preceptor and touches and revives herhusband. The people are satisfied with her purity and Rama takes herback with the children who are introduced by Valmiki. The husband andwife are thus re-united after twelve years of grievous solitude, andhappiness is restored to the whole family. The re-union is witnessed notonly by the people of Ayodhya, but by the congregated deities of earthand heaven. 

Rama thus describes his love for his wife:--

"Her presence is ambrosia to my sight; her contact, fragrant sandal; herfond arms, twined round my neck; are a far richer clasp than costliestgems, and in my house she reigns the guardian goddess of my fame andfortune. Oh! I could never bear again to lose her. "

MALATI AND MADHAVA OR THE STOLEN MARRIAGE. 

There lived, in the town of Kundinapura in Berar, Devarata, a very calmand sagacious minister to the king of Vidarbha. He had a son namedMadhava. Madhava was very beautiful and of uncommon intelligence. Hebecame proficient in all branches of learning, in his early age. He nowarrived at a marriageable age. The beautiful town of Padmavati in Malwais situated at the confluence of the two rivers Indus and Madhumati. There lived in Padmavati, Bhurivasu, who was minister to the king ofPadmavati. He had a very beautiful unmarried daughter named Malati. Theking indicated an intention to propose a match between Malati and hisown favourite Nandan, who was both old and ugly, and whom she detested. Bhurivasu feared to give offence to the king by refusing the match. Devarata and Bhurivasu were fellow students. In their academical daysthey pledged themselves that they should enter into matrimonialalliance, if they happen to have children. Malati and Madhava did notknow anything about their fathers' promises. There lived in Padmavati, Kamandaki, an old Buddhist priestess who was nurse of Malati. Thepriestess knew everything about the matrimonial promise. She was a veryintelligent lady and was respected by all. The two friends concert aplan with the priestess to throw the young people in each other's wayand to connive at a secret marriage. In pursuance of this scheme, Madhava is sent to finish his studies at the city of Padmavati with theostensible object of studying Logic under the care of the priestess, whotakes great care of her pupil and endeavours her utmost to fulfil thepromise of her two friends. By her contrivance and with the aid ofMalati's foster-sister Lavangika, the young people meet and becomemutually enamoured. 

Kamandaki addresses her favourite disciple Avalokita thus:--

"Dear Avalokita! Oh how I wish for the marital union of Madhava, the sonof Devarata, and Malati, the daughter of Bhurivasu! Auspicious signsforerun a happy fate. Even now my throbbing eyeball tells thatpropitious destiny shall crown my schemes. "

Avalokita replies:--

"Oh, here is a serious cause of anxiety. How strange! You are alreadyburdened with the austerities of devotional exercises, Bhurivasu hascommissioned you to perform this arduous task. Though retired from theworld, you could not avoid this business. "

Kamandaki says, "Never say so. The commission is an office of love andtrust. If my friend's object is gained even at the expense of my lifeand penances, I shall feel myself gratified. "

The pupil asks "why is a stolen marriage intended?"

The priestess answers, "Nandana, a favourite of the king of Padmavati, sues him for Malati. The king demands the maiden of her father. To evadethe anger of the king, this ingenious device has been adopted. Let theworld deem their union was the work of mutual passion only. So the kingand Nandan will be foiled. A wise man veils his projects from theworld. " The pupil says, "I take Madhava to walk in the street in frontof the house of the minister Bhurivasu. "

The priestess says, "I have heard from Lavangika, the foster-sister of Malati, that Malatihas seen Madhava from the windows of her house. 

Her waning form faithfully betrays the lurking care she now first learnsto suffer. "

The pupil says, "I have heard that, to soothe that care, Malati hasdrawn a picture of Madhava and has sent it through Lavangika toMandarika, her attendant. "

The priestess perceives that Malati has done so with the object that thepicture would reach Madhava as Mandarika is in love with Kalahansa, theservant of Madhava. Avalokita again says, "To-day is the great festival of Madan; Malati will surely come to jointhe festival, I have interested Madhava to go to the garden of Love'sgod with a view that the youthful pair may meet there. "

The priestess replies, "I tender my best thanks for your kindly zeal toaid the object of my wishes. Can you give me any tidings of Soudamini, my former pupil?"

Avalokita answers, "she now resides upon mount _Sriparvata_. She has nowarrived at supernatural power by religious austerities. I have learntthe news about her from Kapala Kundala, the female pupil of a tremendousmagician Aghorghanta, a seer and a wandering mendicant, but now residingamidst the neighbouring forest, who frequents the temple of thedreadful goddess _Chamunda_ near the city cemetry. " Avalokita remarks, "Madhava would be highly pleased if his early friend Makaranda is unitedin wedlock with Madayantika, the sister of Nandana. "

The priestess observes, "I have already engaged my discipleBuddharakshita for the purpose. Let us go forth and having learnt howMadhava has fared, repair to Malati. May our devices prosper!"

Madhava thus describes to his friend Makaranda his first interview withMalati, and acknowledges himself deeply smitten:--

"One day, advised by Avalokita, I went to the temple of the god of love. I saw there a beauteous maid. I have become a victim to her glances. Hergait was stately. Her train bespoke a princely rank. Her garb was gracedwith youth's appropriate ornaments. Her form was beauty's shrine, or ofthat shrine she moved as the guardian deity. Whatever Nature offersfairest and best had surely been assembled to mould her charms. Loveomnipotent was her creator. Then I too plainly noted that the lovelymaid, revealed the signs of passion long entertained for some happyyouth. 

Her shape was as slender as the lotus stalk. Her pallid cheeks, likeunstained ivory, rivalled the beauty of the spotless moon. I scarcelyhad gazed upon her, but my eyes felt new delight, as bathed with nectar. She drew my heart at once towards her as powerfully as the magnet doesthe unresisting iron. That heart, though its sudden passion may becauseless, is fixed on her for ever, chance what may, and though myportion be henceforth despair. The goddess Destiny decrees at pleasurethe good or ill of all created beings. "

Makranda observes, "Believe me, this cannot be without some cause. Behold! all nature's sympathies spring not from outward form but frominward virtue. The lotus does not bud till the sun has risen. Themoon-gem does not melt till it feels the moon. " Madhava goes on with hisdescription thus:--

"When her fair train beheld me, they exchanged expressive looks andsmiles and murmured to one another as if they knew me. What firmnesscould resist the honest warmth of nature's mute expressiveness? Thoselooks of love, beaming with mild timidity and moist with sweetabandonment, tore off my heart, --nay plucked it from my bosom by theroots, all pierced with wounds. Being incredulous of my happiness, Isought to mark her passion, without displaying my own. A statelyelephant received the princess and bore her towards the city. Whilst shemoved, she shot from her delicate lids retiring glances, tipped withvenom and ambrosia, My breast received the shafts. Words cannot paint myagony. Vain were the lunar rays or gelid streams to cool my body'sfever, whilst my mind whirls in perpetual round and does not know rest. Requested by Lavangika, I gave her the flowery wreath. She took it withrespect, as if it were a precious gift and all the while the eyes ofMalati were fixed on her. Bowing with reverence, she than retired. "

Makaranda remarks--

"Your story most plainly shows that Malati's affection is your own. Thesoft cheek, whose pallid tint denoted love pre-conceived, is pale alonefor you; She must have seen you. Maidens of her rank do not allow theireyes to rest on one to whom they have not already given their hearts. And then, those looks that passed among her maidens plainly showed thepassion you had awakened in their mistress. 

Then comes her foster-sister's clear enigma and tells intelligibly whoseher heart is. "

Kalahansa, advancing, shows a picture and says, "This picture is thework of hers who has stolen Madhava's heart. Mandarika gave it to me. She had it from Lavangika, Malati painted it to amuse and relievedistress. " Makaranda says, "This lovely maid, the soft light of youreyes, assuredly regards you bound to her in love's alliance. What shouldprevent your union? Fate and love combined seem labouring to effect it. Come, let me behold the wondrous form that works such change in you. Youhave the skill. Portray her. "

Madhava, in return, delineates the likeness of Malati on the same tabletand Makaranda writes under it the following impassioned love-stanza, "Whatever nature loveliness displays, May seem to others beautiful and bright; But since these charms have broken upon my gaze, They form my life's sole exquisite delight. "

Being asked by Makaranda as to how and where Malati first saw Madhava, Mandarika says, "Malati was called to the lattice by Lavangika to lookat him as he passed the palace. "

The picture is restored to Mandarika and brought back to Malati. 

The mutual passion of the lovers, encouraged by their respectiveconfidants, is naturally increased. 

Madhava thus addresses Makaranda, "It is strange, most strange! wherever I turn, the same loved charmsappear on every side. Her beauteous face gleams as brightly as thegolden bud of the young lotus. Alas! my friend, this fascination spreadsover all my senses. A feverish flame consumes my strength. My heart isall on fire. My mind is tossed with doubt. Every faculty is absorbed inone fond thought. 

I cease to be myself or conscious of the thing I am. "

Malati thus addresses Lavangika:--

"Love spreads through every vein like subtlest poison and, like firethat brightens in the breeze, consumes this feeble frame. Resistlessfever preys on each fibre. Its fury is fatal. No one can help me. Neither father nor mother nor Lavangika can save me. Life is distastefulto me. 

Repeatedly recurring to the anguish of my heart, I lose all fortitudeand in my grief become capricious and unjust. Forgive me. Let the fullmoon blaze in the mighty sky. Let love rage on. Death screens me fromhis fury. "

In the meantime, the king makes the long-expected demand and theminister Bhurivasu returns the following ambiguous answer:--

"Your Majesty may dispose of your daughter as your Majesty pleases. "

[This answer is used in a double sense:--

"Your minister's daughter is your own daughter and you can dispose ofher as you please, " and "You can dispose of your own daughter as youplease, but not my daughter. "

The father's connivance at his daughter's stolen marriage would appearinconsistent if the reply is not understood in its double sense. ]

The intelligence reaches the lovers. They are thrown into despair. 

Requested by Lavangika, Kamandaki thus describes Madhava in the presenceof Malati:--

"The sovereign of Vidarbha boasts for minister the wise andlong-experienced Devarata, who bears the burden of state and spreadsthroughout the world his piety and fame. Your father knows him well. For, in their youth, they were joined in study and trained to learningby the same preceptor. 

In this world we rarely behold such characters as theirs. Their loftyrank is the abode of wisdom and of piety, of valour and of virtue. Theirfame spreads white and spotless through the universe. A son has sprungfrom Devarata whose opening virtues early give occasion of rejoicing tothe world. Now, in his bloom, this youth has been sent to our city tocollect ripe stores of knowledge. His name is Madhava. "

Kamandaki soliloquises thus:--

"Malati is tutored to our wishes and inspired with hatred of thebridegroom Nandan. He is reminded of the examples of _Sakuntala_ and_Vasavadatta_ that vindicate the free choice of a husband. Heradmiration of her youthful lover is now approved by his illustriousbirth and my encomium of his high descent. All this must strengthen andconfirm her passion. Now their union may be left to fate. "

By the contrivance of Kamandaki, a second interview between the loverstakes place in the public garden of the temple of _Sankara_. Malati ispersuaded that the god _Sankara_ is to be propitiated with offerings offlowers gathered by one's self. Whilst she is collecting her oblationshe and Madhava meet as if by accident. 

At this moment, a great tumult and terrific screams announce that atremendous tiger has escaped from an iron cage in the temple of Siva, spreading destruction everywhere. Instantly, Nandana's youthful sister, Madayantika happens to be passing, and is attacked by the tiger and isreported to be in imminent danger. 

Madhava and Makaranda both rush to the rescue. The latter kills theanimal, and thus saves her who is then brought in a half-fainting stateinto the garden. He is himself wounded. Mandayantika is thus saved bythe valour of Makaranda. The gallant youth is brought in insensible. Bythe care of the women, he revives. 

On recovering, Madayantika naturally falls in love with her deliverer. 

The two couples are thus brought together. Malati affiances herselfthere and then to Madhava. 

Soon afterwards, the king prepares to enforce the marriage of Malatiwith Nandan. A messenger arrives to summon Madayantika to be present atthe marriage. Another messenger summons Malati herself to the king'splace. 

Madhava is mad with grief and in despair makes the extraordinaryresolution of purchasing the aid of ghosts and malignant spirits bygoing to the cemetery and offering them living flesh, cut off from hisown body, as food. He accordingly bathes in the river Sindhu and goes atnight to the cemetery. The cemetery happens to be near the temple of theawful goddess Chamunda, a form of Durga. The temple is presided over bya sorceress named Kapalkundla and her preceptor, a terrible necromancerAghorghanta. They have determined on offering some beautiful maiden asa human victim to the goddess. With this object they carry off Malati, before her departure, while asleep on a terrace and bringing her to thetemple, are about to kill her at the shrine when her cries of distressattract the attention of Madhava, who is, at the moment, in the cemeteryoffering his flesh to the ghosts. 

He thinks he recognizes the voice of Malati. He rushes forward to herrescue. She is discovered dressed as a victim and the magician and thesorceress are preparing for the sacrifice. 

He encounters Aghorghanta and, after a terrific hand-to-hand fight, kills him and rescues Malati. 

She flies to his arms. Voices are heard as of persons in search ofMalati. Madhava places her in safety. 

The sorceress vows vengeance against Madhava for slaying her preceptorAghorghanta. 

Malati is now restored to her friends. The preparations for Malati'swedding with Nandana goes on. The old priestess Kamandaki, who favoursthe union of Malati with her lover Madhava, contrives that, by theking's command, the bridal dress shall be put on at the very templewhere her own ministrations are conducted. 

There she persuades Makaranda to substitute himself for the bride. Heputs on the bridal dress, is carried in procession to the house ofNandan and goes through the form of being married to him. Nandana, beingdisgusted with the masculine appearance of the pretended bride, andoffended by the rude reception given to him, vows to have no furthercommunication with her and consigns her to his sister's care in theinner apartments. This enabled Makaranda to effect an interview withNandana's sister Madayantika, the object of his own affections. 

Makaranda then discovers himself to his mistress and persuades her torun away with him to the place where Malati and Madhava have concealedthemselves. 

Their flight is discovered. The king's guards are sent in pursuit. Agreat fight follows; but Makaranda, assisted by Madhava, defeats hisopponents. The bravery and handsome appearance of the two youths avertthe king's anger and they are allowed to join their friends unpunished. 

The friends accordingly assemble at the gate of the temple. 

But the sorceress, who has been watching an opportunity when Malati isunprotected, takes advantage of the confusion and carries her off in aflying car, in revenge for the death of her preceptor. The distress ofher lover and friends knows no bounds. They are reduced to despair atthis second obstacle to the marriage. They give up all hopes ofrecovering her when they are happily relieved by the opportune arrivalof Soudamini, an old pupil of the priestess Kamandaki, who has acquiredextraordinary magical powers by her penances. 

She rescues Malati from the hands of the sorceress and restores her toher despairing lover. 

The two couples are now united in happy wedlock. 

HANUMAN NATAKA, OR MAHANATAKA, OR THE GREAT DRAMA. 

In Ayodhya, there was an illustrious and powerful monarch, the subduerof foes and the renowned ornament of the exalted house of the sun, namedDasaratha in whose family, for the purpose of relieving the Earth of herburden, Bhurisravas (Vishnu) deigned to incorporate his divine substanceas four blooming youths. The eldest, endowed with the qualities ofimperial worth, was Rama. 

He goes with his brother Lakshmana to the court of Mithila, to try hisstrength in the bending of the bow of Siva, and thereby win Sita for hisbride. The hero triumphs. The bow is broken with a deafening sound whichbrings Parasurama there. Rama wins his bride. He tries the bow ofParasurama and shoots an arrow from it which flies to Swerga or heaven. The Brahmin hero now acknowledges the Kshatriya hero to be his superior. Rama is married to Sita. The sweet loves of the happy pair grows withenjoyment. 

Various portents then indicate Rama's impending separation from hisfather. The sun looks forth dimmed in radiance. Fiery torches wave alongthe sky. Meteors dart headlong through midheaven. Earth shakes. Thefirmament rains showers of blood. Around, the horizon thickens. In theday, the pale stars gleam. Unseasonable eclipse darkens the noon. Dayechoes with the howls of dogs and jackals, whilst the air replies withhorrid and strange sounds, such as shall peal, when the destroying deityproclaims in thunder the dissolution of the world. Rama is exiled. Atthis, the king dies in agony. It is the result of the stern cursedenounced upon the king by the father of the ascetic whom the king, hunting in his youthful days, had accidentally slain. 

Rama fixes his residence at Panchavati. Maricha, a Rakshasa, now appearsas a deer. The supposed animal is chased by Rama and Lakshmana at Sita'srequest. 

Ravana then comes disguised to see Sita. He mutters, "pious dame! Giveme food. " She heedlessly oversteps the magic ring traced by Lakshmana, when the Rakshasa seizes her by the hand stretched in charity. She callsin vain the sons of Raghu. Jatayu, the vulture, endeavours to rescueher, but is slain. She encounters Hanuman, the chief Counsellor ofSugriva, the dethroned king of the Monkeys, and begs him to carry herornaments, which she casts to him, to Rama. 

Having slain the deer, the prince, with his brave brother, returns totheir bower. He seeks Sita, but seeks in vain. His steps tread threeseveral quarters, the fourth he leaves, overcome with grief and terror, unexplored. 

Rama prosecutes his search after Sita. He fights with Bali, the king ofthe Monkeys, and triumphs over him. 

He now despatches Hanuman to Lanka, Hanuman pays a visit to Sita. 

He performs various feats at Lanka and returns to Rama whose hosts nowadvance towards Lanka. 

Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana, expostulates with his royal brother, but in vain. Consequently he deserts the king and goes over to Rama. 

The Monkeys advance further towards Lanka. 

A bridge is built over the sea. 

The troops cross over it. 

Where first the Monkey bands advance, they view a watery belt smoothlycircling round the shore: the following troops plough their way throughthe thick mire with labour; the chief who leads the rear, filled withwonder, exclaims, "Here is Ocean. "

Rama now sends Angada, the son of Bali, to persuade Ravana to relinquishSita peaceably. Angada has some feeling of aversion to Rama, who killedhis father, but thinks he shall best fulfil his father's wishes bypromoting the war between Ravana and Rama; he therefore goes to Ravanaand defies him in very haughty terms. 

Ravana says:--

"Indra, the king of the gods, weaves garlands for me; the thousand-rayedor the Sun keeps watch at my gate; above my head Chandra or the Moonuprears the umbrella of dominion; the wind's and the ocean's monarchsare my slaves; and for my board the fiery godhead toils. Knowest thounot this, and canst thou stoop to praise the son of Raghu, whose frailmortal body is but a meal to any of my households?"

Angada laughs and observes:--"Is this thy wisdom, Ravana? Infirm ofjudgement dost thou deem of Rama thus--a mortal man? Then Ganga merelyflows a watery stream; the elephants that bear the skies, and Indra'ssteed, are brutal forms; the charms of Rembha are the fleeting beautiesof earth's weak daughters, and the golden age, a term of years. Love isa petty archer; the mighty Hanuman, in thy proud discernment, is anape. "

Angada, having in vain endeavoured to persuade Ravana to restore Sita, leaves him to expect the immediate advance of the Monkey host. 

Virupaksha and Mahodara, two of Ravana's ministers utter a string ofmoral and political sentences. 

Ravana is not to be persuaded, but goes to Sita to try the effect of hispersonal solicitations--first endeavouring to deceive her by twofictitious heads, made to assume the likenesses of Rama and Lakshmana. Sita's lamentations are stopped by a heavenly monitor, who tells herthat the heads are the work of magic and they instantly disappear. Ravana then vaunts his prowess in war and love, and approaches Sita toembrace her. She exclaims "Forbear, forbear! proud fiend, the jetty armsof my loved lord, or thy relentless sword, alone shall touch my neck. "

Thus repulsed, Ravana withdraws, and presently reappears as Rama, withhis own ten heads in his hands. Sita, thinking him to be what heappears, is about to embrace him, when the secret virtue of hercharacter as a faithful wife detects the imposition, and reveals thetruth to her. Ravana, baffled and mortified, is compelled to relinquishhis design. Sita's apprehensions, lest she should be again beguiled, areallayed by a voice from heaven, which announces that she will not seethe real Rama until he has beheld Mandodari kiss the dead body of herhusband Ravana. 

A female Rakhasi attempts to assassinate Rama, but is stopped and slainby Angada. The army then advances to Lanka, and Ravana comes forth tomeet it. Kumbhakarna, his gigantic and sleepy brother, is disturbed fromhis repose to combat. He is rather out of humour at first, andrecommends Ravana to give up the lady, observing: "Though the commandsof royalty pervade the world, yet sovereigns ever should remember, thelight of justice must direct their path. " Ravana answers:--

"They who assist us with a holy text are but indifferent friends. Thesearms have wrested victory from the opposing grasp of gods and demons. Confiding in thy prowess, sure in thee to triumph over my foes, I haverelaxed their fibre, but again their nerves are braced, I need thee not;hence to thy cell and sleep. " Kumbhakarna replies:--"King, do notgrieve, but like a valiant chief, pluck from thy heart all terror ofthine enemies, and only deem of thy propitious fortunes, or who shallforemost plunge into the fight----I will not quit thee. "

Kumbhakarna's advance terrifies Rama's troops, whom the Kshatriya heroaddresses thus:

"Ho! chiefs and heroes, why this groundless panic, the prowess of ourenemy untried in closer conflict? Ocean's myriad fry would drain thefountain, and before the swarm of hostile gnats the mighty lion falls. "Kumbhakarna is killed by Rama; on which Indrajit, a son of Ravana, proceeds against the brethren. By the arrow called _Nagapasa_, presented him by Brahma, he casts Rama and Lakshmana senseless on theground, and then goes to Nikumbhila mountain to obtain a magic car bymeans of sacrifice. Hanumana disturbs his rites. 

Rama and Lakshmana revive, and on being sprinkled with drops of amritabrought by Garura, the latter with a shaft decapitates Meghnada, andtosses the head into the hands of his father Ravana. 

Ravana levels a shaft at Lakshmana, given him by Brahma, and chargedwith the certain fate of one hero. Hanumana snatches it away, after ithas struck Lakshmana, before it does mischief. Ravana reproaches Brahma, and he sends Nareda to procure the dart again and keep Hanumana out ofthe way. With the fatal weapon Lakshmana is left for dead. Ramadespairs:--

"My soldiers shall find protection in their caves; I can die with Sita, but thou, Vibhishana, what shall become of thee?"

Hanuman reappears and encourages him. Ravana has a celebrated physician, Sushena, who is brought away from Lanka in his sleep, and directs that adrug (_Vishalya_) from the Druhima mountain must be procured beforemorning, or Lakshmana will perish. This mountain is six millions of_Yojanas_ remote, but Hanuman undertakes to bring it bodily to Lanka, and call at Ayodhya on his way. 

He accordingly roots up the mountain, and is returning with it to Rama, via Ayodhya, when Bharata, who is employed in guarding a sacrifice madeby Vasishtha, not knowing what to make of him, shoots Hanuman as heapproaches. He falls exclaiming on Rama and Lakshmana, which leadsBharata to discover his mistake. Vasishtha restores the monkey who setsoff for Lanka. On Hanuman's return, the medicament is administered, andLakshman revives. 

An ambassador from Ravana comes and offers to give up Sita for thebattle-axe of Parasurama, but this, Rama replies, must be reserved forIndra. On this refusal, Ravana goes forth after a brief dialogue withhis queen Mandodari, who animates his drooping courage with the truespirit of the tribe to which she belongs. 

"Banish your sorrow, lord of Lanka, take one long and last embrace. Wemeet no more. Or give command, and by your side I march fearless tofight, for I too am a Kshatriya. " The progress of Ravana through the airappals all Nature. The winds breathe low in timid murmurs through therustling woods; the sun with slackened fires gleams pale abroad and thestreams, relaxing from their rapid course, slowly creep along. Ravanadefies Rama with great disdain and in derision of his modest demeanour, asks him whether he is not overcome with shame by the recollection ofhis ancestor, Anaranya, killed formerly by Ravana. 

Rama replies:--

"I am not ashamed my noble ancestor fell in the combat. The warriorseeks victory or death, and death is not disgrace. It ill befits thee torevile his fame. When vanquished, thou couldst drag out an abject lifein great Haihaya's dungeons, till thy sire begged thee to freedom, as amatter of charity. For thee alone I blush, unworthy of my triumph. "

Ravana falls under the arrows of Rama. The heads, that once, sustainedon Siva's breast, shone with heavenly splendour, now lie beneath thevulture's talons. Mandodari bewails the death of her husband. Sita isrecovered, but Rama is rather shy of his bride, until her purity isestablished by her passing through the fiery ordeal: a test shesuccessfully undergoes. Rama returns with Sita and his friends toAyodhya, when Angada challenges them all to fight him, as it is now timeto revenge his father's death. A voice from heaven, however, tells himto be pacified, as Bali will be born as hunter in a future age, and killRama, who will then be Krishna: he is accordingly appeased. Rama is nowseated on the throne of Ayodhya. After some time, he orders the exile ofSita. 

ANERGHA RAGHAVA OR MURARI NATAKA. 

The sage Viswamitra comes to Dasaratha, the king of Ayodhya, to requestthe aid of his eldest son Rama. Each tries to outdo the other incomplimentary speeches. The sage observes:--

"The monarch of the day invests the dawn with delegated rays to scatternight, and ocean sends his ministers the clouds, to shed his waters overthe widespread earth. "

The king, taking counsel with himself, and being reminded by Vamadeva, one of his priests and preceptors, that the race of Raghu never sentaway a petitioner ungratified, sends for Rama and Lakshmana, and allowsViswamitra to take them with him, to his hermitage, situated on thebanks of the Kausiki or Coosy river, to protect him in his rites againstthe oppression of Taraka, a Rakshasi. 

The cry is heard that Taraka is abroad. Rama, after some hesitationabout killing a female, slays her. 

Viswamitra now proposes that they should visit Mithila. The two princesare introduced to Janaka, the king of Mithila, who is urged by the sageto let Rama try to bend the bow of Siva. Sanshkala, the messenger ofRavana, the king of Lanka, now arrives to demand Sita in marriage forhis master, refusing, at the same time, on his part, to submit to thetest of bending the bow. The demand is refused. Rama tries his fortune, bends the bow and wins the lady. The family connection is extended bythe promise of Urmila, Mandavi, and Srutakirti, to Rama's brothers. Sanshkala is highly indignant and carries the information to hismaster's minister Malyavan, who is disappointed on Ravana's account. Malyavan anticipates that Ravana will carry Sita off; and to render theattempt less perilous, projects inveighing Rama into the forests alone, for which he sends Surpanakha, the sister of Ravana, in the disguise ofManthara, the attendant of Kaukeyi. 

Parasurama then appears and boasts of his destruction of the Kshatriyarace. Rama replies:--"This flag of your fame is now worn to tatters, letus see if you can mount a new one. " Rama then calls for his bow, andParasurama presents him with his axe. They go forth to fight. In theend, the two Ramas turn very excellent friends. Parasurama departs. 

Dasaratha now declares his purpose of relinquishing the kingdom entirelyto his son Rama, Lakshmana announces the arrival of Manthara, andpresents a letter from Kaikeyi, the purpose of which is to urgeDasaratha's fulfilment of his promise, and grant her as the two boons, the Coronation of Bharata, and banishment of Rama. The old king faints. Rama recommending his father to Janaka, departs for the forests, accompanied by Lakshmana and Sita. On their arrival in the forests, theyare cordially received by Sugriva, the brother of Bali the king of themonkeys. Lakshmana carries on a dialogue with Ravana, disguised as ajuggler. 

Jatayu, the king of birds, beholds Sita carried off by Ravana. Hefollows the ravisher. Rama and Lakshmana both express their grief. 

Lakshmana observes:--

"The worse the ill that Fate inflicts on noble souls, the more theirfirmness; and they arm their spirits with adamant to meet the blow. "

Rama replies:--

"The firmness I was born with or was reared to, and rage, that fills myheart, restrain my sorrows; but hard is the task to fit my soul to bearunmurmuringly a husband's shame. "

A cry of distress is now heard, and on looking out, the youths observeGuha, the friendly forest monarch, assailed by the demon Kabandha, or afiend without a head. Lakshmana goes to his aid, and returns with hisfriend Guha. In the act of delivering him, Lakshmana tosses away theskeleton of Dundubhi, a giant, suspended by Bali, who, deeming this aninsult, presently appears. After a prolix interchange of civility anddefiance, Rama and Bali resolve to determine their respective supremacyby single combat. Bali is slain. His brother Sugriva is inaugurated asking and determines to assist Rama to recover Sita. A bridge is builtover the sea. Rama's army advance to Lanka. Kumbhakarna, a brother ofRavana, and Meghanada, a son of Ravana, go forth to battle. Malyavanwishes them prosperity in a phrase perfectly oracular. They are slain. Ravana now takes the field himself. Malyavan resolves to follow him andresign, on the sword, a life now useless to his sovereign. The king isoverthrown. Sita is recovered. 

Rama with his wife and brother, accompanied by Vibhishana, the brotherof Ravana, and Sugriva, mounts the celestial car, which was oncewrested by Ravana from his brother Kuvera, and sets out to proceed toAyodhya. 

On the way the travellers descry the Sumeru mountain, the Malayamountain, the Dandaka forest, the mountain Prasravana, the Godaveririver, mount Malyavan, Kundinipura in the Maharashtra country, theshrine of Bhimeswara, the city of Kanchi, Ujayin, the temple ofMahakala, Mahishmati the capital of Chedi, the Jumna and Ganga rivers, Varanasi, Mithila or Tirhut, and Champa near Bhagalpur. 

They then proceed westward to Prayaga, and Antarvedi or Doab, when theyagain follow an easterly course and arrive at Ayodhya. 

Bharata, Satrughna, Vasishtha the priest and the people of Ayodhya awaitthe arrival of the party and receive them most cordially. Rama is nowcrowned king. 

VENI SAMVARANA OR VENI SANHARA

OR

"THE BINDING OF THE BRAID OF HAIR. "

Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas, is dragged by the _veni_ or braid ofhair into the public assembly by the hand of Duhsasana, one of theKaurava princes, a disgrace that weighs most heavily upon the Pandavas, who contemplate most bitter revenge. 

Krishna returns to the Pandava camp from a visit to the Kaurava princes, as a mediator between the contending chiefs. Ferocious Bhima expresses, to his brother Sahadeva, his refusal to have any share in thenegotiations instituted by Krishna and his determination to make nopeace with the enemy until the insult offered to Draupadi is avenged. Heannounces his resolution, in case the dispute be amicably adjusted, todisclaim all connection with his own brothers, and throw off obedienceto Judhishthira. 

The price of peace is the demand of five villages or towns, Indraprastha, Tilaprastha, Mansadam, Varanavatam, and another. Sahadevaattempts to calm the fury of Bhima, but in vain; and Draupadi, with herhair still dishevelled, and pining over her ignominious treatment, comesto inflame his resentment. She complains also of a recent affrontoffered by Bhanumati, the queen of Duryodhana, in an injurious commentupon her former exposure, which serves to widen the breach. 

Krishna's embassy is unsuccessful, and he effects his return only byemploying his divine powers against the enemy. All the chiefs aresummoned by the trumpet to prepare for battle. 

Before day-break, Bhanumati repeats, to her friend and an attendant, adream in which she has beheld a _Nakula_ or Mungoose destroy a hundredsnakes. This is very ominous, _Nakula_ being one of the Pandavas, andthe sons of Kuru amounting to a hundred. Duryodhana overhears part ofthe story, and at first imagines the hostile prince is the hero of thevision. He is about to burst upon her, full of rage, and when he catchesthe true import of the tale, he is at first disposed to be alarmed byit, but at last wisely determines to disregard it. 

For, by Angira it is sung, the aspect of the planets, dreams and signs, meteors and portents, are the sports of accident, and do not move thewise. Bhanumati offers an _arghya_ of sandal and flowers to the risingsun to avert the ill omen, and then the king appears and soothes her. 

Their dialogue is disturbed by a rising whirlwind from which they takeshelter in a neighbouring pavilion. The mother of Jayadratha, the kingof Sindhu, then appears, and apprises Duryodhana that Arjuna has vowed, if sunset finds Jayadratha alive, he will sacrifice himself in theflames. His wrath is especially excited by the death of his sonAbhimanyu, in which that chieftain had borne a leading part. Duryodhanalaughs at her fears and those of his wife, and despises the resentmentof the Pandavas. He observes, that this was fully provoked by thetreatment which Draupadi received by his command, when in the presenceof the court and of the Pandavas, she called out in vain for mercy. Duryodhana then orders his war-chariot and goes forth to the battle. Upto the period of the contest, the following chiefs have fallen, Bhagadatta, Sindhuraja, Angadhipa, Drupada, Bhurisravas, Somadatta, andBahlika. 

Ghatotkacha is also slain, and Bhima is about to avenge his fall, onwhich account Hirimba, the queen of the Rakshasas and mother ofGhatotkacha, has ordered goblins to be ready to assist Bhimasena. 

Drona is seized by Dhrishtadyumna and slain. Aswatthama, the son ofDrona, appears armed and is overtaken by his father's charioteer whotells him of the treachery by which Drona was slain, having been inducedto throw away his arms by a false report that his son Aswatthama hadperished, and been then killed at a disadvantage. Aswatthama's distressis assuaged by his maternal uncle Kripa, who recommends him to solicitthe command of the host from Duryodhana. 

In the meantime, proud Kerna, the friend and ally of Duryodhana, fillsthe mind of the Kuru chief with impressions hostile to Drona and hisson, persuading him that Drona only fought to secure Aswatthama'selevation to royal dignity, and that he threw away his life, not out ofgrief, but in despair at the disappointment of his ambitious schemes. Kripa and Aswatthama now arrive and Duryodhana professes to condole withAswatthama for his father's loss. Kerna sneeringly asks him what hepurposes, to which he replies:--

"Whoever confident in arms is ranked amongst the adverse host--whomeverthe race of proud Panchala numbers, active youth, weak age or unbornbabes, whoever beheld my father's murder, or whoever dares to cross mypath, shall fall before my vengeance. Dark is my sight with rage, andDeath himself, the world's destroyer, should not escape my fury. "

Kripa then requests Duryodhana to give the command of the army toAswatthama. The king excuses himself on the plea of having promised itto Kerna, to whom he transfers his ring accordingly. A violent quarrelensues between Kerna and Aswatthama, and Duryodhana and Kripa have somedifficulty in preventing them from single combat. Fiery Aswatthama atlast reproaches Duryodhana with partiality, and refuses to fight for himmore. Bhima proclaims that he has at last encountered Duhsasana, theinsulter of Draupadi, and is about to sacrifice him to his vengeance. Kerna, instigated by Aswatthama, foregoes his anger and is about toresume his arms when a voice from heaven prevents him. He is obliged, therefore, to remain an idle spectator of the fight, but desires Kripato assist the king. They go off to fight. 

Duhsasana is killed and the army of the Kauravas is put to the rout. Duryodhana is wounded and becomes insensible. On his recovery, he hearsof Duhsasana's death and gives vent to his sorrows. 

In the conflict between Arjuna and Vrishasena, the son of Kerna, theyoung prince is slain to his father's distress. Sundaraka, a follower ofKerna, brings a leaf on which Kerna has written to Duryodhana, with anarrow dipped in his own blood, message for aid. Duryodhana orders hischariot, and prepares to seek the fight again, when he is prevented bythe arrival of his parents, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, who withSanjaya, endeavour to prevail upon Duryodhana to sue for peace, but herefuses. 

A tumult and the entrance of the king's charioteer announce the death ofKerna. Duryodhana, after expressing his grief, determines to go andavenge him, and mount the car of Sanjaya, the charioteer ofDhritarashtra, for that purpose, when Arjuna and Bhima arrive in searchof him. 

On finding the seniors there, Arjuna purposes to withdraw; but Bhimainsists on first addressing them, which they do, but in insulting terms. 

Dhritarashtra, reproaching them for this language, is told they use itnot in pride, but in requital of his having witnessed, withoutinterfering to prevent, the oppression and barbarous treatment thePandavas experienced from his sons. Duryodhana interferes and defiesBhima, who is equally anxious for the combat; but Arjuna prevents it, and the brothers are called off by a summons from Yudhishthira, whoorders the battle to cease for the day and the dead bodies of eitherparty to be burnt. Aswatthama is now disposed to be reconciled toDuryodhana; but the prince receives his advances coldly, and hewithdraws in disgust. Dhritarashtra sends Sanjaya after him to persuadehim to overlook Duryodhana's conduct. Duryodhana mounts his car, and theaged couple seek the tent of Salya, the king of Madra. 

Duryodhana is discovered concealed in a swamp, and compelled to fightwith Bhimasena, by whom he is slain. Yudhisthira orders publicrejoicings on the occasion. 

Charvaka, a Rakshasa disguised as a sage, then enters, requiring restand water. He relates that he has seen Arjuna engaged with Duryodhana, Bhima having been previously slain by the latter, and gives his hearersto understand that Arjuna also has fallen. Draupadi determines to mountthe funeral pile, and Yudhishthira, to put an end to himself when theRakshasa, satisfied with the success of his scheme, which was intendedto prevail on this couple to perish, departs. The pile is prepared, andYudhishthira and Draupadi are about to sacrifice themselves, when theyare disturbed by a great clamour. Supposing it to precede the approachof Duryodhana, Yudhishthira calls for his arms, when Bhima, his clubbesmeared with blood, rushes in. Draupadi runs away; he catches her bythe hair, and is seized by Yudhishthira--on which the mistake isdiscovered. 

The braid of Draupadi's hair is now again bound up. Arjuna and Vasudevaarrive, and announce that they have heard of the fraud of Charvaka. Onhearing that the mendicant is slain by Nakula, Krishna expresses greatsatisfaction. 

CHANDA KAUSIKA

OR

THE OFFENDED VISWAMITRA. 

Maharaja Harischandra, a scion of the solar race, a powerful king, endowed with uncommon virtues and skilled in all arts, sees a vision ofmisfortune to come. Apprehending future evils for his subjects, heconfers with his priest, and acting on his advice, spends a whole nightin religious contemplation in a temple of God. Next morning the kingenters the inner apartments of his palace to greet his wife. The queen, who is jealous on account of his absence during the night, says to him, "Oh! I see your eyes are red for want of sleep. The sight is notuninteresting; only, I am being consumed with the fires of agony ofmind. " The king, on hearing this, smiles and says, "Oh my dear queen! donot be angry. Be assured, you have no rival in Harischandra'saffections". 

The queen is not altogether satisfied with this assurance, for love issuspicious. Just then, a messenger comes to request permission to bringin a hermit who is standing at the door. The permission is granted andthe hermit enters. Addressing the King, he says, "The family priest hassent you some holy water, which will bring you peace of mind and wardoff the evils for fear of which he made you keep up a whole night. " Theking and the queen thankfully accept the water. The hermit retires. Thequeen, now learning from the hermit the cause of her husband's absencefrom her, and of his wakefulness all night, becomes ashamed of herselfand asks her lord's pardon for the false insinuation she had made. Onthis he kisses the queen. 

Again, the king goes on a hunting expedition. Hunting is a favouritepastime with kings. It promotes health and courage and gives immensepleasure to all who engage in it. When the king enters a thick forest, he finds the great sage Viswamitra deeply engaged in religiousausterities with the view of acquiring the three unattainable arts ofcreation, preservation and destruction, which properly belong to Brahma, Vishnu and Siva respectively. The gods plot to prevent thisconsummation, and send a servant named Bighna. Bighna assumes the formof a boar and appears before the king. The king discharges an arrow athim, but in vain. The animal enters the thick forest. The king follows. It now enters the hermitage of Viswamitra. The king addresses hisfollowers thus, "It is the duty of kings to get rid of carnivorousanimals from the forest of meditation and austerities. I have, on thecontrary, made a carnivorous animal enter it. How can I now retire? Butthe hermits will be disturbed in their religious exercises if you allenter. So, do you all wait here. I will proceed alone. " With theseobservations, the king enters the forest of meditation and is charmedwith its exquisite beauty. 

The king thinks, "Tearing off the bonds of the world is the cause ofhermits' ease and happiness. With no attachments, no desires, nobereavements, no worldly anxieties, they are happily absorbed in divinecontemplation. " The king is thinking thus when distant cries are heard, as if females are crying out, "Maharaja Harischandra! save us! save us!Save us from the fire-place of this mighty hermit. We three helplesswomen are being burnt up. "

At this, the king is at a loss. His heart melts at the tender cries ofthe women. He extinguishes the flame with his weapon dedicated toVaruna, the god of the waters. 

The three ladies are the three arts of creation, preservation anddestruction. They, thus delivered, go away to Heaven, showeringblessings of victory on their deliverer. 

The meditations of the dreadful sage Viswamitra are thus broken off. Hiseyes are red with anger. Seeing Harischandra standing before him hecries out, "Oh wretch of a Kshattriya! I will burn you up as Siva didthe god of love. "

The king is at a loss. He trembles as a plantain tree tossed up bytempest. He touches the feet of the sage and most piteously begs pardonof him. 

But the sage is obdurate. He will not be appeased. He is about toconsume the offender with imprecation. 

The Raja again and again implores him thus:--

"My lord Kausika! Forgive me. I was touched by the piteous appeals ofthe women and disturbed you for the sake of duty. "

At this, the sage becomes still more furious and says trembling, "OVillain! speak of duty! What is your duty?"

The king replies, "O god! gifts to virtuous Brahmans, protection of those afflicted withfear, and fight with enemies are the three chief duties of Kshattriyas. "

The sage thereupon observes, "If compliance with duties be your aim, make some gift to mecommensurate with my merit. "

The king replies, "Oh great sage! what have I got with which to make adue gift to you? I am prepared to give you what I have----this worldwith all its wealth. Please accept it. "

Then the sage becomes calm and says, "Be it so. I will not burn you up. I accept your gift of a kingdom. Nowthat you have made a gift, give me a fee of one thousand gold coins, commensurate with the gift. I will not accept the gift without the fee. But as you have made a gift of the world with all its wealth, you mustnot take the fee-money out of that world. Collect the money elsewhere. "

At this, the king is in a fix. After much thought it strikes him that itis said in the scriptures that Benares is separate from the world. So heresolves to collect money from that holy city. 

Then the king placing the crown and the sceptre of royalty at the feetof the sage, obtains from him one month's time to pay the fee and takingthe queen Saibya and his son Rohitasya with him, starts for Benares. Themonth allowed him is drawing to a close. Not a single gold coin has beencollected--to say nothing of one thousand coins. Alms is the only way ofcollection. Alms barely suffices for maintenance. On the morning of thelast day, when he is deeply anxious for the money, the sage arrives. Seeing the latter, he almost faints. 

The sage whirls his eyes and asks, "Oh Harischandra! where is my fee?Pay at once, or I will burn you up. " He replies in piteous and tremblingtones, "The month will be completed by sunset. Please wait till sunset. "

The sage observes, "I will not listen to any more of yourprevarications. I cannot grant your request. "

The king cries and repeatedly entreats the sage to wait till sunset. 

At this the queen and his son both weep. 

After many entreaties, the sage consents. Then the king again goes outa-begging, but in vain. Then he resolves to sell his person and goesabout hawking himself in the streets. 

No one responds to his efforts. No buyer appears. At this time, aBrahmin with a disciple, asks whether a male or a female slave is forsale and intimates that he requires a female slave. 

The queen wipes her eyes and replies, "Yes, a female slave is for salefor fifty thousand gold coins. I, who am for sale as such, will obey allorders except eating table-refuse and indulging in improper intimacywith males. " The Brahmin consents to the terms laid down, pays therequired sum into the hands of the king and takes away the queen. Theking then bewails her thus:--

"It were far better if a thousand thunderbolts had fallen on my head. Ohmy dear queen! Never even in a dream did I think that such a misfortunewould befall you. You mistook a poisonous tree for a sandal-tree. Oh, how hard is my heart! It does not melt at the sight of my wife sold awayas a slave. Even iron is melted by fire. Oh Providence! I can no longerbear up my sorrows. Oh Indra I break my head in pieces by thythunderbolts. "

At this lamentation of the king, all present become sorry and expresstheir regrets. After a little while, the sage arrives again, his bodyemitting sparks of fire. Seeing him at a distance, the king begins totremble. 

As the sage comes up, the king bows to him and says, "My lord Kausika! I have procured only a half of your fee by the sale ofmy wife. Accept it. I shall presently pay the remaining half by the saleof my own person. "

The sage whirls his eyes and exclaims, "Is it a joke? Am I a fit objectfor a joke? What shall I do with only half the money? Just pay down thewhole amount. See the sun is setting. "

The king replies, "O God! if this does not satisfy you, I pray you waita little. If a Chandal is available, I will sell my person to him andpay your fee. " The sage remarks:--

"Then I will stand here and wait. Collect the money without delay. "

The king then hawks himself about, "Will any one buy me with half a lakhof gold coins, and deliver me from an ocean of sorrows. " No one respondsto his offer. No buyer appears. The sun is about to set. Death stareshim in the face. Not that he fears death. Why should he fear it? He hasgiven away his kingdom. His queen has been sold. Life has no furtherattraction for him. Death has been stripped of its terrors. But death bythe fire of a Brahmin's anger leads to everlasting hell. He sees thevision of hell, falls down on the ground like a plantain tree blown by atempest, and faints. 

Virtue preserves him who practises virtue. Virtue assumes the form of aChandal and accompanied by an attendant, makes his appearance, with ahalf-burnt bamboo on his shoulders and a chain of skeletons round hisneck. He is ready to buy the king, who now weeps bitterly, and holdingthe feet of the sage, entreats him thus:--

"Oh lord Kausika! Do me a favour I pray you. Do not sell me to aChandal. Do _you_ rather buy me. I shall be your slave for ever. "

On this, the sage flies into a rage and exclaims:--

"Oh villain! Do not trifle with me. You have all this time beenpretending that you want buyers. As soon as a buyer appears in thefield, you feel ashamed to be sold to a Chandal! I cannot brook any moredelay. I take up water to destroy you. "

The king begs his pardon, sells himself to the Chandal and pays down thefee to the sage, who then retires. 

The king now puts on the dress of a Chandal and is appointed with twoothers to collect rags in a burning-ground. Hideous is theburning-ground. Dogs and jackals are tearing up carcasses which liescattered all round. Vultures are quarrelling among themselves. Thesesights unloosen the bonds that bind him to the world. The king istrembling with fear. His two colleagues have left him. But he will notleave his station. He must do his duty. The night deepens. Theburning-ground becomes still more hideous. To try the king's sense ofduty, Virtue once more becomes incarnate and this time appears beforethe king in a horrible form. The king has never before seen such aterrible sight, but still he will not leave his station. Not one or twobut myriads of such forms dance before him, but in vain. The kingexclaims, "No one shall be allowed to burn any corpse without depositingrags and couches with me. I am the agent of the lord of thisburning-ground. I make this proclamation by order of my lord. "

No one responds. No voice is heard; only horrible figures are seenplaying around him. After a while, a hermit comes and says. 

"I am a hermit. I have resolved to practise some _mantras_. I have cometo know everything about you by my powers of _yoga_. You are a king andyou should protect me from the demons that disturb my meditations. "

The king most humbly submits, "My body is not my own; I have sold it tothe lord of the Chandals. How can I forsake my duty to my lord to saveyou?"

The hermit says, "come and help me if I ever suffer extreme distress. "

The king replies, "If I can ever help you without detriment to thebusiness of my lord, I am ready to do it. " The hermit retires, and aftera short time he returns; and says, "By your help I am now versed in all _mantras_. I am prepared to giveyou such a mantra as by its virtue you will be able at once to repair toHeaven. You need not suffer hell by slavery to a Chandal. "

The king replies, "Many thanks for your kind offer. But how can I acceptyour offer as this body belongs to a Chandal? I will not go anywherebefore death. "

The hermit says, "Then take this money and deliver your wife. "

The king thankfully declines the offer with the observation, "I havesold my queen in my hour of need. To buy her back is not in my power. "The hermit soliloquizes, "Blessed is Maharaja Harischandra! What fortitude! what wisdom! whatgenerosity! what a sense of duty! The world has never produced a noblerman. A tempest shakes even the mountains, but behold! this noblestspecimen of humanity is not moved by the severest of afflictions!

It is morning. The birds are singing. The sun is up in the horizon. Theking is sitting on the banks of the Ganges. He is thinking of his fatewhen he hears a female voice crying. He approaches the lady. The sceneis horrible. An unfortunate lady, the queen Saibya who had been desertedby her husband, has come to burn her son, the support of her life. Shewas serving as a slave in the house of the Brahmin who had bought her. Her son Rohitashya, was stung by a deadly poisonous snake. No body wouldhelp her. She has come to the burning-ground to burn the dead body ofher son. The queen weeps and faints. The king stares at the face of thecorpse for a long time and at last recognises his dead son. He toofaints. After a long time he recovers, and finds that the queen also hasrecovered. He thinks of committing suicide, but the body is not hisown. He thinks of pacifying the queen by introducing himself, but hispresent costume will perhaps aggravate her sorrows. The queen, lookingup to the skies, exclaims; "It is high time for me to return to thehouse of my master. I forget I am a slave. My master will be angry if Iam late. My husband will incur blame if my master is angry. Let me go atonce. "

The king reflects, "If my queen is so mindful of her duties to hermaster in the midst of such calamities, I must never forget my duty tomy master. "

Then he approaches the queen and addresses her thus:--

"Who are you? You are not allowed to burn the corpse before you give upits clothes to me, the slave of the lord of this place. " She replies, "Please wait a little. I will take off the clothes. "

As the queen delivers the clothes into the hands of the slave, shenotices signs of royalty in his hands and is surprised that such a handis engaged in so low an office. 

"She looks attentively and exclaims in a wild voice, Oh my lord! OhMaharaja! you a slave in this burning-ground! Oh lord Kausika! are younot yet satisfied?" The queen rushes to embrace the king. The kingstarts away from her and forbids her saying, "Oh my queen! do not touchme, I am the slave of a Chandal. Be patient. " She faints again. 

The king cannot touch her as he is in the garb of a Chandal. After awhile, the queen recovers, and the king addresses her thus:--

"Oh my lady! Abandon lamentations. It is useless to lament. All this isthe result of work in previous lives. I will prepare a funeral pyre. Apply the sacrament of fire to the dead body and return at once to thehouse of your master. " The queen is disconsolate and wants to remainwith her husband, who explains the situation thus:--"You have no rightto remain here. Do not forget that your person has been sold to theBrahmin. "

The queen understands and sighs. 

All on a sudden, flowers are showered on their heads from Heaven, andmusical voices are heard on high proclaiming. 

"Blessed is Maharaja Harischandra; Blessed is Rani Shaibya! unrivalledin this world is the liberality, the patience, the resolution and thewisdom of the king. No nobler man can be found in the three worlds. "

The king and the queen stare motionless towards the Heavens. 

Now virtue assumes the form of a hermit and makes this address. 

"Victory to Maharaja Harischandra! You have astonished the world, I amvirtue incarnate. Virtue is never vain. As you have stuck to me allalong, I must reward you. I will send you to the heaven of _Brahma_, where the greatest kings cannot enter by their truth, charity, straightforwardness and sacrifices. You need not lament any more. Bepatient. By my blessing, your son Rohitashya will instantly regainlife". Rohitashya now starts up. 

Then the king perceives, in clear vision acquired by the blessings ofVirtue, that lord Kausika, in order to try his virtue, deprived him ofhis kingdom and placed the government in the hands of his own minister. The Chandal, who is his master, is not a real character but virtueincarnate. 

The Brahmin and his wife, who were the master and mistress of the queen, were not ordinary persons. The Brahmin was Siva, the god of gods, incarnate. The Brahmani was the goddess Durga incarnate. By order ofvirtue, the king and queen annoint, on the banks of the Ganges, Rohitashya as king-associate or Yuvaraja, and return to the capital, amidst the wild rejoicings of the subjects. 

After a short stay there, the happy couple repair to the heaven of_Brahma_. 

MADHURANIRUDDHA. 

The secret loves of Usha, the daughter of the Asura Bana, and Aniruddha, the grandson of Krishna, are intense. The sage Nareda apprises Krishnaand Balarama, that Indra is again in dread of the demons, and especiallyof Bana, who has acquired the particular favour of Siva, and who istherefore not to be easily subdued. The conference ends by Nareda'sgoing to Sonapur, the capital of the demon, to endeavour to impair thefriendship between Bana and Siva, whilst Krishna and his brother awaitthe result. 

The excessive arrogance of Bana, in his anxiety to match himself withVishnu, has offended the latter, who has accordingly departed forKailas, after announcing that Bana's anxiety shall be alleviatedwhenever his banner falls. Parvati has also gone to Kailas, afterannouncing to Usha that she will shortly behold her lover. Usha isimpatient for the boon conferred by the goddess. 

Aniruddha is violently enamoured of a damsel he has seen in his sleep, and despairs of discovering who she is, when Nareda comes opportunely tohis aid, and informs him that she is the daughter of Bana; on whichAniruddha determines to go to his capital, first propitiating Jwalamukhiby penance, in order to obtain the means of entering a city surroundedby a wall of perpetual flame. The goddess is the form of Durga, worshipped wherever a subterraneous flame breaks forth, or whereverjets of carburetted hydrogen gas are emitted from the soil. 

Bana's banner has fallen. His minister and wife endeavour to prevail onhim to propitiate Siva, in order to avert the evil omen, but he refuses. 

Bringi, a servant of Durga, precedes Aniruddha to prepare the goddess togrant his request. As he proceeds in his aerial car, he notices thecountries of Orissa, Bengal, Behar, Oude or Ayodhya, Prayaga, Hastinapuror Delhi and Kurujangal or Tahneser, whence he comes to Jwalamukhi. 

Aniruddha repairs to the shrine of the goddess round which goblinssport, and upon the point of offering himself as a sacrifice, isprevented by the goddess and receives from her the power of travellingthrough the air. 

Usha and Chitralekha, her companion, receive a visit from Nareda, inwhose presence the latter unfolds a picture containing portraits of allthe chief characters in Swerga, Patala, and on earth, or Indra, andother gods; Sesha, Takshaka and the Nagas, and different princes, as thekings of Magadha, Mathura, Avanti, Madra, Mahishmati, and Viderbha, Yudhishthira, Krishna, Baladeva, Pradyumna, and finally Aniruddha, whomUsha recognizes as the individual seen in her dream, and of whom she isenamoured. Nareda recommends that Chitralekha be sent to Dwaravati toinvite Aniruddha, whom he enables to fly thither, whilst he remains incharge of Usha, whom he sends to the garden to await her lover'sarrival. 

Aniruddha and Chitralekha arrive at Sonapur and the former is united tohis mistress. 

Aniruddha is detected by Bana. An engagement ensues. Krishna, Baladeva, and Pradyumna coming to the aid of the prince, the day is going ill withBana, when Kartikeya, Ganesha, and Siva and Chandi come to his succour. Notwithstanding the presence of his allies, Bana has all his thousandarms cut off by Krishna except four. Siva advances to the aid of hisvotary, when a combat ensues between the gods which combat Brahmadescends to arrest. The gods embrace one another. Parvati and Brahmasupport Bana to make his submission. 

Vishnu declares he is less sensible of the wounds inflicted by Bana, than of the regret he feels at his presumption in contending with Siva. The latter consoles him by telling him he only did a warrior's duty, andthat military prowess is independent of all motives of love or hatred. 

Parvati then brings Usha to the spot, and by her desire, and that ofSiva, Bana gives his daughter to Aniruddha. Siva then elevates him tothe rank of one of his attendants, under the name of Mahakala. 

SRIDAMA CHARITA. 

Poverty and Folly are sent by Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, to assailSridama, the early companion and fellow-student of Krishna, who hasbecome obnoxious to the goddess for his attachment to Saraswati; thegoddess of learning. They effect their purpose with Sridama, bydemanding the rites of hospitality, and being accordingly admitted intohis dwelling. 

Sridama is persuaded by his wife, Vasumati, who has seen a propitiousdream, to repair to Krishna, to see if his opulent friend will restorehis broken fortunes. He takes with him a handful of rice, dried andcleaned after boiling, as a present. He arrives at the palace ofKrishna, where he is received with great respect by the host and his twoprincipal wives, Rukmini and Satyabhama; the former washes his feet, thelatter wipes them, and Krishna sprinkles the remaining water upon hisown head. After recalling some of the occurrences of their juveniledays, when they were fellow-students, Krishna leads his friend into thegarden, where they remain till towards sunset; when they are summoned tojoin the queens and their attendants. Krishna indulges in frolics amonghis women. The buffoonery of the Vidushaka amuses the party. 

After some time spent in this manner, Sridama takes his leave, andalthough dismissed with great reverence, departs as poor as he came. Herecollects this on his way back, and consoles himself with observingthat wealth intoxicates as well as wine, and that the affection ofKrishna is a thing which no one can steal from him. His disciple is notso submissive, and reminds him that it was not to get mere civility thathe was sent on this errand by his wife. 

On arrival, they find, instead of the miserable hovel of Sridama, asplendid and extensive town, and that Sridama is in great affliction atthe disappearance of his wife, when he is seen and solicited by a_Kanchuli_ or chamberlain, who calls himself his servant, to enter astately palace. Sridama, thinking this is a jest upon his poverty, threatens to beat him if he does not depart, but the chamberlainperseveres, and tells him that while he was absent, Krishna hadconverted his cottage into a town, named after him Sridamapur, andsupplied it with every article of use or luxury. With much reluctanceand unyielding incredulity Sridama is prevailed upon to enter thepalace, where he finds his wife. 

Krishna now comes to pay a visit to his friend. He arrives in his aerialchariot, accompanied by Satyabhama and the Vidushaka. His bounties areheartily acknowledged by the object on whom they have been bestowed. 

KANSA BADHA

OR

THE DESTRUCTION OF KANSA. 

Kansa, the king of Mathura, alarmed by a voice from heaven, thatKrishna, the son of his sister, predestined to destroy him, has escapedthe precautions taken against him, consults with his minister what heshall do. 

The juvenile Krishna performs many exploits. He accomplishes thedestruction of the demon Kesi, one of those infernal beings who in vainattempted to kill the divine child, instigated by their prescience oftheir fate when he should reach maturity. 

Akrura, the paternal uncle of Krishna, repairs to Gokul to invite hisnephew to Mathura. Balarama and Krishna, after bowing to their fosterparents, Nanda and Yasoda and receiving their benedictions, depart forMathura. 

The seniors then express their grief for their loss. While the boys areproceeding on their journey, they are overtaken by a messenger fromRadha, in consequence of which Krishna determines to spend some time atVrindavan. They resume their journey to Mathura. On the way, the youthskill the royal elephant of Kansa. Then they defeat and slay Kansa's twowrestlers Chanura and Mushtika. These occurrences are reported to Kansa. The youths now reach his palace at Mathura and slay him. The boys arethen re-united with their mortal parents Vasudeva and Devaki. To consoleDevaki for her brother's death, Krishna installs her father Ugrasena inthe sovereignty of Mathura. 

YAYATI CHARITRA. 

Sermishtha was the daughter of Vrishaperva, king of the Daityas, andDevayani, the daughter of Sukra, regent of the planet Venus and thespiritual preceptor of the Daitya race. Devayani having incurred thedispleasure of Sermishtha the latter threw the former into a well, whereshe was found by king Yayati, the son of Nahusha. Devayani, on returningto her father, excited his anger against Vrishaperva, who, to appeaseSukra, consented to give his daughter to Devayani as her servant, with athousand other female attendants. Devayani was married to Yayati. At thetime of her marriage, Sukra obtained the king's promise that he wouldnever associate with Sermishtha; but after some interval, the kingmeeting her, fell in love with, and espoused, her privately. Theintrigue continued secret, until Yayati had two sons by Devayani andthree by Sermishtha, when it was discovered by the former, and excitedher resentment as well as that of her father. The violation of theking's promise was punished by premature decay, as denounced upon him bySukra, with permission, however, to transfer his infirmities to anyonewho would acccept them. Yayati appealed to his sons; of whom theyoungest alone, Puru, consented to assume the burden. After a sufficientperiod, Yayati took his decrepitude back again, and left thesovereignty to Puru in reward of his filial piety. 

All the sons of Yayati were the founders of distinguished families. ThePauravas were the descendants of Puru in whose line the Kaurava and thePandava families were comprised. 

KAUTUKA SERVASWA. 

Kalivatsala, or the darling of the age of iniquity, is the sovereign ofDhermanasa or the destruction of virtue, and he takes as his spiritualguide, Kukermapanchanana, the Siva of iniquity. 

Satyacharya, a pious Brahman returned from Brindavan, who is treated bythe king and his courtiers with great iniquity, holds the followingconversation with his brethren in jail. 

Satyacharya says: "How now, holy sirs, how fares it with you?"

The Brahmans in jail reply: "We once had lands in free gifts. "

Satyacharya asks, "What then?"

The Brahmans answer: "why, know you not the customs of the country? Ifthe god of wealth owned lands here that yielded but a grain of corn, theking would send him in three days to beg alms, clad in tatters and witha platter in his hand. The characteristics of our sovereign are fondnessfor the intoxicating juice of _bhang_, esteem for the wicked, addictionto vice, and detestation of virtue. "

Satyacharya observes: "You are right, what chance is there for the good?The king is unwise, his associates are wicked, his chief councillor is aknave, and his minister, a scoundrel. Yet the people are many; why isnot such misconduct resented?"

The Brahmans reply, "The manners of the people are equally depraved;they are valiant in oppression, skilful in falsehood, and perseveringonly in contempt for the pious. "

Satyacharya asks, "How are the scribes?"

The Brahmans answer, "They collect the revenues by any expedient, andvigilantly inflict penalties on the wise. The Brahmans are not allowedto keep even the dust upon their bodies; the dust accumulated on theirfeet is claimed by the Kayeths. What can we say of this reign? The dumbalone can speak the truth, the deaf hear the law, the sons of the barrenare well-behaved, the blind behold the observance of the scriptures. Ourlands have been given to drunkards, and we are detained in prison forwhat our ancestors expended. "

Satyacharya observes, "I have heard enough. Better fortunes attend you. "

The general Samara Jambuka, the jackal of war, boasts that he can cleavea roll of butter with his falchion. He trembles from top to toe at theapproach of a mosquito. 

The king orders vice to be proclaimed virtue by beat of drum. All theBrahmans are perpetually banished. 

PRACHANDA PANDAVA

OR

THE OFFENDED SONS OF PANDU

OR

BALA BHARATA. 

Draupadi is married to the five sons of Pandu, in compliance with thecommand of their mother. Yudhishthira, the eldest son of Pandu, losesevery thing including Draupadi at chess-play with Duryodhana, the eldestof the Kauravas. Draupadi is now dragged by the hair, almost naked, intothe public assembly, an insult in revenge for which ferocious Bhima vowsto slay Duhsasana, the insulter, and drink his blood, and ultimatelyfulfils his vow. The Pandava princes then depart to the forest. 

PROBODHA CHANDRODAYA

OR

"RISE OF THE MOON OF (TRUE) KNOWLEDGE. "

Religion and the noble king Reason, accompanied by all the Virtuesnamely Faith, Volition, Opinion, Imagination, Contemplation, Devotion, Quietude, Friendship and others, are banished, from Benares, by the evilking Error who reigns at Benares, surrounded by his faithful adherents, the Follies and Vices namely Self-conceit, Hypocrisy, Love, Passion, Anger, Avarice and others. There is, however, a prophecy that Reasonwill some day be re-united with Revelation; the fruit of the union willbe True Knowledge, that will destroy the reign of Error. 

The struggle for this union and its consummation are followed by thefinal triumph of the good party. 

NAGANANDA

OR

JOY OF THE SERPENTS. 

Jimutavahana, a prince of the Vidyadharas, is a Buddhist. He marriesMalayavati, daughter of the king of the Siddhas, a votary of the goddessGauri, the wife of the great god Siva. When he comes to know thatGaruda, the bird celebrated in mythology, is used to eat up one snakeeach day, he makes up his mind to offer himself to the bird as a victim, and eventually succeeds in converting Garuda to the principle of_Ahimsa_ or abstention from slaughter; but he himself is on the point ofsuccumbing to the wounds he has received, when, through the timelyintervention of the goddess Gouri, he recovers. 

DUTANGADA

OR

THE MISSION OF ANGADA. 

Angada, the son of Bali, is sent by Rama to Ravana to demand Sita. Heexecutes his mission in a most clever and courageous manner. He thendeparts from Lanka. Ravana now goes forth to battle and is slain byRama. The divine hero then enters the city of Lanka in triumph. 

PRADYUMNA VIJAYA. 

A pair of geese, the _Hansa_ and _Hansi_ inspire Prabhavati, thedaughter of Vajranabha, and Pradyumna, the son of Krishna with a mutualpassion before they have beheld each other. By their contrivance, secretnuptials are brought about. 

The sage Nareda communicates the stolen interviews of the lovers to thefather of the damsel, to whose vengeance Pradyumna is about to fall avictim, when Krishna and Baladeva with their followers come to therescue. A combat ensues in which Vajranabha is defeated and slain. Theengagement is seen by two Gandherbas from their chariots in the air. 

VIDAGDHA MADHAVA. 

The loves of Krishna and Radha are intense. The two lovers often engagein jealous squabbles. 

Chandravali, a nymph of Vrindavan, is enamoured of Krishna and thusexcites the jealousy of Radha. 

The Paurnamasi, the personified day of the full moon, interests herselfin the union of Krishna and Radha. 

DHANANYAYA VIJAYA. 

The cattle of king Virat are carried off by Karna and the Kuru princes. Aryuna recovers them after a great battle. The different chiefs appear, threaten one another and praise themselves. 

Indra and some of his attendants contemplate the fight from the clouds. 

HASYARNAVA. 

The king Anasayindhu, in his progress through his city, regrets to findeverything subverted: that Chandals, not Brahmans, make shoes; thatwives are chaste and husbands constant; and that respect is paid to therespectable, not to the vile; and that Vyadhisindhu, the doctor, curesthe cholic by applying a heated needle to the palate, and perforates thepupils of the eyes in order to restore vision. 

Sadhhinsaka, the chief of police, reports with great satisfaction thatthe city is completely in the hands of thieves; the Commander-in-chiefRanajambuka, after putting on his armour, valiantly cuts a leech in two. Mahayatrika, the astrologer, in answer to a question of the time to takea journey, indicates hours and positions which proclaim approachingdeath. 

A dispute ensues between Viswabhanda, a Saiva mendicant, andKalahankura, his disciple, which they refer to the decision ofMahanindaka, another Brahman, who asserts that he composed the _vedas_and visited _Swerga_, where he treated Vrihaspati and Brahma withcontempt and gave Siva a drubbing. 

CHITRA YAJNA. 

Daksha, the father of Sati or Bhavani and father-in-law of the great godSiva, institutes a great sacrifice. 

The gods and sages assemble on the occasion, Daksha accords them acordial reception. He bows down to the feet of the gods, and puts thedust from under them upon his head. He then proceeds to the place ofsacrifice, reading or reciting the usual formulĉ. He orders theattendants to distribute rice to the Brahmans, for the purpose ofinvoking their benedictions. They receive the rice, scatter it andpronounce the _Swasti Vachana_, or benedictory text. He offers oblationto fire. 

Dadhichi now comes to the sacrifice, when a dispute ensues between himand the sacrificer, upon the impropriety of omitting to invite Siva; andthe dispute becoming rather hot, Daksha orders his guest to be turnedout. The gods partake of Dadhichi's indignation at the disrespectfulmention of Siva, and rise to depart. Daksha orders his servants to guardthe door and prevent their going forth: the gods, however, force theirway. 

The sages then also withdraw, on which Daksha goes out, exclaiming, "Iwill give double presents to those who remain. " Nareda goes to Kailaswith the news. He enters playing the _Vina_ and singing hymns in honourof the great god. Nareda's communication to Siva and Bhavani is verybrief. 

Siva asks, "Now, Nareda, whence come you?" Nareda replies, "Your godshipis omniscient, you know all that has happened, but have asked me througha wish to hear it from my lips. We were all invited to Daksha'ssacrifice. Dadhichi, finding that you were not invited, took Daksha totask pretty sharply, and walked off, upon which I come to pay you myrespects. " Having said this and prostrated himself on the ground, thesage, with his lute hanging upon his neck, departed. 

Sati now asks leave to go and see her father. 

Siva replies, "It is quite contrary to etiquette, to go without aninvitation. " She answers, "I need not stand on ceremony with my father. "

Siva observes, "How! would you impose upon me with falsehoods? Daksha isnot your father, nor is his wife your mother, you are the father of allthings, the mother of the universe. Those versed in the _Vedas_ declareyou male and female too. "

In the end, she is allowed to follow her own inclinations. 

She comes to her father, and vainly endeavours to impress him withrespect for her husband. She quits him to throw herself into thesacrificial fire. 

Nareda then appears and tells Daksha to prepare for the consequences ofhis folly. Virabhadra, Siva's attendant, then enters and plays someantics. Shaking the earth with his tread, and filling space with hisextended arms, he rolls his eyes in wrath. Some of the gods he casts onthe ground and tramples on them; he knocks out the teeth of some withhis fists, plucks out the beards of some, and cuts off the ears, arms, and noses of others; he smites some, and he tosses others into thesacrificial fire. He decapitates the cause of his master's indignation, the haughty Daksha. 

MRIGANKALEKHA. 

Mrigankalekha is the daughter of the king of Kamarupa or Assam: she isbeheld by Karpuratilaka, the king of Kalinga, whilst hunting, and theparties are mutually enamoured. 

The obstacle to their union is the love of Sankhapala, a demon, tooppose whose supernatural powers, Ratnachura, the minister of the kingof Kalinga, who alone is aware of the circumstance, invites to thepalace a benevolent magician, Siddhayogini, and Mrigankalekha is alsolodged in the palace as the friend of the queen Vilasavati. 

Notwithstanding these precautions, she is carried off by Sankhapala tothe temple of Kali, which is surrounded by goblins. During the Raja'speregrinations in his love-frenzy, he passes disconsolate through a woodin which he inquires of different animals if they have seen hismistress. 

He now comes to the temple, rescues her, and kills Sankhapala. He isthen united to Mrigankalekha in the presence of her father and brother, and with the consent of the queen. Before the conclusion of the marriagerite, he kills also the brother of Sankhapala, who comes to revenge himin the form of a wild elephant. 

The marriage is thus effected through the secret contrivance of theminister, because the lady's husband is to become the master of theworld. 

MUDRARAKSHASA

OR

RAKSHASA (THE MINISTER) WITH THE SIGNET

OR

RAKSHASA AND THE SIGNET-RING

OR

RAKSHASA KNOWN BY THE SIGNET-RING. 

The city of Pataliputra or Palibothra, the capital of the Nandas, wassituated not far from the confluence of the Ganges and the Sone; and wason the southern side of the rivers. Nanda, the last king of the Nandaline, had for his minister the able and experienced Rakshasa. Chandragupta also called Vrishala and Maurya is identical withSandrakottus represented by the Greek writers as the most powerful Rajain India at the time of Alexander the Great's death. He was a sovereignof dignity and strength of character and had a high respect for hisminister Chanakya, the Indian Macchiavelli, who was a crafty, clearheaded, self-confident, intriguing and hard politician, with theultimate end of his ambition thoroughly well-determined and directingall his clearheadedness and intrigue to the accomplishment of that end. This minister, also called Vishnugupta, is famous as a writer on _Nity_or "rules of government and polity", and the reputed author of numerousmoral and political precepts commonly current in India. Nanda is slainby the contrivances of this wily Brahman, who thus assists Chandraguptato the throne, and becomes his minister. Rakshasa refuses to recognisethe usurper and endeavours to be avenged on him for the ruin of his latemaster. 

After the assassination of Nanda, Servarthasiddhi is placed on thethrone by Rakshasa but he retires to a life of devotion. Saileswara orParvataka or Parvateswara, the king of the Mountains, at first the allyof Chandragupta, afterwards befriended his opponents and is thereforeslain privily by Chanakya. Vairodhaka, the brother of Parvataka, iskilled by Rakshasa's emissaries by mistake for Chandragupta. 

Malayaketu, the son of Parvataka, is a prince whose confidence anddistrust are alike misplaced, who is thoughtless, suspicious, wanting indignity, and almost child-like, not to say childish. He leads an armyagainst Chandragupta but without success. He is so rash andinconsiderate as to resolve most hastily to undertake war against fivekings at a time. 

Rakshasa is a brave soldier but a blundering and somewhat soft-naturedpolitician, whose faithfulnesss to his original master Nanda prompts himto wreak vengeance on Chandragupta and Chanakya. He has ultimately toabandon in despair his self-imposed task, the great aim of his life, being foiled by the arts of his adversary Chanakya. The proximate motiveof the abandonment, however, is the duty of repaying favours received byhim when he was engaged in his attempts at vengeance. He accidentallyacquires a ring. 

Chanakya, whose ability and diplomatic skill are of a high order, laysout various plottings and machinations to make Chandragupta theparamount sovereign in India, by winning over the noble Rakshasa to hismaster's cause. He tries successfully to effect a reconciliation betweenhis protegé, and Rakshasa. With this view Rakshasa is rendered by thecontrivances of Chanakya an object of suspicion to the prince Malyaketuwith whom he has taken refuge and is consequently dismissed by him. 

In this deserted condition he learns the imminent danger of a dearfriend Chandandasa whom Chanakya is about to put to death, and in orderto effect his liberation surrenders himself to his enemies. 

They offer him, contrary to his expectations, the rank and power ofPrime Minister, and the parties are finally friends. 

The Nanda dynasty thus comes to an end and Chandragupta becomes thefounder of the Maurya dynasty. 

A curious scene in the last Act may be noticed here. A Chandala orexecutioner leads a criminal to the place of execution. The latter bearsa stake (_Sula_) on his shoulder, and is followed by his wife and sonwho use no expressions suggestive of tenderness but only of sacrifice--astern sense of duty. At the impending execution of her husband, sheneither faints nor becomes disconsolate but simply weeps and talks ofher duty. 

The executioner calls out--"Make way, make way, good people! let everyone who wishes to preserve his life, his property, or his family, avoidtransgressing against the king as he would, poison. " This criminal isChandan Das who is put into chains with a view to force his friendRakshsa to yield. He gives up his life and property for the sake of hisfriend Rakshasa. This conduct is described as casting into the shade thenoble acts of even the Buddhas. 

VIDDHA SALABHANJIKA

OR

THE CARVED STATUE. 

Vidyadhar Malla, the chief of the Karachuli race, a Rajput tribe, wasthe king of Triling and Kalinga. Bhagurayana was his minister. Charayanawas his Vidushaka or confidential attendant. Chandraverma, the king ofLata, was the maternal uncle-in-law of Vidyadhar Malla. He had no son. To satisfy his desire for a son, he dressed his only daughterMrigankavali as a son to pass her off as such. People knew that thechild was a son. 

Bhagurayana had heard from the sages that "whosoever shall wed thedaughter of Chandravarma shall become the paramount sovereign. " So hetold Chandravarma, "My king desires to see your son. " Upon thisChandravarma sent his child to the queen of Vidyadhara Malla to be takencare of by her. Thus the minister contrived to bring Mrigankavali to thepalace of his king. 

One day, while the king is asleep, Mrigankavali puts a necklace on theneck of the king, being induced by a maid-servant who had instructionsto do so by the minister. The king takes this as a wonderful dream. Thevision of a beautiful maid agitates his mind. The king thus relates toBidushaka the story of his fancied vision, "for the burden of the heartis lightened by sharing it with a faithful friend. "

"A glorious halo appeared before me in my dream, bright as the moon'sresplendent disk; within the orb a beauteous maiden moved as gentlyradiant as the lunar rays in autumn skies. 

Advancing near me, she inclined her head in reverence, and, as ifpouring ambrosia into my ears, pronounced in softest tones, 'Glory to the deity of love!' Then sighing, she took up this string ofcostly pearls and placed it on my neck. This awoke me, I started up andsaw my vision realised. I caught the nymph by her scarf, but she hastilyextricated herself from my hands and fled, leaving me this necklacealone the evidence of her presence. " Bidushaka asks his Majesty, "Wasnot the queen with you when you dreamt? What did she do?"

The king replies, "The queen got angry and left me. " Bidushaka remarks, "Why could not you assuage her anger?"

The king answers, "I was absorbed in the maid of my vision. "

The Vidushaka, however, treats the whole as a dream, and reproaches theking for his fickleness, as he had just before fallen in love withKuvalayamala, the princess of Kuntala, and recommends him to be contentwith the queen, as "a partridge in the hand is better than a pea-hen inthe forest. "

The prince and the Vidushaka then go into the garden by the back-door, where, over the edge of a terrace, they see some of the fair tenants ofthe inner apartments amusing themselves with swinging. Amongst them theking recognises the countenance he has seen in his dream, but the partydisappear on the advance of the king and his friend. 

The king then enters a pleasure-house or pavilion called the_kelikailas_ or mountain of sport built for him by the minister. 

It is a beautiful palace built of crystal, and decorated with statuesand paintings. One of the paintings is thus described:

"There is your Majesty at _pasa_ (dice) with the queen: behind youstands one damsel with the betel box, whilst another is waving the_chownri_ over your head: the dwarf is playing with the monkey, and theparrot abusing the Vidushaka. " The chamber also contains the portrait ofMrigankavali, the damsel whom the prince has really seen in his supposeddream. There is also a statue of her, whence the drama is named _ViddhaSalabhanjika_, meaning a curved statue or effigy. 

The king discovers the statue. He thinks, "Who will carve on the wallthe person I dreamed of? No one was present when I dreamt. Has anyonecarved the statue out of his fancy? A real person may exist in thisworld or how can an exact figure come here?"

He now verily believes the dream to be a reality. He then puts thenecklace of his dream on the neck of the carved statue. 

Finally the lady is herself beheld through the transparent wall of thepavilion, but runs away on being observed. The king becomes enamoured ofher. He and his friend follow her but in vain. The bards proclaim it atnoon, and the two friends repair to the queen's apartments to performthe midday ceremonies. 

Kuvalayamala, the object of the king's passion before encountering hisnew flame, is the daughter of Chandramahasena, the king of Kuntala. Shehas been sent to Vidyadhara Malla's queen, as the betrothed bride of thesupposed son of Chandraverma, who is the queen's maternal uncle. Mekhala, the queen's foster-sister, practises a frolic on Charayana. Heis promised a new bride by the queen, and the ceremony is about to takeplace when the spouse proves to be a "lubberly boy"; he is highlyindignant at the trick, and goes off threatening vengeance. 

The king having followed and pacified his companion, they go off intothe garden, where they see the damsel Mrigankavali playing with ball:she still however flies their advance. Presently they overhear aconversation between her and one of her companions, from which itappears, that notwithstanding her shyness she is equally enamoured ofthe king. 

Her dress is the contrivance of the minister, at whose instigation, Mrigankavali is persuaded by Sulakshana to believe that she is to beholdthe present deity of love, and is introduced by a sliding door into theking's chamber. The consequence of the interview is to renderMrigankavali passionately enamoured of the king. 

One day, the queen, in order to deceive Charayana, manages to celebratea marriage between him and a son of a maid-servant veiled as a female. The trick is discovered. He is highly indignant. 

He now retaliates with the help of the king. He induces Sulakshana, oneof the female attendants of the queen, to ascend a _Bakula_ tree andthence send a message in a nasal tone, as if from the sky, to Mekhala, the foster-sister and chief attendant of the queen. 

"Thou shalt die at this spot on the full moon day of _Baisakh_. " Aftermany entreaties, the heavenly voice prescribes a relief, "Thou art safeif thou canst pass through the legs of a Brahmin skilled in music andgratified with a fee. " Charayana, just the kind of Brahmin required, arrives at this juncture. The king and the queen are present. Mekhalaand the queen, both overcome with concern, entreat Charayana to be theBrahmin that shall preserve the life of the former. He consents. AsMekhala tries to pass between his legs, he mounts on her back and says, "you are now caught in your turn. You deceived me once. Now marry me. "He triumphs in the humiliation he has inflicted on her. The queen nowperceives the intrigue of the king, is in her turn incensed, goes off ina pet and resolves to take revenge. 

Chandamahasen, the king of Kuntala as a defeated prince now resides withhis daughter Kubalayamala under the protection of the victorious king. The king sees her one day as she rises after bathing in the Narbadda. Hebecomes enamoured of her and wishes to marry her. The queen gets scentof the matter. To prevent the curse of co-wifeship, the queen nowresolves to get her husband married to the son of her maternal uncle sothat he may be ashamed into abandoning his polygamous tendency. 

The king and the Vidushaka seek the garden, where it is now moon-light. Mrigankavali and her friend Vilakshana also come thither, and the loversmeet: this interview is broken off by a cry that the queen is coming, and they all separate abruptly. 

At dawn, Charayana's wife is asleep. In her sleep, however, she is verycommunicative, and repeats a supposed dialogue between the queen and theRaja, in which the former urges the latter to marry Mrigankavali, thesister of the supposed Mrigankavarma, come on a visit, it is pretended, to her brother--this being a plot of the queen's to cheat the king intoa sham marriage, by espousing him to one she believes to be a boy. 

The Vidushaka suspects the trick, however, and wakes his wife, who risesand goes to the queen. The Vidushaka joins his master. The king, who isalready the husband of the princesses of Magadha, Malava, Panchala, Avanti, Jalandhara and Kerala, is wedded to Mrigankavali. As soon as theceremony is gone through, a messenger from the court of Chandravermaarrives to announce:--

"O queen! His Majesty Chandravarma wishes it to be known thatMrigankavarma is not his son but his daughter. In the absence of a sonhe dressed her as such to satisfy his desire for a son. Now that a sonhas been born to him, it is not necessary to keep up the pretence. Theking requests you to settle a suitable marriage for her. The sages haveprophesied paramount sovereignty for her husband. "

The queen becomes stunned and soliloquises:--

"What is play to me, Providence ordains to be a stern fact. Manproposes, God disposes. " She now finds that she has taken herself in, and given herself another rival wife. As the matter is past remedy, however, she assents with a good grace. The minister is glad that hisaims are fulfilled. All are happy, Why should Kuvalayamala alone besorry? The queen therefore allows her lord to marry Kuvalyamala. 

To crown the king's happiness, a messenger, sent by the General of HisMajesty's forces, now arrives from the camp with the news that theallied armies of Kernata, Simhala, Pandya, Murala, Andhra, and Konkanahave been defeated, and Virapala, king of Kuntala, the ally ofVidyadhara Malla, reseated on a throne, from which his kinsman, supported by those troops, had formerly expelled him. The authority ofVidyadhara Malla as paramount sovereign is now declared to extend fromthe mouths of the Ganges to the sea, and from the Narbada to theTamraperni in the Deccan. 

RATNAVALI OR THE NECKLACE. 

A holy seer announces to Yaugandharayana, the chief minister of Vatsa, the king of Kausambi, that whoever shall wed Ratnavali, the fairdaughter of Vikramabahu, the king of _Sinhala_ or Ceylon and maternaluncle of Vasavadatta, the queen of Vatsa, should become the emperor ofthe world. The faithful minister, desirous of securing paramountsovereignty for his master, sends, without his knowledge and consent, anenvoy to the court of Vikramabahu to negotiate the match. Vikramabahudeclines to inflict the curse of co-wifeship upon his daughter andniece. The disappointed envoy returns home. 

The premier is sorry, but does not lose hope. After much deliberation, he hits upon an ingenious device. He proclaims in Ceylon by agents thatqueen Vasavadatta is dead, being burnt by chance and that the king, though much grieved, has at last consented, at the request of friendsand relatives, to marry again. The intelligence reaches the ears ofVikramabahu who believes it. 

The premier now sends Babhravya as envoy to the Court of Ceylon toreopen the question of Ratnavali's marriage with Vatsa. Vikramabahu, after consulting his queen, consents to the proposal. He has Ratnavalidecked in all ornaments including a single-stringed necklace round herneck and sends her away on board a ship, in company with his ownambassador Vasubhuti and Babhravya. He waits on the shore till the shipis out of sight and then returns home sorry at parting with hisdaughter. 

A terrible tempest wrecks the ship. A merchant of Kausambi findsRatnavali floating in mid-sea, saves her life and brings her to theminister who thanks him heartily for the favour and offers a reward. Themerchant thus expresses his unwillingness to accept it, "Sir, under therule of our gracious king, the weak do not fear the strong; the richcannot oppress the poor; the word "robber" has become obsolete; the sickand the orphans are being treated by the best of physicians and are freefrom any want of food and clothing; children are being properlyeducated; drought is never heard of; the highways are wide, clean, andwell-guarded; communications are safe. If any loyal subject can be ofany service to such a king, he does only his bare duty and should notaccept any reward. " He at last accepts the reward at the repeatedrequests of the minister and goes home. 

Then the minister interviews the queen, conceals the real facts andaddresses her thus:--

"May it please your Majesty. I have received this girl from a merchantwho told me that he had rescued her in the sea, but could not sayanything more about her and her whereabouts. From her appearance sheseems to be a respectable lady. I beseech your Majesty to take care ofher. " The queen takes the girl as one of her attendants--the girl who isdestined to make her husband the lord of the world! The queen names herSagarika or the Ocean Maid. The princess, who has been attended byhundreds of maidservants, is now reduced, by a strange irony of fate, to the position of a maid-servant herself!

The Chamberlain Babhravya and Vasubhuti by some means reach the shoreand are on their way to _Kausambi_. 

Vatsa comes forth to behold from the terrace of his palace the frolicmerriment with which his subjects celebrate the festival of _Kamadeva_, the god of love. Wearied of tales of war, and seeking most hisreputation in his people's hearts, he issues forth attended by hisconfidential companion Vasantaka, like the flower-armed deity himself, descended to take a part in the happiness of his worshippers. The kingobserves:--

"I scarcely can express the content I now enjoy. My kingdom is rid ofevery foe; the burden of my government reposes on able shoulders; theseasons are favourable; and my subjects, prosperous and happy. InVasavadatta, the daughter of Pradyota, I have a wife whom I adore, andin Vasantaka, a friend in whom I can confide. Attended by such a friend, at such a season, and so disposed I might fancy myself the deity ofdesire, and this vernal celebration held in honour of myself. Kausambioutvies the residence of the god of wealth. Her numerous sons are cladin cloth of gold, decked with glittering ornaments and tossing theirheads proudly with splendid crests. 

Vasantaka says:--

"Observe the general joy. As if intoxicated with delight, the peopledance along the streets, sporting merrily with each other's persons andmutually scattering the yellow-tinted fluid. On every side, the musicof the drum and the buzz of frolic crowds fill all the air. The veryatmosphere is of a yellow hue, with clouds of flowery fragrance. "

At the request of the queen, conveyed through her attendants, the kingproceeds with his friend to join her in offering homage to the image ofthe flower-armed deity, which stands at the foot of the red _Asoka_tree. The queen enters the garden accompanied by Kanchanmala, herprincipal attendant, Sagarika and other damsels. Noticing Sagarika, thequeen thinks, "What carelessness! an object I have hitherto socautiously concealed, thus heedlessly exposed! I must remove her hencebefore the arrival of the king. " She says, "How now, Sagarika, whatmakes you here? where is my favourite starling, that I left to yourcharge, and whom it seems you have quitted for this ceremony? Return toyour place. " Sagarika withdraws to a short distance and thinks, "thebird is safe with my friend Susangata. I should like to witness theceremony. I wonder if _Annaga_ is worshipped here as in my father'smansion! I will keep myself concealed amongst the shrubs and watch them, and for my own presentation to the deity I will go, cull a few of theseflowers. " The king now joins the queen. Kanchanmala delivers theaccustomed gifts of sandal, saffron, and flowers to the queen, whooffers them to the image. The king thus eulogises the beauty of thequeen, "Whilst thus employed, my love, you resemble a graceful creeperturning round a coral tree: your robes of the orange dye, your personfresh from the bath. As rests your hand upon the stem of the _Asoka_, it seems to put forth a new and lovelier shoot. The unembodied godto-day will regret his disencumbered essence, and sigh to be material, that he might enjoy the touch of that soft hand. "

The worship of the divinity concluded, the queen worships the king. Sagarika views the scene, mistakes the king for the god and observes, "What do I see? Can this be true? Does then the deity, whose effigy onlywe adore in the dwelling of my father, here condescend to accept inperson the homage of his votaries? I, too, though thus remote, presentmy humble offering. "

She throws down the flowers and continues:--"Glory to the flower-armedgod: may thy auspicious sight both now and hereafter prove not to havebeen vouchsafed to me in vain!"

She bows down, then rising looks again, and observes:--

"The sight, though oft repeated, never wearies. I must tear myself fromthis, lest some one should discover me. " She then withdraws a little, hears a bard sing a ballad in praise of the king, perceives her mistakeand asks herself, "Is this Udayana, to whom my father destined me abride?" She becomes enamoured of the king. The king and the queen nowrise to return to the palace. 

Sagarika thinks, "They come! I must fly hence. Ah me, unhappy! no longerto behold him, whom I could gaze upon for ever. "

The king addresses his queen thus:--"Come, love, thou puttest the nightto shame. The beauty of the moon is eclipsed by the loveliness of thycountenance, and the lotus sinks humbled into shade; the sweet songs ofthy attendant damsels discredit the murmurs of the bees, and mortifiedthey hasten to hide their disgrace within the flowery blossom. " The kingand the queen return to the palace. 

Sagarika enters a plantain bower with a brush and pallet in order topaint a picture and soliloquises thus: "Be still, my foolish heart, noridly throb for one so high above thy hopes. Why thus anxious to beholdthat form, one only view of which has inspired such painful agitation?Ungrateful, too, as weak, to fly the breast that has been familiar tothee through life, and seek another, and as yet but once beheld, asylum. Alas! Why do I blame thee! the terror of _Ananga's_ shaft has renderedthee a fugitive;--let me implore his pity. Lord of the flowery bow, victor of demons and of gods! dost thou not blush to waste thy mightupon a weak defenceless maiden, or art thou truly without form andsense? Ah me, I fear my death impends, and this the fatal cause. " Shelooks at the picture and goes on, "No one approaches; I will try andfinish the likeness I am here attempting to portray. My heart beatshigh, my hand trembles, yet I must try, and whilst occasion favours me, attempt to complete these lineaments, as the only means to retain themin my sight. " She draws the picture, raising her head beholds her friendSusangata with a _Sarika_ or talking bird in a cage, and hides thepicture. Susangata sits down, puts her hand upon the picture and asks, "who is this you have delineated?"

Sagarika answers, "The deity of the festival, _Ananga_. " Susangataobserves, "It is cleverly done, but there wants a figure to completeit. Let me have it, and I will give the god his bride. " She takes thepaper and draws the likeness of Sagarika. Sagarika expresses anger. Herfriend remarks, "Do not be offended without cause. I have given your_Kamadeva_ my _Rati_, that is all. But come, away with disguise, andconfess the truth. " Seeing that her friend has discovered her secret, Sagarika is overcome with shame and entreats her to promise that no bodyelse shall be made acquainted with her weakness. Her friend replies, "why should you be ashamed? Attachment to exalted worth becomes yournative excellence. But be assured I will not betray you; it is morelikely this prattling bird will repeat our conversation. " The friendbrings some leaves and fibres of the lotus, and binds the former withthe latter upon Sagarika's bosom. She exclaims, "Enough, enough, myfriend, take away these leaves and fibres, --it is vain to offer relief. I have fixed my heart where I dare not raise my hopes. I am overcomewith shame--I am enslaved by passion--my love is without return--death, my only refuge. " She faints and recovers after a short while. A noisebehind proclaims that a monkey has escaped from the stable, and, rattling the ends of his broken chain of gold, he clatters along. Afraidof the advent of the monkey, they both rush to hide in the shade of a_tamala_ grove, leaving the drawing behind. The ape breaks the cage toget at the curds and rice and lets the _Sarika_ fly. 

Vasantaka now notices that the jasmine has been covered with countlessbuds, as if smiling disdainfully upon the queen's favourite _Madhavi_. He is surprised at the most marvellous power of the venerableSri-Khanda-Dasa, a great sage come to court from _Sri-Parvata_, by whosesimple will the strange event has happened. He thinks of going to theking to inform his Majesty when the king appears. He congratulates hisMajesty, on his propitious fortune. The king observes, "Inconceivable isthe virtue of drugs, and charms, and gems. Lead the way, and let theseeyes this day obtain by the sight the fruit of their formation. "

Vasantaka advances, stops to listen and turns back in alarm for hefancies a goblin in yonder _Bakula_ tree. The goblin turns out astarling. The courtier remarks, "she says, give the Brahman something toeat. " The king observes, "something to eat is ever the burden of theglutton's song. Come, say truly, what does she utter. The friend listensand repeats, "Who is this you have delineated? Do not be offendedwithout cause; I have given your _Kamadeva_ my _Rati_. Why should you beashamed? Attachment to exalted worth becomes your native excellence. Take away these lotus leaves and fibres--it is in vain you strive tooffer me relief. I have fixed my heart where I dare not raise myhopes;--I am overcome with shame and despair, and death is my onlyrefuge. " The king interprets thus:--"Oh, I suppose some female has beendrawing her lover's portrait, and passing it off on her companion as thepicture of the god of love: her friend has found her out; andingeniously exposed her evasion, by delineating her in the character of_Kama-deva's_ bride. The lady that is pictured is very handsome. Someyoung female may be supposed to have spoken, indifferent to life, because uncertain of her affection being returned. The delicate maidentrusts her companion with the sorrows of her breast: the tattlingparrot or imitative starling repeats her words, and they find anhospitable welcome in the ears of the fortunate. The companion, laughingloudly, observes, "You may as well drop these evasive interpretations;why not say at once, "the damsel doubts my returning her passion. " Whobut yourself could have been delineated as the god of the flowery bow?". 

The friend claps his hands and laughs. His obstreperous mirth frightensthe bird away. She perches on the plantain bower. They follow her there. Vasantaka finds a picture and shows it to the king, who gives him agolden bracelet. Looking at it, the king dwells upon the beauties of thedamsel. 

Susangata and Sagarika hide themselves behind the plantain trees andoverhear the conversation between the king and his companion. Susangataremarks, "You are in luck, girl; your lover is dwelling upon yourpraises. The bird, as I told you, has repeated our conversation. "Sagarika thinks to herself, "What will he reply? I hang between life anddeath. " The king remarks farther to his companion, "My sight insatiaterests upon her graceful limbs and slender waist. I cannot deny that shehas flatteringly delineated my likeness, nor doubt her sentiments--forobserve the traces of the tear that has fallen upon her work, like themoist dew that starts from every pore of my frame. " Sagarika says toherself, "Heart, be of good cheer! your passion is directed to acorresponding object. " Susangata now comes forward, so as to be seen byVasantaka. At this the king, on the advice of his companion, covers thepicture with his mantle. Susangata says, "I am acquainted with thesecret of the picture and some other matters of which I shall appriseher Majesty. " The king takes off his bracelet and other ornaments andoffers them to her with the object of bribing her to be silent. Shereplies, "Your Majesty is bountiful. You need not fear me. I was but injest, and do not want these jewels. The truth is, my dear friend, Sagarika is very angry with me for drawing her picture, and I shall bemuch obliged to your Majesty to intercede for me and appease herresentment. " The king springs up and exclaims, "Where is she? Lead me toher. "

Then all advance to Sagarika. She thinks, "He is here--I tremble at hissight. I can neither stand nor move--what shall I do?" Vasantaka, seeingher, exclaims, "A most surprising damsel, truly; such another is not tobe found in this world. I am confident that when she was created, _Brahma_ was astonished at his own performance. " The king is struck withher and observes, "such are my impressions. The four mouths of _Brahma_must at once have exclaimed in concert, bravo, bravo! when the deitybeheld these eyes more beauteous than the leaves of his own lotus; andhis head must have shaken with wonder, as he contemplated herloveliness, the ornament of all the world. " Sagarika prepares to go awaywhen the king addresses her thus, "You turn your eyes upon your friendin anger, lovely maid; yet such is their native tenderness that theycannot assume a harsh expression. Look thus, but do not leave us, foryour departure hence will alone give me pain. " Susangata now advises theking to take Sagarika by the hand and pacify her. The king approves theadvice and acts up to it. Vasantaka congratulates the king on hisunprecedented fortune. 

The king replies, "You say rightly--she is the very deity Lakshmiherself. Her hand is the new shoot of the _Parijata_ tree, else whencedistil these dewdrops of ambrosia?" Susangata remarks, "It is notpossible, my dear friend, you can remain inexorable whilst honoured thuswith his Majesty's hand. "

Sagarika frowns on her friend and asks her to forbear. At this time, Vasantaka, in testiness of temper, raises a false alarm by proclaimingthat the queen is approaching. The king lets go Sagarika's hand inalarm. Sagarika and her companion go off hastily behind the _tamala_tree. 

After a short time, the queen approaches the king. By order of the king, Vasantaka hides the picture quickly under his arm. The king proposes tovisit, in the company of the queen, the Jasmine budded. The queendeclines. Vasantaka takes it as an acknowledgment of defeat on her partand cries out Huzza! He waves his hand and dances; the picture falls. Kanchanmala, an attendant of the queen, picks up the picture and showsit to her mistress. The queen, whose jealousy is excited by thediscovery of the picture, demands an explanation from the king. Vasantaka volunteers to offer the explanation thus:--"I was observing, madam, that it would be very difficult to hit my friend's likeness, onwhich his Majesty was pleased to give me this specimen of his skill. "The king confirms the explanation. The queen observes, "And the femalestanding near you--I suppose this is a specimen of Vasantaka's skill. "The king replies, "What should you suspect? That is a mere fancyportrait, the original was never seen before. " Vasantaka supports theking thus, "I will swear to this, by my Brahmanical thread, that theoriginal was never seen before by either of us. " Not satisfied with theexplanation, the queen remarks, "My lord, excuse me. Looking at thepicture has given me a slight headache. I leave you to your amusements. "

The king observes, "What can I say to you, dearest? I really am at aloss. If I ask you to forgive me, that is unnecessary, if you are notoffended; and how can I promise to do so no more, when I have committedno fault, although you will not believe my assertions?" The queen, detaching herself gently and with politeness, takes leave and goes awaywith her attendant. Vasantaka remarks, "Your Majesty has had a luckyescape. The queen's anger has dispersed like summer clouds. " The kingobserves. "Away, blockhead, we have no occasion to rejoice; could younot discover the queen's anger through her unsuccessful attempts todisguise it? Her face was clouded with a passing frown. As she hung downher head, she looked on me with an affected smile. She gave utterance tono angry words, it is true, and the swelling eye glowed not withrage--but a starting tear was with difficulty repressed; and althoughshe treated me with politeness, struggling indignation lurked in everygesture. We must endeavour to pacify her. "

To insure the vigilance of Kanchanmala, the queen gives her some of herown clothes and ornaments. With these it is plotted to equip Sagarika asthe queen. A stolen interview between the king and Sagarika, thusdisguised, is arranged to take place at the _Madhava_ bower aboutsunset. The queen gets scent of the matter and forestalls Sagarika bymeeting the king at the appointed time and place. The king, mistakingher for Sagarika, thus speaks his honest self! "My beloved Sagarika, thycountenance is radiant as the moon, thy eyes are two lotus buds, thyhand is the full blown flower, and thy arms, its graceful filaments. Come thou, whose form is the shrine of ecstasy, come to my arms. "

The queen throws off her veil and says:--"Believe me still Sagarika, mygood lord; your heart is so fascinated by her, you fancy you beholdSagarika in everything. " The king replies, "forgive me, dearest. " Thequeen remarks, "Address not this to me, my lord--the epithet isanother's property. " The king falls at her feet. The queen observes, "Rise, my lord, rise! that wife must be unreasonable indeed, who, withsuch evidence of her lord's affection, can presume to be offended. Behappy, I take my leave. " She now goes away. 

Sagarika, dressed as the queen, goes some way to meet the king when shethinks of putting an end at once to her sufferings and her life andfastens the noose round her neck with the fibres of the _Madhavi_. Theking, who is seeking for the queen in hopes to pacify her anger, discovers Sagarika on the way and mistakes her for the queen. He rushesto her and tears off the tendril. He soon discovers his mistake, embraces her and observes, "When the bosom of my queen swells withsighs, I express concern; when she is sullen, I soothe her; when herbrows are bent, and her face is distorted with anger, I fall prostrateat her feet. These marks of respect are due to her exalted position; butthe regard that springs from vehement affection, that is yours alone. "

At this time, the queen, who has overheard the speech, comes forward andsays, "I believe you, my lord, I believe you. " The king explains hisconduct thus:--"Why, then, you need not be offended. Cannot you perceivethat I have been attracted hither, and misled by the resemblance of yourdress and person? Be composed, I beg you. " He falls at her feet. Sheobserves, "Rise, rise, let not my exalted station put you to suchunnecessary inconvenience. "

Vasantaka takes up the noose, shows it to the queen and explains hisconduct thus, "It is very true, madam, I assure you, that, deceived bythe belief that you were attempting to destroy yourself, I brought myfriend to this spot, to preserve, as I thought, your life. " By order ofthe queen, Kanchanmala puts the noose over his neck, beats him andcarries him off an unfortunate captive. The king thinks, "What anunlucky business this is! What is to be done? How shall I dissipate therage that clouds the smiling countenance of the queen! How rescueSagarika from the dread of her resentment, or liberate my friendBasantaka? I am quite bewildered with these events, and can no longercommand my ideas. I will go in, and endeavour to pacify the queen. " Thequeen regales Vasantaka with cakes from her own fair hands, presents himwith a dress and restores him to liberty. Susangata prays him to accepta diamond necklace which Sagarika has left with her for presentation tohim. He declines the offer. Looking at it attentively he wonders whereshe could have procured such a valuable necklace. They both go to theking who has gone from the queen's apartments to the crystal alcove andis lamenting thus:--"Deceitful vows, tender speeches, plausible excusesand prostrate supplications had less effect upon the queen's anger thanher own teaks; like water upon the fire they quenched the blaze of herindignation. I am now only anxious for Sagarika. Her form, as delicateas the petal of the lotus, dissolving in the breath of inexperiencedpassion, has found a passage through the channels by which lovepenetrates, and is lodged deep in my heart. The friend to whom I couldconfide my secret sorrows is the prisoner of the queen. " Vasantaka nowinforms the king that he has been restored to liberty. Asked aboutSagarika he hangs down his head and declares that he cannot utter suchunpleasant tidings. The king infers that Sagarika is no more and faints. The friend says, "my friend, revive--revive! I was about to tell you, the queen has sent her to Ougein--this I called unpleasant tidings, Susangata told me so, --and what is more, she gave me this necklace tobring to your Majesty. " Vasantaka gives the king the necklace which heapplies to his heart to alleviate his despair. By command, the courtierapplies the ornament round the neck of the king. At this time, Vijayavarman, the nephew of Rumanwat the general of the state, arrivesto announce:--"Glory to your Majesty! your Majesty's fortune ispropitious in the triumphs of Rumanwat. By your Majesty's auspices the_Kosalas_ are subdued. On receiving your Majesty's commands, my unclesoon collected a mighty army of foot, and horse, and elephants, andmarching against the king of Kosala, surrounded him in a strong positionin the Vindhya mountains. Impatient of the blockade, the _Kosala_monarch prepared his troops for an engagement. Issuing from the heights, the enemy's forces came down upon us in great numbers, and the points ofthe horizon were crowded with the array of mighty elephants, likeanother chain of mountains: they bore down our infantry beneath theirponderous masses: those who escaped the shock were transpierced byinnumerable arrows and the enemy flattered himself he had for oncedisappointed our commander's hopes. Fires flashed from the blows ofcontending heroes, helmets and heads were cloven in twain--the brokenarmour and scattered weapons were carried away in torrents of blood, andthe defiance of the king of _Kosala_, in the van of his army, was heardby our warriors; when our chief alone confronted him, and slew themonarch on his furious elephant with countless shafts. All honour to ourgallant foe, the king of _Kosala_; for glorious is the warrior's deathwhen his enemies applaud his prowess. Rumanwat then appointed my elderbrother, Sanjayavarman, to govern the country of _Kosala_, and makingslow marches in consequence of the number of his wounded, returned tothe capital. He is now arrived. " The king applauds his general andcommands the distribution of the treasures of his favour. 

Samvarasiddhi, a magician from Ougein, now interviews the king. Themagician, waving a bunch of peacock's feathers, observes, "Reverence toIndra, who lends our art his name. What are your Majesty's commands?Would you see the moon brought down upon earth, a mountain in mid air, afire in the ocean, or night at noon? I will produce them--Command. Whatneed of many words? By the force of my master's spells, I will placebefore your eyes the person whom in your heart you are most anxious tobehold. "

The king not wishing to see the performance alone, summons the queen whoarrives soon. The king leads her to a seat, sits beside her and commandsthe magician to display his power. 

The magician waves his plumes and exhibits most wonderful scenes. _Brahma_ appears throned upon the lotus; _Sankara_ appears with thecrescent moon, his glittering crest; _Hari_, the destroyer of the demonrace, in whose four hands the bow, the sword, the mace and the shell areborne, is observable. _Indra_, the king of _Swarga_, is seen mounted onhis stately elephant. Around them countless spirits dance merrily in midair, sporting with the lovely nymphs of heaven, whose anklets ringresponsive to the measure. The king and queen look up and rise fromtheir seats. At this time, a female attendant appears to announce;--"Soplease your Majesty, the minister Yaugandharayana begs to inform you, that Vikrambahu, the king of Ceylon, has sent, along with your ownmessenger who returns, the councillor Vasubhuti; be pleased to receivehim as the season is auspicious. The minister will also wait upon you assoon as he is at leisure. " The queen observes, "Suspend this spectacle, my lord. Vasubhuti is a man of elevated rank; he is also of the familyof my maternal uncle, and should not be suffered to wait; let us firstsee him. " The king orders the suspension of the show, the magicianretires promising to exhibit yet some sights. 

Vasubhuti, after the customary exchange of courtesies, thus relates hisstory:--"In consequence of the prophesy of a seer, that whoever shouldwed Ratnavali, my master's daughter, should become the emperor in theworld, your Majesty's minister solicited her for your bride; unwilling, however, to be instrumental in the uneasiness of Vasavadatta, the kingof Simhala declined compliance with his suit. My master, understandingat last that the queen was deceased, consented to give his daughter toyou. We were deputed to conduct her hither, when alas, our vessel waswrecked. " The envoy, overpowered by sorrows, is unable to continue thestory and weeps. The queen exclaims, "Alas, unhappy that I am! Lovedsister Ratnavali, where art thou? Near me and reply. "

The king consoles the queen thus:--

"The fate that causes, may remove our sorrows. "

A cry is now heard from behind that the inner apartments are on fire. The king starts up wildly and exclaims, "Vasavadatta burnt to death! myqueen, my love!"

The queen exclaims, "What extravagance is this--behold me at your side. But ah! help, help, my lord. I think not of myself but poor Sagarika. She is in bonds; my cruelty has kept her captive--and she will be lostwithout some aid--haste, haste and save her!" The king flies to herrescue, precipitates himself into the flames and takes her in his arms. He pauses--looks around--closes his eyes, and reopens them. The flamesdisappear. The palace stands unharmed. The king observes, "This musthave been a dream, or is it magic?" Vasantaka replies, "The latter, nodoubt; did not that conjuring son of a slave say, he had still somethingfor your Majesty to see?"

The king says to the queen, "Here, madam, is Sagarika rescued in obedience to your commands. " Thequeen smiling replies, "I am sensible of your obedience, my lord. " Shenow informs all present, "Yaugandharayana presented her to me, and toldme she had been rescued from the sea: it was hence we designated herSagarika or the ocean Maid. " The likeness--the necklace--the recovery ofthe damsel from the sea--leave no doubt in the mind of Vasubhuti thatthis is the daughter of the king of Simhala, Ratnavali. Vasubhutiadvances to her who looks at him. They recognize each other and bothfaint. After some time they recover. As Ratnavali goes to embrace thequeen at her invitation, she stumbles. At the request of the queen whoblushes for her cruelty, the king takes the chains off Ratnavali's feet. Yaugandharayana now explains his conduct thus, "It was formerlyannounced to us by a holy seer, that the husband of the princess ofSimhala should become the emperor of the world. We therefore earnestlyapplied to her father to give her hand to our sovereign; but unwillingto be cause of uneasiness to the queen, the monarch of Simhala declinedcompliance with our request: we therefore raised a report thatVasavadatta had perished by a fire at Lavanaka, and Babhravya wasdespatched with the news to the court of Simhala. Vikrambahu thenconsented to our proposal and sent his daughter on board a shipaccompanied by Vasubhuti and Babhravya. The ship was wrecked. Theprincess was rescued from the sea by a merchant who brought her to me. Iplaced her with the queen in a very unsuitable station as I expected youwould see her in the inner apartments, and take pleasure in her sight. Ihad some concern in the appearance of the magician who had conjured up avision of the gods and a conflagration, as no other means remained ofrestoring the damsel to your presence and creating an opportunity forVasubhuti to see and recognise the princess. " The queen now puts onRatnavali her own jewels, then takes her by the hand and presents her tothe king. Ratnavali bows to the queen who embraces her. The kingobserves, "My cares are all rewarded. Nothing more is necessary, Vikrambahu is my kinsman, Sagarika, the essence of the world, the sourceof universal victory, is mine, and Vasavadatta rejoices to obtain asister. The _Kosalas_ are subdued: what other object does the worldpresent for which I could entertain a wish? This be alone my prayer; mayIndra with seasonable showers render the earth bountiful of grain; maythe presiding Brahmans secure the favour of the gods by acceptablesacrifices; may the association of the pious confer delight until theend of time, and may the appalling blasphemies of the profane besilenced for ever. "

APPENDIX. 

THE VALUE OF DRAMA. 

The purposes for which an ancient language may be studied are itsphilology and its literature, or the arts and sciences, the notions andmanners, the history and beliefs of the people by whom it was spoken. Particular branches may be preferably cultivated for the understandingof each of these subjects, but there is no one species which will befound to embrace so many purposes as the dramatic. The dialogue variesfrom simple to elaborate, from the conversation of ordinary life to thehighest refinements of poetical taste. The illustrations are drawn fromevery known product of art, as well as every observable phenomenon ofnature. The manners and feelings of the people are delineated, livingand breathing before us, and history and religion furnish the mostimportant and interesting topics to the bard. Wherever, therefore, thereexists a dramatic literature, it must be pre-eminently entitled to theattention of the philosopher as well as the philologist, of the man ofgeneral literary tastes as well as the professional scholar. 

THE ORIGIN OF DRAMA. 

Among the various sorts of literary composition the drama holds the mostimportant position; for it is a picture of real life, and, as such, ofnational interest. It consists of two principal species, tragedy andcomedy; the minor species are tragi-comedy, farce, burlesque andmelo-drama. Both tragedy and comedy attained their perfection in Greecelong before the Christian era. There it originated in the worship ofBacchus. 

The English drama took its rise from the mysteries or sacred plays bythe medium of which the clergy in the Middle Ages endeavoured to imparta knowledge of the Christian religion. 

The Sanskrit drama is said to have been invented by the sage Bharata, who lived at a very remote period of Indian history and was the authorof a system of music. The earliest references to the acted drama are tobe found in the _Mahabhashya_, which mentions representations of the_Kansabadha_ and the _Balibadha_, episodes in the history of Krishna. Indian tradition describes Bharat as having caused to be acted beforethe gods a play representing the _Svayamvara_ of Lakshmi. 

Tradition further makes Krishna and his cowherdesses the starting pointof the _Sangita_, a representation consisting of a mixture of song, music, and dancing. The Gitagovinda is concerned with Krishna, and themodern _Yatras_ generally represent scenes from the life of that deity. 

From all this it seems likely that the Hindu drama was developed inconnection with the cult of Vishnu-Krishna; and that the earliest actedrepresentations were, therefore, like the mysteries of the ChristianMiddle Ages, a kind of religious plays, in which scenes from the legendsof the gods were enacted mainly with the aid of songs and dancessupplemented with prose dialogues improvised by the performers. Theseearliest forms of Hindu dramatic literature are represented by thosehymns of the _Rig-Veda_ which contain dialogues such as those of Saramaand the Panis, Yama and Yami, Pururava and Urvaci. 

The words for actor (_nata_) and play (_nataka_) are derived from theverb _nat_, the Prakrit or vernacular form of the Sanskrit _nrit_, "todance. " Hence scholars are of opinion that the Sanskrit drama hasdeveloped out of dancing. The representations of dramas of early timeswere attended with dancing and gesticulation. There were rudeperformances without the contrivances of stage and scenic arrangements, dancing and music forming a considerable part. The addition of dialoguewas the last step in the development, which was thus much the same inIndia and Greece. This primitive stage is represented by the Bengal_Yaêras_ and the Gitagovinda. These form the transition to the fullydeveloped Sanskrit play in which lyrics and dialogue are blended. 

Sakuntala belongs to the mytho-pastoral class of Sanskrit plays;Probodhchandraudya, to the metaphysical. The Hindu theatre affordsexamples of the drama of domestic, as well as of heroic life; oforiginal invention as well as of legendary tradition. 

The Hindus did not borrow their dramatic compositions from foreigners. The nations of Europe possessed no dramatic literature before thefourteenth or fifteenth century, at which period the Hindu drama hadpassed into its decline. Mohammedan literature has ever been a strangerto theatrical writings, and the Mussalman conquerors of India could nothave communicated what they never possessed. There is no record thattheatrical entertainments were ever naturalised amongst the ancientPersians, Arabs, or Egyptians. With the exception of a few features incommon with the Greek and the Chinese dramas, which could not fail tooccur independently, the Hindu dramas present characteristic features inconduct and construction which strongly evidence both original designand national development. 

Angustus William Von Schlegel observes:--

"Among the Indians, the people from whom perhaps all the cultivation ofthe human race has been derived, plays were known long before they couldhave experienced any foreign influence. "

THE CHARACTER OF THE HINDU DRAMA. 

Sanskrit plays are full of lyrical passages describing scenes or personspresented to view, or containing reflections suggested by the incidentsthat occur. They usually consist of four-line stanzas. The prose of thedialogue in the plays is often very commonplace, serving only as anintroduction to the lofty sentiment of the poetry that follows. 

The Sanskrit drama is a mixed composition in which joy is mingled withsorrow, in which the jester usually plays a prominent part, while thehero and heroine are often in the depths of despair. But it never has asad ending. The emotions of terror, grief, or pity, with which theaudience are inspired, are therefore always tranquillised by the happytermination of the story. Nor may any deeply tragic incident take placein the course of the play; for death is never allowed to be representedon the stage. Indeed, nothing considered indecorous, whether of aserious or comic character, is allowed to be enacted in the sight orhearing of the spectators, such as the utterance of a curse, degradation, banishment, national calamity, biting, scratching, kissing, eating, or sleeping. 

Love, according to Hindu notions, is the subject of most of theirdramas. The hero, who is generally a king, and already the husband of awife or wives, is suddenly smitten with the charms of a lovely woman, sometimes a nymph, or, as in the case of Sakuntala, the daughter of anymph by a mortal father. The heroine is required to be equallyimpressible, and the first tender glance from the hero's eye reaches herheart. With true feminine delicacy, however, she locks the secret of herpassion in her own breast, and by her coyness and reserve keeps herlover for a long period in the agonies of suspense. The hero, beingreduced to a proper state of desperation, is harassed by otherdifficulties. Either the celestial nature of the nymph is in the way oftheir union, or he doubts the legality of the match, or he fears his ownunworthiness, or he is hampered by the angry jealousy of a previouswife. In short, doubts, obstacles and delays make great havoc of bothhero and heroine. They give way to melancholy, indulge in amorousrhapsodies, and become very emaciated. So far the story is decidedlydull, and its pathos, notwithstanding the occasional grandeur and beautyof imagery, often verges on the ridiculous. But, by way of relief, anelement of life is generally introduced in the character of theVidushaka, or Jester, who is the constant companion of the hero; and inthe young maidens, who are confidential friends of the heroine, and soonbecome possessed of her secret. By a curious regulation, the jester isalways a Brahman, and, therefore, of a caste superior to the kinghimself; yet his business is to excite mirth by being ridiculous inperson, age, and attire. He is represented as grey-haired, hump-backed, lame and hideously ugly. In fact, he is a species of buffoon, who isallowed full liberty of speech, being himself a universal butt. Hisattempts at wit, which are rarely very successful, and his allusions tothe pleasures of the table, of which he is a confessed votary, areabsurdly contrasted with the sententious solemnity of the despairinghero, crossed in the prosecution of his love-suit. His clumsyinterference with the intrigues of his friend, only serves to augmenthis difficulties, and occasions many an awkward dilemma. On the otherhand, the shrewdness of the heroine's confidantes never seem to failthem under the most trying circumstances; while their sly jokes andinnuendos, their love of fun, their girlish sympathy with the progressof the love-affair, their warm affection for their friend, heighten theinterest of the plot, and contribute not a little to vary its monotony. 

Indeed, if a calamitous conclusion be necessary to constitute a tragedy, the Hindu dramas are never tragedies. They are mixed compositions, inwhich joy and sorrow, happiness and misery, are woven in a mingledweb, --tragi-comic representations, in which good and evil, right andwrong, truth and falsehood, are allowed to mingle in confusion duringthe first acts of the drama. But, in the last act, harmony is alwaysrestored, order succeeds to disorder, tranquillity to agitation; and themind of the spectator, no longer perplexed by the apparent ascendancy ofevil, is soothed, and purified, and made to acquiesce in the morallesson deducible from the plot. 

In comparison with the Greek and the modern drama, Nature occupies amuch more important place in Sanskrit plays. The characters aresurrounded by Nature, with which they are in constant communion. Themango and other trees, creepers, lotuses, and pale-red trumpet-flowers, gazelles, flamingoes, bright-hued parrots, and Indian cuckoos, in themidst of which they move, are often addressed by them and form anessential part of their lives. Hence the influence of Nature on theminds of lovers is much dwelt on. Prominent everywhere in classicalSanskrit poetry, these elements of Nature luxuriate most of all in thedrama. 

The dramas of Bhavabhuti except Malati-Madhava, and the whole herd ofthe later dramatic authors, relate to the heroic traditions of theRamayana and the Mahabharata, or else to the history of Krishna; and thelater the pieces are, the more do they resemble the so-called'mysteries' of the middle ages. The comedies, which, together with afew other pieces, move in the sphere of civil life, form, of course, anexception to this. A peculiar class of dramas are the philosophicalones, in which abstractions and systems appear as the _dramatispersonĉ_. One very special peculiarity of the Hindu drama is that women, and persons of inferior rank, station, or caste are introduced asspeaking the _Prakrit_ or vulgarised Sanskrit, while the language of thehigher and more educated classes is the classical Sanskrit of thepresent type. 

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SANSKRIT DRAMA. 

According to the code of criticism laid down in works on Sanskrit drama, it should deal principally either with the sentiment of love, or theheroic sentiment; the other sentiments should have a subsidiaryposition. There should be four or five principal characters, and thenumber of acts should vary from five to ten. 

There are several species of the drama, --ten principal, and eighteenminor. Of these none has a tragic end. 

Every drama opens with a prologue or, to speak more correctly, anintroduction designed to prepare the way for the entrance of thedramatis personĉ. The prologue commences with a prayer or benediction(_Nandi_) invoking the national deity in favour of the audience. 

Then generally follows a dialogue between the stage-manager and one ortwo of the actors, which refers to the play and its author, mentionspast events and present circumstances elucidating the plot, andinvariably ends by adroitly introducing one of the dramatic personages, and the real performance begins. 

The play thus opened, is carried forward in scenes and acts; each scenebeing marked by the entrance of one character and the exit of another. The stage is never left vacant till the end of an act, nor does anychange of locality take place till then. The commencement of a new actis often marked, by an introductory monologue or dialogue spoken by oneor more of the _dramatis personĉ_, and is called _Viskambhaka_ or_Praveshaka_, which alludes to events supposed to have occurred in theinterval, and the audience are prepared for national plenty andprosperity, addressed by one of the principal personages of the drama, to the favourite deity. The development of the plot is brought aboutthrough five divisions called the five _sandhis_. A _sandhi_ is acombination of incidents whereby the object is attained. 

THE MANNER OF PERFORMANCE. 

There were no special theatres in the Hindu Middle Ages, and plays seemto have been performed in the concert-room (_Sangita-Cala_) of royalpalaces. A curtain, divided in the middle, was a necessary part of thestage arrangement; it did not, however, separate the audience from thestage, as in the Roman theatre, but formed the back-ground of the stage. Behind the curtain was the tiring-room (_nepathya_), whence the actorscame on the stage. When they were intended to enter hurriedly, theywere directed to do so "with a toss of the curtain. " The stage sceneryand decorations were of a very simple order, much being left to theimagination of the spectator, as in the Shakespearian drama. Weapons, seats, thrones, and chariots appeared on the stage; but it is highlyimprobable that the latter were drawn by the living animals supposed tobe attached to them. There may have been some kind of aerial contrivanceto represent celestial chariots. 

KALIDASA. 

Kalidasa is the author of Sakuntala, Vikramorvasi and Malavikagnimitra. He has been designated the Indian Shakespeare. He is reputed to havebeen one of the nine ornaments (or "gems") of the Court of Vikramaditya, king of Ujayin, whose Era, called _Samvat_, begins in 56 B. C. Storiesextant about him describe him to be the veriest fool. He rose to be agreat poet through the favour of the Goddess of Learning. Those storiesembody the public opinion that except through Divine Grace or theInspiration of the Muse a man cannot rise to such eminence by learningand culture alone. His native place is Kashmir or its neighbourhood. Hehad no doubt suffered from the pangs of poverty and neglect andtravelled a great deal. He professed the _Saiva_ form of worship. 

His chief poems are the Raghuvansam, the Kumarasambhavam, the Meghadutamand the Ritusanharam. It is believed that he wrote a treatise onAstronomy and one on Sanskrit Prosody. His genius was of a versatilenature. He was a poet, a dramatist and an astronomer. His works bespeakthe superior order of his scholarship--his acquaintance with theimportant systems of philosophy, the Upanishads and the Puranas;--hisclose observation of society and its intricate problems;--his delicateappreciation of the most refined feelings, his familiarity with theconflicting sentiments and emotions of the human heart, --and his keenperception of and deep sympathy with the beauties of Nature. Hisimagination was of a very high order and of a constructive nature. Hispower of depicting all shades of character, --high and low, --from theking to the common fisherman, is astonishing. His similes are so veryapt that they touch directly the heart and at once enlist the sympathyof the reader. He is called the poet of the sentiment of Love as thissentiment was his _forte_. His diction is chaste and free fromextravagance and is marked by that felicity of expression, spontaneityand melody which have earned for him the epithet--"the favoured child ofthe Muse. "

SAKUNTALA. 

Of all Sanskrit dramas, Sakuntala has acquired the greatest celebrity. It is not in India alone that it is known and admired. Its excellenceand beauty are acknowledged by learned men in every country of thecivilised world. It was the publication of a translation of this play bySir William Jones, which Max Muller thinks "may fairly be considered asthe starting point of Sanskrit Philology. " "The first appearance ofthis beautiful specimen of dramatic art, " he continues, "created, atthe time, a sensation throughout Europe, and the most rapturous praisewas bestowed upon it by men of high authority in matters of taste. "

THE MORAL OF THE PLAY. 

The recovery of the ring, like its loss, was a matter of pure accidentand points to the moral that the joys and sorrows of human beings dependin most cases upon circumstances which lie beyond their control. 

MALAVIKAGNIMITRA. 

The play was not written at a time when Buddhism was despised, and hadalready been driven out of India, but when it was still regarded withfavour, and was looked up to with reverence. 

VIKRAMORVASI. 

The root of all the stories of Pururavas and Urvasi were shortproverbial expressions, of which ancient dialects are so fond. Thus--'Urvasi loves Pururavas, ' meant 'the sun rises'; 'Urvasi seesPururavas naked, ' meant 'the dawn is gone'; 'Urvasi finds Pururavasagain, ' meant 'the sun is setting. '

The same ideas pervade the mythological language of Greece. 

BHAVABHUTI. 

The name of Bhavabhuti stands high in Sanskrit literature. It is perhapsthe highest in eloquence of expression and sublimity of imagination. Throughout the whole range of Sanskrit literature--from the simplelessons of Hitopadesha to the most elaborate polish of Naishadha--fromthe terse vigour of Sankaracharjya to the studied majesty of Magha--fromthe harmonious grace of Kalidasa to the ornate picturesqueness ofKadambari, there is probably no writer who can come up to Bhavabhuti inhis wonderful command of Sanskrit language and surprising fluency andelevation of diction. 

The introductions to the Viracharita and the Malati-Madhava tell us thathe belonged to Padmapura in Vidarva (Berar) and was the grandson ofGopal Bhatta and son of Nilkantha and Jatukarni. He was descended from afamily of Brahmans surnamed Udambaras. 

His wonderful memory and vast erudition soon procured for him the titleof Srikantha or Minerva-throated. He soon removed to the court ofUjjayini, where before the celebrated Mahakala all his plays were acted. 

He wrote the Viracharita, the Uttarramacharita and the Malati-Madhava. 

According to Rajatarangini, Bhavabhuti was patronized by Yasovarma, kingof Kanoja. This Yasovarma was subdued by Lalitaditya, king of Kasmira, who acquired by his conquests a paramount supremacy over a large part ofIndia. 

VIRA CHARITA. 

The play throws some light on the condition of women. The princesses ofVideha publicly go to the hermitage of Vishvamitra. Sita comes out withher attendants to dissuade Rama from meeting Jamadagnya and makes apublic entry with him on his return to Ayodhya. The old queens come outto meet their children. Yet it must not be supposed that Hindu womenenjoyed the same freedom of intercourse as their European sisters. Asnow, there used to be separate apartments for women. As now, they werenot admitted to an equality with men. The princesses of Videha do notcarry on conversation with the princes of Ajodhya. Sita does not comeout to pay her respects to the seniors, but her salute is announced fromwithin. There is now more seclusion of Hindu women as the result of theinfluence of past Mahammedan rule. The influence of British rule is nowpromoting the cause of female liberty. 

UTTARRAMACHARITA. 

The mutual sorrows of Rama and Sita in their state of separation arepleasingly and tenderly expressed. The meeting of the father and hissons may be compared advantageously with similar scenes with which thefictions of Europe, both poetical and dramatic, abound. The true spiritof chivalry pervades the encounter of the two young princes with theirfather. Some brilliant thoughts occur, the justice and beauty of whichare not surpassed in any literature. The comparison of Chandraketu to alion's cub turning to brave the thunderbolt is one of these; and anotheris the illustration of the effects of education upon minds possessed ordestitute of natural gifts. 

MALATI-MADHAVA. 

The marriage dress of high-born females described in the sixth act iswell worthy of our observation. It consisted of a corset of white silkand a fine red upper garment, besides the usual lower dress, ornaments, and a chaplet of flowers. It has received several modifications sincethe days of Bhavabhuti. 

The sacrifice of good-looking girls, alluded to in the fifth act, wascommon in his time and other authors allude to it. The seventh story ofDasakumar Charita is just like it, when a prince rescues a princess froma similar Sanyasi and afterwards marries her. 

The story of "Malati and Madhava" is one of pure invention. The mannersdescribed are purely Hindu without any foreign admixture. The appearanceof women of rank in public, and their exemption from any personalrestraint in their own habitations, are very incompatible with thepresence of Muhammedan rulers. The licensed existence of Buddhaascetics, their access to the great, and their employment as teachers ofscience, are other peculiarities characteristic of an early date; whilstthe worship of Siva in his terrific forms, and the prevalance of thepractices of the Yoga, are indications of a similar tendency. 

MUDRA RAKSHASA. 

It must be acknowledged, that the political code from which thestratagems of Chanakya emanate, exhibits a morality not a whit superiorto that of the Italian school; but a remarkable, and in some respects aredeeming principle, is the inviolable and devoted fidelity whichappears as the uniform characteristic of servants, emissaries, andfriends. 

The play is wholly of a political character, and represents a series ofMachiavellian stratagems, influencing public events of considerableimportance. 

The Mudrarakshasa is, in sundry respects, a very unique work in Sanskritliterature. Its plot is not a pure invention, but on the other hand, itis not derived from the usual storehouse of legends on which Sanskritauthors have generally drawn for their materials. It has no female amongits prominent _dramatis personĉ_, and the business of the play, accordingly, is diplomacy and politics, to the entire exclusion of love. There is, in truth, but one female character, with one little child, introduced into the play, and these are Chandanadasa's wife and son, whocome in at the beginning of the last act. But even their appearanceintroduces no passages suggestive of tenderness or the purely domesticvirtues, but only of sacrifice--a stern sense of duty. 

In the minor characters we see the principle of faithfulness to one'slord, adhered to through good report and evil report. In the moreprominent ones, the same principle still prevails, and the course ofconduct to which it leads is certainly quite Machiavellian. And all thisis brought out in a plot put together with singular skill. 

In the seventh act we have a remarkable stanza, in which the conduct ofChandanadasa, in sacrificing his life for his friend Rakshasa, is statedto have transcended the nobility even of the Buddhas. It seems thatthis allusion to Buddhism belongs to a period long prior to the decayand ultimate disappearance of Buddhism from India. In the time ofHionen-Tsang--_i. E. _ between 629-645 A. D. --it was, however, still farfrom being decayed, though it appears to have fallen very far below thepoint at which it stood in Fa-Hian's time, to have been equal in powerwith Brahminism only where it was supported by powerful kings, and tohave been generally accepted as the prevailing religion of the countryonly in Kashmir and the Upper Punjab, in Magadha and in Guzerat. In thiscondition of things, it was still quite possible, that one not himself aBuddhist--and Visakhadatta plainly was not one--should refer to Buddhismin the complimentary terms we find in the passage under discussion. 

The late Mr. Justice Telang observes:--"The policy of Chanakya is notremarkable for high morality. From the most ordinary deception andpersonation, up to forgery and murder, every device is resorted to thatcould be of service in the achievement of the end which Chanakya haddetermined for himself. There is no lack of highly objectionable andimmoral proceedings. It must be admitted that this indicates a very lowstate of public morality, and the formal works on politics which existcertainly do not disclose anything better. With reference to thecriticisms which have been based on these facts, however, there are oneor two circumstances to be taken into account. In the first place, although this is no excuse, it may be said to be an extenuation, thatthe questionable proceedings referred to are all taken in furtherance ofwhat is, in itself, a very proper end. Chanakya's ambition is to makehis protegé, Chandragupta firm upon his throne, and to bring backRakshasa to the service of the king who properly represented those oldmasters of his to whom Rakshasa's loyalty still remained quite firm. Ifthe end could ever be regarded as justifying the means, it might be soregarded in this case. And, secondly, it must not be forgotten, that thegames of diplomacy and politics have always been games of more or lessdoubtful morality. When we hear of one great politician of modern daysdeclaring another to be a great statesman, because, as I believe heexpressed it, the latter lied so cleverly, we cannot say that the worldhas risen to any very perceptibly higher moral plane in the times ofMetternich and Napoleon, than in those of Chanakya and Rakshasa. Nor aresuppressions of important passages in despatches for the purposes ofpublication, or wars undertaken on unjustifiable and really selfishpretexts, calculated to convince one, that even in Europe in thenineteenth century, the transaction of political affairs has been purgedof the taint of immorality, however different, and I may even add, comparatively innocent, may be the outward manifestations of thattaint. "

VISAKHADATTA. 

Visakhadatta or Visakhadeva is the author of Mudrarakshasa. We learnfrom the Introduction to the drama that Visakhadatta was the son ofPrithu and grandson of Vatesvaradatta--a Samanta or subordinate chiefProfessor Wilson was inclined to think that Maharaja Prithu might be theChouhan Prince Prithu Rai of Ajmir; but he himself pointed out that theChouhan Prince was never called Maharaja; and that the name NateswaraDatta would present a serious difficulty in the way of identifying thepoet's father with the Chouhan Prince Prithu Rai of Ajmir. It will alsoappear that the author of the drama lived in a century which is prior tothe age of Prithu Rai of Ajmir by centuries. He was in all probability anative of Northern India. The grandson of a tributary chief and the sonof a Maharaja he was well-skilled in state-craft and made a specialstudy of stratagems and crooked policies; in consequence of which thebent of his mind was mainly directed to business and did not indulge insentiments. The effect of it is manifest in his poetry which isbusiness-like and vigorous, but lacks in sweetness, beauty and thetender emotions. 

YAYATI CHARITA. 

The author may possibly be Pratapa Rudra Deva, sovereign of Telingana inthe beginning of the fourteenth century. 

DUTANGADA. 

It is said to have been written for the yatra of Kumar Pala Deva, byorder of Tribhuvana Pala Deva, by the poet Subhata. 

DHANANJAYA VIJAYA. 

It is the composition of Kanchana Acharya, the son of Narayana, acelebrated teacher of the _yoga_, of the race of Kapi Muni. 

MRIGANKALEKHA. 

The drama was composed by Viswanath, the son of Trimala Deva, originallyfrom the banks of the Godaveri, but residing at Benares, where it wasrepresented at the _yatra_, or festival, of Visweswara, the form underwhich Siva is particularly worshipped in that city. 

KAUTUKA SERVASWA. 

This is a Prahasana or Farce, and is especially a satire upon princeswho addict themselves to idleness and sensuality, and fail to patronizethe Brahmans. 

It was composed by a Pandit named Gopinath for representation at theautumnal festival of the _Durga Puja_. 

CHITRA YAJNA. 

This heterogeneous composition is the work of a Pandit of Nadiya, Vaidyanath Vachespati Bhattacharya, and was composed for the festival ofGovinda, by desire of Iswar Chandra, the Raja of Nadiya. 

HASYARNAVA. 

This comic play is a severe but grossly indelicate satire upon theprofligacy of Brahmans assuming the character of religious mendicants. It satirizes also the encouragement given to vice by princes, theinefficacy of ministers, and the ignorance of physicians andastrologers. 

It is the work of a Pandit named Jagaddisa, and was represented at thevernal festival; but where, or when, it is not known. 

RATNAVALI. 

Although the personages are derived from Hindu history, they are whollyof mortal mould, and unconnected with any mystical or mythologicallegend; and the incidents are not only the pure inventions of thedramatist, but they are of an entirely domestic nature. 

It is stated in the prelude to be the composition of the sovereign, SriHarsa Deva. A king of this name, and a great patron of learned men, reigned over Kashmir; he was the reputed author of several works, being, however, only the patron, the compositions bearing his name beingwritten by Dhavaka and other authors. 

RAJA SEKHAR. 

Raja Sekhar is the author of Prachanda Pandava, Biddhasalvanjika, andKarpura Manjari. 

MURARI. 

Murari composed Anargha Raghava. 

VENISANHARA. 

The author is Bhatta Narayana surnamed Mrigaraja or Simha, "the lion. "He is one of the five Brahmins who, with five Kayesthas, came fromKanouj and settled in Bengal at the invitation of Adisura, the then kingof Bengal. 

PROBODHA CHANDRODAYA. 

This play was composed by Krishnamisra. It is an allegorical play, the_dramatis personĉ_ of which consist entirely of abstract ideas, dividedinto two conflicting hosts. 

HANUMANANATAKA. 

The play is a dramatized version of the story of Rama interspersed withnumerous purely descriptive poetic passages. It consists of fourteenacts and on account of its great length is also called the Mahanataka, or the great drama. 

Tradition relates that it was composed by Hanuman, the monkey general, and inscribed on rocks; but, Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, beingafraid lest it might throw his own poem into the shade, Hanuman allowedhim to cast his verses into the sea. Thence fragments were ultimatelypicked up by a merchant, and brought to King Bhoja, who directed thepoet Damodara Misra to put them together, and fill up the lacunĉ; whencethe present composition originated. Whatever particle of truth there maybe in this story, the "Great Drama" seems certainly to be the productionof different hands. 

VASAVADATTA. 

Vasavadatta of Subandhu is a short romance, of which the story is this. 

Kandarpaketu, a young and valiant prince, son of Chintamani king ofKusumapura, saw in a dream a beautiful maiden of whom he becamedesperately enamoured. Impressed with the belief, that a person, such aswas seen by him in his dream, had a real existence, he resolves totravel in search of her, and departs, attended only by his confidantMakaranda. While reposing under a tree in a forest at the foot of theVindhya mountains, where they halted, Makaranda overhears two birdsconversing, and from their discourse he learns that the princessVasavadatta, having rejected all the suitors who had been assembled bythe king her father for her to make choice of a husband, had seenKandarpaketu in a dream, in which she had even dreamt his name. Herconfidante, Tamalika, sent by her in search of the prince, had arrivedat the same forest, and was discovered there by Makaranda. She deliversto the prince a letter from the princess, and conducts him to king'spalace. He obtains from the princess the avowal of her love; and herconfidante, Kalavati, reveals to the prince the violence of her passion. 

The lovers depart together: but, passing through the forest, he losesher, in the night. After long and unsuccessful search, in the course ofwhich he reaches the shore of the sea, the prince, grown desperatethrough grief, resolves on death. But at the moment when he was about tocast himself into the sea, he hears a voice from heaven, which promisesto him the recovery of his mistress, and indicates the means. Aftersome time, Kandarpaketu finds a marble statue, the precise resemblanceof Vasavadatta. It proves to be she; and she quits her marble form andregains animation. She recounts the circumstances under which she wastransformed into stone. 

Having thus fortunately recovered his beloved princess, the princeproceeds to his city, where they pass many years in uninterruptedhappiness. 

 * * * * *

OPINIONS OF EMINENT EDUCATIONISTS on "THE BOY'S RAMAYANA"

ADOPTED BY THE HINDU SCHOOL CALCUTTA, THE KRISHNAGHUR COLLEGIATESCHOOL, BETHUNE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL, DUPLEX COLLEGIATE SCHOOL &c. , _Rev. George Bruce M. A. Senior Professor of English Literature, theScottish churches College, Calcutta and Examiner to the University ofCalcutta for the M. A. Examinations in English writes;--_

 I have looked over Babu Ramanath Dutt's Ramayana. The English is simple and idiomatic. The story is given in an interesting manner. The style & language are, I think, well-suited for Matriculation students. 

 THE SCOTTISH CHURCHES COLLEGE. } 4 Cornwallis Square, Calcutta. } GEORGE BRUCE M. A. _10 Sept. --1910_ }

 * * * * *

_Mr. Jnan Ranjan Banerjee M. A. , B. L. Vice-Principal and Professor ofEnglish Literature, Philosophy and Law, the Metropolitan Institution, Calcutta; University Lecturer in Philosophy and Examiner to theUniversity of Calcutta writes:--_

 I have looked through the M. S. Of _Boy's Ramayan_ by Ramanath Dutta and am of opinion that it is written in a very aggreable style. It is exactly suited to the capacity of Matriculation students. Its chief characteristics are a very simple style and an interesting manner of relating stories. I feel free to say, that its study will go a long way towards familiarising boys in our schools with simple idiomatic English. 

 CALCUTTA, } J. R. BANERJEE. } Vice-Principal, _29th Aug. --1910_} Metropolitan Institution. 

 * * * * *

_Mr. C. H. Linton. M. A. , Professor of English Literature, The CentralCollege, Calcutta & Examiner to the University of Calcutta for theMatriculation Examinations in English; Late Professor of EnglishLiterature, Muir Central College, Allahabad writes:--_

 I have looked carefully through the pages of the "Boy's Ramayan. " Mr. Dutt has written his book with commendable care making it one eminently adapted to the needs of Matriculation students. His language is simple clear & idiomatic and his style of narrative bright and entertaining. I feel confident that boys would read such a book over and over again, for the mere pleasure which its perusal afforded them. Were I in charge of a School, I should have no hesitation in including so delightful a work among the text books in English. 

 CALCUTTA } C. H. LINTON M. A. } Prof. Of English Literature _Sept. 5th--1910_ } Central College. 

 * * * * *

_Rai Bahadur Rasamaya Mitra M. A. Head Master Hindu School, Calcutta, the premier School of Bengal writes_

 "The Boy's Ramayana" by Mr R. N. Dutt and Prof. Headland is a well-written book. The style is simple and correct. I have every reason to believe that the book is very well-suited to the capacity of Matriculation students. 

 RASAMAYA MITRA. 6. 3. 11. Head master, Hindu School. 

 * * * * *

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

_The Amrita Bazar Patrika in its issue of January 2, 1911 writes:--_

 "The Boy's Ramayana"--The book is the only one we know of dealing with the subject of Ramayana in English suitable for school boys. It is written in simple and idiomatic English. We recommend the Universities and school committees to adopt it as a text-book. 

_The Indian Mirror in its issue of January 17, 1911 reviews the bookthus:--_

 A book, called "The Boy's Ramayana", would be a suitable text-book for Entrance candidates. The language is easy and naturally flowing and the style idiomatic and interesting. 

_The Bengalee in its issue of March 4, 1911 says:--_

 The author has given the story of Valmiki's immortal Epic in elegant and idiomatic English and his mode of narration is highly interesting. We are confident that the work under notice is pre-eminently suited to the capacity of Matriculation students of Indian Universities.