The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of StorySomadeva Bhatta, active 11th century
General
The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
Somadeva Bhatta, active 11th century
Folk literature -- Themes, motives; Hindu mythology; India -- Social life and customs; Tales -- India
And by magic power he gave Guhachandra and himself the shape of bees,
[229] and going out he shewed him that wife of his, who had issued from
the house. And that fair one went a long distance outside the city,
and the Bráhman with Guhachandra followed her. Thereupon Guhachandra
saw before him a Nyagrodha [230] tree of wide extent, beautiful with
its shady stem, and under it he heard a heavenly sound of singing,
sweet with strains floating on the air, accompanied with the music of
the lyre and the flute. And on the trunk of the tree he saw a heavenly
maiden [231], like his wife in appearance, seated on a splendid throne,
eclipsing by her beauty the moon-beam, fanned with white chowries, like
the goddess presiding over the treasure of all the moon's beauty. And
then Guhachandra saw his wife ascend that very tree and sit down beside
that lady, occupying half of her throne. While he was contemplating
those two heavenly maidens of equal beauty sitting together, it seemed
to him as if that night were lighted by three moons. [232]
Then he, full of curiosity, thought for a moment, "Can this be sleep
or delusion? But away with both these suppositions! This is the
expanding of the blossom from the bud of association with the wise,
which springs on the tree of right conduct, and this blossom gives
promise of the appropriate fruit." While he was thus reflecting at
his leisure, those two celestial maidens, after eating food suited for
such as they were, drank heavenly wine. Then the wife of Guhachandra
said to the second heavenly maiden, "To-day some glorious Bráhman
has arrived in our house, for which reason, my sister, my heart is
alarmed and I must go." In these words she took leave of that other
heavenly maiden and descended from the tree. When Guhachandra and
the Bráhman saw that, they returned in front of her, still preserving
the form of bees, and arrived in the house by night before she did,
and afterwards arrived that heavenly maiden, the wife of Guhachandra,
and she entered the house without being observed. Then that Bráhman
of his own accord said to Guhachandra; "You have had ocular proof
that your wife is divine and not human, and you have to-day seen her
sister who is also divine; and how do you suppose that a heavenly
nymph can desire the society of a man? So I will give you a charm to
be written up over her door, and I will also teach you an artifice
to be employed outside the house, which must increase the force of
the charm. A fire burns even without being fanned, but much more
when a strong current of air is brought to bear on it; in the same
way a charm will produce the desired effect unaided, but much more
readily when assisted by an artifice." When he had said this, the
excellent Bráhman gave a charm to Guhachandra, and instructed him
in the artifice, and then vanished in the dawn. Guhachandra for his
part wrote it up over the door of his wife's apartment, and in the
evening had recourse to the following stratagem calculated to excite
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