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
In the meanwhile the king was carried by the horse in an instant
to the impassable forest of the Vindhya hills, haunted by terrible
lions. Then the horse happened to stand still, and the king was
immediately distracted with bewilderment, as the great forest made it
impossible for him to know whereabouts he was. Seeing no other way
out of his difficulties, the king, who knew what the horse had been
in a former birth, got down from his saddle, and prostrating himself
before the excellent horse, said to him [250]: "Thou art a god; a
creature like thee should not commit treason against his lord; so I
look upon thee as my protector, take me by a pleasant path." When the
horse heard that, he was full of regret, remembering his former birth;
and mentally acceded to the king's request, for excellent horses are
divine beings. Then the king mounted again, and the horse set out by
a road bordered with clear cool lakes, that took away the fatigue
of the journey; and by evening the splendid horse had taken the
king another hundred yojanas and brought him near Ujjayiní. As the
sun beholding his horses, though seven in number, excelled by this
courser's speed, had sunk, as it were through shame, into the ravines
of the western mountain, and as the darkness was diffused abroad,
the wise horse seeing that the gates of Ujjayiní were closed, and
that the burning-place outside the gates was terrible at that time,
carried the king for shelter to a concealed monastery of Bráhmans,
that was situated in a lonely place outside the walls. And the king
Ádityasena seeing that that monastery was a fit place to spend the
night in, as his horse was tired, attempted to enter it. But the
Bráhmans, who dwelt there, opposed his entrance, saying that he must
be some keeper of a cemetery [251] or some thief. And out they poured
in quarrelsome mood, with savage gestures, for Bráhmans who live
by chanting the Sáma Veda, are the home of timidity, boorishness,
and ill-temper. While they were clamouring, a virtuous Bráhman named
Vidúshaka, the bravest of the brave, came out from that monastery. He
was a young man distinguished for strength of arm, who had propitiated
the fire by his austerities, and obtained a splendid sword from that
divinity, which he had only to think of, and it came to him. That
resolute youth Vidúshaka seeing that king of distinguished bearing,
who had arrived by night, thought to himself that he was some god
in disguise. And the well-disposed youth pushed away all those other
Bráhmans, and bowing humbly before the king, caused him to enter the
monastery. And when he had rested, and had the dust of the journey
washed off by female slaves, Vidúshaka prepared for him suitable
food. And he took the saddle off that excellent horse of his, and
relieved its fatigue by giving it grass and other fodder. And after
he had made a bed for the wearied king, he said to him,--"My lord, I
will guard your person, so sleep in peace"--and while the king slept,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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