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
Long ago I was a son of that same Bráhman called Govindadatta
the father of Devadatta, and my name was Somadatta. I left my home
indignant for the same reason as Devadatta, and I performed austerities
on the Himálaya continually striving to propitiate Siva with offerings
of many garlands. The god of the moony crest, being pleased, revealed
himself to me in the same way as he did to my brother, and I chose
the privilege of attending upon him as a Gana, not being desirous
of lower pleasures. The husband of the daughter of the mountain,
that mighty god, thus addressed me; "Because I have been worshipped
by thee with garlands of flowers growing in trackless forest-regions,
brought with thy own hand, therefore thou shalt be one of my Ganas,
and shalt bear the name of Mályaván." Then I cast off my mortal frame,
and immediately attained the holy state of an attendant on the god. And
so my name of Mályaván was bestowed upon me by him who wears the burden
of the matted locks, [109] as a mark of his special favour. And I,
that very Mályaván, have once more, O Kánabhúti, been degraded to the
state of a mortal, as thou seest, owing to the curse of the daughter
of the mountain, therefore do thou now tell me the tale told by Siva,
in order that the state of curse of both of us may cease.
NOTE TO CHAPTER VII.
"Rákshasas, Yakshas, and Pisáchas have no power in the day, being dazed
with the brightness of the sun therefore they delight in the night."
Farmer commenting on Hamlet, Act I, Sc. I, 150, quotes the following
lines of Prudentius Ad Gallicinium. Ferunt vagantes dæmonas,
Lætos tenebris noctium, Gallo canente exterritos, Sparsim timere
et cedere. Hoc esse signum præscii Norunt repromissæ spei, Qua nos
soporis liberi Speramus adventum Dei. Douce quotes from another hymn
said to have been composed by Saint Ambrose and formerly used in the
Salisbury service. Præco dici jam sonat, Noctis profundæ pervigil;
Nocturna lux viantibus, A nocte noctem segregans. Hoc excitatus
Lucifer Solvit polum caligine; Hoc omnis errorum cohors Viam nocendi
deserit. Gallo canente spes redit &c.
See also Grössler's Sagen der Grafschaft Mansfeld, pp. 58 and 59;
the Pentamerone of Basile, translated by Liebrecht, Vol. I, p. 251;
Dasent's Norse Tales, p. 347, "The Troll turned round, and, of course,
as soon as he saw the sun, he burst;" Grimm's Irische Märchen,
p. x; Kuhn's Westfälische Märchen, p. 63; Schöppner's Sagenbuch der
Bayerischen Lande, Vol. I, pp. 123, and 228; and Bernhard Schmidt's
Griechische Märchen, p. 138. He quotes the following interesting
passage from the Philopseudes of Lucian, Synên achri dê alektryonôn
êkousamen adontôn tote dê hê te Selênê aneptato eis ton ouranon kai
hê Hekatê edy kata tês gês, kai ta alla phasmata êphanisthê, &c.
CHAPTER VIII.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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