The ocean of the rivers of story 1. (pages 1-118) [1. ed.] 9780814788165, 0814788165

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THE CLAY SANSKRIT LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JOHN & JENNIFER CLAY

GENERAL EDITOR

RICHARD GOMBRICH EDITED BY

ISABELLE ONIANS SOMADEVA VASUDEVA

WWW. CLAYS ANSKRITLIBRARY. CO M WWW.NYUPRESS.ORG

Copyright © 2007 by the CSL. All rights reserved.

First Edition 2007.

The Clay Sanskrit Library is co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Further information about this volume and the rest of the Clay Sanskrit Library is available on the following websites: www.claysanskritlibrary.com www.nyupress.org.

ISBN: 978-0-8147-8816-^ (cloth : alk. paper)

Artwork by Robert Beer. Typeset in Adobe Garamond at 10.25 '■ I2-3 +ptXML-development by Stuart Brown. Editorial inputfrom Muktak Aklujkar, Ddniel Balogh, Tomoyuki Kono, Eszter Somogyi & Peter Szdnto. Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on acid-free paper. Bound by Hunter &Foulis, Edinburgh, Scotland.

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY VOLUME ONE BY SOMADEVA TRANSLATED BY

SIR JAMES MALLINSON

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS JJC FOUNDATION 2007

CONTENTS Sanskrit alphabetical order CSL conventions

7 7

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY I Introduction

13

Attainment I—Story’s Throne Benediction First Wave Second Wave Third Wave Fourth Wave Fifth Wave Sixth Wave Seventh Wave Eighth Wave

25 27 31 45 63 79 105 131 161 183

Attainment II—Story’s Mouth Benediction First Wave Second Wave Third Wave Fourth Wave Fifth Wave Sixth Wave

193 195 199 217 255 271 305 339

Attainment III—Lavanaka Benediction First Wave Second Wave

357 359 363 391

Third Wave Fourth Wave

415 449

Notes Index

519 527

Sandhi grid

558

CSL CONVENTIONS SANSKRIT ALPHABETICAL ORDER

Vowels: Gutturals: Palatals: Retroflex: Dentals: Labials: Semivowels: Spirants:

adiiuurrlleaioaumh k kh ggh n c ch j jh n t th d dh n t th d dh n p ph b bh m y r Iv sssh GUIDE TO SANSKRIT PRONUNCIATION

bzzt father sit fee put boo vocalic r, American pwrdy or English pretty f lengthened r I vocalic /, abZ? e, e, e mode, esp. in Welsh pro­ nunciation ai bite o, d, o rope, esp. Welsh pronun­ ciation; Italian solo au sownd m anusvdra nasalizes the pre­ ceding vowel h visarga, a voiceless aspira­ tion (resembling English h), or like Scottish loc/i, or an aspiration with a faint echoing of the preceding a d, d i i, i u u,u r

k kh

vowel so that taih is pro­ nounced talk' hick blotLAead

g gh n c ch

g° bigAead awger ch\\\ matcAAead

j jh n t

j°g. aspirated j,hedgehog canyon retroflex t, try (with the tip of tongueturned up to touch the hard palate) same as the preceding but aspirated retroflex d (with the tip of tongue turned up to touch the hard palate) same as the preceding but aspirated retroflex n (with the tip

th d

dh

n

7

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY I

t th d dh n

P ph b bh m

of tongue turned up to touch the hard palate) French rout tenr Aook dinner guiWAall /zow ?ill upheaval before a^Aorrent wind

y

i

yes trilled, resembling the Ita­

lian pronunciation of r Zinger

V

zpord

s

shore

s

retroflex sh (with the tip

of the tongue turned up to touch the hard palate) s

hits

h

Aood

CSL PUNCTUATION OF ENGLISH

The acute accent on Sanskrit words when they occur outside of the Sanskrit text itself, marks stress, e.g. Ramayana. It is not part of tra­ ditional Sanskrit orthography, transliteration or transcription, but we supply it here to guide readers in the pronunciation of these unfamiliar words. Since no Sanskrit word is accented on the last syllable it is not necessary to accent disyllables, e.g. Rama. The second CSL innovation designed to assist the reader in the pro­ nunciation of lengthy unfamiliar words is to insert an unobtrusive mid­ dle dot between semantic word breaks in compound names (provided the word break does not fall on a vowel resulting from the fusion of two vowels), e.g. Maha bharata, but Ramayana (not Rama ayana). Our dot echoes the punctuating middle dot (•) found in the oldest surviving forms of written Indic, the Ashokan inscriptions of the third century BCE.

The deep layering of Sanskrit narrative has also dictated that we use quotation marks only to announce the beginning and end of every direct speech, and not at the beginning of every paragraph. CSL PUNCTUATION OF SANSKRIT

The Sanskrit text is also punctuated, in accordance with the punc­ tuation of the English translation. In mid-verse, the punctuation will

8

CSL CONVENTIONS not alter the sandhi or the scansion. Proper names are capitalized. Most Sanskrit metres have four “feet” (pdda): where possible we print the common sloka metre on two lines. In the Sanskrit text, we use French Guillemets (e.g. «kva samcicirsuh?») instead of English quotation marks (e.g. “Where are you off to?”) to avoid confusion with the apostrophes used for vowel elision in sandhi. Sanskrit presents the learner with a challenge: sandhi (“euphonic com­ bination”). Sandhi means that when two words are joined in connected speech or writing (which in Sanskrit reflects speech), the last letter (or even letters) of the first word often changes; compare the way we pro­ nounce “the” in “the beginning” and “the end.” In Sanskrit the first letter of the second word may also change; and if both the last letter of the first word and the first letter of the second are vowels, they may fuse. This has a parallel in English: a nasal consonant is inserted between two vowels that would otherwise coalesce: “a pear” and “an apple.” Sanskrit vowel fusion may produce ambiguity. The chart at the back of each book gives the full sandhi system. Fortunately it is not necessary to know these changes in order to start reading Sanskrit. For that, what is important is to know the form of the second word without sandhi (pre-sandhi), so that it can be recognized or looked up in a dictionary. Therefore we are printing Sanskrit with a system of punctuation that will indicate, unambiguously, the original form of the second word, i.e., the form without sandhi. Such sandhi mostly concerns the fusion of two vowels. In Sanskrit, vowels may be short or long and are written differently accordingly. We follow the general convention that a vowel with no mark above it is short. Other books mark a long vowel either with a bar called a macron (a) or with a circumflex (a). Our system uses the macron, except that for initial vowels in sandhi we use a circumflex to indicate that originally the vowel was short, or the shorter of two possibilities (e rather than ai, o rather than au).

When we print initial a, before sandhi that vowel was a i or e, i u or 6, u di, e du, o

9

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY I d (i.e., the same) 1, z" (i.e., the same) U, u (i.e., the same) C, 1 0, u di, ai du, au before sandhi there was a vowel a zZ,

FURTHER HELP WITH VOWEL SANDHI

When a final short vowel (a, i or «) has merged into a following vowel, we print ’ at the end of the word, and when a final long vowel (a, i or a) has merged into a following vowel we print ” at the end of the word. The vast majority of these cases will concern a final a or a. Examples:

What before sandhi was atra asti is represented as atr’ asti atra dste atr’ dste kanyd asti kany” asti kanyd dste kany” dste atra iti atr’ eti kanyd iti kany” eti kanyd ipsitd kany” epsitd

Finally, three other points concerning the initial letter of the sec­ ond word: (i) A word that before sandhi begins with r (vowel), after sandhi begins with r followed by a consonant: yatha” rtu represents pse-sandhi yathd rtu. (2) When before sandhi the previous word ends in t and the following word begins with s, after sandhi the last letter of the previous word is c and the following word begins with ch: sydc chdstravit represents presandhi sydt sdstravit. (3) Where a word begins with h and the previous word ends with a double consonant, this is our simplified spelling to show the pte-sandhi IO

CSL CONVENTIONS

form: tad hasati is commonly written as tad dhasati, but we write tadd hasati so that the original initial letter is obvious. COMPOUNDS

We also punctuate the division of compounds (samasa), simply by inserting a thin vertical line between words. There are words where the decision whether to regard them as compounds is arbitrary. Our principle has been to try to guide readers to the correct dictionary entries. EXAMPLE

Where the Deva-nagari script reads: Tt Rd +1 h?Ri

Id «Id d

|

11

RdiddH^todldi

Others would print:

kumbhasthali raksatu vo vikirnasindurarenur dviradananasya I prasantaye vighnatamaschatanam nisthyutabalatapapallaveva // We print:

kumbha|sthali raksatu vo vikirna|sindura|renur dvirad’|ananasya prasantaye vighna|tamaS|chatanam nisthyuta|bar|atapa|pallav” eva.

And in English: “May Ganesha’s domed forehead protect you! Streaked with vermilion dust, it seems to be emitting the spreading rays of the rising sun to pacify the teeming darkness of obstructions.” “Nava sahasanka and the Serpent Princess” 1.3 by Padma gupta WORDPLAY

Classical Sanskrit literature can abound in puns (slesa). Such pa­ ronomasia, or wordplay, is raised to a high art; rarely is it a cliche. Multiple meanings merge (slisyanti) into a single word or phrase. Most common are pairs of meanings, but as many as ten separate meanings are attested. To mark the parallel senses in the English, as well as the II

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY I

punning original in the Sanskrit, we use a slanted font (different from italic) and a triple colon (:) to separate the alternatives. E.g. yuktam Kadambarim srutva kavayo maunam asritah Bana/dhvanav an|adhyayo bhavat’ iti smrtir yatah.

It is right that poets should fall silent upon hearing the Kldambari, for the sacred law rules that recitation must be suspended when the sound ofan arrow: the poetry ofBana is heard. Someshvara-deva’s “Moonlight of Glory” 1.15

12

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY I punning original in the Sanskrit, we use a slanted font (different from italic) and a triple colon (:) to separate the alternatives. E.g.

yuktam Kadambarim srutva kavayo maunam asritah Bana/dhvanav an|adhyayo bhavat’ iti smrtir yatah. It is right that poets should fall silent upon hearing the Kadambari, for the sacred law rules that recitation must be suspended when the sound ofan arrow: the poetry ofBana is heard. Someshvara deva’s “Moonlight of Glory” 1.15

12

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

16 anyag

Szerzoi jogi vedelem alatt allo anyag

Szerzoi jogi vedelem alatt allo anyag

iti dos janukirtanat. ekah saravah saktunam ekah pratyaham ambhasah

Sakatalasya tatr’ antah sa|putrasya nyadhlyata. sa c’ ovaca tatah putran

1.4.125

iti putras tam abruvan, pranebhyo ’pi hi dhiranam priya satru|pratikriya.

tatah sa Sakatalas taih pratyaham saktu|varibhih eka ev’ akarod vrttim, kastam, krura jigisavah!

iti c’ acintayat tatra Sakatalo ’ndha|kupagah tanayanam ksudh’jartanam pasyan pran’|6dgama|vyatham.

tatah suta|satam tasya pasyatas tad vyapadyata tat|kararikair vrto jivann atisthat sa ca kevalah. 100

ATTAINMENT I, FOURTH WAVE

After saying this, Vyadi left to give his guru his fee. Then Yoga-nanda summoned me and made me minister.

Afterward I said to the king, ‘Even though your brahmin status has been taken away, I still do not consider your throne safe while Shakatala is in office, so you must contrive 1.4.120 his downfall.’ After I gave him this advice, Yoga-nanda threw Shakatala

into a dungeon and, what’s more, he threw his hundred sons in there, too, announcing that he had committed the

crime of burning a brahmin alive.

Every day a bowl of barley meal and one of water were put in there for Shakatala and his sons. He said to them, ‘Boys,

with this much barley meal even one man would struggle to

survive—several men have no chance. Therefore, let the one

man who is able to wreak revenge on Yoga-nanda consume it and the water every day.’

‘You alone can do that, so eat it,’ replied his sons, for, to 1.4.125 the brave, revenge on an enemy is dearer than life. So by consuming the barley meal and water every day

Shakatala was the only one to survive. Oh, how heartless

are those who desire victory! ‘He who wants to prosper should not impose his will

on the powerful without considering their intentions and winning their trust.’ Shakatala reflected thus in the dungeon while he watched the death throes of his starving sons. Then, as he looked on, his hundred sons died and he remained

alive and alone, surrounded by their skeletons. 101

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY I

i.4.130

Yoganandas ca samrajye baddha|mulo ’bhavat tatah Vyadir abhyayayau tam ca gurave datta|daksinah. abhyety’ aiva ca so vadlc tac chrutva Yoganandas tam baspa|kantho ’py abhasata

Vyadis tato ’vadad ity uktv” aiva sa tat|kalam tapase niscito yayau. 1.4.135 agamad atha Yoganandah Pataliputram sva|raja|nagaram sah bhogaya Kanabhute mat|sahitah sakala|sainya|yutah. tatr’ Opakosa|paricaryamanah samudvahan mantri|dhuram ca tasya aham jananya gurubhis ca sakam asadya laksmlm avasarn ciraya. bahu tatra dine dine dyu|sindhuh kanakam mahyam adat tapah|prasanna vadati sma saririnl ca saksan mama karyani Sarasvatl sad’’ aiva.» iti maha|kavi|sri|Somadeva|bhatta|viracite Katha|sarit|sagare Katha|pitha|lambake caturthas tarafigah.

102

ATTAINMENT I, FOURTH WAVE

Yoga-nanda was firmly established on the throne and Vya- i.4.130 di returned to him having given their teacher his fee. He went up to him and said straightaway, 'Long may you reign, my friend. I bid you farewell. I am going off to be an ascetic.’ When he heard this, Yoga-nanda said to him with a sob, ‘Enjoy the delights of my kingdom! You mustn’t go away and leave me!’ Vyadi replied, ‘Sire, when the body can be destroyed in an instant, what intelligent man could possibly immerse himself in worthless things such as those? Riches are a mirage and do not delude a wise man.’ As soon as he said this he departed, determined to practice austerities. Then, o Kana-bhuti, Yoga-nanda went to his capital 1.4.135 Patali-putra to enjoy himself, accompanied by me and his entire army. There, attended to by Upakosha and holding the office of minister to Yoga-nanda, I lived in luxury for a long time, together with my mother and my elders. Every day there Ganga, pleased by my austerities, gave me lots of gold and Sarasvati, visible in bodily form, constantly told me how to carry out my duties.” Thus ends the fourth wave in the ‘Story’s Throne’ Attainment in the ‘Ocean of the River of Story,’ composed by the glorious and learned great poet Soma-deva.

103

Szerzoi jogi vedelem alatt allo anyag

FIFTH WAVE

Szerzoi jogi vedelem alatt allo anyag

1.5.i

|

vam uktva

Vararucih punar etad avarnayat:

«kalena Yoganando ’tha kamjadi|vasam ayayau

gaj jendra iva mattas ca n’ apaiksata sa kim cana a|kanda|pat’|6panata kam na laksmi vimohayet?

acintayam tatas c’ aharn

1.5.5

niscity’ aitan may” abhyarthya rajanam so ’ndha|kupatah

uddhrtah Sakatalo tha, mrdavo hi dvijatayah.

iti samcintya sa prajnah Sakatalo mad|icchaya

akarod raja|karyani punah samprapya mantritam.

kada cid Yoganando ’tha nirgato nagarad bahih slisyat|pancjarigulim hastam Gaiiga|madhye vyalokayat. papraccha mam ahuya sa tat|ksanam

aharn ca dve nij’|ahgulyau disi tasyam adarsayam. 1.5.10 tena tasmims tiro|bhute haste raj” ati|vismayat

bhuyo ’pi tad aprcchan mam tatas c’ aharn tam abravam:

106

fter saying this, Vara-ruchi continued thus: “In time,

A

1.5.1

Yoga-nanda fell under the sway of passion and other pleasures, and like a great elephant in rut he had no regard for anything. Who would not be deprived of his senses by the sudden arrival of a great fortune? Because of this I said to myself, ‘As long as the king has nothing to restrain him, my duties will suffer from being overshadowed by concern for his affairs. Therefore it is bet­ ter that I rescue Shakatala and reinstate him as my assistant. Even if he were to behave in a hostile fashion, what can he do while I am in office?’ Having made this decision, with the king’s permission 1.5.5 I had Shakatala brought out from the dungeon. Brahmins are kindhearted. Thinking that Yoga-nanda would be hard to overcome while I was in office, so he should follow the example of the reed bending with the wind and bide his time, the clever Shakatala resumed the post of minister at my bidding and took care of the king’s affairs. Then, one day, Yoga-nanda went out of the city and saw in the middle of the Ganga a hand with its five fingers pressed together. He immediately called me over and asked what it meant. I pointed two fingers toward it and the hand 1.5.10 disappeared. The king was astonished and again asked me what it meant, to which I replied, ‘When it showed its five fingers, the hand was saying that for five men who are united nothing in the world is impossible. Then, sire, when I showed it these two fingers, I was saying that for just two men nothing is impossible if they are of one mind.’ 107

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY I

ity ukte gudha|vijnane samatusyat tato nrpah

Sakatalo vyasldac ca mad|buddhim vlksya dmjjayam.

ekada Yoganandas ca drstavan mahislm nijam vatayanjagrat pasyantlm brahman’|atithim unmukham.

i.5.15 tan|matrad eva kupito raja viprasya tasya sah adisad vadham Trsya hi viveka|paripanthim. hantum vadhya|bhuvam tasmin nlyamane dvije tada

ahasad gata|jivo ’pi matsyo vipani|madhyagah. tad” aiva raja tad buddhva vadham tasya nyavarayat

viprasya mam aprcchac ca matsya|hasasya karanam. mirupya kathayamy etad.> ity uktva nirgatam ca mam

cintit’|6pasthit” aikante Sarasvaty evam abravlt:

1.5.20

tac chrutva nisi tatr’ aham gatva tal’|6pari sthitah

apasyam raksaslm ghoram balaih putraih sah’ agatam sa bhaksyam yacamanams tan avadit

prsta tair abravlt punah,

diasitam kim u ten’ eti?> prsta bhuyah sutais ca sa

avocad raksasi: « 108

ATTAINMENT I, FIFTH WAVE

When I revealed this hidden meaning, the king was happy, and Shakatala, realizing that my cunning would be hard to beat, was depressed. One day, Yoga-nanda saw his chief queen staring out of a window at a brahmin guest who was looking up at her. On the strength of this alone the furious king ordered that 1.5.15 the brahmin be executed, for jealousy is the enemy of good sense. Then, as the brahmin was being taken to the place of execution to be killed, a fish in the market laughed even though its life had left it. As soon as the king found out about this, he stayed the brahmin’s execution and asked me why the fish had laughed. Replying that I would find out and tell him, I went away and thought of Sarasvati, who appeared and said the following to me: ‘Wait unseen atop this palm tree tonight. There you will be sure to hear the reason for the fish’s laughter.’ After hearing this, I went there that night and waited on 1.5.20 top of the palm tree. I saw a hideous rdkshasa woman arrive with her young sons. They were hungry and she said to them, ‘Be patient! In the morning I shall give you the brah­ min’s flesh. He wasn’t killed today.’ When they asked her why he hadn’t been killed that day, she replied, ‘A fish here, even though it was dead, laughed when it saw him.’ Further questioned by her sons as to why the fish had laughed, the rdkshasa woman said, ‘The fish laughed because all the king’s queens are debauched and his harem is full of men dressed as women, yet an innocent brahmin is to be executed. For 1.5.25 this is just the sort of disguise that demons adopt: they in­ habit all manner of creatures and laugh at the excessive lack of judgment of kings.’ 109

THE OCEAN OF THE RIVERS OF STORY I

etat tasya vacah srutva tato ’pakrantavan aham pratas ca matsya|hasasya hetum rajne nyavedayam. prapya c’ antah|purebhyas tan stri|rupan purusams tatah bahv amanyata mam raja vadhad vipram ca muktavan. ity|adi cestitam drstva tasya rajno visrrikhalam khinne mayi kada cic ca tatr’ agac citrakrn navah. alikhat sa maha|devim Yoganandam ca tam pate sa|jlvam iva tac citram vak|cesta|rahitam tv abhut. 1.5.30 tam ca citra|karam raja tusto vittair apurayat tam ca vasa|grhe citra|patam bhittav akarayat. ekada ca pravistasya vasake tatra sa mama sampurna|laksana devl pratibhati sma citraga. laksan’|antara|sambandhad abhyuhya pratibha|vasat ath’ akarsam aham tasyas tilakam mekhala|pade. sampurna|laksanam tena krtv” ainam gatavan aham, pravisto Yoganando ’tha tilakam tam vyalokayat so ’prcchac ca mahat|taran. te ca nyavedayams tasmai kartaram tilakasya mam. 1.5.35 iti samcintayam asa Yoganandah krudha jvalan jayante bata mudhanam samvada api tadrsah. tatah svairam samahuya Sakatalam samadisat

uktva Sakatalo ’gamad bahih acintayac ca

iti niscitya so ’bhyetya rajnah kopam a|karanam

vadh’|antam kathayitva me Sakatalo ’bravlt tatah.

iti tad|vacanac channas tad|grhe ’vasthito ’bhavam

sa c’ anyam hatavan kam cin mad|vadh’|akhyataye nisi,

evam prayukta|mtim tam prity” avocam aham tada:

tac chrutva so ’bravin mantri

tato dhyat’|agatam tasmai tad rakso ’ham adarsayam tad|darsanac ca vitrasto vismitas ca babhuva sah.>

raksasy antar|hite tasmin Sakatalah sa mam punah prstavan.

tato ’ham avadam