The Kādambarī of Bāṇa

CANDRĀPĪḌA’S ENTRY INTO THE PALACE

(188) Preceded by groups of chamberlains, hastening up and bowing, he received the respectful homage of the kings, who had already taken their position there, who came forward on all sides, who had the ground kissed by the rays of the crest-jewels loosened from their crests and thrown afar, and who were introduced one by one by the chamberlains; at every step he had auspicious words for his dismounting uttered by old women of the zenana, who had come out from inside, and were skilled in old customs; having passed through the seven inner courts crowded with thousands of different living beings, as if they were different worlds, he beheld his father. The king was stationed within, surrounded by a body-guard whose hands were stained black by ceaseless grasping of weapons, who had their bodies, with the exception of hands, feet, and eyes, covered with dark iron coats of mail, (189) like elephant-posts covered with swarms of bees ceaselessly attracted by desire of the scent of ichor, hereditary in their office, of noble birth, faithful; whose heroism might be inferred from their character and gestures, and who in their energy and fierceness were like demons. On either side he had white cowries ceaselessly waved by his women; and he sat on a couch white as a wild goose, and bright as a fair island, as if he were the heavenly elephant on the water of Ganges.

VILĀSAVATĪ’S ATTENDANTS

(190) Approaching his mother, he saluted her. She was surrounded by countless zenana attendants in white jackets, like Çrī with the waves of milk, and was having her time wiled away by elderly ascetic women, very calm in aspect, wearing tawny robes, like twilight in its clouds, worthy of honour from all the world, with the lobes of their ears long, knowing many stories, relating holy tales of old, reciting legends, holding books, and giving instructions about righteousness. (191) She was attended by eunuchs using the speech and dress of women, and wearing strange decorations; she had a mass of cowries constantly waved around her, and was waited upon by a bevy of women seated around her, bearing clothes, jewels, flowers, perfumes, betel, fans, unguents, and golden jars; she had strings of pearls resting on her bosom, as the earth has the stream of Ganges flowing in the midst of mountains, and the reflection of her face fell on a mirror close by, like the sky when the moon’s orb has entered into the sun.

ÇUKANĀSA’S PALACE

(192) He reached Çukanāsa’s gate, which was crowded with a troop of elephants appointed for the watch, obstructed by thousands of horses, (193) confused with the hustling of countless multitudes, visited day and night by Brahmans, Çaivas, and red-robed men skilled in the teaching of Çākyamuni, clothed as it were in the garments of righteousness, sitting on one side by thousands, forming circles, coming for various purposes, eager to see Çukanāsa, having their eyes opened by the ointment of their several çāstras, and showing their respectful devotion by an appearance of humility. The gateway was filled with a hundred thousand she-elephants of the tributary kings who had entered the palace with double blankets drawn round the mahouts who sat on their shoulders, having their mahouts asleep from weariness of their long waiting, some saddled and some not, nodding their heads from their long standing motionless. The prince dismounted in the outer court, as though he were in a royal palace, though not stopped by the guards standing in the entrance and running up in haste; and having left his horse at the entrance, leaning on Vaiçampāyana, and having his way shown by circles of gatekeepers, who hastened up, pushing away the bystanders, he received the salutes of bands of chiefs who arose with waving crests to do him homage, and beheld the inner courts with all the attendants mute in fear of the scolding of cross porters, and having the ground shaken by hundreds of feet of the retinues of neighbouring kings frightened by the moving wands, (194) and finally entered the palace of Çukanāsa, bright inside with fresh plaster, as if it were a second royal court.

DESCRIPTION OF NIGHT

(196) The brightness of day approached the west, following the path of the sun’s chariot-wheels, like a stream of water. Day wiped away all the glow of the lotuses with the sun’s orb hastening downwards like a hand roseate as fresh shoots. The pairs of cakravākas, whose necks were hidden in swarms of bees approaching from familiarity with the scent of lotuses, were separated as if drawn by the noose of destiny. The sun’s orb poured forth, under the guise of a rosy glow, the lotus honey-draught, as it were, drunk in with its rays till the end of day, as if in weariness of its path through the heavens. And when in turn the blessed sun approached another world, and was a very red lotus-earring of the West, when twilight shone forth with its lotus-beds opening into the lake of heaven, (197) when in the quarters of space lines of darkness showed clear like decorations of black aloes; when the glow of eve was driven out by darkness like a band of red lotuses by blue lotuses dark with bees; when bees slowly entered the hearts of red lotuses, as if they were shoots of darkness, to uproot the sunshine drunk in by the lotus-beds; when the evening glow had melted away, like the garland round the face of the Lady of night; when the oblations in honour of the goddess of twilight were cast abroad in all quarters; when the peacock’s poles seemed tenanted by peacocks, by reason of the darkness gathered round their summits, though no peacocks were there; when the doves, very ear-lotuses of the Lakshmī of palaces, were roosting in the holes of the lattices; when the swings of the zenana had their bells dumb, and their gold seats motionless and bearing no fair dames; when the bands of parrots and mainas ceased chattering, and had their cages hung up on the branches of the palace mango-trees; when the lutes were banished, and their sound at rest in the ceasing of the concert; when the tame geese were quiet as the sound of the maidens’ anklets was stilled; (198) when the wild elephants had the clefts of their cheeks free from bees, and their ornaments of pearls, cowries, and shells taken away; when the lights were kindled in the stables of the king’s favourite steeds; when the troops of elephants for the first watch were entering; when the family priests, having given their blessing, were departing; when the jewelled pavements, emptied almost of attendants on the dismissal of the king’s suite, spread out wide, kissed by the reflection of a thousand lights shining in the inner apartments, like offerings of golden campak-blossoms; when the palace tanks, with the splendours of the lamps falling on them, seemed as if the fresh sunlight had approached to soothe the lotus-beds grieved by separation from the sun; when the caged lions were heavy with sleep; and when Love had entered the zenana like a watchman, with arrows in hand and bow strung; when the words of Love’s messenger were uttered in the ear, bright in tone as the blossoms in a garland; when the hearts of froward dames, widowed by grief, were smouldering in the fire transmitted to them from the sun-crystals; and when evening had closed in, Candrāpīḍa … went to the king’s palace…

THE REGION OF KAILĀSA

(243) The red arsenic-dust scattered by the elephants’ tusks crimsoned the earth. The clefts of the rock were festooned with shoots of creepers, now separating and now uniting, hanging in twists, twining like leafage; the stones were wet with the ceaseless dripping of gum-trees; the boulders were slippery with the bitumen that oozed from the rocks. The slope was dusty with fragments of yellow orpiment broken by the mountain horses’ hoofs; powdered with gold scattered from the holes dug out by the claws of rats; lined by the hoofs of musk-deer and yaks sunk in the sand and covered with the hair of rallakas and raṅkus fallen about; filled with pairs of partridges resting on the broken pieces of rock; with the mouths of its caves inhabited by pairs of orang-outangs; with the sweet scent of sulphur, and with bamboos that had grown to the length of wands of office.

PASSAGES PRINTED IN THE APPENDIX.408

102, 1 – 110, 6

111, 1–4

112, 6 – 115, 1

188, 4 – 189, 5

190, 6 – 191, 5

192, 11 – 194, 2

196, 4 – 199, 1

243, 4–10

PASSAGES CONDENSED OR OMITTED.409

11, 7 – 15, 2

*31, 10 – 34, 2

46, 7 – 48, 4

81, 3–10

83, 1–8

85, 3 – 89, 4

119, 3 – 124, 3

137, 7 – 138, 3

141, 6 – 155, 5

162, 8 – 164, 8

176, 6 – 188, 4

*199, 5 – 200, 9

203, 2 – 204, 2

*227, 4 – 234, 6

242, 6–10

*245, 4 – 248, 3

250, 3–8

*252, 7 – 256, 5

262, 1 – 266, 3

276, 9 – 277, 8

285, 2–4

*346, 7 – 348, 7

353, 6 – 355, 9

357, 1–10

359, 12 – 365, 2

369, 2–8

*383, 6 – 384,9

388, 5 – 390, 4

403, 6 – 410, 3

417, 1 – 426, 3

1

It is needless to give here more than the few facts essential for the understanding of ‘Kādambarī,’ for the life and times of Bāṇa will probably be treated of in the translation of the ‘Harsha-Carita’ by Professor Cowell and Mr. Thomas in this series; and Professor Peterson’s Introduction to his edition of ‘Kādambarī’ (Bombay Sanskrit Series, 1889) deals fully with Bāṇa’s place in literature. The facts here given are, for the most part, taken from the latter work.

2

E.g., the Madhuban grant of Saṃ 25, E. I. i., 67 ff. For this and other chronological references I am indebted to Miss C. M. Duff, who has let me use the MS. of her ‘Chronology of India.’

3

For Bāṇa’s early life, V. ‘Harsha-Carita,’ chs. i., ii. I have to thank Mr. F. W. Thomas for allowing me to see the proof-sheets of his translation.

4

Peterson, ‘Kādambarī,’ pp. 96–98; and ‘The Subhāshitāvali,’ edited by Peterson (Bombay Sanskrit Series, 1886), pp. 62–66.

5

Translated by Mr. C. Tawney (Calcutta, 1884), vol. ii., pp. 17–26. Somadeva’s date is about A.D. 1063.

6

V. Peterson, ‘Kādambarī,’ pp. 82–96.

7

Translated by Ballantyne and Pramadā-Dāsa-Mitra (Calcutta, 1875), § 567. The italics represent words supplied by the translators.

8

Kādambarī,’ p. 69.

9

Professor Peterson does not, however, make this deduction in favour of Bāṇa’s own version.

10

I.e., rasa, poetic charm.

11

‘Kādambarī,’ Nirṇaya Sāgara Press, Bombay, pp. 205–221. ‘Evaṃ samatikrāmatsu – ājagāma.’

12

Bombay edition, p. 6.

13

Professor Cowells review of ‘A Bengali Historical Novel.’ Macmillan, April, 1872.

14

V. Peterson, ‘Kādambarī,’ p. 42.

15

Indeed, this description is so like in spirit to that of Clairvaux, that I cannot forbear quoting a few lines of the latter. The writer describes the workshops where the brethren labour, and the orchard used for rest and quiet thought, and goes on to say how the Aube is raised by the toils of the brethren to the level of the Abbey; it throws half its water into the Abbey, ‘as if to salute the brethren, and seems to excuse itself for not coming in its whole force.’ Then ‘it returns with rapid current to the stream, and renders to it, in the name of Clairvaux, thanks for all the services which it has performed.’ The writer then goes on to tell of the fountain which, protected by a grassy pavilion, rises from the mountain, and is quickly engulfed in the valley, ‘offering itself to charm the sight and supply the wants of the brethren, as if it were not willing to have communition with any others than saints.’ This last is surely a touch worthy of Bāṇa. V. Dr. Eale’s translation of ‘St. Bernard’s Works.’ London, 1889, vol. ii., pp. 462–467.

16

Translated by Mr. C. Tawney. Oriental Translation Fund Series, p. 113.

17

V. ‘Kādambarī,’ Nirṇaya Sāgara, p. 19, l. 2.

18

‘Hiouen Thsang,’ translated by St. Julien, ‘Mémoires sur les Contrées Occidentals,’ I., pp. 247–265. Cf. also ‘Harsha-Carita,’ ch. viii. (p. 236 of the translation), where he pays great honour to a Buddhist sage.

19

E. I. i. 67.

20

V. ‘Kathā-Sarit-Sāgara,’ i. 505.

21

V. ‘Kādambarī,’ pp. 97–104.

22

V. ‘History of Indian Literature,’ translation, London, 1878, p. 232.

23

V. ‘Sāhitya-Darpaṇa,’ § 626–628.

24

Ibid., § 630.

25

26

V. ‘Sāhitya-Darpaṇa,’ § 664.

27

Ibid., § 718–722.

28

Ibid., § 738.

29

V. Peterson, ‘Kādambarī,’ p. 36.

30

Cf. Spenser’s stanzas on Mutability.

31

V. infra, p. 208.

32

V. infra, p. 2.

33

The list looks long, but the pages in the ‘Nirṇaya-Sāgara’ edition contain frequently but few lines, and many of the omissions are a line or two of oft-repeated similes.

34

Beginning at p. 566 of the ‘Nirṇaya-Sāgara’ edition.

35

I here take the opportunity to acknowledge what by an oversight was omitted in its proper place, my indebtedness to Professor Cowell for the rendering into English verse of two couplets given on pp. 11 and 113.

36

As the three Vedas, or the triad.

37

Vishṇu Purāṇa, Bk. v., ch. 33.

38

His guru.

39

Rasa = (a) the eight rasas; (b) love.

40

Çayyā = (a) composition; (b) couch.

41

(a) Which sparkle with emphatic words and similes; (b) like flashing lamps.

42

(a) Pun; (b) proximity.

43

Hanging on his ear (as an ornament).

44

In the case of elephants, ‘having their ichor regulated by a proper regimen.’

45

With renowned warriors on their backs.

46

Having trunks as thick as sacrificial posts.

47

I.e., Vāsavadattā and the Bṛihatkathā; or, r., advitīyā, unrivalled.

48

(a) Unconquerable in might; (b) having unconquerable shafts.

49

In the case of Brahma, ‘he made his chariot of flamingoes.’

50

(a) His hand was wet with a stream of constant giving; (b) the trunk was wet with ichor.

51

Or, to the sun’s orb.

52

Vinatā = (a) mother of Garuḍa; (b) humble.

53

Or, caste.

54

Or, fines of gold.

55

Or, fickle affections.

56

Had, mada = (a) pride; (b) ichor.

57

Or, breaking away from virtue.

58

Or, tribute.

59

In autumn, the haṃsas, or wild geese, return.

60

Or, bamboos.

61

Rām. I. 60.

62

He had (a) great faults; (b) a long arm.

63

Dark.

64

I.e., imposed no heavy tribute.

65

Or, ‘with citrā and çravaṇa,’ lunar mansions.

66

Or, living creatures.

67

(a) Of lowly birth; (b) not dwelling on earth.

68

(a) Caṇḍāla; (b) elephant.

69

Or, ajāti, without caste.

70

Alaka = (a) curls; (b) a city.

71

Or, whose love would be a reproach.

72

A verse in the āryā measure.

73

Vipula, Acala, and Çaça, characters in the Bṛihatkathā. Or, broad mountains and hares.

74

Varuṇa, tree; vāruṇa, wine.

75

Or, with lightning.

76

Constellations. The moon was supposed to have a deer dwelling in it.

77

(a) The cowries held by the suite; (b) different kinds of deer.

78

(a) Rocky; (b) having Çiva.

79

Kuça: (a) Sītā’s son; (b) grass. Niçācara: (a) Rāvaṇa; (b) owls.

80

(a) Mark of aloes on the brow; (b) tilaka trees and aloe trees all bright.

81

(a) Love; (b) madana trees.

82

As an amulet.

83

Name of an ornament.

84

Wine-cups.

85

(a) Halls; (b) çāl trees.

86

(a) Clapping of hands; (b) palm-trees.

87

(a) Arrows; (b) reeds.

88

(a) Trees; (b) eyes.

89

(a) As tamāla trees (very dark); (b) with tamāla trees.

90

Virāṭa, a king who befriended the Pāṇḍavas. The chief of his army was named Kīcaka. F. Mbh., Bk. iv., 815. Kīcaka also means ‘bamboo.’

91

Or, the twinkling stars of the Deer constellation, pursued by the Hunter (a constellation).

92

Bark garments, matted locks, and rags of grass.

93

(a) Seven leaves; (b) a tree.

94

(a) Of fierce disposition; (b) full of wild beasts.

95

The sign of a vow.

96

Or perhaps, ‘not caring for the fascination of the beauty of Rāvaṇa,’ i. e. his sister. He was loved by Rāvaṇa’s sister.

97

Does this refer to the reflection of the sky in its clear water?

98

Çālmalī = silk cotton-tree.

99

Lit., ‘striving upwards to see.’

100

Indra’s wood.

101

Çakuni = (a) bird; (b) name of Duryodhana’s supporter.

102

Or, ‘by Vanamālā,’ Kṛishṇa’s chaplet.

103

Tārā = (a) wife of Sugrīva, the monkey king; (b) star.

104

Mountaineer.

105

Arjuna, or Kārttavīrya, was captured by Rāvaṇa when sporting in the Nerbuddha, and was killed by Paraçurāma. V. Vishṇu Purāṇa, Bk. iv., ch. 11.

106

Dūshaṇa was one of Rāvaṇa’s generals; Khara was Rāvaṇa’s brother, and was slain by Rāma.

107

Cf. Uttararāmacarita, Act V.

108

Ekalavya, king of the Nishādas, killed by Kṛishṇa. Mbh., I., 132.

109

Or, curls.

110

V. Harivaṃça, 83.

111

Or, with clouds.

112

She-rhinoceros.

113

Or, rainbows.

114

Ekacakra = (a) a city possessed by Vaka; (b) one army, or one quoit.

115

Nāga = (a) elephant; (b) snake.

116

Or, Çikhaṇḍi, a son of Drupada, a friend of the Pāṇḍavas.

117

Or, mirage.

118

Or, eager for the Mānasa lake. The Vidyādhara was a good or evil genius attending the gods. V. Kullūka on Manu, xii., 47.

119

Yojanagandhā, mother of Vyāsa.

120

Or, ‘bearing the form of Bhīma.’ He was Bhīma’s son. V. Mbh., I., 155.

121

(a) Crescent moon of Çiva; (b) eyes of peacocks’ tails.

122

Hiraṇyakaçipu. V. Harivaṃça, 225.

123

Or, an ambitious man surrounded by bards (to sing his praises).

124

Or, loving blood.

125

Nishādas = (a) mountaineers; (b) the highest note of the scale.

126

(a) Had passed many ages; (b) had killed many birds.

127

Or, great wealth.

128

Black.

129

Or, Durgā.

130

Or, mountain.

131

(a) Magnanimity; (b) great strength.

132

Anabhibhavanīyā°.

133

(a) Awakening cry; (b) moral law.

134

Owls are supposed to be descendants of the sage Viçvāmitra.

135

As omens.

136

Piçitāçna, a demon, or, according to the commentary here, a tiger.

137

Lit., ‘creating a doubt of.’

138

Cf. Emerson’s Essay on Experience: ‘Sleep lingers all our life-time about our eyes, as night hovers all day in the boughs of the fir-tree.’

139

Read, Çramā.

140

Lit., ‘To have been an extract from.’

141

Sacred to Indra, and burnt by Agni with the help of Arjuna and Kṛishṇa.