TheBaitalPachchisi 10240831

T RA NS L A T O R S P RE F A C E
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T H E E nglish translation o f these tales has been made

by special re quest to meet repeated demands fo r a
,
translation of the text as edited by the late Dr Dun ; .
can Forbes The aim of the Translator has been to

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prod uce a work which would enable the st udent to

study the original with facility and accuracy I t .
b eing considere d that few save students wh o are

compelled to study the Hindi original would be
likely to peruse the work the translation has been
,
made as literal as it was possible to make it without

doing unpardonable violence to English idiom All .
difficulties have been b oldly if no t successfully met ;

, ,
and ex planatory an d other notes have been added ,
wherever the text appeare d to call fo r such The .
st udy o f the translation must not be supposed to

dispense with that o f the Grammar o f the langu age ;
I
it wi ll be found however to prove of the highest

, ,
utility to a student who has mastered the elementary

principles o f G rammar and u ses it—not as a mere
,
crib but—for the purpose of discovering what

light it sheds o n the application o f those principles .
P REFA C E .
as follows —I n the reign

v
T H E o rigin of these tales is
o f the E mperor Muhammad Sh ah Ra j a Jaisinh Saw a i ’
(who w as the ruler o f Jain agar ) ordered the eminent

p oet named S urat to translate the Bait al Pachi si
, ,
( which w as in the Sanskrit) into the Braj dialect .
Thereupon he translated it into the dialect of Braj in ,
’
accordance w ith the king s command A nd no w .
,
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during the reign o f the E mperor Shahi Alam and in ,
the time o f t he lord o f lords the cream o f exalted

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princes the Privy Counsellor o f the Monarch o f Eng

,
-
land w hose court stands as high as Saturn ; the

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n oblest o f the noble the Governor General M arquis

,
-
Wellesley ( may his government be perpetuated l) ;

and in accordance with the bidding of H is Honour ,
Mr John Gilchrist ( may his good fortune endure l) ;

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t o the end that illustrious gentleman may learn and

u nderstand the poet M azhar A li Kh an ( w hose mo m ale
,
lume is Vil a ith the aid o f the poet Shri L allu

p ) w,
L a] rendered the same into easy language such as

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,
high and low use in speaking and which the learned

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vi PRE F A C E .
and the ignorant the talented and the obtuse w ould

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all comprehend and w hich would be easy to the mind

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of every o ne no diffi culty of any ki nd prese nting

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itself t o the intellect and wherein the dialect of Braj

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frequently occurs .
No w in conformity w ith the command o f the Pro

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fesso r o f Hindi the bounteous patron His Honour

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, , ,
Captain James M ouat (may his prosperity last long ! ) ,
T arinicharan Mitra (in preparing the work) for the,
press has struck o ut such Sanskrit and Braj words as

,
seldom occur in the Urdu dialect and introduced ,
w or d s in current use Some w ords ho w ever in use .

, ,
among the Hindus the exclusion of w hich he regarded

,
as detrimental he has preserved intact He trusts

, .
that the w ork may meet w ith a favourable reception .
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THE BAITAL PA OHCHISI .
I NTRODUCTORY T ALE .
T H E RE a city named Dharanagar the king of

w as ,
w hich w as G an d h arb Sen He had four queens an d .

,
by them six sons o n e more learned and m ore po w er

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ful than another Fate ordaining after so me days

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,
the king died and his eldest so n Shank by name

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, , ,
became king in his stead A gain after some day s .

, ,
a younger brother Vikram after slaying his el d est

, ,
brother himself became king and began to govern

, ,
well Day by day his dominion so increased that he

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became king of all I ndia ; and after fixing his gov

1
ern ,
ment 011 a firm basis he established an aera ,

.
A fter some time the king thou ght to himself that

he ought to visit those countries of w hich he had
is t h nam f
Ja m bu d w ip e f t h s v n divisi ons f t h w orld and
e o o ne o e e e o e ,
impli s t h c nt ral divi sion or th k o n w orld accord ng t t h Ba d

e e e ,
e n w i o e n
dhas it i co fin d t I nd a
,
s n e o i .
2 TH E B AI T AL PACHCHIS I .
heard l Having d etermined on this he made over

.
,
his throne to his younger brother B harthari and him ,
self assuming the guise o f a devotee set out to w ander ,
from land to land and forest to forest .
A Brahman was practising austerities in that city .
One day a deity brought and presented to him t he

fruit o f immortality He then took the fruit home an d
.
said to his w ife Whoever shall eat this wi ll become

,
“
immortal ; the deity told me this at the time of giving

”
the fruit Hearing this the Brahman s w ife w ept
.
,
’
ex cessively and began to say This is a great evil

, ,
w e have to suffer ! For becoming imm o rtal ho w , ,
long shall We go o n begging alm s! Nay to die is ,
better than this ; ( for) if w e d ie then w e escape from ,
”
the trials o f the w orld Then the Brahman said .
,
I took the fruit and brought it ; but hearing your ,
w ords I am bereft of understanding

, No w I w ill do .
w hat ever y o u bid Then his w ife said to him Give

.
,
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this fruit t o the k ing and in exchange for it take ,
w e alth w hereby w e may enjoy the advantages of this

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world as w ell as that to come .
Hearing this speech the Brahman Went to the kin g

,
and ga v e him his blessing ; (and) after explainin g the

circumstances of the fruit said Great king ! d o y o u , ,
take this fruit and give me some w ealth ; there is

happiness for me in your being long lived The -
.
“
i I d a—T he
ki g t hought i hi n n s mm d , “
I sho ld t rav l ov r t hos
u e e e
count i s hos nam s I am h aring
r e w e e e .
TH E B AI T AL P A CH C H I S I . 3
king having giv en t he Brah man a lakh of r upees and

dis missed hi m entered the female apar tments and
, ,
giv ing the fruit to the q ueen whom he loved most ,
said 0queen do thou eat this for thou w ilt become

,
,
immortal and w ilt contin ue young for ever

, The .
q ueen hearin g this took the fruit from the king (and )
, , ,
he came o u t int o his court .
A certain kot w al was the paramour o f that q u een

to him she gave the fruit I t so happened that a .
’
courte san w as the kot w al s mistress ; he gave the fruit
to her and described its virtues That courtesan .
thought to herself that the frui t w as a fitting present

fo r the king Determining this in her mind she w ent
.
,
and pre sented the fruit to t he king His majesty .
took t he fruit and dismissed her w ith much w ealth ;

and contemplating the fruit and pondering w ithin ,
himself he became sick o f the w orld and began to

, ,
-
say , T he perishable w ealth of this w orld is of no use

w hatever ; for through it o ne must ulti mately fall into
hell Preferable to this is the practising of religious

.
duties and the h iding in the re membrance of the Deity ,
”
w hereby it may be w ell in the future .
Co min g to t his determination he entered the female ,
apartments and asked the queen w hat she had done

w ith the frui t (he gave her) She replied I ate it .
,
up “ Then the kin g showed the queen tha t fr uit .
She on the instant of setting eyes on it stood aghast

, , ,
and w as unable to make any reply A fter that the .

,
4 TH E B AI T AL PA CHCHI SI .
king h aving come forth had the fruit w ashed and ate , ,
it and abandoning his king d om and th rone assumed

, ,
t he guise of a devotee and be took hi mself u nacco m ,
p an ied and w,
ithout holding communication wi th a
soul to the jungle
,
.
The throne o f Vikram became vacant When this .
n e w s reached ki n g I ndra h e sent a demon t o guard ,
D h aran ag ar He kept w atch over the city day and

.
night To b e brief the report o f this m a tter spread

.
,
from coun try to country that king B harth ari had ,
abandoned his government and gone aw ay King .
Vikram too heard the new s and immediately came

, , ,
to his country I t w as then midnigh t : he w as enter

.
ing the city at that hour w hen that demon c alled o u t , ,
“
Who art thou ! and w hither goest thou ! Stand
”
still (and) m ention thy name Then the king said .
,
“
I t is I king Vikram ; I am entering m y o w n city
,
”
who art thou to challenge me ! Then the demon
,
replied saying The deities have sent me to guard

, ,
this city if you are really kin g Vikram first fight

:
,
”
w ith me and then enter the city
, .
O n hearing these w ords the king girt tight his

w aist cloth and challenged the demon
-
Thereupon .
the demon to o stood up to him The battle began

, , .
.
At last the king threw the demon and sat upon his
breast Then he said 0 king ! thou hast thrown
.
,
me I grant thy life as a Upon this the king ,
laughing said Thou art gone mad ; w hose life dost

, ,
TH E B AI T AL PA CHCHIS I . 5
thou gra nt ! Did I will I could slay thee ho w canst ,
th ou grant m e li fe ! The n the demon said 0 ”

,
“
king ! I am about to save thee from death ; first attend

to a tale of mine and thereafter rule over the w hole,
”
w orld free from all care A t length the king set .
him free and began to listen attentively to his tale

, .
Then the demon addressed him thus : There w as

in this city a very liberal king name d C hand rabh an , .
One d ay he w ent forth casually into the jungle ; w hen ,
what should he behold but an ascetic hanging head ,
do w n w ards from a t ree and sustaining himself by in

, ,
haling smoke alone— neither receiving anything from

any one n o r speaking to any one Perceiving this
,
.
state of his the king retur ned home and seating him
, ,
self in his court said Whoever w ill brin g this ascetic

, ,
“
(here) shall receive a lakh of rupees

,
A courtesan
h earing these w or d s cam e to the king and spake thus ,
I f I obtain your majesty s leave I w ill have a child ’
begotten by that ascetic and bring i t here mounted ,
”
o n his shoulder .
The king w as astonished at hearing this speech ,
and binding the courtesan to (the fulfilment of her

contract to ) bring the ascetic by giving her a flake of
betel leaf dismissed her She w ent to that wild
-
,
1
.
,
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I r nd r t hus p riphrast ically th Words t p wzI

am ob lig d e to e e e e a as
'
ce
Zine I M t bi d d l
ce T h bi d i a b t l l af mad up wi t h a p
a e r e eaxr . e r s e e -
e ,
e re
parat i f ar ca
on o clo
e vs 8 0 It giv n and acc p t d as a e , 5 . is e e e
pl dg f th p rformanc f an t
e e or e e e o ac .
6 TH E B AI T AL P AC H CHI S I .
and reaching the ascetic s place perceived that he w as

’
,
really han ging head dow nw ards neither eating nor

-
drinking anything and that he w as w ithered up I n

,
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shor t that cour tesan prepared some sweetmeat and

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put it into the ascetic s m o n th he fin d ing it sw eet

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: , ,
ate it up w it h zest Thereup o n the courtesan ap

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plied m ore (to his mouth ) Thus for t w o days did .
she continue feeding him w ith s w eetmeat by eating ,
w hich he gained a certain de g ree of strength Then .

,
opening his ey es and descending from the tree he

, ,
inquired of her On w hat business hast thou come

,
’
hither !
The co urtesan replied I am the daughter of a
god ; I w as practising religious a usterities in hea v
,
en ;
I h ave n o w come into this Wild The devotee said ’
.
again , Where is thy hut ! Sho w me it Thereupon .

’
the courtesan brought the ascetic to her hut and com

“
m ence d fee d ing him w ith savoury (li t six fl avo ure d
) .
-
v iands so that the ascetic left o ff inhaling smoke and

, ,
took to eating food and drinking w ater daily Even .
t ually u id troubled him upon hich he had c ar nal

Q p w
intercourse w ith her ( an d ) Vi tiated his austerities ;

,
an d the courtesan became pregnant I n ten months .
a boy w as born When he w as some months old

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,
the w oman said to the devotee O saint ! you should ,
no w set out on a pilgrimage w hereby all the sins of
the fl esh may be blotted out .

’
Deluding him w ith such w ord s s he mounted the ,

bo y
’
on his
shoulder and started for the king s court , ,
whence she had set o ut after taking up the gage to ,
accomplish this matter When she came before the .
king his majesty recognised her from a distance and

, ,
seeing the child o n the shoulder o f the devotee began ,
saying to the courtiers Just see ! this is the very

!
,
‘
’
same courtesan w ho went to bring the devotee !
They replied 0 king ! you are quite right ; this is
,
the very same ; an d be pleased to observe that all

’
that she had stated in y our majesty s presence ere
’
she set forth has come to pass ,
.
When the ascetic heard these remarks o f the

king and co u rtiers he perceived that t he king had ,
adopted these measures to disturb his religious medi

t at io ns With these thoughts in his mind the de
. ,
v o tee returned from thence , and getting out of the
city slew the child repaired to another jungle and

, , ,
began to perform penance And a fter some ti me that .
king died and the devotee completed his penance

,
.
The short o f the story is this that you three men ,
have been born under one asterism o ne conjunction , ,
and in o ne moment Yo u took bir th in a king s .
’
house ; the second w as an oilman s (child ) the third ,
t h e devotee w as born in a potter s house

,
You still .
’
govern here w hile the oilman s son w as the ruler of
,
the infernal regions ; but that potter bringing his ,
religious meditations to thorough perfection has killed ,
the oilman turned him in to a demon in a burning

,
l U un 0115 WII WG V
’
(1 11 1 U L D
g P 5
siris tree and is intent on killing yo u I f you escape
-
,
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him you will rule I h ave apprised y o u o f all these

,
.
circumstances ; do not be careless w ith respect to

”
them .Having narrated thus much the demon de ,
p arted He ( the king) entered his private palac e

.
.
Wh en it w as morn the king came forth and too k ,
his seat ( on the th rone) and gave the order for a ,
general court A s many servant s as there w ere

. ,
great an d small all came and made their off erings in ,
the presence and festive m usic burst forth A n ex

,
.
trao rd inary gladness and rejoicin g possesse d the w hole

city such that in every place and e very house dance
, , ,
and song arose A fter this the king began to govern .
j ustly .
I t is related that one d ay an ascetic named Shant

'
shi l a
’
pp eared at the king s court w ith a fruit in his .
hand and presenting the fruit to the king spread a

, , ,
cloth and sat dow n there After a short time he

,
.
w ent aw ay again O n his departure the king thought .
to himself that this w as probably the person of w hom

the demon had spoken H ab o urin g this su spicion he .
,
d id not eat the fruit and summonin g the stewar d he , , ,
gave it to him w ith instructions to keep it carefully

, .
The devotee h o w ever came constantly in this same

, ,
manner and left a fruit every day

, .
I t so happened that one day the king went to

inspect his stable accompanied by some attendants , .
10 TH E B AI T AL PA CH CH IS I .
you have spoken the truth He w hose integrity is .
safe his all is safe : integrity alone aco mp anies u s

, ,
and that it is w hich proves of advantage in both

w orlds Hear 0 king ! each gem is perfect as t o
.
,
colour stone and form Were I to declare the value

, , .
o f each to be a crore o f rupees even that w ould not ,
come up to the mark Of a truth each gem is worth .

,
a clime Hearing this the king w as pleased beyond

.
,
measu re an d conferring a robe of honour o n the je w el

,
ler dismissed him ; and taking the devotee s hand

,
’
he brought and seated him o n the throne and began .
thus M y w hole realm is not w orth even o ne of

“
these rubies ; tell me then w hat is the explanation , ,
of this that y o u a religious mendicant have presented

, , ,
”
m e w ith so many gems !
The ascetic said Your majesty ! it is not proper
,
“
to speak publicly o f the follow ing things viz magic , .

,
and incantations drugs employed in medicines religious

, ,
duties family affairs the eatin g of impure meats evil

, , ,
speech w hich one has heard — all these things are no t

spoken o f in public ; I w ill tell you in private Attend ! .
it is a rule that w hatever is heard by three pairs o f

,
car s remains no secret ; the w ords w hich reach t w o
pairs of ears no man hears w hile the contents of one

pair of ears are unkno w n to Brahma himself not to ,
”
s peak of man O n hearin g these w or d s the king
.
,
took the devotee apart and began to say 0 holy ,

“
man ! you have given me so many r ubies and have ,

TH E B AI T AL P A CH C HI S I . 11
not once par taken of food even ; you have put me to

”
great shame ! L et me kno w what it is you desire .
The ascetic said Sire ! I am about to practice magical

,
“
arts in a large body burning ground o n the bank o f

- -
,
the river Godavari whereby I shall acq uire super

,
natural po w ers and so I beg o f y o u to pass o n e w hole

,
night w ith me ; by your being near me my magic

arts w ill suc ceed Then the king said Very w ell ;
.
,
“
”
I w ill come : leave w ord with me of the day The .
ascetic said Do you come to me armed and u n

,
“
,
attended o n the Tuesday evening of the dark half of

,
”
the month Bhadon The king replie d Yo u may go ;
.
,
“
”
I will assuredly come and alone ,
.
Having thus exacted a pro mise from the king and ‘
taken leave h e for his part went into a temple and

, , ,
m ade preparations and taking all necessaries with

,
him w ent and fixed himself m a place fo r burning

,
bodies ; w hile here the king began to ponder ( over

w hat had happened ) I n the meantime the moment
.
( for him to d epart ) too arrived Upon this the king

,
.
there an d the n girt on his s w ord tightened the cloth ,
he w ore bet w een his legs and betook himself alone to ,
the devotee by night and greeted him T he devotee ,

.
requested him to be seated w hereupon the king sat ,
do w n and their perceived goblins evil spirits and

, , ,
w itches in various frightful shapes dancing around ;

, ,
w hile the ascetic seated in the centre w as striking

, ,
t w o skulls together by w ay of music The king felt .

no fear o r alarm o n beholding this state o f things ;

b u t said to the devotee What command is there fo r
,
me ! He replied 0kin g! n o w that y o u have come

”
, ,
do this — at a distance o f tw o £08 south of this place

is a burning ground w herein is a siris tree on which
-
,
-
a corpse is sus pen ded ; bring that ( corpse) to me at

once to this place w here I shall be performing my
,
”
devotions . Having despatched the king t hither he ,
himself settled do w n in devotion al attitude and began

muttering prayers .
For o ne thing the darkness o f the night was in

,
itself t errifying ; more than this the d ownpour o f the ,
rai n w as as unceasing as if it w ould rain for once and

all that night ; w hilst the goblins and ghosts to o , ,
were creating such an uproar that even daring heroes ,
w ould have been agitated at the spectacle the king -
how ever went o n his w ay The snakes which kept

,
.
,
coming and tw ining themselves about his legs he used ,
to disentangle by repeating incantations At length .

,
when after passing someho w or o ther ove r a peril ous

road the king reached the burnin g ground he per
,
-
ceiv ed that goblins were constan tly seizing men an d
destroyin g them ; witches continually munching the

livers of children ; tigers w ere roaring and elephants ,
scream ing I n short w hen he noticed the tree he

.
,
,
perceived that every l eaf and branch o f it from the ,
root to the t opmost t w ig was burning furiously while

,
,
from all four sides arose a tumultuous cry of Kill “

TH E B AI T AL PA C H C H IS I . 13
him ! kill him ! Seize him ! seize him ! Take care

”
he does not escape !
The king had no fears o n beholding that state of
things ; but he said to hi mself I t may or may no t ,
“
be so but ( I am convinced) this is the same devotee

,
”
about w hom the demon spoke to me And having .
gone close and observed he perceived a corpse fas

,
tened by a string and hanging head do w nw ards He

, .
w as glad to see the cor pse thinking his trouble had

,
been re w arded Takin g his sw ord and shield he

.
,
climbed the tree fearlessly and str uck such a blow

,
w ith the s w ord that the rope w as severed and the
corpse fell do w n and instantly began to w eep aloud

, .
On hearing his voice the king w as pleased and began ,
”
to say to himself Well ! this man at least is alive
,
“
.
Then descending he enquired o f him w ho he w as

, , .
He burst out laughing as soon as he heard (the ques .
tion ) The king w as greatly astonished at this A gain

. .
the corpse climbed up the tree and suspended himself .
The king too that instant climbed up and cl utching

, , ,
him under his arm brought himdo w n and said Vile

, , ,
“
”
wretch ! tell me who thou art He made no reply . .
The king reflected and said to himself Perhaps this ,
is the very oilman w ho m the demon said the devotee

”
had deposited in the place w here bodies are burnt .
Thus reflectin g be bound him up in his mantle and

,
brought him to the devotee The man who displays .

14 TH E B AI T AL PA CH CHISI .
such cou rage w ill ( be sure to ) s ucceed in his unde r

takings .
Then the sprite said Who art thou ! and w hither ,

“
”
art thou taking me ! The king replied I am king ,
”
Vikram and am taking thee o ff to a devotee
,
He .
rejoined I will go on one condition if thou utterest

, ,
-
”
a w ord o n the w ay I w ill come straight back
,
The .
king agreed to his condition an d w ent o ff w ith him .
Then the sprite said 0king ! those w h o are learned

, ,
discernin g and w ise —Meir days are passed in the de

,
light o f son g and the S hastras w hile the days o f the ,
un w ise and foolish are spent in dissipation and sleep .
Hence it is best th at this long road should be beguiled

,
by profitable converse do you attend 0king ! to the : ,
”
story I relate .
l
B et ti l or b itd l i a sprit haunt ing c m t ri s (or rath r plac s h r
a , s e e e e e , e , e w e e
b odi s
e are b urn d ) and ani mating d ad b odi s
e , e e .
T AL E I .
T H E R E w as a king o f Ban aras named Pratapmukut ;

,
and Bajra mukut w as the name o f his son w hose

-
’
queen s name w as Mah adevi One day the prince .
,
accompanied by his minister s son w ent to the chase

’
, ,
and advanced far into a jungle in the midst of w hich

,
he beheld a beautiful tank on the margin o f w hich

,
wild geese brahmani ducks male and female cranes

, , ,
an d w ater fo w l w ere one and all

-
, disporting ; o n all ,
four sides y fid ts o f solid masonry w ere constructed

w ithin the tank the lotus w as in full bloom : o n the
,
sides were planted trees o f different kinds under the ,
dense shade o f w hich the breezes came cool and re

freshin g w hile birds were w arbling on the boughs ;
,
and in the forest bloomed flow ers o f varied hues on ,
w hich w hole s w ar m s of bees w ere buzzing — ( suc h
w as the scene ) w hen they arrived by the margin o f
that tank and w ashed their hands and faces and re ,
ascende d .
“
On that spot w as a temple sacred to Mahadeva .
Fast ening their horses and entering the temple they

, ,
paid adoration to Mah adeva and came o u t While

,
.
l6 TH E B A II AL
'‘
P A CH C HIS I .
they w ere engaged in adoration the daughter o f a ,
certain king accompanied by a host of attendants

,
,
came to another margin of the tank to bathe ; and ,
having finished her ablution s m editation s an d prayers , ,
she w ith her o w n maidens began to w alk about in

, ,
’
the shade of the trees O n this side the minister s .
’
son w as seated and the king s so n w as w alking about
, ,
’
w hen sud d enly his eyes and the eyes o f the king s
, , ,
daughter met A s soon as he beheld her beauty the

,
.
,
king s son w as fascinated and began saying to him

’
self Yo u w retch Cupid ! w hy do you molest me !

,
‘
,
’
A nd w hen the princess beheld the prince she took in ,
her hand the lotus fl o w er w hich she had fixed on her-
head after her devotions placed it to her ear hit it , ,
w ith her teeth put it under her foot then took it u p

, ,
and pressed it to her bosom and takin g her maidens , ,
w ith her mounted ( her chariot ) and departed home

,
.
And the prince sinking into the depths of despair

“
, ,
and ov erw helme d w ith grief o n account of her absence ,
came to the minister s so n and w ith a feelin g of sh ame ’
laid before him the actual state o f affairs saying 0 , ,
friend ! I h ave seen a most beautiful damsel (but) I ,
know neith er her name nor her abode should I not :
possess her I w ill give up my life this I am firmly

, :
resolved u pon in my mind Hearing these circum .

’
’
stances the minister s son caused him to mount and
m
, ,
b rt ght him home it is true but the king s son w as

’
, ,
so res t less from grief at separation that b e entirely ,

18 TH E B AI T AL P A C H C HI S I .
hended her signs and discovered her n ame habitation

, , ,
and all about her He ( the prince ) replied Explain

.
’
,
’
to me w hatever you have discovered He began to .
say Attend 0king ! Her having taken the lotus

,
‘
,
flow er from her h ead and put it to her ear is eq uiv a ,
lent to her having informed you that she is an inha

bitant of the Karn atak ( Carnatic) ; and in biting it
w ith her teeth she intimated that she is the daugh t er
,
o f king Danta v at and by pressing it under her foot

-
she declared that her name is P ad mav at i ; and in again
taking it u p and pressin g it to her bosom she informed ,
you that you d w ell in her heart When the prince .

’
h eard these w ords he said to him I t is advisable

, ,
’
that you t ake me to the city in w hich she d w ells .
No sooner had he said this than both dressed them

selves girt o n their arms and taking some jewels
, ,
with them m ounted their horses and took the road t o

,
”
that quarter .
“
Having reached th e Karn at ak after several day s ,
and having arrived below the palaces of the king in

their stroll through the city what do they see there ,
but an old w oman sitting at her door and plying her

cotton w heel The t w o dismou nting from their horses
-
.
, ,
ap proached her and began to say Mother ! w e are

, ,
travelling merchants our goods are follow ing us ; w e ,
have come o n ahead to seek a lodging ; if you will

give us a place w e w ill abide On looking at their
, .
’
faces and hearing their w ords the old w om an took ,
compassion on them and said This house is yours ; ,

TH E B AI T AL e n cn rsr . 19
ai
rem n here as long as you please I n short they .
’
took possession o f the house o n hearing this ; and

after some delay the old woman came and kindly sat
wit h them and began chatting with them O n this
, .
,
’
the minister s so n en q uired o f her What family and ,
‘
relations have you go t ! and ho w do y o d subsist ! ’
The o ld woman said My son is very comfortably ,
’
provided for in the king s service and your humble ,
servant is the w et nurse o f P ad mav ati -

the king s ,
’
dau ghter ; in consequence of old age having overtaken

me I remain at home but the king provides for my ,
m aintenance Once a day ho w ever I go regularly

.
, ,
to see that g1rl ; it is o n my return fr omthence in ,
’
my home alone that I give vent to my w o e
, , .
Hearing these w ords the prince rejoiced at heart , ,
and said to the o ld woman When y o u are starting ,

‘
to morrow please carry a message from me too

-
,
r
.
’
She replied Son ! w hat need to defer it till to

,
morro w ! I w ill this moment convey any message

y o u co mmunicate to me
’
o f yours that Then he .
s aid Do you go and tell her this —The prince

,
‘
whom you saw o n the margin of the tank on the

fifth day o f the light half of the month Jet h has
Q ”
arrived here .
On hearing these words the o ld woman took her

stick and went to the palace When she got there .
she foun d the princess sitting alone When she ap .
eare d before h er she ( the princess) s aluted her

p ,
.
20 TH E B AI T AL PA CH C H IS I .
The old w oman gave her her blessing and said , ,
Daughter ! I tended y o u in your infancy and ,
suckled you God h as n o w caused you to grow up

.
w h at my heart n o w d esires is that I sho uld see y o u ,
happy in your prime then should I too receive co m , , ,
fort . Addressing her in such affectionate w ords as

’
these ; she proceeded to say The prince w hose heart ,
you took captive on the fift h day of the light half of

Jeth by the side o f the tank has alighted at my
, ,
house ( and ) has sent you this message fo r you to

, ,
perform the promise you made him no w that he has ,
arrived And I tell y o u for my part that that prince

.
, ,
is w orthy o f you and is as excellent in disposition

,
and mental qualities as y o u are beautiful .

’
On hearing these w ords she beca me angry and ,
apply in g sandal to her hands and slapping the face

'
of the old w oman be gan to say Wretch ! get o ut

, ,
‘
’
of my house ! She rose annoyed and w ent in that , ,
very condition straight to the prince and related all

, ,
that had happened to her The prince w as astounded .
at these w ords Then the minister s son spoke say

.
’
ing Great king ! feel n o anxiety ; this matter has

,
not come w ithin your comprehension Hereupon he .

’
said True ; do you then explain it that my mind

,
‘
,
may obtain rest He said I n smearing sandal on

.
’
,
‘
the ten fingers and striking the (woman o n the) face

, ,
she intimated that w hen the ten nights of moonlight

,
shall come to an end she w ill meet you in the dark , .

’
T HE B AI T AL P A C H C H IS I . 21
Tobe brief after ten d ays the o ld woman again

,
w ent and announced him ; then she tinged three o f
her fingers w i th saffron and struck them on her ,
’
cheek saying Get out of my house ! After all the
, , ,
o ld w o m an moved from thence in despair and came ,
and related to the prince all that had occurred He .
w as engulfed in an ocean o f sorro w as soon as he
heard it Seeing this state of his the minister s son

.
,
’
said again Be not alarmed the purport of this

m
, ,
atter is something else He replied My heart .

’
,
‘
is disquieted ; tell me quickly Then he said She ’ ‘

.
,
is in the state w hich w omen are in every month and ,
hence has stip ulated for three days m ore ; on the

’
fou rth day she w ill send fo r you I n short when .
,
the three days elapsed the old w oman made en ,
u iries after her health o n the part o f the prince

q .
Then she brought the old w oman angrily to the

w estern w icket an d turned her out
,
Again the old .
woman came and informed the prince of this event :
he became cast down at hearin g it -

On this the .
minister s so n said The explanation o f the affair is

’
,
‘
,
that she has invited y o u to night by w ay of that -
w icket He w as pleased beyond measure at hearing

’
.
this To be brief w hen the hour arrived they took

.
, ,
o ut bro w n suits o f clothes arranged them fastened , ,
o n their turbands dressed themselves placed their

, ,
w eapons in order about them and w ere ready ; by ,
t his time midnight h ad passed At that time an .

22 TH E B AI T AL P A C H C HIS I .
universal stillness prevailed w hen they too pursued

‘
, , ,
”
their w ay in unbroken silence .
When they arrived near the w icket the minister s ,
son remained standing w ithout and he (the prince) ,
e ntered the wicket What does he perceive but the

. ,
princess too standing ther e expectin g him ! Thus

‘
, ,
their eyes met Then the princess laughe d and

. , ,
closing the w icket took the prince with her into the
,
festive chamber Arrived there the prince beheld

.
,
censers filled w ith perfume alight in different p arts o f

the room and maidens dressed in gar ments o f various
,
colours standing respectfully w ith hands joined each , ,
according to her station ; o n one side a couch o f
flowers spread ; atr holders pan boxes rose w ater -
,
-
,
-
bottles trays and four partitioned boxes arran ged in

,
-
order ; on another side compound essences prepared , ,
sandal w ood mixed perfumes musk and saffron filled

-
, , ,
in metal cups ; here coloured boxes o f exquisite con

,
factions lai d o ut ; there sw eetmeats o f various kinds ,
placed in order ; all the doors an d w alls adorned with

pictures and paintings and holding such faces that , ,
the beholder would be enchanted at the very si ght o f

each single one I n short everything that could con
.
,
tribute to pleasure and enjoyment w as got together .
The whole scene w as o ne o f an extraordinary character ,
”
o f w hich no adequate description can be give n .
“
Such w as the apartment to w hich the princess
P ad mav ati took the prince and gave him a seat and ,
TH E B A I l‘ A L
’
P A C H C IH S I . 23
having his feet washed and applying sandal to his ,
bo d y and placing a garland of flow ers round his

,
neck and sprinkling rose w ater over him began

,
,
fanning him with her o w n hands Upon this the .
prince said At t he mere sight o f you I have become

,
refreshed ; w hy d o you take so much tro uble ! These

d elicate hands are no t fit t o handle a fan ; give me
the fan ; y o u be seated P ad mavati replie d Great ’
.
,
king ! y o u have been at great trouble to come here

fo r my sake it behoves me to w ait upon you
, Then .
’
a maiden took the fan from the princess s hand an d ’
said This is my business ; I w ill attend o n you and

,
,
do y o u both enjoy yourselves They began eating .

’
betel leaf together and engaging in familiar con

-
versation w hen by this time it became morning

, , , .
The princess concealed him ( and ) w hen night came ,
o n they again engaged in amorous leasures Thus

,
p .
several days passed aw ay Whenever the prince .
showed a w ish to depart the princess would not per

mit him A month passed thus ; then the prince b e
.
came much d isturbed and very anxious ,

.
“
Once it happened that he w as sitting alone by
night and thinking thus to himself Country throne , , ,
family — everything had already been separated from

,
me ; but such a friend as mine by w hose means I ,
found all this happiness even him have I not met for
,
a w hole month ! What will he be saying in his

heart ! and h o w do I kno w what may be happening
’
to him ! He was sitting occupied with these anxiou s
24 TH E B AI T AL m o n o m er .
tho ughts when in the mean w hile the princess to o , ,
arrived and seeing h is predicament began to in

, ,
qui re Great king ! w haf grief possesses y o u that

,
‘
o u are sitting so dispirited here ! Tell me Then

y .
he said I have a very dear friend the so n o f the

.
,
‘
minister ; for a w hole month I have r ecei ved no ao

counts o f him : he is such a cle v er learned friend , ,
that through Iris talents (it w as that) I obtained thee ,
’
and fie (it was w ho ) explained all thy secrets The .
princess said G re at king ! your soul is really there ; ,
w hat happiness can you enjoy here ! Hence this is ,
best I will prepare confections and sweetmeats an d

,
-
all kinds o f meats and have them sent ; do you too , , ,
go th ere and feast and comfort him well and retu rn ,
’
w ith your mind at ease .
,
On hearing this the prince rose up and came forth

and the princess had different kinds of sw eetmeats ,
w ith poison mixe d cooked and sent The prince had , .
’
but just gone and sat beside the minister s son w hen
’
the s w eetmeats arrived The minister s so n enquired .
‘
G reat king ! how did these s weetmeats come here !
The prince replied I w as sitting there anxious co n ,
cernin g you when the princ ess ca me and looking at , ,
me asked Why do you sit cast dow n ! Explain

, ,
-
’
the reason of it On this I g ave her a full account .
o f your skill in reading secrets On hearin g this ao 1

.
hus translati g I t ak bh d k t d i as a compound ot h r t rans

In t n , e e -
c a wr : e
lat ors r nd r it th s cr t s f yo r cl v rn ss which s ms t m t b

e e , e e e o u e e e , ee o e o e
gr mmat ically inadmis ibl and t los th s ns

a s e, o e e e e.
26 TH E B AI T AL PA CH C HI S I .
one thing — go again to P ad mavati and do just w hat I

, ,
tell y o u — first go and display much regard and aff ec

,
tion for her ; ( and) w hen she falls asleep take o ff her ,
je w els and strike her o n the left thigh wi th this tri

,
’
dent and instantly come a w ay from thence
,
.
Having received these instructions the prince w ent ,
to P ad m avati at night and after mu ch affectionate,
conversation they both lay dow n together to sleep ;

,
but he w as secr etly w atching his opportunity To be .
b ri ef w hen the princess fell asleep he took o ff all her

, ,
ornaments struck her on the left thigh w ith the tri

,
den t an d came to his o w n house He recounted all

, .
the occurrences to the minister s son and laid the ’
je w els before him He then took u p the jewels took

.
,
t he prince w it h him and assuming the guise o f a de

, ,
vo t ee w ent and sat in a place for burning bodies

, .
He himself took the part of a spiritual teacher and ,
making him ( the prince ) his disciple said to him , ,
‘
You go into the market and sell these je w els ; if
anyone should seize you while doing this bring him ,
’
to me .
Receiving his instructions the prince took the jew els ,
with him to the city: and showed them to a goldsmith

in close proximity to the king s palace gate A s soon ’
-
.
as he saw the m he recognised them and said These , ,
are the princess s jew els tell me truly w here did y o u

’
get them ! He w as saying this to him w hen ten o r

’
t w enty more men gathered round To be brief the .

,
TH E B AI T AL PA CHC H IS I . 27
kotwal hearing the ne w s sent men and had the prince

, , ,
together with the jewels and the goldsmith seized and ,
brought before him and inspecting the jewels asked , ,
him to s tate truly w here he had got them When he .
said My spiritual preceptor has given them to me

,
to sell but I kno w not whence he got them — then

,
,
’
the kot w al had the preceptor also apprehended and

brought before him and taking them both together , ,
w ith the j e w els into the presence of the king related

, ,
all the circumstances .
On hearing the narrative the king addressed the

devotee saying Master ! w hence did you obtain
, ,
’
these jew els ! The devotee said Your majesty ! ,
o n the fourteenth n igh t of the dark lunar fortnight I
visited a burning ground to perfect some spells for a -
w itch w hen the witch came I took o fl her je w els and '
apparel and made the impression of a trident on her

,
left thigh ; in this w ay these ornaments came into my

possession On hearin g this statement of the devo
.
tee s the king w ent into his private apart ments and
’
, ,
the devotee to his seat ( in the bu rning gro un d ) The 1 ~

.
king said to the queen Jus t see if there is a mark ,
o n P ad m avati s left thigh o r no t and ( if so ) w hat sort

’
’
o f a mark there is The queen having gone and .
looked found the mark of a trident She returned

,
.
1
g n rally t h skin f a d r or l opard or tig r w hich
T h e d ed z
a is, e e , e o ee , e , e ,
r ligious m ndi cant s c rry w i th th m t it upon T h hid f a black

e e a e o s . e e o
ant lop is comm only pr f rr d S om of t h gods fabl d t

e e e e th e . e e are e o u se e
lo t us d ow r f t h purpos
-
e or e e.
28 ‘
TH E B AI T AL P A C H C HI S I .
and said to the king Your majesty ! there are three

,
‘
parallel marks indeed it appears as if some one had ,
struck her w ith a trident .

’
“
On hear ing this account the king came o u t and sen t ,
for the kotw al and told him to go and bring the de

,
v o tee .The kotw al set o ff to bring the devotee o n the

instant of receiving the or d er ; and the king began
reflecting thus The affairs of one s household and
,
’
,
the intentions o f one s heart and any loss w hich has’
befallen one— these it is not right to disclose to any

one w hen in the interval the kot w al brought the
, ,
d evotee into the presence Then the king took the .
devotee aside and questioned him saying Spiritual , ,
gui d e ! w hat punishment is laid do w n in the scrip

tures for a woman ! On this the devotee said Your
’
,
‘
m ajesty ! if a Brahman a co w a w ife a child o r any , , , ,
one dependent on us be guilty of a disgraceful act it

, ,
is prescribed that such should be banished from the

country .
’
On hearing this the king had P ad mavati conveyed

a w ay in a litter and left in a jungle Thereupon both
,
.
the prince and the minister s son star ted from their ’
lodging on horseback w ent to that jungle took the , ,
Princess P ad mav at i w ith them and set out fo r their ,
o wn country A fter some days each reached his

.
father s house The greatest joy took possession of

’
.
all high and lo w ; and these (i e the prince and the

, . .
,
princess ) entered upon a life of mutual happiness

, .
TH E B AI T AL P A CH C HI SI . 29
After relating so muc h of the tale the sprite asked

K ing Vikram ajit To which of those four does guilt
,
attach ! I f y o u do not decide th is point you will be ,
cast into hell K ing Vikram said The guilt attaches

i
,
to the king . T he sprite re plied " H o w does the

,
sin fall o n the king !

’
Vikra m ans w ered him th us ,
’
The minister s so n simply did his d uty to his
master ; and the ko tw al obeyed the king s co m ’
mand ; and the princess attained her object ; hence ,
t he guilt falls on the king for having i nconsiderately

expelle d her fro m the country .
O n h e ari g these words fro m the king s mouth the

n ,
sprite went and suspended hi ms elf o n that same tree .

T ALE I I .
ON looking about him the king perceived that the ,
sprite was no t pre sent ; so he went straight away

back and reach ing that place climbe d up the tree
, , , ,
bound the corpse and pl ac ing him o n his shoulders

, ,
set o ff Then th e sprite said 0king ! the second

.
,
story is as follow s
On the b ank of the Yamun a (Ja mn a) is a city
“
named D harmmasth al the king of which is na med ,

.
G unad hip Moreover a Brahman named K esav

. a ,
lives there w ho is in the habi t o f performing his

,
devotions and religious duties o n the banks o f the

Jamn a; and his daughter s name w as Mad humavati ’
.
She was very beautiful When she became marri age .
able her mother father and brother w ere all three

, , , ,
intent o n getting her married I t happened that .
w hile her fath er had gone o n e day with o ne o f his ,
supporters to a marriag e ceremony somewhere and

,
‘
,
Jaj m én,from th S anskrit Y j md i p rso wh i st it ut s a

e a a na, s m e n o n e
sacrific and pays for it I a vill g h r t h r is a h r ditary pri st

e, . n a e w e e e e e e e ,
t h pri s t s f s
e e pai d by th llag rs ( h cons tit ut hi j g md ) d
’
ee are e Vi e w o e s a
'
n , an
t hat w h t h r t h y choos t
e e mploy hi s rvic s or thos of y ot h r
e e o e s e e , e an e
TH E B AI T AL P A C H C HI S I .
31
her brother t o his teacher s in the village for in ’
struction in their absence a Brahman s son came to

,
’
the house Her mother seeing the youth s beauty

.
,
’
and excellent qualities said I will give my daughter , ,
’
in marriage to thee A n d there the Brahman had .
agreed to give his daughter to a young B rahman ;

w hile his son had given his word to a Brah man at
the place w here he had gone to study that he would ,
give him his sister .
A fter some days those t w o ( i e the father and

“
. .
,
so n ) arrived with the t w o yo uths and here ( at home ) ,
the third youth w as st opping fro mthe first ( aw aitin g

them) One s name w as T ribikram the other s
.
’
,
’
’
B aman ; th e third s Madhu sudan ; they w ere all o n a
par in point of good looks moral excellence learning , , ,
and age On seeing them the Brahman began to

.
,
reflect thus One girl and three suitors elect ! T o

, ,
-
whom shall shall I give her to w hom n o t ! A n d w e ,
have all three given our w ords to the three o f them

t his is a stran ge piece o f business that has happened !
’
What shall I do !
He w as sitting reflecting thus w hen in the mean
time a snake bit the girl (an d ) she died On hearing ,
.
the ne w s her father brother and the three yout hs all

, , , ,
five ran o ff in a body and after much toil and , ,
trouble brought all the snake charmers conjurers

,
-
, ,
pri st I obj ct t h r for t t h m ani g f mploy r as b ing i xact

e . e , e e e, o e e n o e e e ne ,
and t t hat f cust om r as b m g b ot h in xact and m l g t

o o
“
e
”
e e e e an .
32 TH E B AI T AL PA C H C H I S I .
and as many practisers of magic arts for the purpose

o f e x pelling poison as t here w ere (in the place ) ,
.
They all looked at the girl and said she could n o t be ,
restored to life The first said A man bitten by a .

,
‘
snake on the fifth sixth eighth nine o r fourteenth , , , ,
’
day of the lunar month does not survive A second .
sai d One w ho has been bitten o n a Satu rday or

,
‘
Tues d ay too does not live

,
A third said Poison
,
.
’
,
‘
w hich has ascended ( into the system ) when the moon
is in the fourth tenth ninth sixteenth nineteenth , , , , ,
and third asterisms o f its path does no t descend ‘

,
.
A fourth said One bitten in any of the follo w in g

,
‘
m embers viz an organ o f sense the lips the cheek

,
.
, , , ,
’
the neck the abdomen or the navel cannot escape
, , ,
.
A fifth said I n this instance even Brahma could n o t

,
‘
restore to life ; of w hat account are we then ! Do

y o u no w perform her funeral rites ; w e are
Having said this the conjurers w ent aw ay ; an d the ,
Brahman took the corpse aw ay burnt it in the pl ace ,
”
for such rites and w ent o ff , .
No w after he had gone those three youths acted

, ,
in this w ise One o f them picked up an d fastened -
together her charred bones and becoming a religious ,
mendicant w ent forth to wander fro m forest to forest

, .
Any has s n t h conj

o ne w h o t ork w ill kno t hat t h op rat or
ee e ur er s a w w e e
al ays pr t nds t ork t h p 0

w e e o t f th sys t m d
w d from t h
e 1so n o u o e e o w n w ar s, e
h ad t o
e ds t h f t h nc t h xpr ssions
w ar e ee d m g and d sc nd
e e e e e ascen e e
”
i con ct on it h th act i on f t h poison

n ne i w e o e .
34 T HE B AI T AL P A C HC HIS I .
another part o f his hou se brought a book on the ,
science o f restoring to life took a charm from it , ,
muttered some prayers and brought his son back to ,
life Then that Brahman seeing this w onder began

.
, ,
to pon der in his mind I f this book were to fall int o ,

‘
’
my han d s I too could restore my beloved to life
, ,
.
Having m ade up his m ind on t his point he ate the ,
food and tarried there To be brief w hen night

,
.
,
came on after some time all partook o f supper and

, ,
w ent and lay do w n in their respective places an d ,
w ere chatting together on one subject o r another ;

.
The Brahman too w ent and lay dow n apart but

, , ,
kept lying aw ake When he thought that the night

.
w as far advanced and all had gone to sleep h e arose

, ,
quietly softly entered his (host s ) room took that

,
’
book and decamped ; and in the course o f several

,
days he arrived at the place w here he (the fath er) had

’
burn t the Brahman s dau ghter He found the other .
t w o Brahm ans there also sitting and conversing to ,
g ether Those t w
. o also recognisin g him approached , ,
and m et him an d inquired saying Brother ! you

, , ,
‘
have w andered from land to land it is true ; but tell , ,
’
us have you learned any science as w ell !
,
He said ,
‘
I have learned the science o f restoring the dead to
life As soon as they heard this they said I f you
’
'
‘
.
, ,
have learne d this restore our beloved to life , He .

’
replied M ake a heap o f t he ashes an d bones and I

, ,
w ill restore it to life They gathered together the ’

.
THE B AI T AL r x c n c m sr . 35
ashes and bones Then he took a charm o ut of the

.
b ook and muttered prayers ; the girl rose up alive

, .
Thereupon Cupid so blinded the three o f them that ,
”
they began wrangling amon g th emselves .
Having related so much o f the tale the sprite said , ,
0kin g ! tell me this ; t o whom did that woman (by

right ) belong ! ( or w hose w ife w as she
,
King
Vikram replied ,
To him w ho built the but and
”
stayed there. The sprite said I f he had no t pre ,
served the b ones ho w could sh e have been restored

,
to life ! A nd if the other h ad not returned in

structed in the science h o w could he have restored
,
her to life ! The king made answ er thus He

who had p reserved her bones occ upied the place o f ,
her so n ; and he w ho gave her life became as it , ,
were her father ; hence she became the wife of him

, ,
’
w ho bui lt a hut and re mained there with the ashes .
On hearing this ans w er the sprite went again and

,
su spended himself o n that tree The king too arrived . , ,
close at his heels and having bound him and placed

, , ,
him o n his shoulder started o ff with him again

,
.
T ALE II I .
THE sprite said 0 king ! there is a city named

,
“
B ar d w an w herein is a king named Rupsen I t hap

, .
pened one day that the king w as seated in an apart

ment adjoining the gate (of his p alace) w hen from , ,
w ithout the gate the loud voices of some people reached

,
him The king said Who is at the gate ! and w hat

.
,
noise is that taking place ! Upon this the gat e ’
keeper replied Great king ! you have asked a fine

,
question ! Kno w ing this to be the gate o f a w ealthy

'
personage numbers o f persons of all kinds come and

,
sit at it fo r the sake of money and converse o n a variety

,
o f topics this is Mei r noise .
“
On hearing this the king kept silen t I n the mean ;
w hile a traveller named B irb ar a Rajput came from

, , ,
’
the south to the king s gate in the hope o f obtaining ,
service The gate keeper after ascertaining his cir

.
-
cu m st ances said to the king Your majesty ! an

, ,
‘
armed man has come in the hope of entering your

service and stands at the door w ith your majesty s
, :
’
leave he shall co m e before you Having heard this .

’
,
TH E B AI T AL PA C HC H IS I . 37
the king gave the order to brin g him in He w ent .
and brought him Then the king asked 0Raj put !

.
,
‘
H o w much shall I allow th ee fo r daily expenses ! ’ ’
On hearing t his B irhar said G ive me a thousand ,

'
fo ld s ( about 8 33 oz ) of gold daily and I shall be able

.
,
to subsist The king en quired H o w many persons

’
‘
.
,
are there with yo u ( dependent on He replie d ,
First my w ife ; secon d a so n ; third a daughter

‘
, , ,
fourth myself there is no fifth person w ith me

, : .
Hearing him speak thus all the people of the king s ,

’
court turned away their faces and began laughing ;

but the kin g began to consider why he had asked for
a l arge su m of m oney Ultimately he thought it out .
in his o w n min d that a vast sum o f money given a w ay

,
will some day prove of advantage Coming to this .
conclusion he sent fo r his treasurer and s aid Give

, ,
this B irb ar a thousand fo ld s of gold daily from my

’
treasury .
On hearing this order Birhar took a thousand fo ld s ,
o f gold for that day and brought it to the place w here

,
he w as staying and dividing it into t w o parts d istri

, ,
buted o ne half am ong the Br ahmans ; and again di

v id ing the remaining half int o t w o parts distributed ,
o ne portion thereof amo n g pilgrims devotees the w o r , ,
shippers o f Vishnu and religious mendicants ; and of

,
the o n e part w hich remained he had food cooked and

fed the poor and what remained over he consumed
,
himself I n this w ay he w ith his w ife and children

.
, ,
38 TH E B AI T AL
'
PA CHC HISI .
used regularly to subsist A nd every night he used .
to take his sword and shield and go and mount

guard over the king s couch and w hen the king ’
,
roused from sleep used to call o u t I s any o ne in , ,
’
w aiting ! then he us ed to an s w er B irb ar is in ,
‘
’
attendance ; what m ay be your commands ! Thus
answered he whenever the kin g called o ut an d there ,
upon whatever he (the king) ordered to be done he

, ,
”
executed .
“
I n this way through eagerness for w ealth he used
, ,
to keep awake the whole night long ; nay whether ,
eating drinking sle eping sitting still or moving

, , , ,
about ( that is to say) during the w hole t w enty four -
hours ( li t eight w atches ) he used to keep his lord in

.
,
mind The practice is that if on e person sells another

.
, ,
this one becomes sold ; but a servant by entering ser ,
vice sells l z mself ; and w hen sold he becomes a de

’
, , ,
pendant ; and once dependant h e has no prospect of ,
peace I t is notoriou s that z h o w ev

er clever wise and
learned he may be still w hen he is in his m

.
, , ,
’
aster s , ,
presence he remains q uite silent like a dumb person

, , ,
through fear S o long as he is aloof fro m him he is

.
,
at rest On this accoun t it is that the learned say T o

.
,
perform the duties of a servant is more difficult than

to perform religious duties .
’
( To) the story : I t is related that one day the weep ,
ing voice of a w oman chanced to come at night time -
fro m the burning g round O n hearing it the king -

.
TH E B AI T AL PA CH CHIS I . 39
’
called out I s any one in waiting !
,
‘
Birhar instantly
answered I am here ; your commands
, Thereupon .
’
the king gave him this order — G o to the Spot w hence ,

‘
y o n w eeping voice of a woman proce eds and enquire ,
o f her the cause o f her w eeping and re t urn quickly

’
.
,
Having given him this order the king b egan to say to ,
himself Whosoever desires to test his servant should

,
order him to do things in season and o ut of season ;

if he execute his order know that he is worth so me ,
thing ; and if he object be sure that he is w orthless , .
A n d in this same way prove brethren and friends in

’
days o f adversity and a wife in poverty
,
.
I n fine o n receiving this order he took the direc

, ,
tion w hence the sound of her w eeping proceeded ; and

the king also after dre ssi ng himself in black follow ed
, ,
him secretly for the purpose o f observing his courage

,
.
I n thi s interval Birhar arrived there What does he .
behold in the burni ng ground but a beautiful w oman -
,
.
,
lavishly decked with jew els from head to foot crying ,
aloud and bitterly ! A t o n e moment she was dan c

'
ing at another leaping at another running ; and not

, ,
a tear in her eyes And w hile repeatedly beating her

’
head and crying o ut Alas ! alas ! she kept dash
, ,
‘
ing herself on the ground Seeing this her condition .

,
B irh ar asked Why art thou crying and beating thy

,
!
self so violently ! Who art thou and what trouble
-
’
has befallen thee P
’
On this she said I am the royal glory ,
Bi rh ar .
40 TH E B AI T AL P A CH CH lS I .
said Why art thou w eeping !

, Upon this she b e ’
gan relating her case to B irbar saying I mpious , ,

‘
acts ( lit acts such as a Shudra performs) are commit

.
ted in the king s house w hence misfortune w ill find

’
admission therein an d I shall depart thence ; after the

,
lapse of a month the king w ill suff er much affliction

and die ; this is the sorrow w hich makes me w eep .
Further I have enj oyed great happiness in his house

, ,
and hence this regret and this matter w ill in no w ise :
prove false .
’
Birh ar then asked I s there any such remed y fo r ,
it w hereby the king may escape and live a hundred

, ,
’
years ! She said Tow ards the east at a distance
,
‘
,
o f four ! co s
( eight miles ) is a temple sacre d to (the ,
goddess) Devi ; if you w ill cut o ff your son s head ’
w ith your o w n hand and o ff er it to that goddess then

'
, ,
the king w ill reign a hundred years precisely as he

n o w reigns and no harm of any kind w ill befall the
,
king .
“
A s soon as he had heard these w ords Birh ar w ent ,
home and t h e king also follo w ed him T o be brief

, .
,
when he got hom e he aw oke his w ife and minutely , ,
related the w hole story to her On hearing the cir .
c um st an ces she roused the son alone but the

,
daughter also aw oke Then that w o man said to her .
boy Son ! by sacrificing your head the king s life

,
‘ ’
w ill be saved and the government too w ill endure

’
, , , .
When the boy heard this he said M other ! in the , ,

‘
42 TH E B AI T AL PA C c i sr .
hell . His so n said Father ! the man by w hom

’
,
‘
his master s business is ac compli shed—Ma continuing

’
to live in the w orld is attended with advantage ; and

’
in thi s there is advantage in both w orlds The n his .
daughter said I f the mother g ive poison to the ,

‘
daughter and the father sell the son and the king
, ,
seize everything then w hose protection shall w e ,
seek ! ’
The four deliberatin g w ith o ne another some w hat

,
after the above fashion w ent to the temple o f Devi , .
The king also secretly follo w ed them When Birh ar .
arrived there he entered the temple paid his adora

, ,
tion to Devi and joined his hands in supplication

, ,
and said O Devi ! grant that by the sacrificing o f

,
my so n the king may live a hundred years Saying .

’
so much he struck such a blo w with the sw ord that

,
’
his son s head fell upon the ground On witnessin g .
’
her brother s death the daughter stru ck a blow with ,
the sw ord o n her own neck so that her head and ,
body fell asunder S een her so n and daughter .
dead B irbar s w ife struck such a stroke w ith the

,
’
s w ord on her o w n neck that her head was severed ,
from her body Further seeing the death o f those .

,
three B irbar reflecting in his mind began to say

, , , ,
When my so n is dead for w hose sake shall I retain ,
service ! and to w hom shall I give the gold I receive

’
from the king ! Having reflected thus he struck ,
such a blow with the s w ord o n his o w n neck that his ,

T HE B AI T AL P A CH cn rsr . 43
head w as severe d from his body A gain beholding .

, ,
t he death o f these four the king said to himself , ,
‘
For my sake the lives of his family have perished ;
accursed is it any longer to govern a real m for w hich
the whole family of o n e is destroyed while one holds ,
’
sovereignty ; it is no virtue thus to reign Having .
deliberated thus the king w as o n the point o f killing

,
himself w ith the s w ord ; in the m eantime how ever , ,
Devi came and seized his hand and said Son ! I , ,

‘
am w ell pleased at thy courage and w ill grant thee ,
whatever boon thou mayest ask o f me The king said .

’
M other ! if thou art pleased restore all these four ,
’
to life
.
’
Devi said This same shall take place and
, ,
on the instant of saying it Bhaw ani brough t t he w ater ,
of life from the nether regions and restored all four ,
to life A fter that the king bestow ed half his king dom
.
”
o n B irh ar .
Having related so much the sprite said Blessed , ,

“
is the servant w ho did not grudge his life and that o f ,
his family for his master s sake ! And happy is t he

,
’
king w ho show ed no eagerness to cling to his dominion

—
and his life 0kin g ! I ask you this Whose virtue
'
. , ,
of those five w as the most

,
excellent ! Then Ki ng
Vikram aji t said The king s virtue w as the greatest

’
.
,
”
The sprite asked Why ! Then the king ans w ered
,
,
sayin g I t behoves the servant to lay dow n his life

,
“
fo r his master fo r this is his duty ; but since the king

,
44 TH E B AI T AL P A C H C H IS I .
gave up his throne the sake o f his servant and ,

’
valued not his life at a straw the king s merit w as
,
”
the superior
. Having heard these words the sprite ,
again went and suspended himself o n the tree in that

‘
b urning grou nd
-
.
T AL E I V .
T HE king having gone there again bound the sprite

, ,
and brought him aw ay Then the sprite said 0

.
,
king ! there is a town named Bho gw ati o f w hich ,
Rupsen is the king and he has a parrot named ,
Chur aman One day the king asked the parrot

.
,
What different things do y o u kno w ! Then the ’
parrot said Your m ajesty ! I kno w every thing

,
‘
.
’
The kin g rej oined Tell me then if y o u know w here

, , ,
there is a beautiful m aiden equal to me in rank .

’
Then the parrot said Your majesty ! in the country ,
o f Ma ad h t here is a king named M ag ad h esh w ar and

g ,
his d aughter s name is Chan d ravati ; you w ill be

’
married to her She is very beautif ul and very

.
,
’
learned.
On h earing these words from the parrot the ki ng ,
summoned an astrologer named Chandrakant and ,
’
asked him T o w h at maid shall I be married !
,
He also having m ade the discovery throu gh h1s

,
knowledge o f astrology said There is a maiden , ,
’
named Chan d ravati ; y o u will be marrie d to her .
46 TH E B AI T AL P A CH CH IS I .
Hearing these w ords the king sum moned a Brah ,
m an and after explaining all said to him at the

, ,
moment of despatching him to King M ag adh eshw ar ,
I f you return after placing the arrangements for

,
my marriage on a firm basis I will make y o u happy ,
Having heard these w ords the Brahman took leave

-
No w in the possession o f King M ag ad hesh w ar s

’
daughter w as a mo lnd w hose na m e w as M ad anman ,
jari I n the same w ay the princess too one day

.
, ,
asked Mad an manj ari Where is there a husband ,

‘
w orthy o f me ! On this the ma ind said Rfi psen

’ ‘
’
is the King o f B ho g w ati ; li e w ill be thy lor d To .
be brief unseen ( of one another) the one had become

, ,
ena moured o f the other w hen in the course o f a few , ,
days the Brahman also arrived there and delivered

, ,
his o w n sovereig n s message to that king He too

’
.
consented to his proposal and summoning a Brahman ,
of his o w n entrusted to him the n uptial gifts and all

,
custo mary things sent him along w ith that Brahman

, ,
and ga v e him this injunction Do you go and pre ,

‘
sent my compliments to the king and having marked ,
his foreh ead w ith the usual unguents return quickly ,
when you return I w ill make preparations for the

’
w eddin g .
The short o f the story is the t w o Brahmans set ,
o u t thence I n the course of some days they arri ved

.
at King Rup sen s and related all the occurrences o f

’
that place On hearing this the king w as pleased

.
,
TH E B AI T A L r a cn cnrsr . 47
and after making all ( necessary ) preparations set o ut ,
to be married Reaching that country after some

.
d ays he married and after receiving the bridal gifts

, ,
and dowry and b idding adieu to the king started for

, ,
his o w n kingdom When leaving the princess took

.
,
M ad anmanj ari s cage w ith her too A fter some days

’
.
they arrived in their o w n country and commenced ,
”
living happily in their palace .
I t happened o ne day that the cages of both the

parrot an d the m ind w ere placed near the throne ,
and the kin g and quee n entered into conversation ,
’
saying No one s life passes happily w ithout a co m
,
panion ; hence it is best fo r u s to marry the parrot

and maind to o n e another and put them both in one,
’
cage ; then will they also live happily A fter con .
versing together thus they had a large cage brought

, ,
”
and put both into it .
Some days after the king and queen were seated

,
conversin g with each other w hen the parrot began to ,
talk to t he aw ar d say ing Sexual in tercourse is the

, ,
essence of all bliss in this w orld ; an d he who o n ,
bein g born into the world has not enj oyed sexual ,
intercourse —his life has been p assed in vain Hence .

,
’
d o thou let me copulate with thee On hearing this .
’
the maia d said I have no desire for a male
,
There .
u pon he in quired Why ! The maind said The ’
male sex are sinful irreligious deceivers and w ife

, , ,
’
killers . Hearin g this the parrot said The female
, ,
48 TH E B AI T AL r x cnc n i s r .
sex to o are deceitful false stupid avaricious crea

, , , , ,
tures and murd eresses

, .
When the t w o commenced w rangling in this

“
m anner the king asked

,
Why are you t w o quarrel
,
ling w ith each other ! The ma ind replied Great

’
,
‘
king ! the male sex are evil doers and w ife killers - -
and hence I have no desire to have a male partner .
Your maj esty ! I w ill tell you a tale do you be pleased ,
to hearken for such (as I describe them) are men .
T H E MA I NA S TORY
’
S .
There was a city named I lapur and a merchant ,
n amed M ahad h an d w elt there w h o could not get a ,
family On this account he w as continually making

.
pilgrimages and keeping fasts and alw ays hearin g the ,
Puranas read and he used to give gifts largely to the

,
Brahmans I n fine after som e considerable time by

.
, ,
God s w ill a son w as born in that merchant s house

’
,
’
.
He celebrated the event w ith great pomp and gave ,
large gifts to the Brah mans and bards and also gave ,
a w ay a good deal to the hungry thirsty and indigent , ,

.
When he reached the age o f five years he placed him ,
( in school) for instruction He used t o leave hom e .
for the purpose of learning but used to gamble with ,
the boys w hen he got there .
A fter some time the merchant died and he (the ,

50 TH E B AI T AL r x c n e n i sr .
‘
best thing to be done is to give my girl in marriage
to him ; whatever is done n o w is best ; as for the
morro w — w ho kno w s w hat it m ay b ring forth ! Form
ing this grand design in his min d he came to his w ife ,
’
and began to say A merchant s son has arrived ; if ,
you approve w e w ill give R atnav ,

ati in m arriage to
him . She too w as delighted on hearing (this) an d

’
, , ,
said Sir merchant ! w he n God brings about a coin

,
cid en ce like this then alone does it occur ; for the ,
desire o f o u r hearts has been obtained w ithout o u r

bestirring oursel v es in the least ( li t w e sitting quietly ,
at home) ; hence it is best no t to delay but quickly , ,
send for the family priest have the auspicious momen t ,
determine d and give her a w ay in m arriage

,
Here .
’
upon the merchant sent fo r th e priest had the for ,
t u nat e planetary conjunction determined and gave ,
his daughter a w ay besto w ing a larg e dow ry upon ,
her I n fine w hen the marriage had taken place

.
,
they commenced living together there .
To proceed —Aft er some days he said to the

‘
,
’
m erchant s daughter A long time has passed since ,
I arrived in your land and no ne w s o f my h ousehold ,
has reached me and my mind remains troubled in ,
consequence I have told you my w hole case ; you

.
should no w so explain mat ters to your mother that

Mt mak th girl s hands y llo w Among th
.
“
e e
’
e . e H in d fi s, fo r som e
days b for m arriag t h hands f a b t rot h d coupl

e e e, e o e e e are st ain d y llow
e e
wit h t urm ri c e .
TH E B AI T AL P A CH C HI S I 51
she may of her o w n free w ill allo w me to depart

, , ,
that I may return to my o w n city I f it b e your

.
. .
-
’
w ish do ,y o u also come On this she said to her .
,
mother My husband desires permission to depart to

,
his o w n land do y o u to o act in such a manner no w , ,
that his mind may receive no pain .

’
‘ ’
The merchant s w ife went to her husband and ,
s aid Your son in law asks leave to return home

‘
’
- -
, .
O n hearing this th e merchan t said Very w ell ; w e

, ,
‘
w ill let him

go for w e can exercise no authority over
,
’
a s tranger s son w e w ill do that alone w here in his
pleasure consists Having said this he sent for his
.
,
daughter and asked; Will you go to your father in

,
-
’
la w s o r remain at your mother s ! Speak your o w n
,
’
’
m ind A t this she blushed and gave no ans w er
.
, ,
( but) returned to her husban d and said My parents , ,
have declared that they w ill do that w herein your

ple asur e consists ; don t y o u leave me behind To ’
.
’
be brief the merchant summoned his so n in law

,
- -
lo aded him w ith w ealth and dismissed him and , ,
allo w ed his daugh ter to accompany him in a litter ,
together w it h a female servant After this he set ,
o u t from thence .
When he reached a certain jungle he said to the ,
merchant s daughter There is great danger here if

’
o u w ill take o ff your je w els and give them to me I

y ,
will fasten them round my waist ; w hen w e come to a

’
to wn you can put the m on again She no sooner .
52 TH E BAII AL
'
‘
P A CH C H IS I .
heard this than she took o ff all her ornaments and he ,
having taken them and sent a w ay the bearers o f the

,
litter kill ed the w oman servant and threw her into a

,
-
w ell and pushing her (his w ife) into a w ell also w ent
, ,
”
o ff to his o w n country with all the je w els .
I n the meantime a traveller came along that road , ,
and hearin g the sound of w eeping stopped and began , ,
to say to himself H o w comes the w eeping voice of

,
‘
a human being (to be heard) in this jungle ! Having

reflected thus he proceeded in the direction o f the
,
s ound of the crying and perceived a w ell On lookin g

, .
into it w hat d oes he behold but a w oman weeping !

,
Then he took out the w oman and co mmenced ques ,
t io nin g her on her circumstan ces saying Who art , ,
t hou and ho w didst thou fall into this ( w ell)

, On
hearing this she said I am the daughter o f Hem
, ,
gupt the merchant and w as accompanying my bu s

, ,
band to his country when thieves w aylaid us killed , ,
my servant and thre w her into a w ell and bound and ,
carried o ff my husband together w ith my jew els I .
have no intelligence o f him nor he o f me When he , .

’
heard this the traveller took her along with him and
, ,
left her at the merchan t s door ’

.
She w ent to her parents They at the sight o f .

,
her began enquiring

, What has h appened to thee ! ,
She said Robbers came and plundered us o n the

,
‘
road and after killing the servant and casting her into
,
a w ell pushed me into a dry well and bound and

, ,
carried o ff my husband together w ith my jewels , .
When they bega n dem anding more money he said to ,
them Yo u have taken all I possessed w hat have I

, ,
n o w left! Beyond this w hether they killed him o r ,
let him go I have no knowledge

, Then her father .
’
said Daughter ! feel no anxiety thy husband lives

, ,
and God w illing w ill join thee in a few days for

, , .
,
robbers take money no t life , .

’
I n fine the merchant gave her other ornaments in

‘
,
place o f all that had disappeared and comforted and ,
consoled her greatly And the merchant s son also .

’
, ,
havin g reached home and sold the je w els spent his , ,
days and nights in the company of loose w omen and ,
in gambling so much so that all his money was

, ,
expended Then he came to w ant bread A t last

. .
,
w hen he began to suffer extreme misery he o n e day ,
bethought himself o f going to his father in la w s and - -

’
pretending that a grandson had been born to him ,
and that he had come to congratulate him o n the .
event Having d etermined on this in his mind he

.
,
set o u t .
l n the course of several days he arrived there

‘
.
When he w as about to enter the ho use his w ife saw ,
from the front that her husband w as coming (and said

to hersel f) He mu st n o t be allo w ed to turn back
,
‘
’
through any apprehension he may feel Upon this .
she approached him and said Husband ! be not at ,

‘
all troubled in mind I have told my father that rob

54 TH E B AI T AL P A C H C H 1s1 .
bers ca me and killed my servant and after making me ,
t ake o ff all my jew els and casting me into a w ell bound

, ,
and carried o ff my h usband Do y o u tell the same .
tale ; feel no anxiety ; the house is yours and I am ,
yo ur slave A fter S peaki ng thus she entered the

.
’
house He w ent to the merchant w ho rose and e m

.
,
braced him and questioned him on all that had befallen

,
him He related every thing precisely as his w ife had

.
”
instructed him to do .
Rej oicings took place throughout the house Then

‘
.
the merchant after providing him with the means of

,
bathing and placing food before him and after minis

, ,
tering much comfort said This house is you rs abide , , ,
(here) in peace He commenced living there I n

’
. .
’
brief after several days the merchant s daughter c ame
,
an d lay w ith him o n e n ight with her je w els o n and ,
fell asleep When it w as midnight he perceived that

.
,
she had fallen into a sound sleep He then inflicted such .
a w oun d o n her neck that she died ; and after strip ,
ping her o f all her jew els he took the road to his o w n ,
”
country .
After narrating so m uch the maind said This , ,
your majesty I saw w ith my o w n eyes For this reason .
I h ave no w ish to h ave anything to d o with a male .
You see you r majesty w hat villains men are Wh o

,
w ould love such and so cherish a serpent in her o w n

,
home ! Will your majesty be pleased to consider this

point —What crime had that w oman committed !
,
’
THE B AI T A L PA C HCHI S I . 55
H av
ing h eard th is , t he
king said O parrot ! d o
'
you tell me w hat faults there are in w omen There .

’
upon the parrot said Attend 0king ! , ,

’
T H E P a RRO T S TORY
’
s .
There is a city (called) Kanchanpur where ( dw elt) ,
a merchant n amed sagard at t whose son s name w as

, ,
’
S hri d at t The name of another city is J ay shripur w here

.
,
there w as a merchant named S o mad att and his , ,
daughter s na me w as Jay shri She had m arried the

’
.
son of that merchant an d the son had gone to a cer ,
’
tain country to trade She used to live at her pa rents
.
house I n fine w hen he had spent tw elve years in

.
,
trading and she arrived at w oman s estate here she

,
’
,
o ne d a
y addressed a companion o f hers thus Sister ! :
‘
my yo uth is being w asted ; u p to this moment I have

O h hearing these
’
tasted none of the w orld s joys ’
.
w ords her companio n said to her

,
Be o f good cheer ,
G o d wi lling thy husband w ill soon come and join

,
’
thee .
She go t vexed at these w ords and ascending to ,
the upper chamber and peeping through the lattice, ,
saw a young m an coming along When he dre w near .
her his eyes and hers suddenly met The hearts of

,
.
both w ent forth to one another Then she said to her .
’
com panion Brin g that m an to me On hearin g this
,
‘
.
,
the companion w ent and said to him S o mad att s

’
,
56 TH E B AI T AL P A C HC H IS I .
daug hter wishes to see you in private ; but do you

co me to my house She then put him on the track .
’
’
to her hou se He said I w ill come at night . The ,
.
’
companion came and informed the mercha nt s daughter
that he had promised to come at night When she .
heard this Jay shri said to her companion You go

, ,
‘
home ; w hen he arrives let m e know and I w ill also , ,
come when free to leave home .

’
On hearing her w ords her companion w ent home

‘
, ,
and seating herself at the door began w atchin g for ,
his coming I n the meantime he arrived She seated

. .
him in the doorw ay saying Yo u sit here ; I w ill go , ,
an d give notice o f your arrival A nd she came to .

’
J ay shri and said Your sw eetheart has arrived On , .

’
hearing this she said Wait aw hile let the household ,

‘
go to sleep and then I w ill come , A nd so after ,
some delay w hen it w as near midnight and all had

‘
, ,
gone to sleep then she arose softly and accom ,

panied
her and arrived there in a very short time and the
,
t w o met in her house w ithout restraint When nearly .
an hour and a half of night remained she rose and 1

,
returned home and w ent qui etly to sleep and h e also ,
w ent t o his house at daybreak .
Many days passed thus

‘
At last her husband .
,
too re turned fro m foreig n par ts to his father in l aw s

,
-
’
house When she behe ld her husband she became

.
1
L it . F our A g lut/rte .
”
g ka/ri is eq ual t t w nty fou mi ut s and
o e -
r n e ;
h nc
e e t he e xact t im ould b e w e 5 1x i m nu s mor t han
te hour and a half
e an .
58 TH E B AI T AL P A C H CHIS I .
and a thief seeing her on the w ay thought to himself , ,
Where can this woman be going alone w ith her , ,
jew els o n at this midnight hour

,
Thus soliloquising ,
he follow ed her I n short she managed somehow t o

.
,
reach her lover s house No w there a snake had bitten

’
.
, ,
and left him ; he w as lying dead She thought he .
w as sleeping Being as it w as consumed with the fire

.
, ,
O f separation she clasped him to her without restraint

, ,
and began caressing him and the thief from a distance

”
w as w atching the fun .
An evil spirit to o was seated o n a pipal tree there

, , ,
looking on at the scene All at once it came into his .
mind to enter his ( dead) body an d have carn al inter

course w ith her Having resolved o n this he entered
.
,
the body and after having intercourse w ith her bit o ff

, ,
her n ose w ith his teeth and w ent and sat o n the same ,
tree The thief observed all these occurr ences And

. .
she i n despair went as she w as all stained w ith blood

, , , ,
to her companion and related all that had happened

, .
Whereupon her companion said Go quickly to thy ,
husband ere yet the sun rise and arrived there weep , , ,
aloud and bitterly . I f any o ne should question thee ,
say He h as cut O ff my nose

, .
’
She went thither on th e instant O f hearing her

’
companion s words and commenced weeping and w ail,
ing excessively Hearing the noise o f her w eepin g

.
,
all her relations came and 10! she had no nose — w as, ,
sit ting noseless ! Then they exclaimed 0y o u shameless ,

‘
,
TH E B AI T AL P A CH 01118 1 -
. 59
wicke d pitiless mad wretch ! Why have you bitten o ff

, ,
her nose without any fault on her part ! He to o ’
, ,
became alarmed o n witnessing this farce and began ,
to say to h imself Trust not a w anton minded woman

,
-
a black s nake an armed man an enemy —and fear the

, , ,
wiles o f a woman Wh at can an eminent poet not

.
describe ! What does he no t kno w w ho has acquired

supernatural po w er ! What absurd nonsense does a
d runkard not chatter ! What can a woman not ao
complish ! True it is that the defects o f horses the
'
, ,
thunder o f the clouds the w iles o f woman and the , ,
destiny of mam— these things even the gods do not

comprehend ; w hat pow er h as man then ( to under ,
stand them)
I n the meantime her father gave infor mation of
the occurrence to the city magistrate Policemen .
came from the station there and b ound and brought ,
him be fore the magistrate The magistrate o f the .
city gave notice to the king The king having sent .
for him and questioned him about the case he de

, ,
clare d he kne w nothing And o n his summoning the .
merchant s daughter and interrogating her she re

’
, ,
u
plied Your maj esty ! w hen y o u see plainly ( w hat

,
‘
’
has happened ) w hy do y o u question me !
,
Then
the king said to him What punishment shall I ,
inflict o n thee ! O n he aring this he replied DO

’ ‘
, ,
’
unto me whatever yo u deem just The king said .
,
’
‘
Aw ay w ith him and i mpale him ! O n receiving
,
60 TH E B AI T AL P A CH CH I S I .
the king s order the people took him a w ay to impale

’
”
him .
Observe the coin cidence — that thief w as also

standing t here looking o n at the scene When he
,
.
w as co nv m ced that this man w as about to be n u

justly put to death he raised a cry for justice The
,
.
king sum moned him and asked Who art thou , ,

‘
He said Great king I am a thief ; and this m an is

,
innocent ; his blood is about to be unjustly shed ;

y o u have not given judg ment at all w isely
’
Here .
upon the king summoned him ( the husband) also and ,
questioned the thief sayi ng Declare the truth on , ,
thy honour ! What are the facts o f this case !

'
’
The thief then gave a detailed account of the cir

cu mstances ; and the king too co mprehended t , ,
thoroughly Ultimately he sent attendants and

.
,
the w oman s nose brought from the mouth o f her

’
lo ver wh o w as lying dead and inspected it Then

, , .
he w as assured that the man w as guiltless and the ,
thief tr uthful Hereupon the thief said To cherish

.
,
the good and punish evil doers has fro m of o ld been

,
-
a duty O f kings .
’
After relating so m uch of the tale the parrot ,
Churam an said Great king ! such embodiments O f

,
all crime are w omen ! The king having had the

’
w oman s face blackened an d her head shaved had her ,
mounted on an ass and taken round the city and , ,
then set at liberty ; and after giving betel leaf to the -

TH E B AI PAL
'
P A C H CH I S I . 61
’
thief and the merchant s so n he allowed them to ,
depart .
’
Having related so m uch of the story the sprite ,
said 0king ! to w hich of these t w o does the greater

,
guilt attach Then King B ir Vikramajit said To .
”
the woman On this the sprite said H o w so !
.
,
“
On hear ing this the king said

, Ho w ever de praved
,
“
a man may be still some sense of right and w rong

,
remains in him but a w oman does not give a tho ugh t ‘
t o right and w rong ; hence great guilt attached to the

”
w oman .Hearing these w ords the S prite w ent again
,
and hun g himself o n the same tree The king w ent .
again and took him do w n from the tree tied him u p ,
m a bundle placed him o n his shoulder and carried

, ,
him aw ay .
T ALE V .
THE sprite said , 0 king ! there is a city named

“
.
Ujjain of w hich M ahab al w as kin g No w he had

,
.
,
an envoy named H arid as The name of that envoy s

.
’
daughter w as M ah adevi She w as extremely beauti

.
ful When she became m arriageab le her father

.
,
thought that he ought to seek a husband for her ,
and give her in marriage I n short the girl one d ay

.
,
said to her father Father ! give me in marriage to

,
’
some one w ho is possessed o f all accomplishm ents .
011 this he said I w ill give thee to o ne w h o is ao

, ,
uaint ed w ith all scie n ce

’
q .
One day subsequent to this the king summoned ,
H arid as and said

, There is in the south a king
,
‘
named H arich and ; go and ask after his health and

w elfare for me and bri ng me ne w s thereof On ’
, .
receiving the king s command he took leave and

’
arriving at that king s after some days delivered to

’
,
him the whole message of his royal master and took ,
”
up his permanent abode near that m onarch .
To be brief it happened one day that the king

,
T HE B AI T AL P A CHC HIS I .
63
questioned him saying H arid as ! has the I ron Age

, ,
( i e the fourth age o f the w orld o r the age of vice

)
. .
,
,
begun yet or not ! ’

On this he put his hands to
gether and said Your majesty ! w e are already in
,
‘
the I ron A ge (li t the I ron A ge is present) for false

.
hood is rife in the world and tr uth has decrease d ;

.
peo ple utter soft w ords to one s face while they ’
ha rbour deceit in their hearts ; virt ue has vanished ;

vice has increased ; the earth has begun to yield less
fruit ; k ings have b egun levying contributions by
violence ; Brahmans have become covetous w omen
have abandoned modes ty ; the son obeys not the
’
father s comm and ; brother trusts not brother ; friend
ship has depar ted fro m amongst friends ; faith 1s n o
longer found in masters and servants have cast aside ,
the duty they o w e to masters an d every description ,
O f impropriety meets the eye

’
.
When he had said all this to the king his majesty ,
arose and w en t into the private apart ments and he ,
( the envoy) came and sat do w n in his o w n place .
’
I n the m eantime a Brahman s son came to him and
said I ha v
, e come to solicit something of you
‘
On .
’
hearing this h e said What request have y o u to

, . .
‘
make ! Mention it He replied Give me your

.
’
’
daughter in marriage H arid as said I w ill give
.
,
‘
’
her to him in whom all accomplishments exist .
Hearing this he, rejoine d I am ac quainted with all

, ,
’
the sciences Then said the envoy Sho w me some
.
,
64 TH E B AI T AL PA CHCH ISI .
thing O f thy know le d ge ; I shall thus be able to judge

’
w hether thou art versed in science Hereupon the .
Brahman s so n said I have made a car w hich has

’
,
‘
this marvellous property that it w ill convey you in a ,

’
m oment to any place you may w ish to go to Then .
’
H arid as replied Bring the car to me in the morning
,
‘
.
“
I n fine he brought the car to H arid as early in
,
the morning Then the t w o mounted the car and

.
,
arrived in the City o f Ujjain Here how ever it so .

, ,
happened that previous to his arrival another Brah

, ,
m an s son had come and said to his eldest son

’
, ,
’
Give me your sister in marriage ; and he also had
replied saying I w ill give her to one who is learned
, ,
’
in all the sciences and that Brahman s son too had , ,
said I am acquainted w ith all knowledge and science

,
.
’
On hearing this he had said To y o u w ill I give her

, , .
’
’ ’
Another Brah man s son had said to the girl s mother ,
Give me your daughter She to o had given him .

’
, ,
the same answ er ; viz I w ill give my girl t o him .

,
‘
’
w h o is acquain t ed w ith all science That Brahm an s ’
.
son also h ad replied I am acquainted w ith the ,
w hole body of scie nce contained in the S / l d slm s and ,
can sho Ot an arro w w hich w ill hit an object w hich is

merely heard and n o t seen , On hearing this she .
’
too had said I consent and w ill give her to thee

, , , .
I n short all the three suitors had come and met

,
together in this w ay H arid as began to think to .
himself One girl and three suitors ! to w hom shall

,
66 T HE B AI T AL PA C HC H IS I .
became the w ife o f him w h o slew the demon and

”
bro u ght her back The sprite said
. The good ,
qualities of all w ere on a par —ho w came she to ,
”
become his w ife ! The king replied The other ,
“
t w o simply conferred favours for w hich they w ere

,
recompensed ; but this one fought w ith and sle w him

( the demon) and brought her aw ay hence she became ,
”
his w ife. On hearing this the sprite w ent again to
the same tree an d suspended himself on it and the
, ,
king too w ent immediately bound the sprite placed

, , , ,
him on his shoulder and carried him o ff as before

, .
T A LE V I .
A AI N the sprite said

G 0 king ! there is a city
,
“
n amed Dharmp u r o f which Dh armshi l w as king ; and

,
’
his minister s name was A n d hak He said o ne day .
to the king Your majesty ! build a temple and

, ,
place an i m age o f Devi therein and pay constant ,
adoration thereto for this is said in the S fid slm to

,
’
possess great merit Thereupon the king had a
.
temple built and ( the image of) Devi placed in it and ,
began off ering adoration after the manner prescribed

by the Vedas ; and he w o ul d no t drink water w ithout
having worshipped .
Whe n a considerable time had passe d thus the ,
minister s aid o ne day Great king ! the saying is

,
‘
w ell k n own —The house O f a sonless man is e mp ty

, ,
,
a fool s mind is empty and everything pertaining to

’
,
’
an indigent person is empty On hearing these .
word s the king went to the t emple of Devi and

, ,
joining his hands in supplication began to extol her , ,
saying 0 Devi ! Brahma Vishnu Rudra I ndra

,
‘
, , ,
a w ait thy bidding the livelong day and thou it w as

68 TH E B AI T AL P
A CHCHIS I .
w ho didst seize the demons Mahish asur Chand -

, ,
M und R akt bij and slaying the evil spirits relieved

, , ,
the earth o f it s b u rthen and w heresoever trouble has

befallen thy w orshippers there thou hast gone and ,
aid ed them ; and in this hope I have approached thy

threshhold ; fulfil n o w the d esire of my heart also .
When the king had celebrated th e praises O f the

goddess to this extent a voice issu ed from the temple ,
o f Devi saying ,
King ! I am w ell pleased w ith thee
,
ask any boon that tho u may st desire The king ’

.
’
said M other ! if thou art pleased w ith me grant me

, ,
a son Devi replied King ! thou shalt have a son

.
’
( w ho shall be) very pow erful and very glorious .
Then the king made off erin gs o f san d al unbroke n ,
rice flow ers incense lamps and consecrated food and

, , , ,
paid adoration Moreove r he mad e it a practice o f

.
,
w orshipping thus daily To be brief after some d ays .

,
a son w as born to the king The king w ith his .

,
family an d kindred proceeded w ith music and song

, ,
and w orshipp ed at the shrine of De v i

”
.
I n the meantim e it h appened o ne day that a ,
w asherman accompanied by a friend of his w as

, ,
"
coming frO m a certain tow n tow ards this city and the ,
temple o f Devi met his eye He resolved on pros .
trat in g himself (before the shri ne ) At that moment .
’
he beheld a washerman s d au ghter w ho w as very ,
handsome coming tow ards him He w as fascinated

, .
at the sight o f her and w ent to w orship Devi

, A fter .
TH E B AI T AL P A CH CH I SI . 69
prostrating himself he joined his hands in supplication

, ,
and said in his heart O Devi ! if through thy favour

, , ,
my marriage to this beautiful b eing should take place ,
’
I w ill devote my head as an off ering to thee After .
making this v o w and prostrating himself he took his

, ,
friend with him and w ent to his o w n city

, .
When he arrived there the separation (from his love) ,
so troubled him that sleep h unger thirst —all w ere , ,
forgotten He spent the whole day in thoughts o f

.
her O n perceivin g this w oful state o f his his friend

.
,
w ent and told his father all the circumstances His .
father also b ecame alarmed o n hearin g these things ,
and reflecting o n the matter began to say From o h ,
serving his state it see ms ( to me) t hat if his betrothal

t o t hat maiden does no t take place he w ill grieve t o
'
death ; Wherefore it is better to marry him to the girl

‘
’
that thus he may be saved .
’
Having thus considered he took his son s fri end ,
’
w ith him and o n reaching that town went t o the girl s

, ,
father and said I have come to solicit something o f

,
you i f you w ill grant my request I will make it ,
kno w n .
He replied I f I p ossess the thing I w ill
’
,
‘
give it speak out Having secured his promise thus

.
’
,
’
he said G ive your daughter in marriage to my son
,
.
O n hearing this he to o agreed to the proposal ; and

,
having had a priest called in and the day the au spi , ,
cion s co nj unction and the moment det ermined said

, , ,
Bring your son ; I for my part will stai n my d augh

, ,
70 TH E B A II A L
'‘
P A CH CHI S I .
ter s hands yello w l On hearing this he arose returned

’
.
, ,
to his o w n house got ready all the requisites fo r the

,
marriage and set out fo r the ceremony ; and o n reach

,
ing the place and having the m arriage ceremony per

,
formed he took his son and d aughter in law with him

,
- -
and returned home ; and the b ride and bridegroom

“
”
commenced a happy life together .
Again after some time an occasion O f rejoicing

, ,
arose at the girl s father s and so an invitation came

’ ’
to these (the bride and bridegroom) also The w ife .
and husband got ready and taking their friend w ith ,
them set o ut for that city When they arrived near

, .
the place the temple of Devi came in sight and then

, ,
his vo w came to his mind T hereupon he reflected .
and said to himself I am a great liar and a very irre ,

‘
,
ligio us w retch fo r I have lied t o Devi h erself

,
Having said this to himself he spoke to his friend , ,
saying Do yo u tarry here w hile I pay a visit to

,
‘
’
Devi . And to his w ife he said D O thou also stay ,
‘
here Having said this an d gone to the temple he

.
’
bathed in the pool w ent before Devi j oined his , ,
h ands in supplicat ion addressed her reverentially and , ,
raised a sword and struck hi ms elf on the neck His .
head w as severed from his body and fell u pon the ,
”
groun d .
“
To be b rief after some delay his friend thought
, ,
that as he had been gone a very long while and had

S ee not e at pag e 50 .
TH E B AI T AL PA CH CHI S I . 71
no t yet returne d he ought to go and see ( what had ,
happened ) ; so he said to the w ife Stay here ; I w ill ,
soon hunt him up and bring him here Having said .

’
this he went into the tem ple of Devi and 10! his
, ,
’
( friend s) head w as lying apart from his b ody ! O n

b eholding this state of things there he b egan to say ,
to himself The w orld is a hard place ! No o ne w ill

,
suppose that he w ith his o w n hand offered his head

, ,
as a sacrifice to Dev i ; on the contrary they w ill say

.
, ,
that as his Wife was very beautiful he ( the friend) in

, , ,
order t o possess her killed him and is practising this , ,
artful trick Therefore it is preferable to die here ;

.
w hereas to O btain an evil rep utation in the w orld is

’
no t desirable .
Having said this he bathed in the pool came into , ,
the presence of Devi joined his hands and made Obei ,
sauce and taking up the s w ord struck himself o n the

, ,
n eck so that his head w as severed from his body

,
.
A nd she weary of standing there alone and watching

, ,
for their return till she quite despaired w ent in quest ,
o f them into the temple o f Devi Arrived there what . ,
does she behold b ut the t wo ly ing dead ! Then see

‘
ing th em both dead she thought to herself People , ,
will no t b elieve that these t w o have voluntarily offered

themselves as sacrifices to Dev i E verybody will say .
that the widow was a w anto n wretch (and) that she ,
killed them both and left them that she might indulge
72 TH E B AI T AL PACHC HIS I .
in her d epravity I t is better to die than t o endure

.
such infamy .
’
A fter reflecting thus she plun ged into the pool ,
( and bathed ) and coming into the presence o f Devi

, ,
bo w ed her head in obeisance ( then ) taking up the

s w ord w as about to s trike herself on the neck w hen
, ,
Devi descen d ed fro m the throne and came and seized ,
her hand and s ai d Daughter ! ask a boon ; I am

, ,
‘
w ell p leased w ith thee On this she sai d Mother ! ’

-
.
,
’
if thou art pleased w ith me restore these t w o to life ,
.
’
Then Devi said Unite their heads to their bodies I n
, .
the tumult o f her j o y she changed the heads in putting

them o n And Devi brought the w ater o f life and
.
sprinkled it upon them T he t wo rose up alive and .

,
began disputin g o ne with another ; o n e sayi ng She ,
is my wife the other She is mine , .

’
Having related so much o f th e story the sprite ,
s ai d No w king Vikramaj it ! of whi ch o f these t wo

,
is she the wife ! The king said Hearken ! T he ,
guiding principle for this is lai d dow n in the book of

law thus
, The Ganges is the best of rivers and
:
,
S umeru is the most excellent of moun tains and K al ,
av iksh
l
p r is the most excellent o f t rees ( and ) the head ,
is supreme among all the members o f the body A c .
cording to this judgment she becomes the Wife o f him

K a lp a w ilcsk is a fabulous tr yi lding all w ish s said t xist m t h
ee , e e , o e e
parad i se o f I dia
n .
T AL E V I I .
THE sprite said 0king ! there is a city named Cham

,
“
p apur the king O f which is C hamp akeshw ar A n d the

,
.
’ ’
queen s name is Sulochan a and the daughter s Trib ,
huvan sundari She is an eminently beautiful w oman

-
.
-
whose face is like the moon hair like black clouds , ,

’
’
eyes like a gazelle s eyebro w s ( arched) like a b o w
, ,
’
nose like a parrot s (beak) neck like a pigeon s teeth ,
’
like the grains of a pomegranate ; the redness of w hose

lips resembles that O f the kand d d ‘ whose waist is like ,
a leop a ’
rd s hands and feet like the tender lotus com
'
, ,
plexion like the champ a fl o w er ; in short the bloom O f

-
”
her youth w as daily on the increase .
When she became m arriageable the king and ,
queen began to feel anxious in their minds A nd the .
news spread among the monarchs of the diff erent coun

tries (round about) that so beautiful a girl had been
born in the p alace of king C hampakeshw ar that at a ,
mere glance at her beauty gods men and holy sages , , , ,
is a cuc b i tac ous plan t w it h d fruit or t h gourd

T h e ka nd d r i u
r
e re , e o f
th e momordica mo ad lph I t H indi nam is bi mb
n e e . s e .
TH E B A I I‘ A L
'
PACHO HIS I .
75
re main fascinated Thereupon the kings o f the diffe .
ren t co untries had each his likeness painted and ,
sent it by the hands of a Brahman to king Cham

p akesh w ar The king received and sho w ed the
.
portraits o f all the monarchs to his d aughter but ,
none of them suited her fancy Thereupo n the king .
said Do thou then make a p ublic choice of a

,
‘
, ,
’
husband To this too she did not agree but said
.
, , ,
to her father Father ! give me t o him who pos

,
‘
sesses the three qualities of beauty strength and , ,
superior knowledge .
’
“
I n fine w hen several days had elapsed four
, ,
suitors came from four different countries Then the .
king said to them DO each o f you set forth clearly ,

‘
before me the superior qualities and knowledge he

’
possesses One O f the m said I possess such kno w
.
,
ledge that I manufacture a cloth and sell it for five

rubies When I realise the price I give one of the
.
,
r ubies to Brahmans O f another I make an offering to ,

’
the gods a third I w ear o n my o w n person a fourth

'
, ,
I reser v e for my w ife the fifth I sell and con sta ntly , ,
support myself w ith the m o ney so obtained N 0 one .
else possesses this kno w ledge And as to the good .
looks I possess — they are O pen to vie w The second

,
.
’
said I am acquainted w i th the lang uages of both

,
‘
land and aq uatic beasts and birds ; have no equal in

’
strength ; and my beauty is before yo u The third .
said So w ell d o I comprehend the learned w ritings

,
76 TH E B AI T AL PA CHCHISI .
that no equal of mine exists ; and my beauty is before

your eyes The fourth said I stand alone in my
.
’
,
‘
kno w ledge of the use of w eapons ; there is no o n e 1
like m e ; I can shoot an arro w w hich w ill strike an

object w hich is hear d but not seen ; and m y beauty ,
is famous in the w orld — you too must surely , , ,
”
see it .
9
On hearing the statements o f the four of them

“
,
t heking began to thin k to himself A ll four are on ,
a par as to e x cellences ; to w hich should I give the

girl ! Having reflected thus he w ent to his daughter
’
,
and set for th the virtues of the w hole four o f them ,
and said To w hich O f them shall I give thee ( in

,
‘
O n hearing this she hung do w n her ,
head t hr ough modesty and kept silent m aking no , ,
”
answ er .
After relating so much of the story the sprite said , ,
Now King Vikram ! fo r w hich o f the m is this

,
w oman suited ! The kin g replied He w ho makes ,
cloth and sells it is a sd d m by caste ; and he w ho

know s the languages is a da is by caste ; he w ho has
studied the learned w ritings is a B ral mcm ; and he
susp ct rror in th t xt h viz hd t m f l h f t h

I e an e e e ere ; .
, s s o r s as
-
a or e
t hi d s i t or had alr ady cl i m d t h poss ssi on Of unri vall d xc ll nc i

r u e a e e e e e e e e n
th kd t
e s hil t h fou th b o st s f h sup ri or skill i ch m w h ch
s r as, w e e r a o i s. e n ar e ,
i
w ould c rt a nly s m t accord b t t r w ith k t t ha kd f m M or

e i ee o e e s as r a n s s/ . e
ov r th j udgm nt f K ng V kram sho w s satisfact orily I think t hat

e , e e o i i , ,
s h t m i t h w ord in t nd d
as s e e e .
TH E B A IT A L PA CHCHISI . 77
w ho hits w ith an arro w an object w hich is simply

heard and no t seen is of t ar caste the wo man is
, ,
:
suitable for him On hearing these w ords the

,
’3
sprite w ent again and hung himself on that tree ; an d

the king too went thither bound him placed him
, , , ,
o n his shoulder and carried him o ff

,
.
T A LE V III .
T H EN the sprite said O king ! there is a city named

,
M ithalav ati the king of w hich is G unad hip

,
A young .
r ajp ut nam ed C hiramd eva c ame from a distant land

, ,
to enter his service He used to go daily t o pay his

.
respects to the king but d id not obtain an intervie w

,
.
A nd in the course of a year he consu med all the

money he had brought ( w ith him) w hile tarrying here
w ithout employ m ent an d th ere (in h is native land )
, ,
”
his home w ent to ruin .
“
I t h appened one day that the king mounted his
horse fo r the chase and C hiramd ev, a also joined his
cavalcade The king became accidentally separated

.
“
from his follo w ers in a forest and the attendants lost ,
themselves in another jungle ; o n e how ever Chira m , ,
deva w as follow in g the king A t len gth he called

, .
,
o u t and said
,
Your majesty ! all the attendants have
,
remained behind w hile I am accompanying you making

, ,
my horse keep p ace w ith yours On hearing this .

’
the king reined in his horse and so he came u p ( to ,

TH E B AI T AL P A C HC HI S I . 79
the king) The king looked at him and asked

.
, ,
H o w hast thou become so emaciated P

“
Then he replied I f I live w ith a master such
,
‘
,
‘
that he cherishes thousands of people while he t akes ,
no t hought o f me no blame (attaches) to him fo r

,
this but rather my o w n fate is t o blame A s for

, .
,
ex ample by day light the whole world is clearly

,
visible ; yet it is not visible t o the o wl —what blame

can be imputed t o the sun for this ! I t is astonish “
ing t o me that he w ho caused the means o f sub

s istence to reach me in my mother s womb should ’
take no thought o f m e n o w when I have been born , ,
and am capable o f enjoying worldly ali ment I k no w .
not whether he sleeps or is dead A nd in my .

,
opinion it is better t o s w allo w deadly poiso n and die

, ,
tha n to ask for goods and money from a great man

who while giving the same makes a w ry face and
, , ,
turns up his nose (in contempt ) and raises his brows , .
No w these six things render a m an contemptible ,
first the friendship o f a p erfid io u s man ; se cond

, ,
causeless laughter ; thir d altercation wit h a woman ;,
fourth the serving a bad master ; fifth riding a

, ,
donkey ; six th unpolished ( or uncouth) speech

,
And .
1
the following five things the Creator record s in a

man s destiny at the time o f his birth First length
’
,
-
o f life ; second acts ; third w eal th fourth know

, , ,
L it —A dial c t w it hout S anskrit

e .
80 TH E B AI T AL PA CH CHIS I .
ledge ; fifth reputation 0king ! so long as a man s

’
.
,
virtues are conspicuous all continue to be his servants ;

1
,
but w hen his virtues decrease his very friends becom e ,
his enemies This one thing ho w ever is certain ; by

.
, ,
serving a good ma ster one derives benefit sooner or

later ; he does not remain u nbenefi ted
’
.
On hearing this the king po n d ered over all these ,

'
w ords but did not then make any reply

,
He said .
this to him how ever I feel hungry ; bring me s ome

, ,
C hiram d e v
’
thing to eat from some w here a said .
,
‘
Your majesty ! bread is not to be obtai ned here 2
.
’
Having said this he w ent into the j ungle killed a , ,
deer took o ut a flint and steel from his pocket

, ,
kindled a fire broiled some slices of meat and served

, ,
up a plentiful meal to the ki ng and partook of it ,
himself as w ell To be brief w hen the king w as .

,
quite satisfied he said No w Rajput ! conduct me

,
’
, ,
to the city for the road is not kn ow n to me

, He
conducted the king into the city and brought him to ,
his palace Then the king a ppointed him to an office

.
,
an d besto w ed many robes and je w els upon him A fter .
that he continued in close attendance upon the king

, .
Ishould much pr f r t ranslat ing so long as a man s fort un s in

e e
’
e ar e
t h asc ndant w r it t t hat non f t h l xi cons I hav s n sanct io s

‘ ”
e e ,
e e no e o e e e ee n
th s n
e e f fort un s f p m y
se o e or a.
2
Li t hich might m an b o il d ric or cak s f b r ad
w e e e, e o e
and b oil d puls e e.
L i a— Wh n t h k ing s b lly fill d '

3
e e e w as e .
82 TH E B AI T AL P A CH CHI S I .
sayi ng I f thou wilt obey my command become the

,
‘
,
w ife o f my servan t Sh e s aid I have become t he .

’
,
’
slave o f thy beauty ho w th en can I beco me his wife ! ,
The king replied I t w as b ut this instant thou saidst

,
to me I w ill obey any comm an d y o u may give me

,
‘
.
No w whatever the good promise they perform K eep

,
.
thy plighted w ord ( and) becom e the w ife o f my ,
servant O n he aring this she said

.
’
Your word is , ,
‘
law to me Thereupon the king married his servant

’
.
1
to her without the usual ceremonies and brought ,
”
them both w ith him to his p alace .
Having related so much o f the story the sprite ,
said , Tell me 0 king ! Of master and servant

, ,
”
w hose w as the greater virtue ! The king said ,
”
“
The servant s The sprite said again Was not
’
.
,
“
the merit o f the king greate r w ho obtained so beauti ,
”
ful a woman and bestow ed her o n his servant !
,
Thereupo n kin g B ir Vikram ajit said Wh at superior ,
merit is there in thei r conferring favours w hose o ffice ,
it is to d o so ! But he w h o while having his o wn ,
interests to attend to promotes the interests o f ,
another— fie is the greater Fo r this reason the .

,
O n hearing these
’
servant s merit w as the greater .
words the sprite w ent and hung himself o n that

,
same tree ; and the king w ent and again took him
d o w n from thence placed him o n his shoulder and , ,
carried him away .
A g a nd ka r b marri g i a ehr s O ne w e e th e us al formaliti s

u e are di p ns d
s e e
i
w th , and
th e tie par s b com man d
e e an w i fe by mutual cons n t e .
TALE IX .

,
“
Ma d anpur w here was a king named Birh ar No w

, .
,
in t hat same country there w as a merchant nam ed

H irany ad att whose daug hter s name was Mad an sena
’
.
,
One day in the spring time she went w ith her female
,
-
, ,
friends into her garden to stroll about an d enjoy the

, ,
scene I t so happened that previous to her coming

.
,
o u t S o m d at t
,
the son of a merchant named Dharm
,
datt had come w ith a friend to take a stroll in the

, , ,
forest On his return thence he came into that ,
garden ; ( and) on beholding her became enamoured , ,
an d began to say to his friend Brother ! Should she ,
ever be united to me then my living w ill be to some ,
purpose and if not then my living in the w orld is ,
in vain .
A ddressing these words to his friend (and ) being ,
distracted by the pangs o f separation he involuntarily ,
approached her and seizing her hand began to say

, , ,
I f thou wilt not love me I will sacrifice my life on ,

84 TH E B AI T AL P A CH CH IS I .
thy accou nt She replied . Act not thus ; that

’
w ould be a sin Then he said Thy amorous glances

’
.
,
h ave pierced my heart and the fire of se paration fro m ,
thee has consumed my body ; my w hole consciousness

and understanding have been destroyed by this pain ;
and at this moment through the overpo w ering ,
influence o f love I have no regard for right o r w rong

,
but if thou w ilt give me thy w ord n ew life w ill enter ,
my so ul She said O n the fifth day fro m this day

.
’
my marriage w ill take place ; but I w ill first have

,
int ercourse w ith thee and after w ards abide at my

“
husband s After giving him this promise and

’
taking her oath ( to keep it) she departed to her home ,
and he to his .
To be brief on the fifth day h er marriage took

,
place Her husband bro u ght her to his home after

.
the marriage After some days the w ives of her hus

.
’
band s younger and elder brothers compelled her to
go to her husband at night She entered the nuptial .
chamber and sat quietly do w n in a corne r I n the

, .
m eantime her husband seeing her took her hand

, , ,
and m ade her sit on the bed I n fine as he was .

,
about to embrace h er she shook him o ff w ith her ,
hand and related to him all that she had promised

,
’
the merchant s son On hearing this her husband .
said I f thou really desirest to go to him go

‘
, .
’
Having received her husband s perm ission she ’
’
started for the merchant s place A thief seeing her .
TH E B AI T AL PA C H C HIS I . 85
on the road came up to her in delight and said

, , ,
Whither goest tho u alone at this midnight hour in , ,
this pitch darkness bedecked w ith such garments and

-
’
jewels ! She replied To the place w here my dearly ,
’
beloved d wells On hearing this the thief said Who
.
,
‘
is thy protector here !

’
She began to say Cupi d ,
‘
my protector w ith his b o w an d arro w s is w ith me

, , .
Having said this she then related her w hole story to

,
th e thief from beginni n g to end and said

, Do not , ,
‘
spoil my attire ; I give t hee my w ord that w hen I re ,
turn thence I will deliver my je w els to thee

, .
’
O n hearing this the thief said to himself She , ,

‘
leaves me in truth w ith a prom ise to deliver up her

, ,
’
je w els to me ; then w hy shoul d I spoil her attire !
Th us reflecting he let her go ( He ) himself sat do w n
, .
there w hile she w ent to the place w here S o md att w as

,
-
lying asleep She having suddenly roused him as

.
soon as she go t there he arose be w ildere d a n d com , ,
m enced saying A rt thou the d augh ter of a god o r

,
‘
,
sage o r serpent ! l Tell me truly w ho art thou ! and

, ,
’
w hence art thou come to m e ! She replie d I am ,
‘
the daughter of a man — the daughter of the merchant ,
H irany ad att ; M ad ansena is my name ; and d ost thou

not remember that thou d idst forcibly seize my hand
in the grove and didst insist o n my giving thee my
,
oath ; and I s w ore at thy bidding that I w ould leave, ,
Nag is th nam f th fab ulous s rp nt s (sai d t hav a human fac )

e e o e e e o e e ,
inhab it in g P at ala or th in f rnal r gions

,
e e e .
86 TH E B AI T AL PA CH C HIS I .
the man I w as married to and come to thee ! I have

'
come accordin gly ; do unto me w hatever thou pleas

e st
On this he asked Hast th ou told this story to ,

‘
thy husband or not ! ,

She replied saying I have’
, ,
m entioned the w hole affair and after becoming ac ,
u aint e d w ith ever thing he h as allo w ed me to come

q y ,
to thee S o m d at t said
.
’
This m atter is like je w els ,
‘
without apparel or food w ithout clarified butter o r

, ,
singing o ut o f tune —all th ese things are alike Simi .
larly dirty garments mar beauty bad food saps the

, ,
strength a w icked w ife deprives of life a bad son

, ,
ruins the family Whereas a demon takes life on his

.
being enraged a woman either as a friend o r a foe

, , ,
is in both c ases the occasion of sorro w What a w o .
m an does not do is of little moment ; for she does not

give utterance to the thoughts o f her mind ; and w hat
is at the tip o f her tongue she does not reveal ; and
w hat she does she does not tell o f , A w onderful .
creature has God created in the w orld in woman .

’
A fter uttering these w ords the merchant s so n

“
,
’
an swered her saying I w ill have nothing to do

, ,
’ ’
w ith anoth er s w ife On hearing this she took her
.
way back home again On the w ay she met the thief .

,
( and) told him the w hole story The thief on hear .

,
ing it applauded her highly and let her go She

, , .
came nigh her husband and told him all the circum
stances ; but her husband evinced no affection fo r
TH E B AI T AL PA C HC HIS I . 87
her and said T he beauty o f the cuckoo consists in

, ,
‘
’
its note alone ; a w oman s beauty consists in her fid e
lity to her husban d ; and the beauty of an ugly man
is his kno w le d ge ; the beauty of a devotee is his pa
tie nt sufferin
’
g .
Having related so m uch o f the story the sprite ,
sai d ,0 king ! w hos e is the highest merit of these

“
three ! King Vikram aj it replied The thief s merit ,

’
”
is the greatest The sprite said
. Ho w ! The ,
“
king replied Seeing her heart set o n another man

, ,
her husband gave her up ; through dread o f the king ,
S o md at t let her alo ne ; w hereas there w as no reason

’
fo r the thief s leavin g her unmolested Hence the .
thief is the superior On hearing this the sprite

.
,
w ent again and suspended himself on that tree ; and
the king also w ent there took him dow n from the ,
tree bound and placed him on his shoulder and once

, ,
more carried him a w ay .

T ALE X .
T HE sprite said 0 kin g ! in the country o f Gaur

,
there is a city called B arad man and the kin g of that ,
place was named G un shekh ar His minister w as a .
follower of the Jain persuasion A bhaichand by name , .
Throu gh his persuasion the k ing too entered the pale , , ,
of the Jain religion He prohibited the worship of .
Shiva as also that o f Vishnu and offerings of cattle

, , ,
grants of land oblations to deceased ancestors gamb

1
, ,
ling and intoxicating liquors—all these he interdicted

no one w as allow ed to practise them in the city ,
an d no one could carry aw ay bones t o the Gan g es .
’
A n d the m inister t o o w ith the king s san ction for
, ,
these matters had it proclaimed in the city that w ho

, ,
ever performs these acts the king w ill confiscate all ,
h is property and inflict pun i shme n

, t o n him and expel ,
”
him from the city .
Thereafter the m inister said one day to the king ,
I Th s ob lat ions consi st f b all s (p i d) f m at or ric mix d p w it h

e e o /a o e ,
e e u
milk curds flow rs & and off r d t th man s t th s v ral Shraddh s

, , e , c. , e e o e e a e e e a
( or fun r l c r moni s and w orship f th man s ) by t h

e a e e e ar st survivi g
o e e e ne e n
r lat ions
e .
90 TH E B AI T AL P A CH CHISI .
lame or b lind o f o ne eye or blind o f both eyes or

, , ,
d w arfs o r hunch backed or w ith som e such bodily

,
-
,
defect A ccording to the limbs o f beasts and birds

.
w hich they devour they eventually lose similar m e m ,
bers of their own Fur ther the drinking o f into x i .

,
cating liquors is a great sin Hence the consumption .
’
of flesh and intoxicating drinks is not right .
Thus unfolding to the king the wi sdom stored u p

in his m ind the minister ma de him so sound a con
,
vert t o the Jain faith that w hatever he advised the ,
king did ; and he paid no respect t o any Brahman ,
ascetic itin erant devotee o r religious men dicant ; and

, ,
1
governed his kingdom according to this religion One .
day coming under the pow er o f death he died

, , .
Thereupon his so n Dharm d hw aj by name ascen ded ,

-
the throne and began to reign One day having

,
.
,
had the minister A bhaichan d seized and seven pl aits

, , ,
made of the hair o n his head and his face blackened , ,
and ( the m inister) himself seated o n a donkey and ,
a drum beaten a nd hands clapped ( in derision) after

him he then banished him from the kingdom and
, ,
”
carried o n his government free fro m all anxiety .
One day in the S pring time the king aecom

,
-
, ,
p anied by h is queens w ent to take a stroll in a ,
garden There w as a large tank in that garden and

.
,
T he i , ar
sew ra and d w k
m y d si , all r ligious m ndicant s ; th
ar es , are e e e
first i s o f th e Jain r ligion t h s cond a B rahman and t h t hird a M h m

e , e e
, e u a
madan .
THE B AI T AL P A C HC HI S I . 9]
the lotus was in full bloom therein O n beholding .
th e be auty o f the tank the king stripped o ff his ,
clothes and went d o w n to bathe Having plucked a

‘
, .
fl o w er and come to the sid e he w as handing it to

, ,
o ne o f the q ueens when it slipped from his hand

,
and fell on the queen s foot ; an d by the blow it ’
’
inflicted the quee n s foot w as b roken On this the .
king became alarmed and forthwith coming out fro m

,
t he tank began applying remedies ; and in the mean

,
time n igh t came o n and the moon shone forth No

, .
’
sooner did the moon s beams fall than b listers arose ,
o n the body of the second queen Farther just then .

,
’
the so und o f a wooden pestle from some householder s
sudd enly reached the third que en and she w as in ,
st antl
y attacked with so severe a headach e t hat she ,
”
fainted a w ay .
After narratin g so much the sprite said 0kin g ! , ,
whi ch o f these three was the most delicate P The

kin g replied The one w ho go t the p ain in the head
,
”
and fainted away she w as the most delicate
,
On .
hearing these words the sprite agai n went and sus

,
pended himself o n that tree ; and theking w ent there

and took him down and making a bundle o f him
, , ,
placed him o n his shoulder and walked o ff w ith him ,

.
T AL E X I .
T HE sprite said Your majesty ! there is a city

,
“
n amed P u n a ur the king o f w hich w as named Bal

y p ,
labh and his minister s name w as S aty aprakash ( and )

,
’
’
the name of the minister s w ife was L akshmi One .
day the king said to his m iniste r I f one w h o is a ,
king does not enjoy himself w ith beautiful w o m en ,
his holding sovereignty is in vain Having said this .

’
and ma d e over the burthen o f government to the

minister he himself gladly entered upon a course of
,
amorous pleasures He abandoned all cares of the

.
state and commenced spending his days and nights

,
”
in enjoyment .
“
I t so happened that one day the minister w as
, ,
sitting dejected at home when his wife asked him

, ,
Husband ! you seem to me to be very w eak ! He '
replied saying Night and day the cares o f govern

, ,
‘
ment w eigh heavily o n me and hence my body has ,
become feeble ; while the king is the w hole day lon g

occupied w ith his o w n pleasu res and enjoyment .
’
’
The mini ster s wi fe s ai d O h usb and ! y o u have ,
‘
94 TH E B AI T AL P AC H C H I S I .
said Your Majesty ! I have w itnessed a marvellous

,
‘
" ’
sight ! The monarch said Describe it The ,
‘
.
minister said Your majesty ! m en o f olden time ,

‘
have said that o ne should n ot speak o f su ch things

as are beyond the comprehens ion o f any o n e and ,
which no o ne would credit But this thing I saw .
plainly with my eyes and hence I speak o f it You r ,

.
majesty ! at the place w here the L ord Raghun ath 1
has brid ged the ocean lo ! a golde n tree came up out ,
o f the sea which w as so splendid ly loaded with

,
emerald leaves topaz flow ers and coral fruit that a , , ,
description o f it is impossible ! And u pon it w as a

very beautiful woman with a lute in her hands sing , ,
ing the sweetest o f strains But after a few minutes .
’
that tree w as lost to sight in the ocean
V
.
“
On hearing these w ords the king entrusted the ,
government to the minister and set out alone fo r the ,
sea shore After several days he arrived there and

-
.
,
entered the temple to pay adoration to Mah adeva ;

and having bowed dow n and w ors hipped he came ,
o ut when 10! the same tree w oman and all rose up

, , , ,
( o u t o f the sea) A s soon as the king saw her he .

,
leaped into the sea and w ent and sat on the same tree ,
.
She together wit h the king descended to the nether

, ,
re io ns
g
it
She looked at him ( the king) and said
.
,
Ragh n ath t h lord f t h f am ily of R ghu ) is a t it l of R am

u e o e a , e a,
wh o as i carnation f Vishnu b orn i th family of R ghu

, an n o ,
w as n e a .
2
P d td l is f t h s v n H ndu h ll and t h r gion und r t h
a o ne o e e e a th i e s, e e e e e r
wh ch
i th ab od of t h Nagas or s rp n t s w t h human fac s
is e e e ,
e e i e .
TH E B AI T AL PA CHCH IS I . 95
l
Valiant man ! Why has t thou come hither ! The ’
king replied I have come attracted by thy b eauty

, , .
’
She rej oined I f thou wilt no t have interco urse with

,
me d uring the dark fortnight o f the lunar month I ,
’
will marry thee The king consented to this arrange
.
ment Not w ithstanding this h o w ever she took the

.
, ,
’ ”
king s solemn promise and then married him , .
To be brief when the d ark nights set in she

, ,
sai d Your majesty is n o t to remain near me to

d ay
. On hearing this the king left her taking his , ,
s w ord with him and going apart kept secret watch ,

.
W hen it w as midnight a demon came an d o n the , , ,
instant o f arriving folded her in his arms No , .
sooner did the kin g witn ess this than be rushed for ,
w ard with his s w ord and said Foul fiend lay n o t , ,
thy hand o n my wife before my eyes ! First fight

with me I t w as only ere I had set my eyes o n you
.
’
that fear possessed me ; n o w I have no fear .
This said he drew his s word an d struck such a

, ,
blow that the head (of the demon) w as severed fro m

v
,
the body an d lay q ui ering o n the ground On

,
.
beholding this she said O gallant man thou h ast

, ,
’
d one me a great kind ness ! A fter saying this she ,
spoke again saying I t is not every m oun tain that

, ,
contains rubies nor every city that holds true men

, ,
nor does the sandal tree gro w in every forest nor d o-

,
’
pearls exist in the head of every elephant Thereupon .
the king enquired Why did this demon come to thee

,
‘
o n the fourteenth night o f the waning moon !

She said My father s name is Vid y ad har

I am ’
.
,
s aid Vid y ad har s d au ghter Sundari is my name

’
. .
No w it w as an established custo m for m y father not .
t o partake o f food w ithout me One day I w as not .
at home at meal time thereupon father became an gry

-
and pronounced a curse on me saying A d emon , ,

‘
w ill come and embrace thee every fourteenth night of
the w aning moon On hearing this I said Father !

.
’
, ,
you have indeed given me your curse ; but no w have

m ercy on me He rep lied When an intrepid man ,
shall come and slay that demon thou w ilt escape from ,
this curse No w therefore I have escaped from that

.
’
, ,
curse ; and I will n o w go an d pay my respects to my

father .
’
The king said I f thou appreciatest the kindness

,
‘
I have done thee come at once and visit my do mi ,
’
nions ; after that go and visit thy father , She said .
,
’
Very well ; I consent to w hat you say Thereupo n .
the king brought her w ith him to his ca pital Festi v e .
music and rejoicing began to take place The ne w s .
S pread th rou ghout the city that the king had arrived -
Then songs of congrat ulation and merry making com -
m en ced in every house ; and after that all the musi ,
1an s and sin er s o f the city came and o ffered their

'
g
congratulations at the court The king gave a w ay .
many presents and performed many pious acts

,
.
A gain after some days tha t fair one said

,
No w , ,
’ ’
you r m ajesty ! I will go to my father s The king
said in sa d ness Very w ell go When she perceived
.
‘ ’
,
: .
T ALE X II .
T HE 0king B ir Vikramajit ! There is a

Sprite said ,
city named C hfi rapur where a king named Chur aman ,
ruled whose spir itual teacher s nam e w as D ev

,
asw ami
’
and he had a so n named H arisw ami He was as .
beautiful as Cupid equalled Brihaspati in his know

1
,
ledge o f scientific and religious treatises and was as ,
wealthy as Kuvera He w edd ed and brought home a .
Brahman s daughter w hose name w as Lav any av

’ ”
ati ,
.
To be brief o n e night in the hot season they

“
,
w ere both sleeping sou nd ly o n the flat roof o f a sum
mer house The w om an s veil accidentally slipped o fl ’ ’
her face while a demi god seated o n a car w as pro

,
-
, ,
ceed ing somew here through the air His gaze su d

'
d enly falling upon her be lo w ered the car and placing , ,
her asleep o n the car fl

, ew o ff with her
, After some , .
time the Brahman also awo ke and 10! his wife w as ,
not ( b eside him) On thi s he became alarmed and

.
“
,
coming down from thence searched throughout the ,
B rihasp a ti is t he r g nt of th plan
e e e et upit r and
J e ,
th e pr c pt or of
e e
the gods . K uv
er a is th god f alth
e o we .
TH E B AI T AL PA CH C HIS I . 99
house When he did not find her there either he

.
,
Went about seeking her through all the streets and

lan es o f the city but did no t find her Thereupon he
, .
began to say t o himself Who has carried her o ff ! ,

‘
and w hither has she gone !

I n short when his eff orts w ere of no avail he
, ,
retu rned home helpless and regretful and searched ,
fo r her there a second time but did no t find her , .
When the house appeared desolate to him w ithout

her he lost all self control in his disquietude an d
,
-
misery and began crying o u t Oh d arling o f my soul !

, , ,
oh, darling o f my soul ! Further being exceedingly ,
agitated by her separation from him he gave up the ,
positio n of a householder renounce d the w orld girt , ,
a simple waist cloth round his loins rubbed the ashes

-
of burnt co w dung on his body put on a necklace o f

-
beads quitted the tow n and set out o n a pilgrimage

, , .
Proc eeding o n his pilgrimage from tow n to to w n and ,
village to village he reached a certain to w n at mid

,
day
When extreme hunger left him no alternative he i ,
made a cup shaped vessel o f the leaves of a dhak tree

-
-
and carrying it to the house of a Brahman said to ,
’
him Give me some food in alms
,
‘
(The fact is .
,
w hen a m an comes un der the influence of love he h as ,
no thought o f duty caste or food ; and regardless of

, , ,
ev erythin g he eats food wherever he can obtain it )

,
.
When he begged al ms o f the Brahm an he (the Brah ,

100 TH E B AI T AL PA C H C HI S I .
man ) took the cup shaped vessel from him and entered
-
the house and brought it ( b ack) to him filled w ith

,
rice boiled in milk He took the cup and came to.

,
the margin o f a tank There w as a large banyan .
tree there He placed the cup at the root o f that

. ,
and w ent to w ash his face and hands in the tank .
A black snake came out from the roots of the

tree and hav
,
ing dipped its mouth into the cup w ent ,
aw ay ; and so th e w hole contents o f the cup had he

come poisoned w hen in th e meantime he also returned
, , ,
after w ashing his hands an d face This matter ho w .

,
ever w as unknow n to him w hile hunger o n the other

, ,
h and beset him sorely

, (Thus) he ate the rice and .
milk as soon as he came an d the poison instantly ,
entered his system Thereupon he w ent to the Brah

.
man and said Thou hast given me po isdn and I am

, ,
’
n o w dying o f it Having said so much he reeled and
.
,
fell and died A gain the Brahman seeing him dead

, .
, , ,
turned his o w n wife o ut of the house and said Go , ,
thou hence thou murderess o f a Brahman

,
Having told so much o f the tale the s prite said , ,
0king ! to w hich o f th ese does the guilt of killin g

”
a Brahman a ttach ! The king s aid Poison exists ,
“
in a snake s mouth as a m atter of course ; therefore

’
no guilt attaches to it A gain the Brahman gave .

,
h im alms consi d ering him to be hungry ; (therefore)

,
’
guilt does not attach to him Further the Brahman s .
,
w ife had given him alms at the biddin g of her hus

T ALE X III .

,
Chandra briday and a king named Randhir ruled

-
there There w as in the city a merchant named

.
’
D harm d hw aj w hose daughter s name w as S ho bh ani
,
and indeed she w as very beautiful Her youthful .
prime was daily developi ng 1tself and her beauty w as ,
”
each moment increasing .
“
I t so happened that robberies became a nightly
occurrence in that city When the merchants ex pe
.
rienced much vexation at the hands of the thieves they ,
all w ent to the king in a body and said Your majesty ! ,

‘
thieves have committed great outrage in the city ; we

can no longer d w ell in the place The king replied ’
.
,
saying Well ; what has happened is beyond remedy

,
(lit w hat has happened has happened) ; but hence

, ,
forth y o u shall sufl

’
er no annoyance ; I will take vigor

’
ous measures against them After saying this the
.
,
king summoned a number of people and told them o ff

to keep guard and directed them ho w to keep w atch
, ,
and commanded them t o slay the thieves w herever

they found them without asking any questions
,
.
TH E BAI IAL 103
'‘
PA CHCHISI .
People began to keep watch over the city by ,
n ight and yet robberies took place All the mer

, .
chan t s proceeded in a body to the king and said , ,

‘
Your maj esty has sent watchmen and yet the thieves ,
h ave no t decreased i n number and thefts occur daily , .
The king replied Do you take your leave now from

,
‘
to night I will go forth to w atch over the city

-
On .
hearing this they left the king and went each to his
, ,
o w n home No w whe n it was night the king took

.
, ,
his s w ord and shield and o n foot and alone began , , ,
his watch over the city Having advanced some d is .
tance in the course of his watch and looked closely , ,
he perceived a thief coming towar ds him On seeing .
him the king called out Who art thou ! He re “ ‘ ’

, ,
plied saying I am a thief ; who art thou !

, ,
‘
The ’
’
king said ( in reply) I also am a thief He w as ,
.
pleased o n hearing this and said L et us commit a , ,

‘
’
robbery together .
Settling this matter bet w een them the king and ,
the thief conversing with o n e another entered o ne of

, ,
the quarters o f the city and after com mitting thefts ,
in several ho uses carried o ff the articles and came to

, ,
a well without the city and having gone down into it , ,
u ltimately reached the chief city of the nether regions .
T he thief stationed the king at the gate and took the ,
money and treasures to his o w n house I n the mean .
time a w oman servant came o ut of his house and

-
, ,
seeing the king began to say Your majesty w hat a

, ,
10
4 TH E B A I 'I‘A L PA CH CHIS I .
place y o u have come t o w ith that miscreant ! Well

w ill it be if ere he return o u fly hence as fast as
, y ,
o u possibly can other w ise he w ill kill you as soon as

y
he arrives The king replied But I do not kno w
.
’
,
‘
the road ! I n w hich direction should I go !

‘
Then ’
the servant sho w ed him the ro ad and the king came ,
”
to his palace .
I n fine on the follo wing day the kin g with all

, ,
his forces w ent to the chief city o f t h e nether region s

,
by the road dow n the wbll and surrounded the entire ,
household of the thief ; but the thief e scaping by som e ,
other road w ent to the ruler o f that city w ho w as a

, ,
demon an d said A king has led an attack against

, ,
my house w ith the vie w to kill me ; at this moment ,
either y o u must aid me or I w ill give u p d w ellin g in

,
y our city and take my abode in so me other place

’
. .
On hearing this the de mon said graciously Yo u

, , ,
‘
h ave s u pplie d me w ith food ; I am w ell pleased

w ith y o u Havin g said this the demon w ent w here
’
.
,
the king w as w ith his army surrounding the house , ,
and began devouring the m en and horses A n d the .
king fled on beholding the for m of th e demon ; and

all such as w ere able to run a w ay escaped ; and the ,
”
rest the demon devoured .
To be brief the king w as running o ff alone w hen

, ,
the thief cam e an d cri ed out Art thou a Rajput

'
, , ,
flying from the battle ! On the instant of hearing’
this the king h alted again an d the tw o confronted

, ,
l06 TH E B AI T AL P A C H C H IS I .
On hearing this the merchant w ent to the king

,
,
and said Your majesty ! receive five lacs of rupees

,
‘
’
from me and set the thief at liberty
,
The king said . ,
This thief robbed the w hole city and my w hole army ,

‘
w as s w allo w ed up through him I w ill not on any .
acco unt let him go When the king did not heed
.
’
his request he returned home in despair and said to

, ,
his daughter I said all that it w as right to say but

, ,
the kin g did not consent

I n the meanti me havmg had the thief taken round
,
the city they b rought him to a stand still near the

“
impaling stake No w the thief having heard o f the

.
,
’
pred icament of the merchant s daughter first laughed ,
aloud and then w ept bitterly T he people the w hile

,
.
’
pulled him down on the stake A nd the merchant s .
daughter receiving intimation of his death came to

, ,
the same place to de vote herself to death fo r his sake .
She had a funeral pile constructed and sitting thereon , ,
had the thief taken o ff the stake placed his head on ,
her lap and quietly seated herself to be burnt She

,
.
w as o n the point of having the torch put to it ( the
pile ) w hen ( a temple sacred to Devi happening to be

,
o n the spot) Devi instantly came out of her temple
and said Daughter ! I am pleased w it h thy courage

,
request a boon She said M other ! if thou art

.
’
,
‘
’
pleased w ith me restore this thie f to life , There .
’
upon the goddess said E ve n so shall it be Having , .
said this she brought nectar fro m the under world

,
~
-
,
”
and restored the thief to life .
TH E B AI T AL PA CH CH IS I . 107
Having told so much o f the story the spri te in ,
quired Say 0 king ! w hy the thief first laughed

,
“
, ,
and w hy he afterwards wept ! The king said I ,

“
kno w the reason w hy he lau ghed and I know also ,
w hy he wept A ttend O sprite

. The thief thought
,
within himself No w that she is giving up all that

,
she possesses to the king for my sake w hat return ,
can I make ” He w ept at the thought o f this

’
.
A gain how ever be reflected She loved me when I

, , ,
was about to die : the w a ys of G od are altogether

in scrutable ; He bestows weal th on the unlucky know ,
le d ge o n one o f lo w origin a beautif ul wife on a fool

,
and He causes rain to fall in show ers on the mountains .
Thinking o f such things he laughed ,

On hearing .
this th e sprite w ent again and hung 011 to that tree

,
.
The king returned there an d unloosing him made a

, ,
bundle of him placed him on his shoulder and took

, ,
him aw ay .
T ALE X I V .
THE sprite said Attend King Vikram ! There i s a

, ,
city n amed K usmav ati of w hich one S ubichar w as

,
’
king whose daughter s n ame w as Chandra prabha
,
-
.
When she became marriageable she w ent o ut one ,
spring day along with her companions to stroll about

, ,
in the garden No w before arrangements had been

.
,
made for the ladies to come out before the

garden had been cleared of all strangers and others
no t permitted t o set eyes o n the women
) a Brahman s
’
so n named Man sw i o f t w enty years o r so

, , very hand ,
some had come into the garden in the cour se o f his

,
wanderings and meeting w ith cool shade under a

,
tree had fallen asleep there The king s attendants

, .
’
came and made arrangements for the ladies of the

seraglio in the garden but it so happened that none
,
’
of the m saw the Brahman s son sleeping there ; and
so he continued sleeping under that tree and the ,
p rincess entered the garden with her attendants .
Strolling about with her companions where does she ,
’
come but to the place where the Brahman s so n w as
1 10 THE B AI T AL PA C HCHIS I .
remove them ! He said Well tell me your troubles ;

’
, ,
’
I will remove them ‘
.
“
O n he aring this he said I t w as but no w th at
, ,
‘
the princess came here with her co mpanions ; and it

w as through s eeing her that I have fallen into this
state Should I obtain possession o f her I w ill pre

.
serve my life ; otherw ise I w ill aban don life Then he .
replied Come to my abode ; I will exert myself to

,
the utmost to obtain her ; and if I should not suc ,
’
ceed I wil l bestow great w ealth upon thee
,
There .
upon Manswi said G o d has created many a jewel in

,
the world ; but the jewel woman surpasses all ; and , ,
fo r her sake it is that man treasures up wealth .
When I have lost the w oman w hat will I do wit h ,
the wealth ! Brute beasts are better o ff in the worl d

than those who do not possess themselves of hand
some wives The fruit o f merit is wealth and the
.
,
advantage o f wealth is ease and the conse quence o f ,
ease is (the takin g) a w ife ; n o w what happiness can ,
’
there be where there is no w ife ! O n hearing this ,
Mfild ev a said I will give thee w hatsoev

, er thou may st ’
’
ask for Then he s aid O Brahman obtain that
.
,
same m aiden s hand for me Muld ev

’
a thereupon
’
.
said So be it ; come along w ith me ; I will have

,
‘ -
that very maiden bestow ed o n thee ’
I n short ministering much com

.
“
, fo r t to him he ,
took him to his house ; and w hen he reached there ,
he prepared tw o magic pills One pill he gave to the .

TH E B AI T AL P A C H C HISI . 111
( young) Brahman saying When thou puttest this , ,
into thy mouth thou wilt be turned i nto a girl of ,
t w elve years ; and w hen th ou takest it out o f thy

mouth thou w ilt become the self same man thou
,
-
’
w ert before He said further Put this into thy .
‘
,
’
mouth On his putting it into his mo nth he b e
.
came a girl of twelve years And he ( Muld ev a) .

,
having put the other pill into his o w n mouth became ,
transformed into an o ld man o f eighty years ; and

taking that young girl w ith him he proceeded to the ,
kin g
he king seeing the Brahman salute d him gave
( C
, , ,
him a seat and anoth er to the young girl also Then

, .
the Brahman gave him his blessing in verse saying , ,
M ay he w hose glory pervades the three w orlds ; and

w ho taking the for m of a d w arf deceived l King
, ,
Bali ; and w ho taking monkeys with him bridged , ,
the ocean ; and w ho supporting the mountain ( C c 2

,
ali w a po w rful ki g w h by hi aust riti s and d vot ion ov rcam

B as e n , o , s e e e , e e
I ndra i b at t l and o bt ain d pow r ov r h av n and arth T h gods

n e, e e e e e e . e
b cam l arm d t t his and sought t h id f Vi sh u h visit d th

e e a e a , e a o n ,
w o e e
ea r th i t h form f a dw arf and nt b for B ali h according t

n e o ,
we e e , w o , o
cu t om off r d him pr s nt s T h s t h dw arf ff ct i g ut t r cont mpt

s , e e e e . e e e , a e n e e
f or w orldly w alt h d cli d saying h m r ly w ant d as much t rrit ory

e ,
e ne , e e e e e
as could b compri d i t h f h i p c s B ali laugh d and grant d h i

e se n r ee o s a e . e , e s
r q u st w h r upon t h dw arf ncr as d h i st tur t prodi gious d m n

e e ; e e e i e e s a e o i a
sions and t s t p pl c d his foot on th h av ns t t h n xt th

, , a o ne e , a e e e e a e e ,
on e
e art h d no room r maini ng f t h t hird st p h plac d hi foot on

; an ,
e o r e e ,
e e s
B ali s h ad and so pr ss d him do w t t h r gi on f n

’
e ,
l l
,
b n at he e n o e e o a -
o ca , e e
th art h h r h
e e k pt in confi m nt and b ound w it h b onds mad
, w e e e w as e ne e ,
e
o f t w ist d s rp nt s e e e .
Vi d no t t pag 9 3
2 a e a e .
1 12 TH E B AI T AL r a cn cm s r .
var d han) his hand protected the cow herds from

on ,
1
the bolts o f I ndra may the same Vasudeva protect

,
-
you On hearing this the king inquired Whence , ,
has you r highness come ! The Brahman Muld ev a

’
, ,
replied I have come fro m the other side of the

,
‘
Ganges and my home is there ; and I had gone to

,
bring aw ay my son s w ife ( and) in my absence a ’
, ,
general flight from the village took place ; and so I

kno w not w hither my wife and so n have fled to .
A nd n o w with this girl w ith me ho w shall I seek

, ,
them ! I t is therefore advisable that I leave this

, ,
( girl) w ith your majesty K eep her with the greatest .
’
care until I return .
’
On hearing these words o f the Brahman s the ,
king began thinking to himself H o w shall I take ,

‘
charge of a very beautiful young w oman ! A nd if I

do not take her this Brahman w ill curse me (and)
, ,
’
my dominion w ill be overthro w n Having th ought .
this over in hi s mind the king said Your highness ! , ,
the command you have given me shall be obeyed .

’
On this the king su mmoned his daughter and said

, , ,
Daughter ! take this Brahman s daughter in law and ’

- -
keep her w ith y o u w ith all care and attention and , ,
w hether sleeping or w aking eating or d rinking or , ,
moving about do not let her be away from you for a

,
’
moment O n hearing this the princess took hold o f
.
,
his allusion t
T o the xploit s
e o f K rishna t h c rious r ad r will fi
e u e e nd
lly xpl in d i t h
fu e a e n e 2 6 t h chap t r e o f th Pr m Sagar
e e .
”
1 14 TH E B AI PAL '
PA CH C H IS I .
remain a wo man by day At length after six m onths .

, ,
”
the princess became pregnant .
They say that o n e day the king w ent w ith his

, ,
’
w hole family to a marriage festival at his minister s
’
house There the minister s so n beheld that Brahman s
.
’
so n disguise d as a w oman and fell in love as soon as ,
he saw her ( or him ) and began to say t o a friend of ,
his,
I f this w oman does not become mine I will ,
’
sacrifice my life I n the interval the king having
.
,
partaken of the feast returned to the palace w ith his ,
’
family But the condition of the minister s so n
.
beca me most painful th ro ugh the anguish o f separation

from his beloved and he gave up food and w ater
,
.
Seeing this state (o f his) his friend w ent and informed ,
the minister A nd the minister o n hearing the

.
,
story w ent and said to the king

, Your majesty ! ,
love for that Brahman s daughter in law h as brought ’

- -
my son to a w retched state He has given up eating .
and drinking I f you w oul d kindly give the

.
Brahman s daughter in law to m e his life w ould be

’
- -
saved .
’
On hearing this the king said angrily Thou , ,

f
fool ! I t is not the nature o f kings to do such a

wrong Hearken ! I s it right to give aw ay to another
.
that w hich is given in trust without the permission o f ,
the person making over the trust that you mention ,
this matter to me P O n hearing this the minister

’
retu rned home in despair But percel v m g the suffer .

TH E B AI T AL PACHC HISI . 11 5
ing o f his son he also gave up meat and drink, .
When three days passed without the minister s eating ’
and drinking then indeed all the officials combined

, , , ,
and said to the king Your majesty ! the min ister s , ,

’
son is in a precarious state and in the event of his ,
dying the minister too will not survive A nd o n

, , , .
’
the minister s dying the aff airs of the state w ill come ,
to a stand still I t is better that y o u consent t o that

-
.
’
w hich w e state Hearing this the king gave them
.
,
permission t o speak Then one of them said Your .

,
majesty ! it is long since that o ld Brahman left this ,
and he has not returned ; G od knows w hether he is

dead o r alive I t is therefore right that you give that
.
’
Brahman s daughter in law to the minister s son and
’
- -
,
so u phold your kingdom ; and should he retu rn y o u ,
can give him villages and w ealth Should he not be .
satisfied w ith this get his son married ( to another ,
’
maiden) and let him depart .
’
On hearing this the king sent for the Brahman s ,
d aughte r in law and said Go thou to the house of my

- -
, ,
‘
minister s son’
She said The virtue o f a woman is
.
’
destro yed by her being gifted with excessive beauty ,
and a Brahman s character is lost by his serving a king

’
,
and a co w is ruined by grazing in remote pastures and ,
w ealth vanishes on meeting with abuse After saying .
so much she added

,
I f your majesty would give me ,
to the minister s son settle this matter with him

’
,
,
viz that he will do whatever I tell him ; then will I

.
,
1 16 TH E B AI T AL PA CHCHISI .
go to his house The king sai d Say what should

.
’
,
’
he do She replied Your majesty I am a Brahman
.
,
woman and he is a K sh atri by caste ; hence it is best

,
that he first perform all the prescribed pilg rimage s ;

’
after that I will cohabit w ith him .
When he heard this speech the king sent for the ,
minis ter s son an d said to him G o thou first and

’
, , ,
visit all the places of pilgrim age ; after that I will give
’
the Brahman s girl to thee ’
On hearing these words .
’
from the kin g the min ister s son said Your majesty !
, ,
let her go and take u p her abode in my house and ,

’
then I will go o n pilgrimage A fter hearing this .
,
’
the king said to the Brahman s girl I f thou will first ,
‘
go and take up thy abode in his house he w ill set out ,
’ ’
o n pilgrimage Having no alternative the Brahman s
.
,
’
girl went at the king s bidding and took up her abode
’
in his house Then the minister s son said to his Wife
.
,
‘
D o you both li v e together in one place on terms o f ,
the greatest affection and fri en dlin ess and on no ac ,
count q uarrel and fight with each other and never go ,

’
to a strange house .
Having given them these instructions be for his , ,
part set o ut o n a pilgrimage ; and here (at home) his

, ,
wife whose name w as S aubh agy a sun d ari lying at

,
-
night o n o ne bed along w ith the Brahman s daughter ’
in law began conversing o n various topics

-
, After .
some ti me the wife of the minister s son spake as fol ’
lows 0 friend at this moment I am consumed

T HE B AI T AL PA CH CHIS I .
The Brahman said Your majesty ! I Went to search ,
for this son of mine and having discovered him I , ,

’
have brought him to you I f yo u will now g iv e up .
his w ife I will take both daughter in law and son

,
- -
home Then the king related the w hole story to the

.
’
Brahman The Brahman became very angry o n hear

.
ing it an d said to the king Wh at pro cee din g is t his

'
‘ '
, , ,
fo r thee to give my son s w ife to another ! Well ! thou

’
’
hast acted as thou pleased st ; but now receive my curse .
Thereupon the king said O holyman be not angry ; ,
I will do Wh atev er you bid me The Brahman said .

’
So be it ; if through fear of my curse thou w ilt do

, ,
as I say then give thy daughter in marriage to my

,
’
son. On hearing this the king summone d an astro ,
loger and after having the auspicious conjunction and

,
moment determined gave his daughter in m arriage to ,
’
the Brahman s son Then he took leave of the king .
and came to his o w n village bringin g the princess , ,
together with her do w ry along w ith him ,
On hearing this intelligence the Brahman M an ,
sw i also came there and commenced quarrelling w ith ,
him saying Give me my w ife The Brahm an named

, , .
’
Shashi said I have married her before ten Witnesses

,
‘
and brought her home ; she is my wife He replied .

’
,
She is with child by me ; ho w can she become thy

’
w ife ! A nd they went on w rangling with each other .
Muld ev a reasoned m uch with both o f them but neither ,
”
heeded w hat he said .
After relating so much of t he story the sprite said , ,

TH E BA lT A L P A C H C H IS I . 1 19
Say king B ir Vikram aji t ! w hose wife was she !

,
The king replied She became the wife of the Brah

,
”
'
man Shashi Then the sprite said Pregnant by

.
,
“
the other Brahman ho w could she become the w ife o f

,
this o ne ! The king said No o ne was aw ar e o f

,
her being with child by that Brahman; w hereas this

o n e mar ried her in the presence o f ten arbitrators ;
therefore she became his wife A nd the child to o .

, ,
”
w ill have the right to perform his funeral obsequies .
On hearing this the sprit e w ent and hung on to the

,
same tree A gain did the king go and after binding

.
, ,
the sprite and placing him o n his shoul d er carry him

, ,
a w ay
.
T ALE XV .
THE sprite said 0king ! there is a mountai n named

,
Him achal w here there is a city of the demi gods (or

,
-
celestial musicians) and king Ji mutketu ruled there .
Once upon a time he w orshipped K alpabriksh a -

l
great deal for the sake o f a son Thereupon K alpa .
briksh w as pleased and sai d I am pleased af per

, ,
ceiv in g thy services to me ; ask any boon thou d esir

est.
’
The monarch replied saying Grant me a son , , ,
’
so that my kingdo m and my name m a
y endure It .
( the tree ) said E ven so shall it be

’
.
,
“
A fter some time the king had a so n He ex pe .
rien ced extreme

j o y and held rejoicings w ith much
,
noise and display A fter making numerous presents

.
and charitable gifts he summoned the priests and

,
,
fixe d on a name for him The priests named him .
Jimut b ahan
-
When he becam e t w elve years o f age
.
he began to worship Shiva ; and having completed

the study of all the learned writings beca me a very ,
Vid e not pe, . 72 .

12 2 TH E BA Il A L
’ ‘
P A C H C HI S I .
said O so n ! this body is frail and riches to o are

, , , ,
unabidi ng ; w hen a man is born death too attends , , ,
him ; hence w e should n o w give up dominion and ,
practise religious duties I t is n o t right to commit a .
heinous sin for the sake of such a body and for the sake ,
o f a kingdom ; fo r even king Yu d hish t hir experienced
remorse after his great w ar w ith the descendants o f

Bharat . On hearing this his son said So be it !
’
, ,
make over the government to your kin smen and you ,
’
yourself depart and practise religious austerities .
Having resolved on this and summoned his bro ,
t hers and nephe w s and handed over the government,
to th em father and son both ascended the mountain

,
Malay achal and o n reaching the su mmit built a hut

, ,
and d w elt there A friendship arose betw een Jimut

.
b ahan and a holy sage s son One day the king s

'
’
.
son and the so n of the sage went o ut together fo r a

stroll on the top of the moun tain A temple sacred .
,
t o Bhaw ani came in sight there ,

Within the temple .
,
a p ri ncess w ith a lute in her band s w as singing in

, ,
front o f the goddess The eyes of the princess and .
those o f Jimfi t b ahan met and both became smitten

-
w ith love But the princess restraining her feelings

.
, ,
and stricken w ith shame tur ned her steps home w ard ; ,
and he too for his part being put to shame by the

, , ,
’
presence o f the sage s son came to his o w n place , .
That night w as passed by both the lovers (li t rose .
”
cheeked ones) in extreme restlessness .
“
As soon as morn appeared the princess set o u t ,
TH E B AI T AL PA O H CHI S I . 1 23
fr om her quarter for t he temple o f Devi and the prince

, , ,
too ( start ing from this side) no sooner arrived than be ,
perceived that the princes s w as there Then he asked .
her female companion Whose daughter is she ! The ,

‘ ’
companion said She is the daughter o f king Malay

,
ketu her name is Malay av ati and she is a virgin as yet , .

’
A fter saying this the companion (spoke) again ( and )

,
asked the prince Say handsome man whence have

,
‘
,
y o u come ! and what is your name !

’
He replied I ,
‘
'
am the so n o f the monarch o f the demi go d s who se name -
is Ji mut ketu and my name is Ji mut b ahan I n co nse

- -
.
u ence o f o ur G overnment being overthrown we father

q , ,
’
and son have come and taken up o ur abode here
,
.
A gain the companion after hearing these words

, , ,
related all to the prin cess She was much p ained at .
heart o n hearing th em and retur ned home ; and at ,
nig ht she lay d own with a load o f care on her m ind .
’
But her companion perceivin g this state o f her s d is ,
closed the story t o her mother The queen o n hear .

,
ing it mentioned it to the king and said Your

, , ,
maj esty ! your daughter has become marriageable ;

’
w hy do y o u not seek a husban d for her ! On hear
ing this the king thought the m atter over in his mind
,
,
an d that very moment summoned his so n Mitrav asu ,
and said Son ! seek a husband for your sister and

,
‘
bring him here Then he spoke saying The king

.
’
, ,
o f the demi gods J -

im fi t ketu by name and whose son
,
-
,
is named Jimut b ahan havin g aban d oned his king

-
,
1 24 TH E B AI T A L PA C H CH IS I .
’
dom has I hear come here w ith his son
, ,
On h earing ,
.
this king Malay ketu said I will give the girl to

,
-
,
Jimut b ahan
’
-
.
“
Having said this he bade his son go and bring ,
’
Jimut b ahan from the king s
-
He o n receipt o f the .
,
king s command set out for that house and on

’
, , ,
arriving there said to the father L et your so n , ,
accompany me as my father has sent for him to ,
’
bestow his daughter upon him On hearing this king .
,
Jim ut ketu sent his son along w ith him and he came
-
h ere ( to King M alay ketu s house)

’
Then King -
.
Malay ketu celebrated his marriage G andharb fashion

-
.
When his marriag e had t aken place he brought the ,
bride and Mitravasu w ith him to his o wn house .
Then the three o f th em paid their respects to the

king and the king also gave them his blessing Thus
, .
did that d ay pass .

’
’
On the morrow s morn however the tw o princes , ,
w ent out as soon as they rose to take a w alk on that

, ,
mountain of Malay ag ir On reaching the place .

1
,
w hat does J imut b ahan perceive but a very lofty heap -
of something w hite Thereupon he questioned his .
brother in law saying Brother how is it that this

- -
, ,
w h ite heap is seen here ! He replied M illions o f ,
This mount ain has lr ady b n c ll d M l y a h l ; th chang f nam a e ee a e a a c a e eo e
is m r ly appar nt how v r f k l and g im b ot h s gnify hi ll or m m

e e e , e e , o r ac a
'
i o
t i
a n M alaya i t h act al nam I t is a mount ai n sou h f t h Narb ada
s e u e . t o e ,
and i mad famous in S anskrit po t ry f t h cool so t h rly br zw hi ch

s e e or e u e ee e
al ays pr vails th r
w e e e.
12 6 TH E B AI T AL P A C H C H IS I .
passionate being like you is not born every day ( li t .
every hour) ; do not therefore sacrific e your life for

, ,
mine ; fo r thousands of human beings will be bene

,
fit ed by your remaining alive ; w hereas it makes no

difference whether I li ve or die Then Jim ut b ahan .
’
-
'
said I t is not t he w ay of true men to say ( that they

,
w ill do a thing ) and ( then ) not t o do it G o thou .
”
w hence thou camest
9
.
When he heard this S hankh chur for his part , , ,
w ent to pay adoration t o D evi and G aru r descended ,
from t h e sky I n the meantime the prince perceived

.
,
that each leg of his w as as long as four bamboos and ,
his beak w as as lon g as a palm tree his belly like a -
mountain his eyes like gates and his feathers like

, ,
clouds All at once he rushed w ith open beak upon

.
the prince The first time the prince saved himself ;

.
but the second time he fl ew o ff w ith him in his be ak ,
and began w heeling up w ards in the air While this .
w as going on a bracelet on the je w el o f w hich the

, ,
’
prince s name w as engraved became unfastened and , ,
fell all covered w ith blood before the princess She

, ,
.
fell dow n in a sw oon at the sight o f it .
When after a few minutes she recovered her

, ,
senses she sent w ord of all that had happened to her

,
father and mother They came ( to her) on he aring o f

.
this calamity and o n seeing the ornament covered

,
w ith blood burst into tears

, No w the three o f them .
,
set out in quest (of him) and on the road S hankhchfi r , , .
too joined them and advancing beyond them w ent

, ,
T HE B AI T AL PA CHCHISI . 12 7
to the place where he had seen the prince and began ,
calling o ut repeatedly saying O G arur ! let him

, ,
I
go ! let him go ! He is n o t thy food My name is .
S hankch fir I am thy food.

.
’
On hearing this G arur descended in alarm

, ,
and thought to himself I h a ve eaten either a

,
‘
Brahman o r a K shat ri ; w hat is this I have done !

A fter this he said to the prince 0 man ! tell me
, ,
‘
’
truly ; why art thou giving up thy life ! The prince
replied ,O G erur ! trees cast their shade over
others ; and while they themselves stand in the sun ,
blossom and b ear fruit fo r the benefit o f others .
Such is the characte r o f good men and trees What .
is the advantage of this body if it do not come o f use

t o others ! The saying is w ell known that The ,
more they rub sandal w ood the more it gives o ut its

-
perfume ; and the m ore they go o n peeling the sugar

cane and cutting it up into pieces the more does it s
, ,
flavour increase and the more they pass gold through

the fire the more su rpassingly beautiful does it b e
,
come Those who are noble do not give up their

.
natural qualities even o n losing their lives What .
matters it Whether men praise th e m or blame them !

What matt ers it whether riches abide with them or
no t ! What does it signify whether they di e this
moment o r after a length of time ! The men w ho
,
w alk in the pat h o f rectitude p lace not their feet in
any other path h appen what may What matters it

,
.
12 8 TH E BAI IAL
’ ‘
P A C H C HI S I .
whether they are fat or lean ! I n fact his living is ,
bootless w hose body proves of no benefit ( to anyone ) ;

while those w ho live fo r the good of others —their
’
living is advantageous To live for the mere sake o f .
living is the w ay in w hich dogs and crows even

, , ,
cherish life Thosew h o lay do w n their lives fo r the

.
sake of a Brahman a co w a friend; or a Wife n ay , .

, , ,
more fo r the sake o f a stranger assure dly d well in

, ,
paradise for ever .

’
G aruf said E veryone in the w orld cherishes his

,
‘
o w n life ; an d scar ce indeed are those in the world , ,
w h o lay do w n their o w n lives to save the lives of
others A fter saying this G arur added A sk a

‘
, ,
‘
’
boon ; I am pleased w ith thy courage On hearing .
this Ji mfi t b ahan said 0 god ! if you are pleased

,
-
,
with me then henceforth eat no more serpents and

, ,
’
restore to life those you have eaten On hearing .
this G arur brought the w ater o f life from t he in

,
ferh al regions and sprinkl ed it over the bones o f the

,
serpents so that they rose up alive again A nd he

, .
said to him (the prince) O Jimfi t b ahan by my ,

-
’
favour thy lost kin gdom wi ll be restored to thee .
A fter granting this boon G arur departed to his ,
o w n abode and S ankh chfir also went hom e; an d

,
Jimut b ahan too left the place and met his father in
-
,
-
law and mother in law and w ife o n the road

-
Then -
he came in their company to his father When they .
heard of these circumstances his uncle and cousins , ,

T ALE XV I .
THE sprite said 0King B ir Vikramajit ! there is a

,
city named Chandra shekhar and a merchant named

-
Ratan d att w as an inhabitant thereof He had one .
only daughter whose name w as Un madini When

, .
she attained to w omanhood her father w ent to the ,
king of the place and said Your majesty ! I have

a daughter (lit "
, ,
there is a girl in m y house) ; if y o u

.
desire to possess her take her ; other w ise I will give

,
her to some o ne else .

’
When the king h eard this he summon ed t w o or ,
three old servants and said to them G o and inspect

, ,
’
the appearance of the merchant s dau ghter They ’
.
’
came to the merchant s house at the monarch s bid ’
ding and all became fascinated at the sight o f the

,
girl s beauty — such beauty as if a brilliant light w as

’
, ,
placed in a dark house ; eyes like those o f a gazelle ;

plaits of hair like female snakes ; eyebro ws like a
b o w ; nose like a parrot s a set o f t eeth (lit the set
’
.
of thirty tw o ) like a string o f pearls ; lips like the

-
THE B AI T A L P A C H C HIS I . 13 1
M a d am throat like a pigeon s ; waist like the ’
’
leopard s ; hands and feet like a tender lotus ; a face
like the moon a complexion o f the colour o f the
,
cka m d a gait like that o f a goose and a voice like

p , ,
’
the cuckoo s ; at the sight of her b eauty the female
divinities o f I ndra s paradise w ould feel abashed
’ ”
.
On beholding beauty o f this kind so abundantly ,
rich in all graces they decided among the mselves

, ,
( saying) I f such a woman enter the king s household

’
, ,
the kin g will become her slave and will no t give a ,
thou ght to the aff airs o f government Hence it is .

,
better to tell the king that she is ill favoured ( and) -
’
n o t w orthy o f him Having determined thus they
.
,
came th ence to the king and gave the following ac ,
count We have seen the girl ; she is not worthy

On hearing this the king S ai d to the mer
’
of ou
y . ,
chant I will not wed her

,
Thereupon what does .
’
the m erchant do on returning home but give hi s ,
dau ghter in marriage t o o ne B albhadr a w ho w as the ,
commander in chi ef o f the king s army She took up

-
’
.
her abode in his house .
I t is said that one day the royal cavalcade , ,
passed by that w ay ; and she too w as standing fully ,
attir ed o n her house t o p at the moment ; (and ) her

,
-
eyes and those o f the monarch chanced to meet The .
ing b egan to to himself I this the daughter of

k sa
y s ,
a go d o r a female di v
,
in ity o r the dau gh ter o f a ,
human bein g 9 The short o f it is he w as fascinated ,
V d no t pag 7 4 i a e, e .
13 2 TH E B AI T AL PA C HC H IS I .
at the sight of her beauty and returne d thence to his ,
palace in a state of extrem e agitation The w arder . ,
on beholding his cou ntenance said Your majesty ! , ,

‘
T he
’
w hat bodily pain are y o u suffering from !
monarch replied While coming along the road to

,
‘
d ay I saw a beautiful w oman on a house top I -

.
know not w hether sh e is a houri o r a fairy o r a , ,
hu man being ; but her beauty drove my mind dis

tracted all at once ; and hence ( it is that) I am
’
agitated .
On hearing this the door keeper said Your ,

-
,
‘
majesty ! she is the daughter o f that same merchant

( w ho offered his daughter to you) B alb had ra your .
,
’
majesty s commander in chief has brou ght her home - -
as h is w ife The king said Those w hom I sent to

.
’
,
‘
see her appearance have deceived me A fter saying .

’
this the king ordered the mace bearer to bring those

,
-
persons before him w ithout delay On receiving this .
order from the king the m ace bearer w ent and brought
,
-
them I n short w hen they came before the king his

.
, ,
majesty said The errand o n w hich I sent y o u and

,
‘
,
that w hich w as the desire of my heart— these things

you failed to accomplish ; o n the contrary yo u fabri ,
cat e d a false story and gave it to me as an ans w er

, .
No w to day I have seen her w ith my o w n eyes

,
-
, She .
is so b eautiful a w oman rich in all distinguishing ,
qualities that it w ould be difficult to meet w ith her

,
equal in these times .

’
On hearin g thi s they said What your m ajesty .

r
,
to your majesty ho w can she a ny longer b e the wife

,
of another ! The king replied I w ill not com mi t

’
,
‘
an act w hereby reproach w ould attach to me in the

w orld The commander in chief said again Your
’
- -
.
,
majesty ! I will turn her o ut o f the house and pl ace ,
her somewhere else and after making a prostitute o f

,
’
her w ill bring her to y o u
,
Thereupon the monarch .
said I f thou makest a harlot o f a virtuous woman

,
’
I will punish thee severely .
A fter saying this the king pined at the reco llec ,
tion o f her and in the co u rse of ten days died

, , , .
Then the commander ih chief B albhad ra went and - -
, ,
asked his spiritual teacher My master has died for ,

‘
the sake of Unmad ini ; w hat is it right for me to do

F av
’
no w ! o ur m e w ith your commands in this matter
,
.
He said I t is the d uty of a servant to g ive up his

,
‘
’
life also after his master s This servant gladly w ent ’
.
to the place where they had con v eyed the king fo r

cremation D ur ing the time in w hich the king s
.
’
funeral pile was go t ready he too had quitted himself , , ,
o f his ablutions and devotion s and when they lighted -
the pile he too d re w near the pile and raising his

, ,
join ed hands to the sun began to say O S un deity ! , ,

-
in thought word and deed I solicit the gratification

, ,
o f this desire viz that at every successive b irth I

,
.
,
may meet with this same master and (fo r this) hymn ,
’
your praises Having uttered this he bowed in
.
,
adoration and leaped into the fire

, .
TH E B AI T AL PA C H CHIS I .
13 5
When Unmadini received this intelligence she ,
went to her spiritual teacher and telling him all asked ,

,
saying Your highness ! what is the duty o f a wife !

,
He replied I t is by doing her duty to him to whom

,
her father and mother have g iven her that she is

termed a woman of goo d family ; and it is thus written
in the book o f law viz —The w oman who in her hus, .
b and s lifetime practises austerities and fasting shortens ,
the life o f her husband and is finally cast into hell ,
But the best thing is thi s that a woman by doing her ,
duty to her husband no matter h o w wanting he may ,
be secures her o w n salvation M oreover the woman

, .
,
who entertains the desire to sacrifice herself for her

husband in the burning ground most undoubtedly -
derives as much benefit from as many steps as she

takes towards this as w ould be d eriv ed from an e qual
number o f horse sacrifices Fu rther there is no virtue
-
.
l
,
’
e qu al to t hat o f a w oman s sacrifi cing herself fo r her
’
husb and on the funeral pile O n hearing this she .
,
made her salutation and returned home ; and after ,
b athing and performn her devotions and giving

, ,
large gifts t o Brahmans went to the funeral pile and , ,
going once ro und to the right in adoration said O , ,
’
L ord ! I am Thy servant in each succeeding birth .
Having said this she t o o went and seated herself in

, , ,
”
the fire and was consum ed
,
.
T he ast hors ifi
m ed ka , i or p form d by pow rf l
e sacr
-
ce, s o ne er e e u
kings alo as it involv s a vast xp ns I t is r gard d as of th high st

n e, e e e e. e e e e
effi c ac y
,
d far xc lling all ord i ary sacrific s
an as e e n e .
1 36 TH E B AI T AL PA CH CHIS I .
After relating so much of the story the sprite said

,
,
0king ! whose virtue w as greatest of these three !

”
King B ir Vikram ajit replied ”

’
The king s
,
The .
”
sprite said H o w so !
,
The king replied He left ,
alone the wife given to him by the commander in chief - -

,
while he sacrificed his life o n her account and y et

‘
preserved his virtue I t behoves a servant to lay dow n

.
his life for hi s master ; an d it is rig ht fo r a wi fe to

sacrifice herself for her lord Therefore the virtue o f
.
the king w as g reatest .Having heard these words ,
the sprite went and hung on to that same tree The .
king to o followed him and again bound him and

, , , ,
placed him o n his shoulder and carried him away

, .
138 TH E B AI T AL PA CH CHIS I .
1
repeated such an incantation that a fairy appeared ,
before him w ith joined hands and said Your high , ,
ness I w ill execute any command you may g1v

’
e me .
The ascetic said Give this Brahman whatever food ,
he desires On hearing this sh e built a very fine

.
’
house and furnishing it w ith all comforts took him

, ,
aw ay w ith her from that place an d seating him o n a ,
stool, placed various kinds of co ndiments and meats ,
by dishfuls before him He ate w hatever he liked

,
.
to his heart s content A gain after this she placed

’
.
, ,
the pan box before him an d after rubbing dow n saffron

-
and sandal in rose w ater applied (the mixture) to his -
body Farther she clothed him in garments scented

.
,
w ith s w eet perfum es th rew a garland of flo w ers round ,
his neck and bringing him a w ay thence seated him

, ,
on a bed No w while this w as taking place it became

.
evening and she too having first decked herself o ut

, , , ,
w ent and sat on the b e d and the Brahman passed ,
”
the w hole night in pleasure and enjoyment .
When morn arrived the fairy went away to her ,
o w n place and he came to the devotee and said

,
M aster ! she s gone aw ay ; w hat shall I do now !

‘ ’
The ascetic said She came through the po w er of ,
magic art and abides near him w ho possesses the art

, .
’
He replied I mpart this art to me your highness !

, ,
that I may practise it Then the devotee gave him a .
Ya kska/n i is a f mal
e e Ya lcska , or kind o f d mi god att ndant on K
e -
, e u
era, th e god o f lt h
w ea .
TH E B AI T AL c n c m sr . 1 39
charm and said Practise this charm for forty days

, , ,
at midnight sitting in water and with a steadfast

, ,
’
mind Thus u sed he t o go to practise the charm
.
,
while many and various fri ghtf ul objects appeared in

view but he felt no alarm at any o f them When .
the time expired he came t o the devotee and said , ,
Your highness ! I com e f rom practising (the charm)

for the number of days y o u prescribed He said .
’
,
No w practise it fo r that numbe r o f days sitting in ,
fire .
’
He replied M aster ! I will go and pay a visit ,
’
t o m y family and then return and practise it, .
“
After sayin g t his to the devotee he took leave ,
and went home ; and when his r elations saw him, they
embraced him and commenced weeping ; while his
father said O G un akar w here have you been so
,
many days and w hy did y o u forget your home ! 0

,
my son it is sai d that he w ho leaves a faithful wife

, ,
and lives apart and turns his b ack o n a youthful

. ,
woman o r he who does not care for o ne who loves

,
him is o n a lev el w ith the lo w est o f the lo w

,
1
I t is .
said farther that n o virtue equals the domestic virtues

, , ,
and no woman in the w orld imparts happiness e qual

’
to that which the mistress o f one s house imparts ; and
those who sligh t their parents are impious men and ,
their future state will never never be one of salvation ; ,
’
thus has Brahm a declared .
On this G um/car spoke saying This body is , ,

‘
L it —I q ual t a k d d l
s e or man f th low s t of t h mix d t rib s
o c aa ,
o e e e e e .
composed o f flesh and blood which same is food fo r ,
worms ; and its nature is such that if you neglect it ,
for a day a fetid smell proceeds fro m it Fools are

,
.
they w ho feel aff ection for s uch a body and wise are ,
they w ho set no t their heart on it Further it is of .

,
the nature o f this body that it is repeatedly b orn and

destroyed What dependence can o ne place o n such
.
a body ! Cleanse it ever so much it doe s no t become

v
,
clean just as an earthen essel filled with filth does , ,
not become clean by washing the O uter surface ; o r

how ever much o ne washes charcoal it does not b ecome ,
white Again by what means can that body become

.
,
’
clean in w hich the fount of impurity is never failing !

,
-
Having said so much he spoke again saying Whose , , ,

‘
father (is one) ! Whose mother ! Whose w ife ! Whose

brother ! The w ay of this w orld is such that num ,
bers come and n umbers depart Those who offer .
sacrifices and b urnt off erin gs consider A gni ( fire) their

-
g o d ; while those w ho are deficient in u nderstanding

make an image and w orship it as god ; but the class
o f ascetics regard god as in their very bodies I will .
no t practise such domestic duties (as those you have
mentioned) but will practise religious meditation 2

, .
’
Having said this he bid adieu to his kin dr ed and , ,
This may also b r nd r d Who has a fath r h

e e e e ,
“
e ,
”
t e.
Y y bby fi may m an ith r t h part c lar pract i c of d v ti by “

'
o a s e , e e e i u e e o on
w hich union w ith G d is suppos d t b o b t ai d

o or th practic of e o e ne ,
” “
e e
th magic
”
e t ar .
142 TH E B AI T AL PA CH C H I S I .
same ; and whatever number o f things he may achieve

by force of his intellect he nevertheless obtains that
, , ,
”
alone wh ich fate has recorde d On hearing this the
.
sprite w ent again and hung on to that tree ; and the

king too followed him and having bound him and
, , , ,
placed him o n his shoulder took him a w ay

, .
T AL E XV I II .
T HE sprite said Your majesty ! There was a city

,
named K ubalpur the name of the king o f which was

,
S ud akshi No w a merchant named Dhanakshi used

.
,
also to live in that city and he had a daughter w hose

,
name w as D hanv ati He gave her in marriage in her

.
childhood to a merchant named G auri d att A ft er a .
considerable time she had a girl whom she named ,
Mohani When she attained to some years her father

.
,
’
d ied; and the merchant s ki nsfolk seized all his pro
pert y She in her helplessness left the house in the
.
, ,
darkness of the night and taking her daughter with

,
”
her set o u t for the h ouse o f her parents
,
.
A fter proceeding but a short distance she lost the ,
road and came upon a burnin g ground w here a thief

,
-
,
w as stretched u pon an impaling stake Her hand -

.
quite unexpecte d ly came in contact with his foot He

“
called out Wh o is it that put me to pain just no w !

’
On this she replied I have not w illingly infl

,
‘
i cted pain
’
on o u ; for give my fault He said No one gives
y ,
.
either pain or pleasure to another ; according as the

(
Creator decrees one s fate shall be so he experiences ;

’
and tho se w ho affirm that they did such and such things ,
are very un w ise ; for men are fixed to t he cord of fate ,
which dr aw s them after it w hithersoever it pleases .
The ways of the Creator are utterly inscrutable ; for

men propose a thing to themselves and He brings ,
’
something quite diff erent to pass .
On hearing this D hanv ati sai d 0 man ! w ho

, ,
art tho u ! He replied I am a thief this is my

’
, ,
third day o n the impaling stake and life w ill not quit ,
’
the body She said For w hat reason
.
,
He replied ,
saying I am u nm arried if thou wilt give me thy

,
‘ daughter in marriage I w ill give thee ten millions of

,
’
gold mohurs
-
I t is notorious that greediness of gain
.
is the root of all evil pleasure the source of pain and

, ,
love the source of sorro w Whoever keeps clear of .
these three lives happy I t is not every one how ever .

, ,
w h o can give them up E ventually D hanv ati thr ough

.
, ,
greed became w illing to give him her daughter an d

, ,
asked I t is my desire that thou shouldst have a son

,
but ho w can this be ! He repli ed saying When ’

, ,
she attains to w omanhood send for a handsome ,
Brahman and g1ve him five hundred gold mohur s

,
-
and place her with him ; thus w ill she have a son .
’
When she heard this Dhanv ati married the girl ,
to him by giving her four turns round the stake .
Then the thief said to her There is a banyan tree ,

-
146 TH E BAI IA L
'‘
PA C H C H I S ] .
he repaired to the nuptial cha mber an d s pe nt the ,
w hole night in pleasure and enjoyment w ith her .
When it became morning he w ent home and she , ,
arose and came to her companions Then o n e of .
them enquired S ay I What pleasures did y o u enjoy

,
w ith y our love in the night ! She replied When ‘
I Went and sat near him a kind of tre mo ur made ,
itself fel t inmy heart ; ( but) w hen he smi led and t ook
hold of my hand I w as q uite overcome and no , ,
‘
consciousness of w hat took place remained to me .
A nd it is s aid that if a husband b e—l possessed .
of reno w n ; 2 brave ; 3 clever ; 4 a chief ; 5

. . .
liberal ; 6 en d o w ed w ith good qualities ; 7 a pro

. .
tector o f his w ife — such a man a w ife never forgets

,
”
even in the w orld to come much less in this wo rld ,
.
“
The gist of the s tory is that on that very night ,
she conceived When the full time came a boy w as

.
,
born On the sixth night the mother saw in a visio n

.
,
an ascetic w ith m at ted hair on his hea d a shining

, ,
moon on his forehead ashes of burnt co w dung rubbed

,
-
over him w earing a w hite Brahminical thread ; seated

.
on a White lot us w earing a n ecklace of w hite snakes

, ,
w i t h a string o f s kulls t hrow n roun d his neck and ,
w ith a skull in one hand and a trident in the other ,
thus assuming a most terrifying appearance come ,
before her and begin to say T o m orro w at mid

, ,
‘
-
night place a bag of one thousand gold mohurs in a

,
-
large basket and enclosing this boy therein leave it

, ,
at the gate of t he palace .

’
TH E B AI T A L P A C H CHI S I . 147
As soon as she saw this her eyes opened And , .
o n its b ecoming morning she told all the circu mstances ,
to her mother When her m oth er heard this she on

.
‘
, ,
the following day put the boy in a b asket in the

,
very manner directed and left him at the king s gate

,
’
.
No w here ( at the p alace) the king saw an apparition

,
with t en arms five heads each h ead having three

, .
eyes in it and a moon upon it very large teeth a

, ,
,
,
trident in his hand —a most terrifying form w hich ,
came be fore him and said 0 king ! a basket is ,

‘
placed at thy door ; bring a w ay the child that is in it

he it is w h o will m aintain thy d ominion .
A s soon as the king heard thi s his eyes opened , .
He then relate d the w hole affair to the quee n Aft er .
that rising u p thence and coming to the door he

, , ,
perceiv ed the basket placed there On the instant o f .
opening the basket and peering into it he beheld a ,
b o y and a bag of one thousand gold mohurs in it -

.
He took up the child himself and told the door ,

'
keepe rs to b ring in the bag He then went into the ,
femal e apartments and placed the child o n the

,
’
q ueen s lap .
By this time the day broke The king came o ut . ,
and s ummoning the sages and astrologers questioned ,
them saying Tell me w hat marks o f royalty are

, ,
‘
,
perceptible in this child ! There upon one of the ’
sages w ho w as ac quainted w ith the science o f inter

,
reting the spots on the human body sp ke saying

o
p , , ,
148 TH E B AI T AL PA C H CHI S I .
Your majesty ! three marks are distinctly perc eived

o n this child 1 a broad chest ; 2 a high forehead
. .
3 a large face ; in addition to these your maj esty !

.
,
the w hole thirty t w o marks w h ich are assign ed to

-
man exist in this o n e Have n o apprehensions on .
’
his account ; he will rule over the kingdom On .
hearing this the king w as pleased and takin g o ff a

, ,
chaplet o f pearls from his o w n neck presented it to ,
that Brahman and after giving large gifts to all the

Brahmans he bade them name the child Then the
,
.
sages s aid Your majesty ! be pleased to sit down

,
‘
w ith the q ueen fastened to you ; let her majesty sit
with the child in her lap ; and s ummon all the

’
musicians sin gers and others employed on festive

, ,
occasions and c ause rej oicings to take place ; then

,
w ill we give him a name after the manner prescribed

’
by the sacred writings .
When the monarch heard this he ordered his ,
minister to do w hatever they bid him The minister .
had rejoicings for the bir th o f the child forthw ith

proclaimed throughout the city On hearing this all .
,
the professional rejoicers w ere in attendance and con ,
grat ulatory songs rung forth from every home ; festive

music began to strike up in the king s palace and t e ’
jo icing to take place Then the king and the queen

.
,
with the c hild in her lap came and sat within a ,
square filled w ith coloured meal perfumes and sw eet , ,
meats and the Brahmans began reading the scrip

,
15 0 TH E B AI T AL r A e n cm sr .
the River P halg u when the hands of all three came ,

1
'
u
p o ut of the river He w as troubled in mind o n .
seeing this w ondering to w hich of the hands he

,
should give (the oblations) and to w hich not ,

.
Having reached this stage o f the story the sprite ,
said 0 King Vikram to w hich o f the three w as it

,
”
right to give the oblations ! Then the king said ,
”
To the thief The sprite said again For w hat ,
“
”
reason ! Thereupon he (the king ) said The seed ,
“
o f the Brahman had been bought ; and the king took
a thousand gold mohurs and brought u p the boy ;

and therefore neither o f these tw o had any right to
the oblation On hearing these w ords the sprite ,
w ent again and hung on to that tree an d the king ,
carried him aw ay bound from thence .
hat i th thi f s t h B rahma s h b ga

T s e e
’
,
and k ng s h
e n
’
w o e t h im t he i
’
w o
adopt d him T h H indus b li v t hat h n a son p rforms t h c r mony

e . e e e e w e e e e e
i
n
q u s t io t h f t h r i p rm itt d t
e n, e acom from t h oth r orld and
e s e e o e e e w
rec iv t h obl tion

e e e a .
T ALE XIX .
T HE sprite said 0 kin g ! th ere is a city named

,
“
C hitrakut th e king of which w as Rupd att

, One day .
he mounted his horse an d w ent forth alone to hu nt ;

and h aving lost his way got into a great forest
, , .
What does h e see o n goin g there b ut a large tank in ,
w hich lotuses w ere flow ering and various kinds o f ,
birds were sporting On all four sides of the tank .
c ool and perfume laden breezes w ere blowing under

-
the sha de o f the dense foliage of the trees He for .

,
his part w as overcome w ith the h eat ( so) he tied his

, ,
horse to a tree and spread the saddle cloth and sat

,
-
dow n A half hour or so had pas sed w hen th e

.
-
d aughter o f a holy sage very beautiful and in the , ,
prime of youth came to gather flo w ers Seeing her

,
.
plucking the flow ers the king became deeply en ,
am o ure d When she was returning to her abo d e

. ,
after gathering the flow ers the king said What con , ,
duct is this o f yours fo r y o u not to attend to m e ,

r
’
wh en I have co me as a guest to your abode !
“
On hearing this she stood still again Then .
15 2 TH E BA ll A L
' ‘
PA CH C H IS I .
the king said They say that if o n e of lo w cas te come

,
as a g uest to the house o f one of the highest caste ,
even he is enti tled to respect ; and w hether he be a

thief or an outcast or an enemy or a parricide — if
, , , ,
such a o ne even comes t o one s house it is right to ’
sho w him honour for a guest is more to be hono ured

than anyone else When the king spo ke thus she
.
,
stood still Then in truth the tw o began to ogle

.
, ,
o n e another I n the meantime the holy sage also

.
came up The king saluted the devotee on seeing

.
him and he ( in return ) blessed him saying May

, , ,
‘
you live long .

’
“
Having said so much he asked th e kin g Why , ,
‘
have you com e here ! He re plied Your holiness ! ’
,
‘
I have come a hunting He said Why dost t hou .

’
,
‘
commit a great sin ! I t is said that one man com

mlt S a sin and many men reap the fr uits t hereof
’
.
‘
The king said Your holiness ! kindly favour me

,
‘
w ith your j udg ment of right and w rong Thereupon ’

.
,
t he sage said Attend your m ajesty ! A great w rong

, ,
is done in killing an animal that lives inthe forest ,
supporting itself on grass and w ater ; and it is a 1
ve ry me ritorious act in man to cherish beasts and

birds I t is said moreover that those w ho render
.
, ,
unapprehensive the timid and refuge seeking receive -
the re w ard of those w ho are mos t liberal givers I t .
is also said that no religious austerity equals forbear

,
T h t xt has t by mis tak f t m

e e a n, e, or r .
’
p lace Then the king took the saint s daughter and
.
set o u t for his capital On the road about mid w ay

.
,
-
the sun set and the moon rose Then the king .
,
seei ng a shady tree alighted beneath it and tying

, ,
the horse to its root sprea d his saddle covering and

,
lay d o w n alo ng w ith her Thereupon at the hour .

,
of midnigh t a Brahman devouring demon came and

,
-
aw oke the king saying 0 king ! I w ill d evour thy

, ,
w ife
.
’
The king said Act no t so ; w hatever thou ,
‘
askest for I w ill grant

, Then the demon sai d .
’
O king ! if thou w ilt cut o ff the head of a Brahman s ’
son seven years old and give it to me w ith thi ne

’
o w n hand I w ill not eat her

, The king replied .
’
Even so w ill I do ; but do thou come to me seven

days hence in my capital and I w il l give it thee , .
’
Having bound the king by a promise t hus the ,
demon departed to his o w n place ; and on the morn

arriving the king also left and came to his palace
, .
’
The minister hearing of it ( i e the king s arrival) .
,
made great rejoicings and came and presented gifts

,
and the king after telling the minister of the ad

,
ventur e ( w ith the demon ) asked Say w hat ex , ,

‘
,
p ed ien t shall w e adopt in the matter for the demo n ,
w ill come on the seventh day ! The minister said ’
Your majesty ! feel no anxiety w hatever ; God w ill

make all right A fter sayin g so m uch the minister
.
’
had an image m ad e of a m aund and a qu arter of gold ,
and je w els studded therein and having it placed on a ,

T HE B AI T AL P A C HC H IS I . 105
car t and ( conveyed a w ay and) set up at a point

, ,
w here four roads met he said to th e keepers thereof , ,
I f any persons come to look at t his say to them that ,
any Brah man w ho w ill allow the king to cut o ff the

he ad of a seven year o ld son o f his may take pos
- -
’
session o f this Having said this he came aw ay
.
, .
T hereu pon the keepers used to say this to those w ho

ca me to look at it (the
T w o d ays passed aw ay without any result On
“
.
the third day how ever a w eakly Brahman w ho had

, , ,
three sons hearing o f this mat t er came home and

,
-
began saying to his w ife I f thou w ilt give a so n of ,
thine to the king for a sacrifice an image o f a maund ,
an d a quarter of gol d and stud d ed w ith je w els w ill , ,
come into the house On h earing this his w ife said

.
’
, ,
’
‘
I w ill not give the youngest son The Brahman .
said The eldest I w ill not part w it h

,
‘
When the
second so n heard this he said Father ! give me up , , .
’
He replied Very w ell ,

Then the Brahman spoke
‘
.
’
again saying Wealth it is w hich is the source of

, ,
"
all happiness in this w orld No w w hat happiness .
,
can reach him w h o lacks w ealth ! and if o n e be poo r ,
’
his coming in to the world is useless .
“
Having said this he took the secon d so n and , ,
gave him u p to the guards and brought aw ay the ,
image t o his house ; and the people for their part , ,
took the boy to the minister Further when seven .

,
days passed a w ay the demon too came The king , , ,

.
l 56 TH E B AI T AL P ACH O HISI .
took san dal unbroken rice flo w ers perfumes lamps

, , , , ,
food for the deity fruits and betel leaf and paid ,
-
,
adoration to him ; and summoning the boy took his , ,
sw ord in his hand and stood ready to sacrifice him ,

.
Thereupon the boy first laughe d and then w ept ,

.
While he w as d oing this the kin g stru ck him a blo w ,
w ith the s w or d so that his hea d w as severed ( from

,
his body) True it is as the sages h ave said

.
, ,
Woman is the sou rce ( lit mi ne) o f misery in the .
w orld the abode o f i m pruden ce ( or immorality) the

1
, ,
destroyer of courage (o r darin g ) and the occasioner ,
o f infatuation and ) the bereaver o f virtue Who

( , .
h as pronounced such a source (li t root) o f venom to .
be the highest good ! A gain it is said —Store up ,
w ealth against ad v ersity an d disburse w ealth to ,
guard your w ife and give up wealth and w ife to ,
”
save your o w n life .
Havin g related so much o f the story th e sprite ,
said Your m ajesty ! a man weeps at the moment of

,
dying ; w ill you account for this — Why did he (the ,
”
boy ) laugh ! The m onarch replied He laughed ,
at the thought of this —viz That in infancy a mother , .

,
protects (her child) and on his grow ing up the father ,
cherishes him ; (an d ) in both good and bad times a

king befriends his subjects — such is the way of the ,
1
T h only m ani gs assign d t bi ti i
e e th vocabul ry
n sub e o n n e a are,
"
m ss on r sp ct s soli cit ati on non f w hich s m t apply h r
i i ,
” “
e e ,
“
,
”
e o ee o e e.
D rivi g t h w ord from t h Sanskr t i i ti I pr f r giv ing it t h

e n e e ig i fi i e -
n , e e e s n ca
t i on I hav don e e.
T ALE XX .
THE sprite said 0kin g ! there is a city nam ed

,
“
B ish alpu r the king of w hich w as n am ed B ip ulesh w ar

,
.
I n his city lived a merchant w hose n am e w as Arth

d att and his daughter s nam e w as A nang manjari
’
-
.
,
He had married her to a m erchan t o f K an w alpu r ,
named Munni Some days after the m erchan t

.
,
crossed the ocean o n a mercantile ven ture ; an d w hen

sh e attained to w om anhood here ( at home) she w as ,
standing o n e d ay in t he pavilion and observing w hat ,
w as going on in the roa d w hen at that moment a ,
Brahman s son named K am alakar w as coming along

’
.
The eyes o f the pair m et and they becam e enamoured

,
of each other at first sight A gain after a quarter o f an

.
,
hour or so recoverin g self possession the Brahman s

,
-
,
’
so n in the restlessness consequent on separation from

,
his belov e d proceeded to th e ho use of his friend ; and

,
‘
here she too w as in extreme d istress through the

, ,
pain o f separatio n from him w hen in the meantime , , ,
a female companion came an d took her u p she had ,

TH E B AI T AL PA C HC HIS I . 15 9
ho w e ver no self consciousness remaining Then she

,
-
.
(t he companion) sprinkled rose w ater ( over her) and -
made her s mell perfumes an d w hile so doing her , ,
senses ret urned and she said O Cu pid M ah adeva , ,
burnt thee to ashes and yet thou w ilt n o t desist from ,

1
thy knavish tricks b ut comest and infl ict est pain on ,
innocent feeble w omen , .

’
S he w as uttering these w ords w hen evening came ,
on and the moon appeared Then she said w hile

, .
,
gazing at the moonlight O m oon I used to be told ,
that the w ater o f life is in you and that you shed it in ,
your beams ; to day ho w ever even you have begun -
, ,
to pour do w n ve nom She t hen said to her com .

’
pan ion Take me up and lead me a w ay from this

, ,
place fo r I am being burnt to death by the moonlight

, .
’
Thereupon she raised her an d took her to the pavilion ,
and said Dost thou feel no sh ame at uttering such

,
w or d s ! Then sh e said 0 friend ! I am fully a w are

’
o f all ; b u t C upid has w ounded me and rendered me ,
void of shame and I make great efforts to be patient , ,
b ut the more I continue to be consumed w i th the fire

o f separation the more venom like does home appear
,
-
to me T he companion said Keep thy mind at ,
ease I will relieve thee of all thy sufl erin

g .
’
ahad va or Shi va w onc ngag d i r li gi ous m dit at on h n

M e , , as e e e n e e i ,
w e
K am d v or Cup i d xcit d amorous d sir s W t hi hi b r s t

e a, , e h r upon e e e i n s ea ; w e e
t h angry god r duc d h im t ash s b y a fi ry glanc

e e T h curi ous r ad r
e o e e e . e e e
w ill fi d a d t ail d acco nt f t h rcums tanc m t h fifty sixt h Chapt r

n e e u o e Ci e e -
e
of th P m S g
e ra a ar .
16 0 TH E B AI T AL P A C H CHIS I .
Having said thus much the companion went home , ,
and she (the love lorn ) determined in her mind that

-
she w ould q uit this body for his s ake and b eing born , ,
again enjoy life well with him With this lon gin g in
,
.
her m ind she threw a n oose o n her neck and w as

, ,
about d raw ing it tight w hen the companion arrived , ,
and instantly taking the rope o ff her neck said ,
E verything can be attain ed by livin g not by dying ,

.
She replied Better is it to die than suffer such pain

,
.
’
The companion said Re pose a w hile and I w ill go

, ,
’
and bring him .
Having said this she went to the place Where ,
K am alakar w as and taking a secret look at him per

, ,
ceiv e d that he also was much disturbed by t he separa
tion from his beloved wh ile his friend w as rubbing ,
dow n san d al in rose water and applying it to his body ,
and far min g him with tender leaves o f the plantain

tree ; despite w hich he w as crying o ut all afl am e
,
( w ith passion ) and sayin g to his friend Bring me

‘
,
poison I w ill sacrifice my life and be released fro m

,
this suff ering Observing this state of his she said

.
,
to herself However courageous learned sagacious

, , , ,
d iscreet and patient a m an may b e Cupid reduces

, ,
him t o a state o f distraction all the same These ’

.
thoughts having passed throu gh her mind the co m ,
panion said to him O K am alakar ! A nan g manj ari

,
has sent word to thee to come and b estow life o n her .

’
H e replied She indee d has given life to me

, , , .
T ALE XX I .
T H E sprite said You r majesty ! there is a city named

,
“
Jay sth al the king o f which w as named Vard dhaman

,
.
I n his city w as a Brah m an named Vish nu sw am i w ho

-
,
had four sons one a gambl er the second a lover of

,
w omen the third a fornicator the fourth an atheist

, ,
.
The Brahman w as o ne d ay admonishing his sons ,
sayin g Wealth abides not in the house of him w ho

,
gambles The gambler became greatly annoyed at

.
’
hearing t his And he (the father) spoke again say

.
,
ing I t is said in the Rajnit ( or book of policy) Cut

, ,
o ff the nose and ears of a gambler and ex pel him from

,
t h e land so that others m ay not gamble

, and although
t he gambler may have a w ife and family in his hou se ,
do n o t consid er the m as in the house for there s no ,

’
kn ow ing w hen he may lose them ( at play) A gain .

,
those w ho are attracted by the w iles o f cou rtes ans

purchase suff erin g fo r their o w n souls w hile t hey part
,
w ith their all under the influence o f h arlots an d take ,
t o stealing in the end I t is said farther t h at w ise

.
, ,
men keep far aw ay from such w omen as en s n are their

TH E B AI T AL PA CHCHISI . 163
h‘ earts in a moment ; w hereas the u nw ise give u p their
Ti eart s and so lo se all their honesty good disposition

, , ,
reputation conduct ju d g ment piety and moral cha

, , , ,
’
ract er Moreover t he exhortation o f t hei r spiritual
.
,
preceptors is unpalatable to them I t is also s aid .
that—When o n e has lost his o w n sense of shame w hy ,
should he fear to dishonour any o ne else ! And there

is a proverb to the eff ect that— When w ill the cat that
devo urs its o w n you ng allo w a rat to escape ! He ’
w ent o n t o say Those w ho do no t acquire kno w ledge

‘
,
in their childhood and w ho o n attainin g to manhood

,
become engrossed in amorous pleasures and continue ,
to pride themselves on their yo uth — those persons in , ,
their o ld age are consumed w ith regretful lo n gm gs

,
( for that w hich they have n eglected in their

On hearing these wo rds all four o f the m came
“
,
mutually to the decision that it w as better for an ig no

rant man to die than live ; and hence it w as best for ,
them to visit some other land and study science Deter .
mining o n this they w ent to another city and after

”
, ,
some time having studied and become learned they

, ,
set o ut for their hom e What d o they see on the .
road but a K anjar w ho after skinning and cutting ,

1
,
‘
up a dead tiger and making a bundle o f its bones
, ,
w as about t o take them a w ay Thereupo n they said .
K anj ar i th nam f a l w cast f p opl g n rally mploy d i m an

s e e o o e o e e e e e e n e
offi c s such as carrying aw ay carcass s & T h snak charm rs

e ,
f e ,
c
. e e -
e are o
h i cas t
s e.
16 4 TH E B AI T AL PACHC HISI .
to one another Come let e ach o f us pu t his know

, ,
ledge to the proof Having determined o n this one

.
’
o f them called him ( the Kanjar ) and gave h im some
thing and taking the bundle sent him a w ay ; and

, , ,
quitting the roa d they opened the bundle One o f the m

,
.
arranged all the bones in their proper p laces repeated ,
an incantation and sprinkled somethin g over them so ,
that theyb ecame united I n the same w ay the second

.
brought the flesh togeth er on the bone s The third .

,
in the same m anner fi x ed the skin on the flesh The

, .
fourth in the same w ay raised it to life Thereupon it

, , .
”
devoured the w hole four of them as soon as it arose .
After reachin g this point o f the s t ory the sprite ,
said Your majesty ! who w as the greatest fool o f

,
“
those four ! King Vikram replied He w ho restored ,
it to life w as the greatest fool And it is said that .

,
know ledge w ithout Wi sdom is o f no use w hatever ; o n

the contrary w isdom is S uperior to learnin g ; and
,
those w ho lack wisdom die just as he who raised t he

tiger to life died When the sprite heard these
w ords he w ent and suspended himself on that same
,
tree A gain did the king bind him place him o n his
.
,
shoulder and carry him away as before

, .
16 6 TH E B AI T AL P A C H C H IS I .
devotee But the w ay o f the people o f this world is

.
( such ) that the b

,
o dy may w aste a w ay the head ,
shake theteeth drop o u t and they w alk about with

, ,
a stic k in their old age yet even then desire is not , , ,
quenched A n d thus it is that time p asses a w ay — day

.
comes night arrives a month is over a year is com

, , ,
'
p l et ed one is a chil d the n an old man w hile nothin g , ,
i s kno w n as to w ho one him s elf is ( li t I am ) and w h o .

,
others are and w hy one g rieve s for another One

,
.
com es another goes and ult imately all life must

, ,
d epart— not one of these w ill re m ain M any and .
various bodies are there and many and v arious minds , ,
and m any and various affections and various kinds of ,
delusions h as Brahm a create d ; but the w ise escape

t hese and quen ching hope and desire shaving their
, ,
heads taking a staff an d w ater pot in their hands

,
-
sub d uing the passions o f love and anger beco me ,
ascetics and wander barefooted from o n e place of

,
pilgrimage to another these same find eternal salva

tion . This w orld moreover is as a dream ; to , ,
w ho m can you impar t ple asure in it to w hom pain ,
I t is even like the n ew leaf shooting from the centre

o f the plaint ain tree w herein is no pi t h w hatever , .
And those w ho pride themselves on riches youth o r , ,
know ledge are u n w ise A gain ,

they w ho turn .
,
devotees and taking a w ater pot in hand beg alms

, ,
-
from d oor to door and nouri shin g their bodies with ,
milk clarified butter and sugar become lustful an d

, , , ,
TH E B AI T AL PA CH CHIS I . 16 7
h ave sexual intercourse with women they n ullify ,
their religious meditations After repeating so much

.
’
he proceeded saying I w ill n o w go on a pilgrimage

, , .
’
O n hearing these words his relations w ere much

,
”
pleased .
Havi ng told so much o f t he story the S prite said , ,
Your majesty ! w hy did he w eep and w hy did he ,
”
laugh ! Then the king said Calling to mind his ,
’
mother s love in his infancy and the happiness of his
,
youth and from a feelin g of affectio n in having

,
remained so m any days in that body he w ept ; and ,
having succeeded in his art an d entered a new body , ,
”
he laughed with pleasure On hearing these words
. ,
the sprite w ent and hung o n to the same tree ; (and)

again did the king bind him as before place him o n ,
his shoulder and carry him away

,
.
T AL E XX III .
T HE sprite said Your majesty ! t here w as a city

,
“
named Dharmpur w here a king n amed Dharmaj

,
ruled In his city w as a Brahman named Govind

.
,
versed i n the w hole four Vedas and all the six learned
treatises and a careful observer of all his religious
,
duties ; and H arid att S o md att Yagy ad att and Brah

, ,
m ad at t w ere his four sons They w ere very learned

.
,
very clever and at all times obedient to their father

, .
A fter some time his eldest so n died and he too w as , , ,
”
at the point of death through grief fo r him .
“
At that ti me Vishn usharma th e king s family
, ,
’
priest c ame and began reasoning w ith him saying

, , ,
‘
When this (being ) man enters the mother s w omb ’
he first suff ers pain there seco n dlvfalling under the ,
influence of love in youth he endures the anguish of

,
separation from his beloved ; thirdly , becoming o ld ,
he is involved in su ffering through his body being

feeble I n brief many are t he sorro w s atte ndant o n
.
,
( man s) being born in the w orld an d fe w ( are) the,

17 0 TH E B AI T AL r a cn c m sr .
man wealth remains behind in his house and father

mother wi fe so n brothers and kindred —no o ne
, , ,
, , ,
proves o f any avail his good and evil deeds his vice s ,
and his virtues alone accompany him ; while those

sa me kinsfolk take him to the burning ground and -
b urn him And see (ho w ) the night comes to an end

.
o n o ne side w hile day daw n s on the other ; here the

,
moon sets there the sun rises I n the same w ay

, .
youth departs o ld age comes on thus also t ime goes

, , ,
o n passing aw ay and yet even while perceiving this

, , ,
man does not learn wis dom Observe again in the .

, ,
First o r G olden A ge M andhata a great king who

, , , ,
filled ( lit covered) the w hole earth with the fame o f

.
his virtue ; and in the Second o r S ilver A ge the , ,
glorious monarch Ramchandra w ho b rid ging the sea , , ,
destroyed such a fortress as L enka and slew Ravan ,
an d in the Third A g e Yu dhist hir reigne d in such a ,
manner that people sing o f his renown t o this day

yet death did not spare even thes e Moreover the .
,
birds which fly in the air and the animals which ,
dwell in the sea when the hour arrives even these fall
, ,
into trouble N0 one has escaped sorrow on coming

.
into thi s world To grieve o n this account is folly

.
.
I t is best therefore to practise religious duties

, , .
’
When Vishn u sharm a had reasoned with him in

this manner it came into the Brahman s mind that he
,
’
would thenceforth perform meritorious and pio us acts .
Having thought this over in his mind he said to his ,

TH E B A I l A I . P A C H C H IS I
’ ‘
. 17 1
so ns I am about to sit do w n to a sacrifice ; y o u go

,
‘
and bring me a turtle from the sea On receiving .

’
’
their father s com mand they w ent to a fisherman , ,
and said Take a rupee and catch a tur tle for us

,
‘
, .
’
He took it and caught one and gave it to them

, , .
Then the eldest o f the brothers said to the second ,
’
D o thou take it up He said to the yo ungest
‘
.
,
Brother ! do thou take it up He replie d saying .

’
, ,
‘
I w ill not touch it ; a bad smell w ill cling to my
’
hands and I am very nice in (my ) eating
, The 1
.
second said I am very particular in my intercour se

,
‘
’
w ith wo m en The eldest said I am particular in
.
,
( the matter of) sleeping on a bed .
Thus d id the three o f the m beg in w rangling ;

“
and leaving the turtle w here it w as they proceeded , ,
’
quarrelling the w hile to the kin g s gate and said to , ,
the gatekeeper Three Brah mans have come seek ,
’
ing j ustice ; go thou and tell this to the king .
On hearing this the doorkeeper w ent and informed ,
the king The king summoned them and aske d

. , ,
’
Why are you quarrelling one w ith another ! Then
the youngest o f them said Your majesty ! I am very ,
particular as to food The second said L ord of the .

’
,
earth ! I am very particular as to w omen The
hazard t his m a i g f h m i th t th f t h vo ab ulary and

I e n n or c e n e ee o e c
t h di
e
c t ionari s t h m an
e ngs
,
con t ain
as, d t h r i do t s m t m t
e e i e e e n no ee o e o
apply T h st ud n t ho v r may if h pl s s sub st t ut sha p or

. e e ,
we e , ,
e ea e , i e
“
r
“
cl v r f nic
e e
”
or e .
”
17 2 TH E B A I 'I A L
‘
PA CH O HI S I .
eldest said I ncarnation o f justice ! I am particular

,
’
in the matter of beds .
When the monarch heard this he said Each o f , ,
you submit to a trial They said Very w ell . The

’
,
.
’
king sen t for his cook and said Prepare various , ,
kin d s of condiments and meats and give thi s Brah ,
man a thoroughly good repast On hearing this the .

’
cook w ent and prepared food and taking w ith him ,
the one w ho w as nice in the matter o f food seated ,
him in front o f the dishes He w as o n the point of .
taking up a mouthful and pu tting it into his mo nth ,
when an o fi ensiv e smell came fro m it He let it go

'
.
. ,
w ashed his hands and came to the king , The king .
’
asked Didst thou enjoy thy repast !
, Then he said ,
Your majesty ! I perceived a disagreeable smell in

’
the food ( and ) d id not eat
,
The king said again .
,
’
State the cause o f the off ensive smell He replied .
,
Your m ajesty ! it was rice w hich had been gro w n o n

a burning ground the smell o f co rpses , pro ceed ed
-
fro m it and hence I did not eat it

, .
’
On hearing this the king summoned his stew ard

, ,
and asked Sirrah ! fro m what village does this rice

,
come ! ’
He replied From Shibp u r your majesty !
, ,
’
The king said Summon the landholder of that

, ,
v illage Thereupon the ste w ard had the landholder

.
’
brought before the monarch The king asked him .

,
On w hat land w as this rice grow n ! He replied ’
‘
On a burning ground your majesty " When the
-
,
17 4 THE
’
B A I I‘A L P A C H CH IS I .
sleep thereon On its becoming morning the kin g

.
,
sent for him an d asked Did st thou sleep comfort

, ,
‘
,
ably through the nigh t ! He replied Your majesty !

’
,
’
I had no sleep the w hole night lon g Why ! .
’ ‘
asked the king He replied Your m ajesty ! in the

.
,
‘
sev enth fold o f the bedding there w as a hair w hich ,
w as pricking my b ack and I had no sleep in co n ,
sequ ence .
’
On hearing this the king looked into the ,
seventh fold of the bedding and lo ! a hair w as found , .
Thereupon he said to him Thou art indeed a n ice ,

‘
judge of beds .
’
A fter relating so much o f the story the sprite ,
asked Who w as the greatest conn oisseur o f those

,
three ! Kin g B ir Vikramajit replied He w ho w as

'
,
the connoisseur in the matter o f beds When the .
sprite heard this he w ent again and hung o n to that

,
t ree ; ( an d ) the king also w en t there on the instant ,
and b o und him placed him o n his shoulder and

, ,
carried him away .

T ALE XXI V .
T HE S prite said ,Your majesty ! in the co untry of

Kaling there w as a Brahman named Yagy a Sharma ,
w hose wife s name w as S o m ad at ta

’
She w as very .
beautiful The Brahman began offering sacrifices

.
w hereupon h is w ife had a beautiful boy When he .
attained the age of five years his father began teach

,
ing him the S fid stm s At the age of t welve years h e

.
had finished the st udy o f all the S /l d stm s and become ,
a great scholar ; and he began to be in constant attend

”
ance upon and to help his father
, .
A fterr t he lapse o f some time the boy died and in ,
their sorro w fo r him his p arents uttered loud cries o f

lamentation and wailing On receiving this news all
.
his kinsfolk hastened thither and fastening the boy

,
upon a bier took him away to the burning ground ;

,
-
and when there began rep eatedly gazing at him and

, ,
saying to o n e another See ! even in death he ap

,
pears beautiful ! They w ere uttering w ords like

’
these and arranging the pyre w hile an ascetic w as

, ,
also seated there engaged in religious austerity He .

l 76 TH E B AI T AL P A C H C H IS I .
hearing these w ords began to think to h imself My ,
bo d y has beco me very o ld ; if I enter this boy s

body I can practise religious meditation w ith ease
,
and comfort .
Having thought thus he entered the body o f the ,
child turned round and pronou ncing the names o f

, ,
Ram ( Balaram ) an d K rishn sat up as o ne sits up ,
from sleep Whe n the people w itnessed this they

.
,
all retur ned to their homes in astonishment ; w hile his “
father lost all desire fo r the w orld o n w itnessing this

m arv
”
el first he laughed; then he w ept .
A fter relating so much of the story the sprite said , ,
Say your majesty ! w hy he laughed and w hy he

, ,
”
wept . Thereupon the king said Seeing the as ,
cetic enter his body and so learning the art (of,
chan ging one s o w n body for another) he laughed ;

’
and through regret at having to quit his o w n body he

wept thinking Thus shall I too some day have to
, ,
-
abandon my o w n body Hearing this the sprite

.
’
went again and suspended himself o n that tree ; and

the king t o o arriving close at his heels bound him
, , , ,
pu t him o n his shoulder and carried him a w ay , .

17 8 TH E B AI T AL P A CH CHI S I .
Bhils ere slain I n the meanti me an arro w struck

w .
t he king s forehead w ith such force that he reeled and

’
’
fell and o ne o f the m came up and cut o ff the king s
,
head When the queen and princess saw the king

.
dead they took their w ay back to the jungle weep

,
ing and beating their breasts After having pro .
cee d ed a ! co s or t w o thus they got tired and sat ,
do w n and began to be trouble d w it h many an anxious

,
”
thought .
Durin g this time a king named C hand rasen to , ,
gether w ith his son w hile pursuing the game came , ,
into that jungle and the kin g noticing the foot prints
,
-
o f the t w o (w omen) said to his son Whence have , ,
’
the foot prints of human feet come in this vast forest !
-
’
The prince replied Your majesty these are w omen s ,
’
foot prints ; a man s foot is not so small
-
The king
’
.
observed Tru e man has not go t such delicate feet

,
‘
,
.
’
The prince said again They h ave just this moment ,
passed The monarch said Come let us seek the m

.
’
, ,
in the jungle if we find them I w ill give her w hose foot ,

’
this large one is to thee ; and I w ill take the other .
Having entered into this mutual compact they w ent ,
for w ard and perceived the two seated They were

,
.
delighted o n seeing them and seating them o n their ,
horses in the manner agreed upon they brought them ,
h ome The p ri nce took possession o f the q ueen and

.
,
”
the king of the princess .
Having related so much of the story the sprite said , ,

TH E B AI T AL PA CH CHIS I .
17 9
Your majesty ! w h at relationship will there be be

”
t een the children of these tw o !
w On hearing this ,
the king held his tongue throu gh ignorance .
Then the sprite said in great glee Your majesty ! ,
I have been highly pleased at w itnessing your patience

an d co ur age ; I tell you o n e thin
g however ; do y o u ,
atten d thereto — viz one the hairs o f w hose body

, . : ,
are like thorns and w hose body ( itself) is like w ood

, ,
and w hose name is S hant shil has come into your city
, ,
and he it is w ho has deputed you to fetch me (w hile) ,
he himself is seated in the burning ground w orking -
his spells and desires to kill yo u I therefore fore

, .
w arn you that w hen he has finished his devotions

, ,
he will say to y o u Your majesty ! prostrate yourself

,
’
so that eight parts of your body may t ouch the ground .
Yo u should then say I am the king of kings and

, ,
all potentates bo w lo w in salutation before me ; up to

this hour I have not bo w ed in adoratio n to any one ,
and I know not how to d o so ; you are a spiritual

teacher kindly sho w me ho w to do so and then wi ll ,
I do it When he bows dow n give him such a blo w

. ,
w ith yo u r s w ord that his head may become severed
( from his body ) then will you reign uninterruptedly ;
w hereas if
,
you will not do this he w ill slay y o u and
, ,
reign permanently .
Having warned the king in these words the sprite ,
came o u t o f that corpse and w ent his way and while

,
some w hat of night still remained the king brought ,

18 0 TH E B AI T AL P A CH C H I S I .
the corpse and placed it befo re the ascetic The as ‘
cetic became g lad on seeing it and lauded the king ,
greatly A fter that he repeated incantations and

.
,
raised the corpse to life and off ered up a bur nt ,
ofl in sacrifice and sitting w ith his fac e s o ut h

'
e rin
g :
w ards o fi ere d to his god all t he m at erials h e had pre

'
'
p ared ; an d after offering up betel leaf flow ers in -
, ,
cense lamps and consecrated food he said to the

, , ,
king M ake obeisan ce very glorious will thy dignity

,
become and the eight supernatural faculties w ill

,
1
”
al w ays abide in thy hou se .
On hearin g this the king called to mind the words ,
o f the spri te an d joinin g h is hands said w ith the

, ,
utm ost humility Your reverence ! I know no t ho w ,
to bo w in a d oration ; yo u how ever are a spl rit ual , ,
”
teacher ; if you w ill kindly teach me I w ill d o it .
A s the ascetic on hearing this low ered his head to , ,
prostrate him self that instant the k ing stru ck him such ,
a blow w ith his sw ord that his head w as severed ; and

the sprite came and sho w ered down flow ers I t is .
declared that there is nothing unlaw ful in slaying him .
”
w ho w ould himself slay another .
Th s po rs
1
e e or th fac lt y f maki g on s s lf as
we are —
1 M a iz
zmé .
, e u o n e
’
e
bulky as pl as s 2 L g kim or th faculty f maki g on s s lf as

o ne e e . . a
‘ "
a, e o n e
’
e
light as pl as s 3 A nm é or th po r f maki g on s s lf i fini t ly

o ne e e . .
’
i ,
e we o n e
’
e n e
small 4 P m k my or t h pow r f grat i fy i g on s d si s 5 V hzt

. .
‘
ax a, e e o n e
’
e re . . as
'
a,
or pow r f subj cting all things t on s will 6 I hi t or supr m s ay

e o e o e
’
. . s u e e w .
7 P dp tzor t h po r f ob t ain ing v ry t hi g t m or

8 K i md v fiy z
' ’
. r , e we o e e n . . as w ,
t h pow r f sub du ng and q u nch ing nat ural d s ir

e e o i e e e.

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T RA NS L A T O R S P RE F A C E

T H E E nglish translation o f these tales has been made

translation of the text as edited by the late Dr Dun ; .

can Forbes The aim of the Translator has been to

prod uce a work which would enable the st udent to

b eing considere d that few save students wh o are

made as literal as it was possible to make it without

difﬁculties have been b oldly if no t successfully met ;

and ex planatory an d other notes have been added ,

wherever the text appeare d to call fo r such The .

st udy o f the translation must not be supposed to

it wi ll be found however to prove of the highest

utility to a student who has mastered the elementary

crib but—for the purpose of discovering what

as follows —I n the reign

(who w as the ruler o f Jain agar ) ordered the eminent

( which w as in the Sanskrit) into the Braj dialect .

Thereupon he translated it into the dialect of Braj in ,

the time o f t he lord o f lords the cream o f exalted

princes the Privy Counsellor o f the Monarch o f Eng

land w hose court stands as high as Saturn ; the

n oblest o f the noble the Governor General M arquis

Wellesley ( may his government be perpetuated l) ;

Mr John Gilchrist ( may his good fortune endure l) ;

t o the end that illustrious gentleman may learn and

lume is Vil a ith the aid o f the poet Shri L allu

L a] rendered the same into easy language such as

high and low use in speaking and which the learned

and the ignorant the talented and the obtuse w ould

all comprehend and w hich would be easy to the mind

of every o ne no difﬁ culty of any ki nd prese nting

itself t o the intellect and wherein the dialect of Braj

No w in conformity w ith the command o f the Pro

fesso r o f Hindi the bounteous patron His Honour

Captain James M ouat (may his prosperity last long ! ) ,

T arinicharan Mitra (in preparing the work) for the,

press has struck o ut such Sanskrit and Braj words as

seldom occur in the Urdu dialect and introduced ,

w or d s in current use Some w ords ho w ever in use .

among the Hindus the exclusion of w hich he regarded

as detrimental he has preserved intact He trusts

that the w ork may meet w ith a favourable reception .

T H E RE a city named Dharanagar the king of

w hich w as G an d h arb Sen He had four queens an d .

by them six sons o n e more learned and m ore po w er

ful than another Fate ordaining after so me days

the king died and his eldest so n Shank by name

became king in his stead A gain after some day s .

a younger brother Vikram after slaying his el d est

brother himself became king and began to govern

well Day by day his dominion so increased that he

became king of all I ndia ; and after ﬁxing his gov

ment 011 a ﬁrm basis he established an aera ,

A fter some time the king thou ght to himself that

impli s t h c nt ral divi sion or th k o n w orld accord ng t t h Ba d

heard l Having d etermined on this he made over

his throne to his younger brother B harthari and him ,

self assuming the guise o f a devotee set out to w ander ,

from land to land and forest to forest .

A Brahman was practising austerities in that city .

One day a deity brought and presented to him t he

said to his w ife Whoever shall eat this wi ll become

immortal ; the deity told me this at the time of giving