The Kādambarī of Bāṇa

The city seems possessed of rocks, with its palaces; it stretches like a suburb with its long houses; it is like the tree that grants desires with its good citizens; it bears in its painted halls the mirror of all forms. Like twilight, it shines with the redness of rubies;[380 - Or, lotus-hued.] (107) like the form of the Lord of Heaven, it is purified with the smoke of a hundred sacrifices; like the wild dance of Çiva, it has the smiles, which are its white markets;[381 - In the case of Çiva, ‘loud laughter, bright as nectar.’] like an old woman, it has its beauty worn;[382 - It has treasure vaults.] like the form of Garuḍa, it is pleasing in being the resting-place of Vishṇu;[383 - Or, keeping its covenants firm.] like the hour of dawn, it has its people all alert; like the home of a mountaineer, it has palaces in which ivory cowries[384 - Or, houses whitened with ivory and cowries.] are hanging; like the form of Çesha,[385 - Or, having splendid mountains always at hand.] it always bears the world; like the hour of churning the ocean, it fills the end of the earth with its hubbub;[386 - Or, false.] like the rite of inauguration, it has a thousand gold pitchers[387 - Or, gold pieces.] at hand; like Gaurī, it has a form fit to sit on the lion-throne; like Aditi, honoured in a hundred houses of the gods; like the sports of Mahāvarāha, showing the casting down of Hiraṇyāksha;[388 - (a) Demon; (b) golden dice.] like Kadrū, it is a joy to the race of reptiles;[389 - Or, rogues.] like the Harivaṃça, it is charming with the games of many children.[390 - Or, the sporting of King Bāla.] (108) Though its courts are open to all, its glory is uninjured;[391 - Though the free intercourse with women is allowed, it is of irreproachable conduct.] though it glows with colour,[392 - Its castes are loved.] it is white as nectar; though it is hung with strings of pearls, yet when unadorned[393 - Vihāra (a) without necklaces; (b) having temples.] it is adorned the most; though composed of many elements,[394 - Having many citizens.] it is yet stable, and it surpasses in splendour the world of the immortals.

There the sun is daily seen paying homage to Mahākāla, for his steeds vail their heads at the charm of the sweet chant of the women singing in concert in the lofty white palaces, and his pennon droops before him. There his rays fall on the vermeil floors like the crimson of eve; and on the emerald seats, as though busy in creating lotus beds; on the lapis-lazuli, as though scattered on the sky; on the circling aloe smoke, as though eager to break its dense gloom; on the wreaths of pearl, as though disdaining the clusters of stars; (109) on the women’s faces, as though kissing unfolding lotuses; on the splendour of crystal walls, as though falling amid the pale moonlight of morning; on the white silken banners, as though hanging on the waves of the heavenly Ganges; on the sun-gems, as though blossoming from them; on the sapphire lattices, as though entering the jaws of Rāhu. There darkness never falls, and the nights bring no separation to the pairs of cakravākas; nor need they any lamps, for they pass golden as with morning sunshine, from the bright jewels of women, as though the world were on fire with the flame of love. There, though Çiva is at hand, the cry of the haṃsas in the houses, arising sweet and ceaseless, at the kindling of love, fills the city with music, like the mourning of Rati for the burning of the God of Love. There the palaces stretch forth their flags, whose silken fringes gleam and flutter at night in the wind, like arms to remove the mark of the moon put to shame by the fair lotus-faced Mālavīs. (110) There the moon, deer-marked, moves, in the guise of his reflection, on the jewel pavement, cool with the sprinkling of much sandal-water, as though he had fallen captive to Love at the sight of the faces of the fair city dames resting on the palace roofs. There the auspicious songs of dawn raised by the company of caged parrots and starlings, though they sing their shrillest, as they wake at night’s close, are drowned and rendered vain by the tinkling of women’s ornaments, reaching far, and outvying the ambrosial voices of the tame cranes.[395 - Then follows: ‘There – demons,’ p. 47, l. 18.] (111) There dwells Çiva, who has pierced the demon Andhaka with his sharp trident, who has a piece of the moon on his brow polished by the points of Gaurī’s anklets, whose cosmetic is the dust of Tripura, and whose feet are honoured by many bracelets fallen from Rati’s outstretched arms as she pacifies him when bereft of Kāma.

DESCRIPTION OF TĀRĀPĪḌA.[396 - Follows p. 48, l. 17, ‘gay.’]

(112) Like hell, he was the refuge of the lords of earth,[397 - Read °kulaiḥ; (a) Kings; (b) mountains.] fearing when their soaring pride was shorn;[398 - Loss of dependencies; or, loss of wings.] like the stars, he was followed by the wise men;[399 - Or, by the star Budha.] like Love, he destroyed strife;[400 - Or, his body was destroyed.] like Daçaratha, he had good friends;[401 - Or, Sumitrā, wife of Daçaratha.] (113) like Çiva, he was followed by a mighty host;[402 - Or, by the ‘Lord of Battles,’ i. e., Kārtikeya.] like Çesha, he had the weight of the earth upon him;[403 - Or, was honoured for his patience.] like the stream of Narmadā, his descent was from a noble tree.[404 - (a) A great family; (b) a great bamboo from which the river is said to rise.] He was the incarnation of Justice, the very representative of Vishṇu, the destroyer of all the sorrows of his people. He re-established justice, which had been shaken to its foundations by the Kali Age, set on iniquity, and mantled in gloom by the spread of darkness, just as Çiva re-established Kailāsa when carried off by Rāvaṇa. He was honoured by the world as a second Kāma, created by Çiva when his heart was softened by the lamentations of Rati.

(113–115) Before him bowed conquered kings with eyes whose pupils were tremulous and quivering from fear, with the bands of the wreaths on their crest ornaments caught by the rays of his feet, and with the line of their heads broken by the lotus-buds held up in adoration. They came from the Mount of Sunrise,[405 - V. supra, p. 162.] which has its girdle washed by the ocean waves, where the flowers on the trees of its slopes are doubled by stars wandering among the leaves, where the sandal-wood is wet with the drops of ambrosia that fall from the moon as it rises, where the clove-trees[406 - Read lavaṅga.] blossom when pierced by the hoofs of the horses of the sun’s chariot, where the leaves and shoots of the olibanum-trees are cut by the trunk of the elephant Airāvata; (114) from Setubandha, built with a thousand mountains seized by the hand of Nala,[407 - A monkey chief.] where the fruit on the lavalī-trees is carried off by monkeys, where the feet of Rāma are worshipped by the water-deities coming up from the sea, and where the rock is starred with pieces of shell broken by the fall of the mountain; from Mandara, where the stars are washed by the waters of pure waterfalls, where the stones are polished by the rubbing of the edge of the fish ornament of Kṛishṇa rising at the churning of ambrosia, where the slopes are torn by the weight of the feet moving in the effort of drawing hither and thither Vāsuki coiled in the struggles of Gods and demons, where the peaks are sprinkled with ambrosial spray; from Gandhamādana, beautiful with the hermitage of Badarikā marked with the footprints of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, where the peaks are resonant with the tinkling of the ornaments of the fair dames of Kuvera’s city, where the water of the streams is purified by the evening worship of the Seven Ṛishis, and where the land around is perfumed by the fragments of lotuses torn up by Bhīma.

CANDRĀPĪḌA’S ENTRY INTO THE PALACE

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

VILĀSAVATĪ’S ATTENDANTS

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

ÇUKANĀSA’S PALACE

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

DESCRIPTION OF NIGHT

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

THE REGION OF KAILĀSA

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

PASSAGES PRINTED IN THE APPENDIX.[408 - The figures refer to the page and line of the Nirṇaya-Sāgara edition of Kādambarī.]

102, 1 – 110, 6

111, 1–4

112, 6 – 115, 1

188, 4 – 189, 5

190, 6 – 191, 5

192, 11 – 194, 2

196, 4 – 199, 1

243, 4–10

PASSAGES CONDENSED OR OMITTED.[409 - Passages marked * are condensed, and only occasional phrases are translated.]

11, 7 – 15, 2

*31, 10 – 34, 2

46, 7 – 48, 4

81, 3–10

83, 1–8

85, 3 – 89, 4

119, 3 – 124, 3

137, 7 – 138, 3

141, 6 – 155, 5

162, 8 – 164, 8

176, 6 – 188, 4

*199, 5 – 200, 9

203, 2 – 204, 2

*227, 4 – 234, 6

242, 6–10

*245, 4 – 248, 3

250, 3–8

*252, 7 – 256, 5

262, 1 – 266, 3

276, 9 – 277, 8

285, 2–4

*346, 7 – 348, 7

353, 6 – 355, 9

357, 1–10

359, 12 – 365, 2