15. Frightening the flocks of birds which lived in the houses, with the noise of their girdles and the jingling of their anklets which resounded on the staircases and roofs of the mansions, and mutually reproaching one another for their hurry.
16. Some of these women, even in their haste as they rushed longing to see, were delayed in their going by the weight of their hips and full bosoms.
17. Another, though well able to go herself, checked her pace and forbore to run, hiding with shame her ornaments hitherto worn only in seclusion, and now too boldly displayed.
18. There they were restlessly swaying about in the windows, crowded together in the mutual press, with their earrings polished by the continual collision and their ornaments all jingling.
19. The lotus-like faces of the women gleamed while they looked out from the windows with their earrings coming into mutual proximity, as if they were real lotuses fastened upon the houses.
20. With the palaces all alive with crowds of damsels, every aperture thrown open in eager curiosity, the magnificent city appeared on every side like heaven with its divine chariots thronged with celestial nymphs.
21. The faces of the beautiful women shone like lotuses wreathed in garlands, while through the narrowness of the windows their earrings were transferred to each other’s cheeks.
22. Gazing down upon the prince in the road. the women appeared as if longing to fall to the earth; gazing up to him with upturned faces, the men seemed as if longing to rise to heaven.
23. Beholding the king’s son thus radiant in his beauty and glory, those women softly whispered, ‘happy is his wife,’ with pure minds and from no baser feeling.
24. ‘He with the long sturdy arms, who stands in his beauty like the flower-armed god visibly present, will leave his royal pomp and devote himself to religion,’ thus thinking, full of kindly feelings towards him, they all offered reverence.
25. Beholding for the first time that high-road thus crowded with respectful citizens, all dressed in white sedate garments, the prince for a while did feel a little pleasure and thought that it seemed to promise a revival of his youth.
26. But then the gods, dwelling in pure abodes, having beheld that city thus rejoicing like heaven itself, created an old man to walk along on purpose to stir the heart of the king’s son.
27. The prince having beheld him thus overcome with decrepitude and different in form from other men, with his gaze intently fixed on him, thus addressed his driver with simple confidence:
28. ‘Who is this man that has come here, O charioteer, with white hair and his hand resting on a staff, his eyes hidden beneath his brows, his limbs bent down and hanging loose, — is this a change produced in him or his natural state or an accident?’
29. Thus addressed, the charioteer revealed to the king’s son the secret that should have been kept so carefully, thinking no harm in his simplicity, for those same gods had bewildered his mind:
30. ‘That is old age by which he is broken down, — the ravisher of beauty, the ruin of vigour, the cause of sorrow, the destruction of delights, the bane of memories, the enemy of the senses.
31. ‘He too once drank milk in his childhood, and in course of time he learned to grope on the ground; having step by step become a vigorous youth, he has step by step in the same way reached old age.’
32. Being thus addressed, the prince, starting a little, spoke these words to the charioteer, ‘What! will this evil come to me also?’ and to him again spoke the charioteer:
33. ‘It will come without doubt by the force of time through multitude of years even to my long-lived lord; all the world knows thus that old age will destroy their comeliness and they are content to have it so.’
34. Then he, the great-souled one, who had his mind purified by the impressions of former good actions, who possessed a store of merits accumulated through many preceding aeons, was deeply agitated when he heard of old age, like a bull who has heard the crash of a thunderbolt close by.
35. Drawing a long sigh and shaking his head, and fixing his eyes on that decrepit old man, and looking round on that exultant multitude he then uttered these distressed words:
36. ‘Old age thus strikes down all alike, our memory, comeliness, and valour; and yet the world is not disturbed, even when it sees such a fate visibly impending.
37. ‘Since such is our condition, O charioteer, turn back the horses, — go quickly home; how can I rejoice in the pleasure-garden, when the thoughts arising from old age overpower me?’
38. Then the charioteer at the command of the king’s son turned the chariot back, and the prince lost in thought entered even that royal palace as if it were empty.
39. But when he found no happiness even there, as he continually kept reflecting, ‘old age, old age,’ then once more, with the permission of the king, he went out with the same arrangement as before.
40. Then the same deities created another man with his body all afflicted by disease; and on seeing him the son of Suddhodana addressed the charioteer, having his gaze fixed on the man:
41. ‘Yonder man with a swollen belly, his whole frame shaking as he pants, his arms and shoulders hanging loose, his body all pale and thin, uttering plaintively the word “mother,” when he embraces a stranger, — who, pray, is this?’
42. Then his charioteer answered, ‘Gentle Sir, it is a very great affliction called sickness, that has grown up, caused by the inflammation of the (three) humours, which has made even this strong man no longer master of himself.’
43. Then the prince again addressed him, looking upon the man compassionately, ‘Is this evil peculiar to him or are all beings alike threatened by sickness?’
44. Then the charioteer answered, ‘O prince, this evil is common to all; thus pressed round by diseases men run to pleasure, though racked with pain.’
45. Having heard this account, his mind deeply distressed, he trembled like the moon reflected in the waves of water; and full of sorrow he uttered these words in a low voice:
46. ‘Even while they see all this calamity of diseases mankind can yet feel tranquillity; alas for the scattered intelligence of men who can smile when still not free from the terrors of disease!
47. ‘Let the chariot, O charioteer, be turned back from going outside, let it return straight to the king’s palace; having heard this alarm of disease, my mind shrinks into itself, repelled from pleasures.’
48. Then having turned back, with all joy departed, he entered his home, absorbed in thought; and having seen him thus return a second time, the king himself entered the city.
49. Having heard the occasion of the prince’s return he felt himself as deserted by him, and, although unused to severe punishment, even when displeased, he rebuked him whose duty it was to see that the road was clear.
50. And once more he arranged for his son all kinds of worldly enjoyments to their highest point; imploring in his heart, ‘Would that he might not be able to forsake us, even though rendered unable only through the restlessness of his senses.’
2. I would read api nâ sakto — .]
51. But when in the women’s apartments his son found no pleasure in the several objects of the senses, sweet sounds and the rest, he gave orders for another progress outside, thinking to himself, ‘It may create a diversion of sentiment.’
52. And in his affection pondering on the condition of his son, never thinking of any ills that might come from his haste, he ordered the best singing-women to be in attendance, as well-skilled in all the soft arts that can please.
53. Then the royal road being specially adorned and guarded, the king once more made the prince go out, having ordered the charioteer and chariot to proceed in a contrary direction (to the previous one).
54. But as the king’s son was thus going on his way, the very same deities created a dead man, and only the charioteer and the prince, and none else, beheld him as he was carried dead along the road.
55. Then spoke the prince to the charioteer, ‘Who is this borne by f
our men, followed by mournful companions, who is bewailed, adorned but no longer breathing?’
56. Then the driver, — having his mind overpowered by the gods who possess pure minds and pure dwellings, — himself knowing the truth, uttered to his lord this truth also which was not to be told:
57. ‘This is some poor man who, bereft of his intellect, senses, vital airs and qualities, lying asleep and unconscious, like mere wood or straw, is abandoned alike by friends and enemies after they have carefully swathed and guarded him.’
58. Having heard these words of the charioteer he was somewhat startled and said to him, ‘Is this an accident peculiar to him alone, or is such the end of all living creatures?’
59. Then the charioteer replied to him, ‘This is the final end of all living creatures; be it a mean man, a man of middle state, or a noble, destruction is fixed to all in this world.’
60. Then the king’s son, sedate though he was, as soon as he heard of death, immediately sank down overwhelmed, and pressing the end of the chariot-pole with his shoulder spoke with a loud voice,
61. ‘Is this end appointed to all creatures, and yet the world throws off all fear and is infatuated! Hard indeed, I think, must the hearts of men be, who can be self-composed in such a road.
62. ‘Therefore, O charioteer, turn back our chariot, this is no time or place for a pleasure-excursion; how can a rational being, who knows what destruction is, stay heedless here, in the hour of calamity?’
63. Even when the prince thus spoke to him, the charioteer did not turn the chariot back; but at his peremptorily reiterated command he retired to the forest Padmakhanda.
64. There he beheld that lovely forest like Nandana itself. full of young trees in flower with intoxicated kokilas wandering joyously about, and with its bright lakes gay with lotuses and well-furnished with watering-places
65. The king’s son was perforce carried away to that wood filled with troops of beautiful women, just as if some devotee who had newly taken his vow were carried off, feeling weak to withstand temptation, to the palace of the monarch of Alakâ, gay with the dancing of the loveliest heavenly nymphs.
BOOK IV.
1. THEN FROM that city-garden, with their eyes restless in excitement, the women went out to meet the prince as a newly-arrived bridegroom;
2. And when they came up to him, their eyes wide open in wonder, they performed their due homage with hands folded like a lotus-calyx.
3. Then they stood surrounding him, their minds overpowered by passion, as if they were drinking him in with their eyes motionless and blossoming wide with love.
4. Some of the women verily thought that he was Kâma incarnate, — decorated as he was with his brilliant signs as with connate ornaments.
5. Others thought from his gentleness and majesty that it was the moon with its ambrosial beams as it were visibly come down to the earth.
6. Others, smitten by his beauty, yawned as if to swallow him, and fixing their eyes on each other, softly sighed.
7. Thus the women only looked upon him, simply gazing with their eyes, — they spoke not, nor did they smile, controlled by his power.
8. But having seen them thus listless, bewildered in their love, the wise son of the family priest, Udâyin, thus addressed them:
9. ‘Ye are all skilled in all the graceful arts, proficients in understanding the language of amorous sentiments, possessed of beauty and gracefulness, thorough masters in your own styles.
10. ‘With these graces of yours ye may embellish even the Northern Kurus, yea, even the dances of Kuvera, much more this little earth.
11. ‘Ye are able to move even sages who have lost all their desires, and to ensnare even the gods who are charmed by heavenly nymphs.
12. ‘By your skill in expressing the heart’s feelings, by your coquetry, your grace, and your perfect beauty, ye are able to enrapture even women, how much more easily men.
13. ‘You thus skilled as ye are, each set in her own proper sphere, — such as this is your power, — I am not satisfied with your simplicity .
14. ‘This timid action of yours would be fit for new brides, their eyes closed through shame, — or it might be a blandishment worthy even of the wives of the cowherds.
15. ‘What though this hero be great by his exalted glory, yet “great is the might of women,” let this be your firm resolve.
16. ‘In olden time a great seer, hard to be conquered even by the gods, was spurned by a harlot, the beauty of Kâsi, planting her feet upon him.
17. ‘The Bhikshu Manthâlagautama was also formerly spurned by Bâlamukhyâ with her leg, and wishing to please her he carried out dead bodies for her sake to be buried.
18. ‘And a woman low in standing and caste fascinated the great seer Gautama, though a master of long penances and old in years.
19. ‘So Sântâ by her various wiles captivated and subdued the sage’s son Rishyasringa, unskilled in women’s ways.
20. ‘And the great seer Visvâmitra, though plunged in a profound penance, was carried captive for ten years in the forests by the nymph Ghritâkî.
21. ‘Many such seers as these have women brought to shame, — how much more then a delicate prince in the first flower of his age?
22. ‘This being so, boldly put forth your efforts that the prosperity of the king’s family may not be turned away from him.
23. ‘Ordinary women captivate similar lovers; but they are truly women who subdue the natures of high and low.’
24. Having heard these words of Udâyin these women as stung to the heart rose even above themselves for the conquest of the prince.
25. With their brows, their glances, their coquetries, their smiles, their delicate movements, they made all sorts of significant gestures like women utterly terrified.
26. But they soon regained their confidence through the command of the king and the gentle temperament of the prince, and through the power of intoxication and of love.
27. Then surrounded by troops of women the prince wandered in the wood like an elephant in the forests of Himavat accompanied by a herd of females.
28. Attended by the women he shone in that pleasant grove, as the sun surrounded by Apsarasas in his royal garden.
29. There some of them, urged by passion, pressed him with their full firm bosoms in gentle collisions.
30. Another violently embraced him after making a pretended stumble, — leaning on him with her shoulders drooping down, and with her gentle creeper-like arms dependent.
31. Another with her mouth smelling of spirituous liquor, her lower lip red like copper, whispered in his ear, ‘Let my secret be heard.’
32. Another, all wet with unguents, as if giving him her command, clasped his hand eagerly and said, ‘Perform thy rites of adoration here.’
33. Another, with her blue garments continually slipping down in pretended intoxication, stood conspicuous with her tongue visible like the night with its lightning flashing.
34. Others, with their golden zones tinkling, wandered about here and there, showing to him their hips veiled with thin cloth.
35. Others leaned, holding a mango-bough in full flower, displaying their bosoms like golden jars.
36. Another, coming from a lotus-bed, carrying lotuses and with eyes like lotuses, stood like the lotus-goddess Padmâ, by the side of that lotus-faced prince.
37. Another sang a sweet song easily understood and with the proper gesticulations, rousing him, self-subdued though he was, by her glances, as saying, ‘O how thou art deluded.’
38. Another, having armed herself with her bright face, with its brow-bow drawn to its full, imitated his action, as playing the hero.
39. Another, with beautiful full bosoms, and having her earrings waving in the wind, laughed loudly at him, as if saying, ‘Catch me, sir, if you can!’
40. Some, as he was going away, bound him with strings of garlands, — others punished him with words like an elephant-driver’s hook, gentle yet reproachful.
41. Another,
wishing to argue with him, seizing a mango-spray, asked, all bewildered with passion, ‘This flower, whose is it?’
42. Another, assuming a gait and attitude like those of a man, said to him, ‘Thou who art conquered by women, go and conquer this earth!’
43. Then another with rolling eyes, smelling a blue lotus, thus addressed the prince with words slightly indistinct in her excitement,
44. ‘See, my lord, this mango covered with its honey-scented flowers, where the kokila sings, as if imprisoned in a golden cage.
45. ‘Come and see this asoka tree, which augments lovers’ sorrows, — where the bees make a noise as if they were scorched by fire.
46. ‘Come and see this tilaka tree, embraced by a slender mango-branch, like a man in a white garment by a woman decked with yellow unguents.
47. ‘Behold this kuruvaka in flower, bright like fresh resin-juice, which bends down as if it felt reproached by the colour of women’s nails.
48. ‘Come and see this young asoka, covered all over with new shoots, which stands as it were ashamed at the beauty of our hands.
49. ‘See this lake surrounded by the sinduvâra shrubs growing on its banks, like a fair woman reclining, clad in fine white cloth.
50. ‘See the imperial power of females, — yonder ruddy-goose in the water goes behind his mate following her like a slave.
51. ‘Come and listen to the notes of this intoxicated cuckoo as he sings, while another cuckoo sings as if consenting, wholly without care.
52. ‘Would that thine was the intoxication of the birds which the spring produces, — and not the thought of a thinking man, ever pondering how wise he is!’
53. Thus these young women, their souls carried away by love, assailed the prince with all kinds of stratagems.
54. But although thus attacked, he, having his senses guarded by self-control, neither rejoiced nor smiled, thinking anxiously, ‘One must die.’
55. Having seen them in their real condition, that best of men pondered with an undisturbed and stedfast mind.
The Sanskrit Epics Page 925