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Simhasanadvatrimshika 12

English (machine translation) 12

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English

12.p1

When the king came again to mount the throne, another statuette said: 'O King, this is the throne of Vikrama. He who possesses the qualities such as generosity of that Vikrama—let him sit upon this throne.' Bhoja said: 'Tell the account of his generosity and other virtues.' The statuette said: 'Listen, O King. While Vikramārka was ruling the kingdom, there was in his city a merchant named Bhadrasena. His son was Purandara. There was no limit to the riches of that Bhadrasena, but he was not of a spending nature. Then, in the course of time, Bhadrasena died, and Purandara, having acquired his father's entire estate, began to make expenditures suitable to the occasion. Once his dear friend Dhanada said: 'O Purandara, though being a merchant's son, you spend wealth like a prince of the great kṣatriya class. This is not the characteristic of one born into a merchant family. A merchant's son, even when alone, ought to amass wealth, and not spend even a cowrie. Wealth acquired comes in useful to a man in some calamity or other; therefore a wise man should amass wealth against calamity.' And it is said:

12.1

One should save wealth against calamity, and protect a wife even at the cost of wealth; / one should constantly protect oneself, even at the cost of wife and wealth. || 1

12.p2

Hearing this speech, Purandara said: 'O Dhanada, he who says that acquired wealth is useful in some calamity is devoid of discernment. When calamities come, even accumulated wealth perishes. Therefore a discerning man should not grieve for what is past nor worry over future gain, but should consider only the present.' And likewise it is said:

12.2

One should not grieve for the past, nor worry at all about the future; / wise men conduct themselves in current affairs. || 2

12.p3

'What is destined will happen even without effort; what is to go will depart in just the same way.' And it is said:

12.3

What is destined to happen certainly happens, like the water inside a coconut; / what is to depart is gone, they say, like the wood-apple eaten by an elephant. || 3

12.4

Indeed, what is not to be does not come to pass, and what is to be comes to pass even without effort; / even what is held in the palm of the hand perishes for him who has no destiny for it. || 4

12.p4

Rendered speechless by this utterance of Purandara, Dhanada remained silent. Then Purandara brought all of his father's wealth to expenditure. Then relatives, friends, and the like showed no respect to the penniless Purandara, nor did they even converse with him. Purandara reflected in his mind: 'Ah, as long as wealth remained in my hand, so long did these friends and others serve me; now they do not even converse with me. This worldly wisdom is true: only he who has wealth has friends and the like.' And it is said:

12.5

He who has wealth has friends; he who has wealth has relatives; / he who has wealth is a man of consequence in the world; and he who has wealth is a scholar. || 5

12.p5

And likewise: When a man’s wealth is exhausted, his kinfolk do not behave as before; staying only out of necessity, his servants act as they please; his friends turn fickle; why multiply words with further details?

12.6

Even a wife's respect is certainly not the same toward one whose wealth is gone. || 6

12.p6

And likewise:

12.7

The man who has wealth is noble-born; / he is a scholar, he is learned, he is an appreciator of virtues; / he alone is an orator, and he is handsome to behold; / all virtues cling to gold. || 7

12.p7

And moreover:

12.8

Even for a wealthy man who spends nothing, there may be thousands of kinfolk while he holds office; / but toward one fallen from wealth, even a kinsman constantly does not show his face. || 8

12.p8

And likewise:

12.9

The wind becomes the friend of the fire as it burns forests; / that very same wind serves to extinguish a lamp; who has friendship with the weak? || 9

12.p9

'Therefore death is better than poverty.' And it is said:

12.10

'Arise for just a moment, friend, and take up the burden of my poverty; / exhausted as I am, let me enjoy for a while your bliss born of death.' / Hearing this speech of the destitute man in the cremation ground, a corpse / remained completely silent, knowing that death is far better than poverty. || 10

12.p10

And likewise:

12.11

Homage to you, O Poverty! By your grace I have attained perfection: / since I can see the whole world, yet no one sees me! || 11

12.p11

And likewise:

12.12

Dead is a poor man; dead is sexual union without offspring; / dead is a gift given to one unlearned in the Veda; and dead is a sacrifice without a sacrificial fee. || 12

12.p12

Having reflected thus, he went to another country. Wandering about, he came to a city situated near Himācala. Not very far from that city, there was a bamboo forest. Having gone inside the village himself, he slept at night on a terrace in someone's house; and at midnight, there arose a lamentation of some woman weeping in the middle of the bamboo forest: "O noble citizens, protect me, protect me! Some demon here is killing me!"—thus he heard her crying. Then, at daybreak, he asked the people living in the village: "O noble gentlemen, what is this here in the bamboo forest? What woman weeps at night?" They said: "Here in the forest every day such a sound of weeping is heard at night; but no one goes out of fear, nor does anyone investigate." Then Purandara came to his own city and saw the king. Then he was asked by the king: "O Purandara, wandering through other countries, what wondrous thing did you see?" Then Purandara recounted the incident of the bamboo forest. The king, having heard that curious tale, went with him to that city, and having heard the sound of the woman weeping at night in the middle of the bamboo forest, as soon as he entered the middle of the forest, he saw a demon killing a helpless, weeping woman in a terrifying manner; and he said: "Hey, most wicked one! Why are you killing a helpless woman?"

12.p13

The demon said: "What is this concern of yours? Go your own way, otherwise you will die in vain by my hand." Then a battle took place between the two, and the demon was killed by the king. Then that woman came, fell at the king's feet, and said: "O master, by your grace the end of my curse has arrived; I have been lifted up by you from a great ocean of sorrow." The king said: "Who are you?" She said: "Listen. In this very city there was a certain brahmin possessed of great wealth. I, an unfaithful woman, was his wife; I had no love for him, [yet] he had a great attachment to me. Puffed up with pride in my beauty and the like, when summoned by him for pleasure, I would not go. Then, tormented by desire throughout his life, my husband at the time of his bodily death cursed me: 'Since throughout my life sorrow was caused to me by you, you wicked and sinful woman, even so let a certain most terrifying demon dwelling in the bamboo forest kill you every day at night for the sake of sexual congress, against your will!' Thus was I cursed by him. Again, the end of the curse was begged for by me: 'O lord, give me an end to the curse!' He said: 'When a certain man of great courage who practices benevolence towards others comes and kills the demon, then the end of your curse will come.'"

12.p14

"Now I have been released from the curse by you. My vital breaths are leaving my body; I have gold filling nine jars. That will go to waste. Take it!" Having thus disclosed the location of the treasure to the king, she gave up her life. The king too, having given that treasure filling nine jars to the merchant Purandara, went with him to Ujjayinī. The statuette, having told this tale, said to the king: "O King, if such courage and generosity exist in you, then sit on this throne." Having heard this, the king fell silent. Thus ends the twelfth tale.

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