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Simhasanadvatrimshika 21

English (machine translation) 21

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English

21.p1

Again, as the king was about to sit upon the throne, another statuette said: “O king, only he who has the generosity of Vikrama ought to sit upon this throne.” The king said: “Tell the story of his generosity.” She said: “Listen, O king. While Vikrama was ruling the kingdom, there was a minister named Buddhisindhu. His son was Anargala. Eating boiled rice with ghee, he lived as an idler and engaged in no study of learning at all. Once his father said: “O Anargala, though born from my loins, you are exceedingly unruly; you do not pursue learning; you remain a senseless fool. And it is said:

21.1

Empty is the house of a childless man; empty indeed is a land without kin; / empty is the heart of a fool; and poverty is emptiness of all. || 1

21.p2

Nor do I have any profit from you. What purpose is served by a son being born who is neither learned nor righteous?

21.2

What is to be done with that cow which yields no milk and does not conceive? || 2

21.p3

And likewise: What purpose is served by many sons who merely serve to fill out a count?

21.3

Better is a single supporter of the family, in whom the family finds rest. || 3

21.p4

Moreover:

21.4

Better a miscarriage, better no intercourse during the fertile periods, / better a child born dead, and better even a daughter born, / better a barren wife, better dwelling homeless, / than a son, even if endowed with beauty, wealth, and strength, if he is not learned. || 4

21.p5

Hearing these words of his father, Anargala, filled with remorse and seized with detachment, departed for another country. There in that other land, having studied all the learned treatises under a teacher, he was returning to his own city. On the road, in the middle of a forest, he saw a temple. Near the temple was a lake of exceedingly clear water, adorned with lotus clusters and beautified by pairs of cakravāka birds. In one part of the lake, the water was boiling hot. Seeing all this, he sat down there. Then the sun set. Thereafter, at midnight, eight celestial women emerged from the midst of the boiling water, went to the temple, performed sixteen modes of worship, beginning with invocation, to the deity, and gratified the deity with dancing, singing, and other arts. Then the deity, pleased, gave them a grace. Anargala too was watching all this. At dawn, at the time of their departure, Anargala was noticed by them. One among them said: 'O gentle one, come, let us go to our city.' He too said, 'Let it be so,' and went with her. Presently, they entered the boiling water; Anargala, out of fear, did not enter. Returning to his own city, he saw his mother, father, and all his relatives. On the second day, having gone to see the king and bowed down to him, he sat. Questioned cordially by the king, he was told: 'O Anargala, where have you been for so many days?' He said: 'I went to another country to pursue my studies.' The king said: 'What wondrous things did you see in that other country?'

21.p6

Anargala told the king the story of the boiling water. Hearing that, the king went with him to that place. The sun set as well. At midnight, those divine women emerged from that lake, out of the midst of the boiling water, approached the deity, offered sixteen modes of worship, and after attending upon the deity with dance, song, and the like, as they were departing at dawn, one celestial maiden among them saw the king and said: 'O gentle one, come, let us go to my city.' Hearing that, the king set out with her. They all entered the midst of the boiling water and went to their own city in the nether world. The king too plunged into the midst of the boiling water and went with them. Then all those women, having performed the lustration and other rites of honour for him, said: 'O great-souled man, there is none endowed with bravery, fortitude, and other virtues like you. Therefore become the sovereign of this kingdom; all of us women will attend upon you.' The king said: 'I have no need of this kingdom; I too have a kingdom; I came here only to see this marvel.'

21.p7

They said: 'O great man, we are pleased; choose a boon.' The king said: 'Who are you?' They said: 'We are the great supernatural powers.' [The king said:] 'Then the eight great supernatural powers must be given to me.' Then those women gave the king eight jewels; these very [jewels] were endowed with the eight attributes such as becoming infinitesimal. Taking those jewels, just as the king was returning, on the road an old brahmin approached,

21.5

He who was born from the navel-lotus of Hari, four-faced, / may he, the first reader of the Vedas, protect you always. || 5

21.p8

—having pronounced this blessing; then the king asked: 'O brahmin, where do you come from?' That brahmin said: 'I am a brahmin living in Campāpura, having a large family, but utterly destitute; rebuked by my wife, I have come to another land. O King, worldly wisdom also lies in the popular saying: for his wife and others abandon a penniless man. And it is said:

21.6

Even when served well and often, a master hates him; good kinsmen forsake him; / virtues do not shine; sons abandon him; calamities multiply; / even a wife born of a virtuous, noble family does not cherish him; and friends depart / from men—even those whose valor is grounded in justice—who possess no wealth. || 6

21.p9

And likewise:

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A hero, handsome, charming, eloquent, / the foremost among those who know weapons and learned treatises— / without wealth, a mortal in this world of men / never attains any assemblage of arts at all. || 7

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Moreover:

21.8

Those very same sense-organs, intact; the very same name; / that unimpaired intellect; the very same speech; / yet that very same man, deprived of the warmth of wealth, / becomes entirely someone else—what wonder is there in that! || 8

21.p11

The king, hearing his words, gave him those eight jewels. That brahmin, praising the king, went to his own city. The king too returned to Ujjayinī. Having told this story, the statuette said to the king: 'O King, if you have such courage and generosity, then sit upon this throne.' Hearing that, the king remained silent. Thus ends the twenty-first tale.

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