Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.3414

c9.3414

King Caṇḍamahāsena sent a messenger to Kauśāmbi. The messenger was sent back with a reply that, if his daughter was sent to Kauśāmbi, he would teach her music. Caṇḍamahāsena did not like this. So he decided to take Udayana a prisoner somehow or other. The king had an elephant called Naḍāgiri. He ordered for an artificial elephant to be made equal in size to Naḍāgiri, and placed some soldiers inside the elephant. The artificial elephant with soldiers inside it was taken to the great forest in the Vindhya mountain and placed there. The men of Udayana saw this elephant and reported it to the king. Udayana decided to see the huge elephant which had appeared in the Vindhya. Udayana went to the forest and saw the huge elephant standing at a distance. The king found out a plan to catch it. Playing mild notes on his lute, the king alone neared the elephant. As the night was drawing and as he was immersed in music, he did not understand that it was an artificial elephant. As the king was nearing the elephant it went on retreating, and thus got the king away from his men. Then the soldiers got out of the elephant, surrounded the king and took him a prisoner. Thus Udayana began to live in the palace of Caṇḍamahāsena. His work was to teach Vāsavadattā music.