Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 141

foly, 1920]
NOTES ON THE KATHA SARIT SAGARA
131
HINDU AND NON-HINDU ELEMENTS IN THE KATHA SARIT SAGARA.
BY SIR RICHARD C. TEMPLE, Bt.
(Continued from page 90.)
8. The Wandering Soul In that mine of folklore, The Story of Vidushaka, there is a neat reference, on p. 64, to the non-Aryan idea of the Wandering Soul. The hero miraculously saves the maiden daughter of king Adityasena of Ujjayini from being made into a human sacrifice, and goes with her through the air (as a royal accomplishment by the way) to her home by night. In the morning king Adityasena (p. 64)" lad Vidashaka brought before him from his daughter's apartment, escorted all the way by her soul, which followed him out of affection." This may be read as poetic hyperbole for gratitude and affection, but in Somadeva's time it would be quite a natural proceeding on the part of the princess's Wandering Soul, an idea borrowed from the Far Eastern immigrants, then of ng standing in India.
9. Metamorphosis. The idea of the Wandering Soul, i.e., of a soul that can wander into other bodies and return to its own, leads naturally to that of Metan' srphosis by Transmigration, as we shall sce by an illuminating quotation from p. 20 in the main story. Yaugandharayana, the minister of the king of Vatsa, wants to rouse his master to energy against Brahmadatta, the king of Benares, and he gets the queen, Väsa vadatta, to aid him in the following manner. He made her (p. 20) "assume the appearance of a Brahman woman, having given her a charm which enabled her to change her shape. And he made Vasantaka (another Kshatriya minister) one-eyed and like a Brahman boy. As for limself, be (a Kshatriya) in' the same way assumed the appearance of an old Brahman. Then that mighty minded one took the queen, after she bad assumed that appearance, and accompanied by Vasantaka, set out leisurely for the town of Magadha. And so VasavadattA left her house in bodily presence along the road, though she wandered in spirit to her husband." Here we have Metamorphosis in its simplest form of disguise accompanied by the Wandering Soul.
In the volume quick change from mortal to immortal is common. A typical instance occurs on p. 236, when in T'he Story of the Golden City, Saktideva, the Brâhman hero, is asked by Vindurckhå, his Vidyadhari, i.e., immortal wifo, to cut out her unborn child (as abovo notod), and when he had done so,"that Brahman quickly became a Vidyadhara and Vindurckhå that moment disappeared." In this case Mr. Penzer has a footnote: "This sudden transformation is doubtless to be attributed to the magical power of steel," and then he descants at large on the precautions to be observed in birth-chambers (pp. 166-169). "No sooner had Saktideva seized the child by its throat with his hand than it became a sword in his hand, like the long hair of Good Fortune seized by him with an abiding grasp." Here we have Metamorphosis in excelsis.
Transformation of man into animals is common in all folktales. On p. 147 in Jimata. vahana's Adventures in a Former Birth, we have an instance of the well-known Lion Transformation in Indian folk story. Tho horo (p. 143) "saw a young lady of wonderful beauty riding upon a lion." On p. 145 " that maidon dismounts from the lion," and in tho end sho marrics the hero: "and that lion on which my wife had riddon, having witnessed the marriage, suddenly, before tho eyes of all, assumed the form of a man," and proceeded to explain that he was a Vidyadhara under a curso.
On p. 127 Somadeva gives a story in the main talo to adorn the Brahmanical teaching that hunting is a vicc. In this tale Pandu of the Mahabharata "let fly an arrow and slew a hermit of the name of Arindama, who was sporting with his wife, in the form of a deer," and thereby incurred the well-known curse, which resulted in the great war of ancient times. The trégedy of the human being in the form of a deer is, however, as common in European as in Indian legend.