Indian Antiquary Vol 58

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

Page 178

164
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ SEPTEMBER, 1929
The king accordingly had the girl brought up in a secluded place and when she was grown up gave her in marriage, with a dower of 100000 gold pieces, to a blind man (because no one else would have her), and then sent out of his kingdom his daughter and her husband the blind man, along with a crooked man named Mantharaka who used to lead the blind man with the help of a stick. The three then went to a town in another kingdom, and there the blind man bought a house and began to live happily, spending all his time reclining on a couch while the crooked man attended to the affairs of the household.
For the subsequent portion of the story, I shall reproduce here the words of the original text itself (pp. 66-67 of Bühler's edition 4) : evam gacchata kalena tristanyâh kubjakena vikytih sama padyata .... athanyedyus tristanya manthara ko 'bhihitaḥ, bhoh subhaga yady eso 'ndhah katham cid vyåpádyate tad dvayoh sukhena kalo yati tad anvişyaytâm kutra cid visam vendsmax lat pradaya sukhini bhavami anyada kubja kena paribhramata mrtah krena-sarpah praptah | tam grhitvd prahrsta-mana grham abhyetya tám áha | subhage labdho 'yam krenasarpah | tad enam khandaśaḥ kytvd prabhůta-śunthyadibhik samskäryämuşmai vikala-netrdya matsyamişam iti bhanitud prayaccha yena drág vinaśyati yato 'sya matsyamisam sada priyam evam uktvà mantharako bdhye gatah | sápi pradiptavahnau krena-sarpam khandasah kytvå ta leram adaya grha-vyâpdrdkuld tam vikalakşam sa-prasrayam uváca | aryaputra tavábhistam matsyamamsam samanitam yatas tvam sadaiva tat prcchasi te ca matsyd vahnau pdcandya tisthantil tad vavad aham grhakrlyam karomi dvat tvam darvim addya ksanam ekam tan pracalaya | 80 'pi tad akarnya hrsfamandh ss kviņi parilihan drutam utthaya darvim addya pramathitum drabdhah | atha tasya matsydn mathato vişa-garbha-başpena samsprstam nila-pafalam cakpur. bhyam agalat asdv apy andho bahu-gunam manyamano višeşán netrábhyam bäspagrahanam a karottato labdhadrstir játo yavat paśyati tavat takramadhye kysna-sarpa-khandani kevalány evávalo kayati tato vyacintayat aho kim etat | mama matsyämişam kathitam asid anayd etani tu krana-sar pa-khandani tat tavad vijanami samyak tristanydé cestitam kim mama vadhopdyakeramah kubjasya votaho anyasya vd kasya citevam vicintya svá karam gahayann andhavat karma karoti yatha purd atrántare kubjah samagatya nissan kataya 'lingana-cumbanádibhis tristanim sevitum upaca krame 80 'py andhas tam avalokayann api yavan na kim cic chastram paśyati tavat kopa-vyakula-manaḥ púrvavac chayanam gatud kubjam caraṇabhyam samgrhya admarthydt svamasta kopari bhrdmayitva tristanim hrdaye vyatádayat | atha kubja-praharena tasyds trtiyah stana urasi pravistah | tatha balan masta kopari bhramanena kubjah prañjalatdm gatah
It will be observed that the story is concerned with the disappearance of the infirmities of three persons-of a blind man to whom pieces of a black serpent were about to be offered for food and who recovered his sight; of a princess with three breasts whose third breast, the story relates, entered into the bosom or chest ', (trtiyah stana urasi praviştah ; Simpl.) or.
entered within' (antah praviştah ; Pärnabhadra), that is, disappeared ; and of a crooked man66 who became straight 'on account of having been brandished with force round the head'
84 I shall hereafter refer to this Pañcatantra as textu simplicior or as simpl.
88 The word kubjaka which I have here translated as crooked man' has been uniformly explained as hunchback' by the Pancatantra translators; see, for instance, Kale (p. 57) and Hertel in his edition of Paroabhadra's Pallcatantra, p. 285 and Table of Contents. This does not seem to me to be correct. For the author of the story while relating that the blind man, the kubjaka and the three-breasted princess were benled of their infirmities, that the blind man recovered his sight and the princess got rid of her third breast does not say that the hump of the kubjaką disappeared. He says instead that the kubjaka ' became straight, prdajalatan gatah (oomp. also the reading kubjah saralataim gatah of the MS. Bh. reported by Hertel in this connection on p. 198 of ROS. Vol. XII) on account of his body having been brandished with force round the head of the blind man (Simpl.) or on account of his body striking with force against the third breast of the pripora. It follows therefore that the author wanted to denoto with the word kubjaka a crooked person and not a hunchback. The brandishing of his body by the blind man round his head caused the joints to set properly together so that his crookedness disappeared and he became straight. - Another instance of a erooked person ( kubjaka ) being made straight is, I may point out, referred to in Bhagavata, X (1), 25. 1 f. This time it is a woman named Trivakra Crooked in three places, and not a man and we learn from vv. 6-8: prasanno bhagavdn kubjam trivakram rucirdnandm rjulm kartum manad calere darlayan dandane phalam il padbhydm dkramya prapade dvya nguly-utdna-pánind pragthya cubuke 'dhyatmam udaninamad acyutal II od tadarju-samanding brhac-chroni-payodhard mukunda aparkande sadyo babhdua pramadottamd|that she was made straight by Sri-Krena who, placing his feet over hers and two fingers under her chin, pushed upwards with forco so that her body became straight and she became a comely paiden.