Indian Antiquary Vol 58

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

Page 47

MARCH, 1929]
NOTES ON THE KATHA SARIT SAGARA
HINDU AND NON-HINDU ELEMENTS IN THE KATHA SARIT SAGARA.
BY SIR RICHARD C. TEMPLE, BT.
(Continued from page 11.)
18. The Possession of Sons. The possession of sons may be described as the main desire of a Hindu, man or woman. It goes back to the very dawn of Aryan civilization in the country, when the duty of propitiating the ancestral spirits or compelling them to look after the family devolved on the father and made him the family priest, who conducted the ritual for its dead. This knowledge uf all-essential rites he passed on to his son. Hence the importance of a son to uvery Hindu father of a family and his wifc. To the ordinary Hindu a son is invaluable because he alone can perform the death ceremonies that ensure the parents' Release from Rebirth. With such an incentive the folklore that has gathered round the birth of a son must obviously be unlimited.
Accordingly one is not surprised at strong express ons und ly Qucen Vasavadatta, wife of Udayana, king of Vatsa, in the main stcry, when (p. 129) her husband sends her a poor Brahman woman to look after. The Brahman woman is starving, but sbe has twin infant sons: “When she saw that the woman, though poor, had two children, she thought : * This is exceedingly unfair dealing on the part of the Creator. Alas, he grudges a son to me, who am rich, and shows affection to one who is poor. I have not yet one son, and this woman has theso twins.'." Further on we read in the same story (p. 135): "The Queen Våsavadatta beheld from her palace a certain woinan of the caste of putters coming with five sons, bringing plates, and she said to the Brahman lady Pingalika, who was at her side:
Observe, my friend, the woman has five sons and I have not even one as yet. To such an extent is such a one the possessor of merit (from works in a former birth], while such a one as myself is not'.” But Mr. Penzer points to like expressions both in Magyar and Sicilian folktales, so it is possible that the old Indian Aryan idea dates back to pre-migration days.
18-a. Prophecy. Vasavadattâ is naturally not without prophecies that she shall bear a son. The prophet in her case is the Rishi Närada, who saye(p. 128): "So sbe, having propitiated Siva, shall bear a son, who shall be a portion of Kama [the God of Love) and shall bocome the Emperor of all the immortal] Vidyadharas." So (p. 136) " the queen quickly determined upon performing a vow, and when she had taken a vow, the king and his ministers and the whole kingdom, also, took a vow, to propitiate siva. And after the royal couple had fasted for three nights, that Lord was so pleased that he himself appeared to them and commanded them in a dream : 'Rise up; from you shall spring a son, who shall be a portion of the God of Love, and owing to my favour shall be a king of all the Vidyadharas'. ... And in the morning the king and queen rose up, and after delighting their subjects with the taste of the nectatous story of the dream, kept high festival.” Here we have several folktale motifs in one short statement : prophecy and its fulfilment in a dream as the result of a vow.
Earlier in the story (p. 25), when, by a trick, Vasavadatta has been abducted and her palace burnt, her husband solaces himself with the prediction : “From this queen shall be born a son, who shall reign over all the Vidyadharas. This is what the hermit Narada told me, and it cannot be false. Moreover that same hermit warned me that I should have morrow for a time." From which it will be observed that Narada behaved very like a modern fortune-teller.
Moreover, in the matter of prophecying we are introduced to a characteristic Indian scene (up. 90-91). Udayana, king of Vatsa, is attacked by Brahmadatta, king of Benares. "In the meanwhile those spies, commissioned by Yaugandharåyaņa, assuming the vows of skull. bearing worshippers of Siva, reached the city of Benares. And one of them, who was acquainted with the art of juggling, exhibited his skill, assumed the part of a teacher, and the others passed themselves off as his pupils. And they celebrated that pretended teacher, who subsisted on alms, from place to place, saying: "This master of ours is acquainted