Kathakoca or Treasury of Stories

Author(s): C H Tawney
Publisher: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation New Delhi

Page 61

35
up. Then he went, with a large retinue, to the Vaitádhya mountain; and thence, at the request of his friend, to Hastinágapura. Here follows the description, in detail, of his entry.* He was reunited to his parents, he obtained the nine treasures, and he conquered the six divisions of India. Now, about this time, it happened that a god named Sangamaka came from the heaven of Íçána to the court of Indra, the lord of Saudharma, and illuminated the whole court with his brightness. The gods asked this question: Is there any other god whose brightness is equal to that of this deity ?'t Indra replied: 'Sanatkumára, in Hastinágapura, who wears a human form, possesses equal brightness. Then two gods went secretly, disguised as aged Bráhmans, to the court of the emperor to investigate the truth. The emperor asked them: Who are you, and whence did you come here?' They said: "We have come to behold your beauty.' The Emperor Sanatkumára said: 'At present my body is smeared with oil, and there is no beauty in it. You must come when I give audience.' The gods went away, and came back when the emperor had bathed, and was sitting on his throne. When they saw his beauty, their faces became black. The emperor said: What is the meaning of your faces becoming black like this?' They said: 'We foresee the decay of your beauty.' The emperor said: 'How do you know ?' They said: 'By the power of our divinity.' Then the two gods appeared in their real form, and, after praising him, went to their own place. The king felt a longing to renounce the world, and said to himself: 'Beauty, youth, and other things of the kind vanish in an instant; so what profit is there of this royal dignity, which is the cause of sin?' After going through these reflections, he took a vow in the presence of the spiritual teacher Vinayandhara, and,
Jain writers frequently refer their readers to a common form, instead of repeating tedious details.
†This confusion between beauty and brightness is common in Hindu story-books. It is also found in European mythology. See my translation of the Katha Sarit Ságara,' vol. ii., p. 133, note. See also the third note on the first of Miss Stokes's 'Indian Fairy Tales.'