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360
TILAKAMANJARĪ OF DHANAPĀLA
normally consist in the activity of certain parts of the body or in the observation of certain birds or animals. Birds are called Sakunis, the former being a synonym for the omen as well, a fact which easily proves the nature of birds being symbols of certain omens auspicious or inauspicious.
Dhanapāla has shown Meghavāhana taking to the religious duty of adoring Śrī i.e. the goddess of sovereignty whose temple' he got constructed in the middle of his pleasure grove and unto whom he started offering homage the whole day long under the firm faith that she (i.e. the deity) will shower upon him the boon that would foretell the birth of a son to his queen. The intervention of the vampire Mahodara posing to be the favourite attendant of the deity and deeming himself to be the person on whose pleasure depended the pleasure of the deity, the subsequent vindication of the king through an ordeal of chopping off of his own head by the king, the appearance of Srī, the conferment of a boon by her-'all these are beliefs and superstitions which amply illustrate the point that Indians as a rule have great faith in the working of the evil spirits marring the smooth sailing of life and the efforts made to find out means to undo or avert those evils by means of propitiatory activities. Śrī as deity has been deemed so powerful as to afford sovereignty to Purandra on the throne of the heavens, Vāsuki in the Nethers (Pātāla), Kubera over the repertory of riches, She is responsible for affording the title “Ratnākara' or the ‘mine of jewels' to the oceans. She is capable of raising to lofty status those who have mean mentalities. She has also been called a second 'Kāmadhenu' sprung from the ocean, residing along with the heavenly tree a movable creeper granting desires, a living gem of thought, adored by the circle of paramount sovereigns etc.
The same type of adoration indulged in by Harivāhana' not finding Samaraketu etc. and his beloved further corroborates the above point that when a person is in trouble and is unable to find any remedy he deems the effect of the unforeseen instrumental in his getting into it and finds out some means of taking to religious observance etc., to expiate the sin performed in early days and to propitiate the deity etc., to obviate the evil effect of the sin.
1. TM Vol. I pp. 101-102. 2. Ibid. Vol. I p. 133. 3. Ibid. Vol. I pp. 134-149. 4. Ibid. pp 149-150. 5. Ibid. Sm. ed. p. 400.
