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17. MYTHS AND LEGENDS
d) Effect of calumny
The evil that can be done by popular report, however false, is illustrated by another group of traditional stories (laukiki śrutiḥ) in Book IV. It is said that the sage Bṛhaspati was once refused admission to Indra's council-chamber owing to a false accusation brought against him by a gambler in the city of Cunkára. A monk named Cakrapani was debarred from entering Benares, because a minstrel named Sajaka, having failed to obtain a share in his earnings, spread a report that the monk was in the habit of devouring children. An ascetic named Markanda was excluded from the hermitages of anchorites, because he lived among drunkards, even though he used to drink only water.1
e) Wisdom no bar to moral transgression
The above group of legends is followed by another, designed to show that even the wise at times commit offences, regardless of consequences. The crime of the sage Dvaipayana is mentioned first. We are then told that Ravana abducted Sita, even though he was presumably acquainted with the story of Dandakya in the Nitisastras.2 The latter story occurs in the Rāmāyaṇa, Uttarakanda, Chap. 80, 81, where it is related how king Danda and his kingdom were destroyed by the sage Bhargava as a punishment for violating the latter's daughter Araja. The legend of Danda is also treated in detail in Vamanapuraṇa, Chap. 63 ff. and mentioned in Kamasutra 1. 2. 44.
The wellknown stories of Nahusa's insult to the sages and Brahma's passion for his own daughter are next referred to. Then comes the story of how Vararuci carried a pitcher of wine for the sake of a courtesan. The source of the story is obscure, but it seems to be a variation of a legend recorded in Hemacandra's Parisiṣṭaparva 8. 87 ff., which relates that the poet took to drinking under the influence of a courtesan named Upakośā with fatal results for himself.*
f) Legends of female character
A group of legends is cited in Yasodhara's soliloquy in Book IV to illustrate the fickle character of women, and how they defy all restrictions on their movements. After referring to the mythological stories of Ahalya
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1 'तथाच लौकिकी श्रुतिः - किल बृहस्पतिः सद्वृत्तोऽपि चुङ्कारनगरे लोचनाअनहरेण कितवेन मिथ्याप्रवाददूषितः शतक्रतुसभायां प्रवेशं न लेभे । अलब्धारांना शेन तु षजकनाम्ना वाग्जीवनेन अयं भिक्षाभ्रमणव्याजेनार्भकान् भक्षयति इत्युपहतश्चक्रपाणिः परिव्राट् वाराणस्याम् । मधुपेषु मध्ये पीतपयाश्च मार्कण्डतापसस्तापसाश्रमेषु ।' p. 138.
2 'पौलस्त्यो नीतिशास्त्रेषु नाश्रौषीदाण्डक्योपाख्यानम्' etc. p. 139.
3 ' वररुचिश्च वृषलीनिमित्तमासव निपोद्वहनम्' etc.
4 Summarized by Jacobi in his edition of the work, p. lxix.
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