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cloths of various kinds, were collected and kept in readiness in the palace for the Rishi. Indeed, Chyavana failed to notice any |
fault in the conduct of the king. Then the regenerate Rishi, addressing king Kusika, said unto him, 'Do thou with thy spouse, |
yoke thyself unto a car and bear me on it to whichever place I shall direct.' Without the least scruple, the king answered |
Chyavana endued with wealth of asceticism, saying, 'So be it!' and he further enquired of the Rishi, asking, 'Which car shall I |
bring? Shall it be my pleasure-car for making progress of pleasure, or, shall it be my battle-car? Thus addressed by the |
delighted and contented monarch, the ascetic said unto him, 'Do thou promptly equip that car of thine with which thou |
penetratest into hostile cities. Indeed that battle-car of thine, with every weapon, with its standard and flags, its darts and |
javelins and golden columns and poles, should be made ready. Its rattle resembles the tinkling of bells. It is adorned with |
numerous arches made of pure gold. It is always furnished with high and excellent weapons numbering by hundreds!' The king |
said, 'So be it!' and soon caused his great battle-car to be equipped. And he yoked his wife thereto on the left and his own self |
on the right. And the king placed on the car, among its other equipments, the goad which had three handles and which had a |
point at once hard as the thunderbolt and sharp as the needle.[307] Having placed every requisite upon the car, the king said |
unto the Rishi, 'O holy one, whither shall the car proceed? O, let the son of Bhrigu issue his command! This thy car shall |
proceed to the place which thou mayst be pleased to indicate.' Thus addressed the holy man replied unto the king, saying, 'Let |
the car go hence, dragged slowly, step by step. Obedient to my will, do ye two proceed in such a way that I may not feel any |
fatigue, I should be borne away pleasantly, and let all thy people see this progress that I make through their midst. Let no |
person that comes to me, as I proceed along the road, be driven away. I shall make gifts of wealth unto all. Unto them amongst |
the Brahmanas that may approach me on the way, I shall grant their wishes and bestow upon all of them gems and wealth |
without stint. Let all this be accomplished, O king, and do not entertain any scruples.' Hearing these words of the Rishi, the |
king summoned his servants and said, 'Ye should, without any fear, give away whatever the ascetic will order.' Then jewels and |
gems in abundance, and beautiful women, and pairs of sheep, and coined and uncoined gold, and huge elephants resembling |
hills or mountain summits, and all the ministers of the king, began to follow the Rishi as he was borne away on that car. Cries |
of 'Oh' and 'Alas' arose from every part of the city which was plunged in grief at that extraordinary sight. And the king and the |
queen were suddenly struck by the Rishi with that goad equipped with sharp point. Though thus struck on the back and the |
cheeks, the royal couple still showed no sign of agitation. On the other hand, they continued to bear the Rishi on as before. |
Trembling from head to foot, for no food had passed their lips for fifty nights, and exceedingly weak, the heroic couple |
somehow succeeded in dragging that excellent car. Repeatedly and deeply cut by the goad, the royal couple became covered |
with blood. Indeed, O monarch, they then looked like a couple of Kinsuka trees in the flowering season. The citizens, |
beholding the plight to which their king and queen had been reduced, became afflicted with great grief. Filled with fear at the |
prospect of the curse of the Rishi, they kept silent under their misery. Gathering in knots they said unto each other, 'Behold the |
might of penances! Although all of us are angry, we are still unable to look at the Rishi! Great is the energy of the holy Rishi of |
cleaned soul! Behold also the endurance of the king and his royal spouse! Though worn out with toil and hunger, they are still |
bearing the car! The son of Bhrigu notwithstanding the misery he caused to Kusika and his queen, failed to mark any sign of |
dissatisfaction or agitation in them.' |
"Bhishma continued, 'The perpetuator of Bhrigu's race beholding the king and the queen totally unmoved, began to give away |
very largely (wealth obtained from the king's treasury) as if he were a second Lord of Treasures. At this act also, king Kusika |
Showed no mark of dissatisfaction. He did as the Rishi commanded (in the matter of those gifts). Seeing all this, that illustrious |
and best of ascetics became delighted. Coming down from that excellent car, he unharnessed the royal couple. Having freed |
them, he addressed them duly. Indeed, the son of Bhrigu, in a soft, deep, and delighted voice, said, 'I am ready to give an |
excellent boon unto you both!' Delicate as they were, their bodies had been pierced with the goad. That best of ascetics, moved |
by affection, softly touched them with his hands whose healing virtues resembled those of nectar itself, O chief of the Bharatas. |
Then the king answered, 'My wife and I have felt no toil!' Indeed, all their fatigue had been dispelled by the puissance of the |
Rishi, and hence it was that the king could say so unto the Rishi. Delighted with their conduct, the illustrious Chyavana said |
unto them, 'I have never before spoken an untruth. It must, therefore, be as I have said. This spot on the banks of the Ganga is |
very delightful and auspicious. I shall, observant of a vow, dwell for a little while here, O king! Do thou return to thy city. |
Thou are fatigued! Thou shalt come again. Tomorrow, O king, thou shalt, returning with thy spouse, behold me even here. |
Thou shouldst not give way to wrath or grief. The time is come when thou shalt reap a great reward! That which is coveted by |
thee and which is in thy heart shall verily be accomplished.' Thus addressed by the Rishi, king Kusika, with a delighted heart, |
replied unto the Rishi in these words of grave import, 'I have cherished no wrath or grief, O highly-blessed one! We have been |
cleansed and sanctified by thee, O holy one! We have once more become endued with youth. Behold our bodies have become |
exceedingly beautiful and possessed of great strength. I do not any longer see those wounds and cicatrices that were caused by |
thee on our persons with thy goad. Verily, with my spouse, I am in good health. I see my goddess become as beautiful in body |
as an Apsara. Verily, she is endued with as much comeliness and splendour as she had ever been before. All this, O great |
ascetic, is due to thy grace. Verily, there is nothing astonishing in all this, O holy Rishi of puissance ever unbaffled.' Thus |
addressed by the king, Chyavana said unto him, 'Thou shalt, with thy spouse, return hither tomorrow, O monarch!' With these |
words, the royal sage Kusika was dismissed. Saluting the Rishi, the monarch, endued with a handsome body, returned to his |
capital like unto a second chief of the celestials. The counsellors then, with the priest, came out to receive him. His troops and |
the dancing women and all his subjects, also did the same. Surrounded by them all, king Kusika, blazing with beauty and |
splendour, entered his city, with a delighted heart, and his praises were hymned by bards and encomiasts. Having entered his |
city and performed all his morning rites, he ate with his wife. Endued with great splendour, the monarch then passed the night |
happily. Each beheld the other to be possessed anew of youth. All their afflictions and pains having ceased, they beheld each |
other to resemble a celestial. Endued with the spendour they had obtained as a boon from that foremost of Brahmanas, and |
possessed as they were of forms that were exceedingly comely and beautiful, both of them passed a happy night in their bed. |
Meanwhile, the spreader of the feats of Bhrigu's race, viz., the Rishi possessed of the wealth of penances, converted, by his |
Yoga-power, that delightful wood on the bank of the Ganga into a retreat full of wealth of every kind and adorned with every |
variety of jewels and gems in consequence of which it surpassed in beauty and splendour the very abode of the chief of the |
celestials." |
SECTION LIV |
"Bhishma said, 'When that night passed away, the high-souled king Kusika awoke and went through his morning rites. |
Accompanied by his wife he then proceeded towards that wood which the Rishi had selected for his residence. Arrived there, |
the monarch saw a palatial mansion made entirely of gold. Possessed of a thousand columns each of which was made of gems |
and precious stones, it looked like an edifice belonging to the Gandharvas.[308] Kusika beheld in every part of that structure |
evidences of celestial design. And he beheld hills with delightful valleys, and lakes with lotuses on their bosom; and mansions |
full of costly and curious articles, and gateways and arches, O Bharata. And the king saw many open glades and open spots |
carpeted with grassy verdure, and resembling level fields of gold. And he saw many Sahakaras adorned with blossoms, and |
Ketakas and Uddalakas, and Dhavas and Asokas, and blossoming Kundas, and Atimuktas. And he saw there many Champakas |
and Tilakas and Bhavyas and Panasas and Vanjulas and Karnikaras adorned with flowers. And the king beheld many |
Varanapushpas and the creepers called Ashtapadika all clipped properly and beautifully.[309] And the king beheld trees on |
which lotuses of all varieties bloomed in all their beauty, and some of which bore flowers of every season. And he noticed also |
many mansions that looked like celestial cars or like beautiful mountains. And at some places, O Bharata, there were tanks and |
lakes full of cool water and at others were those that were full of warm or hot water. And there were diverse kinds of excellent |
seats and costly beds, and bedsteads made of gold and gems and overlaid with cloths and carpets of great beauty and value. Of |
comestible there were enormous quantities, well-dressed and ready for use. And there were talking parrots and she-parrots and |
Bhringarajas and Kokilas and Catapatras with Koyashtikas and Kukkubhas, and peacocks and cocks and Datyuhas and |
Jivajivakas and Chakoras and monkeys and swans and Sarasas and Chakravakas.[310] Here and there he beheld bevies of |
rejoicing Apsaras and conclaves of happy Gandharvas, O monarch. And he beheld other Gandharvas at other places rejoicing |
with their dear spouses. The king sometimes beheld these sights and sometimes could not see them (for they seemed to |
disappear from before his eyes). The monarch heard also melodious strains of vocal music and the agreeable voices of |
preceptors engaged in lecturing to their disciples on the Vedas and the scriptures. And the monarch also heard the harmonious |
cackle of the geese sporting in the lakes. Beholding such exceedingly wonderful sights, the king began to reflect inwardly, |
saying, 'Is this a dream? Or is all this due to an aberration of my mind? Or, is it all real? O, I have, without casting off my |
earthly tenement, attained to the beatitude of heaven! This land is either the sacred country of the Uttara-Kurus, or the abode, |
called Amaravati, of the chief of the celestials! O, what are these wonderful sights that I behold!' Reflecting in this strain, the |
monarch at last saw that foremost of Rishis. In that palace of gold (endued) with columns (made) of jewels and gems, lay the |
son of Bhrigu stretched on a costly and excellent bed. With his wife by his side the king approached with a delighted heart the |
Rishi as he lay on that bed. Chyavana, however, quickly disappeared at this, with the bed itself upon which he lay. The king |
then beheld the Rishi at another part of those woods seated on a mat made of Kusa grass, and engaged in mentally reciting |
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