Story 150 - The Story Of King Bamba

IN a certain country there is a King. There are seven Princesses (daughters) of the King. He does not allow the seven Princesses to go anywhere outside [the palace precincts], and having caused a pool to be dug in the very palace for bathing, also, the Princesses bathe [in it].

When they have bathed, there is a drain for letting out the water. A Turtle came along the drain, and having entered the pool, when it was there, one day the water having filled the pool the Princesses went. While they were having water-games, one Princess struck against the Turtle, and while she was crying out [in alarm], the other six having become afraid sprang ashore. Having sprung there and gone running, they told their father the King.

Afterwards the King and Ministers having come and opened the drain, when they looked after the water lowered there was a Turtle. The Ministers took away the Turtle.

Thereupon the King said,

“For the fault that it frightened my Princesses, what is the suitable punishment to inflict on this one ?”

Then a Minister said,

“Having fixed a noose to its neck and hung it up for thirty paeyas (twelve hours), let it go.”

Thereupon another Minister said,

“The punishment is not good enough. Not in that way. Having prepared a bon-fire you ought to put this Turtle into the bon-fire.”

Thereupon the Turtle laughed.

Then yet [another] Minister said,

“That punishment is not good enough; I will tell you one. In the Atirawati^[1] river the water is very swift; the water goes and falls into the Naga residence.^[2] Having taken that one you ought to put it into that.”

Then the Turtle, after having shrugged its shoulders, said,

“O Lord, Your Majesty, though you should inflict all other punishments don’t inflict that punishment on me.”

Just as it was saying it, the King said,

“Ade ! Take that to that very one and put it in.”

After that, the Ministers having taken the Turtle put it into the Atirawati river.

When it was put in, the Turtle, having gone turning and turning round, fell into the Naga residence. Well then, the shore is not a suitable place.

Now then, the Turtle thinks,

“Should I stay thus the Nagayas, seizing me, will eat me. Because of it, I must go near the great Naga King, Mahakela^[3] by name.”

The great Naga King, Mahakela by name, having seen this Turtle, asked,

“Whence earnest thou ? Who art thou ?”

Then the Turtle gave answer,

“O Lord, Your Majesty, they call me, indeed, the Minister, Purnaka by name, of King Bamba of Bamba City. Because there was no other man to come [to make] appearance (daekuma) before Your Honour (numba-wahanse) , His Majesty our King sent me.”

Then the Naga King asked,

“What is the business for which he sent thee ?”

Then the Turtle says,

“There are seven Princesses of His Majesty our King. Out of them, His Majesty our King is willing to give any Princess you want, for the Naga residence. Because of it he sent me.”

Thereupon the Naga King says,

“It is good. If he is thus willing I will cause two persons to make the journey with thee.”

Then the Turtle says,

“O Lord, Your Majesty, permission has been given to me for [only] seven days’ [absence]; because of it, I must go this very day.”

Afterwards the great Naga King, Mahakela by name, having despatched two Nagayas, said,

“Ye having gone to the world of men (nara-lowa), looking into matters there, until ye come back do no injury to anyone.”

Well then, when these two Nagayas and the Turtle are coming along the Turtle says,

“I am unable to go like Your Honours go; having lifted me up carry me a little.”

After that, the two Nagayas, lifting up the Turtle, came [with him] to this world.

Having come near the city, the Turtle said,

“ Now then, place me on the ground; I cannot go thus. When I have gone to the palace, the Princesses having come and said,

‘Our Minister has come,’

will ask at my hand certain articles. Because of it, I will go to that pool; until the time when I come [after] plucking a handful of flowers, you stay here.”

Having said [this], the Turtle went to the pool; after it descended [into it] those two Nagayas are looking [out for it]. The Turtle having gone to the pool, got hid.

The two Nagayas having gone to Bamba City, after they went near the King, the King asked,

“From what country came ye ?”

Then the Nagayas said,

“What is [the meaning of] that speech that Your Honour is saying ? Your Honour must understand. By Your Honour a Minister [was] sent to oui Naga dwelling-place—was he not ?—thereafter to tell us to come. That there are Your Honour’s seven Princesses, Your Honour’s Minister, Purnaka by name, went and told our King. Afterwards our King sent us two, with Your Honour’s Minister, Purnaka by name.”

Then King Bamba says,

“Is it true that a King like me gives [in] marriage to frog-eating beasts like you ?”

Having said it, he scolded them with many low words.

Afterwards the two Nagayas having gone again to the Naga residence told the Naga King,

“King Bamba scolded us much;”

having said it the two wept.

Afterwards collecting as many Nagayas as were [there], the Naga King having come to Bamba City, the Naga King called Mahakela and yet [another] Naga King twined [themselves] from the King’s head down to the two feet, and raising their heads above [him] asked at the hand of King Bamba,

“Wilt thou give thy Princess or not ?”.

King Bamba said,

“To thy taking any Princess thou wantest to thy country, there is not any impediment by me.”

Afterwards the Naga King^[4] having taken a good [looking] Princess, [a daughter of the King], and gone to the Naga residence, married the Princess to a Nagaya.

During the time when she was [there] a child [was] conceived in her womb. After it was conceived, ten months having become complete she bore a Nagaya. That Nagaya in not much time having become big, asked at the hand of his mother,

“Mother, what is [the reason] why you alone are unable to take the appearance you want ?”

Then the Princess said,

“Son, how can I take the appearance I want ? I am a human being (manussayek).”

The Nagaya asks,

“How, mother, was the manner in which you came to this country ?”

Then his mother says,

“In this manner: As many ISiagayas as were in this Naga residence having gone and fought with our father the King, taking me came away.”

Afterwards the Naga Prince says,

“Mother, I cannot stay in this country; I must go to the world of men. For it, give me permission.”

Afterwards his mother gave the Naga Prince permission.

Well then (etin), the Nagaya having come to the world of men began to practise asceticism in a rock cave. When no long time had gone in that manner, a Vaedda having seen that the Nagaya is in that rock cave, said to a snake charmer (ahi-kantayek),

“I have seen a Nagaya thus. Canst thou catch him ?”

The snake charmer (ahi-kantakaya) having said “I can,” and having gone with the Vaedda, as soon as he saw the Nagaya the snake charmer [by magic spells] put on it inability to move.^[5] Having put it on, and caught the Nagaya, and at city by city successively^[6] having made the Cobra dance, the snake charmer obtained many presents; the snake charmer became very wealthy.

After that, the Nagaya’s mother bore a Nagaya again. After that Nagaya also became big, just like the first Nagaya asked, he asked at the hand of his mother [regarding her appearance]. Then his mother, too, told him just like she told that first Nagaya.

Afterwards, the Nagaya also asking permission at the hand of his mother to come to the world of men, on the very day when he came to the world of men, at the time when the snake charmer was making that first Cobra dance at the palace of King Bamba, creating a thousand hoods, the Nagaya who was born afterwards saw him. The dancing Nagaya also saw that that Nagaya is coming. At his very coming he sent a poisonous smoke to the snake charmer. The poisonous smoke having struck him, the snake charmer died at that very place.

Afterwards, when the two Nagayas were conversing, the elder Nagaya said,

“Our grandfather's palace, indeed, is this. Because of it, indeed, to-day I danced, creating a thousand hoods. From to-day I shall not dance again.”

Well then, the two, creating divine bodies, having gone to the midst of the forest, practised asceticism.

North-western Province.

 

Note:

In The Jataka, No. 543 (vol. vi, p. 83) there is an account of a tortoise (turtle) that frightened the semi-Naga sons of Brahma-datta, King of Benares, by raising its head out of the water of the royal pool when they were playing there. When it was netted the attendants suggested pounding it to powder in a mortar, or cooking and eating it, or baking it; and at last a Minister recommended that it should be thrown into the whirlpool of the Yamuna river.

The turtle begged to be spared this last fate,—the one it desired,— but the King ordered it to be thrown into the river, in which a current led it to the dwelling of the Nagas. When the sons of the Naga King Dhatarattha found it, the turtle invented the story of its being a messenger called Cittacula, sent by the King of Benares to offer his daughter to the Naga King. Four Naga youths returned with the turtle to fix the wedding day, the turtle concealing itself in a pool on the way, on the plea of collecting lotus flowers. When the Nagas were treated with scorn, the Naga King and his forces compelled the King to surrender his daughter Samuddaja, who was married to the Naga King.

Her second semi-Naga son out of four with only his Naga wife’s knowledge went to fast on the earth, with a view to being re-born among the Gods. Lying as a cobra on an ant-hill he was pointed out by an outcast Brahmana, captured by means of a magical spell, taken to dance in villages, and at last brought to the King of Benares. The Naga’s eldest brother disguised as an ascetic, with his Naga sister, disguised as a young frog that was hidden in his hair, rescued him. The heat from three drops of poison emitted by the frog turned the snake charmer into a leper; their virulence, had it not been magically quenched, would have caused a seven years’ drought.

Snake doctors in Ceylon classify the frog as a very poisonous form of serpent. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 213, a gold frog was the daughter of the Serpent King, who may have been a Naga.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 188, the story resembles that given in the Jataka tale. The King’s name was Angada; he had a son and a daughter Anjana. When the turtle was caught the Ministers advised beheading it, burning it alive, or chopping it up and making it into soup; another said these deaths were not cruel enough, and recommended casting it into the sea; it was thrown into a river. The Naga’s parents, sister, and brother sought for it in the form of birds, and the snake charmer was sent away by Angada, with presents.

In the same work, vol. iii, p. 346, a Queen bore a human son after being visited by a great serpent while half asleep. Professor Chavannes referred to other early instances of such supposed births.

In the Kolhan folk-tales (Bompas) appended to Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 452, there is an account of a woman who was married to a water-snake and lived with him under the water, where she bore four snake sons.

In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 155, a girl became the wife of Long Snake; after she ran away her sister married him. When he visited their father the house was set on fire and he was killed. On p. 55 a girl married a five-headed snake who became a man. (See p. 401 below, also).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Aciravati, now the Rapti.

[2]:

Nanga bawanata ; throughout the text Nagaya is spelt Nangaya.

[3]:

In the Mahavansa, chap. xxxi, the name of the Naga King is Mahakala.. but in the Sin. Thupavansaya, p. 87, it is Mahakela.

[4]:

Nanga rajayo.

[5]:

This power over snakes by means of spells (mantras) is mentioned in the Maha Bharata (Adi Parva, cxcii). There are spells which are believed to render any animal incapable of movement.

See also vol. iii, Nos. 245 and 252. On one occasion, when I went after a “rogue” elephant I had with me an old tracker who claimed to know an infallible spell of this kind. After we had been charged by the animal, however, I discovered him in the upper part of an adjoining tree, his excuse being that the elephant was deaf and could not hear the words of the spell.

[6]:

Nuwarak nuwarak pasa.