Chapter 111 - Lamentation of the King of Ānarta

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

The sages said:

1-4. O Sūtaja, mention in detail all the Gotras of those Brāhmaṇas by whom the Śivakṣetras were brought and which holy spot was brought by which Brāhmaṇa of which Gotra, thanks to the favour of Śaṅkara, at the advent of that Kali age. How many Gotras were established in the excellent city of Camatkāra by the highly devout (King as) Ānarta? Earlier, you had mentioned that the city was built and bequeathed to Brāhmaṇas; but you had not mentioned their number. So do tell us now.

Sūta said:

5. Advice was imparted earlier by seventy-two leading sages. Formerly, the Lord of Ānarta was afflicted by the disease of leprosy. He hurriedly went to the Śaṅkha Tīrtha and had his holy bath.

6. Thereby, the leprosy of the king was instantly cured and disappeared, thanks to the greatness of that Tīrtha, though he had been dejected with the condition of his body at first.

7. When he was rid of the disease, he became extremely delighted. He bowed down to the excellent sages repeatedly and said:

8-9. “O excellent Brāhmaṇas tell me what appeals to you and how much thereof. Is it gold? Or an elephant? Or a horse? Or my entire kingdom? Or any other thing? I shall give them unto you. I am in a wretched plight. I am bowing down to you. May I be favoured.”

The Brāhmaṇas said:

10. We are Brāhmaṇas of the third stage (Vānaprastha) of life with non-acceptance of gifts as our virtue. We are those who wash off immediately (i.e. who spend money on sacred rites without hoarding it). Of what avail to us are riches and kingdom?

The king said:

11. One who does not help others in return after being helped by them is a sinner. He is called ungrateful.

12. Expiation has been enjoined by learned men for a Brāhmaṇa-slayer, an imbiber of liquor, a thief, a rogue who violates solemn vows etc. But there is no rite of atonement for an ungrateful one.

13. Hence, O excellent Brāhmaṇas, be pleased with me and tell me something whereby I shall be free from indebtedness and my life will be a good one.

The sages said:

14. O highly esteemed one, it is indeed true that there is no rite of atonement for the ungrateful. But the defect is only there where the donor is one having some desire.

15. O leading king, if one who has no desire is the person who renders help, there is not the slighest defect.

16. Hence, do go and protect your kingdom according to Dharma, whereby there shall be happiness in this world as well as in the other world.

17. Thus a thousand times the Brāhmaṇas refused to accept anything from the king. He bowed down to them repeatedly and went to his abode with great difficulty.

18. With great delight, he installed a fascinating idol of Maheśvara after reaching his place. He performed adoration along with observance of Jāgaraṇa (keeping awake at night) with songs, dances and instrumental music. After duly destroying the enemies, he ruled the kingdom.

19. Day and night, he used to think about those Brāhmaṇas: ‘How can I help in return those Brāhmaṇas who gave me this new, fresh body (free from illness)?’

20. All those excellent sages were endowed with the power of moving through the sky, due to their penance. They used to go to different Tīrthas with great devotion.

21. They used to perform the rites of holy bath, Japa and Tarpaṇa (libation unto the Pitṛs) in those places and later they came back to their hermitages and continued their earthly sustenance.

22-24. A few of those Brāhmaṇas carried on their daily rites there itself. Others went to far-off Tīrthas. After visiting those charming places and spending there a night or two they used to return home. A few others returned within three days.

(They visited) Vārāṇasi, Prayāga, Puṣkara, Naimiṣa, Prabhāsa and Kedāra. They never desired to stay in any other holy place.

25-26. Once all those excellent Brāhmaṇas resolved to take their holy bath in the three Puṣkaras at the time of the Kārttikī festival day. They decided: “We shall stay there for five nights with mental concentration and purity. The protection of our wives shall be done by the sacred fires within our homes.”

27. When those excellent Brāhmaṇas went thus with such a decision, the king came to know that no one stayed behind.

28-34. The king came to know that no one among those leading sages, the residents of the hermitages in the excellent Tīrtha, stayed behind.

There was a lady with the countenance resembling the disc of the moon. She was well-known as Damayantī (one of his queens evidently). He said to her thus in secret: “O lady of charming smiles, do go now at my bidding to the holy spot of Hāṭakeśvara. The wives of the sages of purified souls live there. Give them different kinds of ornaments as per their desire (and liking). O lady of excellent hips, though I attempted to tempt them many times, their husbands never accepted presents from us. Women always think much of the ornaments. They always cherish a fancy and temptation for ornaments. Even if an ornament is made of clay, wood, thread, wax or glass a woman eagerly wears it. This alone affords a possibility of helping them. O lady of eyes like the petals of a lotus, there is no other means at all.”

35. She said “So be it” and joyously went to that holy place, taking with her different kinds of ornaments.

36-38. There were splendid earrings made of jewels and pearls; necklaces shining like the moon and big anklets studded with Indranīla and Mahānīla (blue sapphires) and lapis lazuli, rubies, diamonds etc., of great charm. There were bracelets, bangles of divine exquisiteness resembling splendid rainbows. There were gold threads and girdles of excellent quality.

39. On the auspicious day of Viṣṇu’s waking up (i.e. eleventh day in the bright half of the month of Kārttika) she took her holy bath in a tank and observed fast.

40. The huge mountain-like heap of the great ornaments was placed on the bank. The lustre of those ornaments illuminated the entire firmament.

41. In the meantime wives of the sages came there in their eagerness to know how the queen looked like and what ornaments she wore.

42. They saw the beautiful queen adorned with divine ornaments engaged in meditation. They thought thus:

43. ‘This queen is blessed. She is adorned with ornaments thus. She is Damayantī of excellent beauty, marked with all characteristic features.’

44. After concluding her meditation, Damayantī looked at the saintly ladies (women-sages) and duly bowed down to them.

45-46. She spoke these charming, sweet words with palms joined in reverence: “On this day of Hari, I have taken the holy bath and observed fast with the Garuḍa-emblemed Lord in view. I have set apart this collection of ornaments.

O saintly ladies, these ornaments of various kinds have been given to you joyously by me. May you be pleased to accept them. Let me be favoured thus.”

Then one of those ladies said:

47. This pearl necklace is mine. Give this to me. O beloved wife of the king, I have no other desire.

48. The queen laughed loudly and washed her feet and gave her the pearl necklace along with divine garments. The pure pearls themselves weighed six Māṣas.

49. O excellent Brāhmaṇas, the pearls shone like stars in autumn.

Another Tāpasī lady urged by rivalry requested for a pure necklace of inestimable value and blameless lustre. It was highly pleasing to the mind.

50. The queen took the necklace in the hand and gave it to her. By that time, another lady eagerly longing for elegant embellishments caught hold of the necklace.

51. Then, O Brāhmaṇas, the remaining Tāpasīs too became eager to seize the ornaments. They vied with one another in seizing the ornaments themselves.

52. One lady seized the beautiful ornament in the hand of another with force and attacked her.

53. As the Tāpasīs were continuously honoured with ornaments, Damayantī’s joy rose in her heart.

54. She threw at them hundreds and thousands of ornaments. Still, O excellent Brāhmaṇas, they were not satisfied.

55-56. The beloved queen of the king found the ornaments exhausted. She told all of them: “Be satisfied with this much today. I shall undoubtedly bring other ornaments of wonderful features and give them to you as you like.”

57. Then all of them said: “O beloved wife of the king, do go. Come again taking more ornaments.”

58. On being told thus, O excellent Brāhmaṇas, the beloved wife of the king bowed down to them and joyously went to her city quickly.

59. The Tāpasīs too went to their abodes and vied with one another in openly displaying and wearing the different kinds of clothes and ornaments on their bodies.

60. With the exception of four Tāpasīs of solemn vows and restraints, all the others accepted these embellishments and ornaments as they pleased.

61-63. Then the day dawned and the pure disc of the sun rose up. The queen brought further collections of ornaments and garments. She gave them to the Tāpasīs and they accepted them as before. Thus with great devotion she continued to offer the gifts daily for five days. The beloved wives of the sages became satisfied. Making the gifts with sincere devotion, the queen did not rest satisfied.

64. Then she heard that four lady sages (Tāpasīs) still continued to wear bark garments or antelope skins. They were without any desire and they did not come to her (for any sort of present). Nor did they appear to be jealous of the other Tāpasīs who were well-adorned.

65-66. Thereupon, the queen of blameless qualities took with her very valuable ornaments on the Pañcamī (fifth) day and hurriedly went to them. She said to them all: “May you be pleased. May these ornaments be received for the sake of adorning yourselves.”

The Tāpasīs said:

67. We have nothing to do with the ornaments. We consider ourselves well adorned with our own bark garments. You may go back to your own mansion. Let everything be given to those who seek.

68. Even as they were talking to her thus, the excellent Brāhmaṇas, the four husbands, came there.

69. They were Śunaḥśepa, Śākreya, Bauddha and the fourth one Dānta. All these four came to their hermitage by the aerial path.

70-71. All the rest (of the sages) lost their capacity to move through the air and had to resort to the paths on the ground.

They found their hermitages were a mockery of their former ones, desecrated due to ornaments.

They said: “What is this? What is this? Our saintly wives have been deceived by the offer of garments and ornaments. Who is that sinner by whom this hermitage of ours has been made a mockery by offering ornaments and garments to the saintly wives?”

Their wives said:

72. That woman who is the wife of King Camatkāra was present here. Ornaments were given to everyone by her.

73. The beloved queen of the king was here in our houses also in order to give ornaments thus. But that was rejected by us.

Sūta said:

74. On hearing those words, all of them became extremely angry. By way of giving curses to the King’s wife, they said thus repeatedly:

75-77. “O sinful woman, seventy-two of us went to Puṣkara for taking the holy bath on the Kārttikī day with the speed of mind and wind, by the aerial path.”

Only four have come back, those whose wives did not accept the gifts at all, of the silly woman, the wife of the king.

Since this hermitage of the sages has beeen deceitfully desecrated you shall be transformed into the ugly shape of a rock.”^[1]

78. At the very instant, she was turned into a rock. Immediately, after the utterance of the sages, she became motionless.

79. Thereupon all her attendants became extremely distressed. With their eyes filled with tears in their wretched state, they set off towards their city.

80. O excellent Brāhmaṇas, they told the king the entire report about the curse of Queen Damayantī.

81. On hearing the details of the curse the king hurriedly went to the forest to pacify the Brāhmaṇas. He was in great distress.

82-83. On coming to know that the king had arrived there in order to pacify them in the matter concerning his wife, all those four sages quickly went to Kurukṣetra by the aerial path taking their wives and the Agnihotra requisites with them.

84. The king assiduously searched for the sages everywhere. He became tired and dejected in addition to his grief at the plight of his wife.

85. Thereafter he went to that place where his queen was present in the form of a rock. She was surrounded by the groups of the Tāpasīs.

86. On seeing her in such a state, the king who had been attended upon by all the servants repeatedly uttered “Alas! Alas!” Ultimately, he fell down on the ground and swooned.

87. Water was sprinkled on him. With very great difficulty he regained consciousness. Later he recollected the various good qualities of his beloved and began to lament.

88-90. “Alas! my beloved with eyes resembling those of a fawn! O lady of splendid countenance, by abandoning me, your dear lover, you have put an end to my very life. Where have you gone?

Hitherto you never took food until I had taken mine. You never went to sleep until I did. You have never transgressed my behests with misplaced haughtiness due to your conjugal felicity.

I don’t remember that any evil utterance was made by you even in private, O lady of large eye. There is no question of your doing so publicly during dinner or in the assembly?”

Sūta said:

91. In the meantime the ministers of the king heard that he was in such a plight. They came to the place where the king was piteously lamenting.

92. They enlightened and consoled him with detailed accounts of ancient saintly kings facing calamities.

93. As the king heaved sighs like an elephant (or serpent) bereft of its splendour in an utterly wretched state with tears turning his eyes turbid, they took the king away.

94. He created a beautiful shrine for her all round. He embellished his wife in the form of a rock with camphor, agallochum incense, garments, saffron, sandal-paste etc.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The curse is not justifiable. Damayantī obeyed her husband who wanted to return the obligations of the sages.