Chapter 158 - Maṇibhadra’s Death

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Sūta said:

1-3. Having received the two pills from the Sun, the stealer (evaporator) of waters, he took food after a long delay. Puṣpa then proceeded towards Vaidiśā.

O excellent Brāhmaṇas, Puṣpa was highly pleased in his mind when he reached Vaidiśā. He put the white pill in this mouth. Immediately, the Brāhmaṇa was transformed into one identical with Maṇibhadra.

With a highly delighted mind he entered his house which was on the main road leading to the market.

4. Then he called the eunuch stationed at the threshold. After presenting him with garments, he spoke to the eunuch:

5-6ab. “O Ṣaṇḍha (eunuch), an impostor, very clever in disguising himself, is moving about in the entire city in my guise. Now in his artificial guise, he is sure to come to our house to tempt the inmates. He should be refused entry.” He (Ṣaṇḍha) nodded assent saying, “It shall be so” and stood (alert) at the entrance.

7-8. Thereafter, Puṣpa spoke to his (Maṇibhadra’s) wife named Māhikā: “O Māhikā, today I saw my father Vīrabhadra standing before me clad in dirty rags and feeling highly distressed. He spoke in harsh words thus to me:

9-17a. ‘Fie upon you! Fie upon you! O sinful one, a very beautiful girl of excellent middle has been married by you after deceiving her father.

O my son, nothing has been given to her or to her father by you. You are keeping her like a widow always clad in white garments.

With sin lurking within you hold her back; you do not give her food to eat. So, give by all means ten thousand pieces of gold to her father.

Whatever ornament she likes, let your wife wear it and become highly delighted.

A woman without inner happiness, it is quite obvious, will not conceive. Since the line of family that is not perpetuated by a child will fall on the earth from heaven, our family will undoubtedly fall due to you, the cause of the ruin of the family.’ So he said.

Now bring those excellent clothes from within the house, given by the king and the five articles of present gained by my business deals and wear these yourself And cook our tasty dish quickly. I shall take food with you. We shall take food from the same pot. It is undoubtedly his command.”

17b-18. The girl was delighted by what he said. She also did everything accordingly. She prepared the food unhesitatingly and wore the excellent garments. Then the impatiently lustful Puṣpa began the preparation for sexual intercourse.

19-20. In the meantime, Maṇibhadra came there with great earnestness. Due to his greediness and the consequent business engagement, he had become very hungry and thirsty. When he entered the house in all eagerness, he was stopped by the eunuch who repeatedly rebuked him.

21. When he forced his entry into his own house, he was hit on his head with a heavy srick.

22. Thereupon, he fell on the ground and was overcome with unconsciousness. Afflicted by the hitting (blow) he did not know what to do.

23. A great tumult arose at the gate of that house when people who flocked there also raised a hue and cry.

24-25. Some people asked him: “Fie upon you! O sinner, what have you done? By this action you have deprived yourself of the means of sustenance. Or have you been possessed by the devil? This fellow has been brought to this plight. Surely the king will hang you.

The Ṣaṇḍha said:

26. I have not abused my means of sustenance by this action. Nor have I been possessed by the devil. This is not Maṇibhadra. He is an imposter, other man in his guise.

27. He poses himself as Maṇibhadra. He has come here to request for money. When he forced his entry he was struck on his head by me.

28. Maṇibhadra is in fact within the house. He has taken food and is resting on his bed. He is not aware of this incident that has occurred.

29. Then Puṣpa also heard the tumultuons noise outside. He came to the door in the form of Maṇibhadra.

30-31. “Some base fellow poses like myself and comes here everyday begging for money.

Of course, this Ṣaṇḍha has not done the right thing by having struck this crooked fellow on his head for having come here to beg for money.”

32-33. In the meantime, the other fellow (real Maṇibhadra) regained complete consciousness. When he looked ahead he saw a man exactly like himself. After fully surveying him he spoke these words:

34-35. “A thief has entered my house in my own form. He has bribed the eunuch with clothes to betray me. It is better you run away before I go to the king’s place and get you along with this eunuch executed.”

Puṣpa said:

36. You have come to my house in my guise thinking that the house is unoccupied. Then you come to know that I am in the house.

37. Therefore, I shall take you to the king for getting you done to death without any doubt. Or, if you wish to live, O sinful man, run away.

Sūta said:

38. After saying this to each other they began to fight dual. With great difficulty they were restrained by other people.

39. The kinsmen of Maṇibhadra who came there could not differentiate between the two and establish the identity of real Maṇibhadra.

40. With their large eyes blazing like heated copper due to anger, they argued and quarrelled like Bāli and Sugrīva who fought with each other over Tārā.

41. They went to the palace entrance and stood there in the midst of their own kinsmen. The king was informed by the doorman and they came to the Assembly Hall.

42. O excellent Brāhmaṇas, they appeared to be eager to slay each other and they shouted, “Oh you thief! Oh you thief!" The king glanced at both the twice-borns.

43-44. There was no bodily difference distinguishing between them. After the royal affairs at the court were over, they were asked in regard to all well-known and secret matters. They readily answered everything duly.

45. Then the kinsmen asked each of them away from the presence of the other, the details of the family and the lineage.

46. To these questions too, they gave the correct replies. Then king Bṛhatsena spoke to them all:

47. “Let the wife of Maṇibhadra be brought from his house. She shall be the real authority in identification of her husband.”

48. The officers of the king went and told her, “Come on please. Find out your husband. You alone shall be the deciding authority.”

49-50. Bashfully she stood before the king with the head covered and was asked: “Identify your dear husband. We do not know decisively. Nor these kinsmen of yours”

51-54. Then the excellent lady thought in her mind: ‘I have been scorched continuously by this Maṇibhadra in the fire of his jealousy. He orally offered plenty of cash and deceived my father. Thus he took me away but nothing was given by the sinful fellow. But this second man presented me with diverse kinds of garments and ornaments. He gave me the worldly pleasure too. He will also give my father the gold promised. So I shall grasp the second Maṇibhadra with my hand.’

55. After deciding thus mentally, she saw that the first Maṇibhadra was fully smeared with blood. So she grasped the second one.

56-57. She spoke these words when all the people listened to them: “In the presence of the sacred fire I was given in marriage to this man. This other one is an impostor of evil conduct. He has come here seeking me well-guarded by different kinds of conventions.”

58. Thereupon, O excellent Brāhmaṇas, the king became furious and commanded the hanging, from the branch of a tree, of the evil-minded Maṇibhadra.

59. In the meantime, he was handed over to the hangman. As he was being led to the tree he recited these verses:

60. “These are the innate faults and defects of women: Want of mercy, hatred, crippledness, want of cleanliness and ruthlessness.

61. Women always resemble a Guñjāphala (red-black berry) poisonous within but having charming external features only.

62. The scriptural knowledge of Uśanas, the Vedic scholarship of Bṛhaspati and the wisdom of Manu and others are nothing in comparison to the wisdom of women.

63. Nectar resides in the lips of a woman and Halāhala poison in the heart. Hence the lips are kissed and tasted while the heart (chest) is pressed hard.

64. Lac juice is Rakta (red); so also a lustful man is Rakta (attached, loving). After the essence has been taken, he too is kept beneath the soles of the feet.

65. The poisonous tree of worldly existence has evil actions as the blossom and distress in hell as the fruit. Its root however is a woman of ample buttocks.

66. Who is not terribly frightened by seeing a woman from a distance?

67. Even at the first formal union, a woman makes the whirl of the mundane existence manifest under the pretext of the customary circumambulation of the sacred fire.

68. These women defile three generations of the family (or three families) through ruthlessness, want of mercy and a perpetual sluggishness in particular.

69. The abode of the three families spotlessly clean due to its reputation, is blackened by a woman with her misdeeds, like the flame of a lamp.

70. God Brahmā has created woman who upsets virtue and piety like a violent gust of wind uprooting a tree; who bedevils the minds like moonlight that destroys lotuses; who is like an alligator in the ocean of love and who is a bolt that closes the door to salvation.

71. Woman has been created by Brahmā in regard to men like a prison-house for a group of children, a net in the forest of worldly existence and an abysmal depth in the pathway to heaven.

72. Vedhas (Brahmā) could not find any other means of binding men. Hence, he made the firm noose in the form of woman.”

73. Thus in the height of his sorrow he lamented much. Worried over his wife in various ways, he censured himself:

74. “I have been evil-minded and unwise. No benefit has been obtained by me from the worldy life. Nothing was given as gift by me at any time, because my mind was agitated by Tṛṣṇā (greed, thirst).

75. Although I had adequte wealth and prosperity no meritorious action has been done by me. I never performed a Japa or a Homa in the sacred fire.

76. As it has been truly expressed by a certain noble-souled man, ‘Like a miser there never was a great donor nor will there ever be, because without even touching his own wealth himself, he gives it to others.’

77. Riches do kill like a poison those who seek refuge therein. They are neither given away nor enjoyed by the miser.

78. There are three states (ways of being spent) to which wealth is destined: gift, enjoyment and ruin. That which is neither given nor enjoyed meets with the third (i.e.ruin).

79. Even wealthy men also who do not give are considered as extreme type of the poor. Since the ocean does not quench the thirst, it is no better than a desert.

80. Riches are fully utilized by good people where they are at ease with to and fro movements. By coming near miserly persons, they go to sleep forever.

81. Miserly persons do not get the opportunity of enjoying pleasures because of their own Karinas. When it comes to the enjoyment of grapes, crows eating oblations suffer from inflammation of the mouth.

82. When one has adequate wealth, one should make a gift of it or enjoy it fully. One shall not hoard it. Look here: Others take away what is stored by honey-bees.

83. The well-guarded wealth of the miser that has been begged for but not distributed to excellent Brāhmaṇas, that has been hoarded but not employed in an excellent Yajña, is (finally) used up in the abodes of thieves and kings.

84. Munificence is a virtue of the wealthy; wealthiness is a virtue of the munificent; separation of wealth and munificence is a mockery.

85. What can be done with that wealth which is no exclusive possession like a bride nor a common property enjoyed even by travellers like a harlot?

86. Life is sustained by the warmth of wealth. Even without foodstuff man can have it. That by which the earth is sustained is the warmth from the miser.

87. Śeṣa (the serpent) supports the earth, thanks to the favour of the misers, because they keep their wealth under the ground and the warmth therefrom (gives comfort to Śeṣa)”

88. Thus Maṇibhadra went on prattling much. Even as he continued the prattle thus he was scolded by the men of the king with harsh words and they hanged him.