INDIA. PART II. Marriage cus culty in fighting son was killed the moment it was born. And if a man stayed HISTORY OF for more than a month in that country he was put to death; and such of his women as were with child remained alive, but such as were not with child burned themselves with his dead toms. body; for which reason every man who could escape ran away after twenty or twenty-five days. When Arjuna arrived in this Arjuna's difficountry, he said to the warriors about him :-"This is a mar- against women. vellous country that the horse has led us to: If we conquer these women we shall obtain no credit thereby ; but if we are conquered our disgrace will be greater than can be conceived: Moreover, these women are of great strength, and whoever lives with them for a month is a dead man: They will now seize our horse, and we shall find it hard to stand against them." men. of the Amazons. the horse to ramita. Whilst Arjuna and his warriors were engaged in this dis- Extreme beauty course, the women made their appearance; and they were all in the very prime of beauty. And they wore necklaces of the best-shaped pearls, and were attired in splendid dresses; and they were mounted upon horses, with quivers tied to their waists, and bows in their hands; and they were all perfect in the arts of love, and in the various ways of fascinating As soon as the horse caught their eyes, one of them They carry away ran and seized hold of it, and led it to the Rání, and told her their Rání Pawho followed it and what was its destination; and the Rání ordered it to her stable to serve as a war horse. Then the Rání mounted an elephant, and all her female forces mounted Go out to meet Arjuna on their horses, and they all went out to meet Arjuna; and they elephants and were all of perfect beauty, and between fourteen and sixteen years of age, and the Rání Paramita was the very perfection of loveliness. And when these beautiful damsels saw that Arjuna and most of his warriors were mounted on chariots, they all laughed, and said :-" Are these men who are riding Laugh at the in their chariots come to vanquish us who are mounted on Arjuna and his horses?" The Rání then advanced upon her elephant, and addressed herself to Arjuna, and said:-" You, O Arjuna, have triumphed over many men of note; see now if you man enough to resist my attack." She then shot a single arrow with such exceeding grace that Arjuna and most of his be horses. chariots of warriors. HISTORY OF warriors were abashed. And the Rání said to him :-" INDIA. PART II. Rání rejected by Arjuna. engages to marry the Rání. : "I my self will take you prisoner, and make you my slave; and Proposals of the you must give up this unprofitable Aswamedha sacrifice, and come and drink wine with me, and pass your time in great pleasure." Arjuna replied :—" I have heard that whosoever falls into your embraces certainly dies; and if I loiter here with you, who will take care of the horse?" Paramita said: "Either way your death is nigh, for if you fight me you will fall by my arrows, and if you yield to me you will fall by the light of my eyes: But since you seem to have no desire for my love, I will slay you with an iron arrow." Then Arjuna defeated, Paramita discharged some more arrows, and Arjuna found it impossible to withstand her; so he advanced and said:"I am enamoured with your beauty and grace, and your skill and bravery; and I desire to lay aside all hostility against you, and to offer you my hand: But you are a woman of understanding, and you know that I am now engaged in an Aswamedha sacrifice, and that I cannot associate with a woman until the sacrifice is completed; but I promise that when I arrive at Hastinapur I will espouse you in the midst of my brethren and kinsmen, and will find suitable husbands for all the women who may come with you, for there we have men in plenty." When the Rání heard these words, she was extremely pleased, and said to Arjuna :-" It was my intention to make war against you, and to slay both you and all your people; but I will now make peace with you on condition that you accept me in marriage; and I will go to Hastinápur, and remain with Raja Yudhishthira until you Amazons restore return." So she sent for the horse, and restored it to Arjuna, and placed one of her own kinswomen in her room to govern the country; and then in great pomp and splendour, and accompanied with vast numbers of women, and goods and baggage beyond calculation, and all the finest jewels and Paramita pro- curiosities that eye ever saw, she set out for the city of Hastinápur, whilst Arjuna again let the horse loose, and went after him. Superabundance of men at Hastinapur. the horse. ceeds to Has tinápur. Sixth adventure of the horse. After this the horse encountered a sixth adventure in a country where the trees were very large and wonderful to INDIA. PART II. Enters a coun women, and upon trees. blanket ears. of the Brahman Raja. behold; for instead of fruit they bore men and women upon HISTORY OF their branches, as well as elephants, horses, kine, goats, sheep, asses, and various other animals. But all these human and animal fruits were very short-lived; for when it try where men, was noon they were young and vigorous, but as the day animals grow drew towards a close they grew older and older, until at the setting of the sun they all died. Every day these fruits were produced, and grew to maturity at noon, and died at sunset. And the men of this country had ears like blankets, Men with and with one of these ears they covered their heads and with the other they covered their bodies. And all the men and animals in this country had bodies that were crooked and distorted. Some of the men had the faces of horses, Monsters. and others the faces of asses, and some had but one eye, or one leg, or one arm, whilst others had three eyes, or three legs, or three arms. And the Raja of this country had a Terrible aspect Bráhman for his Minister. And this Brahman wore a string Minister of the of human heads over his shoulder instead of the sacred thread, and he carried human skulls in his hand; and he had the skull of an elephant hollowed out for a drinking cup; and for ear-rings he wore a dead elephant in one ear and a dead camel in the other; and for a walking-staff he had the bones of a dead cow. Now when this Bráhman saw The Brahman the sacrificial horse, he went to the Raja and said to him :— "An enemy of yours has entered this country, whose name people, and is Arjuna, and it was his brother Bhíma that slew father, the Asura: Now therefore do you seize Arjuna, and all the people that are with him, and perform a Naramedha sacrifice, so that all of them may be burnt in the sacrificial fire: For this sacrifice has great merit, just as he who drinks Merit of the wine and blood acquires great merit. And for this sacrifice of yours I will collect a number of Bráhmans who Saniases who are drinkers of blood and wine, and who eat human flesh; and wine-drinkas well as a number of Saniases who have performed penances for many years in the pagodas and sacred places, and who celebrate their rites by eating the flesh of maidens: And this was the sacrifice which was performed by performed by Rávana, and by celebrating it you will become a second your advises the Raja to seize perform a Nara- sacrifice. Brahmans and are cannibals ers. The sacrifice Rávana. INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF Rávana, and we will all pray for you." And the Raja replied" Your counsel is good!" So the Raja went out, with all the men and women of the country, to fight against Arjuna; and they employed many enchantments and magical arts. But after much fighting the Raja was slain by Arjuna, and all his forces fled in great confusion, and betook themselves to various quarters of the world and to the islands of the sea; and so that country was cleared of all these Plunder of the wicked Daityas. And Arjuna entered their abodes and The Raja defeated by Arjuna, and his people escape to the islands of the sea. city of the Daityas by Arjuna. found much gold and jewels beyond all calculation. So Arjuna distributed some among his soldiers, and some among the Rajas who accompanied him; and he loaded very much treasure upon camels and elephants, and sent them away to Raja Yudhishthira, and his other brethren, and his friends who were in Hastinápur. Arjuna then and families of commanded that all the houses and families of the Daityas should be burnt; after which the horse was again loosened to wander where it would. Arjuna burns all the houses the Daityas. Seventh adventure of the horse. Enters the country of Manipura. Mythical description of Raja Babhruváhana. So the horse went on for many days, until he entered the country of Manipura, and there he met with his seventh adventure. And the Raj of Manipura contained many wellpeopled cities, and the Raja at that time was Babhru-váhana, the same whom Chitrángadá, the daughter of the previous Raja, had borne to Arjuna during his twelve years' exile. This Raja Babhru-váhana was without an equal in prowess and manhood. And in his Raj of Manipura there was not such a being as a liar, and the women were always obedient to their husbands; and there were also many wise and devout Rishis in the Raj, who studied the Vedas. And the whole country enjoyed tranquillity under the reign of Raja Babhru-váhana; and no one was ever anxious about worldly concerns, but all their thoughts were fixed on the world to come, and employed in the worship of God; and no one in that country was ever taken up and imprisoned; and if a poor man entered that territory, the Chandels made him a ryot that he might no longer feel any regret at leaving his own country. The troops of that country were all of Chandel is the name of a numerous tribe of Rajpoots, originally from INDIA. PART II. determined bravery and great strength, and never turned HISTORY OF their backs in the day of battle, however numerous might be the enemy opposed to them. And all the people in that country spoke the Sanskrit language, and they were always by the people. happy and in good humour, and all passed their time in mirth and joy. and Sanskrit spoken On Waggons and fire weapons. revenues. Now the walls of the palace of Babhru-váhana were made City and palace. of gold, and round the whole city were walls of silver; warriors of renown kept constantly watch and ward. the outside of the city were a number of waggons bound together with chains, and in them were placed fireworks and fire weapons, and men were always stationed there to keep guard. And many thousands of chariots and elephants Exhaustless and horses were employed in bringing the revenues of the Raj, in gold and silver, to a thousand treasuries; and the people who were employed to receive the money sat day and night; but so great was the treasure that the people who brought it had to wait ten or twelve years before their turn came to account for the money they had received, and to obtain their acquittal and return home. So perfect was the comfort enjoyed in that Raj, that strangers who arrived there were led to conceive that God had placed a second paradise in this world. virtues of the And one of the Rajas that was following the horse said to wealth and Arjuna :-"There is no other country like this in the whole Raja. world: I have been accustomed to send every year to Raja Babhru-váhana, one thousand cart-loads of gold and silver, merely for leave to remain quietly in my own Raj; and if I failed to send it, an army came from him and laid waste the whole of my country: For the Raja is exceedingly brave, and also very learned and sage; so that he exceeds all the Brahmans and Rishis in the world in wisdom, as well Mahoba in Bundelkund, but now scattered over the North-Western Provinces. |