Rajatarangini of Kalhana:Kings of Kashmira/Appendix D
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Being A Translation of the Sanskrit Work
Rajatarangini of Kalhana Pandita
By Jogesh Chunder Dutt
1887
London: Trubner & Co.[p.vi]:The stories that are related of king Meghavahana, are as follow :—
King Meghavahana and Nagas
One day when he was walking, he heard a cry near him of " thief thief," and he also heard the voice of weeping. " Who is there, kill the thief," said the king in anger; after which the crying ceased, but he saw not the thief. Two or three days after when he went out to ride, some two or three beautiful women came to him for help. The kind-hearted king stopped his horse, and heard what they had to say. They made their obeisance and said : " merciful king ! Since thou hast begun to reign, who shall fear the oppression of other men ? Once, when the sky was covered with clouds, and the peasants were afraid of a hail storm and anxious to protect their fields of ripened corn, they got angry with the Nagas who were our husbands and raised the cry of ' thief.' You heard it and ordered that thy should be killed, and they were bound with ropes. Now have mercy on us and on them. The king smiled and ordered them to be released. The Nagas, thus freed, bowed, to the king and went away with their wives.
King Meghavahana and hunter Chief
It is related that in an expedition which this king led against others, he meditated when his soldiers were sleeping at ease under the Palm trees, how he could conquer the island before him. While thus thinking, he heard a cry from the seaside forest exclaiming " Even In the reign
[p.vii]: of Meghavahana this man is killed." Grieved to hear this the king went to the spot taking with him an umbrella, and there he saw a hunter chief killing a man beore the temple of Chandi. "Fie to your wicked act," said the king to the hunter, " you do not know what may betide you." The hunter became afraid, and replied that his child was lying on the point of death, and a heavenly voice had proclaimed that if he sacrificed the man before the shrine of Chandi his child would be saved. For a long time he offered no sacrifice, and hence his child was dying, and his many friends also would die, for the child was the life of all. "You protect the helpless, and why do you not protect the child whose death many will lament." When the king heard the words of the hunter and looked on the suppliant look of the man who was being sacrificed, he thus said "Hear O hunter, I shall protect both you and your child and its many friends, as also this friendless man. Here I offer myself a sacrifice before the goddess, kill me without fear, and let them both live. Astonished at this great self-sacrifice of the king, the hunter replied " your mercy, O ! king, has got the better of your reason ; why should you disregard your valuable life which should be saved at the cost of the three worlds ? Kings should not care for pride or fame or virtue or wealth or friends or wives or sons when their own life is in danger. Therefore have no mercy on this man. If you live, your subjects as well as my son will live." To this the king who was willing to offer himself a sacrifice thus replied : "What do you know of justice, you who dwell in forests ; the inhabitants of the deserts know not the pleasure of bathing in the Ganges. Do you, O! fool, oppose my attempt to buy immortal glory with this mortal body? Speak no more, if yon feel hesitation to strike me, cannot I do so with my own sword ?" Thus saying he drew his sword, and when he was on the point of striking himself, his hand was stayed by a heavenly being, and his head was crowned with flowers. And he saw not the goddess nor the hunter nor the victim nor the child. A divine personage introduced himself to the king as Varuna. He said that the umbrella which stood over the king's head was captured by the king's father-in-law named Rauma from his city in former times. " Without the umbrella," said Varuna, "our subjects are subjected to endless dangers. Therefore, before
[p.viii]: taking back this umbrella, I have tested your kindness, and this magical show was my own creation." The king then delivered the umbrella to Varuna, and also offered prayers to him, and said that " even the kalpa tree was not equal to good beings. For the tree gave blessings when asked, while the good gave benefits unasked. If you had not asked the umbrella for the benefit of your subjects, but had taken it for your own use, your act would not have been righteous. Charitable men do not favor their dependants by halves, a tree gives shade as well as fruits. Urged by my dependants I ask for some favor. With your favor I have , conquered the whole earth, now advise me how I can cross the ocean to the island." Then replied Varuna that " if you wish, to cross the sea I will make its water hard." The king acknowledged the favor when the god disappeared with the umbrella. On the next day, the king crossed the hardened sea, with his astonished army.
King Meghavahana and sacrifice of a living beings
It is said that some time after he had forbidden the killing of animals, a Brahmana took his dead son and came to the king's door and began to weep. He said that as he had given no sacrifice to Durga, who wanted some, his only son had died of fever that day. " If you do not save my son O ! king ! by permitting the sacrifice of a living being I shall hold thee as the cause of the child's death. Say thou I chief of men ! if there is no difference between the life of a Brahmana and that of a beast. Those kings are dead, O ! mother earth I who killed even Rishis to save Brahmanas." When the Brahmana, had said these and other harsh words through grief, the king thought that he had resolved not to kill animals, and asked himself if he should break his vow for the Brahmana. " But if he dies for me," he thought, " I shall be guilty of greater sin, my mind is in doubt, nor can it choose either alternative, like the flower which falls in the whirl-pool where many currents meet. Therefore, by sacrificing myself, I, shall satisfy Durga, I shall save the life of the Brahmaua and of his son, as well as keep my promise." Thus determining he dismissed the Brahmana, promising to revive his son the next day. In the night, when the king was going to sacrifice himself, Durga prevented him from so doing, and brought the Brahmana's dead son to life again.