“‘That’s fine,’ said the king, a little sarcastically. ‘Your kindness is enough for me. In the end I will take care of things myself. After all, he can’t conquer except with the help of this bow and these arrows.’
“He was bragging, and Svabhava didn’t like it. ‘There’s no doubt about his defeating you in that next life, but what’s more, he’ll make both you and your wife his slaves.’
“The wise advisors intervened with great politeness, bowing. ‘Noble mind! What does this man know? If he says three words he makes six mistakes. Can we make amends to you? Won’t you take into account our humble words? He searched you out and came to you because you are in his guru’s line. Take that into consideration and give him what he wants, somehow or other.’
“‘My words will not fail,” said Svabhava. ‘They are just like what God writes on your forehead when you are born. Your king will conquer all others except the one I mentioned. That one he will also serve, along with his wife, in a very humble way. Your king will also have a child when he and his queen see a certain jewel that the king possesses.’
“The advisors thought a little. ‘We’ve been with this king for a long time, and he has been treating us well. He took our word as his word, our happiness as his. Now whom should we serve when our king himself becomes a slave to another?’
“‘Your king’s king will be your king. A certain jewel he wears will bring you happiness. You’ll even forget—all four of you and Madasaya—your past preeminence, and still you’ll be happy. Until Manikandhara is reborn, your king can go on enjoying the pleasures of conquest. After that, he will become a servant, as I have said. As for you, you will touch the jewel and find great joy.’
“With this, Svabhava, the great Siddha, sent them off. He also took leave of Manikandhara and went away, wherever he wanted to go.15 Just as he had predicted, Madasaya conquered king after king,” concluded Madhuralalasa.
Alaghuvrata had another question for the girl. “What did Manikandhara do after taking leave of the Siddha?”
That’s what he said, O king, delighting in great poetry. With a gleam from the corner of your eye, you cast away the gloom of your enemies’ dark pride.
This is the fifth chapter in the long poem called Kalapurnodayamu made by soft-spoken Suraya, son of Pingali Amaranarya, whose poetry all connoisseurs enjoy throughout the world.
1. The Telugu names have masculine and feminine endings, clear indications of gender.
2. Purohita.
3. Brahma was born out of a lotus growing from the god Vishnu’s navel. The blessing playfully reformulates the conventional one, “May your mother’s womb be cool” (mī amma kaḍupu callagā), that is, “May you live long.”
4. In fact, the parrot reborn as the young baby, now narrating the story.
5. Madhuralalasa has good reason to be shy at this point, as soon becomes clear.
6. At the moment that Manistambha was trying to behead Kalabhashini, Sumukhasatti interposed herself, taking an oath on the goddess, warning Manistambha that his effort would not succeed, and praying, “Great Sakti! Make my words come true.” Since according to the inscription, her dying wish must come true, she retains this ability into her life as the young Sumukhasatti. Everything she says does come true.
7. Note that the story now jumps backward again, to a point before Kalapurna’s birth.
8. We have omitted several verses from this rather self-contained discourse on Yoga.
9. “Heat,” that is, discipline in praxis and meditation.
10. The wilderness shrine of Śiva-Mallikârjunasvāmi, the Lord White as Jasmine, in western Andhra.
11. Note that Manikandhara had met both of these people in their later lives as Sumukhasatti and Manistambha, and he had also heard and reported the story of Sugatri and Salina as a result of his visit to the Sarada-pitha in Kashmir.
12. To die at Srisailam on Sivaratri Day brings blessings such as this.
13. maṇi.
14. Śiva’s festival in the month of Magha (February–March).
15. This is the last we hear of Svabhava.
CHaPTer 6
Listen, powerful, radiant King Krishna, son of Narasimha.
Madhuralalasa said to Alaghuvrata, the Malayali Brahmin: “I’ll tell you the rest of Manikandhara’s story. Listen.”
[ Manikandhara Fights the Porcupine Demon ]
“He had made all his preparations for jumping off the cliff. He took a purifying bath, as the wise suggest for such an occasion. Then, very determined, he took up his position at the edge of the abyss. As he was about to leap off, a sudden uproar erupted, like the fury of a tidal wave. The terrified pilgrims to Srisailam scattered in all directions; mothers had no time even to grab their children. Manikandhara’s mind was deeply disturbed. Then a very striking woman appeared, her sari tightly wound around her bursting breasts. She was holding a dazzling sword, which she handed to him. ‘Gandharva,’ she said, ‘save these pilgrims. You will still get the fruit of your great leap.’
“Immediately there was a huge shower of porcupine quills. They shot right through the thick trunks of nearby trees, smashed boulders into pieces, pulverized elephants, tigers, lions, and other animals. They fell so thick it looked like someone had stretched out a canopy in the sky; you couldn’t tell if they were iron bars with silver bands or silver bars with iron bands. Manikandhara was amazed at this unprecedented barrage, so he asked the woman, ‘What is this shower of quills? What do you want me to do with this huge sword? And who are you?’
“‘There’s no time for you to hear anything now,’ she said. ‘Show what you’re made of. The demon is getting closer, the quills are falling thicker. Face him now, cut him down with the sword. You can see him over there, coming at you in the shape of a porcupine. Don’t let him get past this spot. Strike at once.’
“‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll kill him. You go and calm the pilgrims. Trust me.’ And he headed toward the enemy, brandishing his new sword, tossing it high into the hair and catching it by the handle. Moving ahead with great panache, he cut his way through the hail of quills with swift and dexterous strokes of the sword. He saw the porcupine, bristling with quills, and the littered slope of the mountain. ‘You fool of a demon,’ he cried, ‘what do you gain by this ugly form and this ugly violence? Your evil acts will certainly rebound against you. You must know what happened to the Elephant Demon,1 who was more powerful than the elephants who hold up the world. What happened to Indrajit,2 who was shooting arrows from behind the clouds? And what about Vritra,3 who took over all space in the universe? Or Hiranyaksha,4 who rolled up the earth like a mat? And there were many others, like Sambara the magician. What good is this unsightly shape? I’m going to kill you.’
“The demon laughed. ‘Who is this man? Has he lost his senses? Did he go insane? Or is he too arrogant to know who he is? Or was he born crazy? How strong does he think he is? Does he think he can take me on, after I’ve crushed the elephants who hold up the world? God must want him to die.’ He addressed Manikandhara. ‘If you don’t care any more about living, come fight. I’ve had enough lectures. Do you think there are sticks that can’t take on a pile of pots? I’ll show you who I am.’
He shook himself a little and drowned Manikandhara in a flood of quills. Manikandhara cut through them with flashy swordwork and cut off the demon’s head in the little space he had to move.”
Madhuralalasa stopped speaking, but Alaghuvrata was still curious. “Who was that demon? And who was the woman who got him killed? I have to know.”
“I’ll tell you both their stories,” said Madhuralalasa. “Listen. The demon was the Buffalo Demon’s cousin.5 Because the goddess Durga killed his cousin, he wanted to take revenge against her. They called him Salyasura, the Porcupine Demon. Since his quills were as big as crowbars, they also called him Crowbar. He couldn’t forgive Durga; hate filled his mind. ‘What shall I do?’ he thought to himself. ‘Should I kill every single worshiper of the goddess, searching them o
ut everywhere in the world? Shall I knock down all her temples, wherever they might be? How else can I handle this rage that is burning me up inside? Indra may not like it, but what can he do to me? A poor man’s anger can only hurt his own lips. Great Sukra6 has blessed me; the gods are powerless against my strength. I’m not afraid of the goddess. I’m stronger than she is. My one fear is that Vishnu is tricky; somehow or other he’ll find a way to overcome the demons and protect the gods. I must do something to outfox him. Until I think of a way, I’ll clothe myself in a garb of peace. People will say that even though I may be a demon, I’m a good person.’
“Thinking like this, he was wandering in the wilderness when, as fate would have it, a certain apsaras woman named Abhinavakaumudi, born from a ray of moonlight, came there. He was taken by her beauty and forgot everything he’d been thinking. He was overtaken by desire.
“‘Lady,’ he said, ‘this whole world is in the palm of my hand, like kneaded dough. I can bring you anything you want from anywhere. I can also assume the form of any male worthy of your beauty. Take me. I’m yours.’
“She walked away with a withering look, saying nothing.
This made him mad. ‘Lady, do you think any man will touch you after this? No one would have the courage to approach a woman I love.’
“He was trying to scare her, but she was stubborn. ‘Listen, you beast. I will marry only the man who kills you,’ she said. ‘This is my vow.’
“He was very hurt by such cruel words but let her go without doing her any harm. His dogged hope that someday, somehow or other, she would let him sleep wtih her was stronger than his anger.
“From that moment she was searching for a man who could kill this demon. He himself was looking for a way to acquire the power to kill anyone trying to kill him. Eventually, fate brought him to the temple of the Lion-Riding goddess, where he read the inscription on the stone pillar: If you are tough enough to cut off your head with this chopper, it will again stick to your neck and you will live to kill whoever tries to kill you. He understood at once that this was the answer he’d been seeking, so he followed the directions precisely.
“Finding his head back on his neck, he was convinced that there was no one stronger than he, so, full of himself, he instantly started to demolish the stone temple of the goddess. Abhinavakaumudi, for her part, still searching for someone who could kill this demon, heard about the goddess and thought that maybe she could show the way. So she came there, too, and found him there—Crowbar himself. ‘How did he get here?’ she thought. ‘How can I get away from him?’
“‘Still beautiful, aren’t you?’ he said to her. ‘Remember what you said to me in the forest the other day, when I begged you to take me?’
“He was very puffed up with the power he’d recently acquired. She replied—now bear in mind,” said Madhuralalasa, “this isn’t addressed to you, I’m going to turn my head away when I say the words7—’Of course I remember. I said I would marry only the man who kills you. Do you have any problem with that?’
“‘What do you mean, do I have a problem with it?!’ said the demon. ‘Haven’t you read the inscription on the stone pillar? Just read it and have at a look at me. I’ve cut off my head and got it back. Need I say more?’
“She read the inscription. She looked at his head. She saw the slight scar on his neck. She saw blood on the ground. It all added up.
“Very depressed, she ran into the temple and fell at the feet of the goddess. ‘Only she can save me now,’ she thought. The demon waited for her outside.
“Lying at the feet of the goddess, she told her the whole story—the vow she had taken, Crowbar’s amorous proposal, and the reason for his over-confidence. ‘Great goddess,’ she cried, ‘I don’t know what to do. I’m in big trouble. It’s up to you to save me and to keep me from breaking my oath.’ The Lion-Rider was happy that she had come, since this meant a temporary reprieve from the imminent destruction of her temple. So she immediately responded to this prayer, appearing before Abhinavakaumudi.
“‘This man will indeed kill whoever comes to kill him,’ she said. ‘That’s inevitable. Can anyone stop him from getting the fruits of his act of self-beheading, as the inscription prescribes? Let’s think of another way to save your vow.’
“She thought for a minute. ‘Young lady,’ she said, ‘if you read the text carefully, it says that he’ll kill anyone who comes to kill him. But there’s nothing that says that he won’t be killed himself in the process. So a courageous person could still kill him and then die because of the rule. Your vow was to marry the courageous man who will kill the demon, right? But you could marry him in his next life. That would be just fine. All we have to do now is to find such a man.’
“She thought a bit further. Her face alight, she said, ‘There is a certain worthy gandharva called Manikandhara. In special circumstances, he received a sword that never fails and left it in my temple.’ She pointed out the sword to Abhinavakaumudi. ‘Take it and put it in Manikandhara’s fearless hand. Make him kill the demon, who will be following you wherever you go, enslaved to your beauty. Lure him to Manikandhara. No matter how fed up he gets with you, he’ll never harm you. You have nothing to fear. Originally this sword was given by Dattatreya to a Siddha called Svabhava. He gave it to his son-in-law, Manistambha, who gave it to Manikandhara for a special reason. So Manikandhara came by it legitimately, and it will work for him. It won’t work for anyone else. So hand it over only to him. At the moment, he is at Srisailam, about to jump off the mountain. You’d better hurry. Tell him he’ll get the same result he wants by using this sword. Stop him from jumping and get him to kill the demon. This same gandharva, Manikandhara, will be reborn as someone called Kalapurna, in a city called Kasarapura. You can marry him and fulfill your vow.’
“Abhinavakaumudi tightened her sari around her waist, tied up her hair in a bun, grabbed the sword in her hand, and ran out of the temple, like a missile launched by the Love God. The demon saw her and was alarmed—for her sake. ‘Maybe she’s coming to kill me,’ he thought, ‘and she’ll have to die for that.’ Disturbed at that thought, he cried to her, ‘I invoke all your own gods: Don’t come at me! Not that I’m afraid. I’m worried for you, worried that you’ll die if you attack me.’
“‘You don’t have to invoke my gods to protect me. I know you. I won’t attack you. I’ll do as you want.’ She walked on. It appeared to him that the way she spoke was encouraging, so he walked after her. She didn’t wait for him, but she didn’t move too far ahead either. If he fell too far behind, she would find some pretext to linger a little until he caught up. She was leading him on.
“Completely absorbed in his fantasy, staring at her all the way, not even aware of the vast distance, the demon walked behind her all the way to Srisailam. Love is blind.
“But he was tired of her game. He called her. ‘You said you would do as I want. What’s going on? Are you trying to fool me?’
“‘Have I not done as you wanted? What did I do differently? You were afraid I was about to attack you, so you invoked my gods and warned me not to approach. I said I would do as you want. Even now I’m sticking to my promise.’
“He was angry now. ‘Do you think I’m scared of you? You think I’m a nobody just because I didn’t want to kill you and followed you this whole long way. Anyway, it’s no wonder. I haven’t shown you my strength. Just look.’ Without touching her, he let loose a shower of quills by shaking his body. Mountains shattered, tree trunks were pierced and sewn together, and living creatures fell dead.
“Revealing his full strength in this way, he declared, ‘If you still don’t love me, I’ll scorch every place you go so it looks like a path struck by lightning. You’ll bring bad luck wherever you go. Nobody in your family ever had such a bad name as you will. Think it over. Wouldn’t it be better to love me?’
“She realized that if she delayed any longer the opportunity would be lost. Quickly she went up the mountain at Srisailam with the demon following, shoot
ing quills.
“It was Sivaratri time on the mountain, with a huge crowd of pilgrims from different countries gathered there. She yelled that the demon was coming and that people should find shelter wherever they could. She looked for Manikandhara and, identifying him, rushed to give him the unfailing sword. She had him kill the Porcupine Demon. Since Manikandhara also died as a result, she waited for him to be reborn. When he was born again as Kalapurna, she went to him and told him her story.8 She didn’t go back to heaven but instead married him in the gandharva style of love-marriage and agreed to live wherever he asked her to, as long as he lived.
“Meanwhile, Madasaya, just as the Siddha Svabhava had predicted, conquered country after country until he attacked Kasarapura, as fate would have it. He was defeated by this king”—Madhuralalasa pointed at Kalapurna—“and began to serve him, with his wife, as a slave. I was born to them as a result of their seeing the king’s jewel. My parents fell out with the king. You already know all that from the story of Sarasvati and Brahma’s love-game. My parents went to Beyond-the-Smooth-Neck Town, but I became weak from the journey; so they brought me back. I recovered as a result of seeing that jewel again. They reported all this to the king and praised him. Madasaya’s advisors were also attracted by the jewel and are now here.”
[ The Story of Alaghuvrata and His Sons ]
Alaghuvrata folded his hands together and asked the girl, “Who are these advisors? I’d like to know their story.”
She answered with a little smile, “What do you want to know? They’re your sons. Your good luck brought you to them.”
“It’s not funny,” he protested, amazed. “How could they be my sons?” He looked at the king. “It must be a joke. They can’t be my sons. I lost my loving wives just as we were beginning to play the games of love.9 And their death was no ordinary one. They fell into the ocean and were never seen again. Because I loved them so much, in all their beauty and goodness, I never touched another woman. There’s no question of any sons. It’s impossible. I can’t imagine how this mother of all strange stories can tie a bald head to a kneecap.”
The Sound of the Kiss Page 15
