Indian Antiquary Vol 01

SR No.: 032493
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 430
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 139

APRIL 5, 1872.]
conceal yourself in that large cauldron which my father used in performing worship." So the prince touched her body with the silver wand, and went and hid himself in the cauldron. When the Rakshasas came they brought her to life, and after she had bathed, she cooked twentytwo maunds of rice and twenty-two buffaloes, and gave to the Rakshasas to eat. At nightfall they all went to their own houses, and the woman began to shampoo the feet of the old Rakshasa with an iron rod of twenty-two maunds weight. In the morning the Rakshasas returned, and made the woman dead as before, and went away. Then the king's son came out of the cauldron and aroused the woman, and she cooked for him, and after they had both eaten, she again presented him with betel-nut and tobacco. As they were talking together, he said that he should be forced to remain in concealment all the time he was in that place, so she must go to the old Rakshasa, and ask him how the Rakshasas could be destroyed. The woman said it would be impossible for her to discover that, but he told her that she must begin to cry when she was shampooing the feet of the old Râkshasa. She asked what she was to do if tears would not come into her eyes, and the prince replied, "you must mix some salt with the water which you pour over the Rakshasa's feet, and put some of it into your eyes, and when the old Rakshasa asks you why you are crying, you must say to him" you are now very old, and will die soon, and when you are dead, the other Râkshasas will kill me, and eat me, and this is the cause of my tears." After the king's son had given her this counsel, he went and concealed himself in the cauldron as before. After a little time the Rakshasas came and ate their food as usual, and went to sleep, then the woman went to the old Rakshasa to shampoo his feet, and as she was doing it, she put the salt water in her eyes and made the tears flow, as the king's son had told her. When the old Râkshasa saw it, he asked her why she was crying, and she said it was because he was old and would die in a few days, and after his death the others would eat her. Then he said: "It is impossible that we should die, but still your father had a tank, and in that tank there is a pillar of crystal and a great knife and a bitter gourd; now in a certain country there is a king who has a queen named Duhâ, and she has a lame son; if he were to come and cover his eyes with a cloth folded seven times, and lift all these things out of
A BENGALI STORY.
117
the tank at one dive, and cut through the crystal pillar at one blow, he would find the gourd in the middle of it, and inside the gourd are two bees; then if any one could smear his hand with ashes, and catch the bees as they fly away, and squeeze them to death we should all die; but if a single drop of their blood were to fall to the ground, we should become twice as numerous as we were before." The woman replied that it was quite impossible that queen Duhâ's son could come there and kill them.
When the morning had come, the Rakshasas made the woman dead as before, and went away, but the king's son revived her, and she told him all that she had heard from the old Rakshasa, so they both of them went to the bank of the tank, and the woman bound a cloth seven times over his eyes; then he plunged into the water, and at one dive brought up all the things, and at one blow split open the crystal pillar. Just as the two bees were flying out from the gourd, the woman smeared her hands with ashes, and caught them, and killed them so that not a single drop of their blood fell to the ground, and at that very instant all the Râkshasas died, no matter where they were.
After this the king's son and the woman. lived quietly together for some time, till one day he said that, although he had been some time in the country, he had never visited the different parts of it, and that day he would go and see the northern part. The woman told him that he might go and see the northern part of the country if he wished, but he must be careful not to go into the northernmost corner. So the king's son went and saw all the northern part except the farthest corner, but he could not help wondering what there was there, and why the woman had forbidden him to visit it; at last he determined to go and see for himself. When he reached the place he saw a woman sitting weaving a garland, and some sheep were feeding in front of her. As soon as he saw how beautiful she was, he thought that was the reason the woman had forbidden him to come there. When the woman saw him she treated him with great politeness, and said to him, "Prince, here is a garland which I have been weaving for you." With these words she put the garland on his head, but as she was doing so, she rubbed a drug on his forehead, which changed him into a sheep. In the meantime the woman, finding that the king's son was very slow in returning,