Tales from the Indian Epics. Charles Augustus Kincaid
"Come here, Uttanka," said the giant, "and eat this food." And as the giant spoke he offered some food to the lad. But Uttanka refused, for he did not know the caste of the giant, and the food looked strange. "Nay, Uttanka," continued the giant, "eat the food and do not fear. Veda, your teacher, has often in the past taken food at my hands."
Uttanka no longer refused. He took the food from the giant's hands, ate it, and then, washing his hands, went on towards the palace of King Paushya. Suddenly although it seemed to Uttanka that he had walked but a few miles, the palace appeared in front of him. He neared the gates and the guards made way for him to pass. Then entering the palace he went boldly on until he reached the great central hall, where King Paushya was seated in state. As Uttanka drew near to the throne the courtiers stepped aside. When the boy faced King Paushya, he saluted him most humbly. "O King," he said, "I come to you as a suppliant." "Fair youth," replied the king, "ask me what you will, and, if I can, I will grant it to you." But as the king spoke, his heart sank within him, because he feared that Uttanka had come to beg his queen's earrings. "My Lord," said Uttanka humbly, "I am a pupil of the rishi Veda, and as a fee for his teaching he has asked me to bring him your queen's earrings. Give them, therefore, to me as a boon given to a suppliant."
The king could not refuse a Brahman suppliant, so he said, "Go yourself, fair youth, into the queen's chamber and ask her to give you the earrings. She will not refuse you." But the queen, knew that Uttanka was coming and would beg for her earrings. Swiftly she made herself invisible, so that when Uttanka entered her room he could not see her. After searching in vain for the queen, the boy went back to the central hall, and said, "My Lord King, you have deceived me. I went to the queen's chamber, but I did not find her."
"Fair youth," replied King Paushya, "the queen could not have hidden herself had you been wholly pure. You must, therefore, have neglected to wash your hands after your last meal."
"No, my Lord King," said Uttanka; "I washed my hands when last I ate. But I was in haste and washed them as I walked."
"Fair youth," said King Paushya, "it is a sin to wash one's hands as one walks. You are impure, and therefore the queen hid herself from you. For she is a chaste and faultless lady, and she will not shew herself to one who is not wholly pure."
Uttanka left the palace, and going to a fountain sat on the ground with his face to the East. He washed his hands and feet and bathed his face. He sipped water three times. He then wiped his face twice and touched his eyes and ears with water. Then once more he entered the queen's apartment. This time the queen did not hide herself. Pleased with the care with which Uttanka had purified himself, she saluted him courteously and said, "Welcome, reverend Sir; tell me what you wish done and I will do it for you."
"Noble Queen," said Uttanka, "I pray you to give me your earrings. I wish to give them as pupil's fee to my preceptor."
The queen took off her earrings and handed them to Uttanka. And as Uttanka took them he marvelled at their beauty. For they were heavy with pearls and rubies. And huge diamonds and sapphires and emeralds blazed back silver and blue and green in the sunlight that streamed through the window. As he gazed at them, the queen said, "Yes, fair youth, they are very beautiful. But be careful. For Takshaka, one of the princes of the snake people, desires them and will attempt to rob you of them."
"Noble Queen," said Uttanka proudly, "have no fear. For Takshaka, snake prince though he be, could never overcome me."
Uttanka left the queen's room and went back to the king. "My Lord, King Paushya," he said, "you have treated me most courteously, and I am very grateful to you. Be so good, therefore, as to accept a Brahman's thanks. For there is nothing else that I can give you."
"Fair youth," said King Paushya, "a Brahman's thanks are reward enough. But do not hasten away. I am about to sacrifice to my father's spirit.[1] Stay and eat with me in honour of the dead."
Uttanka gladly accepted the invitation, and King Paushya and he sat down together to eat. But the food that was placed before Uttanka was cold and had been cooked by a woman with unbraided hair. One of her hairs had fallen into it and had thus made the food unclean. Uttanka was stung by the insult. "King Paushya," he said angrily, "because you have given me unclean food, you shall lose your sight." On hearing the curse. King Paushya grew as angry as Uttanka. "Brahman youth," he cried, "you have called food that is clean unclean. You will therefore never have a son born to you."
Uttanka was dismayed at the curse and begged King Paushya to see the food himself. And the king, going to where Uttanka sat, saw that the food was cold and that it had a hair in it. So he said, "Forgive me, Brahman youth. The food set before you was cold and had a hair in it, and therefore was, as you said, unclean. I spoke rashly. Forgive me, I pray you, and remove your curse, so that I may not become blind."
Uttanka's heart softened towards the King. "My curse must fall on you," he said. "You will become blind, but your sight will soon return. Be merciful also to me and take from me your curse so that I may one day have children," But King Paushya was angry with Uttanka because he had taken the earrings of his queen. "No, Uttanka," he answered scornfully. "It is well for a Brahman to call down curses and then turn them to nothing. For a Brahman's heart is as soft as butter even though his words are hard. But a Kshatrya's heart is as hard as steel even though his words, tare soft. I shall not therefore free you from my curse and it will remain with you." Then Uttanka said, "Your curse, O King, will not remain with me. You cursed me because I said that the food set before me was unclean. But the food was unclean and my words were true. Therefore it was your curse that was false and it cannot do me any harm."
With anger in his heart Uttanka left King Paushya's palace and began his journey back to the rishi Veda's hermitage. As he walked, he saw a naked beggar man flitting through the scrub. But he never could see him clearly because, whenever he glanced towards him, the beggar man vanished. After some time Uttanka grew thirsty, and paying little heed to the beggar man, looked about him for water. As he looked about him, the beggar man crept nearer and nearer. At last Uttanka saw in the distance a beautiful pool of water. At first he thought it was a mirage, but when he came closer to it he saw that it was a real pool and that a beautiful fresh breeze blew over it and rippled its surface. With a cry of joy Uttanka ran towards it. As he ran, the beggar man ran close behind him, and when Uttanka put on the ground the queen's earrings that he might more easily drink the water, the beggar man deftly picked them up and ran away. Uttanka did not at first notice the theft. But after he had drunk his fill and had bathed his face and hands he looked round and saw the beggar man running away as fast as he could with the queen's priceless earrings in his hand. Uttanka sprang to his feet and after a long chase caught up the beggar man and seized him. At the same moment the beggar man, who was really Takshaka, a prince of the snake people, once more assumed the form of a mighty snake, and with a noise that was half a hiss and half a derisive laugh vanished into a snake burrow that opened close to Uttanka's feet.
The boy now grieved that he had not heeded the queen's warning. "The beggar man," he murmured sadly to himself, "must be Prince Takshaka." He then tried to force his way through the hole by which the snake prince had gone. But his shoulders stuck in the entrance. Next he strove to widen it with a stick, but the earth fell in and blocked the hole altogether. Then he sat down by the hole and wept bitterly. The god Indra from Amravati saw the Brahman boy's grief, and seizing a thunderbolt said to it, "Go and help Uttanka." Straightway the thunderbolt left the god Indra's hand and entered the stick with which Uttanka had been vainly trying to widen the hole.
After the boy had mastered his grief, he again took up his stick and tried to open up the burrow. This time, because of Indra's thunderbolt inside the stick, the earth heaped itself readily on both sides and no longer fell in. Soon Uttanka had made a passage wide enough for him to enter. He crawled through it until he found himself in a wide, open plain covered with the palaces, houses and castles of the snake people. Uttanka walked into the snake people's city, and to win their favour began to sing their praises. He sang of their sinuous beauty, the might of Prince Takshaka's younger brother, Prince Srutasena. He then bowed to the various palaces in turn. But his flattery had no effect and his song died on his lips. For Prince Takshaka did not come out to give him back his earrings.
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