वासवदत्ता (महाकवि सुबन्धु - श्लेष-प्रधान शास्त्रीय गद्यकाव्य सान्वय सटीक)

140 VĀSAVADATTĀ
posture⟩ as Rāma ⟨bound Rāvaṇa⟩¹; another ² clove ⟨hell⟩ as
Kṛṣṇa ³ clove ⟨Naraka⟩; a third had ⟨hearing, speech, and sight⟩
destroyed as the textbook of the Buddhists ⟨rejects tradition,
precept, and doctrine⟩; a fourth was ⟨surrounded with corpses⟩ as
a heretical mendicant is ⟨wrapped with matting⟩⁴; a fifth, fearing
⟨utter defeat⟩, plunged into the water ⁵ as Suyōdhana, fearing the
⟨breaking of his thigh⟩, plunged into the water⁵; a sixth breathed
for a long time on a couch of ⟨pen-reed grass⟩ as Bhīṣma ⁶
breathed for a long time on a couch of ⟨arrows⟩; [298] a seventh
⟨lost his strength⟩ as Karṇa, terrified in every limb,⁷ ⟨released his
spear⟩.⁸ Then, with its banners destroyed, its standards tumbling,
its fallen bows and chowries injured, and its swords slipping, the
army met destruction.⁹
'Straightway,¹⁰ when the ascetic whose hermitage that was had
come with flowers and the like, and had learned of the event,
I was cursed by him with the words: "My hermitage hath been
broken down because of thee; therefore become stone "¹¹! [299]
And gradually, perceiving poor me suffering much distress, he ¹²
⟨constellations⟩ as an evil man hides the path of the ⟨good⟩'; similarly the Srirangam
text.
¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit this clause.
² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'and straightway one.'
³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'Nārāyaṇa'; for the allusion cf. Harivaṁśa, 120.
⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'a fourth had his body ⟨surrounded with corpses⟩ as
a heretical mendicant has his body ⟨wrapped with matting⟩; a fifth, ⟨drunken⟩, fell like
⟨Surāpa⟩ (Srirangam text, 'the Brāhman Surāpa').' The details of the legend of
Surāpa are as yet unknown.
⁵ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'water of a pool.'
⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'dying Bhīṣma.'
⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'with his limbs terrified.'
⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text add 'another slew ⟨them that caused shouting⟩ as
Raghu's scion [Rāma] slew ⟨Rāvaṇa⟩.'
⁹ Tel. ed., 'then, with impotent banners, with tumbling standards, and with the
daggers of the soldiers of the armies bent, both entire armies mutually proceeded to
slaughter'; similarly the Srirangam text.
¹⁰ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'and then.'
¹¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'had learned of the event through his yōga sight,
being angered that "this my hermitage hath been broken down because of thee [Vāsa-
vadattā]," I was cursed with the words: "Become a stone image"!' The folk-tale
motif is that of the Bluebeard cycle of punishment in consequence of a violation of tabu
(see MacCulloch, Childhood of Fiction, pp. 306-324, London, 1905).
¹² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'then gradually, out of kindness,—"for this unhappy