Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/30

 When Kanabhuti bad seen him and respectfully clasped his feet, Katyayani. sitting down immediately spake to him. "Thou art an observer of the good custom, how hast thou come into this state?" Having heard this Kanabhuti said to Katyayana, who bad shewn affection towards him, I know not of myself, but listen to what I beard from Siva at Ujjayini in the place where corpses are burnt; I proceed to tell it thee. The adorable god was asked by Durga—"Whence, my lord, comes thy delight in skulls and burning-places?" He thereupon gave this answer.

"Long ago when all things had been destroyed at the end of a Kalpa, the universe became water : I then cleft my thigh and let fall a drop of blood; that drop falling into the water turned into an egg, from that sprung the Supreme Soul, the Disposer; from him proceeded Nature, created by me for the purpose of further creation, and they created the other lords of created beings, and those in turn the created beings, for which reason, my beloved, the Supreme Soul is called in the world the grandfather. Having thus created the world, animate and inanimate, that Spirit became arrogant: thereupon I cut off his head: then through regret for what I had done, I undertook a difficult vow. So thus it comes to pass that I carry skulls in my band, and love the places where corpses are burned. Moreover this world resembling a skull, rests in my hand; for the two skull-shaped halves of the egg before mentioned are called heaven and earth." When S'iva had thus spoken, I, being full of curiosity, determined to listen; and Purvati again said to her husband. "After how long a time will that Pushpadanta return to us?" Hearing that, Mahesvara spoke to the goddess, pointing me out to her; "That Pisacha whom thou beholde it there, was once a Yaksha, a servant of Km era, the god of wealth, and he had for a friend a Rakshasa named Sthulasiras; and the lord of wealth perceiving that be associated with that evil one, banished him to the wilds of the Vindhya mountains. But his brother Dirghajangha fell at the feet of the god, and humbly asked when the curse would end. Then the god of wealth said " After thy brother has heard the great tale from Pushpadanta, who has been born into this world in consequence of a curse, and after he has in turn told it to Malyavan, who owing to a curse has become a human being, he together with those two Ganas shall be released from the effects of the curse." Such were the terms on which the god of wealth then ordained that Malyavan should obtain remission from bis curse here below, and thou didst fix the same in the case of Pushpadan-