The Forest of Thieves and the Magic Garden by Phyllis Granoff

Author:Phyllis Granoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 1998-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

21

SIṂHIKĀ

Now when her time came the Queen Vicitramālā, wife of Sukośala, gave birth to a son. The delivery was smooth and the baby bore all of the auspicious marks. Since the mother had a complexion of gold while the child was still in her womb, they gave the handsome child the name “Hiranyagarbha”, “Born from the Golden One”. So virtuous was this King Hiranyagarbha that the Golden Age of old seemed to have returned, as if attracted by his good qualities. Hiranyagarbha married Amrtavatī, daughter of Hari. He had many devoted friends and relatives and was learned in all the sciences. Glorious, he had inexhaustible wealth, like a mountain made of gold. Noble Hiranyagarbha enjoyed every pleasure of the senses until the day he noticed a grey hair amongst all of his dark hairs. Seeing that grey hair in the mirror, like a messenger sent by the god of Death to warn him, he was filled with sorrow. ‘Alas!’ he lamented, ‘old age has taken hold of my body, intent upon destroying my strength and beauty. This body of mine, which is now like a sandalwood tree, will become like a heap of charcoal, burnt by the fire of old age. Old age will lie in wait, spying out where disease has made me weak, and then like a demoness, old age will attack my body. Next death, who has been waiting patiently like a tiger ready to pounce on his prey, will make haste to devour my body. Fortunate indeed are those stalwart bulls among men, who having been born in this land where it is possible to practice the true religion, grasp the raft of renunciation and cross the ocean of transmigratory existence.’

With these thoughts he installed Am·tavatī’s son Naghusa on the throne and became a monk under the tutelage of a pure and holy man. This Naghusa, ‘Silence’ was so called because when he was in the womb no one even said a word that was impure or unpropitious. Everyone bowed down: to him, won over by his virtues. One day Naghusa left his wife Siṃhikī in the city and went North with his army to subdue the feudatories who were in rebellion. When the rulers of the South came to know that the king was absent from his capital city, they raised vast armies and proceeded to lay siege to Naghusa’s capital Vinītī. The valorous Simhikā defeated them all in battle. She then appointed someone trustworthy to rule over their kingdoms. Siṃhikī was skilled and practiced in the use of various weapons; now she gathered the feudatories that she had already defeated and with them she marched deep into the South to subdue the rest of the rebellious kings. The queen conquered all of the rebellious vassals by her great valour and returned to celebrations of her victories in the capital.

In the meantime Naghusa had subdued the Northern region and returned to the city. He was in a rage when he heard about his wife’s victories.

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