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T
HE COMPANION OF SUCCESS
T
E END OF THE MATTER was that I continued
H
to reside in the house of my parents in Ujjenī.
*
*
*
As all the world knows, stranger, this my native
town is famed throughout Jambudvīpa as much for its
revels and unstinted enjoyment of life, as for its shining
palaces and magnificent temples. Its broad streets resound
by day with the neighing of horses and the trumpeting of
nd
great
ds,
ly
t
e
r‐strewn
treets. In crimson saris with fragrant wreaths in their
he
licious perfumes,
eir dresses sparkling with diamonds:— Do you see
them, brother? Sitting on their magnificent grandstands or
elephants, and by night with the music of lovers’ lutes a
the songs of care‐free carousers.
But of all the glories of Ujjenī, none enjoy a repu‐
tation so extraordinary as do its courtesans. From the
ladies who live in palaces — building temples to the go
laying out public parks for the people, and in whose
reception‐rooms one meets poets, artists and actors,
distinguished strangers and occasionally even princes —
down to the common wenches, all are beauties with soft
swelling limbs and indescribable grace. At all the grea
festivals, in processions and exhibitions, they form th
chief adornment of the beflagged and flowe
s
hands, the air about them
avy with de
th
99
moving along the streets with glances full of love, seduc‐
ve g
that one or another of them has to be recalled by
oyal
h
ny talents and
ide
l
s.
e quarrelled with a prince on my account.
n th
on the path of a
ns
ing
ti
estures and playfully laughing words, everywhere
fanning the heated senses of the pleasure‐seekers to liv‐
ing flame.
Honoured by the King, worshipped by the people,
sung of by the poets, they are aptly named “The many‐
coloured floral crown of the rock‐enthroned Ujjenī,” and
they draw down upon us the envy of the less favoured
neighbouring towns. Not infrequently the choicest of our
beauties go to these places as guests, and now and again it
happens
r
decree.
Desiring to drown the grief that was eating away
my life, the golden cup of pleasure, filled to the brim wit
its intoxicating Lethe draughts of forgetfulness, was freely
— nay, prodigally — raised to my lips by the fair hands of
this joyous sisterhood. Owing to my ma
w
knowledge of the fine arts, and not less of all socia
games, I became a favoured guest of the great courtesan
In fact there was even one, whose favour could scarcely
be measured by gold, who fell so passionately in love
with me that sh
O
e other hand, owing to my complete mastery of the
robbers’ dialect, I was soon on confidential terms with the
girls of the low streets, whose company
coarser and more robust type of pleasure I by no mea
despised, and of whom several were heart and soul de‐
voted to me.
Thus madly did I dive deep down into the rush
whirl of the pleasures of my native city, and it became, O
stranger, a proverbial saying in Ujjenī: “As fast as young
Kāmanīta.”
*
*
*
100
It was about this time that an event occurred which
od fortune to such an extent that
e m
ecide whether he
ready
and which became of the greatest service to
e. M
hich
for the most part entrusted to him for valuation,
ere
e
in
ibed.
as was the institution of the court‐
sans
f
the police officer have to
ke p
ken in
must
goes to show that evil habits, and sometimes even vice,
may be the source of go
th
an of worldly mind cannot easily d
mostly owes his prosperity to his good or to his bad
qualities.
I refer particularly to that familiarity with the
women of the lower classes to which allusion has al
been made,
m
y father’s house was broken into and jewels, w
had been
w
stolen; and to an amount which it was practically
impossible to make good. I was beside myself for absolute
ruin stared us in the face. In vain did I make use of all th
knowledge I had gained in the forest. From the fashion
which the subterranean passage was constructed I could
easily tell to what class of thief the deed was to be ascr
But even this most useful hint proved of no value
to the police, who in Ujjenī, to be sure, were not held in
the same high regard
e
— even though there was considerable evidence o
some inner relationship between the two bodies. On one
occasion, in a very learned lecture on the love affairs of
the various classes, I heard with my own ears the follow‐
ing sentence: “The gallantries of
ta
lace during his nightly round of inspection, and with
the courtesans of the city. By order.” Which, ta
connection with Vājashravas’ remarks upon — “The
service rendered by the city courtesans in hoodwinking
the police,” gave me, in those days of anxious waiting,
much food for thought.
Now, however, in this strangest of all worlds of
ours, things seem to be so arranged that the left hand
make good what the right has done amiss. And that is
what happened here. For those flourishing blossoms from
101
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