Ujjenī’s flower‐garden actually yielded to me the fruit
which the thorny hedge of the police — perhaps stunted
solely on account of that very same flourishing condition
of the blossoms — had failed to produce.
These kind maidens, seeing me in despair because
of the ruin threatening me and mine, discovered the
culprits and forced them to hand over the plunder by
threatening the complete withdrawal of their favours, so
d
e
it
perience I had just had. I
ad s
o
ve
n
hus I resolved to become the richest man in Ujjenī
nd, to this end, to devote myself with all my strength to
I carried out my resolutions; and whether my
that we got off leniently with the loss of the little that ha
already been spent, and with a fright which did not fail to
have its effect upon me.
It woke me up from the dissipated life in which I
was uselessly squandering the best of my years and
strength. For, quite apart from the waking up and th
reasons for it, my folly had now reached a point where
was certain either to enslave and deprave me completely,
in the garb of habit or, on the contrary, to fill me with
gradually increasing disgust. This latter result was now
very much hastened by the ex
h
een poverty staring me in the face — the poverty t
which the life I had been leading would have handed me
over defenceless, after it had, with all its costly pleasures,
treacherously left me in the lurch. At this juncture I
thought of the words uttered by the merchant at the gra
of Vājashravas: “If I stood as high in Vājashravas’ favour
as you do, in a very few years I would be the richest ma
in Kosambī.”
T
a
the traffic of caravans of goods.
friend and master Vājashravas, from his abode in the other
world, did or did not stand by me in person in all my
undertakings I cannot certainly say, although I have at
times believed it. This much is certain, that his words in
102
their after‐effects now did. For my having become familiar,
l conclusion
drew from my old friend’s instruction
ith r
ls,
f
om‐
ended by some mutual friend — some one of the fair
ones of Ujjenī — and who not only played the part of
hostess but, as often happened, formed my business
connections for me very shrewdly as well.
*
*
*
through his teaching, with all the customs and usages of
the various types of robbers, and my having even been
initiated into the mysteries of their secret rules, now
placed me in a position where I was able, without ridicu‐
lous foolhardiness, to carry to a successfu
enterprises which another would never have dared to
venture upon. And so it was these that I now purposely
selected, no longer condescending to the ordinary routes.
As a result, when I conducted a large caravan to a
town to which, for months, no other merchant had been
able to proceed because powerful bands of robbers had
cut off the district from all contact with the outer world, I
found the inhabitants so desperately anxious to buy my
wares that I was at times able to dispose of these at ten
times the usual profit. But that was not all; for inestimable
was the advantage I
w
egard to — “The distinguishing marks of officia
both of higher and lower rank, who are open to bribery —
with reliable notes as to each man’s price,” and what I
gained in the course of a few years by the skilful use of
these hints alone, represented a modest fortune.
So several years passed, during which the various
delights of my pleasure‐loving native city alternated
healthily with the hardships of business journeys, rich
indeed in dangers but nevertheless by no means barren o
pleasure, in spite of all perils. In strange cities I always
resided with a courtesan to whom I was as a rule rec
m
103
Such was the tenor of my life when, one morning,
my father came to my room.
At that moment I was busy utting some lac on my
lips, only pausing from time to time to shout directions to
a servant who had led my horse out into the courtyard in
front of my window and was saddling him up. The special
care required on the present occasion was due to a unique
contrivance by which cushions were to be strapped on in
front of the saddle for a gazelle‐eyed beauty I was to hold
there. An outing had been arranged for the afternoon to a
public garden and I was going both with women and men
friends.
I welcomed my father and was about to call for
refreshments, but he stopped me; and when I offered him
some sweet‐scented cashews from my golden box he
declined these also, only taking some betel. I concluded at
once from this, and not without misgiving, that my respec‐
ted parent had something on his mind.
“I see that you are getting ready for a little excur‐
sion, son,” he said, after he had taken the seat I offered
him, “and I cannot blame you, seeing that you have just
returned from a fatiguing business journey. Where are you
going today?”
“It is my intention, father, to ride with some friends
to the Garden of the Hundred Lotus Ponds, where we will
amuse ourselves with various games.”
“Excellent, most excellent, my son! Charming,
delightful is an afternoon in the Garden of the Hundred
Lotus Ponds — the deep shade of the trees and the cooling
breath of the waters invite the visitor to linger there.
And sophisticated and ingenious games are most praise‐
worthy, for they exercise body and mind without straining
them. I wonder whether the games are still in vogue that
we used to play in my youth? What do you suppose,
Kāmanīta, will be played there today?”
p
104
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