Then Pushpadanta wandering on the earth in the form of a man, was known by the name of Vararuchi. Having attained perfection in the sciences, and having served Nanda (a king) as minister, he became disillusioned and wearied out with his life; he went once on journey to visit the shrine of Goddess Durgá in the Vindhyas. He started meditating upon the Goddess, and that goddess, being pleased with his austerities, ordered him in a dream to repair to the wilds of the Vindhya to behold Káṇabhúti, and there he shall find inner peace. And as he wandered about there in a water less and savage wood, full of tigers and apes, he beheld a lofty Nyagrodha tree. And near it he saw, surrounded by hundreds of Piśáchas, that Piśácha Káṇabhúti, in stature like a tree.
Nyagrodha tree
Piśácha
When Káṇabhúti had seen him and respectfully clasped his feet, Vararuchi sitting down immediately spoke to him. “You are an observer of the good custom; how have you come into this state?” Having heard this Káṇabhúti said to Vararuchi, who had shown affection towards him, “I know not of myself, but listen to what I overheard from the conversation between Lord Śiva and Parvati at Ujjayiní (a great city) in the place where corpses are burnt (a cremation ground);”
The adorable god was asked by Parvati—“From where, my lord, comes your delight in skulls and burning-places?” He thereupon gave this answer.
“Long ago when all things had been destroyed at the end of a aeon, 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 sprang the Supreme Soul, a man; for him I created Nature, for the purpose of further creation, and they created the other lords of created beings, and those in turn created the other 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 and became a sage. So thus it comes to pass that I carry skulls in my hand, 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 Śiva had thus spoken, I, being full of curiosity, determined to listen; and Párvatí again said to her husband, “After how long a time will that Pushpadanta return to us?” Hearing that, Maheśvara spoke to the goddess, pointing me out to her; “That Piśácha whom thou beholdest there, was once a Yaksha, a servant of Kuvera, the god of wealth, and he had for a friend a demon; and the lord of wealth perceiving that he associated with that evil one, banished him to the wilds of the Vindhya mountains. But his brother fell at the feet of the god, and humbly asked when the curse would end. Then the god of wealth said—“After your brother has heard a 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 Mályaván, who owing to a curse has become a human being, he together with those two Gaṇas shall be released from the effects of the curse.” Such were the terms on which the god of wealth then ordained that Mályaván should obtain remission from his curse here below, and you did fix the same in the case of Pushpadanta; recall it to mind, my beloved.” When I heard that speech of Śiva, I came here overjoyed, knowing that the calamity of my curse would be terminated by the arrival of Pushpadanta.
When Káṇabhúti ceased after telling this story, that moment Vararuchi remembered his origin, and exclaimed like one aroused from sleep, “I am that very Pushpadanta, hear that tale from me.” Thereupon Vararuchi related to him the seven great tales in seven hundred thousand verses, and then Káṇabhúti said to him— “My lord, you are an incarnation of Śiva, who else knows this story? Through your favour that curse has almost left my body. Therefore tell me your own history from your birth, oh mighty one, sanctify me yet further, if the narrative may be revealed to such a one as I am.” Then Vararuchi, to gratify Káṇabhúti, who remained prostrate before him, told all his history from his birth at full length, in the following words:
Continued here… Story of Vararuchi
streams of stories- Katha Sarith Sagara or Ocean of the Stream of Stories 