3. Summary of the Narmamālā

The Narmamālā or Garland of Jokes is another interesting satirical work of Kṣemendra. The work consists of three Parihāsas having 406 verses. In the Narmamālā, Kṣemendra openly criticizes the oppression and misdeeds of the corrupt Kāyastha bureaucrats. In the work, the officials, the accountants, the record keepers and the clerks are depicted under the title Kāyastha. In the Narmamālā, Kṣemendra also discloses various evil practices. The surgeon, the Buddhist nun and other groups of mean and crooked selfish persons are the target of Kṣemendra’s satire. The work also contains reformative elements.

In the very beginning of the work, Kṣemendra informs that the wicked and corrupt officials were controlled by the king Ananta with a firm hand as the god Trivikrama did with Bali. According to him, the king mitigated all the sufferings of his subjects by discharging the corrupt Kāyastha bureaucrats who are now no more in memory.^[1] In order to relate the past accounts of the bureaucrats and to mock their hypocrisy and corruption, Kṣemendra composes the Narmamālā in a humourous way for the amusement of the cultured people.^[2]

The Narmamālā also appeared along with the Deśopadeśa in the year 1923 A.D. under the editorship of Pādatāḍitaka MS Kaul Shastri.^[3] Both the Deśopadeśa and Narmamālā was published by the Research Department, Jammu and Kashmir State, Srinagar in the fortieth volume of Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies.

First Parihāsa:

In the very beginning, Kṣemendra narrates the story about how Kāyastha was born on the earth. In ancient times, when lord Viṣṇu killed all the demons, the chief accountant of their household was so upset that he went to the bank of the Vaitarini river and there he did hard penance for a thousand years. Finally, Kali^[4] was satisfied with his hard penance and appeared before him. Kali gave him a weapon, the pen (kalamāstra) and asked him to go to the earth to destroy all the gods and to oppress the Brāhmaṇas with its strokes. Further Kali said him that he would be known as divira^[5] on the earth, as he wept in the heaven at the destruction of the demons (divi roditīti diviraḥ). Kali also said that in his ancestry, many demons will be born as divira to seize all the wealth of the earth without leaving anything. After saying these words, Kali disappeared. The evil minded demon was reborn on the earth after another age had gone away. The demon became the forefather of a lineage. These demons are the kāyasthas. Kāyasthas are all devouring demons. They soon capture all the cities, villages and market places. With the help of the weapon of pen, they loot the temples, destroy all the daily and occasional rites of the gods, celestial serpents and human beings. In ancient times, when Viṣṇu occupied the whole world, dharma itself had melted as ink out of devotion. But when the lord of Kāyastha has captured the world, Kali has melted and becomes the ink.

Soon, the Kāyastha is compelled to leave the place when people became hostile to him. He comes back again and now he is expert in documentation and manipulation.

Fortunately, he is appointed as Gṛhakṛtyādhipati by the Nagaragaṇanāpati. The Gṛhakṛtyādhipati has seven assistants. They are Dambhadhvaja, Niṣprapañca, Lubdhaka, Kalamākara, Sūcīmukha, Bhūrjagupta, Mahīmaṇḍa. Each name indicates the very nature of their work. The Kāyastha is a great devotee of god. Before arriving at the workplace he goes to the temple for praying, but his mind is busy in planning his evil works.

The Puṃścalaka, an informer visits the Gṛhakṛtyādhipati. He comes to meet the Gṛhakṛtyādhipati because he knows all the ways to the wealth stored in the temples. He suggests the Gṛhakṛtyādhipati to appoint a maintainer (Paripālaka), who has all the requisite qualities such as killing the Brāhmaṇas and the cows and also in plundering the wealth of the temples.

After his continuous request the Gṛhakṛtyādhipati quickly appoints a wicked man as a Paripālaka. Being appointed by the Gṛhakṛtyādhipati, the Paripālaka with his assistants goes out to collect dues and plunders the temples and the houses of the innocent people.

The lekhakopādhyāya of Paripālaka’s official scribe arrives. Before his appointment he was a poor man and had hardly a piece of cloth to wear. But he has the writing skill for which he is always proud. After getting the position of an official scribe, his life has been changed. Soon he shows his efficiency in his work and becomes a celebrity.

Being invited, the Gañjadivira arrives and makes familiar the Paripālaka with the ways and means to be taken in misappropriating the property of the temple.

The Mārgapati or the Vyāpārika is then appointed to look after the villages. Before being appointed in the job his condition was not so good. His old worn out house was hardly habitable for him. His worn out shoes and dress exposed his poverty to all. But his conduct was good. He spent half of the day by worshipping god at the temple. He also maintained all the religious rites and in spite of being a poor one, he used to give a cowry shell to the penniless. But as soon as he is appointed as an official, his changes become noticeable. Now, his house is full of different goods and servants are engaged in different works. He enters the villages for inspection and gathers ghee, honey, pepper, ginger, sheep, blankets etc. from the villagers forcibly and pretends to live a very simple life in front of the royal officer.

The Mārgapati removes a Grāmadivira from his job on the basis that he failed to captivate the thieves and appoints a new one with the qualification of twelve years of imprisonment. The new Grāmadivira is skilled in vague writing and his enjoyment lies in drinking wine.

Soon the house of the bureaucrat is filled with wealth. On the other hand, the people were distressed by the maladministration of such bureaucrats.

This Parihāsa contains one hundred forty eight verses.

Second Parihāsa:

The second Parihāsa begins with the description of the wife of a newly rich bureaucrat. Because of vanity and young age, the wife of the bureaucrat not even looks down at the ground. She behaves like a queen and passes time by looking at the mirror and gazing at the people on the road from her mansion. The libertines find it easy to have such lewd woman. They decorate themselves with beautiful garments and pass away in front of her mansion. Finally, with the help of the Buddhist nun and go-between the libertines become success in uniting with the unchaste wife of the bureaucrat. Soon her husband returns from his journey, but she becomes unhappy. At night she prevents her husband from touching her body and in the morning she pretends to be unwell. To cure his wife, the bureaucrat invites a physician who lacks in knowledge and the cause of many people’s untimely death.

Being unsatisfied with the treatment of the physician, the bureaucrat invites the astrologer to cure his wife. The astrologer informs that she is tormented by Cupid and it is caused of an evil spirit which entered her body while she was bathing naked. The astrologer departs advising the bureaucrat to worship Śukra.

The bureaucrat invites a guru to perform a sacrifice for the sake of his wife. The guru is lacking in knowledge, but appears a proud man.

The bureaucrat invites the āsthānadivira, his father-in-law to attend the sacrifice. He is another sinner in whose hand rests the whole world. For money he can do anything. He is sweet in words, but is crooked from the heart.

The adhikaraṇabhaṭṭās are also as like as their masters. They devour wise persons along with their goods, movable and immovable.

This Parihāsa bears two hundred forty five verses.

Third Parihāsa:

All the near and dear ones of the bureaucrat have come to attend the sacrificial ceremony. The attendants of the bureaucrat collect all the materials of sacrificial ceremony on the demand of the guru. The materials include cakes and wine, meat, onion, fish, ghee, rice, a knife, arrows, a mirror, a deer skin etc. The disciples of the guru prepare the sacrificial ground. Then the guru enters the ceremonial hall holding his both arms by his disciples. The guru is surrounded by hundred of disciples. Among them there were butcher, fisherman, potter, old harlot, marketplace ascetic, beef eating Bhairavācārya, cook, libertines and also many more.

The bureaucrat engages his whore sister to look after the sacrifice of the guru. She is a widow and is associated with holy vows since her young age. She has a lotus like face and doe like eyes. Her neck and ears are without ornaments, still she looks good. She uses no flower in her hair and with her loosened hair falling over her shoulders, looks like a lily flower surrounded by bees. In one word, she looks beautiful without any decoration, as if she is created by god out of joy. The guru and his disciples look at her with an unchaste mind. For a libertine, without her there is no pleasure, no dharma and no salvation. She follows her young Brāhmaṇa lover during the visit to the holy places and at night they unite.

In the sacrificial ceremony, the guru along with his disciples begins to drink alcohol. Among them some are singing and some are weeping loudly. The guru begins to dance. All of them enjoy for the whole night. In the morning, the guru becomes ready to go as other disciples are waiting for him. In the meantime, one companion of the bureaucrat comes and informs that the Gṛhakṛtyādhipati has absconded with his attendants after looting the royal treasury. He advises the bureaucrat to do something before he is arrested by the soldiers. On hearing these words, the guru and his disciple flew away from the house of the bureaucrat. The bureaucrat also tries to run away with his followers, but the soldiers become able to catch him. The king confiscates all his wealth and is imprisoned for a long period. However, his whore sister releases him from the jail by paying money.

Now, he is penniless and devoid of all power. His wife has already left him. But his greed never ends. He roams begging food from his friends. With his dirty garments he is looking like a ghoul. Once he looted the wealth of the Brāhmaṇas and the gods and now he is living with an empty stomach. Somehow he is breathing only because of some sympathetic people who show pity on him by giving leftover food. He is not even given a glass of drinking water thinking he is a dirty man. In reality, the bureaucrat lives a miserable life and passes away from this world without having anyone to complete his last rites.

There are one hundred thirteen verses in this Parihāsa.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

yasmin prājyabhujastambhastambhitā hitavikramaḥ/
trivikrama iva śrīmānananto valijinnṛpaḥ// tena prajopasargeṣu vāriteṣu vivekinā/
durniyogiṣu sarveṣu nīteṣu smṛtiśeṣatāṃ// Narmamālā ,I.3-4

[2]:

vidagdhacuḍāmaṇinā kenacit keliśālinā/
vidvadgoṣṭhīgariṣṭhena kaścit sahṛdayo janaḥ// hāsāyātītakāyasthacaritaṃ kartumīritaḥ/
karoti tat prasaṅgena durācāraviḍambanāṃ// ibid.,I.5

[3]:

Dattary, Rajatbaran, A Critical Survey of the Life and Works of Kṣemendra, p.118

[4]:

Personification of Kali Age

[5]:

diviras were officials who had to do with writing and accounts. Rājataraṅgiṇī , V.fn.177