4 - Safe havens

Summary

We have been looking at a view of the universe on a grand scale, where only the imagination sets the limits. It is a world filled with weird and wonderful beings and powers and held together through the common fate of transmigration. In many ways it is a terrifying world, frightening not only because of its enormous proportions, but also because it is pervaded by violence and a constant struggle for power between the different beings. Here is one example of how the popular imagination has envisaged such threats and power struggles. It takes us back to King Ploughman, whose adventures we have heard about previously. After his generous refusal to accept the amorous pleasures offered to him by Jewel-Lustre in her underworld palace, the king arrived at an ascetic's hermitage near the confluence of the ‘seven Godāvarīs’ with its temple of Śiva, and was welcomed there. But disaster had struck the seemingly idyllic place, as the ascetic told him.

‘During the day, the devas play music for Śiva [in his temple]. But once they have left, ogres [lit. ‘night-wanderers ’] roam about during the night. The leader of these demons is called Horror-Face, and the visiting sages are so terrified of him that they do not dare stay here even for one day. But I know that tonight you will fight a battle with him. […]