Caravan Destroyed by Herd of Elephants

The leader of the caravan had heard Damayanti’s story. He agreed to take her with him. She was searching for Nala, her lost husband, and the caravan was heading west toward the country of the Cedis. She travelled with them for many days. They came to a pond in the middle of a vast and terrible forest. It was wide and beautiful, fragrant with lotuses, surrounded by grass and kindling and roots and fruit. Birds of many kinds gathered at its edges. The water was clean and delightful. The animals of transport were exhausted. The merchants asked permission from their leader and entered the forest to rest. When the day moved westward, the caravan settled down. At midnight, everything was quiet. The tired merchants and their animals were asleep. A herd of elephants arrived to drink at a mountain stream. The water overflowed with their musk. They saw the caravan lying asleep along their path — men, cattle, donkeys, camels, horses, all sprawled across the ground where the elephants needed to walk. They trampled them. Suddenly. Without warning. A wail rose from the merchants as they scrambled for protection. Blind with sleep, mad with fear, they dashed toward the creepers of the forest. Some were killed by the tusks of the elephants. Others were trampled underfoot. The animals — cattle, donkeys, camels, horses — fled in panic, injuring each other, falling to the ground with terrible roars. Some men climbed trees. The trees broke. They fell onto the uneven ground. In this way, the entire prosperous caravan was destroyed. When morning came, the men who had survived emerged from the creepers. They saw the slaughter. They grieved for brothers, fathers, sons, friends. Damayanti stood among them and lamented. “What evil act have I committed in the past?” she said. “I found an ocean of men in this deserted forest. Through my ill fortune, they have now been destroyed by a herd of elephants. It is certain that I will suffer more, for a long time to come. I have heard from the aged that no one dies before the time has come. Had that not been true, my miserable self would have been killed by this herd of elephants today. Indeed, nothing befalls men, if not brought about by destiny. I committed no sin, not even as a child, or in deeds, thought or words. What has brought about this misery? At the time of the svayamvara, the assembled gods who are the lords of the worlds were rejected by me for the sake of Nala. It must be because of their influence that I suffer this separation now.” She left with the brahmanas who had survived — learned in the Vedas, they had made it through the night. She was miserable, overcome with sorrow, and still searching.