Note 1 — Chapter I

Then Pushpadanta wandering on the earth in the form of a man, was known by the name of Vararuchi and Kátyáyana. Having attained perfection in the sciences, and having served Nanda as minister, being wearied out he went once on a time to visit the shrine of Durgá.1 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 as he wandered about there in a waterless and savage wood,2 full of tigers and apes, he beheld a lofty Nyagrodha tree.3 And near it he saw, surrounded by hundreds of Piśáchas, that Piśácha Káṇabhúti, in stature like a Śála tree. When Káṇabhúti had seen him and respectfully clasped his feet, Kátyáyana sitting down immediately spake to him. “Thou art an observer of the good custom; how hast thou come into this state?” Having heard this Káṇabhúti said to Kátyáyana, who had shewn affection towards him, “I know not of myself, but listen to what I heard from Śiva at Ujjayiní in the place where corpses are burnt; I proceed to tell it thee.” The adorable god was asked by Durgá—“Whence, my lord, comes thy delight in skulls and burning-places?” He thereupon gave this answer.