The Pilgrim Kamanita · Chapter
XXIX: Amid the Sweets of the Coral Blossom explained
Kamanita and Vasitthi, now in paradise, rest under the Coral Tree and breathe its perfume, which opens up visions of their past lives together.
What happens
Kamanita and Vasitthi, now in paradise, rest under the Coral Tree and breathe its perfume, which opens up visions of their past lives together. They recall a series of incarnations: as heroic warriors in the epic age of the Kauravas, as a wandering bard and a maiden in a pastoral land, as lovers in a snowy steppe threatened by Scythian raiders, as a stag and hind in the forest, as golden eagles, as dolphins, and even as two palm trees on an island. Each life is marked by the same mutual love, and they realize that the blossoms can awaken memories without end, for they are as old as the world itself.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Transcendence
The chapter shows that the love between Kamanita and Vasitthi persists through countless rebirths, transcending time, species, and circumstance.
Rebirth and Karma
The visions of past lives—from human to animal to plant—illustrate the cycle of rebirth and the karmic bonds that unite the pair.
Illusion and Reality
The memories of diverse lives, each seeming real in its own era, are revealed as part of a greater, timeless reality accessed through the Coral Tree's perfume.
Characters to notice
- Kamanita
Reclines under the Coral Tree with Vasitthi, experiencing visions of their shared past lives, from heroic warrior to stag to eagle.
- Vasitthi
Alongside Kamanita, she recalls their many incarnations and marvels that they are as old as the world.
- Arjuna
Mentioned as a figure at whose side Kamanita fought in a past life on the plain of Kurukshetra.
- Krishna
Mentioned as a companion of Arjuna in the same heroic past life.
- The Kauravas
Referenced as the adversaries in the great battle of Kurukshetra in which Kamanita once fought.
Key passages
“Reposing under the mighty crown of the Coral Tree, they breathed that perfume of perfumes which streamed from the crimson blossoms, and, in the depths of their memory, there was opened up to them the vista of their former lives—life preceding life in some strangely appointed order, back into the far-distant past.”
Resting beneath the Coral Tree, they inhaled its exquisite fragrance, which unlocked a panorama of their past lives, each following the other in a mysterious sequence stretching into ancient times.
Describes the mechanism by which the Coral Tree's scent triggers memories of previous incarnations.
“But she, when she reeves the news of his death, ascended, in front of the palace, and followed by all of her women, the funeral pyre, which she lit with her own hand.”
Upon hearing of his death, she climbed the funeral pyre before the palace, accompanied by her attendants, and set it alight herself.
Recalls a past life where Vasitthi performed sati after Kamanita's death in battle.
“Thus did they two, companions in so many wanderings, linger in the shade of the Coral Tree, and, day by day, enjoy the sweets of memory exhaled by its fragrant blossoms.”
So the two, partners through countless journeys, stayed in the Coral Tree's shade, daily savoring the delightful memories released by its perfumed flowers.
Summarizes their ongoing experience of recalling past lives together in paradise.