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There can be no doubt that the original Perceval story included the marriage of the hero. The circumstances under which Rishyacringa is lured from his Hermitage are curiously paralleled by the account, found in the Queste and Manessier, of Perceval's temptation by a fiend, in the form of a fair maiden, who comes to him by water in a vessel hung with black silk, and with great riches on board.
Professor von Schroeder remarks that the efficacy of the rite appears to be enhanced by the previous strict observance of the rule of chastity by the officiant. What, however, is of more immediate interest for our purpose is the fact that the Rishyacringa story does, in effect, possess certain curious points of contact with the Grail tradition.
In Section VIII. of the work referred to the author discusses the story of Rishyacringa, as the Mahabharata names the hero; here we find a young Brahmin brought up by his father, Vibhandaka, in a lonely forest hermitage absolutely ignorant of the outside world, and even of the very existence of beings other than his father and himself.
Enquiry may commence with early Aryan tradition. The Rig-Veda. Extreme importance assigned to Indra's feat of "Freeing the Waters." This also specific achievement of Grail heroes. Extracts from Rig-Veda. Dramatic poems and monologues. Professor von Schroeder's theory. Mysterium und Mimus. Rishyacringa drama. Parallels with Perceval story.
So soon as Rishyacringa is safely on board the ship sails, the lad is carried to the capital of the rainless land, the King gives him his daughter as wife, and so soon as the marriage is consummated the spell is broken, and rain falls in abundance.
He has never seen a woman, and does not know that such a creature exists. A drought falls upon a neighbouring kingdom, and the inhabitants are reduced to great straits for lack of food. The King, seeking to know by what means the sufferings of his people may be relieved, learns that so long as Rishyacringa continues chaste so long will the drought endure.
Hence the dramatic representations to which I have referred, the performance, for instance, of such a drama as the Rishyacringa, the ceremonial 'marriages, and other exercises of what we now call sympathetic magic.
Taking advantage of the absence of his father, the girl visits Rishyacringa in his forest cell, giving him to understand that she is a Hermit, like himself, which the boy, in his innocence, believes. He is so fascinated by her appearance and caresses that, on her leaving him, he, deep in thought of the lovely visitor, forgets, for the first time, his religious duties.
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