Panchatantra Stories – Part -3 Third Strategy: -3

Panchatantra Stories 

 Third Strategy: -

 Once upon a time, there was a popular king called Nanda. His people respected him for his learning and valour. He had a prime minister called Vararuchi who was well versed in diplomacy and statecraft. Vararuchi’s wife was one day annoyed with her husband and kept away from him. Extremely fond of his wife, the prime minister tried to please her. It was no use. He did not know what to do to regain her affection.
He pleaded with her, “Tell me what can I do to make you happy.”
The wife at last opened her mouth and said, “Shave your head cleanly and prostrate before me if you want to regain my love.”
The prime minister complied with her wish and succeeded in winning back her favour.
The king’s wife also played the same drama of shunning his company. Nanda tried every trick he knew to win her affection without success.
When everything failed, the king fell on her feet and prayed her, “My darling, I cannot live without you even for a while. Tell me what should I do to win back your love?”
The queen said, “I will be happy if you pretend to be a horse, agree to be bridled and to let me ride you. While racing you must neigh like a horse. Is this acceptable to you?”
“Yes,” said the king and did, as his wife demanded.
Next day, the king saw his prime minister with a shaven head and asked him, “Vararuchi, why did you have your head shaved on a day when tonsure is forbidden.”
Vararuchi replied, “O king, is there anything that a woman does not demand and a man does not readily concede? He would do anything, shave his head or neigh like a horse.”
Raktamukha, the monkey, then told Karalamukha, the croc, “You wicked croc, you are a slave of your wife like Nanda and Vararuchi. You tried to kill me but your chatter gave away your plans.”
That’s why the learned have said,

“Parrots sing and betray
Their presence to the hunter.
The crane eludes the hunter
By keeping his beak tightly shut.”

"See how a donkey despite his disguise in a tiger skin betrayed his origin by braying and got killed. Here is the story if you want to know,” said Raktamukha and began telling the story of the donkey.
In a small village lived a washer man named Suddhapata. He had a donkey that was very weak because he did not feed the animal regularly. One day, the washer man found the dead body of a tiger while he was collecting wood from the forest. Suddhapata was very happy and thought, “I am lucky. I can skin the animal and cover my donkey with that skin and drive it into wheat farms where he will have plenty to graze. Thinking that he is a tiger, people will keep away from him. This way, my donkey will have plenty of food.”
He acted on his plan and the donkey would go to the wheat farm every evening, have his day’s fill and return to his master’s house in the morning. This went on for sometime. The donkey became so strong and sturdy that it became difficult for the washer man to pull him to the peg and tie him to it.
One day, when he was happily grazing at the wheat farm, the donkey heard the voice of a female donkey and began to respond to it in ecstasy. Then the watchman and others at the farm at once recognised him as a donkey in a tiger skin and killed him.
Raktamukha then addressed the croc and told him, “You have seen how the donkey met his end because he opened his mouth where he should not. Now, will you leave me or do you want to meet with the same fate as Syamalaka?”
“No, please. I want to know the story of Syamalaka,” said Karalamukha, the croc. Raktamukha told him the following story.
A very wealthy merchant named Eswara lived in a city called Vikantakapuram. One day, his four sons-in-law arrived from Ujjain with their families to enjoy the hospitality of their father-in-law. Eswara did everything to make them happy and contented. Six months passed but the sons-in-law did not show any sign of leaving for Ujjain. Eswara was angry but could not directly tell his sons-in-law that they had overstayed.
One day, the father-in-law told his wife, “These guys are enjoying their stay here and are reluctant to leave. I am sure they will not leave unless we offend them in some way. Tomorrow, when they come for dinner, don’t offer them water to wash their feet. They will regard this as an insult and will certainly leave.”
Eswara’s wife did, as her husband wanted her to do.
The first son-in-law was offended because water was not ready for him to wash his feet and left in a huff.
The second son-in-law was not happy with the place assigned to him at the table and left ranting.
The third complained about the quality of food and packed his bags.
Syamalaka, the fourth son-in-law, however, did not mind these insults and stayed on. The father-in-law had, therefore, to throw him out of his house by force.
“I have seen how wicked you are and I am not a fool to still trust you like the carpenter,” said Raktamukha. At once Karalamukha insisted on hearing that story.

The Carpenter’s Wife

Once upon a time, a carpenter lived in a village with his wife. He had heard bad stories about her and wanted to know the truth about those rumours.
Next day, pretending he was going to the village nearby, he told his wife, “I have to leave the place early morning tomorrow for a village not far away from here. I may have to stay there for a few days. Please get things ready for my travel.”
The wife’s joy knew no bounds. She cooked his favourite dishes and packed some of it for his travel.
Next morning the carpenter left. His wife put on her best clothes, daubed perfume on her body and thrust flowers in her hair and spent the rest of the day with great difficulty.
When it was dusk, she went to her lover’s house and told him, “My wicked husband has left for some place and will not come back for a few days. So, come to my place after every one has gone to sleep and we will have a happy time.”
After this invitation, she returned home.
Meanwhile, the carpenter spent the day in a nearby forest and came back before his wife had returned from her lover’s place. He hid himself under a cot. Soon, his wife’s lover came and joined her. As the wife was talking to her lover on the bed, her dangling legs hit something hard. She at once thought it could be her husband hiding under the bed to test her.
“I will show my husband how clever I am,” she thought.
When her lover moved close to her, she told him through signs that her husband was under the bed and said, “Sir, you should not touch me. I am a very faithful wife. If you touch me I will turn you into ash.”
“In that case, why did you invite me,” he asked her angrily.
“Please listen, this morning, I went to the temple of the goddess where I heard a divine voice saying, “O woman, I know you are my devotee. But you will become a widow in six months.”
Then I prayed her to tell me a way by which I could save my husband and make him live for hundred years.
“There is a way which is in your hands,” the goddess told me.
“If that is so, I would give my life to save my husband”, I told the goddess.
She told me, “If you go to bed with a stranger, the danger to your husband’s life will shift to the stranger who will die soon.”
The foolish carpenter believed every word of his wife and happy that he had such a faithful wife, he came out of his hiding and told her, “O sacred woman, I paid heed to rumours about you and doubted your character. I wanted to test you and put you on the wrong track making you believe I had left the village. Now I have seen what you are. Come, let us enjoy,” he said and embraced her. In that happiness he carried his wife and the carpenter on his shoulders and paraded the streets of the village.
At this stage Raktamukha, the monkey, told Karalamukha, the croc, “O wicked croc, I now know your evil thoughts. How can I come to your place? It is your nature to be wicked. Friendship with good men will not change your nature. You are too attached to your woman. You are her slave. Such people never hesitate to lose their wealth and friends for her sake.”
As the monkey was telling this story of the carpenter to the croc, someone from the sea came and told the croc that his wife who was fasting had died. The croc felt that living in a house without a wife was like living in a jungle.
He told the monkey, “Friend, pardon me. I have done you harm. So, I have lost my wife. I deserve to die.”
The monkey said, “I know you are a hen-pecked husband. But this is no time for grief because you are rid of a greedy wife. You must celebrate.” The elders have said:

“Consider that evil woman
Who has no character and
Who always quarrels with you
As a curse in the form of a wife.
That man who wants to be happy
Should not even take her name.
He who loves a woman of vice
Perishes like a moth kissing fire.”

The croc said in grief, “My friend, I have lost your friendship and also my wife. All this is the result of betraying a friend like you. I think I am wise. But it is like the wisdom of the foolish woman who lost her lover and her husband also.”
“How is it?” asked the monkey.
The croc began telling him the story.
There was an old farmer who had a young wife, who always had other men on her mind. She never attended to household jobs. She was always looking for younger men to spend time. One day, a trickster saw her and seeing that she was alone went to her and prayed, “O beauty, I am a widower. The minute I saw you I lost my heart to you. Please give me the pleasure of your company.”
Delighted, the woman told him, “O handsome, my husband has a lot of wealth. He is old and of no use to me. I will bring all the money and jewellery at home to you. Let us run away to a far off place and live there happily ever after.”
The trickster was very happy and asked her to bring all that money and gold to a place where he would be waiting for her. “We will then leave the place quietly,” he told her.
The farmer’s wife waited till it was dark and when her husband fell asleep stole all the money and gold, packed it in a bag and left the house at dawn to meet the trickster at a place he had indicated. The trickster took the bag full of money and gold from her on the pretext that he would carry it and began their journey. After two miles, they stopped because there was a river to cross.
The trickster thought, “What do I do with a woman? If someone else were to set eyes on her, I have to protect her. It is better I give her up but take the money with me.”
With these thoughts in mind he told the woman, “Look, my dear, it is very difficult to cross the river. I will first ferry the money bag to the other side of the river and keeping it there I will come back and carry you on my back.”
She said, “Okay” and gave the bag to the trickster. He asked her to give her clothes also because he said clothes would hinder swimming. She gave away her clothes also. The trickster left with the bag and her clothes.
Covering her naked body with her hands, the woman began waiting restlessly for the trickster to return. Just then a jackal with a piece of meat in his mouth happened to pass by. The jackal saw a fish that had come out of water and in trying to get at it he dropped the meat piece and ran towards it. But the fish, seeing the rushing jackal, jumped back into water. Disappointed, the jackal went back to pick up the piece of meat. But a kite dived down fast and took it away before the jackal could reach it.
The woman laughed at the jackal that had lost the fish and also the piece of meat. Hurt by the woman’s behaviour, the jackal said, “You may be twice as intelligent as I am. But what is the use? You have lost your husband, your lover and your wealth also.”
In the middle of the story, some one from the sea came and disturbed Karalamukha and told him that another big croc had occupied his house. The croc did not know what to do. He had lost a friend (Raktamukha), his wife and the house. He began to wonder how he could throw out the big croc from his house. He went to the monkey who had already climbed back to the top of the tree and asked him for his advice.
Raktamukha told the croc, “You fool, why do you still bother me? You have tried to kill me to make your wife happy. Now, you have come for advice. I cannot give it to such fools like you who ask for advice but do not follow it. He who does not heed the advice of wise men will perish like the camel at the hands of the lion.”
Without any shame, the croc asked the monkey to tell him that story. The monkey told him the following story.

The Price of Indiscretion

In the city of Nagara, there was a carpenter whose name was Ujjwalaka and who was extremely poor. One day he was pained to realize that every one else in his profession was rich and happy and that he alone was very poor. He thought Nagara was not the proper place for him to prosper and that he must go out and seek his fortune elsewhere. Then he left that city and began his journey to a new country. When the sun was fading, he reached a cave in a forest.
There he saw a female camel that separated from her caravan and just then delivered a child. The carpenter gave up his plans to go to another country and went home taking the camel and her calf with him. Every day he would go into the forest and bring back with him bundles of tender leaves for the camel and her child to eat. The she camel regained and her strength and the calf now became an adult. The carpenter began selling camel milk and making good money.
Ujjwalaka loved the camel so much that he bought a bell and hung it to her neck. One day he thought to himself, “If one camel can bring so much money for me, how much more would I earn if I buy more camels and sell their milk?” He told his wife that he would borrow some money to go to Gujarat and buy a she camel and that she should take care of the she camel and her calf till he returned from Gujarat.
He went to Gujarat and returned home with a she camel. Slowly, the number of camels he had increased several times. He appointed a keeper to take care of the camel herd he had on the condition that he would give one camel to the keeper every year as remuneration. The keeper was also free to drink camel milk twice a day. Now, everything was fine for the carpenter and he and his wife thus lived happily ever after.
The camels used to go every day to a nearby forest to feed on the fresh green leaves available in plenty in the forest. After spending a lot of time in the forest, eating and playing, the camels trekked back home. But the senior she camel stayed on in the forest and joined the herd later. The other camels thought that the she camel was a fool to go her separate ways and what would she do if a wild animal attacked her.
One day a lion saw all the camels leaving the forest in a herd and the she camel staying back and loafing about. By the time she finished her leisurely grazing, the others left and reached home. The she camel lost her way and was in panic when the lion, which was following her, pounced on her and soon tore her to pieces.
“That’s why I tell you that he who does not follow the advice of wise men perishes like the camel,” said the monkey.
The croc replied, “You are right, if you follow advice given for your good you will face no danger either here or in the heaven above. Yet, what is great about doing good to a person who is good? He who helps a person who has done him harm is considered great by learned people. That’s why take pity on me and give me advice.”
The monkey said, “In that case, you go and fight that big croc who has occupied your home. If you die in that battle, you will go to heaven. If you win the battle, you will get back your house. Know this from me:

“Conquer a good man with humility,
Vanquish a hero with strategy,
Overcome the poor through small gifts
And crush equals with power.”

“How is that possible?” Karalamukha asked Raktamukha. Another story begins.

The Jackal’s Strategy

Mahachataraka was a jackal living in a forest. One day, he found the body of an elephant and was happy that it would have food for many days. However, he was not able to bite into the thick hide of the elephant and was circling around the body when a lion came that way. The jackal humbly prostrated before the lion and said, “My lord, I am your obedient servant. At your command, I am keeping a vigil on the body of the elephant. Please help yourself.”
The lion said, “You know my friend, I do not eat something others have killed. You may take it as my gift to you.”
“I am touched by your magnanimity, my lord,” said the jackal.
After the lion had left, a tiger came on the scene. The jackal thought, “I got rid of one menace through humility. How do I escape this fellow? He will not yield to any strategy I know. The only way of keeping him at bay is cunning. Let me try it.”
The jackal then went half way to greet the tiger and said, “O uncle, why are you entering this area of death? The lion has killed this elephant and asked me to keep watch on it. He has gone to take bath. Before going, he told me to inform him if any tiger happened to come here. He vowed to kill all the tigers because long time ago a tiger had nibbled at an elephant he had killed. He told me that from that day he had sworn to kill all tigers.”
These words frightened the tiger.
He told the jackal, “Son, save my life. When the lion comes, don’t tell him I had come this way. Please.”
On receiving an assurance from the jackal, the tiger hurriedly left the scene. Then came a leopard.
The Jackal thought, “This fellow has strong and sharp teeth. I will persuade him to pierce the hide of the elephant.”
Addressing the leopard, the jackal said, “My son, you have come this way after a long time. You seem to be hungry. Why don’t you be my guest? See this body of the elephant killed by the lion. He has asked me to keep an eye on the body. So, have a feast before he returns.”
The leopard said, “Uncle, how can I accept your invitation. If I want to live long I should not touch this elephant. I will leave now.”
The jackal assured him, “Don’t worry, you go ahead. I will alert you when the lion comes.”
The leopard then began attacking the elephant and when he tore the hide, the jackal cried, “Run. The lion is coming.”
In this way, the jackal managed to get rid of the leopard also.
When the jackal began feasting on the elephant flesh, another jackal came that way. He was very angry and looked very strong. The first jackal remembered the last line of the stanza “crush equals with power” and attacked the trespasser with great ferocity and killed him.
Raktamukha told Karalamukha, “In the manner of the jackal in the story, you also kill that encroaching croc. Otherwise, it will be your end. But you must be wary like Chitranga, the dog, of your own kith and kin.”
“Who is this Chitranga? Can I learn anything from his story,” asked the croc.
“Why not?” said the monkey and began telling him the story of Chitranga.
Chitranga was a dog living in a city in the south visited by famine for many years. Dogs began dying by the hundreds because there was no food. There was a danger that they would disappear as species. So, Chitranga left that city and came to a far-off city in search of food. There he found the house of a wealthy man whose wife was a lazy and careless woman who would not close the doors of the house.
Every day, Chitranga would sneak into the open house and have his fill. But he really could not enjoy his food because as soon as he came out of the house, street mongrels attacked him and severely wounded him.
Chitranga thought, “Oh, I made a mistake in coming here. Home was better even if there was no food. There was no struggle like this for food. Let me go home.”
In the end, Chitranga left that city and returned home.
Seeing him return from abroad, Chitranga’s friends asked him, “Tell us everything about the country you have visited. How are the people there? What is their culture?”
The dog said, “The less said the better about that country. Everything is freely available because the women are careless. Yet your own kith and kin deprive you of this joy.”
The croc was then impressed by the monkey’s good advice and decided to fight the encroaching croc. He fought his enemy with great valour and killed him and regained the house occupied by him. The elders have said:

“There is no true happiness in
What you get without effort.
Even an old bullock survives
On food that comes his way.”

Thus ended the dialogue between Raktamukha and Karalamukha. With that ends the fourth Tantra of Vishnu Sarma.
 

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...)  

_{(My humble salutations to Katha varatha and  Hinduism dot org for the  collection)}

(A Tribute to the great Bharatiya Samskruti)