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Articles: Moral Stories | pancha tantra kadhalu...renDava tantramu..mitralaabhamu
- Mr. Siri Siri
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SOMILAK - THE WEAVER
Once there used to live a weaver named Somilak. Despite of being an expert weaver he did not get proper remuneration and rewards.One day Somilak told his wife that he would go to some other place to try his luck as he was not being properly rewarded for his work. He said -
'The weaver who are less efficient than me have become richer where as I even after being more proficient in my work remain poor.'
His wife did not agree with him. She told him that perhaps it was in their destiny to remain poor. We are just reaping the fruits of our past lives. Your decision of going to an alien place is not proper. But the weaver had made up his mind. So, one day, he left for another city named Vardhamanpur. He stayed there for three years and earned three hundred gold coins. He decided to return to his native place.While he was passing through a forest, it became dark. He climbed up a Banyan tree for safety and fell asleep. In his sleep he had a dream, in which two men were talking to each other.
One man said- 'O Kartah! You know this Somilak has only that much wealth in his destiny which is required for survival. Then why did you give him three hundred gold coins.'
The second man replied- 'O Karman its my duty to give wealth to a laborious person. It depends only upon you, whether you allow it to remain in his possession or not.' Somilak got up from his dream. He found that the gold-coins had vanished. He became very sad. Instead of going to his native place, he decided to return back to the same city. Within a year he once again earned five hundred gold coins. He proceeded towards his native place. For fear of losing his gold coins he kept on walking and did not take rest. While he was passing through that same forest he met two people, who resembled the men he had seen in the dream.
One of them was saying -
'O Kartah! Why did you give him five hundred gold coins? Don’t you know he has only such amount of wealth in his destiny as is required for survival.'
The other one replied -
'O Karman! its my duty to give wealth to a laborious man. Now it is up to you whether you allow it to remain in his possession or not.'
When Somilak heard their conversation, he became afraid and opened his bundle to check whether the gold coins were safe or not. But all of them had vanished.
Somilak being disgusted decided to end his life. He went near a tree and as he was about to put the noose around his neck, he heard a voice -
'Somilak! Do not take your life. I am the one who has stolen your wealth. I will not allow more wealth than what you need for your survival. You better go back home. But since you are fortunate enough to have my sight you can ask for any boon.'
Somilak wanted back his golden coins but the unseen voice refused it outright saying- 'You are not destined to enjoy the pleasure of wealth. What is the use of giving to you.'
Still Somilak insisted and said -
Even if a man is born in a low caste or is abandoned by people, if he has wealth then people serve him. It does not make difference to them even if he is a miser- 'Friend! I have seen the jackals waiting for the testicles of an ox to fall, for fifteen years.'
The unseen voice asked curiously -
'What is this story?'
Somilak narrated this following story -
TEEKSHNAVISHAN BULLOCK AND THE JACKAL
There used to live a bullock named Teekshnavishan. He was very arrogant of his strength. He used to live separately from his heard. One day he was grazing grass at the bank of a river. A jackal was sitting with his wife nearby. When the jackal’s wife saw the big testicles of the bullock, she said to the jackal.
See, these two fleshy parts of the bullock would soon fall down, so follow him wherever he goes.
The jackal was not so sure about this. He said that it was better for him to stay there itself and wait for the mice, who would come there to drink water. His wife then said that she had become fed up of eating mice everyday. She forced the jackal to follow the bullock. The jackal could not resist his wife’s request. He followed the bullock accompanied by his wife. Both of them followed the bullock for fourteen years anticipating the testicles to fall.
But this did not happen. The jackal then requested his wife to return back because their efforts so far had gone in vain. Seeing the futility of their effort both of them quit following the bullock. After completing his story Somilak said that this was the reason why I said people are most willing to serve a wealthy person even if he was a miser.
The unseen voice then instructed Somilak to go back to Vardhamanpur, where he would meet two sons of a grocer. Their names are Guptadhan and Upabhuktadhan.
Try to understand their real nature and then you will certainly receive whatever you demand.
Somilak went back to Vardhamanpur. First of all he went to Guptadhan’s house. Guptadhan misbehaved with him and drove him out of his house. Still Somilak forcibly entered his house. At night, when Guptadhan was having his dinner along with his family, he rudely gave some food to Somilak. Somilak helplessly ate whatever was given to him and then went to sleep.
At midnight Somilak heard somebody’s voice. He tried to listen to what was being said. He heard a voice saying -
'O Kartah! You have caused excessive expenditure to Guptadhan. He had to feed Somilak. How will he recover his losses.'
The other voice replied -
'O Karman! its my duty to benefit the people. The end result lies in your hand.'
When Guptadhan got up next morning, he had to fast for the whole days, as he was suffering from indigestion. This way he recovered his losses. Somilak then went to Upabhuktadhan's house, where he was treated very well with respect. A lot of money had been spent on treating him.
At mid night, Somilak heard the same conversation. One was saying -
'Kartah! How will Upabhuktadhan recover his losses which he has incurred by spending lavishly on his guest.'
The other voice said -
'Karman! This was my duty. The final result lies in your hand.'
In the morning, the king’s envoy arrived with many presents and prizes sent by the king.
Somilak understood that, charitable Upabhuktadhan was far better than Guptadhan the miser. He wished he could become just like Upabhuktadhan. After completing his story Mantharak said -
Hiranyak! You too should not worry about wealth. The wealth which can not be used is good for nothing.
While Mantharak was preaching Hiranyak on the values of charity, contentment etc. suddenly a deer came running and entered into the lake. His sudden arrival had scarred Laghupatnak. He flew away and perched high on a tree. Hiranyak too hid himself in a bush. Mantharak dived into the lake. When Laghupatnak realized that it was a thirsty deer which had come to quench his thirst he called out to Mantharak and Hiranyak to come out of their hidings.
When Mantharak saw the terrified deer, he understood that the deer had some kind of threat to his life. He expressed his opinion to Laghupatnak. The deer said that he was indeed running away from the hunters, who had killed many of his friends. He requested them to give shelter to him, which they did. Chitrang- the deer started living with them.
One day, Chitrang the deer was absent. Laghupatnak- the crow flew in search of him. He saw Chitrang trapped in a net. After consoling him he took Hiranyak to that place. Mantharak too followed both of them. Hiranyak cut the net by his sharp teeth. Chitrang ran away. So did Laghupatnak but the poor Mantharak was not that lucky. The hunter had arrived by then. When he saw that Chitrang had escaped, he became very sad. Suddenly he saw Mantharak the tortoise trying to escape. The hunter caught him and proceeded towards his home. He had fastened Mantharak with a rope.
When, Laghupatnak Hiranyak and Chitrang saw that Mantharak had been caught by the hunter, they made a plan to release him.
According to the plan, Chitrang shammed death by the side of a lake. Laghupatnak started pecking Chitrang's head with his beak. When the hunter saw this, mistaking Chitrang to be dead he put Mantharak down on the ground, thinking that as he was fastened, he could not run away and proceeded to procure the deer.
Meanwhile Hiranyak swiftly cutting the net released Mantharak, which swiftly entered the lake. As the hunter approached Chitrang, it got up and eloped. All of them then ran away. Feeling very dejected, the hunter started cursing his fate. He went back to his home after losing everything.
LESSON: One should always make friendship with an intelligent people.
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