by Visnu Sarma
The monkey quickly climbed up a tree and told the king, ‘Well, wicked-hearted Lord of Men! All your people have been eaten up by the ogre who lives in the lake. I swore vengeance against you for having encompassed the extirpation of my whole clan; that vengeance has now been accomplished. You may go. Regarding you as my lord and master I refrained from leading you into the lake. Know this, my lord:
(64) A deed begets a counter deed:
injury is met with injury:
I see nothing wrong with it
if someone repays evil with evil.
‘You wrought havoc with my people; I have done the same with yours.’
When King Moon heard this he quickly returned the way he had come, totally devastated; while the ogre, replete, rose out of the lake and exclaimed joyfully:
(65) ‘An enemy slain, a friend gained,
the necklace of rubies not lost,
you have done well, my monkey-friend
drinking water through hollow lotus-stalk.’
‘Therefore, I said to you, my friend, “He who acts out of greed…” and the rest of it,’ concluded Goldfinder. Again he spoke to his friend: ‘Permit me to leave so that I can go home.’
Whereupon Wheelbearer pleaded, ‘How can you go, my friend, leaving me in this miserable plight? You know what is said:
(66) Prompted by sheer hard-heartedness
a man who forsakes a friend in distress
is an ingrate, nothing less:
for this sin he is certain to go to Hell.’
And Goldfinder replied, ‘Yes, my friend, what you say is true; but it is valid only in cases where a man who has the ability to aid his friend abandons him and that too in a situation where help can be provided.30 But this is a situation31 beyond all human remedy. As for me, I can never gain the power to set you free, remember that; more than that, even as I watch you twisting in the agony created by the whirling wheel, even as I see your face distorted with pain, I feel afraid that the same calamity might perchance befall me. And the more urgent then is my desire to leave and go far away from this place. The following lines from a tale illustrates my point aptly:
(67) To judge from the look on your face,
dear monkey, it is quite plain to me,
you are caught in Twilight’s cruel grip;
he lives long who flees far.’
Wheelbearer asked his friend, ‘What is that tale?’ And then Goldfinder began the tale of The Credulous Ogre.
In a certain city there once ruled a king named Fine Forces who had a daughter named Jewel, a maiden blessed with all imaginable beauties.32 A certain ogre lusted after her and wished to carry her off. Every night he came to her chamber, forced himself upon her and took his pleasure of her; but he could not carry her off because she was protected by a circle of magical spells and charms. At the hour when the ogre was enjoying her body, the poor princess displayed all the certain signs of demonic possession, such as feverishness, trembling, and so on. As the days passed, one night, the ogre stood in a corner of the bedchamber and made himself visible to the princess. ‘Look, look, dear friend,’ the princess exclaimed, turning to her lady-in-waiting, ‘do you see this ogre who each evening come twilight, arrives to torment me this way? Do you think there is some means of warding off this evil-hearted demon?’
Hearing the princess speak, the ogre began thinking anxiously, ‘Oho! So, there is another like me who comes to her every night and like me wishes to carry the princess away. And his name is Twilight, I see. But it looks as if he is also not able to carry her off. So, let me assume the form of a horse and stand among the horses and watch to see what form this other fellow takes and judge what power he has.’
So he went and stood in the stables among the horses having assumed an equine form. At dead of night, a horse-thief stole into the royal stables. He looked around and carefully examined each horse there. Deciding that the horse which was in fact the ogre, was the finest of them all, the thief fitted a bit into that horse’s mouth and mounted him. As all these preparations were going on, the ogre in horse-shape thought to himself, ‘So, this is the fellow the princess calls Twilight; presuming me to be a villain, he has become enraged and has come here to kill me. What the hell am I to do?’
While the ogre was lost in such thoughts, the horse-thief picked up a whip and struck him hard. Terrified, the ogre took off and started galloping at a terrific speed. Having ridden him for a long distance, the thief pulled sharply at the bit to slow him down and make him keep a steady pace; but to no avail.
The horse-thief reflected; ‘If this creature were really a horse then he would understand my tugging at the bit, and respond; instead, he goes faster than ever.’
Seeing that the horse was not in the least paying heed to the control exerted through the bit, the thief grew apprehensive: ‘Well, well; horses do not act like this,’ he thought to himself; ‘This must surely be some demon or other who has taken the form of a horse. I had better watch out for some spot where the dust lies thick so that I can drop down. There seems no other way of staying alive.’
As the horse-thief rode on, anxiety-ridden, praying fervently to his chosen deity, the demon-horse galloped under a spreading banyan tree. The thief caught hold of one of the aerial roots of the tree and clung to it for dear life. The two of them, thief and ogre, thus fortuitously separated, now had their hopes for life restored and were filled with supreme delight.
Now, a certain monkey, the ogre’s close friend, lived in that tree. Seeing the ogre rushing away, he called out: ‘Look here, why on earth are you running away like this from an imaginary danger? This is a man, your natural prey; eat him.’
Hearing the monkey’s words, the ogre resumed his natural form and turned around, but remained dithering, perplexed and uncertain. As for the thief he became so furious at the monkey for having recalled the fleeing ogre that seeing it sit right above him, he caught hold of its tail that was hanging down, put it in his mouth and chewed very, very, hard on it. The monkey concluding that here was a person much more powerful than the ogre, was too frightened to make a sound. All it could do was to sit there in dreadful pain, with eyes closed tight and teeth clenched hard. The ogre marked how the monkey sat there looking quite miserable and recited this verse:
(68) ‘To judge from the look on your face
dear monkey, I see quite clearly
that you are held tight in Twilight’s grip;
he lives long who flees far.’
Once again Goldfinder said to his friend, ‘Give me leave to depart; I wish to return home. And as for you, my friend, you had better remain here, tasting the fruit of the Tree of Heedlessness.’
To this Wheelbearer, stung by his friend’s criticism, retorted: ‘Look here, my friend, I cannot accept what you say; this is not simply a question of prudence or the lack of it. For good luck and ill luck come to men, allotted by fate, as these lines aptly point out:
(69) Blind man, hunchback, princess with three breasts,
all three won, and gained the right ends,
even though they used the wrong means:
for Fortune did wait upon them.’
Rather put out, Goldfinder said, ‘Oh? Is that so? Tell me how?’ And then Wheelbearer began the tale of The Three-breasted Princess.
In the north country is a place named Honey City which was ruled by a king by the name of Honey Forces. At one time a daughter was born to him, but the baby princess had three breasts. When the king heard about this, he at once summoned the royal chamberlain and commanded him thus: listen, sir, take this baby to the forest and abandon her there so that no one will ever know of this strange birth.’
Hearing his command, the chamberlain suggested: ‘O, King of Kings, it is well-known that even though the birth of a girl with three breasts is a calamitous event, still, the learned priests should be summoned and asked for advice as to what ought to be done so that there would be no likelihood of any transgression of the Law in this world and in the other. For we know the
saying:
(70) A prudent man is ever
an inveterate inquirer;
a Brāhmana of old
as the tale is told,
seized by a demon king
managed to go scot-free
simply by making an inquiry.’
‘O, really? How was that?’ asked King Honey Forces. And then the chamberlain began the tale of The Brāhmana who asked.
Once, in a forest somewhere, there lived an ogre named Violent. As he was roaming around one day he met a Brāhmana, on whose shoulders he promptly mounted and ordered, ‘Now, go ahead.’
The Brāhmana, terror-stricken, set out as ordered, carrying the ogre on his shoulders. By chance he noticed something of interest; the ogre’s feet were tender and delicate as the heart of a lotus. Curious, he put a question to his passenger: ‘How is it that your feet are so tender. Your Honour?’
‘Because,’ replied the ogre, ‘I never allow my bare feet to touch the earth; this is a vow I have taken.’
The poor Brāhmana struggled on with the ogre riding on his shoulders, while various ways of escaping from his predicament revolved in his mind, until they came to a lake. The ogre stopped him, saying, ‘Hey, you are not to stir from this spot until I come out of the lake after I have had my bath in its waters and offered worship to the divinities.’
When the ogre had entered the lake the Brāhmana started thinking as he waited: ‘It is quite plain to me that this demon, once he has had his bath and worshipped the divinities, will eat me up: I am certain of that. I had better leave this place quietly and quickly too; for this wicked fellow will not come after me on bare feet.’ And he ran away as fast as he could. The ogre afraid of violating his own vow refrained from pursuing him.
‘Therefore, my lord, I say to you, “A prudent man always enquires first…” and the rest of it,’ concluded the chamberlain.
The king heeded the chamberlain’s advice and sent for the learned priests and declared to them : ‘O, learned priests, a daughter with three breasts has been born to me. Are there any remedial measures to be adopted or not in this case?’
The priests replied, ‘Listen, O, King:
(71) Born without a limb or with one too many,
a girl is a threat to her virtue
and to the life of her husband too.
(72) What’s worse, my lord, a three-breasted daughter
who comes within eyeshot of her father
dooms him to a speedy death;
there is no doubt in this matter.
‘For these reasons, our advice is that His Majesty should shun the very sight of this princess. If any man is willing to marry her, let her be given to him, after which he should be banished from the land with her. By following this procedure, His Majesty would be acting in accordance with the Law, human and divine.’
The king accepted their advice and ordered that a proclamation be made throughout his kingdom by beat of drum, as follows: ‘Hear this, all you people, hear this, whoever offers to marry the princess with three breasts, to him will the king freely offer a hundred thousand gold pieces; and banish him from the land.’
For a very long time this proclamation was made but no one came forward to marry the unfortunate princess who remained in seclusion until she reached the point of stepping into womanhood.
In that same city a certain blind man lived and he had a hunchback for a companion, who guided him around with a stick. One day these two heard the royal proclamation made by beat of drum and it started them thinking. They talked about it and took counsel with one another. ‘Listen, supposing we touch the drum,33 we get the girl and the gold. With the gold we can lead a life of comfort and happiness. And even if the girl’s deformity brings death with itself, it will put an end finally to the misery of abject poverty. As we have heard:
(73) Wit, kindliness and modesty,
sweetness of speech and youthful beauty,
liveliness too and vitality,
freedom from sorrow, and joviality,
uprightness, knowledge of sacred texts,
and wisdom of the Preceptor of the Immortals,34
purity as well, of mind and body,
respect too for rules of right conduct:
all these fine attributes arise in people
once their belly-pot is full.’
Having talked it over, the blind man went up to the town-crier and tapped the drum. The king’s men went straight away and informed the monarch: ‘Lord, some blind man walked up to the drum and touched it. Now it is up to His Majesty to take a decision.’
The king replied immediately: ‘Listen, sirs:
(74) Blind man or deaf, or even a leper,
or an outcast even, whoever,
let him but marry the girl, take the gold,
all hundred thousand pieces, and leave the land.’
Immediately, on receiving the royal command, the king’s officers took the three-breasted princess to the river’s edge where they married her to the blind man after handing over a hundred thousand gold pieces to him. Then putting all three of them into a small fishing boat they instructed the fishermen: ‘Take this blind man with his wife and hunchback companion to some foreign land and let him settle there.’ The boatmen followed these instructions. The three of them, when they reached a foreign land, travelled to a town there and with part of their wealth, purchased a house and settled down to live comfortably. The blind man, however, spent all his time lazing on a couch while the hunchback managed the household.
As time went on, the princess became involved in an affair with the hunchback. And one day she whispered to him. ‘My beloved, if only this blind fellow can somehow be murdered, we could then have a wonderful life together, just the two of us. Try and find some poison which I can administer to my husband to put an end to his life; I would be the happiest woman alive.’
The hunchback, accordingly, began looking around and one day he discovered a dead black serpent lying somewhere, which he picked up and, with great joy, brought home. Giving it to the princess, he murmured: ‘Beloved, here, take this; I found this black serpent; cut it up into small pieces; flavour well with fine spices and serve the dish to this eyeless fellow, telling him it is fish, eating which he will perish in no time.’ Having instructed the princess in this manner, the hunchback went off in the direction of the market.
The three-breasted princess cut up the deadly serpent, put the pieces in a pot with some buttermilk and placed the pot on the fire. Having a number of household chores to attend to, she called out lovingly to her husband. ‘My lord, I have got some of your favourite fish today and put it on the fire to cook. While I am attending to some household chores, will you pick up the spoon and stir it now and again?’
The blind man was so delighted to hear this that he began licking his chops. Rising with alacrity from his couch, he took a spoon and began stirring the stuff cooking in the pot. As he kept stirring, the poisonous vapours rising from the pot got into his eyes. And imagine his surprise when the thick film that had covered his eyes began to melt and peel away gradually. Noticing this beneficial effect of the steam on his sight, he opened his eyes wide and did his best to let the steam impinge on them. Soon his vision cleared completely so that he could look into the pot. And what did he see at the bottom of the cooking pot but a chopped up black serpent. And he pondered over this: ‘Sure she said it was fish; but this is no fish cooking; it is chopped black serpent! Well, well, I have to get to the bottom of this. Is this the doing of the three-breasted princess? Or of the hunchback who is planning my murder? Or someone else’s?’
Determined to get to the truth, the blind man concealed his real emotions and acted as usual as if he were blind. In the meantime the hunchback returned. Without the least suspicion he went up to the princess, took her in his arms, kissing her passionately, caressing and indulging in other forms of loveplay and soon started making love to her. The blind man was watching it all. Not finding any weapon he could lay his hands on, he slowly went t
owards the hunchback, feeling his way as he used to previously. When he was close enough, he grabbed the feet of the hunchback and blinded by anger, whirled the man round and round over his head with all his strength and then dashed him against the chest of the princess. The force of the impact of the hunchback’s body on her chest pushed her third breast in, while her lover’s hump dashing against her bosom, straightened out.
‘Therefore, I said to you, my friend, “Blind man, hunchback, three-breasted princess…” and the rest of that verse,’ concluded Wheelbearer.
To this, Goldfinder answered, ‘Well said, my friend, what you said is perfectly true, that good fortune comes if fate favours a person. Yet, while accepting the power of Fate, no man should desert prudence, as you did rejecting my advice.’
With these final words, Goldfinder bid his friend farewell and started home.
And here ends the work known to the world as the Panćatantra35 and by its other name of Panćakhyānaka36, a treatise on the art of living wisely and well.
This work on polity, composed by the celebrated Viṣṇu Śarma, consisting of stories linked by wise and good sayings of a good and true poet aims to be of service to others here in this world, and to lead the way to the World of Eternal Light, as the wise and learned declare.
Notes and References
Introduction
1. The term nīti like other Sanskrit terms such as ahorma, cannot be translated into English by a single word; it conveys the ideas of conducting one’s life and affairs wisely and well, using practical wisdom. The concept of nīti is explained in detail later in the introduction.
2. Antonio Francesco Doni (1513-1574).
3. See pp. 34-71 in the 1938 reprint, op. cit. This is the first reprinting of North’s translation after the second edition of 1572.
4. This term is used once in the Panćatantra; I. 174, 3.