Tales of the Sun Part 16

Tears trickled down the eyes of Kapali when his sister was mentioned. Said he:--

"Do not, my patron, think of her. She is lost to the world. I am ashamed to think of her. Why should we think of such a wretch at this happy time?"

At once the inscription made by Brahma's nail rushed into Subrahmanya's mind and he understood what was meant. Said he:--

"Never mind; be open and tell me where she is."

Then her brother, Kapali, with his eyes still wet with tears, said that his sister, the daughter of the sage Jnananidhi, was leading the worst of lives in an adjoining village, and that her name was Kalyani.

Subrahmanya took leave of Kapali and his wife, after blessing his little children and again warning his friend. He had conferred what happiness he could upon his master's son, and now the thought of reforming his master's daughter reigned supreme in his heart. He went at once to the village indicated and reached it at about nightfall. After an easy search he found her house and knocked at the door. The door was at once opened. But on that day she was astonished to see a face such as she could never expect to approach her house.

"Do you know me, Kalyani?" said Subrahmanya, and she in reply said that she did not. He then explained who he was, and when she came to know that it was a disciple of her father that was standing before her she wept most bitterly. The thought that after having been born of such a holy sage, she had adopted so wretched a life, the most shameful in the world, made her miserable at heart. She fell down at his feet and asked to be forgiven. She then explained to him her extreme misery, and the hard necessity which had compelled her to take to her present way of living. He then consoled her and spoke thus:--

"My dear daughter! My heart burns within me when I see that necessity has driven you to this wretched life. But I can redeem you if you will only follow my advice. From this night you had better shut your door, and never open it to any other person except to him who brings to you a large measure full of pearls of the first water. You follow this advice for a day and I shall then advise you further."

Being the daughter of a great sage, and having been compelled by necessity to take to a wretched life, she readily consented to follow her father's disciple when he promised to redeem her. She bolted the door, and refused admission to anyone unless they brought a large measure full of pearls. Her visitors, fancying that she must have gone mad, went away. The night was almost drawing to a close and all her friends had gone away disappointed. Who was there in the village to give to her one measure full of pearls? But as the nail of Brahma had appointed for her such a life as stated, some one was bound to comply with her terms. And as there was no human being who could do so, the G.o.d Brahma himself a.s.sumed the shape of a young man, and, with a measure full of pearls, visited her in the last watch of the night and remained with her.

When morning dawned he disappeared, and when Kalyani explained to the disciple of her father the next morning that after all one person had visited her with a measure full of pearls on the previous night, he was glad to hear of it. He knew that his plan was working well. Said he:--

"My dear daughter, you are restored to your former good self hereafter from this day. There are very few people in this world who could afford to give you a measure full of pearls every night. So he that brought you the pearls last night must continue to do so every night, and he shall be hereafter your only husband. No other person must ever hereafter see your face, and you must obey my orders. You must sell all the pearls he brings you every day and convert them into money. This money you should spend in feeding the poor and other charities. None of it must you reserve for the next day, neither must you entertain a desire to h.o.a.rd up money. The day you fail to follow my advice you will lose your husband, and then you will have to fall back on your former wretched life."

Thus said Subrahmanya, and Kalyani agreed to strictly follow his injunctions. He then went to live under a tree opposite to her house for a month to see whether his plan was working well, and found it worked admirably.

Thus, after having conferred happiness, to the best of his abilities, on the son and daughter of his former master, Subrahmanya took leave of Kalyani, and with her permission, most reluctantly given, he pursued his pilgrimage.

One moonlight night, after a long sleep, Subrahmanya rose up almost at midnight, and hearing the crows crowing he mistook it for the dawn and commenced his journey. He had not proceeded far, when on his way he met a beautiful person coming towards him, with a sack of corn on his head and a bundle of pearls tied up in the end of his upper cloth on his shoulder, leading a buffalo before him.

"Who are you, sir, walking thus in this forest?" said Subrahmanya.

When thus addressed, the person before him threw down the sack and wept most bitterly.

"See, sir, my head is almost become bald by having to bear to Kapali's house a sack of corn every night. This buffalo I lead to Kapali's shed and this bundle of pearls I take to Kalyani's house. My nail wrote their fate on their respective heads and by your device I have to supply them with what my nail wrote. When will you relieve me of these troubles?"

Thus wept Brahma, for it was no other personage. He was the creator and protector of all beings, and when Subrahmanya had pointed out the way for his master's children, and they had conquered fate, Brahma too was conquered. So the great G.o.d soon gave them eternal felicity and relieved himself of his troubles.

XX.

THE BRaHMAN PRIEST WHO BECAME AN AMILDaR. [97]

In the Karnata desa there reigned a famous king named Chamunda, who was served by an household priest, named Gundappa, well versed in all the rituals at which he officiated.

Chamunda, one day, while chewing betel-leaves, thus addressed Gundappa, who was sitting opposite him:--

"My most holy priest, I am greatly pleased at your faithfulness in the discharge of your sacred duties; and you may ask of me now what you wish and I shall grant your request."

The priest elated replied: "I have always had a desire to become the Amildar [98] of a district and to exercise power over a number of people; and if your Majesty should grant me this I shall have attained my ambition."

"Agreed," said the king, and at that time the Amildars.h.i.+p of NanjanG.o.d happening to be vacant, his Majesty at once appointed his priest to the post, thinking that his priest, who was intelligent in his duties, would do well in the new post. Before he sent him off, however, he gave Gundappa three bits of advice:--

(1). Mukha kappage irabeku.

(2). Ellaru kevianna kachchi matan adu.

(3). ellar juttu kayyalii irabeku.

The meaning of which is:

(1). You should always keep a black (i.e. frowning) countenance.

(2). When you speak about State affairs you should do it biting the ear (i.e. secretly--close to the ear).

(3.) The locks of every one should be in your hand (i.e. you must use your influence and make every one subservient to you).

Gundappa heard these words so kindly given by the king, and the way in which he listened to them made his Majesty understand that he had taken them to heart. So with a smiling face the king gave the letter containing the appointment to Gundappa, who returned home with an elated heart.

He told his wife about the change that had come over his prospects, and wished to start at once to take charge of the new post. The king and his officers at once sent messengers to NanjanG.o.d informing the officers of the Amildari that a newly appointed Amildar would be coming soon. So they all waited near the gate of the town to pay their respects to the new Amildar and escort him into it.

Gundappa started the very next morning to NanjanG.o.d with a bundle containing clean clothes, six by twelve cubits long, on his head. Poor priest! Wherever he saw the kusa gra.s.s on the road, he was drawn to it by its freshness, and kept on storing it up all the way. The sacred gra.s.s had become so dear to him, that, though he would have no occasion to use it as Amildar of NanjanG.o.d, he could not pa.s.s by it without gathering some of it. So with his bundle of clothes on his head and his beloved kusa gra.s.s in his hands, Gundappa approached the city of NanjanG.o.d about the twentieth ghatika of the day.

Now, though it was very late in the day, none of the officers, who had come out to receive the Amildar had returned home to their meals. Everyone was waiting in the gate and when Gundappa turned up, no one took him to be anything more than a priest. The bundle on his head and the green ritual gra.s.s in his hands proclaimed his vocation. But everyone thought that, as a priest was coming by the very road the Amildar would take, he might bring news of him--whether he had halted on the road and would or might be expected before the evening. So the next officer in rank to the Amildar came to the most reverend priest and asked him whether he had any news of the coming Amildar; on which our hero put down his bundle and taking out the cover containing the order of his appointment with a handful of kusa gra.s.s, lest his clothes be polluted if he touched them with his bare hands informed his subordinate that he was himself the Amildar!

All those a.s.sembled were astonished to find such a wretched priest appointed to so responsible a post, but when it was made known that Gundappa was the new Amildar the customary music was played and he was escorted in a manner due to his position, into the town. He had been fasting from the morning, and a grand feast was prepared for him in the house of the next senior official, which Gundappa entered for a dinner and rest. He there informed the officials that he would be at the office at the twenty-fifth ghatika of the evening. From the way in which he issued the order all thought that he was really an able man, and that he had come in the guise of a simple priest in order to find out the real state of his district. So every officer went home, bathed, had his meal in haste and attended at the office.

The chief a.s.sistant took the Amildar to his house, and entertained his guest as became his position. Gundappa, being a priest, was a very good eater, for never for a day in his life had he spent money out of his own pocket on meals, so what reason had he to enquire about the price of provisions? It was at the expense of others he had grown so fat! And doing more than full justice to all the good things, much to the secret amus.e.m.e.nt of his host and a.s.sistant, Gundappa rose up from his food, and washed his hands. He then wanted betel-leaves though to ask for these before the host offers them is very impolite. But his subordinate interpreted it as an order from a master and brought the platter containing the necessary nutmeg, mace, nut, leaves, and chunam (lime).

"Where is the daks.h.i.+na?" [99] next asked the Amildar. His host did not quite understand whether this was meant in earnest or in joke, but before he could solve the question in his mind:--

"Where is the daks.h.i.+na?" reiterated the Amildar, and his a.s.sistant, thinking that his new superior was p.r.o.ne to taking bribes, at once brought a bag containing 500 mohars and placed it in the platter. Now a daks.h.i.+na to a Brahmin is not usually more than a couple of rupees, but should an Amildar ask for one, his a.s.sistant would naturally mistake him, and think he was hinting at a bribe!

Gundappa greatly pleased at a princely daks.h.i.+na such as he had never seen before in all his life, at once opened the bag and counted out every gold piece in it, carefully tying them up in his bundle. He then began to chew his betel, and at one gulp swallowed up all the nutmeg and mace in the platter! All this made his a.s.sistant strongly suspect the real nature of the new Amildar; but then there was the order of the king, and it must be obeyed! Gundappa next asked his a.s.sistant to go on in advance of him to the office, saying that he would be there himself in a ghatika. The a.s.sistant accordingly left a messenger to attend on the Amildar, and being very anxious to see things in good order, left his house for the office.

Gundappa now remembered the three bits of advice given by the king, the first of which was that he should always put on, when in office, a black countenance. Now he understood the word "black" in its literal sense, and not in its allegorical one of "frowning," and, so going into the kitchen, he asked for a lump of charcoal paste. When this was ready he blackened the whole of his face with it, and covering his face with his cloth--as he was ashamed to show it--entered the office. With his face thus blackened and partly covered with a cloth, the new Amildar came and took his seat. Now and then he would remove the cloth from his eyes to see how his officers were working, and meanwhile all the clerks and others present were laughing in their sleeves at the queer conduct of their chief.

The evening was drawing to a close, and there were certain orders to be signed: so taking them all in his hand the a.s.sistant approached the Amildar, and stood at a respectful distance. Gundappa, however, asked him to come nearer, and nearer the a.s.sistant came.

"Still nearer," said Gundappa, and nearer still came the a.s.sistant.

The second bit of advice from the king now rushed into the Amildar's mind that he should bite the ears of his officials when he enquired into State affairs, and as Gundappa's want of sense always made him take what was said literally, he opened his mouth and bit the ear of his a.s.sistant, while in a m.u.f.fled voice he asked him whether all his people enjoyed full prosperity! The a.s.sistant, now in very fear of his life, roared out that all the people were enjoying the greatest prosperity. But Gundappa would not let go his ear till the poor a.s.sistant had roared out the answer more than twenty times. The poor wretch's ear soon began to swell enormously, and leaving the office in disgust, he started to report to the king the insane acts of the new Amildar.

Two out of the three bits of advice from the king had now been duly obeyed, but the third, that the locks of all the people must be in his hands, remained unfulfilled, and Gundappa wished to carry out that also quickly. Night had now set in, and as the Amildar still remained in his seat, all his officers were compelled to do the same. In this way the tenth ghatika of the night approached, and still the Amildar would not get up, but sat with his black face secured in his cloth, now and then peeping out to see whether they were all asleep or awake. The fact was, he was waiting for an opportunity to have all the locks of his officers in his hand! As soon as all his officers fell asleep he intended to cut off all their locks, as usual understanding the words in their literal sense! At about midnight, never dreaming of the stupid act that the Amildar was contemplating in his mind, every one fell asleep, and Gundappa rose up, and with a pair of scissors cut off all the locks of his officers. He then tied them all up in a bundle and returned to his a.s.sistant's home late at night, where the servants gave him something to eat; after which he started with his bag of mohars and bundle of locks to his king to inform him of how well he had obeyed his orders!

In the early morning he reached the presence of his Majesty only a nimisha after his a.s.sistant had arrived. Seeing the Amildar he was too afraid to to lodge any complaint, but his swollen ear drew the attention of every eye in the a.s.sembly.