This week I thought I’d retell an amusing story from the Hitopadesa, a Sanskrit compendium from a thousand years ago. It is not particularly ‘moral’ but tells us that brains are democratic in distribution. ‘Hit’ means ‘welfare’ and ‘upadesa’ means ‘advice’. The book is a paean to common sense and mother wit, and was once a ticking part of Indian oral tradition. Its author signed himself simply as ‘Narayana’. He said that he was indebted to the Panchatantra, which was written by Vishnu Sharman to teach some sense to five dull young princes.
Narayana mentioned that he too had written these tales for a similar reason at the behest of a king called Dhavalchandra. Nothing more is known about that but Narayana’s tales have endured to instruct the willing in a number of regional languages. This ancient anthology also proved popular with the Mughals and the British, who commissioned translations from the Sanskrit into Persian and English respectively.
The heroine of this story, for our purpose, is a young, independent girl, a village curd-seller who kept a number of cows. Let’s call her ‘Chatura’, meaning ‘clever’. Chatura lived with her old mother. One peaceful afternoon, she stretched herself out on a grass mat near her snoozing mother. She had barely closed her eyes when a terrible sound broke out. “Dang! Dang! Dang!” it went unceasingly as though a wild, disorderly force was ringing a giant bell.
Chatura ran out at once as did the other villagers. They stood in a huddle looking towards where the sound came from. “The forest!” said the headman at last, feeling that some direction was due from him. “It’s a demon in the forest,” said the priest. “That’s why we found that mysterious skeleton last month on Sriparvata Hill”.
The big feudal lord came up with his soldiers. “Which brave man will go to the forest and kill the man-eating demon?” he bellowed above the din. “I have a reward for that hero.”
But not one man was ready to venture out while the hideous sound came and went in terrifying snatches.
Nobody cared to hear Chatura’s views. She tried to make her way to the headman to talk to him but the moment she said, “Please, Sir…” the men around him grew sarcastic and waved her away.
“This snip of a girl thinks she’s cleverer than any of us!” said one of the headman’s hangers-on. Chatura found that the men had closed ranks and looked angrily at her, a mere girl, for daring to interrupt their important councils.
Chatura retreated in silence. She set off alone into the forest to reconnoitre for she had the uncanny knack of preferring fact to fancy. Going carefully close to the sound of the bell, Chatura almost laughed aloud when she saw the ‘demon’. It was a band of monkeys ringing a large iron bell.
“Why, I know that bell,” she thought excitedly. “It’s the one at the Brahmapur temple that was stolen last month. The thief must have made his way into the forest to hide. But they do say that tigers come to the forest sometimes. Perhaps he was eaten by a tiger and that was his skeleton they discovered? The monkeys must have found the bell and brought it away. And now they’ve begun playing with it.”
Chatura went home grinning. She’d show those rude, bossy men what a girl could do. The next day she went up boldly to the feudal lord’s house and asked for audience. “I can kill the demon for you, lordship. But it will cost at least a hundred gold coins for the enterprise,” she said, bowing low and saluting the feudal lord.
“A girl like you! Well, why not, after all? None of the men want to go, and that menace must be got rid of, But I want your mother to come here and tell me in front of everybody that you have gone of your own free will and with her permission. I’ll give you the money then,” said the feudal lord.
Since Chatura had told her mother her plan, this formality was duly completed. The newly-appointed demon-killer went home with a bag of gold.
The next day, Chatura bought a sack of fruit, groundnuts and tender coconut halves. After praying to Lord Ganesha, she made her way back to the glade. She scattered the fruit and nuts around and stepped back to hide and watch. After a while, just as she hoped, the monkey band swung chattering into the glade with their new toy. Seeing the treats on the ground, they began to help themselves to it all while Chatura kept an eye on the big monkey who held the bell and seemed to be their leader. The big monkey soon joined his troop on the forest floor, fortunately dropping the bell at the edge of the glade.
Chatura raced around and quickly muffled its clapper with the empty sack. Hefting up the bell and keeping it close to her body, she stole home safely with her prize.
The next day, she and her mother dressed in their best clothes and proudly bore the bell to the feudal lord. Chatura told him a fine tale about how she had persuaded the demon to go away with gifts. The feudal lord, his henchmen and the whole village cheered Chatura. The bell was restored to the Brahmapur temple and Chatura and her mother were treated as guests of honour at the welcome-back ceremony.
Since no more bells were ever heard from the forest, and never a skeleton found, it was plain to the meanest intelligence that Chatura had done her job well. She was treated with the greatest respect after that and her fame spread to many villages around.
Only the priest cast a knowing glance at her from time to time but Chatura blandly ignored him; and we haven’t forgotten her story all this while later.
RENUKA NARAYANAN
(shebaba09@gmail.com)