Monday 7 February 2022

28 MORAL FABLES FROM SANSKRIT LITERATURE-TALE 7

 

THE STORY OF A TORTOISE 

Once there was tortoise by name Kambugreeva in a lake. It has the friendship with two swans by name Sankata and Vikata which were lived in the same.  After coming to the bank of the lake and sharing the different stories of divine beings, divine and great sages they used to move their nest in the evening twilight daily.  Once upon a time, due to the lack of rain, the lake got dried.  So those two troubled Sankata and Vikata told the tortoise thus: Oh! Friend! We are worried that how do you continue to live in this lake which got dried. On hearing this the Kambugreeva replied thus: this is not fair to live in this waterless lake now. Both of you may think an idea because

“Tyaajyam na dhairyam vidhure(a)pi kale

  Dhairyaath kadhaachith gathim aapnuyaath sah l

  Yathaa samudhre(a)pi cha pothabhange

  Saamyaathriko vaanchathi tharthumeva ll ”

“As a voyager who wishes to cross the ocean when his boat got broken likewise even in the crisis, one should not give up the courage by which one can get the hope.  Moreover, according to Manu,

“Mithraarthe Bandhavaarthe cha buddhimaan yathathe sadha l

  Jaathaasu Aapathsu yathnena jagaadha idham vacho manuh ll ”

a wise always should strive hard for the sake of friends and relatives when they are in crisis”.  So please bring a strong rope and a short wood-piece.  Search out a lake with abundance of water. When I will hold it with my teeth, both of you hold the extreme end of that wood piece and carry me to that lake. Then the swans Sankata and Vikata accepted Kambugreeva’s idea and warned him thus: We will do as per your plan, but you should keep silence.  Otherwise you will fall down.

Then, by doing so, Kambugreeva was happened to watch the people who looked at these three peculiar friends, and asked themselves thus: What is this cart-like thing which is being carried by the two birds in the sky?  On hearing the words of the people, Kambugreeva  when it wished to ask and started, immediately it has fallen on the earth and perished  into pieces.

Moral of the Story:

“Suhrudhaam hithakaamaanaam na karothi iha yo vachah l

  Sa korma iva dhurbuddhih kaashtaadh bhrashto vinasyathi ll ”

One should always listen the advice of a real friend. Otherwise he face the crisis like a tortoise which slipped from the wood-piece while moving in the space.

(This story is taken from the titled Mithrabhedah- the 1st volume of the book PanchaThanthram which has five volumes viz., MitraBedhah, MitraLaabhah, Kaakolookeeyam, Labdhapranaasam and AparikshitaKaarakam written by Vishnu Sarma was an Indian scholar.  The exact period of the composition of the Panchatantra is uncertain, and estimates vary from 1200 BCE to 300 CE.

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