Indian Antiquary Vol 28

SR No.: 032520
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 356
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 40 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JUNE, 1899.
If not, I shall voluutarily starve myself to death and die." Hira nayaka hearing this came out of the hole and said :- "Laghupathånaka, I am very much pleased with you. I shall do what you desire me to do." Thus saying, Hiranayaka pleased the crow by his good deeds, let him depart, und entered the hole. From that time forwards, the rat and the crow spent their days in friendly intercourse.
Some time after the crow seeing the rat said: "Comrade, it is very difficult to eke ut a livelihood here. I intend therefore to uit this desert for a suitable abode." Whereupon Hiranayaka replied :-"Teeth, hair, nails, and Dion will not shine if their habitation is gone. The wise person ought therefore to give up the idea of quitting a residence." To which the crow replied :-"Friend, your words are weak. Elephants, lions and good men wander whereso
ver they will. Crows, birds and cowards perisb in their own place, not being able to quit it." Whereupon Hiranayaka said :-"Comrade, where is it that you want to go to !" To which the crow replied:-"We should not quit an old residence without examining a new one. Therefore it is that I have not spoken to you before fixing our new quarters. There is in the forest of Dandska at tank called Karpuragaura. In it dwells my friend Manthara, the turtle-king. He is a charitable creature. That excellent tortoise will
will support me with plenty of fish food.” Whereupon Hiranayaka said :-." What can I do here after you are gone? Take me therefore along with you."
Laghupathậnaka hearing this was very much pleased and consented to the proposal. They then began their journey with pleasant conversation on the way and reached the tank in a few days. When Manthara saw them at a distance, he went to meet them, fetched then thither, and feasted them as became their rank.
Laghupathanaka then said to Manthara :-- "Comrade, treat this rat king respectfully. He is the foremost among the virtuous, the ocean of good qualities, and is known as Hiranayaka. Even Sesha is unable to describe his qualities. How much then am I?"
So saying he narrated Hiranayaka's story in detail from the beginning. Manthara then treated Hiranayaka with much respect and said: "Hirana yaka, what is the cause of your living in a desert!" To whieh he replied:
"There was a town named Champakavati which was inbabited by many Sannyasis, among whom was one Chudākarna. He would eat part of the food fetched and would hang the other portion on
a wooden peg fixed in the wall and then go to sleep. I would creep noiselessly to it and would every day partake of the food. Once upon a time he was conversing with his friend Vinakarns and was constantly looking up and shaking his rattle and terrifying me. Vinakarna then asked Chudakarna :- Why is it that you look up and shake your rattle ' To which he replied: -A rat every day gets up the wooden peg and partakes of the food there. It is a source of very great trouble to me.' Vinakarna hearing this said :- Where is tho rat and where the wooden peg P Where did such little creature get the strength to climb such a great height P There must be some cause for this. Sometime ago I went to a Brahman's house to eat, when the Brahman called his wife and said :-To-morrow a few Brahmans must be fed as it is the new-moon day. What provisions have you collected for it?' To which the housewife replied :-If the men bring home provisions the women can cook them. If they do not bring them what can we do P' Whereupon ho grew exceedingly angry and turning to his wife said :• We must manage with the things we possess and not seek what we have not. To which the housewife agreed and said :-'I shall manage to-morrow's meal with the little that we have.' So saying she washed, pounded and dried a quantity of sesamum. A fowl then came and scratched away the seed. The Brahman secing this said :-. The sesamum seeds have become impure and unfit for a Brahman meal. Go and exchange these for something else and return.' The housewife came the next day into the house to which I was invited to ent, and asked the housewife if she would give ordinary sesamum in exchange for her pounded seed. The house. wife gladly agreed to her proposal, took some sesamum seed in a sieve and was conversing when the master asked her what it was that she was bargaining about. To which she said that she received pounded sesamum seed in exchange for a smaller quantity of unhusked seed. The Brahman hearing this said :-O fool! would anybody give pounded seed in exchange for unhusked? There must be some reason for her giving it. Do not take this grain.' So this rat cannot have such strength and this fixed abode here withont a cause.'
While Vinakarna told this tale, Chudakarna heard it, searched and found a hole where the rat was residing. Why should it reside bere ? I shall dig it up.' So saying he took up an axe and dug into my hole and took away all the treasure stored up from many a long day. Being sorely vexed, and unable to earn my daily bread, I was creeping sadly about when Chudakarna one