Read the previous part here…
He who acts out of greed and without thinking of the consequences, gets cheated, much like ChandraBhoopati.
VairāgyaKumar said “How did that happen?”
TruptaKumar replied…
चन्द्रभूपतिकथा
The story of King Chandra
In a city, not too far away from here, lived a king named Chandra. His son liked to play with monkeys, and so King Chandra kept a lot of monkeys in the royal palace. They were well-taken care of – fed the best food and especially given the best of bananas to eat.
The leader of the monkeys was named PrāptaBuddhi (the one who is intelligent). He was well-versed in the vast treasure of knowledge that had been taught by Ushanas, Brihaspati and Chanakya too. He always followed their guidance, and made it a point to teach the other monkeys as well.
In the far end of the palace lived a group of sheep, who had been reared so that young children could ride on them. These sheep were greedy for food, and that their sheep-pen was located beside the royal kitchen didn’t help. They ran into the kitchen at the slightest opportunity, and stole food at all times of the day. This made the cooks of the kitchen very angry, and they used to fling whatever they could lay their hands on – sticks, vessels, pots – at the sheep when they tried to enter.
PrāptaBuddhi observed this, and thought to himself “This fight between the cooks and the sheep will someday result in the killing of us monkeys. These sheep are so greedy, and so they will not stop trespassing, and the cooks become so angry that they don’t stop to think of what they are throwing at the sheep…
It may be that one day they take a burning log of wood from the stove and throw it at these sheep…now the sheep’s body has a thick cover of wool, that is very flammable…if it catches fire due to this, the sheep will run shelter skelter, and directly into the range of the horse-stables. The grass all around the stables will catch fire…and so will the horses.
ShāliHotra (the expert in horses) has recommended that burn wounds on horses can be treated best by the marrow of the bones of monkeys. And so, in order to treat the horses, we monkeys will all be killed.”
He stood up. “It is not a question of if, but when this will happen. I have to warn the rest of the monkey tribe, before it is too late.”
PrāptaBuddhi held a secret meeting of the monkeys, and said – मेषेण सूपकाराणां कलहो यत्र जायते ।स भविष्यत्य् असन्दिग्धं वानराणां क्षयावहः – This fight that is going on between the cooks and the sheep will surely end up causing the destruction of all us monkeys.
तस्मात् स्यात् कलहो यत्र गृहे नित्यम् अकारणः ।
तद्-गृहं जीवितं वाञ्छन् दूरतः परिवर्जयेत् ॥ ७१ ॥
tasmāt syāt kalaho yatra gṛhe nityam akāraṇaḥ |
tad-gṛhaṃ jīvitaṃ vāñchan dūrataḥ parivarjayet || 71 ||
A person who values his life should keep away from a house where quarrels occur daily, and for no reason.
कलहान्तानि हर्म्याणि कुवाक्यान्तं च सौहृदम् ।
कुराजान्तानि राष्ट्राणि कुकर्मान्तं यशो नृणाम् ॥ ७२ ॥
kalahāntāni harmyāṇi kuvākyāntaṃ ca sauhṛdam |
kurājāntāni rāṣṭrāṇi kukarmāntaṃ yaśo nṛṇām || 72 ||
Even the best of families are torn apart due to quarrels. Good friendships end because of a rude word, empires crumble because of ill-rule and people lose fame and respect because of their bad actions.
And so, before we all perish, let us leave this place and go somewhere far away…
The monkeys replied…
to be continued…