|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
The Banyan Deer
In a forest, on the outskirts of Benaras, there lived a beautiful golden
deer. He was called King Banyan Deer and was the leader of a herd of five
hundred deer. Not very far off, in the same forest was King Branch Deer
who was also the leader amongst another five hundred deer. He was also
extremely beautiful with a coat of a shiny golden hue and sparkling eyes.Outside this beautiful forest, in the real world, there reigned a King who
loved to eat meat at every single meal. He was King Brahmadatta of
Benaras. Not only was he fond of hunting, but he also enforced the same
on his subjects. He forced them to leave their own businesses and join him
regularly on his hunting spree each and every morning.After awhile the villagers got sick of this regular routine as they had much
better things to do with their lives. Besides, their work and means of
livelihood had also begun to suffer. They realised that they must find a
solution. Together they came up with a plan.They decided to grow plants, sow crops and dig water holes in the royal
park itself. Then they would drive a number of deer into the confines of
the park and shut the gates. In this way the King could hunt at leisure and
would not require any further help from his obedient subjects.So at first they went about preparing the royal park for the deer. Then
they went into the forest armed with weapons and sticks in order to drive
the deer into the royal park. They surrounded the territories of both the
herds, those of King Banyan Deer as well as King Branch Deer, and drove
them into the royal park, with shouts of glee as they beat their sticks on
the ground and waved them in the air. As soon as both the herds were in,
the gates were shut and the deer entrapped.They then went to their King and told him that as they could not
accompany him any more on his hunts they had successfully managed to
entrap a number of deer in the royal park for his royal pleasure. The King
was absolutely thrilled when he set eyes on the great number of deer in
the royal park.While gazing at them his eyes fell on the two beautiful golden deer and he
at once decided to spare their lives. He issued an order that they were
not to be shot at any cost. Each day after that, either the King or one of
his hunters would shoot arrows at the deer. The deer would scatter wildly
in every direction and get hurt in the ensuing stampede. So one day King
Banyan Deer and King Branch Deer put their heads together and came up
with a plan. They realised that each day their herds were getting wounded
in great numbers and some were getting killed. Even though death was
inevitable they could at least try to save the living ones from unnecessary
pain and torture.So they decided to send a deer to the royal palace to be slaughtered and
served to the king each and every day. The pact was to alternate
between the two herds. In this way at least the rest of the deer would be
spared unnecessary torture. This system continued for some time. Each
day a deer was sent to the royal palace to be slaughtered by the royal
cook. And the rest of the deer were allowed to live in peace until it was
their turn.One day it was the turn of a young female deer with a newborn baby. She
belonged to the herd of King Branch Deer. She was worried that after she
was killed there would be no one to take care of her child who was still too
young to look after itself. So she approached her king with the plea that
he send another deer instead of her that day and she would willingly go to
the slaughter after her fawn was old enough to look after himself.But King Branch Deer would not listen to her plea and told her to accept
this as her fate as he could not ask another deer to replace her on the
execution block. The mother doe looked at her baby and just could not
take a step towards the palace. So she approached King Banyan Deer with
her plea. King Banyan Deer looked at her with great compassion and told
her to go look after her baby, as he would send another in her place.Then King Banyan Deer himself walked to the palace and placed his head
on the execution block. The royal cook was shocked to see him and
remembering the King’s orders, went running to the King to ask him what
was to be done. The King came down to see what was happening. On
seeing King Banyan Deer he went up to him and gently asked why he was
here. King Banyan Deer related the story of the fawn and the mother doe
and told him that as he could not order another to take her place, he had
decided to do it himself. The King was highly impressed with this supreme
sacrifice and the great love and compassion that this King of deer
possessed. So he decided to not only spare his life but that of the mother
doe as well.But King Banyan Deer was not satisfied. He asked that the lives of the
other deer be spared as well. So the king granted him his wish. Then he
asked about all the other four-footed animals in the forest and then about
the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. And King Brahmadutta agreed
to spare the lives of all.King Banyan Deer thanked him from the bottom of his heart and returned
joyfully to the park. The gates were opened wide and both the herds were
set free. Needless to say they lived peacefully and happily ever after.
The Golden Goose
Once upon a time there lived a queen in the city of Benaras. Her name
was Khema and she was the wife of King Bahuputtaka, which means
‘father of many sons’. One night, the Queen had a dream of a beautiful
golden goose that spoke with great wisdom, almost as if he was a sage.
She told her husband that she desperately wanted to see a bird just like
the one that she had seen in her dream.So the King asked his ministers to find out all that they could about a bird
such as this. He was told that such a bird did exist but was extremely rare
and difficult to find. They advised him to build a beautiful lake on the
outskirts of Benaras so that he may attract such rare and lovely creatures
to reside there. In this way the queen might have her wish.Towards the north, on Mount Cittakuta, there lived about ninety thousand
wild geese headed by a beautiful golden goose called King Dhatarattha. He
got to hear of this exquisite lake that was surrounded by flowers and trees
and had lovely water lilies and lotuses floating on the surface. The king
had named this lake after his wife Khema and had invited all the birds to
come and live on it, promising that none of them would ever be harmed.
Corn was scattered on a daily basis in order to attract the birds.So a couple of geese went up to their King and told him that they were
quite tired of living up on the mountains and would like to see this
wonderful lake where they had been promised food and protection.
The king agreed to their request and took the whole flock down south
towards Benaras.Meanwhile, at the lake the King had placed hunters all around in order to
capture any golden goose that happened to pass by. So the next morning
when the headhunter saw this flock of geese approaching he was very
excited to see their golden leader. He immediately went about setting up a
snare amongst the water lilies and lotuses, as he knew that the leader
would definitely be the first to alight.The whole flock came flying down in one mighty swoop and as expected it
was the King’s foot that touched the water first. He was ensnared and
could not escape. Seeing this the other geese flew into a panic and
honked in distress. But none had the courage to try to free their king and
so flew back to Mount Cittacuta for safety. All except one. He was the
chief captain, Sumukha.His King entreated him to fly to safety too, as he would surely be captured
if he stayed by his side. But Sumukha replied that he would never desert
his master in the face of danger and would either try to save him or die by
his side.At this point the head huntsman approached and as Sumukha saw him he
decided to appeal to his compassion. The hunter asked the King how come
he had not noticed the trap that was set. The golden goose replied that
when one’s time was up it was no use to struggle against what was fated
and one must just accept it. The huntsman was very impressed with his
grace and wisdom. He then turned to Sumukha and asked why he had not
fled with the other birds even though he was free to do so. Sumukha
answered that this was his King, best friend and master and that he could
never desert him even at the cost of his own life.Hearing this the hunter realised that these were a couple of rare birds of
great nobility. And were he to harm them, the gods would certainly punish
him. Besides, he did not much care for his own King’s reward and decided
to do the right thing and set them free. He told Sumukha that as he was
ready to die for his King he would set them both free to fly wherever they
may.He then set loose the foot of the golden goose and washed the wound
clean. And when he made an attempt to fix the dislocated muscle… lo
behold….. the foot was miraculously whole again as if it had never been
hurt. Sumukha greatly blessed the hunter for his act of compassion and his
King asked whether he had set the trap for himself or at someone else’s
command. The hunter answered that he had done it on the orders of his
own King. He then went on to narrate to them the whole story about the
queen’s dream and her wish to see this rare golden goose.On hearing this, the golden goose decided to go and meet the monarch, as
he knew that the hunter would receive his reward. He had also heard
about the wisdom and goodness of King Bahuputakka and thought that if
he appeared out of his own free will, the monarch might allow him and his
flock to come visit the lake. He therefore asked the hunter to take him to
his King. The hunter advised him against it because he was worried that
his monarch might imprison these two lovely creatures.But the golden goose explained that just as they had been able to soften
a hunter’s heart it should not be too difficult to do the same to a great
and noble King. He asked him to do his duty and leave the rest to him.So the hunter set out to go to the palace accompanied by these two
noble, gorgeous creatures. Needless to say that the King and Queen were
absolutely delighted to see these two beautiful birds. The King set them
on a golden perch and fed them himself, with honey, grain and sweetened
milk. Then he spent the whole night discussing kingship and all its duties
with this King of Geese. The golden goose did his best to offer good advice
and encouragement in accordance with his wisdom.In the morning he thanked the King and Queen for their hospitality and
friendship and flew back to his flock accompanied by his faithful friend and
chief captain Sumukha.
The Great – Hearted Monkey
In a forest glade, by the side of River Ganges, high on the mountains there
lived about eighty thousand monkeys along with their giant monkey king.
And by the side of the clear gushing water stood a tall shady tree bearing
big beautiful juicy golden fruits commonly called mangoes.All the monkeys just loved these mangoes and ate them off almost as soon
as they had ripened. Which was a very good thing as their wise giant king
had warned them not to let a single juicy fruit fall into the river. Because if
the current carried even one of these fruits down the river to the land
where the men lived, they would surely come in search of this delicious
fruit and destroy the peace in the land of the monkeys.It so happened that a branch of this tree hung low over the river and a
mango that was hidden behind an ant’s nest ripened and fell off without
anyone’s knowledge. It was taken down south by the rapid flow of the
river and reached the city of Benaras.One fine morning when King Brahmadutta of Benaras was bathing in the
river between two nets, a couple of fishermen found a bright golden fruit
caught in the mesh of the net. Very excited they took it to show the King.
The King examined the fruit carefully and asked where it had come from
and what it was called. The fishermen did not know much about it but
guessed that it must have flowed down the river from the valleys of the
far-flung Himalayas.He then asked them to cut the mango and tasted a slice. It was simply
delicious. He shared the rest of it with his ministers and Queen who loved
its divine flavour.A few days passed, but the King could not get this exotic fruit out of his
mind. He could not work; rest or sleep for want of some more. Finally he
could bear it no longer and set sail in search of it. He organised a fleet of
rafts and sailed up the river accompanied by his men and a few fishermen.Many days and many nights went by and they passed many valleys until
they finally came to the one where the mango tree stood. Mission
accomplished, the King was delighted and began enjoying the mangoes to
his heart’s content. Finally, that night, the King lay down to sleep under
the mango tree while his faithful soldiers stood guard. Fires were lit on
either side for protection against wild animals.In the middle of the night when the guards had dozed off to sleep, the
monkeys came and finished off all the mangoes that were left on the tree.
The King awoke with all the noise and ordered his guards to shoot at the
monkeys so that they could feast on monkey flesh along with the
mangoes.On hearing this, the monkeys trembled with fear and escaped to inform
their King. They told him what had happened and he promised to save
them. But for that he had to come up with a plan.So he climbed up the tree and swung across the river with the help of a
branch. He found a bamboo shoot which he measured and cut carefully,
and then tied one end of it around his waist. The other end he tied around
a tree trunk. He had decided to leap back to the mango tree and help the
rest of the monkeys across over the bridge that he had made with the
help of the bamboo shoot.But alas… he had not taken into account the portion that he had tied
around his waist. So when the monkey king sprang back into the mango
grove he was just able to cling to a branch of the mango tree. He quickly
summoned his monkeys to climb over his back and onto the reed in order
to escape to the other side. In this way, eighty thousand monkeys climbed
over his back one by one and made it to safety.But unfortunately there was one evil monkey who hated his leader and
wanted to destroy him. His name was Devadutta. This mean monkey
purposely jumped hard over his poor king’s back and broke it, while he
himself escaped to the other bank.King Brahmadutta, who had been awake for awhile, had observed this
whole episode. He felt extremely sorry for the monkey king and asked his
men to help lower him to the ground. He then had him gently bathed and
wrapped in a soft yellow cloth and asked him why he had sacrificed himself
for his tribe. The great monkey answered that as he was their guide and
chief, they were his children and it was his sacred duty to protect them.
He had absolutely no regrets as he had ensured their safety. He also went
on to say that the King should always be mindful of his subjects’ welfare
even at the cost of his own. Saying this the monkey king died at peace
with himself.King Brahmadutta had learnt a great deal that day. He ordered his men to
organise a funeral fit for a King. He then built a shrine in the monkey king’s
memory where he offered flowers and lit candles and incense.On returning to Benaras, he built another shrine there and asked his people
to pay homage to this great soul. He always remembered the last words of
the monkey king and ruled his subjects with wisdom and compassion. The
people in his kingdom were eternally grateful to the great-hearted monkey.
The Noble Stag
As we all know, King Brahmadutta of Benaras was extremely fond of
hunting. Luckily for him, on the outskirts of the city was a huge forest
filled with deer and a mighty stag.One fine day, when he was out hunting, he warned his courtiers not to
allow a single deer to escape or he would have them severely punished. So
the courtiers formed a tight circle and decided to send the deer in the
direction of the King. The courtiers surrounded a thicket and beat their
sticks on the ground until they saw a stag escape. But as their circle was
so tight the only escape route that the stag could see was towards the
King who was standing alone at the end of the path.So the stag looked him straight in the eye and made a dash towards him.
The King was taken aback and shot an arrow towards him hurriedly. Of
course it missed the mark. Now there is one thing that you must know
about the stag. It has excellent instincts and is extremely good at dodging
arrows, whether shot at from the back, front or even the top. If an arrow
is aimed at its belly, it pretends to roll over and then jumps up and runs
once the danger has passed.So when this stag rolled over the King assumed that his arrow had found
its mark. But the stag suddenly jumped up and shot passed the men.
When the courtiers realised that the King had been mistaken they started
to ridicule him.Now the King thought himself to be an excellent marksman and could not
bear the taunts of his men. He grabbed his sword and set off into the
forest in order to catch the stag. He chased the stag for quite a while and
covered a long distance.The stag came upon a hole in the ground that was covered by a rotting
tree and filled with slime. From a distance it could smell the dirty water
and so was careful not to run over it. But the King could not sense the pit
and fell right into it. After awhile the stag realised that he was not being
followed any longer and realised that the King could have fallen into the
pit.So he went back to the pit and saw the King struggling for his life. He felt
very sorry for him and decided to save his life even though the King was
following him with the intention to kill him. He told the King not to worry
and to be brave for awhile longer. He then caught a huge rock with his
hind legs and lowered himself into the pit. The King caught hold of his neck
and the stag climbed out onto the level ground and carried the King to
safety.The King thanked the noble stag profusely and asked him to return with
him to Benaras, where he could rule beside him. But the stag had no
interest in a kingdom and simply requested the king to rule his kingdom
wisely and well, with kindness and compassion. And then the noble stag
disappeared into the forest.With a grateful heart the King returned to Benaras and announced that
from this day on all his subjects were to live a life of goodness, kindness
and generosity. That night he went to bed a changed man and woke up
singing praises of the stag. When he was chanting the hymn in praise of
the stag, his priest was approaching to check on the King’s well being. On
hearing the hymn, he pieced the facts together and realised that the King
had been saved by the stag.He entered the King’s chamber and told him what had occurred on the
previous day. The King was surprised and asked the priest whether he
could read minds, but the priest answered that as he had heard the King
singing he had managed to piece the facts together. The King was very
impressed and gave him a big reward. He also promised to live a virtuous
and generous life and give alms regularly to the poor. All his subjects also
followed this good example set by the King and the city of Benaras
witnessed a golden period.All of a sudden there was an influx of good souls in heaven. Sakka, the
King of heaven began to wonder where all these new sons and daughters
were coming from. He then recalled the incident when King Brahmadutta’s
life was transformed by the stag and realised that all his subjects had
been transformed too. That explained the influx of good souls in heaven.
Sakka now decided to test the goodness of the King. So he made himself
invisible and came down to earth.On that very morning the King was in the royal park with his priest and
was doing his routine target practice. Just as the King was about to shoot
the target, Sakka made a stag appear before the target and the King
immediately put his bow and arrow down. Then Sakka spoke through the
priest and encouraged the King to shoot the stag saying that his meat
was very tasty and fit for the kings.But the virtuous King refused to kill the stag saying that he had once
saved his life and he would not perform such a dastardly deed. And then
the priest said that if the King were to kill the stag he would be made king
of gods. But if he did not do so, he would be sent to hell along with all his
children and his queen.But the virtuous King chose hell and sure death over hurting the beloved
friend who had saved his life. Sakka was highly impressed and appeared in
his real form to bless the King. He blessed him with a long life and
happiness and promised him that when he came to heaven he would reign
among the gods.He said that after a long and wonderful rule on earth, heaven would be his
final reward. Saying this, Sakka returned to his heavenly abode.
The White Elephant
Once upon a time, there lived a herd of eighty thousand elephants at the
bottom of the majestic Himalayas. Their leader was a magnificent and rare
white elephant who was an extremely kind-hearted soul. He greatly loved
his mother who had grown blind and feeble and could not look out for
herself.Each day this white elephant would go deep into the forest in search of
food. He would look for the best of wild fruit to send to his mother. But
alas… his mother never received any. This was because his messengers
would always eat them up themselves. Each night, when he returned home
he would be surprised to hear that his mother had been starving all day.
He was absolutely disgusted with his herd.Then one day, he decided to leave them all behind and disappeared in the
middle of the night along with his dear mother. He took her to Mount
Candorana to live in a cave beside a beautiful lake that was covered by
gorgeous pink lotuses.It so happened that one day, when the white elephant was feeding he
heard loud cries. A forester from Benaras had lost his way in the forest
and was absolutely terrified. He had come to the area to visit relatives and
could not find his way out.On seeing this big white elephant he was even more terrified and ran as
fast as he could. The elephant followed him and told him not to be afraid,
as all he wanted to do was to help him. He asked the forester why he was
crying so bitterly. The forester replied that he was crying because he had
been roaming the forest for the past seven days and could not find his
way out.The elephant told him not to worry as he knew every inch of this forest
and could take him to safety. He then lifted him on to his back and carried
him to the edge of the forest from where the forester went on his merry
way back to Benaras.On reaching the city, he heard that King Brahmadutta’s personal elephant
had just died and the King was looking for a new elephant. His heralds
were roaming the city, announcing that any man who had seen or heard of
an elephant fit for a King should come forward with the information.The forester was very excited and immediately went up to the King and
told him about the white elephant that he had seen on Mount Candorana.
He told him that he had marked the way and would require the help of the
elephant trainers in order to catch this fantastic elephant.The King was quite pleased with the information and immediately
despatched a number of soldiers and elephant trainers along with the
forester. After travelling for many days, the group reached the lake
besides which the elephants resided. They slowly creeped down to the
edge of the lake and hid behind the bushes. The white elephant was
collecting lotus shoots for his mother’s meal and could sense the presence
of humans. When he looked up, he spotted the forester and realised that
it was he who had led the King’s men to him. He was very upset at the
ingratitude but decided that if he put up a struggle many of the men would
be killed. And he was just too kind to hurt anyone. So he decided to go
along with them to Benaras and then request the benevolent King to be
set free.That night when the white elephant did not return home, his mother was
very worried. She had heard all the commotion outside and had guessed
that the King’s men had taken away her son. She was scared that the
King would ride him in to battle and her son would definitely be killed. She
was also worried that there would be no one to look after her or even feed
her, as she could not see. She just lay down and cried bitterly.Meanwhile her son was led in to the beautiful city of Benaras where he
was given a grand reception. The whole city was decorated and his own
stable was gaily painted and covered with garlands of fragrant flowers.
The trainers laid out a feast for their new state elephant who refused to
touch a morsel. He did not respond to any kind of stimuli, be it the
fragrant flowers or the beautiful and comfortable stable. He just sat there
looking completely despondent.The worried trainers went straight to report the situation to their King, as
they were scared that the elephant would just waste away without any
food or water. The King was extremely concerned when he heard what
they had to say and went to the stable himself. He offered the elephant
food from the royal table and asked him why he grieved in this manner. He
thought that the elephant should be proud and honoured that he was
chosen as the state elephant and would get the opportunity to serve his
King.But the white elephant replied that he would not eat a thing until he met
his mother. So the King asked him where his mother was. The elephant
replied that she was back home on Mount Candorana and must be worried
and hungry as she was blind and had no one to feed her and take care of
her. He was afraid that she would die.The compassionate King was touched by the elephant’s story and asked
him to return to his blind, old mother and take care of her as he had been
doing all along. He set him free in love and kindness.The happy elephant went running home as fast as he could. And he was
relieved to find that his mother was still alive. He filled his trunk with water
and poured it over his sick mother who thought that it was raining. Then
she cried out as she thought that some evil spirit had come to harm her
and wished and prayed that her son was there to save her.The white elephant gently bent over his blind mother and stroked her
lovingly. She immediately recognised his touch and was overjoyed. Her son
lifted her up and told her that the kind and compassionate King of Benaras
had set him free and he was here to love and look after his mother
forever.His mother was absolutely thrilled and blessed the kind King with peace,
prosperity and joy till the end of his days. She was so thankful to him for
sending her son back home.The white elephant was able to take good care of his mother till the day
she died. And when he died himself, the King erected a statue of him by
the side of the lake and held an annual elephant festival there in memory
of such a caring and noble soul.
