SUBASHITHUM - PANCHATANTRA 1

mantre tIrthe dvije deve daivadnye bheSaje gurau.
yaadRRishI bhaavanaa yasya
siddhirbhavati tädåçé





In mantras, in holy places, in twice born, in divine sprits, in future tellers, in medicine, in the teacher, who so ever, however is the attitude thus is the result.


from the panchatantra -

mantre - in mantras
tirthe - in holy places
dvije - in the twice born
deve - in divine spirits
daivadnye - in future tellers
bheSaje - in medicine
gurau - in the teacher
yasya - whosoever's
yaadRRishI bhaavanaa - however the attitude
siddhirbhavati taadRRishI - thus is the result

Ratnapuri was a non-descript village along the borders of Orissa and Bihar. Most of the three score inhabitants of the village made their living tilling the land and doing various crafts required for living. There was a potter `chandu’ who made very functional pots and mud vessels for the village folk. Then there was a carpenter `Lakshman Singh’ who deftly made all the wooden tools right from the plough to till the land, benches, chairs to house frames and roofs - all that can be moulded from the sal and deodar wood surrounding the village. And there was a priest to solemnize marriages and other auspicious as well in auspicious occasions of life like birth and death. There was a blacksmith, a cobbler and chamaras for cleaning It was in such a self-sufficient village that Sukhdev was plying his trade of fortune telling.

Everyday morning, by eight `0’ clock he spread his wares below the most handsome Peepal tree in the village choupal. He very carefully carried the cage holding his precious assistants chinky and minku, the two parrots who had been his co- partners in fortune telling for the last one decade. He was the 3rd generation in his family plying this trade. His father and grandfather had spent their entire life under the very same Peepul tree and had performed their job like a religion. Sukhdev as a toddler had sat there and watched his grand father telling fortune to the eager customers. The cases were as diverse as the people. The priorities changed as per the person seeking fortune. The young men used to come furtively to find when they would find the lass of their choice. The bashful young women would in turn seek the time of the arrival of their suitors. The middle aged always worried about the crops and the money they would get from the trades they ply. As he watched his father and grandfather working, his insights too into fortune telling increased. When his turn came he had already perfected the art. The parrots caught from the wild were carefully domesticated and trained with care and diligence. After a while they almost used to behave like humans understanding every gesture and every tone of command. They deftly used to move among the fortune cards spread in front of them and pick the right one for each seeker. It was an inexplicable mix of factors which played in unison helping the bird to pick the right card. Getting the correct cue from the birds was more an act of minds matching minds The supreme mind seemed to feed into the mind of the man and the bird to come up with the correct answer. It was many times a wonder to Sukhdev himself how the prediction foretold by him became true in toto.

He always started his day burning incense and calling out to his gods to give him the strength to tell fortune correctly and not to disappoint the ones who come to him with great faith and hope. The gods indeed used to work in unison with his intention. However as days passed his village as well as other villages around were changing ever so perceptibly. The village young men were one by one going to the towns to seek their fortunes, leaving only the old and disabled in the village. Sukhdev failed to understand this .His roots were so deep in the village that he could never even dream of leaving the soil were he was born and his fore fathers lived. But his customers were falling steadily. At last it came to the pitiable state that days on end he would be staring vacantly at chinky and minky and they back at him. It was getting a pain to reach back home everyday and meet his dear wife Shalanki and little son Pappu with an empty hand and down cast face. Slowly the hunger started gnawing in to their vitals. They had eaten virtually into all their resources. The good rug of dadaji, the silver lotta and the old clock, his mothers gold ear drops - everything had reached the pawn shop to feed their hunger Now the house was looking forlorn stripped of all its ornamentation, only the skeletal frames of Shalanki and Pappu ever waiting in the door step for his return.

It was a custom of the fortune tellers will never see their own fortune. It was strictly service to the ones who would come seeking to be told. In desperation Shalanki, his soft spoken wife one day wailed `You have shown light and new hope to so many who had come to you, why don’t you find your own fortune.’ This idea at first sounded appaling to Sukhdev. How can he ever see his own fortune, it had never been done by his fore fathers. After much pondering , spending a sleepless night trying to decide the matter, finally next day in the morning he took his one and half year old Pappu on his shoulder to the chauppal under the Peepal tree for the first time. He prayed to the gods seeking their pardon for seeking his own fortune, spread the cards ever so carefully in front of the cage and asked his Pappu to lead chinku and minku out of the cage. `Yes it was his son doing it not him’. Pappu, a chip of the old block led the birds as though he knew the job all along The birds tip toed and deftly picked two cards and kept them in front. Sukhdev opened the cards with his heart fluttering. As soon as he opened them, his face broke into a smile He could see the rising sun in one card and other depicted a group of birds flying back. He very well knew what they meant. They meant good times are round the corner. This prediction filled his mind and body with new enthusiasm. He went back home with a triumpant look as though things had already looked up as he knew within his heart that his predictions would not go wrong. His wife Shalanki was bewildered at his enthusiasm. Nothing at all seem to change for quite some time - The same old search for pennies to fill their stomachs.

However with the arrival of the next new moon the things started changing. One day, mid afternoon from nowhere a jeep and four-truck loads of people arrived to the empty survey site close to the village. Men and families got down in droves, enthusiastically pitched their tents and started the living process. The talk was that the place was having some rich black metal. What did they called it? - `yes bauxite’. With the arrival of men Suhkdev’s business picked up in no time. Soon he started going home with his pouches cling clanging with coins. All the valuables from the pawn shop returned back home. Hi wife now wore a beaming smile and a rounded face and soon by another year Papua had a brother Chintu at home. Sukhdev ever confident and forthright was plying his trade happily. His fortitude was now paying dividends.