Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Treachery at its worst ...

अविस्मृतोपकारः स्यान्न कुर्वीत कृतघ्नताम्।
हत्वोपकारिणं विप्रो नाडीजङ्घमधश्च्युतः॥ २४
क्षेमेन्द्रकविप्रणीते चारुचर्यायाम्॥
avismṛtopakāraḥ syānna kurvīta kṛtaghnatām|
hatvopakāriṇaṁ vipro nāḍījaṅghamadhaścyutaḥ|| 24
kṣemendrakavipraṇīte cārucaryāyām||
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Another valuable anecdote from Kshemendra's Charucharya.
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One should never forget the favours and help rendered to him by some benefactor. One should never act in a way that would destroy the interests of the person who helped him
The brahmin ( Gautama) fell to abysmal depths of sin by assassinating Naadeejangha (the eagle) who had helped him ( in earning a lot of gold)
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The story of Gautama the brahmin, and the eagle Nadijnaga is described in the Shanti Parva of Mahabharatam.

Gautama was born to brahmin parents in the kingdom Madhyadesha..
From childhood on the boy did not have interest in the brahmin ways..
So he ran away to a jungle inhabited by hunters.. The hunters too accepted him to their fold..
There he married a girl from the hunter community and lived on following the lifestyle of hunters, killing animals and birds and eating their flesh..
Once a young brahmin visited the hunters colony during a travel, and he was searching for some brahmin house to spend the night..
The best he could find was the house of Gautama, who was born a brahmin but had become hunter by profession.

The young brahmin watched Gautama reaching home carrying the bodies of the animals and birds killed by him and with his body smeared with a lot of blood.

The young brahmin spent the night with Gautama but refused to take any food from his house. While departing the young man requested Gautama to remember that he was born a brahmin and his lifestyle was unbecoming of a brahmin.
Gautama was filled with temporary remorse and he decided to give up the ways of the hunter and joined a group of people who were travelling to the nearby town, where he proposed to start a new life…

But as fate would have it , a wild elephant accosted the travellers, and they ran helter skelter..

Gautama after a long sprint for life, finally landed up under a banyan tree at a safe distance..
He was tired and bruised..
He just lied down under the tree and slept.
A big eagle, Naadijanga by name was having this tree as his abode..
As it was his regular practice, the bird had gone to the place of Brahma to worship the deity, and on return he saw the hunter-brahmin lying underneath the tree all tired and bruised..
When the brahmin woke up the bird talked to him sweetly and welcomed him as a honoured guest..
However, when Gautama saw the bird, his idea was to catch the bird kill it and eat it.. Anyway, the bird kept a safe distance, but, as becoming of a benevolent host, offered food to the Brahmin and fluttered his huge wings as if they were fans that would cool and provide comfort for the tired Gautama..
They stuck up a conversation, and the brahmin confessed that he was pennyless and that he was on a journey in search of some wealth so that he could eke out his livelihood..
The eagle, in his generosity stated that the brahmin could get a lot of gold as gift if he went to the bird’s friend Viroopaksha, the king of demons..
The eagle also provided necessary introductions..

The bramin went to Viroopaksha and was received as an honoured friend, as he had the recommendation of Naadijanga..
The demon king presented the brahmin with a huge sack of gold..
The brahmin carried the gold on his head and returned to the banyan tree..

When he reached the banyan tree, the eagle Naadijanga rushed to him and sat near him and asked whether he received the necessary wealth..
The brahmin was a voracious and gluttunous meat eater and he could not resist the temptation to eat the flesh of the eagle..
So with a swift movement he caught the eagle and broke its neck and killed it..
He impaled its flesh and kept it is his bundle along with the gold.. He left the bones and feathers of the bird under the tree itself and left.

Viroopaksha and Naadeejanga the eagle were in the habit of meeting each other every day..
When the demon king waited for the bird and did not find him even after a couple of days, he became very worried, and sent his son on a search and rescue opertaion..
The young demon could not find his fathers friend uncle Naadijanga, atop the tree and he found the feather and bones underneath..
The youngster guessed what had happened, and chased and captured Gautama, bound him hands and feet and took him as a captive to his father Viroopaksha.

When Viroopaksha came to know of the cold blooded and treacherous murder of his friend, he became wild..
He cut the body of the brahmin into many pieces, and threw the pieces around to be eaten by crows..
BUT CROWS REFUSED TO EAT THIS EVIL FELLOW’S FLESH.

Filled with remorse at the death of his friend Nadijanga, Viroopaksha prepared a pyre, brought the bones and feathers from underneath the banyan tree, and took the flesh from the bundle of Gautama, and placed all these in the pyre and lighted the pyre will all honours..
Even the Gods were fond of the eagle for his nobility..
So they were all watching the last rites of the bird from the sky..
Surabhi the Kamadhenu the divine Cow from heaven came that way and rained her milk over the pyre..
Then Nadijanga the eagle was revived to life in all his strength.
When Nadijanga heard of what happened to Gautama, he was filled with remorse..
He pleaded with the Gods and managed to revive to life the ungrateful and vile brahmin.

Of course, as usual with temporary remorse, the brahmin embraced the bird, and left with the bundle of gold, which he carried as head-load.
Gautama set up another family after he got married to another fallen woman, and produced more wayward children..
The story goes on to say that these children too grew up into ungrateful ruffians and met tragic end as retribution from gods.

We have to learn a lot from this story.

Even if we show kindness to evil fellows, what we can get in return is only treachery.
Even birds like crow abhor the physical remains of cold blooded and treacherous fellows
Usually people who have their lifestyle derailed, even if they return to the path of orderliness for sometime, would revert to their evil ways and find their nemesis..

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