Keep your mouth shut

This is another story from Vishnusharma's Panchatantram.

This is another story from Vishnusharma's Panchatantram.

An indigent Brahmin lived in a town, and for his livelihood he was entirely dependent on the kindness of some good Samaritans.  He never had good clothes, good ornaments, not even a good mouthfuls of pan leaves but he lived on at the mercy of others, unshaved and un-manicured,  Without having any proper living place he grew thinner and weaker by the day.  Taking mercy on such a poor soul, an affluent  landlord presented him with two young calves.  The Brahmin was overjoyed, and he managed to feed the calves with oilcakes, fresh grass and cottonseeds, and the cattle grew in time giving him milk in plenty and rendering his life worth living.

A thief was watching the newly found affluence of the Brahmin with  professional interest.  He decided to steal the cows from the Brahmin somehow or other.  One fine night Armed with a rope he set out on his mission of burglary .
En route he met a person with monstrous features, red, round eyes, spear-like protruding teeth and a huge tummy.  Though frightened to the core the thief asked the other person who he was and  was given the reply that it was a brahmarakshas by name Satyavachana.   The thief in turn informed the ogre that he was a burglar named Kroorakarmaa.  He was on a mission to rob a Brahmin of his two cows. 

After some conversation they confided in  one another.

The Ogre said. "My food habits are  very regular. I would eat one Brahmin every third night.  You are going to the Brahmin's house.  You can have the Brahmin's cows and I shall have the Brahmin himself as Dinner"

Discussing this and many other mutually complimentary activities the  thief and the ogre reached the house of the Brahmin.  
The Brahmin was fast asleep, The ogre immediately tried to jump into action. 
 The thief restrained him. "My dear friend, let me just lead away the cows  quietly and  you  please wait for  your dinner till I leave." 
The ogre was irritated. 
" If you  try to tie the cows and take them away,  they are sure to make mooing sound and the Brahmin will wake up.  If that happens, my dinner will be lost for all practical purposes". 
 The thief would not agree. " If some melee occurs in   the process of you killing and eating the Brahmin, my mission will be a non-started.. so let me act first"  insisted the thief.  
The argument became louder with the shout, "I first", "I first".

Disturbed by the shouts, the good Brahmin woke up.   

The thief told the Brahmin.. "Maharaj, this ogre has come to your house to eat you up".. 

The ogre chimed in promptly, "This fellow has come here to take away  you cows"  

 The Brahmin rose up to the occasion chanted some strong mantras (spells) and drove away the Brahmarakshas.  Simultaneously, he made the best use of  both his hands with the assistance a sturdy wooden rod on the pate of the thief and the mission of burglary  was also spoiled

To sum up, the moral of the story is that:-

  (1) A person who sets up on an illegal mission should never try to rope in  partners in the crime. 

(2) However friendly  one may  feel with a stranger  one  should never  divulge his action  plan to such an  unknown entity.  

(3)  When executing  plans which are clandestine , one  should take care at at least to  keep his mouth shut.

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origin of brahmarakshas

dear krishnan,  Brahmarakshasa originated from a Brahmana.. The genesis could have been in a number of ways.. many brahmins become really learned in vedas and saastras but during lifetime do not observe the nityakarma anushtanams or engage themselves properly in karmakaanda.   Going to temples or namasankeertanam would not be of much avail. Brahmin's duties have  to be scrupulously followed.  There are avaricious brahmins well versed and could perform yagas yajnas and paurohitya well.  But they find wrong means to cut short the procedure if they don't get the huge dakshina they expect. There is another category who, though having knowledge, lack in aachara.  When observing  deeksha for vedic karmas the ritwig, hota etc., are expected to maintain a strict regime of mental and physical purity and also continence in food  and abstaining from sex etc.,. Such restrictions are given a go by. Then there are brahmins, though learned, who commit  various paatakaas(sins) and do not expiate for them during their lifetimes.  When such and similar brahmins die they become pretaatmas,denied permission to enter pitruloka, and  form a group wandering in this earth as braharakshasas.  In fact we call brahmins showing such tendencies during their lifetimes itself as brahmarakshasas in jest. 

For brahmarakshasas their vasanas and knowledge in vedas do not disappear with death. Usually they try to occupy some trees just in the periphery of the agrahaarams they infested during their lifetime.  Now struggling with thirst and hunger with hardly anyone to pour til or water and pinda for them and even if it such things are offered being incapable of  partaking  in such offer, they sit restless, sleepless and mad perched on the trees.  Whenever a brahmin passes by all alone especially after sunset, this rakshasa will come down and start asking him questions on vedic and scriptural subjects and if the unfortunate pedestrian is not able to answer, the angry brahmarakshasa will give the former a thorough thrashing (but they do not kill intentionally..). and the victim could be found lying  unconscious under the tree in the morning.

As you know, such brahmins we see aplenty during their lifetimes and their tribe is ever on the increase. So whenever a sacred Karma or kumbabishekam etc., is conducted, and the devaprasna or ashtamangalya prasna are taken up, invariably the presence of some Brahmarakshas is found and pariharams are prescribed.  Praayaschitthams are offered by the community on their behalf and the mollified brahmarakshasas are invoked into some silas (stones) or the wood from the gooseberry tree and  given a place in a group  in the outer precincts of the temple and offered daily pujas etc.  It is believed that such expiated souls will transform themselves into Vishnuroopam after due penance.

  There is a scientific explanation for people falling unconscious under a tree during nighttime.  During the sunny day, there is a lot of photosynthesis, the leaves absorbing carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen, but the process stops with the sunset.  Then the leaves and other parts of the tree have to breathe and their bottoms are rarefied, with percentage of oxygen pathetically low. So anybody landing up walking along a row of trees or plants can feel the lack of oxygen, become breathless, hallucinate and swoon.  

Anyway brahmarakshasas have become interesting  characters in local village lore.  In Tamilnadu  the attack by  Muni  is similar to this phenomenon.

There is one school  of opinion that some of the brahmarakshas are being worshipped as kuttichathans in some places and many  dirty tricks are played by people through their good offices.

The brahmarakshasas are notorious for their love for intoxicating drinks like patta (hooch), and better commodities. Maybe this is inherited from their former habits in their lifetimes.