Folk-lore of the Telugus

Front matter

Folk-lore of the Telugus.

A COLLECTION OF FORTY-TWO

HIGHLY AMUSING AND

Introduction

INTRODUCTION.

It is within every person's experience to enjoy with all attention the tales told by his grand old dames, to climb their knees, to share the envied kiss. There is hardly anybody, I think, who does not look back with fond attachment to those home associations,, with those innocent sweet simple pleasures, whence first we started into life's long race.. We feel them, while the wings of fancy still are free, even in age and at our latest day.. While the unthinking mind is satisfied with these grandmothers' tales as such, the thinking mind goes a step further and endeavours to gather knowledge from these tales of childhood. There are a good many to whom familiarity breeds contempt, and who, in blissful ignorance, scoff at folklore. But the ethnologist cannot fail to regard it as a sine qua non of the study of the racial development. There are many in whom grandeur hears with a disdainful smile these short and simple annals of the poor. But it ought not to be forgotten that these cottages of the poor turn out to be the very nurseries of the wisdom and knowledge which the world has accumulated.

Bare facts of history are not sufficient for the serious ethnologist. There are limits to the historian's survey of the world. "Thus far shalt thou go and no further" can be applied to history as to other departments of knowledge as well. When, therefore, history tries to disdain the limits of its little reign, it calls in the assistance of folklore," archaeology, phrenology, etc., etc. Though folklore appears to be a very much neglected branch of science, it takes the place of history during the times when there are no records, by throwing a world of light on the manners, customs and religious and social condition of the people whose folklore it is. We all know that every good is not without alloy, and that this visible Nature and this common world is so created that the two things—evil and good—co-exist. We cannot get any knowledge in a concentrated form. If this be something like a universal law of our present condition, if knowledge, for example, cannot be obtained except by hard and often painful application, if health can be secured only by those who are content to pay the price of steady exercise and strict temperance for it, we need not be surprised if the folklorean study is by no means a purely easy affair, one that can be learnt at first sight. Indian folklore presents very often a thick net-work of the natural and the supernatural which exerts a peculiar talismanic influence on the listener. This blending of the natural and the supernatural has taken possession of the Telugu mind to a very great extent, so much so that the ordinary Telugu person fully believes that there can be no gloomier form of infidelity than that which questions the moral attributes of that Great Being in Whose hands lie the final destinies of us all. His ideas of God's dealings with man are so peculiar to himself that none but those intimately acquiainted with him can rightly understand them.

An Un-seasonable Advice

FOLK-LORE OF THE TELUGUS.

I.

AN UNSEASONABLE ADVICE.

In the country of Kandahar,* a certain king, Mahavira by name, at a great expense, caused a tank to be dug, two palm-trees deep and a yojana wide, and constructed a bank around it. But all the water in it dried up, notwithstanding a heavy rainfall. The king, seeing that no water remained in the tank he had constructed at so great an expense, was sitting on the bank with a grieved heart, when one Erunda Muni passed that way. The king immediately rose, went and prostrated himself before the sage, seated him, and began to converse with him; when the sage, looking at the sorrowful countenance of the king, asked him the reason for it. To which the king replied:—

"Sir, I had this tank dug at an enormous expense, but not a drop of water remains in it, and this is why I am feeling grieved." The sage replied:— "Why weep for this? If you mix boiled rice with the blood of a courageous and liberal king, or with the blood from the throat of a revered yogi endowed with all virtuous qualities, and offer it to Durga, whose temple is very near the tank, I dare to say that the water will never dry, and that the tank will be as full as the ocean."

The king heard these words and thought of the difficulty of getting a king answering the description. Then he thought that the sage himself answered the purpose excellently well, being endowed with all the necessary qualities. So he drew his sword, cut the sage's throat, mingled his blood with boiled rice and made the necessary offering to Durga. From that day forward, the rain stopped in the tank and it was full to the brim.

Those, therefore, who tender advice to kings must do so in season, for otherwise they will assuredly come to grief.

The King and the Wrestler

II.

THE KING AND THE WRESTLER.

While King Nandana was wielding sway over Malabar a wrestler approached him and said that he had toiled hard and learnt the art of fencing and other similar arts, could fight with wild animals, and could even walk with a huge mountain on his head. But he had found no one, except the king, who could give him the wages due to his powers. He had come, therefore, to the king's presence to represent his grievances and earn a proper livelihood. The king heard him and thought that such a warrior would be serviceable to him, and engaged his services at a hundred pagodas a month.

There was a huge mountain near the city infested with wild beasts which were causing great havoc among the people. The king, therefore, sent for the wrestler and said:— "You declared, you know, that you could carry a mountain on your shoulders. A mountain there is in the neighbourhood, which is the cause of much suffering to the people. Take it away to a distant spot and return hither."

The wrestler promised obedience and on the next day at dawn, the king took him with his ministers, priest, and a retinue of soldiers to the vicinity of the mountain. The wrestler girded up his waistband, tied his turban and stood ready. The king saw him and asked him why he hesitated, and called upon him to take the mountain on his head and go.

The wrestler replied:— "Sir, I humbly gave you to understand that I could carry the mountain on my head, but I did not say that I could lift it up. Kindly command your soldiers, therefore, to tear the mountain up and place it on my head, and I will then carry it to whatever place you may command me."

The Old Woman, the cock and the chafing dish

III.

THE OLD WOMAN, THE COCK AND THE CHAFING DISH.

In the village of Pennagarai, on the road from Conjeeveram to Wandiwash, there lived an old woman wlo had a chafing dish and a cock. Day after day at early morn, when the first streaks of light were visible, the cock would crow. All the villagers would then rise, procure fire at her house and go their ways. This state of affairs had run on for a long time, till the old dame took into her head that the day dawned because her cock crew. She observed that all the villagers cooked and ate after getting fire from her house, and she wanted to see how the day could dawn if she quitted the village, and how the villagers would manage to eat. So she went, unknown to anybody in the village, to a wood afar off with her cock and her chafing dish and sat down there. The next morrow, all the villagers arose, came as usual to the old woman's house, but not finding her there, thought she must have gone somewhere on some errand, fetched fire from some other quarter and performed each his respective duty. In the meantime the old woman fasted in the wood until dusk, when a villager passed by to some other place on a particular errand. She called to him and said:—"I was not in the village this morning, has it dawned there? Have the people procured fire? Have they all eaten?"

He laughed and said:—"Do you think that the whole world depends entirely on your cock and your dish ? Why do you sit fasting here? Get up and go home."

She heard him and was abashed, and renouncing the foolish vanity which had made her think that all the world existed through her, she lived happily.

The Deaf Friend

IV.

THE DEAF FRIEND.

In a certain village there lived a merchant who had a deaf friend. The latter learning that the former was ill, went to enquire after him, and while going along the road, determined to hold the following conversation with his sick friend; "After the usual greeting, I will first ask, 'well, Sir, how do you feel yourself to-day'? He will reply, 'better,' and I shall rejoin, 'very good.' I will then make enquiries about his diet, and he will reply 'rice without salt,' and I shall rejoin, 'may it do you much service.' I shall then put the question, 'pray, who is your doctor' ? He will, of course, tell me that such and such a person is his doctor and I may safely add, may Grod assist him in the fulfilment of his work.' "

At length, having come to a resolve, he reached the house, and after the usual greetings seated himself near the patient and said:—

"My friend, how are you"? To which the patient replied:—"I am very much troubled with a virulent attack of fever."

The deaf man, not understanding what he said, thought that he was answering according to the plan he had settled beforehand, and responded:—"Very good: I hope God will keep you so!"

The patient, who was already peevish with the disease, was made more so by this speech of his deaf companion. The latter next asked what his diet was, and was told that it was the dust of the earth!

"May it do you much good," said he! "and pray, my good friend, which doctor attends you"?

The sick merchant, boiling with wrath cried:—"Doctor? Death himself."

"Very well, may God speed his medicines!" said the deaf companion, and returned home.

The Sagacious Minister

V.

THE SAGACIOUS MINISTER.

Sultan Mahmud* used to wage war on foreign countries and to oppress his people at home. His whole dominions lay consequently desolate. Upon this his minister thought that it was imperative to contrive some stratagem by which the king would turn out a good ruler. Accordingly, whenever he spoke to the king he used to relate how he had once been a pupil of a certain Sannyasin and had learnt the language of birds.

One day, as the king and the minister were returning from the hunt, two owls were sitting screaming upon a tree by the road-side. The king, hearing the noises, called upon his minister to tell him what the birds were conversing about. The premier listened for a short time, as though he really understood the conversation, and then told the king that they were not words fit for him to hear. The king, however, insisted upon hearing the words.

The vizier, therefore, represented the conversation to be as follows:—"One of the owls had a son and the other a daughter, and the two parent-birds are negotiating a marriage between their children. The former parent said to the latter:—'Then, you will give your daughter to my son, but will you give him fifty ruined villages'? To which the latter parent replied:— 'While our Sultan Mahmud by the grace of the Almighty rules so happily, can there be a dearth of ruined villages? You only asked me for a paltry fifty, I will give you five hundred."

When the Sultan heard this, he was very much grieved at heart. So he at once ordered the rebuilding of all the ruined villages in the realm, and made his subjects happy and prosperous.

The Lion and the Jackal

VI.

THE LION AND THE JACKAL.

In the Dandaka forest was a lion which was in the habit of attacking and consuming all the beasts thereof. To rid themselves from the constant fear in which they were kept on his approach, all the other animals proposed to supply the lion with an animal a day if it would not attack them any longer. This promise was agreed to, and kept up for some time. Some time after, it fell to the lot of a fox to be sent to the lion, who, by no means relishing the idea of being devoured, walked slowly along, thinking all the while of some plan by which to put an end to the lion and save his own life. The lion, not finding the animal at the proper moment, was very much enraged, and insisted upon an explanation of the delay. The fox rejoined:— "Sir, another fox was sent under my charge by all the animals of the forest as an offering for you, but on the road I met another lion, who took away your meal, and told me to tell you of it." The lion ordered the fox to take him instantly to the place of his enemy. The cunning fox took the lion to the side of a well, and, saying that the other lion was in it, begged the lion to take him in his arms that he might also have a peep into the well. When the lion saw the reflection of himself in the waters with the fox in his arms, he instantly came to the conclusion that he was looking on his enemy; and having let the fox drop, made a furious leap into the well and immediately perished.

Dream consciousness

VII.

DREAM CONSCIOUSNESS.

There was a harlot in the city of Kalyanapura, who was in the habit of fleecing a hundred pagodas from whomsoever might appear to her in her dreams. It came to pass that on a certain night a Brahman appeared to her in a dream. She described him to her servants, and told them to fetch him and extort the money from him. They seized the Brahman as he was going along the road, and told him of the affair, and demanded the money. The Brahman was very much troubled, and pleaded poverty, but they would not let him go under any circumstances. He accordingly represented his grievances to the king who sent for the woman and demanded an explanation of her procedure.

She replied that she demanded the money as the Brahman appeared to her in her dream. The king said that he would pay her the amount if she should wait a little. He accordingly caused a post to be fixed in the street and the sum tied to the hem of a garment and suspended from the top of the pole. He then placed a mirror underneath, and sent for the woman, and told her what he had done and called upon her to put her hand into the mirror and receive the money. She informed him of the impossibility of taking the money by putting her hand into the mirror, and requested the king to order somebody to climb up the post and bring the money down. But the king replied:—"As the Brahman appeared to you only in a dream, you may take the money that appears in a mirror; I cannot order anybody to hand you over the bundle,"

On hearing this, the harlot felt quite abashed' bent down her head and went away. It is, therefore, necessary that those who settle disputes should be conversant with tricks.

The inevitability of the Law of Karma

VIII.

THE INEVITABILITY OF THE LAW OF KARMA.

There was a weaver in the Karnataka, Haimantaka by name, who wove both coarse cloth and fine linen. Bat as his profits in the calling were very meagre, he was not able to make both ends meet. Adjacent to his abode was another of the same profession, Dhimanta who lived happily on the large income he derived by weaving coarse rough fabric. Once upon a time Haimantaka approached his wife and represented his grievances to her, told her how, despite his intelligence in his art, he was not able to eke out a livelihood, and how much better placed his brother-weaver was, though weaving only a coarse stuff.

"My talents are unknown to any one in the place," said he, and determined to quit his home for another place with the object of amassing as much wealth as possible.

His wife rejoined:— "Of what avail is your going to a distant quarter? You will get only as much as it has fallen to your lot to earn." Despite her remonstrances, he quit his abode, went and settled for a time in a far-off country, wove such clothes as were in consonance with the requirements of the place, made considerable money by the transaction, and wended his way home. On the way he stayed at an inn, and securing his treasure in a corner went to rest for the night. While he was enjoying 'the honey heavy dew' of slumber, thieves rushed into the inn and purloined every item of property, so that when he rose up the next morning, he found to his utter disappointment and distress that he had nothing left. He thus learnt, very dearly, indeed, the truth of his wife's statements, from the school of experience. And, feeling very despondent, lived upon such small gains as he could make at home. The moral of this is: unlucky anywhere, unlucky everywhere !

The Washerman Minister

IX.

THE WASHERMAN MINISTER.

The King of Kalinga had a washerman who used to wash his cloths exceedingly well and bring and give them to Trim daily. One day, the king was exceedingly pleased with the scrupulously clean manner in which the clothes were brought to him and promised the washerman to grant any one prayer he might make. The washerman looked at the king and said that he was most anxious to become the king's minister, and requested the king to bestow the post on him. The king did so, dispensing with the services of his old minister, who had served him for a very long time.

It came to pass that, not long afterwards, a certain other king having heard of the weakness of the washerman minister, raised a huge army and gave battle. His master having heard of what had come to pass, called upon the new minister to muster his forces, to which he replied that as he had already made the necessary preparations, there was no cause to fear the enemy. The king fully believed in this statement, but was sorely disappointed, for not long afterwards the city was bombarded by the hostile armies. The king sent at once to the minister, told him of what had happened and enquired of him as to the arrangements he had made.

The minister responded:—"There is nothing to fear in what has come to pass. But I find that the task of ruling a kingdom is a big affair, and while I was thinking of how best to rid ourselves of this difficulty, the enemy chanced to enter and blockade the city. Let them, therefore, undergo the perils of governing the kingdom. As for me, I used to wash the cloths of about a hundred families in this city but since my elevation to the ministership I have had to give up my calling. I will now' therefore, resume it, and give you one-half the work and reserve the other half for myself; the calling being no trouble to me. On these considerations I have made no preparations for war."

The king was very much grieved when he heard this, but thought the result to be the natural punishment of linking himself to a fool.

The Brahmin and his two sons

X.

THE BRAHMIN AND HIS TWO SONS.

At Madura lived a Brahman who had two sons. After hoarding up immense riches, he at last died. The two sons collected the money altogether, and effected a division of it equally. Each put his share into a sealed bag, entrusted it to an old woman, saying that they were going to a far off country on a pilgrimage, and told her to return the amount safely on their return, when they would both come and ask for it. This was agreed to.

After traversing a short distance, the younger brother devised measures to dupe the elder. He rose one night at midnight, went back to their starting point unknown to his brother, visited the old woman, and told her that while they were both wandering along, a tiger had put an end to the elder brother, and that that was why he was obliged to return alone, and requested her to return the money entrusted to her by both the brothers. The old woman was a little staggered, but considering that he was not likely to cheat his brother entrusted the whole sum to him. He took it and quietly went away to a far off place.

Then the elder brother, not finding the younger one, returned overwhelmed with sorrow to his own abode, went to the old woman, and said that he did not know what had become of his brother. He, therefore, called upon her to return the whole of the sum entrusted to her. The old woman told him what had happened a few days before; how his younger brother misrepresented the state of affairs, and had walked away with the whole amount.

On hearing this, he began to dispute with the old woman, and brought her before a court of justice. The magistrate heard both the plaintiff and the defendant in the suit in full, saw how the old woman had been duped, called the man and decided a§ follows:—"The money was entrusted to the woman on the underrstanding that it should be returned when both of you came back and demanded it. It is not fair, therefore, to ask her to pay back the amount when you come and ask for it singly. If you are in need of money, therefore, fetch out your brother."

The man was unable to answer this argument and went his own way.

Durbuddhi and Subuddhi

XI.

DURBUDDHI AND SUBUDDHI.

At Avanti lived two merchants, Durbuddhi and Subuddhi by name. These, two men went to a foreign country, amassed much wealth there, and returned, and buried unknown to anybody the whole of their riches under a huge tamarind tree very near the town and went to their respective houses.

Not long after, Durbuddhi went clandestinely to the spot, purloined the whole treasure and carried it away to his house. A few days after the incident, both of them conjointly went to the tree and found to their sad disappointment that the treasure was gone. Upon this Durbuddhi accused the other of having secreted the treasure, dragged him before a court of justice, and carried a complaint against him, saying that Subuddhi alone had carried off, unknown to him, the treasure which they jointly buried under the tree, and requested that justice be done in the case. The judge looked at him, and called upon him to prove the truth of his accusation against Subuddhi. Durbuddhi said that he would prove it by the tree itself under which the treasure was buried. The judge replied that he would investigate the affair the next day.

Meanwhile, Durbuddhi took his father along with him, placed him in the hollow of the tree, and instructed him to answer favourably (to himself) the judge's queries on the morrow. The next day, the judge, according to promise, came with his attendants near the tree and asked who had taken away the money. To the intense astonishment of the by-standers (the man inside) the tree accused Subuddhi of having secreted the money. But the judge was not a man to give in so easily. After a little reflection he caused some straw to be brought, stuffed the hollow with it, and set fire to it. The man inside was suffocated and fell out of the tree dead. The judge, perceiving the deceit that Durbuddhi had played, came to the conclusion that it was he who had walked away with the money. He caused, therefore, all the money to be brought and given over to Subuddhi.

Durbuddhi having paid very dearly for the deceit he had played— in the loss of his riches and his father to boot—went home with a very sad heart.

Concentration

XII.

CONCENTRATION.

At Vizagapatam lived two friends, one of whom used to perform with care the morning ablutions at dawn, and proceeding to the temple remained there for a long time circumambulating the deity. The other was a frequenter of brothels, and passed his time in frivolous conversation with prostitutes. The former though a frequenter of the temple, always had his heart with his friend who led so evil a life and was overwhelmed with grief that he did not follow in his friend's footsteps. The latter was, however, ashamed of his depraved character and was extremely sorry that he did not follow the virtuous ways of his friend.

This went on for a time, and then they both breathed their last. But the former went to Hell, and the latter to Heaven. The sage Narada, seeing the fate of these two, approached the Almighty and said:—"O God! Hell has fallen to the lot of the man who spent his days in your temple, while you have given Heaven and final beatitude to the fellow who never for a moment thought of you, and delighted always in the conversation of women of ill-fame. If you, who are all-powerful, perpetrate such barefaced injustice, who in the world will adore you"?

The Almighty smiled on hearing these words and said that he gave the latter man redemption, for, though a frequenter of houses of ill-fame, he centred his mind on the deity; while the other who frequented the temple diverted his attention to other matters and totally forgot the deity. Hell, therefore, had become his lot. Thus we see that upon the purity of the mind depends the good or evil state we attain after death.

Enquire before you Entrust

XIII.

Dwijakirtti, King of Cholamandala, had three sons. As he was old and no longer capable of guiding the helm of the State, he resolved to give his kingdom over to any of his sons who might be fit to rule.

In order, therefore, to ascertain their respective capabilities, he sent for his eldest son first and asked him what he most desired. He replied that he was most anxious to have around him the best logicians, grammarians, rhetoricians, and other men of science, and to pass his time in the study of the Rámáyana, Mahábhárata, and other sacred books. The king thereupon gave him a few villages for his upkeep, and told him to go and do according to his wishes.

He then sent for his second son and asked him what he desired most. He replied, "I am anxious to acquire much wealth, and visit sacred shrines." The king thereupon gave him the money necessary, and sent him on his pilgrimage.

He then sent for the third son and asked him what his desire was. He replied, "to acquire a kingdom, levy a great army, protect the people, make the provinces fruitful, and thus acquire a good reputation."

The king was much gratified at these words, and thinking that he was the fittest person to rule the kingdom, made over charge of the kingdom to him. The son assumed the reins of government, treated his people with justice and generosity, and consequently his people flourished.

You should, therefore, enquire into the capabilities of the person, and his mental tendencies, before entrusting him with authority.

The Washerman of Benares

XIV.

THE WASHERMAN OF BENARES.

At Benares lived a washerman, who had an ass and a dog. One night some burglars made a chink in the wall, and waited till he should go to bed to break in and rob all his property. The dog was then absent from the spot; but the ass, seeing the robbers enter the master's house, divined what would happen, and how the house would be rid of all its valuables in no time, and thought that, if the dog were here, he would bark loudly, awake the master, and prevent the household property from being robbed. But he did not know when the dog would come; and thought that nobody ought to be indifferent to his master's affairs, especially in a time of sore distress. He ought, therefore, to bray and thus awake the master—so he brayed to the top of his voice. The washerman hearing the ass bray, and thinking that he was unnecessarily awakened by it, lost his temper, took a stick, beat it well, lay down, and was enjoying sound sleep once again, when the robbers broke in and began plundering the house. At this juncture the dog returned. The ass, seeing the dog, narrated to him what had happened; how the thieves broke into the house and earned off the greater part of the property; how he had brayed, wishing to prevent the occurrence; how it was misunderstood by their master; what a severe drubbing he had received, and so on. He requested the dog at any rate to bark and let the master know the fact. Thereupon the dog began to bark loudly. The washerman hearing it and thinking that the house was being broken open by robbers, rose immediately and searching into every corner of the house,found that the thieves had carried everything off, and was very much grieved.

Moral:—Let the shoemaker stick to his last.