Tales Of The Sun; Or, Folklore Of Southern India - free ebook by Lucas Cleeve

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Tales Of The Sun; Or, Folklore Of Southern India

Lucas Cleeve

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45 chapters

Preface.

Preface.

In offering these few Indian tales to the public, I cannot refrain from adding a few words at the beginning to express to Paṇḍit Natêśa Sástrî my gratitude for the great assistance he has given me in collecting them, assistance without which they would never have seen the light in the shape of a complete volume. When I began writing down these tales, my only means of collecting them was through my native servants, who used to get them from the old women in the bazaars; but the fables they brough

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Introduction.

Introduction.

Georgiana Kingscote. When any awkward blunder occurs from a person acting under a mistaken notion, there is a common proverb in Tamil to the effect that the matter ended like the story of the three deaf men—( Muchcheviḍan kadaiyây muḍindadu ). The following is the story told to explain the allusion:— In a remote village there lived a husband and wife. Both of them were quite deaf. They had made this household arrangement, namely, to cook cabbage with tamarind and soup without tamarind one day, a

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Folklore in Southern India. I. The Story of the Three Deaf Men.

Folklore in Southern India. I. The Story of the Three Deaf Men.

1 Soothsaying. Among Hindûs, especially among Brâhmaṇs of the Madras Presidency—and I now see from personal observation that it is the same in the Bombay Presidency also—there is a custom, while taking their meals, of leaving their food uneaten when it so happens that from any cause the light is blown out. Of course this could occur only in the night-time. Such mishaps now-a-days take place only in poor families, sitting down to supper with a single light. Hence the following story, told as the

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II. Why Brâhmaṇs cannot eat in the Dark.

II. Why Brâhmaṇs cannot eat in the Dark.

1 An Indian hour equal to twenty-four minutes. 2 It is the custom amongst widows to use betel leaves instead of plates. जन्मप्रभृति दारिद्र्यं दशवर्षाणि बन्धनम्‌ । समुद्रतीरे मरेणं किञ्चित्‌ भोगं भविष्यति ॥ Thus a Soothsayer when on his death-bed wrote the horoscope of his second son, and bequeathed it to him as his only property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son. The second son pondered over the horoscope, and fell into the following reflections:— “Alas, am I born to this only

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III. The Soothsayer’s Son.

III. The Soothsayer’s Son.

Thus a Soothsayer when on his death-bed wrote the horoscope of his second son, and bequeathed it to him as his only property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son. The second son pondered over the horoscope, and fell into the following reflections:— “Alas, am I born to this only in the world? The sayings of my father never failed. I have seen them prove true to the last word while he was living; and how has he fixed my horoscope! Janma parabhṛiti dâridryam! From my birth poverty! No

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IV. Raṇavîrasiṅg.

IV. Raṇavîrasiṅg.

Śivâchâr had a servant, named Raṇavîrasiṅg, whom he had all along observed to be very honest and faithful. That servant the king called to his side, and asking all others except Sundara, who was weeping by his father’s pillow, to leave the room, addressed him thus:—“My dear Raṇavîrasiṅg! I have only a few ghaṭikâs before me. Listen to my words, and act accordingly. There is one God above us all, who will punish or reward us according to our bad or good acts. If by avarice or greed of money you e

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V. “Charity Alone Conquers.”

V. “Charity Alone Conquers.”

These words were enough in themselves to enrage the prince’s mind. But he was of so good a nature that instead of becoming angry, he smiled at the stupidity of his companion, and agreed that he would thus give him his wife one day in case he got married first. Thus took place an agreement between Subuddhi and Durbuddhi while they were still quite young. Several years passed after this agreement, when one day the prince went to hunt in a neighbouring forest. His inseparable companion, the ministe

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VI. Vidâmundan Kodâmundan. Mr. Won’t-Give and Mr. Won’t-Leave.

VI. Vidâmundan Kodâmundan. Mr. Won’t-Give and Mr. Won’t-Leave.

So saying, the master of the house took Mr. Won’t-Leave inside and they both went into the kitchen, while the mistress of the house, at the command of her husband, pretended to be ill. Now Mr. Won’t-Give was a good liver, and prepared, with the assistance of Mr. Won’t-Leave, several good dishes. And then the difficulty was to drive the fellow out, for the long-maintained rule of never feeding a single Brâhmaṇ must not be broken that day. So, when the cooking was all over, the master of the house

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VII. Vayalvallan Kaiyavalla. Mr. Mighty-of-his-Mouth and Mr. Mighty-of-his-Hands.

VII. Vayalvallan Kaiyavalla. Mr. Mighty-of-his-Mouth and Mr. Mighty-of-his-Hands.

“Now what are we to do? There is a watchman sitting in front of the fold.” Thereon, Mr. Mighty-of-his-mouth cleared away his doubts by saying that it was no watchman, but a mere stick, and entered the fold with his friend. It had also so happened that on that very night a bhûta (goblin) had come into the fold to steal away a sheep. It shuddered with fear on hearing the shepherd mention the kûta , for having never heard of the existence of kûtas , it mistook this imaginary being to be something s

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VIII. The Mother-in-Law became an Ass.

VIII. The Mother-in-Law became an Ass.

So the mother ate up the divine fruit, and the son took her upon his shoulders and brought her home, on reaching which he placed her on the ground, when to his joy she was no longer an old woman, but a young girl of sixteen, and stronger than his own wife. The troublesome wife was now totally put down, and was powerless against so strong a mother-in-law. She did not at all like the change, and having to give up her habits of bullying, and so she argued to herself thus:— “This jade of a mother-in

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IX. The Story of Appayya.1

IX. The Story of Appayya.1

In a remote village there lived a poor Brâhmaṇ and his wife. Though several years of their wedded life had passed, they unfortunately had no children, and so, being very eager for a child, and having no hope of one by his first wife, the poor Brâhmaṇ made up his mind to marry a second. His wife would not permit it for some time, but finding her husband resolved, she gave way, thinking within herself that she would manage somehow to do away with the second wife. As soon as he had got her consent

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X. The Brâhmiṇ Girl that Married a Tiger.

X. The Brâhmiṇ Girl that Married a Tiger.

The old Brâhmiṇ agreed to this, and replied, “My dear son-in-law, you are her husband, and she is yours, and we now send her with you, though it is like sending her into the wilderness with her eyes tied up. But as we take you to be everything to her, we trust you to treat her kindly.” The mother of the bride shed tears at the idea of having to send her away, but nevertheless the very next day was fixed for the journey. The old woman spent the whole day in preparing cakes and sweetmeats for her

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XI. The Good Husband and the Bad Wife.

XI. The Good Husband and the Bad Wife.

To this plan the guest most thankfully agreed, and hastily ran off by the back door. Almost immediately our hero returned from his bath, but before he could arrive his wife had cleaned up the place she had prepared for the pestle worship, and when the Brâhmiṇ, not finding his friend in the house inquired of her as to what had become of him, she said in seeming anger:— “The greedy brute! he wanted me to give him this pestle—this very pestle which I brought forty years ago as a dowry from my mothe

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XII. The Good Wife and the Bad Husband.1

XII. The Good Wife and the Bad Husband.1

“Mother, language has no words to describe the miseries they are undergoing in the other world. They have not a rag to cover themselves, and for the last six days they have eaten nothing, and have lived on water only. It would break your heart to see them.” The rogue’s pathetic words fully deceived the good woman, who firmly believed that he had come down from Kailâsa, sent by the old couple to her. “Why should they suffer so?” said she, “when their son has plenty to eat and to dress himself, an

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First Part.

First Part.

The fourth said:—“I observed that while the forefeet of the animal were planted firmly on the ground the hind ones appeared to have scarcely touched it, whence I guessed that they were contracted by pain in the belly of the animal.” When the king heard their explanation he was much struck by the sagacity of the travellers, and giving 500 pagodas to the merchant who had lost the camel; he made the four young men his principal ministers, and bestowed on each of them several villages as free gifts.

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XIII. The Three Calamities.

XIII. The Three Calamities.

“What is the use of my revealing it to thee? Canst thou render any assistance?” The minister said that, if he had but her favour, there was nothing he could not do. Then the goddess told him that a calamity was about to come upon the king, and fearing that such a good monarch was soon to disappear from the world, she wept. The thought of such a misfortune caused the minister to tremble; he fell down before the goddess, and with tears streaming from his eyes besought her to save him. Kâlî was muc

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XIII. Second Part.

XIII. Second Part.

There dwelt in a certain forest a hunter named Ugravira, who was lord of the woods, and as such, had to pay a fixed sum of money to the king of the country. It happened once that the king unexpectedly demanded of him one thousand five hundred pons . 7 The hunter sold all his property and realised only a thousand pons , and was perplexed how to procure the rest of the required amount. At length he bethought him of his dog, which was of the best kind, and was beloved by him more than anything else

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Story of the Honest but Rash Hunter and His Faithful Dog.

Story of the Honest but Rash Hunter and His Faithful Dog.

The merchant took the hunter’s bond, and tearing it slightly at the top as a token that it was cancelled, he placed it in the dog’s mouth and sent him back to his former master, and he at once set off towards the forest. Now by this time the hunter had contrived to save up the five hundred pons , and with the money and the interest due thereon, he was going to the merchant to redeem his bond and reclaim his dog. To his great surprise he met Mrigasimha on the way, and as soon as the dog perceived

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XIII. Third Part.

XIII. Third Part.

On the banks of the Ganges, which also flows by the most holy city of Banaras, there is a town named Mithila, where dwelt a very poor Brâhmaṇ called Vidyadhara. He had no children, and to compensate for this want, he and his wife tenderly nourished in their house a mungoose—a species of weasel. It was their all in all—their younger son, their elder daughter—their elder son, their younger daughter, so fondly did they regard that little creature. The god Visvesvara and his spouse Visalakshi observ

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Story of the Brâhmaṇ’s Wife and the Mungoose.

Story of the Brâhmaṇ’s Wife and the Mungoose.

In the town of Mithila there lived a young Brâhmaṇ who, having had a quarrel with his father-in-law, set out on a pilgrimage to Banaras. Going through a forest he met a blind man, whose wife was leading him by means of a stick, one end of which she held in her hand, and her husband holding the other end was following her. She was young and fair of face, and the pilgrim made signs to her that she should go with him and leave her blind husband behind. The proposal thus signified pleased this wanto

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Story of the Faithless Wife and the Ungrateful Blind Man.

Story of the Faithless Wife and the Ungrateful Blind Man.

“Thus, you see, my lord,” added the fourth Minister, “how nearly that king had plunged himself into a gulf of crime by his rashness. Therefore, my most noble king, I would respectfully and humbly request you to consider well the case of Bodhaditya, and punish him severely if he be found really guilty.” Having thus spoken, the Fourth Minister obtained leave to depart. The night was now over: darkness, the harbourer of vice, fled away; the day dawned. King Alakesa left his bedchamber, bathed and m

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XIII. Fourth Part.

XIII. Fourth Part.

On the banks of the Kâvêrî there was a city called Tiruvidaimarudur, where ruled a king named Chakraditya. In that city there lived a poor Brâhmaṇ and his wife, who, having no children, brought up in their house a young parrot as tenderly as if it had been their own offspring. One day the parrot was sitting on the roof of the house, basking itself in the morning sun, when a large flock of parrots flew past, talking to each other about certain mango fruits. The Brâhmaṇ’s parrot asked them what we

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Story of the Wonderful Mango Fruit.

Story of the Wonderful Mango Fruit.

“My lord, I brought up a young parrot in my house, in order to console me for having no son. That parrot brought me the fruit one day, and told me of its wonderful properties. Believing that the parrot spoke the truth, I presented it to your Majesty, never for a moment suspecting it to be poisonous.” The king listened to the poor Brâhmaṇ’s words, but thought that the poor priest’s death should be avenged. So he consulted his ministers who recommended, as a slight punishment, that the Brâhmaṇ sho

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XIII. Fifth Part.

XIII. Fifth Part.

There was a city called Vijayanagara, to the north of which flowed a small river with mango topes 8 on both banks. One day a young Brâhmiṇ pilgrim came and sat down to rest by the side of the stream, and, finding the place very cool and shady, he resolved to bathe, perform his religious ablutions, and make his dinner off the rice which he carried tied up in a bundle. Three days before there had come to the same spot an old Brâhmiṇ whose years numbered more than three score and ten; he had quarre

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Story of the Poisoned Food.

Story of the Poisoned Food.

“Know ye, unkind villagers, that ye have most unjustly scourged and imprisoned in our presence an innocent, charitable, and pious Brâhmiṇ. The old man died from the effects of the poison, which dropped from a serpent’s mouth on some rice at the foot of a tree when it was being devoured by a kite. Ye did not know of this; nevertheless ye have maltreated a good man without first making due inquiry as to his guilt or innocence. For this reason we visited your village with this calamity. Beware, and

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“Eating up the Protector.”10

“Eating up the Protector.”10

“Even as the serpent purposed acting towards its benefactor,” continued the king, “so did I, in my rage, intend putting to death my faithful minister and the protector of my life, Bodhaditya; and to free myself from this grievous sin there is no penance I should not undergo.” Then king Alakesa ordered a thousand Brâhmiṇs to be fed every day during his life, and many rich gifts to be distributed in temples as atonement for his great error. And from that day Bodhaditya and his three colleagues enj

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XIV. The Monkey with the Tom-Tom.1

XIV. The Monkey with the Tom-Tom.1

The woman was not able to procure another razor. So she gave the monkey her fuel and returned to her house bearing no load that day. The roguish monkey now put the bundle of dry fuel on his head and proceeded to a village to sell it. There he met an old woman seated by the roadside and making puddings. Said the monkey to her:— “Grandmother, grandmother, you are making puddings and your fuel is already exhausted. Use mine also and make more cakes.” The old lady thanked him for his kindness and us

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XV. Pride Goeth Before a Fall.

XV. Pride Goeth Before a Fall.

“We are puli men, They are tiru men: If one śâ man, Surrounds tiru men. Śa man remains. Tâ, tai, tôm, tadingaṇa . ” The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader was merely singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for the leader commenced from a distance, and had sung the song over twice, before he and his companions commenced to approach the robbers. They had understood his meaning, which, however, even to the best educated, unless trained to the technical expressions of

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XVI. Good Will Grow Out of Good.

XVI. Good Will Grow Out of Good.

In this way the presentation of the fruit continued daily, though the Brâhmiṇ had nothing to request from the king, but simply wished to pay his respects. On observing that he had no ulterior motives, but was merely actuated by râjasêvana , or duty to his king, the king’s admiration for his old morning visitor increased the more. After presenting the fruit the Brâhmiṇ waited upon his sovereign till his pûjâ 3 was over, and then went home where his wife kept ready for him all the requisites for h

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XVII. Light Makes Prosperity.

XVII. Light Makes Prosperity.

But Suguṇî persisted. So her marriage with the youngest son of Vinîta was arranged. He had never spoken a word about it to his sister, but he had waited to make matches for his children till all his sister’s daughters had been given away, and when he heard that Suguṇî was determined to marry his youngest son, he was very pleased. He soon fixed upon two girls from a poor family for his other sons, and celebrated the three weddings as became his position. Suguṇî was as noble in her conduct as in h

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XVIII. Chandralêkhâ and the Eight Robbers.

XVIII. Chandralêkhâ and the Eight Robbers.

Thus said she, and respectfully pushed the baskets of mohars and the betel-nut platter towards the Brâhmiṇ . She expected to hear benedictions from her tutor, but in that we shall see she was soon disappointed. Replied the wretched Brâhmiṇ :— “My dear Chandralêkhâ, do you not know that I am the tutor of the prince, the minister’s son and several others of great wealth in Kaivalyam? Of money I have more than enough. I do not want a single mohar from you, but what I want is that you should marry m

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XIX. The Conquest of Fate.

XIX. The Conquest of Fate.

“Remote from man, with God he passed his days; Prayer all his business, all his pleasures praise.” The wood yielded him herbs, fruits, and roots, and the river, proverbial 1 for its sweet waters, supplied him with drink. He lived, in fact, as simply as the bard who sang:— “But from the mountain’s grassy side A guiltless feast I bring; A bag with herbs and fruits supplied, And water from the spring.” His faithful wife brought him these, while Jñânanidhi himself devoted his whole time to the conte

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XX. The Brâhmaṇ Priest who became an Amildâr.1

XX. The Brâhmaṇ Priest who became an Amildâr.1

(3). ellâr juṭṭu kayyalii irabêku. The meaning of which is: (1). You should always keep a black ( i.e. frowning) countenance. (2). When you speak about State affairs you should do it biting the ear ( i.e. secretly—close to the ear). (3.) The locks of every one should be in your hand ( i.e. you must use your influence and make every one subservient to you). Gunḍappa heard these words so kindly given by the king, and the way in which he listened to them made his Majesty understand that he had take

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XXI. The Gardener’s Cunning Wife.

XXI. The Gardener’s Cunning Wife.

So she brought the pan in which she cooked the fish and mango out of the house and covered it with another pan of similar size and sat down before it. Then she undid her hair and twisted it about her head until it was dishevelled. She then began to make a great noise. This action by a woman in an illiterate family of low caste is always supposed to indicate a visitation from a goddess and a demon; so when her husband from the pikôṭa tree saw the state of his wife, his guilty conscience smote him

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XXII. Keep it for the Beggar.

XXII. Keep it for the Beggar.

One night this husband had his supper. The wife had sat at her husband’s leaf to take her supper after her lord had had his. That night, too, our hero, as usual, repeated:— “Keep, my dear, some of this soup for the morning.” At once a gurgling laughter was heard near the doorsill of their house. The pair were astonished, and searched their whole house. No one was discovered. Again the husband said:— “Keep, my dear, some of this soup for the morning.” Again the laughter was heard. Finding that th

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XXIII. Good Luck to the Lucky One; Or, Shall I Fall Down?

XXIII. Good Luck to the Lucky One; Or, Shall I Fall Down?

In that town there lived a poor beggar Brâhmiṇ . He was in extreme poverty, and spent a great portion of the day in begging from house to house his meal and clothes. He had, poor man, seven children. With this large family he was constantly in the greatest misery. He had not a proper house to live in. A miserable hut was all his wealth in that village. Winter was approaching, and the roof of their only hut began to fall down. The increasing miseries made the poor Brâhmiṇ resolve upon suicide. He

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XXIV. Retaliation—Palikkuppali.

XXIV. Retaliation—Palikkuppali.

So said the priest, and the king and the minister watched at the entrance and let him in. The priest went into the Garbhagṛiha —the holy of the holies in the temple, and performed his worship to the goddess. After that was over he gave the image a severe blow on its back and thus addressed it:— “Most merciless goddess. What have you done for all my faith in you. In this lonely wilderness, without knowing any other duty than your worship, I had been your true servant for the past many years. And

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XXV. The Beggar and the Five Muffins.

XXV. The Beggar and the Five Muffins.

“See whether his house is locked on the outside and whether he has left us to go to some other village,” spoke the greyheads. So the village watchman came and tried to push the door open, but it would not open! “Surely,” said they, “it is locked on the inside! Some great calamity must have happened. Perhaps thieves have entered the house, and after plundering their property, murdered the inmates.” “But what property is a beggar likely to have?” thought the village assembly, and not liking to was

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XXVI. The Brahmarâkshas and the Hair.

XXVI. The Brahmarâkshas and the Hair.

The landlord, thinking that he would have work for several such Brahmarâkshasas, was pleased to see that his demoniacal servant was so eager to help him. He at once took him to a big tank which had been dried up for several years, and pointing it out spoke as follows:— “You see this big tank; you must make it as deep as the height of two palmyra trees and repair the embankment wherever it is broken.” “Yes, my master, your orders shall be obeyed,” humbly replied the servant and fell to work. The

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Notes to XIII.—First Part.

Notes to XIII.—First Part.

The Hunter and his Faithful Dog. —A variety of this story is cited from a Cawnpore newspaper, in the “Asiatic Journal,” Vol. XV . (new series), Part II. October, 1834, p. 78, which is to the following effect:—A Bunjarrah named Dabee had a dog called Bhyro, the faithful companion of his travels, who guarded his goods from robbers while he slept. He wished to go to a distant part of the country to trade in grain, but had not sufficient funds for the purpose. After much cogitation, he at length res

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Notes to XIII.—The Second Part.

Notes to XIII.—The Second Part.

The Brahman’s Wife and the Mongoose. —We have, in this story, an Indian variety of the well-known Welsh legend of Llewellyn and his dog Gellert. A similar legend was current in France during the Middle Ages. But our story— mutatis mutandis —is as old as the third century B.C., since it is found in a Buddhist work of that period. It also occurs in two Sanskrit forms of the celebrated Fables of Pilpay, or Bidnaia namely the “Pancha Tantra” (five chapters), which is said to date as far back as the

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Notes to XIII.—The Third Part.

Notes to XIII.—The Third Part.

“And upon this bargain the lady ventured, provided she might have her Lion with her. So ‘twas concluded, and a brave Ship came and took the Lady and her Lion. When she lay down the Lion lay by her, and if she slumbered the Lion would touch her with his paw, by which means he kept her awake all the voyage, until she landed in her own country, and being come to her Father’s house, she knocked at the gate. Then the Porter coming with all speed opened the gate and thought that it was a Beggar. “Frow

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Notes to XIII.—The Fourth Part.

Notes to XIII.—The Fourth Part.

The Poisoned Food. —This is a third instance of food or fruit being poisoned by serpents, and it occurs very frequently in Eastern stories. The oldest form of this tale is found in a Sanskrit collection entitled “Twenty-five Tales of a Vampyre” ( Vetalapanchavimsati ), which is probably of Buddhist extraction, and which also exists in many of the vernacular languages of India. The wife of a man named Harisvamin having been stolen from him one night by a Vidyadhara Prince, he gave away all his we

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Notes to XIII.—The Fifth Part.

Notes to XIII.—The Fifth Part.

It will be seen that our story differs very considerably from the foregoing, which we must regard as the original. The same story occurs in all the Eastern versions of the Book of Sindibad, but in most of these it is not a traveller who is thus poisoned, but a wealthy man and his guests; having sent a domestic to the market to buy sour curds, which she carried back in an open vessel, poison from a serpent in a stork’s mouth dropped into the curds, of which the master of the house and his guests

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Corrections

Corrections

The following corrections have been applied to the text:...

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