Panchatantra : Principle 2
Story 5 : Story of The Merchant’s Son
Sagargupta was a merchant living in one of the country’s big cities. He had a son, who, one day purchased a book whose only content was a single verse. The verse read:
“Man gets what is in his destiny, Even God cannot prevent it.
To me it makes no difference, what’s mine can never become others.”
“What is the price of this book,” the father asked. “Hundred rupees,” said the son. The father flew into a rage and said, “You are a fool. You have paid hundred rupees for a book that has only one verse. You can never come up in life. Leave my house at once. It has no place for you.”
Thrown out of the house, the boy went to another city and began fresh life there. One day, a neighbor asked him, “What is your native place and what is your name?”
The boy replied, “Man gets what he is destined to.” He gave the same answer to whoever asked for his name. From that day onwards, people began calling him Praptavya, meaning the same line he was reciting to indicate his name.
“The summer came and the city was celebrating it with a big fair. One of the visitors to the fair was the city’s princess Chandravati and her maids. Chandravati was young and beautiful. As she was making the rounds of the fair, she saw an extremely handsome warrior and immediately fell in love with him. She told one of her maids, “It is your job to see that both of us meet.” The maid ran to the warrior and told him, “I have a message for you from our princess. She says she will die if you do not meet her today.”
“But tell me where and how I can see her. How can I enter the Palace?” asked the warrior.
The maid told him, “Come to the palace and you will see a rope hanging from the high wall. Climb and jump over the wall with the help of the rope.”
“All right, I will try to do it tonight,” said the warrior.
When the night came, the warrior lost his nerve and thought, “O this is an improper thing to do. The elders have said, “He who has liaison with the daughter of a teacher, wife of a friend or of a master or of a servant commits the sin of killing a Brahmin. Also, don’t do what brings you a bad name or what denies you a place in heaven.” In the end, the warrior decided not to meet the princess and stayed back at home.
Coming out for a walk in the night, Praptavya noticed the rope outside the royal palace and curious to know what it is, went up the rope that took him inside the princess bedroom. The princess mistook him for the warrior and served him dinner and with great ecstasy told Praptavya, “I have fallen in love with you at the very first sight. I am yours. You are in my heart and nobody except you can be my husband. Why don’t you say something.”
He replied, “Man gets what he is destined to.” The princess immediately realized that this man was not the warrior she saw in the day and asked him to leave the palace at once. She made sure that he climbed back the way he came. Praptavya left the place and slept that night in a rundown temple.
The sheriff of the city came to the same temple where he had arranged to meet a woman of vice. He saw Praptavya sleeping there and to keep his meeting a secret, he asked Praptavya who he was. Praptavya recited the verse about destiny. The sheriff then said, “Sir, this is not a suitable place to sleep for you. You can go to my house and sleep there tonight in my place.” The merchant’s son agreed to the proposal.
“At the sheriff’s house, his young and beautiful daughter Vinayawati had asked her lover to come and meet her secretly there in the night. When Praptavya came there following the sheriff’s advice, Vinayawati mistook him in the darkness for her secret lover. She arranged a feast for him and married him according to Gandharva tradition. Noticing that Praptavya did not utter a word, the sheriff’s daughter asked him to say something. Praptavya recited his usual verse. Vinayawati realized her mistake and asked him to leave at once.
As Praptavya once again took to the street, he saw a marriage procession entering the city led by the bridegroom named Varakirti. He joined the procession. The bride was the daughter of a very wealthy merchant of the city. This procession reached the wedding hall sometime before the scheduled time for the wedding.
The bride’s father set up a costly and gaily decorated dais for the wedding. The bridal party came to the scene of wedding a bit in advance. In the meantime, an elephant went berserk and killing the Mahout headed for the marriage venue. The bridegroom and his party joined the frightened people who were fleeing the scene of marriage.
Praptavya happened to see the frightened bride alone and abandoned on the dais shivering in fear. He jumped on to the dais and told the merchant’s daughter that she need not fear for her life and that he would save her at any cost. With great courage and presence of mind he approached the elephant with a stick and began to threaten him. The elephant luckily left the scene. Praptavya took the bride’s hand into his as a token of assurance.
When peace returned, Varakirti and his friends and relatives also returned to the dais and seeing the bride’s hand in the hand of a stranger, addressed the merchant, “Sir, you have pledged the hand of your daughter to me. But I see that you have given her away to someone else. This is improper.” The merchant replied, “My son, I don’t know anything. I also ran away from the dais. Let me ask my daughter.”
The daughter told her father, “This brave man saved me from the mad elephant. He is my savior. I won’t marry anyone but him.” It was now dawn and hearing the commotion the royal princess also came to the wedding venue to see what happened. The sheriff’s daughter also came there learning what had happened. The king also came there and asked Praptavya to tell him everything without fear. Praptavya as usual recited the verse.
This verse rang a bell in the princess head. She remembered what happened in the night and thought “Even God cannot undo what is destined.” The sheriff’s daughter also recalled the events of the night and thought “There is nothing to regret nor cause for surprise.” Listening to what Praptavya said, the merchant’s daughter also thought “nobody can take away what destiny gives me.”
“The king now knew everything and the mystery of the verse. He then gave away his daughter in marriage to Praptavya and also a thousand villages as gift. He also crowned Praptavya as the prince. The sheriff also married his daughter to Praptavya. The merchant’s son lived happily ever after with his three wives.
Hiranyaka, the mouse, thus ended his story of troubles and said:
“Even God cannot undo, What is destined
There is nothing to regret, Nor cause for surprise
Nobody can take away, What destiny gives me.”
“I am disillusioned. That is why my friend Laghupatanaka brought me to you,” said the mouse.
Addressing the mouse, Mandharaka, the turtle said, “O Hiranyaka, the crow is you true friend. Though he was hungry and you were his meal, he did not kill you. On the other hand, he brought you here on his back. You must make a friend of him who is uncorrupted by wealth and who stands by you in time of trouble.”
The turtle continued, “Therefore, stay here without fear or hesitation. Forget the loss of wealth and shelter. Remember, the shade of a passing cloud, friendship of the wicked, a cooked meal, youth and wealth do not stay for long. Learned men are never attached to wealth. It does not come with you even for a few feet in your last journey. There is a lot of pain in earning money and protecting it. Money, therefore, brings grief.” “What is not ours will not stay with us. Haven’t you heard the story of Somilaka who earned a lot of wealth but could not keep it?”
“How is that?” asked Hiranyaka.
Mandharaka began telling Hiranyaka the story of the unlucky weaver.