hitopadesha

This is an interesting and one of the lesser known stories from the Mahabharata. Read on…

The Mahabharata war is over and the Pandavas have won the war. Yudhisthira the eldest of the Pandavas is crowned the next king. It all seems like a happy ending to a story but Yudhisthira, after takes over the reign soon realises that the country’s coffers are empty thanks to the Kauravas who spent all the money in the treasury for the war and there was hardly anything left to manage the kingdom.

Seeking advice of his councils, Yudhisthira decides to ask Kubera, who is considered the Lord of wealth in the Hindu mythology to lend him enough gold so that he can carry on the administrative affairs of his kingdom and then repay it over a period of time. The gold required is quite substantial and care should be taken to transport that volume of gold from Kubera’s capital city to Hastinapura. He needed someone strong and wise to bring the gold safely and Yudhisthira assigns the task to Bhima. He requests Bhima to visit Kubera and borrow the gold from him and bring it safely and quickly to Hastinapura.

So Bhima sets off to Kubera’s kingdom and after many days of travel he finally reaches the capital city. As Kubera is the Lord of wealth, his entire kingdom is full of prosperity and richness. Bhima is quite amazed by the wealth and everyone in the city seems to be very rich and prosperous. He hardly sees any poor person in distress. It is the harvest period in that place and people are transporting grains and other food products to and from the market and commerce is at full swing. While walking towards the palace, Bhima sees a man who looks quite affluent by his way of dressing but he seems to be picking the left over grains from the street. So Bhima thinks to himself as to how a miser remains a miser and leads a bitter life even in the kingdom of Kubera where wealth is taken for granted. In his mind he chides the man for his behaviour and continues his journey towards the palace.

Upon reaching the palace, he is warmly welcomed by Kubera’s wife and she provides the necessary refershments as he has made a long journey to visit them. She then tells him that Kubera has gone out to supervise the harvest and will be back soon as he is already expecting Bhima. True to her words, Kubera returns shortly and to Bhima’s shock he realises that the man picking up the grains on the street was none other than Kubera the Lord of wealth himself. But he curtials his surprise and out of respect and decency does not pose any questions to Kubera about his strange behaviour. They then talk for a while exchanging pleasantries and then Kubera asks Bhima as to how much gold was required for his treasury. Bhima tells him that he needs about a thousand bags of gold coins and that he needs them quickly as people back home are waiting for Bhima’s return. Kubera tells Bhima that it is not a problem at all and that he would immediately arrange for the money to be packed and load it into as many carts as required for Bhima to take it back.

As promised the gold is packed soon enough and loaded onto the carts and Bhima takes the lead cart, thanks Kubera for lending the money and his wife for her hospitality and set off on his return journey to Hastinapura. In those days agriculture was the main proffession and most of the lands were used for it and Bhima had to cross the freshly harvested fields in his cart before he could hit the road to Hastinapura. Just when he is out of the palace and tries to cross the field, one of his wheels get stuck in the uneven surface of the harvested land and the cart is unable to move. Bhima gets down from his cart and tries to lift the wheel from the quicksand but is unable to do so because of the weight of the gold. While all this was happening, Kubera was standing in the balcony of the palace and was watching Bhima struggle with the wheel. He then summons a messenger and tells him to tell Bhima that he should use a bag of gold as a wedge for the wheel so that it can climb out of the sand. The messenger then runs and reports Kubera’s suggestion to Bhima. Now Bhima is really puzzled. Here was a man who was picking the left over grains on the street and now he is telling him to use a bag of gold to lift his wheel when he knew sure enough that the gold would be scattered in the field and would not be fully recovered. But he still does what Kubera sugests and sure enough the wheel is freed and he was ready to leave again.

All these incidents caused so much of confusions in Bhima’s mind that he had to talk to Kubera and find out the reason for his contradicting behaviour. So he requests the messenger to guard the cart and off he goes to the palace to talk to Kubera. Upon hearing Bhima’s question Kubera smiles and tells him that indeed he was the one picking up the grains from the street because it was being wasted and it was him again who suggested that Bhima use a bag of gold coins to release his stuck wheel. He then goes on to tell Bhima that it is the duty of the ruler to save prudently when the time is appropriate. As Kubera was on his way back to his palace, he did not have any other tasks ahead and seeing that the grains were being spilled by the carts, he went on to collect and save them. He also tells him that it is also the duty of the ruler to sacrifice something for a greater objective. In Bhima’s case the money was urgently required in his kingdom and Bhima should not hesitate to waste a bag of gold coins when the balance 999 bags could be taken home quickly thereby reducing the anxiety of the people back home. Bhima understood the lesson and travels on to Hastinapura as a much wiser man.

The message for us in this story: One should be prudent in investments and savings when possible and when the time is right one should not hesitate to ‘throw away’ some of the wealth in order to achieve a larger objective.

So, until next time,

peace,
aditya.