hitopadesha

Most Indian ‘ventures’ (be it starting a new company, writing an exam or cooking a new dish) begins with pranams to Ganesha, who is known in the west as the elephant God, and who is considered to have mastered all the Vedas and also as one of the personifier of knowledge in its absolute sense. I choose to begin writing my first story in this blog about Him.

The story that I write today has different versions with subtle variations in them. The one I write today is the one that I heard from my grandparents and my parents. The crux of the story of course is the same across the different versions.

Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and is the older brother of Subramanya also popularly called as Muruga in the southern part of India. One day sage Narada comes in possession of a mango fruit which when consumed by a person, he / she would benefit from all the knowledge of the Universe and in turn would be revered by many. He thinks that he is not worthy enough to eat that fruit and that it should be taken by someone much greater than himself. He immediately decides that it should be none other than Lord Shiva himself as he is the one who could put the knowledge to the right use. But of course, Lord Shiva is already in possession of such knowledge and he has no use for the fruit and it would be wasted if we were to consume it. Narada decides that in any case he would hand it over to the Lord who can then decide who should consume it.

Narada make the trip to Kailash, the home of Lord Shiva and explains his conundrum. The Lord then decides that his sons are worthy enough to eat the fruit and conveys his intention to Narada. But Narada then throws in the condition that the fruit has to be consumed in whole by one person and cannot be shared among people which would rob away the benefits of the fruit. Now the Lord is in a conundrum as he has two sons and as a father he cannot be biased with one of them and offer the fruit. So he summons his sons and explains the situation. Of course, this is a difficult situation as neither Ganesha nor Subramanya can stake a claim since it would be unjust to the other. They do not also wish to offer it to the other since the benefit of eating the fruit is irresistible.

Then suddenly Subramanya comes up with an idea that both of them should race and the winner of the race would get to eat the fruit. And as they are the sons of the Gods a simple race would not be sufficient and he suggests that whoever goes around the Universe first would be considered the winner. Everyone nod in agreement as this is a fair and square deal. Each of the Gods have a commuting vehicle in the Hindu pantheon and they are usually animals or birds and they have their own stories and explanations as to why they have been chosen thus. Ganesha’s ‘vehicle’ is the tiny mouse and Subramanya’s vehicle is the beautiful peacock.

This is understandably a difficult situation for Ganesha since he would be traveling at a much slower pace than his brother who flies on top of a peacock. As the race begins, Subramanya soars into the skies on his peacock, flying with confidence that he is going to win the race. Ganesha is still contemplating as to what to do when a thought suddenly occurs to him. He mounts on his mouse and slowly goes around his parents, Lord Shiva and Parvathi. After going around them once, Ganesha then explains to his parents that for a child, his/her parents are the entire Universe as they are the ones who plant the seed of knowledge in the minds of the child for the first time and teach them the ways of life. Hence going around them is equivalent to going around the Universe itself.

Now, even though Ganesha exploited a technical loop hole he is correct since parents are the guiding light for the children and they are the ones who bring the child in to this world and teach everything the child needs to know to lead a virtuous life. Neither Lord Shiva nor Parvathi can deny this and they agree that Ganesha has indeed gone around the Universe. In the meantime, Subramanya who has been flying at a great speed completes his travel around the Universe and comes home to Kailash only to see his brother Ganesha happily eating away the mango. Enraged, Subramanya demands an explanation. After hearing what happened, he becomes furious and decides to leave home for good and travels to the south of India and settles down relinquishing everything.

Having eaten the fruit, Ganesha is blessed with all the knowledge of the Universe and goes on to prove his worthiness in many a tales that is yet to come. Subramanya, though initially angry with his parents soon realises that he was not meant to eat the fruit and decides to be in the southern part of India as he forms his own set of devotees who look up to him for their salvation.

This brings us to the close of today’s story and we learn that we need to exercise prudence before we act in order to succeed and also the fact that our parents are to be revered more than even God itself.

Peace,
Aditya