The Indigent Brahman

There was a Brahman who had a wife and four children. He was

very poor. With no resources in the world, he lived chiefly on the

benefactions of the rich. His gains were considerable when marriages

were celebrated or funeral ceremonies were performed; but as his

parishioners did not marry every day, neither did they die every

day, he found it difficult to make the two ends meet. His wife

often rebuked him for his inability to give her adequate support,

and his children often went about naked and hungry. But though poor

he was a good man. He was diligent in his devotions; and there was

not a single day in his life in which he did not say his prayers at

stated hours. His tutelary deity was the goddess Durga, the consort

of Siva, the creative Energy of the Universe. On no day did he either

drink water or taste food till he had written in red ink the name

of Durga at least one hundred and eight times; while throughout the

day he incessantly uttered the ejaculation, "O Durga! O Durga! have

mercy upon me." Whenever he felt anxious on account of his poverty

and his inability to support his wife and children, he groaned

out--"Durga! Durga! Durga!"

One day, being very sad, he went to a forest many miles distant

from the village in which he lived, and indulging his grief wept

bitter tears. He prayed in the following manner:--"O Durga! O Mother

Bhagavati! wilt thou not make an end of my misery? Were I alone in

the world, I should not have been sad on account of poverty; but thou

hast given me a wife and children. Give me, O Mother, the means to

support them." It so happened that on that day and on that very spot

the god Siva and his wife Durga were taking their morning walk. The

goddess Durga, on seeing the Brahman at a distance, said to her divine

husband--"O Lord of Kailas! do you see that Brahman? He is always

taking my name on his lips and offering the prayer that I should

deliver him out of his troubles. Can we not, my lord, do something

for the poor Brahman, oppressed as he is with the cares of a growing

family? We should give him enough to make him comfortable. As the

poor man and his family have never enough to eat, I propose that you

give him a handi [7] which should yield him an inexhaustible supply

of mudki." [8] The lord of Kailas readily agreed to the proposal of

his divine consort, and by his decree created on the spot a handi

possessing the required quality. Durga then, calling the Brahman

to her, said,--"O Brahman! I have often thought of your pitiable

case. Your repeated prayers have at last moved my compassion. Here is

a handi for you. When you turn it upside down and shake it, it will

pour down a never-ceasing shower of the finest mudki, which will not

end till you restore the handi to its proper position. Yourself,

your wife, and your children can eat as much mudki as you like,

and you can also sell as much as you like." The Brahman, delighted

beyond measure at obtaining so inestimable a treasure, made obeisance

to the goddess, and, taking the handi in his hand, proceeded towards

his house as fast as his legs could carry him. But he had not gone

many yards when he thought of testing the efficacy of the wonderful

vessel. Accordingly he turned the handi upside down and shook it, when,

lo, and behold! a quantity of the finest mudki he had ever seen fell

to the ground. He tied the sweetmeat in his sheet and walked on. It

was now noon, and the Brahman was hungry; but he could not eat without

his ablutions and his prayers. As he saw in the way an inn, and not

far from it a tank, he purposed to halt there that he might bathe,

say his prayers, and then eat the much-desired mudki. The Brahman

sat at the innkeeper's shop, put the handi near him, smoked tobacco,

besmeared his body with mustard oil, and before proceeding to bathe

in the adjacent tank gave the handi in charge to the innkeeper,

begging him again and again to take especial care of it.

When the Brahman went to his bath and his devotions, the innkeeper

thought it strange that he should be so careful as to the safety of

his earthen vessel. There must be something valuable in the handi,

he thought, otherwise why should the Brahman take so much thought

about it? His curiosity being excited he opened the handi, and to his

surprise found that it contained nothing. What can be the meaning of

this? thought the innkeeper within himself. Why should the Brahman

care so much for an empty handi? He took up the vessel, and began

to examine it carefully; and when, in the course of examination, he

turned the handi upside down, a quantity of the finest mudki fell

from it, and went on falling without intermission. The innkeeper

called his wife and children to witness this unexpected stroke of good

fortune. The showers of the sugared fried paddy were so copious that

they filled all the vessels and jars of the innkeeper. He resolved

to appropriate to himself this precious handi, and accordingly put in

its place another handi of the same size and make. The ablutions and

devotions of the Brahman being now over, he came to the shop in wet

clothes reciting holy texts of the Vedas. Putting on dry clothes,

he wrote on a sheet of paper the name of Durga one hundred and

eight times in red ink; after which he broke his fast on the mudki

his handi had already given him. Thus refreshed, and being about

to resume his journey homewards, he called for his handi, which the

innkeeper delivered to him, adding--"There, sir, is your handi; it is

just where you put it; no one has touched it." The Brahman, without

suspecting anything, took up the handi and proceeded on his journey;

and as he walked on, he congratulated himself on his singular good

fortune. "How agreeably," he thought within himself, "will my poor

wife be surprised! How greedily the children will devour the mudki

of heaven's own manufacture! I shall soon become rich, and lift up

my head with the best of them all." The pains of travelling were

considerably alleviated by these joyful anticipations. He reached his

house, and calling his wife and children, said--"Look now at what I

have brought. This handi that you see is an unfailing source of wealth

and contentment. You will see what a stream of the finest mudki will

flow from it when I turn it upside down." The Brahman's good wife,

hearing of mudki falling from the handi unceasingly, thought that her

husband must have gone mad; and she was confirmed in her opinion when

she found that nothing fell from the vessel though it was turned upside

down again and again. Overwhelmed with grief, the Brahman concluded

that the innkeeper must have played a trick with him; he must have

stolen the handi Durga had given him, and put a common one in its

stead. He went back the next day to the innkeeper, and charged him

with having changed his handi. The innkeeper put on a fit of anger,

expressed surprise at the Brahman's impudence in charging him with

theft, and drove him away from his shop.

The Brahman then bethought himself of an interview with the goddess

Durga who had given him the handi, and accordingly went to the forest

where he had met her. Siva and Durga again favoured the Brahman

with an interview. Durga said--"So, you have lost the handi I gave

you. Here is another, take it and make good use of it." The Brahman,

elated with joy, made obeisance to the divine couple, took up the

vessel, and went on his way. He had not gone far when he turned it

upside down, and shook it in order to see whether any mudki would

fall from it. Horror of horrors! instead of sweetmeats about a score

of demons, of gigantic size and grim visage, jumped out of the handi,

and began to belabour the astonished Brahman with blows, fisticuffs and

kicks. He had the presence of mind to turn up the handi and to cover

it, when the demons forthwith disappeared. He concluded that this new

handi had been given him only for the punishment of the innkeeper. He

accordingly went to the innkeeper, gave him the new handi in charge,

begged of him carefully to keep it till he returned from his ablutions

and prayers. The innkeeper, delighted with this second godsend, called

his wife and children, and said--"This is another handi brought here by

the same Brahman who brought the handi of mudki. This time, I hope, it

is not mudki but sandesa. [9] Come, be ready with baskets and vessels,

and I'll turn the handi upside down and shake it." This was no sooner

done than scores of fierce demons started up, who caught hold of the

innkeeper and his family and belaboured them mercilessly. They also

began upsetting the shop, and would have completely destroyed it,

if the victims had not besought the Brahman, who had by this time

returned from his ablutions, to show mercy to them and send away

the terrible demons. The Brahman acceded to the innkeeper's request,

he dismissed the demons by shutting up the vessel; he got the former

handi, and with the two handis went to his native village.

On reaching home the Brahman shut the door of his house, turned the

mudki-handi upside down, and shook it; the result was an unceasing

stream of the finest mudki that any confectioner in the country

could produce. The man, his wife, and their children devoured the

sweetmeat to their hearts' content; all the available earthen pots

and pans of the house were filled with it; and the Brahman resolved

the next day to turn confectioner, to open a shop in his house, and

sell mudki. On the very day the shop was opened, the whole village

came to the Brahman's house to buy the wonderful mudki. They had never

seen such mudki in their life, it was so sweet, so white, so large, so

luscious; no confectioner in the village or any town in the country had

ever manufactured anything like it. The reputation of the Brahman's

mudki extended, in a few days, beyond the bounds of the village,

and people came from remote parts to purchase it. Cartloads of the

sweetmeat were sold every day, and the Brahman in a short time became

very rich. He built a large brick house, and lived like a nobleman

of the land. Once, however, his property was about to go to wreck

and ruin. His children one day by mistake shook the wrong handi,

when a large number of demons dropped down and caught hold of the

Brahman's wife and children and were striking them mercilessly, when

happily the Brahman came into the house and turned up the handi. In

order to prevent a similar catastrophe in future, the Brahman shut up

the demon-handi in a private room to which his children had no access.

Pure and uninterrupted prosperity, however, is not the lot of mortals;

and though the demon-handi was put aside, what security was there

that an accident might not befall the mudki-handi? One day, during

the absence of the Brahman and his wife from the house, the children

decided upon shaking the handi; but as each of them wished to enjoy

the pleasure of shaking it there was a general struggle to get it, and

in the melee the handi fell to the ground and broke. It is needless to

say that the Brahman, when on reaching home he heard of the disaster,

became inexpressibly sad. The children were of course well cudgelled,

but no flogging of children could replace the magical handi. After some

days he again went to the forest, and offered many a prayer for Durga's

favour. At last Siva and Durga again appeared to him, and heard how

the handi had been broken. Durga gave him another handi, accompanied

with the following caution--"Brahman, take care of this handi; if you

again break it or lose it, I'll not give you another." The Brahman

made obeisance, and went away to his house at one stretch without

halting anywhere. On reaching home he shut the door of his house,

called his wife to him, turned the handi upside down, and began to

shake it. They were only expecting mudki to drop from it, but instead

of mudki a perennial stream of beautiful sandesa issued from it. And

such sandesa! No confectioner of Burra Bazar ever made its like. It

was more the food of gods than of men. The Brahman forthwith set up

a shop for selling sandesa, the fame of which soon drew crowds of

customers from all parts of the country. At all festivals, at all

marriage feasts, at all funeral celebrations, at all Pujas, no one

bought any other sandesa than the Brahman's. Every day, and every

hour, many jars of gigantic size, filled with the delicious sweetmeat,

were sent to all parts of the country.

The wealth of the Brahman excited the envy of the Zemindar of the

village, who, having heard that the sandesa was not manufactured but

dropped from a handi, devised a plan for getting possession of the

miraculous vessel. At the celebration of his son's marriage he held

a great feast, to which were invited hundreds of people. As many

mountain-loads of sandesa would be required for the purpose, the

Zemindar proposed that the Brahman should bring the magical handi to

the house in which the feast was held. The Brahman at first refused

to take it there; but as the Zemindar insisted on its being carried

to his own house, he reluctantly consented to take it there. After

many Himalayas of sandesa had been shaken out, the handi was taken

possession of by the Zemindar, and the Brahman was insulted and driven

out of the house. The Brahman, without giving vent to anger in the

least, quietly went to his house, and taking the demon-handi in his

hand, came back to the door of the Zemindar's house. He turned the

handi upside down and shook it, on which a hundred demons started up

as from the vasty deep and enacted a scene which it is impossible to

describe. The hundreds of guests that had been bidden to the feast

were caught hold of by the unearthly visitants and beaten; the women

were dragged by their hair from the Zenana and dashed about amongst

the men; while the big and burly Zemindar was driven about from room

to room like a bale of cotton. If the demons had been allowed to do

their will only for a few minutes longer, all the men would have been

killed, and the very house razed to the ground. The Zemindar fell

prostrate at the feet of the Brahman and begged for mercy. Mercy was

shown him, and the demons were removed. After that the Brahman was

no more disturbed by the Zemindar or by any one else; and he lived

many years in great happiness and enjoyment.

Thus my story endeth,

The Natiya-thorn withereth, etc.

[7] Handi is an earthen pot, generally used in cooking food.

[8] Mudki, fried paddy boiled dry in treacle or sugar.

[9] A sort of sweetmeat made of curds and sugar.