"My dear lord, we have heard that your father was a great mahatma. This
disciple must equally be a mahatma. His holiness would not advise us
to our ruin. Let us follow the sage's advice."
When Kapali's wife thus supported the sage, he resolved to dispose of
his beast and sack the next morning, and he did so accordingly. The
provisions he bought were enough to feed fifty Brahmins morning and
evening, as well as his own family. So that day he fed Brahmins for
the first time in his life. Night came on, and after an adventurous day
Kapali retired to sleep, but sleep he could not. Meanwhile Subrahmanya
was sleeping on the bare verandah outside the house, and he came to
the sage and said:--
"Holy sage, nearly half the night is spent, and there are only
fifteen ghatikas more for the dawn. What shall I do for the morrow
for my hungry children? All that I had I have spent. I have not even
a morsel of cold rice for the morning."
Subrahmanya showed him some money that he had in his hand, enough to
buy a buffalo and a sack of corn in case the great god did not help
him, and asked him to spend that night, at least the remainder of it,
in calm sleep. So Kapali, with his heart at ease, retired to rest.
He had not slept more than ten ghatikas when he dreamt that all
his family--his wife and children--were screaming for a mouthful
of rice. Suddenly he awoke and cursed his poverty which always
made such thoughts dwell uppermost in his mind. There were only
five ghatikas for the lord of the day to make his appearance in the
eastern horizon, and before this could happen he wanted to finish his
morning bath and ablutions, and so he went to his garden to bathe at
the well. The shed for the buffalo was erected in the garden, and it
had been his habit daily before bathing to give fresh straw to his
beast. That morning he thought he would be spared that duty. But,
wonder of wonders! He saw another buffalo standing there. He cursed
his poverty again which made him imagine impossibilities. How could it
be possible that his beast should be standing there when he had sold
it the previous morning? So he went into the shed and found a real
buffalo standing there. He could not believe his eyes, and hastily
brought a lamp from his house. It was, however, a real buffalo, and
beside it was a sack of corn! His heart leapt with joy, and he ran
out to tell his patron, Subrahmanya. But when the latter heard it he
said with a disgusted air:--
"My dear Kapali, why do you care so much? Why do you feel so
overjoyed? Take the beast at once with the corn-sack and sell them
as you did yesterday."
Kapali at once obeyed the orders and changed the money into
provisions. Again fifty Brahmins were fed the next day too, and
nothing was reserved for the third day's use. Thus it went on in
Kapali's house. Every morning he found a buffalo and a sack of corn,
which he sold and fed Brahmins with the proceeds. In this way a month
passed. Said Subrahmanya one day:--
"My dear Kapali, I am your holy father's disciple, and I would never
advise you to do a thing prejudicial to your welfare. When I came to
know that you were the son of the great sage, Jnananidhi, and were
leading so wretched a life, I came to see you in order to alleviate
your miseries. I have now done so, having pointed out the way to you
to live comfortably. Daily must you continue thus. Do as you have
been doing for the past month, and never store away anything, for if
you reserve a portion all this happiness may fail, and you will have
to revert to your former wretched life. I have done my duty towards
you. If you become ambitious of hoarding up money this good fortune
may desert you."
Kapali agreed to follow the advice of the sage to the uttermost detail
and requested him to remain in his house. Again said Subrahmanya:--
"My son! I have better work before me than living in your house. So
please excuse me. But before leaving you, I request you to inform
me as to where your sister is. She was a child of two years of age
when I saw her twenty years ago. She must be about twenty-two or
twenty-three now. Where is she?"
Tears trickled down the eyes of Kapali when his sister was
mentioned. Said he:--
"Do not, my patron, think of her. She is lost to the world. I am
ashamed to think of her. Why should we think of such a wretch at this
happy time?"
At once the inscription made by Brahma's nail rushed into Subrahmanya's
mind and he understood what was meant. Said he:--
"Never mind; be open and tell me where she is."
Then her brother, Kapali, with his eyes still wet with tears, said
that his sister, the daughter of the sage Jnananidhi, was leading the
worst of lives in an adjoining village, and that her name was Kalyani.
Subrahmanya took leave of Kapali and his wife, after blessing his
little children and again warning his friend. He had conferred what
happiness he could upon his master's son, and now the thought of
reforming his master's daughter reigned supreme in his heart. He
went at once to the village indicated and reached it at about
nightfall. After an easy search he found her house and knocked at the
door. The door was at once opened. But on that day she was astonished
to see a face such as she could never expect to approach her house.
"Do you know me, Kalyani?" said Subrahmanya, and she in reply said that
she did not. He then explained who he was, and when she came to know
that it was a disciple of her father that was standing before her she
wept most bitterly. The thought that after having been born of such
a holy sage, she had adopted so wretched a life, the most shameful in
the world, made her miserable at heart. She fell down at his feet and
asked to be forgiven. She then explained to him her extreme misery,
and the hard necessity which had compelled her to take to her present
way of living. He then consoled her and spoke thus:--
"My dear daughter! My heart burns within me when I see that necessity
has driven you to this wretched life. But I can redeem you if you
will only follow my advice. From this night you had better shut your
door, and never open it to any other person except to him who brings
to you a large measure full of pearls of the first water. You follow
this advice for a day and I shall then advise you further."
Being the daughter of a great sage, and having been compelled by
necessity to take to a wretched life, she readily consented to follow
her father's disciple when he promised to redeem her. She bolted the
door, and refused admission to anyone unless they brought a large
measure full of pearls. Her visitors, fancying that she must have
gone mad, went away. The night was almost drawing to a close and all
her friends had gone away disappointed. Who was there in the village
to give to her one measure full of pearls? But as the nail of Brahma
had appointed for her such a life as stated, some one was bound to
comply with her terms. And as there was no human being who could do
so, the god Brahma himself assumed the shape of a young man, and,
with a measure full of pearls, visited her in the last watch of the
night and remained with her.
When morning dawned he disappeared, and when Kalyani explained to the
disciple of her father the next morning that after all one person had
visited her with a measure full of pearls on the previous night, he was
glad to hear of it. He knew that his plan was working well. Said he:--
"My dear daughter, you are restored to your former good self hereafter
from this day. There are very few people in this world who could
afford to give you a measure full of pearls every night. So he that
brought you the pearls last night must continue to do so every night,
and he shall be hereafter your only husband. No other person must ever
hereafter see your face, and you must obey my orders. You must sell all
the pearls he brings you every day and convert them into money. This
money you should spend in feeding the poor and other charities. None
of it must you reserve for the next day, neither must you entertain
a desire to hoard up money. The day you fail to follow my advice you
will lose your husband, and then you will have to fall back on your
former wretched life."
Thus said Subrahmanya, and Kalyani agreed to strictly follow his
injunctions. He then went to live under a tree opposite to her house
for a month to see whether his plan was working well, and found it
worked admirably.
Thus, after having conferred happiness, to the best of his abilities,
on the son and daughter of his former master, Subrahmanya took
leave of Kalyani, and with her permission, most reluctantly given,
he pursued his pilgrimage.
One moonlight night, after a long sleep, Subrahmanya rose up almost
at midnight, and hearing the crows crowing he mistook it for the dawn
and commenced his journey. He had not proceeded far, when on his way
he met a beautiful person coming towards him, with a sack of corn
on his head and a bundle of pearls tied up in the end of his upper
cloth on his shoulder, leading a buffalo before him.
"Who are you, sir, walking thus in this forest?" said Subrahmanya.
When thus addressed, the person before him threw down the sack and
wept most bitterly.
"See, sir, my head is almost become bald by having to bear to Kapali's
house a sack of corn every night. This buffalo I lead to Kapali's
shed and this bundle of pearls I take to Kalyani's house. My nail
wrote their fate on their respective heads and by your device I have
to supply them with what my nail wrote. When will you relieve me of
these troubles?"
Thus wept Brahma, for it was no other personage. He was the creator
and protector of all beings, and when Subrahmanya had pointed out the
way for his master's children, and they had conquered fate, Brahma
too was conquered. So the great god soon gave them eternal felicity
and relieved himself of his troubles.