In a certain town there lived a wealthy Brahmin. He wished to build
a house--pretty large and spacious--as became his riches. For that
purpose he called in a great number of soothsayers, and fixed,
guided by their scientific opinion, a place for building the
mansion. A certain portion of every day is supposed to be bad for
doing work. This portion is sometimes called the Rahu-kala--the
evil time of the demon rahu and sometimes tyajya--the time to be
avoided. And abandoning carefully all these evil hours the wealthy
Brahmin built his mansion in ten years. The first entrance into a
new house to dwell is performed always with a great deal of pomp and
ceremony, even by the poor according to their means. And our wealthy
Brahmin to please the gods of the other world and the gods of this
world--bhusuras Brahmins--spent a great deal of his wealth, and with
veoras and music sounding all around him he entered into his house.
The whole of the day almost was spent in ceremonies and
festivities. All the guests left the place at evening, and much
exhausted by the exertions of the day the Brahmin house-owner retired
to rest. Before sleep could close his eyelids he heard a fearful voice
over his head exclaiming:--"Shall I fall down? Shall I fall down?"
Great was the concern of the landlord at hearing this voice. He thought
that some demon had taken possession of his house, and that he was
going to pull down the roof of his house over his own head. That very
night with as much haste as he entered the new house, he vacated it
and went back to his old house.
Sirukakhatti perukavalka is the Tamil proverb. The meaning of it
is "build small and live great," i.e., build small houses without
laying out much capital uselessly in houses and live prosperously;
and in villages many a rich landlord would prefer small houses to big
ones. The idea that he had spent a great deal of money to build a big
house troubled our hero. The spaciousness of the house was one reason
for the devil to come in so easily, as he thought. When he vacated
his house on the very night of the day he entered it people began to
talk all sorts of scandals about it. The ladies in the bathing places
(ghats) in rivers began to give all sorts of colour to the devils in
that house. One said that when she was coming to the river she saw
a company of devils dancing round and round the middle pillar of the
upper storey of that unfortunate house. Another said that she observed
unearthly lights in that mansion the previous night. Thus people
talked and talked, furnishing new colours and new adventures out of
their pure imagination for a phenomena which they never saw. And our
unfortunate rich man had to lock up his house which he built after so
many days, and at the expense of so much money. Thus passed six months.
In that town there lived a poor beggar Brahmin. He was in extreme
poverty, and spent a great portion of the day in begging from house
to house his meal and clothes. He had, poor man, seven children. With
this large family he was constantly in the greatest misery. He had
not a proper house to live in. A miserable hut was all his wealth in
that village. Winter was approaching, and the roof of their only hut
began to fall down. The increasing miseries made the poor Brahmin
resolve upon suicide. He could not bring himself to do that by his
own hand. He had heard of the haunted house, and resolved to go there
with all his family and perish by the hands of the devils. This was
his secret intention, but he never spoke of it to any one. One day
he came to the rich Brahmin who was the owner of the haunted mansion,
and spoke to him thus:--
"My noble lord! The winter is approaching and the roof of my hut has
fallen away. If you would kindly allow it I shall pass the rainy days
in your big house."
When the rich man heard this he was very glad to see that one person
at least there was in his little world who wanted the use of his
house. So, without hesitating any longer, he replied:--
"My most holy sir, you can have the free use of that whole house for
whatever time you may want it. It is enough if you light a lamp there
and live happily. I built it, and I am not destined to live there. You
can go and try your fortune there."
So said the rich landlord, and gave the key of that haunted house to
the poor Brahmin. The latter took it, and with his family went and
lived there from that day. That very night he also heard the same
voice: "Shall I fall down?" "Shall I fall down?" twice. Nothing
daunted, and quite resolved to perish with his wife and children,
who were sound asleep near him, he exclaimed, "Fall down," and lo! a
golden river of mohurs and pagodas began to fall down in the middle of
the room from the top of the roof. It began falling and falling without
any stopping till the poor Brahmin, who sat agape with wonder, began
to fear that they would all be buried in mohurs. The moment he saw
the sea of wealth before him, his idea of suicide abandoned him. "Stop
please," said he at once, and the mohur-fall came to a sudden stop. He
was delighted at the good nature of the devil, or whatever good spirit
might have taken possession of the house, for its having given him so
much wealth. He heaped up all the mohurs in one room, and locked it up,
and had the key of it in his own possession. His wife and children got
up during the mohur-fall. They also were informed of everything. The
poor Brahmin advised his wife and children to keep the matter secret,
and they, to their great credit, did so. They all--the poor parents and
children--rejoiced at the good fortune that had made its visit to them.
As soon as morning dawned the poor Brahmin converted little by
little his mohurs into money and bought grains and clothes for his
family. This he did day by day till rumour began to spread that
the poor Brahmin had found a treasure-trove in the rich landlord's
house. Of course this rumour reached the ears of the wealthy
man also. He came to the poor Brahmin and asked him all about the
treasure-trove. The latter to his great honour related to the landlord
every bit of the mohur-fall. He also wished to witness it and sleep
in the room with the poor Brahmin, for the first time in his life,
his thirst for mohurs inducing him to do so. At about midnight "Shall
I fall down?" was again heard.
"Fall down" said the poor Brahmin, and lo! the mohurs began to descend
like a water-fall. But, horror of horrors, they all appeared as so
many scorpions to the house-owner. The poor man was heaping up the
gold coins, but all of them seemed to crawl as so many scorpions to
the eyes of the landlord.
"Stop please," said the poor man, and the mohur-fall stopped.
Then turning to the house-owner, the poor man said: "My lord, you
may take home this heap for your use."
The house-owner began to weep and said: "Most fortunate of mankind,
I have heard my old father often repeat a proverb, 'To the fortunate
fortune comes,' and its meaning I have discovered to-day only. I built
the house and ran away when I heard the 'shall I fall.' No doubt I
did very well, for had I remained a scorpion torrent would have sent
me to the other world. Know then my most fortunate friend, that I
see all your mohurs as so many scorpions. I have not the fortune to
see them as mohurs. But you have that gift. So from this moment this
house is yours. Whatever you can convert into money of your mohurs
I shall receive and bless you."
So saying the house-owner came out of the room fearing the
scorpions. And our poor man thus had all the fortune to himself,
and was no longer a poor man. He soon became one of the wealthiest
of men of his time, but remembering that he owed all his riches to
the wealthy landlord who gave him the house, he used to share with
the latter half of his wealth every year.
This story explains the Tamil proverb Madrishtam ullavanukku kidaikkum;
to the fortunate good fortune.
N.B.--This story was also related to me by my step-mother
whose birth-place is a village in the Trichinopoly district.