Daily Short Stories - Mystery & Suspense

Visakha

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Duration:: 17m
Broadcast on:: 01 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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Call clickgranger.com or just out by Granger for the ones who get it done. Vishaka from the Tibetan. Margadara, the first minister of King Prasenajit of Kosala. After he had married a wife of birth like unto his own, had seven sons. To six of these, he gave names at his pleasure. But the youngest one he called Vishaka. After his wife's death, he arranged marriages for his six elder sons, but they and their wives gave themselves up to dress and troubled themselves in no wise with household affairs. The householder, Mirgadara, was sitting one day absorbed in thought, resting his cheek upon his arm. A brahman, who was on friendly terms with him, saw him sitting, thus absorbed in thought, and asked him what was the cause of his behavior. He replied, "My sons and their wives have given themselves up to dress and do not trouble themselves about household affairs, so that the property is going to ruin. Why do you not arrange a marriage for Vishaka? Who can tell whether he will make things better or bring them to still greater ruin? If you will trust to me, I will look for a maiden for him." The minister consented, and the brahman went his way. In the course of his researches, he came to the land of Champa. In it there lived a householder named Balamitra, whose daughter Vishaka was fair to see, well proportioned, in the bloom of youth, intelligent, and clever. Just as the brahman arrived, she and some other girls, who were in quest of amusement, were setting out for a park. On seeing the girls, he thought that he would like to look at them a little. So he followed slowly after them, occupied in regarding them. The girls, who were for the most part of a frivolous nature, sometimes ran, sometimes skipped, sometimes rolled about, sometimes laughed, sometimes spun around, sometimes sang, and did other undignified things. But Vishaka, with the utmost decorum, at an even pace, walked slowly along with them. When they came to the park, the other girls undressed at the edge of the tank, entered it, and began to sport. But Vishaka lifted up her clothes by degrees as she went into the water, and by degrees let them down again as she came out of the water. So circumspect was she, in her behavior. After their bath, when the girls had assembled at a certain spot, they first partook a food themselves, and then gave to their attendants to eat. But Vishaka, first of all, gave food to the persons in attendance, and then herself began to eat. When the girls had finished their eating and drinking and had enjoyed the charm of the park, they went away. As there was water to be waited through on the road, the girls took off their boots and walked through it. But Vishaka kept her boots on. They went a little farther and came to a wood. Into this armoire wood she entered, keeping her parasol up, though the others had discarded theirs. Presently a window rose, together with rain, and the other girls took shelter in a temple. But Vishaka remained in the open air. The brahman who had followed her and had noted her characteristics and her behavior, marveled greatly and began to question her, saying, "O maiden, whose daughter are you?" "I am Balamitra's daughter." "O maiden, be not angry if I ask you a few questions." She smiled at first and then said, "O uncle, why should I be angry, pleased to ask them?" While these girls, as they went, were all running, skipping, rolling, turning round, singing and doing other undignified things, you went in your way slowly, decorously, and in a seemingly manner, reaching the park together with them. Vishaka replied, "All girls are merchandise which their parents finned. If in leaping or rolling I were to break an arm or a leg, who then would woo me? I should certainly have to be kept by my parents as long as I lived." "Good, O maiden, I understand." He said to her next. These girls took off their clothes in a certain place and went into the water and sported in it, unclothed, but you lifted up your clothes by degrees as you went deeper into the water. "O uncle, it is necessary that women should be shame-faced and shy, so it would not be well that anyone should look upon me unclothed." "O maiden, who would see you there?" "O uncle, you would have seen me there yourself." "Good, O maiden, that also I comprehend." He said to her further, "These girls first took food themselves and then gave to the person's in attendance, but you first gave food to the person's in attendance and then took your own." "O uncle, that was for this reason. We reaping the fruits of our merits constantly have feast days, but they, reaping the fruits of their trouble, very seldom obtained great things." "Good, O maiden, I comprehend this also." He asked her, moreover, while all the world wears boots on dry land, why did you keep yours on in the water? "O uncle, the world is foolish. It is precisely when one is in the water that one should wear boots. For what reason?" "On dry land one can see tree stubs, thorns, stones, prickles, fragments of fish scales or shells of reptiles, but in the water none of these things can be seen. Therefore we ought to wear boots in the water and not upon dry land." "Good, O maiden, this also I understand." Then he asked her this question. "These girls kept their parasols up in the sun, you kept yours in the wood under the shade of the trees. What was the meaning of that?" "O uncle, the world is foolish. It is precisely when in a wood that one must keep a parasol up." "For what reason?" "Because a wood is always full of birds and monkeys. The birds let fall their droppings and pieces of bones and the monkeys their mock and scraps of fruit they eat. Besides, as they are of a wild nature they go springing from bow to bow and bits of wood come falling down. When one is in the open this does not happen, or if it takes place it is but seldom. Therefore a parasol must be kept open in a wood, in the open it is not necessary to do so." "Good, O maiden, this I also comprehend." Presently he said, "These girls took refuge in a temple when the wind arose with rain, but you remained in the open air." "O uncle, one certainly ought to remain in the open air and not take refuge in a temple." "O maiden, what is the reason for that?" "O uncle, such empty temples are never free from orphans, the lowborn, the charpers. If one of them were to touch me on a limb or joint, as I entered such a temple, would not that be unpleasant to my parents. Moreover, it is better to lose one's life in the open than to enter an empty temple." Full of delight at the demeanor of the maiden, the brahmana took himself to the dwelling of the householder, Babala Mitra, and said, desiring to obtain the maiden, "May it be well, may it be good." The people of the house said, "O brahmana, it is not yet the time for asking, but what do you ask for? I ask for your daughter. On whose behalf? On behalf of the son, Visaka, by name of Murgadara, the first minister of Sravasti." They replied, "It is true that we and he are of the same caste, but his country lies too far away." The brahmana said, "It is precisely in a far country that a man should choose a husband for his daughter." How so? If she is married in the neighborhood, joy increases when news comes that she is prosperous, but if a misfortune occurs, a man's property may be brought to not, he being exhausted by gifts, sacrifices, and tokens of reverence. They said, "This being so, we will give you our daughter." After Visaka's marriage, on one occasion, some country folks came bringing a mayor in a full. As they could not tell, which was the mayor in which the full, the king ordered the ministers to examine them closely and to report to him on the matter. The ministers examined them both for a whole day, became weary, and arrived at no conclusion after all. When Murgadara went home in the evening, Visaka touched his feet and said, "O master, wherefore do you return so late?" He told her everything that had occurred. Then Visaka said, "O master, what is there to investigate in that? Father should be laid before them in equal parts. The full, after rapidly eating up its own share, will begin to devour its mothers also. But the mother without eating will hold up her head like this. That is the proper test." Murgadara told this to the ministers, who applied the test according to these instructions, and after daybreak they reported to the king. "This is the mother, O king, and that is the foe." The king asked how they knew that. "Oh, king, the case is so and so. How was it you did not know that yesterday?" "Oh, king, how could we know it? Visaka has instructed us since." Said the king, the chomp of maiden is wise. It happened that a man who was bathing had left his boots on the bank. Another man came up, tied the boots round his head, and began to bathe likewise. When the first man had done bathing and come out of the water, he missed the boots. The other man said, "Hey, man, what are you looking for? My boots. Where are your boots? When you have boots, you should tie them round your head, as I do, before going into the water." As the dispute arose between the two men as to whom the boots belonged to, they both had recourse to the king. The king told the ministers to investigate the case thoroughly and to give the boots to the proper owner. The ministers began to investigate the case and examined first the one man and then the other. Each of the men affirmed that he was the owner. While these assertions were being made, the day came to an end, and in the evening, the ministers returned home, wearied out, without having brought the matter to a satisfactory conclusion. Visaka questioned Murgadhara, and he told her all about it, whereupon she said, "O master, what is there to investigate? Say to one of them, take one of the boots, and to the other man, take the other boot. The real owner will say in that case, 'Why should my two boots be separated?' But the other, the man to whom they do not really belong, will say, 'What could do I gain by this, if I only get one boot?' That is the proper test to apply." Murgadhara went and told this to the ministers and so forth, as is written above, down to the words, "The king said, 'The chomp of maiden is wise.'" It happened that some merchants brought a stem of sandalwood to the king as a present, but no one knew which was the upper end of it in which the lower, so the king ordered his ministers to settle the question. They spent a whole day in examining the stem, but they could make nothing of it. In the evening, they returned to their homes. Murgadhara again told Vishake, all about the matter, and she said, 'O master, what is there to investigate? Place the stem in water. The root end will then sink, but the upper end will float upward. That is the proper test.' Murgadhara communicated this to the ministers and so forth, as written above, down to the words, 'The king said, 'The chomp of maiden is wise.'" There was a householder in a hill village who, after he had married in his own rank, remained without either son or daughter. As he longed earnestly for a child, he took unto himself a concubine. Thereupon his wife, who was of a jealous disposition, had recourse to a spell for the purpose of rendering that woman barren. But as that woman was quite pure, she became with child, and at the end of nine months bore a son. Then she reflected thus, as the worst of all enmities is the enmity between a wife and a concubine, and the stepmother will be sure to seek for a means of killing the child. What out my husband, what ought I to do, as I shall not be able to keep it alive, I had better give it to her. After taking counsel with her husband, who agreed with her in the matter, she said to the wife, 'O sister, I give you my son, take him.' The wife thought, as she who has a son ranks as the mistress of the house, I will bring him up. After she had taken charge of the boy the father died, a dispute arose between the two women as to the possession of the house, each of them asserting that it belonged to her. They had recourse to the king. He ordered his ministers to go to the house and to make inquiries as to the ownership of the son. They investigated the matter, but the day came to an end before they had brought it to a satisfactory conclusion. In the evening they returned to their homes, Vishake again questioned Margadara, who told her everything. Vishake said, 'What need is there for investigation? Speak to the two women thus.' As we do not know to which of you the boy belongs, let her who is the strongest take the boy. When each of them has taken hold of one of the boy's hands and he begins to cry out on account of the pain, their real mother will let go, being full of compassion for him, and knowing that if her child remains alive, she will be able to see it again, but the other who has no compassion for him will not let go. Then beat her with a switch, and she will thereupon confess the truth as to the whole matter. That is the proper test.' Margadara told this to the ministers, and so forth, as is written above, down to the words. The king said the Champa-Maiden is wise. Hey, it's Ryan C. Crest. Life comes at you fast, which is why it's important to find some time to relax a little you time. Enter Chumba Casino, with no download required. You can jump on anytime, anywhere for the chance to redeem some serious prizes. 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