In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Dhirdiraashtra right royally falling into Duryodhana’s trap when the latter played the emotional card touching upon the sensitive father-son relationship. Perhaps when this softer side of a person is rubbed, any father would have that compassion towards his son, and maybe King Dhirdidraashtra, although he was righteous until this point, started having that special extra bit of compassion towards Duryodhana. However, King Dhirdiraashtra did not directly come to a conclusion to oust Yudishtra from the post of “Yuvaraja”. He wanted to get some “expert opinion” on the matter, wherein a so-called scholar in “Raaja-Dharma”, Kanika entered inside. Although Kanika was an expert on paper, he was the straight opposite. He wanted to perhaps use this opportunity to gain closeness to King Dhirdiraashtra and Duryodhana and voiced out all possible “Adharma” in the name of “Dharma”. We had witnessed yesterday as to how Kanika completely misguided the duo, and this was the starting point of Duryodhana taking the feud with the Paandavas to a drastically different level.
To substantiate his point further, Kanika narrates a small story thus: Once upon a time, there was a fox. This fox was extremely smart and opportunistic in nature and got its things done easily by duping others. This fox had a rat as his friend. The rat had a tiger as his friend. The tiger had a dhole as his friend. This dhole had a mongoose as his friend. Thus, these five of them were very good friends – The fox, rat, tiger, dhole and mongoose. These five friends once had a meeting. The fox spoke in the meeting thus, “Oh friends! There is a deer which is standing at a distance. We need to catch that deer for our prey today. If myself or our tiger friend went near the deer, it would run away. So let us ask our rat friend to go near the deer without its knowledge and ask him to bite the deer’s legs nicely, thus creating a big wound. Thus, with the wound, the deer cannot run fast, isn’t it? With this, the tiger can easily approach the deer and kill it.” This seemed a good idea from the fox as the rat and tiger were deputed for their respective jobs. The job was neatly executed by the rat and subsequently the tiger gives a chase and the deer falls into the trap. The tiger finally manages to kill the deer.
Thus the mission is accomplished! However, when all the friends assemble near the corpse of the deer, the fox said again, “Oh friends! Before we prey on the deer’s corpse, we should take a bath and come. According to the Shaastra, one should not consume any food without a shower isn’t it? Hence, let us all have a bath and then come and eat this!” Accordingly all went for a bath and the tiger took a quick shower and came back within a short duration of time. Now the fox starts playing its game. The fox slowly tells the tiger thus, “Oh friend! When you were away for your shower, the rat was trying to behave opportunistically and I’ve to tell you this as your good friend – The rat was feeling that it was only because he had bit the deer’s legs, the tiger was able to catch it. Hence, it is only after the rat had consumed his share of the deer’s corpse, should the tiger even touch it! See how opportunistic our friend has become! I just thought of informing you this, because you are my very good friend, and transparency between two good friends is very important!”
Upon hearing this from the fox, the tiger started fuming with anger! His ego was clearly hurt here! He immediately confronted his rat friend and when he did not get a convincing answer, the tiger said thus, “Oh rat friend! I do not need to consume the remains of another friend, and that too, you are afterall a rat! I know how to take care of my diet needs. I myself would hunt down another deer without your help and feed myself!” Saying thus, the tiger left the place angrily. Meanwhile as the tiger leaves the place, the rat finishes its bath and arrives. Actually the rat was nowhere in the picture till now and it was the fox which built up all these narratives to chase the tiger away! Now when the rat comes, it asks the fox thus, “Oh friend! Where is our tiger friend? Why is he taking so much of time to shower?” The fox cunningly replies thus, “Oh friend! The tiger was here only until a few minutes ago. However, when the tiger came back from the shower, I overheard a conversation between the tiger and the dhole. The two of them were planning to kill you before they consume the deer corpse, because they see you as a threat for their food! I’m your good friend isn’t it? Hence, there should be complete transparency between two good friends. This is why I was waiting to tell you this as soon as you come!”
As the fox says thus, the rat got scared! It started running for its life and eventually went and got stuck amidst a net. As time passed by, the dhole came after its shower and asked the fox about the other friends. Again the fox cunningly replies thus, “Oh friend! Do you hear the tiger’s roar? He has gone to search for another prey, because he did not like to taste the remains of this deer’s corpse as our rat friend has already consumed it. I heard him telling within himself that if our dhole friend was coming by, he was going to make the dhole his prey. See how opportunistic our tiger friend has become! He is now hunting you down for his food even though you are his good friend. He’s cheating on you!” Hearing this from the fox, the dhole starts running for his life! Finally when the mongoose came by, it asks the fox about the whereabouts of their other friends. The fox replies thus, “Oh friend! I’ve managed to kill all our other friends and I’m waiting to kill you also! Run if possible to save yourself!” Hearing this, the mongoose runs away for its life!
Thus, all the four friends were chased away by the cunning fox and finally it had all the luxury to feast on the corpse of the deer, all by itself! Narrating this story thus, Kanika explains to the duo that if one has to succeed in life, he has to create a rift between the others around him and with this, a fight would ensue between them! With this, they would start clashing with each other and would eventually destroy themselves! This was the biggest misguidance that Kanika gave King Dhirdiraashtra and Duryodhana! So for today, let us understand until this point, and we shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 