In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of a beautiful story being narrated by Bhishmachaarya to Yudishtra, with regards to “trust” as a very important quality of leadership / administration. Bhishmachaarya is narrating the story of a tiger and a fox to drive home this point. We’ve seen that the “Dharmatma fox” is extremely “Saathvik” in nature, wherein he takes a pledge that he wouldn’t consume any non-vegetarian food by killing other animals in the forest. Moreover, whatever actions that the fox does will be pertaining to “Dharma” only. This impressed the tiger very much, who convinces the “Dharmatma fox” to be his able minister. Initially however the “Dharmatma fox” refused to accept the offer, but later on owing to the compulsion of the tiger, he accepts it with a set of twin conditions that the tiger should always keep in mind – Firstly, the tiger should not ask counter questions to whatever the “Dharmatma fox” says. He should obey whatever the fox says verbatim. Secondly, the “Dharmatma fox” will give all the advice / suggestions secretly and not publicly. The tiger agrees and the “Dharmatma fox” starts discharging his duties meticulously. As many animals started getting timely punishments and executions, there was a huge doubt amongst them that someone was feeding some secretive information to the tiger, which emboldened him to take action in such an unprecedented manner! Upon doing their research, the animals found out that this “Dharmatma fox” is behind whatever was happening and they wanted to thwart this “unholy nexus” between the tiger and this “Dharmatma fox”.
Thus, since the situation is getting out of control for the animals, they meet together and decide a quick plan of action. Since the character involved is a fox, the animals need to execute their plan very carefully as chances are high that the clever fox will thwart the plan. Thus, slowly and steadily the animals get together and one fine day, pull off the tiger’s prey and keep it at the home of the “Dharmatma fox”! Upon searching for his prey, the tiger gets frustrated and starts roaming around here and there. As the tiger does so, the other animals come together and asks the tiger as if they do not know anything – “Oh tiger! You’re the king of this great forest, aren’t you? You seem to be very hungry! What are you searching for?” As the animals ask thus, the tiger replies angrily, “Oh animals! Someone has snatched my prey today! I’m very hungry and I’m unable to find the prey which I kept inside my den! It looks like someone has deliberately stolen it from me!” As the tiger says thus, the animals see this is a great opportunity to play their vicious game on him. They reply back thus, “Oh tiger! We understand what you’re saying. Earlier in the morning when you had gone out, we had seen something – A fox came to your house and took something away. Perhaps, the fox would have stolen your food for the day!”
As the animals say thus, the tiger vehemently denies it. He says thus, “Oh animals! Never! I know that the fox is a “Dharmatma” by nature. He doesn’t consume any non-vegetarian food at all! If such is the case, how will the “Dharmatma fox” take away my prey and keep it with him?” As the tiger says thus, the other animals team up together and try to convince him thus, “Oh great tiger! We’ve seen with our own two eyes, the fox carrying away your prey! If you do not want to believe us, you yourself can go down to the fox’s house and check. If we are wrong, you may execute all of us together!” As the animals say thus together, the tiger gets confused! Several questions run in his mind – Will the “Dharmatma fox” ever commit such an act? Won’t he know that stealing others’ property isn’t an act of “Dharma”? Even if such is the case, will he compromise his “Dharma” of avoiding non-vegetarian food?” As the tiger starts to think, the other animals cash in on this opportunity to convince him further! They say thus, “Oh tiger! Don’t you know about foxes? Aren’t you aware that foxes are the most cunning animals ever in this world? We are puzzled as to how you started believing the words of a fox, out of all other animals in the forest! Afterall, the “Dharmatma fox” that you’re referring to, is a fox himself! Won’t he show his original character some day or the other?”
Words like these from the animals slowly and steadily infuriate the tiger! Already the tiger is in a state of hunger and on top of this, the animals are trying to add fuel to the fire! The angry tiger suddenly gets up from its place and starts walking towards the house of the “Dharmatma fox”, in a bid to prove the words of the animals wrong! But what he sees there to his utter dismay, is the entire bunch of prey that he had kept in his home! So this is going to be a “make or break” situation for the tiger, and for the “Dharmatma fox”. What is the tiger going to do here? Is he going to “go for the kill” on the “Dharmatma fox” or is he going to adopt a “wait and watch” strategy? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 