Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part D

Image Source The mongoose telling his story.

After the horse sacrifice, all of the men who had attended were sent home with wealth. A mongoose who had a body that was half gold appeared. The mongoose stopped the men and began to tell a story.

There was a Brahmin and his family who were living on grains of corn they picked up from the fields, and only ate once a day at a certain time. A shortage of food spread across the land, and at a time there was no food to eat at their time of the day. The family began to become thin and weak. One day, the Brahmin picked up some barley and began to eat it and divided it into four portions for his family. While they were eating a guest came in and they gave him a share of food, however, the guest was still hungry. The wife gave him her share, but because she was so thin and weak the man told her to keep it, however, the wife wanted him to have it. He ate it but was still hungry. The son began to bring over his share and gave it to the hungry guest. The guest was still hungry. The daughter was the only one left who had food to give, however, it broke the father’s heart to give up her portion. The daughter gave him his portion, and all of a sudden the guest showed his true form as Dharma the god! The God blessed them and allowed them peace in heaven. The mongoose came over to where some of the grains had fallen and suddenly his body became half gold due to the magic sacrifice.

I wanted to focus on this story because it was different from the rest of the book. I thought it was fun to read and it was different because it was told by a mongoose. I think this story would be entertaining to put my own spin on.

Bibliography:

Author: Annie Besant

Title: The Mongoose

Link: Link to story