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ThE sToRY of dhaRMavYadha

- From “The Mahabharatha”
1. Once upon a time there lived a person called Kaushika. He was
Not to be republished
proficient in the Veda lore. He wished to surpass everyone in
learning. So forsaking home and parents, he went to a forest and
pursued his studies.
2. One day, he was sitting under a tree studying the Vedas. He was
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disturbed by the loud twittering of a crane, perched on a branch.
He glared at the bird which had disturbed him, and at once the
bird was reduced to ashes. Kaushika was sorry that his wrath had
caused the death of a bird. But the realization of his ascetic power
also pleased him and he felt proud.

3. He went to a town nearby; his mind still dwelt on the incident of the
bird. He stood before a house and begged for alms, crying aloud,
‘Bhavathi bhikshan dehi’ [Give me alms, mother] The mistress of
the house was attending to her husband who had just come home.
So she took some time to bring the alms. Displeased, Kaushika
glared at her. The chaste lady said smilingly, “Kaushika, I am not
a crane for your glare to burn me up”. Her words startled Kaushika.
“How did this lady know that I killed the crane?” he wondered. The
woman understood that he was confounded. She said, “You may
have mastered the Vedic lore. But you know not the mysteries of
Dharma. There is one Dharmavyadha in the city of Mithila. You
can learn the mysteries of Dharma from him”. Curious, Kaushika
turned his steps towards Mithila.

4. In Mithila, he made his way to
Dharmavyadha’s shop. It was a
meat shop. The vyadha welcomed
Kaushika warmly and said, “Come
in, come in. That chaste woman
sent you, didn’t she?” The words
of Dharmavyadha stunned
Kaushika. Hitherto Kaushika was
full of conceit, imagining that he
was the only learned man. But now
he realized that it was not so. That
morning, the lady had referred to

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