And we fall for the same old lies

Sans the Sacred

With the general elections fast approaching, politicians from all ends of the political spectrum are back to their usual games, making the same old promises, stoking the same old fights, and even parroting the same old catchphrases. Which reminds me of the story of Praptavyamartha from the Panchatantra. Who is Praptavyamartha, and why does he have such a strange name, you ask (I hope)? Well, read on!

Once, the hero of our tale went shopping and spent all his money on a book with just one verse in it. What was the verse? “Man gets what he is to get; even god cannot break that rule. And so, I do not grieve; nor am I surprised. What is mine cannot be anyone else’s.” In Sanskrit, the verse begins with ‘praptavyam artha...’ When his father, a shrewd businessman, saw that he had spent a fortune on a useless book with just the one verse, he decided the son was idiotic and disinherited him. And so, our hero began his wandering with his sole possession -‑ the one-verse book. And no matter what anyone asked him -- “What is your name”, “Where are you headed”, or even “How can I help you?”, his answer was the same -‑ the verse beginning with ‘praptavyam artha...’ And so, people called him Praptavyamartha.

Now, around the same time our hero was wandering, the princess Chandravati saw a handsome prince during a festival and fell in love at first sight. She sent her companion with a secret message to the prince to meet her late at night by ascending a rope that would be hanging from the window of her room in the palace. The prince enthusiastically agreed but was struck by his conscience at the last moment and did not turn up. Praptavyamartha, who was strolling around the palace aimlessly, decided to climb the rope to see where it led, and ended up in the princess’s bed in the dark! Then, when the princess asked him why he was silent, he repeated his favourite verse. She immediately realised that he was not the prince, and he was summarily dismissed from the place. He continued to wander, and ended up, entirely by mistake, with another young woman, Vinayavati, who mistook him for her lover in the dark. When she wanted to speak to him, she heard his verse and realised her mistake just as the princess had, and sent him away, chastising herself for acting in haste.

Praptavyamartha continued his wanderings, and this time, he came to a lavish wedding of a businessman’s daughter, happening late at night. Unfortunately, a wild elephant interrupted the proceedings, and the groom hastily abandoned the bride and ran away. Praptavyamartha, speaking more than usual for once, held the bride’s hand, comforted her, and drove away the elephant. The groom came back once the danger was over and saw his bride chummy with another man and complained to her father, who also had run away out of fear of the elephant and had no idea who Praptavyamartha was. The bride now proclaimed that she would marry none other than Praptavyamartha who had saved her life when everyone else ran away.

The commotion attracted the king, princess, Vinayavati, and a whole host of others. When the king questioned Praptavyamartha about what had happened, he repeated the first quartrain of the verse, which Chandravati, Vinayavati, and the businessman’s daughter completed in turn. Then, once the whole story came out, all the three women were married off to Praptavyamartha, and lots of gifts and finery given. The king even called Praptavyamartha’s estranged parents and set them up to live in his kingdom with all his wealth.

Here our story ends, but I suppose it is your turn now to ask, how in the end could so many women and their fathers, and even the king, fall for such a dumb line? Well, look around. The elections are nearly here, and we are all set to fall for the same old lines again, are we not?