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| Sunday, 30 May 2004 |
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The man who tasted bee honey by Prof. Sunanda Mahendra Though a parable is quite a short narrative, it has sometimes the power to express a dramatic picture of the good aspects as well as adverse aspects of Samsaric existence. This is one such parable and retold from the great classic 'Mahabaratha' and gone into folklore as well. Once there was a Brahmin who wandered into a dark forest filled with
wild animals. Indeed, so ferocious were the lions, elephants, and other
great beasts of this forest that even Yama, the god of death would only
enter it when absolutely necessary. Brahmin came to know of this nature only when he was quite lost in the forest. He grew fearful and wanted to escape from the dark forest at the shortest possible time. Panicking, he found himself running in circles, becoming more and more confused. The Brahmin saw that the dark forest was caught in a huge net held by a giant woman with outstretched arms. There were five headed serpents all over the place, so tall that their heads nearly reached the heavens. Then the Brahmin came to a clearing, where there was a deep well covered by vines, chased by a wild elephant, the Brahmin stumbled into the well, fell through the brush, and lodged half way to the bottom held upside down by a few vines. At the bottom of the well was a huge venomous snake. Above him waited the great elephant, which had six faces and twelve feet. To the side in the vines that held him, were bees that had built hives and filled them with honey, when the honey dripped down toward him, the Brahmin reached out to taste it in his mouth. The more honey he tasted the more he could not quench his thirst for it. Meanwhile, black and white rats gnawed at the vines that held the Brahmin. Though the great elephant stood guard above, the serpent stood guard below, the bees buzzed on all sides, and the rats gnawed the vines he held by hand, the Brahmin wanted to taste more of the bee honey dripping down. What really happened to that Brahmin is never known. He may have tasted more and more of bee-honey, while the vine while he held was nearly snapping, and the elephant and the serpents were looking at him. This parable of the man who had three deaths (Marana tunak eti minihek peni keya) had entered the Sinhala folklore as well. As some oriental commentators have made it clear, the parable is an allegory, in more modern terms, symbolic of the human condition. The forest is the limited sphere of our life, dark and filled with dangers. The woman holding a net over the forest is the process of aging, which allows no human life to escape. The beasts of the forest are the diseases and other forces that can destroy us, while the serpent at the bottom of the well is time, which eventually receives all living things. The six faced elephant with twelve feet is the year with its twelve months, while the black and white rats are night and day, the devourers of our life spans. Finally, the honey is the pleasures of life, for which our thirst seems unquenchable, and yearns for more. Thus this parable of the Brahmin paints the human life as tragic. Despite danger on all sides we persist in pursuing pleasures. |
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