WinningCaption

THE LIVELY RED Contributed byD. Sf Rao, Sccunderaliuu.

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July '56

THE FRONT COVER

THE proud Duryodhana, who had resigned himself to death afterhis defeat at the hands of Chitrasena the Gandharva, abandoned

the idea because of his visit to the Underworld and the advice of

Kama and the rest. He returned to Hasthinapura.

In order to please Duryodhana, Kama took a big army andstarted, on a campaign of conquest. He conquered all the coun-

tries and made a gift of them to Duryodhana. Then Duryodhanadecided to perform the Vaishnava Yajna.

A vast tract of land lying beyond the city was ploughed with aplough of gold for this yajna, and later architects put up thenecessary structures. Duryodhana dispatched a messenger to

the Dwaita Forest to invite the Pandavas to the yajna. " Wecannot attend," Yudhisthira told the messenger, "since we are

under vow to live in the forest. There should be no breach of that

vow." But Bhima said to the messenger, "Tell your matter thatat the end of our vow-period my brother here will perform a muchbigger yajna in which Duryodhana and hie hundred brothers willbe sacrificial beasts. I will be there then." {Bhima meant warwhen he said yajna.)

The yajna went off quite well. Duryodhana was elated. Kamaheaped such compliments upon him that Duryodhana thought that

he had already destroyed the Pandavas in the battle.

Soon after this Yudhisthira at the Dwaita Forest had a dream

one night. He saw the beaBts of the jungle all around him." What can I do for you V he asked them. " Why have you cometo me?"

"Sir," they replied, "we, the dwellers of the Dwaita Forest

suffered much at the hands of your brothers. We are on theverge of extinction. Have pity on us and go to another forest,

leaving us in peace." Yudhisthira agreed to do so. The nest day

he departed with his brothers and wife to the Kamyaka Forest.

JN a certain forest a certain Lionand Bull lived in great friend-

ship. And a wily jackal, unableto tolerate such friendship, deli-

berately brought enmity between

the both of them.

Listen carefully, I shall tell you

how it all came to pass.Once upon a time there was a

very rich city, in that city there

was a trader called Vardha-

manaka, a very intelligent man,nobly born. One night he wentto bed, engaged with thoughts ofmaking money. " For, there isnothing on earth that one cannot

buy with money. One mustearn money. The man of moneyis also the man of learning;

indeed he is the real man ! Friends

always surround him ; and so dorelatives. One may have manya desire, but if he should have

no money, he is treated as one

who has no need of anything.While money makes friends ofenemies, its loss will make ene-mies of even near and dear ones.

Tempted by money men courteven the dismal graveyard. Thevery children leave off the aged

parent who has lost his money.The senile rich are forever likethe sweet sixteen, while sweet six-

teen itself revolts like senility,

without IT ! So then one must

think out the various ways of

making money.

PT. KEDARNATH

" There are six ways of increas-

ing wealth;

Serving the King, BeggingAlms, Agriculture, Learning,Business, and lastly Trade. Ofall the six trade is the best; it

never fails.

Take begging. The beggarsare so many that the manof charity cannot distinguish the

deserving from the undeserving.Take agriculture which is full of

vicissitudes. It depends on the

monsoon.

Then, Usuary may lead topoverty.

Service has its shortcomings.

Trade, by all means, is the best

of all."

Thus concluding the youngtrader prepared for a journey.With the idea of going to foreignlands he packed his goods, foundan auspicious day, took the bles-

sings of his people, and startedon the journey.To pull his cart he engaged his

own fine bulls, Sanjivaka and

Nandaka, which were strongenough to draw any load, andunrivalled in speed.

As the cart passed through thesands of the Jumna, the bulls felt

every step painful.

Presently Sanjivaka got badlystuck in the sands, threw off

the yoke and fell down.His master saw his plight and

was worried. He could not leavehis favourite bull half buried in

the sands, and he too stayed atthe spot, for three days.

said to him,

ingerous and1 of us may

Then his men said to him" Sir, this is a dangerous anddeserted spot. All of us mayhave to face danger because ofthis one bull.

"It is not good to lose thegreater for the sake of the lesser.

And it is deemed wise to sacrificethe least in order to achieve the

most. Are we to be eaten up by a

pack of tigers while waiting upon

one animal ?"

" That's true," said the trader.

He decided to go forth. He

THE DIFFERENCE

"YyHILE Chandra-peeda wasKing of Kanchan Nagar,

there was a man at his court

whose name was Dhaval. Dhavalnever went home straight fromcourt. By the time he reachedhome late at night, he had alreadyhad his dinner, drink and pan.One day his wife asked him,

"How is it that you always haveyour dinner outside? Who feedsyou every day, and why?"

"I've two good friends,

"

Dhaval replied. "One of themis Kalyan-varma, who will notdeny me anything that is in hispossession. The other is Veer-bahu who will lay down even hislife for my sake. He is sucha great friend to me."

Dhaval's lady was really happyto know that her husband had

such worthy friends. "I shouldlike to meet these good friendsof yours," she told Dhaval."You shall meet them,"

Dhaval told her. "Come withme tomorrow. We shall visitboth of them."Next morning they went to

Kalyan-varma first. He lavishedsuch hospitality upon them thatDhaval's wife was convinced thather husband did not exaggeratein the least the good points ofthat gentleman.Then they went to the house

of Veer-bahu. At the momentVeer-bahu was deeply engrossedin a game of chess. He lookedonce at Dhaval and said, "Ah,you've come. Won't you sit?"Then he lost himself in the gameagain. After a time Dhaval said

P. GOVINDA MENON

to his friend, "We shall get alongnow." "All right," Veer-bahusaid, without even lifting his eyesfrom the chess-board.

Dhaval's wife was not impress-ed with Veer-bahu. "You gaveme the impression," she said toDhaval," that Veer-bahu was byfar the better friend. But it wasKalyan-varma who gave us abetter reception.""Ah, if you want to see

the difference between them,"Dhaval replied," go to both ofthem, and inform them that Iincurred the King's wrath.

"

So Dhaval's wife started alonenext morning. She went first toKalyan-varma and said " Sir, theKing is angry with your friend.Won't you help him?"Kalyan-varma turned pale and

said," Lady, I'm just a merchant.

What can I do in opposition tothe King? Let your husbandleave the country for his safety."Then she went to Veer-bahu

and repeated the same thing tohim. At once Veer-bahu reachedfor his shield and sword. Herushed to Dhaval's house andsaid in a great rage, " O friend 1who is the scoundrel that poison-ed the King's mind against you ?Tell me at once, so that I canhack him to pieces with mysword I""No need for all that, my

friend," Dhaval told him, smiling." The minister has interceded onmy behalf, and the King is nowpacified.

"

" Now you know the differencebetween my friends," Dhavaltold his wife after Veer-bahu'sdeparture.

(Samarsen was separated from his men when he was taken prisoner bythe men of Vyaghra-dutt. Vyaghra-dutt wanted to know fromSamarsen where a certain magic Trident was hidden. Samarsenwould have died on account of his ignorance, if two unknown mendid not rescue him in the middle of the night and took him away.)

\Y-HEN Samarsen and his tworescuers reached the village,

the whole place was in a com-

motion. With drawn swords,Vyaghra-dutt's soldiers werecarrying out house-to-house

searches. Several of the villagers

were so scared that they were

running away into the hills andforests around to escape thesoldiers. Some of the soldiers were

asking the villagers, "Where'sSiva-dutt?" And when the vil-lagers replied, " We don't know,"the soldiers were getting angry

and turning nasty.Samarsen and his rescuers saw

these things from some distance.They gave up the idea of goinginto the village, and hid behindtrees, watching things. Samarsenwondered who Siva-dutt was.

CHANDAMAMA

"Why do these soldiers pesterthe villagers for news of Siva-

dutt? Who is he anyw,ay?"Samarsen asked his companions.

" Siva-dutt is our leader," one

of them replied. " It is on his

orders that we have got you out

of the prison. These soldiers

who are menacing the village areVyaghra-dutt's men."

This reply did not set Samar-

sen's mind at rest. He was nowtormented with another doubt;

what did Siva-dutt want with

him? Why did he get him outof Vyaghra-dutt's clutches? Werethey both enemies? If they were,what was the cause of thei renmity ?

" What are we supposed todo now?" Samarsen asked hiscompanions.The two men looked at each

other in such a manner thatSamarsen guessed that they them-selves did not know what wasto be done.

" Siva-dutt told us," one of

them said, "that we shouldbring you here. Of course, hedesired to be friends with you.But, somehow, Vyaghra-duttseems to have learnt the secretof Siva-dutt's residence in this

village. Evidently Siva-dutt hadscented danger and slipped away."Which way did Siva-dutt go ?

Unless Samarsen and his rescuersknew the answer there was therisk of their falling into the

hands of Vyaghra-dutt's soldiers.As they stood puzzled as to

mm CHANDAMAMA10

what to do, there was a softwhistling sound in their rear.

They turned back and saw aman hiding in a tree and beck-oning them by waving his hands.

The man was not quite visible.Samarsen could not have said

whether he was friend or foe.

He was left with the choice ofbeing guided entirely by thediscretion of his rescuers.

One of the men with Samarsenwhistled once and the man inthe tree whistled twice.

" He is a friend," said theman turning to Samarsen. "His

reply is correct. Only Siva-dutt's

followers know the correct signal.Let us go ! "

The three of them came out

of their hiding place and went

towards the tree. In the mean-

time the man in the tree, too,

came down. " Siva-dutt left me

here to contact you," he said,

looking towards the village which

was now in utter confusion.

" Vyaghra-dutt's men surrounded

the village in the early hours of

the morning. But Siva-dutt got

the news in time, and he escapedwith his men. I alone stayed

behind, waiting for you."

This message seemed to put

new life into Samarsen's rescuers,

though, of course, they were still

to know whither Siva-dutt depar-ted, and how they could join him."This is Samarsen," they said

to the new man. " We havetaken him out of Vyaghra-dutt'sprison. He must meet Siva-dutt

urgently. Do you know wherehe is? Can you lead us there ?"

" I'm sorry, I don't know whereSiva-dutt is," the other replied."But he has given me this map.He said his hiding place is mark-ed in it. I don't know how toread it. You had better see foryourself." He produced a roll ofpaper out of his dress and handedit to Samarsen.

Samarsen unrolled the mapand examined it closely. On themap were marked, some hills, a 1

few houses, wells and ponds, butSiva-dutt's hiding place was not

marked in it, nor were there anyhints suggesting it.

"Perhaps Siva-dutt retreatedto the desolate region this mapindicates," Samarsen said. But

I can't imagine why he thoughtof going to such a place while

danger threatened him. In anycase, we too have to go to this

region."

The others nodded their heads.The task of leading them by the

> -:- :>>-

CHANDAMAMA -> : :>:12 -

help of the map fell upon Samar-sen. He took one more look atthe village, which was now onfire. Frustrated in their search,

Vyaghra-dutt's soldiers had setfire to the village, and wereenjoying the sight.Samarsen toyed with the idea

of attacking Vyaghra-dutt'ssoldiers, but he had very meagresupport. So there was nothing

for him to do except go in searchof this Siva-dutt, and to find out

if he had anything to tell him.Samarsen glanced at the map

again and began to lead the men.

He had to be his own compass,and lead the men correctly. Also,he had to watch out for contin-gents of Vyaghra-dutt's soldiers

or habitations. It was just awilderness of rocks.

Samarsen climbed onto aheight and looked around. Hefound one or two passes in thehills and a level ground. He

from whom'oniy "danger"wa's "to wanted t0 reach the level Sround '

be expected. hoPmS to^ the wa* foardHaving walked through the when he went there,

forest for some time, they emerg- They descended the hill. It

ed onto a region of rocks and was a desolate and awe-inspiring

hills. A landscape uneven withhillocks stretched before them.

locality with huge rocks scattered

all over it, and small bushes hereThere were no signs of footpaths and there. The dwellings marked

gg^mSSmg. CHANDAMAMA13

in the map were nowhere to beseen. Nor was there any pathwhich led them forward.At length Sarnarsen and the

men came upon a very queerscene. On the side of a steephill was carved a devilish head,

and from the mouth of this heada jet of water was gushing out in

a stream. The head was quitewell carved and the stream ap-peared to originate in the head.

This would have been a queer

sight anywhere, but in this parti-

cular place it appeared quite

unbelievable.

"This is really amazing,"Sarnarsen said. " No man seemsto be inhabiting this region, andyet that head was carved by

man." The men said nothing.They went on gazing at the fall-ing stream, as Sarnarsen did, in

wonder.

Shrewdly Sarnarsen looked for,

and found, a tunnel in the rockbehind the waterfall. He referredto the map again, and saw a

mark which probably indicatedthe waterfall. He was almostcertain that Siva-dutt hid himself

here. It was really an excellent

hiding spot. Sarnarsen, followed

by the three men, waded in theknee-deep stream and reached thetunnel behind the waterfall.

In the tunnel it was pitch-dark,

but as they proceeded along, itgrew lighter. Presently theyemerged out of the tunnel andfound themselves on level ground.It was surrounded on all sides

CHANDAMAMA15

by high hills. Samarscn saw that

there were plenty of peacocks

there. Some were dancing, whileothers were flying and uttering

cries.

"Bless me! 1 never saw so

many of these peacocks in myentire life," Samarsen said to

himself. Even to the men whoaccompanied him this place wassingularly strange.

But they could not stand there

forever watching the beauty of

peacocks and peahens. They had

to contact Siva-dutt first.

They walked forward towards

a cave in the hill opposite. As

they neared it, there was a loud

trumpeting sound, and a moment

later an elephant rushed out

of the cave.

Neither Samarsen nor the men

were prepared for this. As the

elephant rushed at them, they

scattered away in different

directions.

Samarsen who took refuge be-hind a huge boulder and thought

within himself that the elephant

must have faced some serious

danger before it shot out of

the cave so madly. Who couldhave frightened the elephant?

What was there in the cave?

Was it possible that he failed

to make correct use of the map

left by Siva-dutt?(To be continued)

\yHILE Brahma-dutt ruledBanaras, Bodhisatva was born

to a poor Brahmin of a certainvillage- He was named Soma-Dutt. His father cultivated thesmall bit of land which hehad, and maintained his familysomehow.Soma-dutt came of age, and

his heart was filled with pity forhis old father who broke hisback working on the land frommorning till night. In order tobring happiness to his aged fatherhe thought of getting educationand then employment. He couldof course share his father's drudg-ery, but that would not add tothe income since the land wasvery small. So he said to his

father, " I shall go to Taksha-sila

and obtain learning."

Soma-dutt went to Taksha-silaand studied under a guru. Aftercompleting his studies, he return-ed home. His father was stilllabouring on the land with thehelp of a couple of bullocks. Hecould not tolerate this state ofaffairs even for a moment. Thevery next day he proceeded toBanaras and found employmentin the court.Soon after, one of the bullocks

died, and Soma-dutt's father be-came helpless. The bull hadbeen supporting him and wasbeing supported by him for along time, and now it was dead.He thought of his educated sonemployed in the King's Court.Surely he could obtain the giftof a bullock for him from theKing. The old man made the

A JATAKA TALE

journey to Banaras and met hisson, Soma-dutt."O father," Soma-dutt said,

"You are loo old to toil, and &ois mother. Why don't you bothcome and stay with me? You'llbe comfortable."" No, son ", the old man re-

plied. " I've lived on that bit ofland, and I intend to die there.Get me the gift of a bullock, and Ishall live happily, cultivating myland. I won't be happy here."Now, Soma-dutt was in

employment only for a shorttime. He had not put by enough

to buy a bullock for his father.And he felt delicate to approachthe King begging for gifts sosoon ; the King might take himfor a greedy mm.

"Father,'' he said, "if I askthe King for a bullock, he mayask me why 1 want it, for whomI want it and so on. In anycase, it is not fit for the employ-ees of the court to beg favours.You are free from such regula-tions. Tell the king what hap-pened and beg him for the giftof a bullock. The King won'tdeny you."

" Son, I'm a villager, an oldman. I don't know anythingexcept driving the plough," theold man said. " How can I enterthe King's court, face the Kingand ask him something? I'd dieof fright first. I wouldn't knowhow to word the request even.So don't put me to all thistrouble. Ask the King yourself.""Then," said Soma-dutt, "I'll

make the task easy for you. Ishall write a verse. Get it byheart and recite it before theKing. He will give you whatyou want."

The old man agreed to thisarrangement. Soma-dutt wrotethe following verse and gave itto his father

:

"5; it JTfwr irsrersr,

%a utit

(" O King, I used to have twobullocks. 1 was tilling the landwith their help. Now one ofthem is dead. So, O King, giveme another.")With great difficulty the old

man got this verse by heart,with his son's help.

Then Soma-dutt took him to theCourt along with him. Accord-ing to his son's instructions, theold man folded his hands to theKing as well as the ministers,and stood expectantly."Who are you?" the King

asked him. " What do youdesire?"At once the old man began to

recite the verse which he ob-tained from his son. But in hisconfusion he made a mistake andrecited as follows

:

"It if ^TETT H%X& 1

%g t?fjf Tat

Everyone burst out laughing,and Soma-dutt bowed his headin shame. For, instead of saying,"Give me another bullock," the

old man said, "Take the otherbullock."

" Is it to offer me your secondbullock that you have come allthe way here?" the King jokinglyasked the old man.

''Yes, sire," the old manreplied boldly. "It has given meenough trouble already." Thenhe narrated to the King whattook place.The King was most pleased

with the behaviour of Soma-dutt.Every employee in the court was

in the habit of begging petty

favours from the King on somepretext or other. Even in dire

need Soma-dutt would not dothat. The King ordered eightpairs of oxen to be dressed anddecorated. Then he gifted themto the old man.

The Three BrothersJALA-DHWAJA, the King of

Kanya-kubja had three sons,Pushpa-ketu, Chitra-Bhanu andPingala. Eager to see the South,

they started on a tour andeventually reached the Dominionof Women. Pushpa-pura wasthe capital of this country, andRatnamakuta was its Queen.The princes rented a big build-

ing for a lodge and went sight-seeing into the city, each byhimself. Pingala, the youngestof them, was going along a street,when he saw the portrait of acharming girl at the gate of apalace. Underneath the port-rait was an announcement. Itsaid : "This portrait belongs to anoble maiden called Maharaja-ratna. If any learned young manwants to marry her, he will have

to reply to her queries which willbe conveyed to him throughsymbols. He who succeeds inthe test can marry her, but hewho fails will have to become aslave-labourer. If the conditionis agreeable, ring the bell.

"

Pingala was so enamoured ofthe girl in the portrait that hewanted to marry her, and rangthe bell. A few maids came outof the house, welcomed himwarmly, escorted him to a roomand went away. Soon they return-ed with a number of leaf-budson a platter. "Please let us knowyour reply," they asked himshowing him the platter. Pingalafailed to know what the questionwas, and how to reply to it.He had to accept defeat,

Some men took him away into

R. T. MENON

rat.

o a

garden, where he had to changeinto working clothes and startdigging. He was a slave.Pushpa-ketu returned to the

lodge that evening and saw thathis two brothers were not back.He spent the night alone, andearly next morning he went outlooking for them. He went alongnew streets and soon came tothe palace with the portrait ofMaharaja-ralna at the gate Heread the announcement, madefriends with the servants of the

house, and learnt that a youngman resembling him had desired

to marry the noble maid andended by becoming a slave in thegardens. Pushpa-ketu was cer-tain that the victim was Pingala.

He decided that he must defeatthis girl and liberate his bro;her.

Yet, he did not ring the bell.He found out the name of thebest pandit in Pushpa-pura, andpaid a visit to him. "Sir," hesaid to the pandit respectfully,"I was told that you possessvery rare books. Can I have alook at them?" The pandit wasglad to show him his collection.

But Pushpa-ketu found onlyone book which was unfamiliarto him. It was " Nagara-sar-waswa", written by a Buddhistmonk called Padma Sri. It hada chapter on symbols, and Push-pa-ketu read it four or five times.Then he came back to the palaceand rang the bell.The maids came out and receiv-

ed him. They sat him in aroom, went out and returnedwith leaf-buds on a platter." What's your answer?" theyasked him. Pushpa-ketu recollect-ed the line, "And the leaf-bud

CHANDAMAMA22

asks you about your caste," andreplied that he was a KshUriya.Some more questions followed,and Pushpa-ketu answered all ofthem correctly. When the maidscame lo him for the last time itwas to tell him that their mistresswanted to see him.

Pushpa-ketu followed theminto a room which was gor-geously decorated. As he entered,a young lady rose from a seatof gold and said to him, " You'rewelcome- At long last I foundone who could answer all myquestions. I'm willing to marryyou.

"

Pushpa-ketu was taken by sur-prise. For this girl was notMaharaja-ratna. She was muchmore attractive, and her crownand ornaments indicated royalty."Was it you that sent the

questions?" he asked her. "But

you are not Maharaja-ratna!"" No," she replied. "But it wasI that sent you the questions.

You see, I'm the Queen Ratna-makuta. Maharaja-ratna is aclose friend of mine. I borrowedher name so that no one would

know that I was seeking ahusband.

"

"Well," he said, "it makesno difference to me. But a broth-er of mine who was defeatedby you yesterday is doing hardlabour in your garden. Be sokind as to let him off."

Ratna- makuta laughed gailyand said, " So he is your brother ?My girl friend is very much inlove with him. Their marriageshall take place together with

ours."

Chitra-bhanu who had gone tosee the city the previous day also

ggggggggggg CHANDAMAMA SSSXS^SSSS23

managed to get a bride in anexceedingly queer manner.

In that city there lived a multi-millionaire called Mani-mantha.His only child, Urmila wasbrought up like a princess amidstall possible luxuries. Withal thegirl was so exceedingly lovely,that her father was hard put to itto find a proper husband for her.Lakhs of rupees were spent onthis search, and at last the richman found a boy. This boy wasthe son of Ratna-pada, a great

tradesman of the Suka Isle. Thebetrothal took place and the day

of marriage was fixed six monthshence, so that the parties hadenough time to make adequatepreparations for the marriage.Mani-mantha was told that ifhe missed that muhurt there wasno auspicious day for three yearsto come.

Mani-mantha carried out pre-parations for the marriage onan astounding scale. He madearrangements to lodge ten thou-sand guests, got pandals erectedover several acres of ground,and, as for the entertainments,there was no counting them.At long last the day of mar-

riage arrived. Thousands ofvisitors came to witness the func-tion. But there was no signof the bridegroom's party. Themuhurt was almost at hand,when the messengers, sent to thecoast to bring news of the arriv-ing ships, returned hastily with

the news that the party fromSuka Isle had a disastrous cross-ing, that their ships hit the

rocks, and were sunk in the sea.Mani-mantha was flabbergast-

ed by the news. After making

CHANDAMAMA24

all those preparations and invit-ing all the guests, how could hedrop the marriage? He wentamongst the numberless guestsand looked around. His gazefell upon C h i t r a-b hanu, whocame there to see the marriage.Mani-mantha called him asideand said to him, "Young man,be my son-in-law and save mefrom disgrace. I'm worth tencrores, and this girl is my onlychild." Chitrabhanu informedhim that he was a prince himself,agreed to marry Urmila, and themarriage took place.On the tenth day after the

marriage the party from SukaIsle arrived, in a strength of tenthousand, quite hale and healthy!Mani-mantha, went to Ratna-pada, the father of the bride-groom, and told him everything.

"It's all your mischief," theother said in anger. "It was

true that our ships grazed somerocks hidden under the waters,and sprang a few leaks. But wegot over the trouble by throwingexcess loads overboard and clos-ing the leaks with tar. We

arrive after so many troubles,and find that you have betrayedus and put us to shame! Whodo you think I am ? "

"You've come too late for themuhurt, anyway," Mani-manthaprotested.

"Muhwrt my foot!" Ratna-pada rejoined. " When a mar-riage is performed that hviuhurt."Both of them quarrelled

fiercely. "You'll rue this!"Ratna-pada threatened. Mani-mantha returned home with aheavy heart. Ratna-pada hadten thousand men with him.

CHANDAMAMA25

Mani-mantha found supportfro m an unexpected quarter.Chitra-bhanu said to him, "Don'tworry, sir, I shall deal with thisRatna-pada myself."Ratna-pada was as good as

his word. One day thousandsof his men marched on Mani-manlha's house^rmed withsticksand lathis. The pandals werenot yet removed and the guestswere not gone. Mani-manthawas really scared. But Chitra-bhanu drew his sword andattacked the ten thousand single-handed. He s lew some andthe rest took to their heels.Ratna-pada brought charge

against Mani-mantha before theQueen. The Queen could notdecide as to who was guilty. Shesought the advice of her husband,Pushpa-ketu.

Pushpa-ketu asked Mani-marx-tha's son-in-law to be brought tothe court. The men who wentto fetch him, returned and repor-ted, "Sir, he refuses to come!

"

Pushpa-ketu was enraged atthe audacity of the man. Accom-panied by Pingala and a fewarmed soldiers, he went to Mani-mhntha's house. Chitra-bhanu,drew his sword and stood in thestreet, ready for a fight. Butwhen they came near, he recog-nized his own brothers.The three brothers were brougt

together and told each othertheir experiences. Pushpa-ketutook a lenient view of Ratna-pada's aggressiveness, because hehad already suffered a good dealduring his voyage. He madeMani-mantha pay Ratna-padathe expenses of his journey.

DISTANT PLANETS

LONG, long ago our ancestors named the days of the weekafter the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus

and Saturn. If they were not aware of the other planets thatrevolve around the Sun, it was because they were too faraway to be noticed. They were discovered during recent times.

Uranus was discovered in 1781. It is about 1,782 millionmiles from the Sun. Its diameter is 31.000 miles. Movingat the rate of 260 miles an hour, it takes 84 years to goround the Sun once.

Neptune was discovered in 1846. It is 33,000 miles indiameter, and is at a distance of 2,793 millon miles from theSun. Moving with a speed of 186 miles an hour, it makes around of the Sun in 165 years.

Pluto was discovered on March 13, 1930. It is 3,670million miles away from the Sun. It takes 248 years to makea round of the Sun, moving at the rate of 120 m.p.h.

These planets are so far away that they are visible onlythrough powerful telescopes. From Pluto the Sun probablylooks just like a very bright star.

Even Uranus the nearest of these distant planets getsonly a third of one per cent of the light and heat the Earthreceives from the Sun. So these planets are frozen bodies.

Of these Uranus has 5 moons revolving round it andNeptune has 2, while Pluto has no moons. Recently it is beingdoubted whether Pluto is one of the planets at all. Grantingthat it is one of the planets, the light of the Sun takes fiveand half hours to reach Pluto, whereas it take some 8 minutesto reach the Earth. From this we can understand how faraway the most distant planet Pluto is from the Sun. But thelight of the Sun will have to travel nearly four and half yearsbefore it can reach another heavenly body, the nearest star.

THREE QUESTIONScertain King once askedhimself, " When is the right

time to begin anything? Whoseadvice should I seek? What isthe most important thing to do?"He thought that he would neverfail if he knew the right time, theright man and the right thing todo, always. He proclaimed allover his kingdom that he wouldgive great gifts to anyone whoanswered his questions.Having heard the proclama-

tion, many wise men went to theKing. But they answered hisquestions each in a differentmanner.

To the question regarding theright time for starting anything,

some said that the almanac shouldbe consulted; some other saidthat the right time was different

for different things; yet otherssuggested that things should beundertaken in the order of theirimportance.To the question regarding the

right person to consult or engage,some suggested the ministers

;

some, the good Bralimans; andsome, the vassals who wouldalways help in case of war.The best duty was acquiring

scientific knowledge according tosome ; doing good works, accor-ding to others; and making war,according to some others.Among the various answers,

not one impressed the King.There was a holy man livingin the woods adjoining thecapital. The King thought hewould put the questions to thesacred man, and get his replies.

( ADAPTED FROM TOLSTOY )

But the holy man never' left his

hermitage. Ooly common peoplecould go to the hermitage andsee him. So the King rode insimple clothes towards the her-mitage, accompanied by hisretinue. At the outskirts of thehermitage grounds, he got downfrom his horse, told his men towait for him, and went on foottowards the cottage of theholy man.

In the garden in front of thecottage, the King saw the holyman digging. He received thegreetings of the King and wenton digging, without a word." Sir," said the King to the

holy man, " I've come to knowyour answers to three questions.What is the right time to startany work? Who is the rightperson to deal with regarding thework? And what is one's duty?"The holy man stopped digging

while the King spoke, but, assoon as the King stopped, heresumed digging, without sayinganything. The holy man was avery old man. He was very weakon account of frequent fastings

and meagre eating. "Sir, yourest awhile, and let me do thedigging," the King said to him.The holy man handed the crow-bar to the King and squatted onthe ground.

After digging for some timethe King repeated his questions.Instead of answering the King,the holy man stood up and madeto take the crowbar from theKing. But the King did not yieldit to him. Till sunset the Kingwent on digging. When the workwas finished, the King laid thecrowbar aside and said, "Sir, I

CHANDAMAMA29

came to see you because you area wise man. I thought you couldgive correct answers to my ques-tions. If you cannot answer me,tell me so and I shall go away."

*' Someone is coming ! " theholy man said. ''Let us find outwho he is." The King turnedand saw a man running. He waspressing his stomach with onehand, and blood was gushingbetween his fiDgers. Comingnear the man utiered a groan

and fell down unconscious. TheKing and ihe holy man undressedhim and found a wound in his

stomach. The King washed thewound until it stopped bleeding.Then the man regained conscious-ness and asked for a drink. TheKing went into the cottage andbrought some water and gave itto the man.Now it was dark. The King

and the holy man carried thewounded man into the cottageand laid him on a bed, The manclosed his eyes and slept. TheKing too was quite tired afterthe digging, he leaned against thewall and fell asleep. When hewoke up next morning, he did

not know, for a time, where hewas. He found the man in thebed staring at him steadily.Seeing that the King was

awake, the man got off his bed,approached the King, and said," O King, forgive me !"

tlI know not who you are,"

the King said. " Why should Iforgive you?"

" You don't know me, but Iknow you. Sometime back yougot my brother hanged, and con-fiscated his property. Since thenI bore a grudge against you, andswore to kill you. I was your

enemy. I learnt that you wentto see the holy man, and hid in athicket in order to kill you whileyou came back. I waited a longtime, but you didn't come back.Then I came out of the thicketand came searching for you, andyour guards saw me and attackedme. I escaped from them wilha wound, but, had you notwashed the wound, I shouldhave died of bleeding. I wantedto kill you, but you saved mylife. If you wish that I shouldlive I shall serve jou faithfullyall my life, along with my sons."

The King was glad that hemade friend of a foe so easily.He told the man that he wouldget him treated by the royalphysician, and restore to himhis brother's property.The King came out of the

cottage and saw the holy manplanting seeds in the beds thatwere dug the previous day. TheKing greeted the holy man, andsaid, " Sir, you've not answeredmy questions."

" They were already answeredfor you," said the holy mansmiling. "If you did not stayaway digging the beds becauseof pity for me, you'd have goneaway, and got killed by thatman. So the most importanttime was when you were diggingthe beds, I was the most impor-tant man for you, and doing me

good was the most importantduty for you. Later, the mancame running, wounded. Thenthe most important time waswhen you attended to his wound,he was the most important per-son, and doing him good wasthe most important duty. Re-member, the most importanttime is now I Because, that is thetime over which you have com-mand, and you never know whathappens later. The most impor-tant man is he who is with you.You never know whether you'llhave dealings with another ornot. And the most importantduty is going to his help. Forthat alone we are given this life

!"

The King was immensely satis-fied with these answers, tookleave of the holy man andreturned home.

Mother and laughter

JHAT evening the merchantwho owned the house return-

ed home with his servant, andwas surprised to see the doorunlocked. However, he foundthat the house was not robbed.The servant went to the well

and dropped the bucket in todraw water for his master's bath.But when he pulled on the ropethe bucket seemed to be so heavythat he screamed, "Ghost!"and ran inside the house, leavingthe bucket in the well. Themerchant went to the well with a

lamp, and saw "Quicksilver,"coming out of the well with thehelp of the rope.

"Scoundrel!" shouted themerchant. "Who are you? what

are you doing in my well?Answer me, or I shall turn youover to the guards !

"

"Sir," Ali replied gently,"what country is this? Whichtown ? I belong to Egypt. Whilebathing in the Nile, I was suckedinto a whirlpool. I do not knowhow deep I sank, but when Icame to the surface again, Ifound myself in your well !

"

The merchant was taken in bythis. "It's most amazing!" heexclaimed. " My friend, you arein Baghdad. You've come a longway, let me tell you. I shall giveyou warm clothes for the night.You can eat and rest in myhouse tonight, and be on yourway home in the morning."

M. RADHAKRISHNA

1

Ahmad was greally relieved tosee "Quicksilver" Jgain. Worriedabout ihe mysterious absence ofhis disciple, he had not eatenthe previous night, nor did hehave a wink of sleep. Early inthe morning he clU-d Havan andsought his advice. "Quicksilver"returned While they were stilltalking.

He told them both about hisexperience. In the end Hasansmiled and remarked, '"There'sonly one young lady in the entirecity ol Baghdad, who is capableof playing such a trijk. It's

Zenab, the daughter of Delilahwho runs the pigeon post. Whatdo you propose to do to her ? "

he asked Ali."Marry her!" Ali replied." After what she has done to

you?" Hasan asked in surprise."

I can pardon her even if shedid more than this," Ali repliedsincerely. " I've nothing moreto desire in this world, if I canmake her my wife "

"Such a desire must be grati-fied," Hasan said. "You arealso an attractive fellow. You'llbe a well-matched couple."

"Help the boy, Hasan,"Ahmad put in.

Hasan elaborated to " Quick-silver" AH a plan of action.

Ali blackened his entire bodylike a negro, put on a negrocostume, took a certain quantityof bhang and some money, andwent to the vegetable market.There he sought Delilah's cook,and said to him, " Brother, I ama stranger to this city. The mo-ment 1 saw you, I felt you aremv own brother. Let us go to adrinking place and drink to ourfriendship."

"I can't spare a moment,"replied Delilah's cook. " Whydon't you come to our house?You can have plenty to drinkand plenty to eat."That was really what "Quick-

silver " desired most. He ac-companied the negro to Delilah'shouse and entered the kitchen.At that moment Delilah andZenab came to have their meal.The cook got ready the dishesand drinks which he took oneby one to the mother and daugh-ter, as well as the negro slaves.The moment the cook went out

of the kitchen, "Quicksilver"added bhang to the drinks anddishes.

Soon his work was accom-plished, and Delilah, Zenab, theforty negro slaves, the negro

cook, and even the forty houndswere under the powerful influenceof the bhang.

" Quicksilver " had no one tostop him from roaming all overthe house. He took the officialdress of Delilah, her golden cap,and red uniforms of the fortyslaves, and made a bundle ofthem. He put all the carrier

pigeons in a cage. Then he wroteon a placard, "This is the workof the brave ' Quicksilver ' Aliand none else," and returnedback to Ahmad's house with thebundle and the cage.

It was gettin g dark whenDelilah came to. She saw themessage left by " Quicksilver".On making a thorough search ofthe house, she realised that hemade away only with thingspertaining to the Khalifa.

Delilah pondered well overwhat had happened. If this in-cident were to come to light,her prestige and position wouldbe greatly undermined. Therewas no use of taking " Quick-silver " to task, for it was Ahmadwho was behind the whole affair.The best course for her was tohumble herself before Ahmad,and get back the stolen property.Ahmad need not bear her agrudge any longer. Delilah pulledAhmad's leg by setting her daugh-ter to fool "Quicksilver", andAhmad retaliated by fooling herthrough the same youthwere now quits. Delilah told

CHANDAMAMA36

ig ner

They[d her

,*> * .* * *>> 3

daughter, " I shall be back soon,"and went to see Ahmad.By the time she arrived at

Ahmad's house, Ahmad, Hasan,"Quicksilver" and the rest ofthem were dining. Ahmad andHasan rose on seeing her, bowedto her respectfully, and invitedher to sit with them and eat.

Delilah saw that what theywere eating was pigeon, and herhead reeled. "It's not properon Ahmad's part," she said witha voice that trembled, " to stealthe Khalifa's pet pigeons and eatthem, because he bears a grudgeagainst me. Even a thief shouldhave some principles.""We wouldn't have eaten

them if we had known that theywere carrier pigeons," said"Quicksilver", and everyoneburst out laughing.

" Your pigeons are quite safe,"said Hasan soothingly. " Theentire property of the Khalifa isintact. You need not worry onthat account. This young fellowhere wants a small favour fromyou. Say yes, and everythingwill be restored back to you.

"

"What does he want?" Delilahasked. " You know that I'm ahelpless old woman.""This is quite within your

capacity," Hasan said. " Aliwants to marry your daughter,Zenab.""Ah, my good friends,

"

Delilah said, relieved. "Youshouldn't have put me to all thistrouble if that is what he wants.I've no say in this matter. Myelder brother Zuraik is her guard-ian until Zenab comes of age.It is he that should give consent

for the marriage. You know

S&$%33 CHANDAMAMA Wggggggggg&37

what a hard-boiled type of personhe is. Let All solicit his consent."

"Quicksilver" said that hewould see Zuraik, obtain hispermission, and then marryZenab. Delilah took her thingsand departed.

Delilah's elder brother, Zuraikwas at one time a renowned thief.In his time he was never oncecaught, tried or punished. Hecould carry out a robbery any-where without moving an inch.He was now too old for thefts.So he opened a fried fish shop,and was carrying on business.

Though old he was still a toughperson to tackle.

Zuraik had hit upon a schemeto attract customers. He hungup a bag containing a thousanddinars at the entrance of hisshop, and made a public pro-clamation that those who couldtake the bag could keep it. Cus-tomers came to the shop inthousands and bought fried fishin the hope of lifting the bag.But no one ever succeeded inactually taking it. At the slightesttouch upon the purse a numberof bells and rattles made a

frightful noise, and Zuraik couldalways prevent theft even if hewas in the farthest corner of theshop. He used to do this byhitting the thief with lead weightsof which he had a large supply.Several persons got broken limbsbecause of those lead weighis.

"Quicksilver" paid Zuraik avisit, told him that he was so-and-so, that he was staying withAhmad, the Chief of Police, thathe wanted to marry Zenab, andthat he wanted Zuraik's consentfor the same. But Zuraik flatlyrefused his consent to the mar-

riage; he said AH was not goodenough for his niece, Zenab.So "Quicksilver" decided to

get the old man's consent bytaking the bag that containedthe thousand dinars. To achievethis end, he disguised himself asa pregnant lady, and went tpZuraik's shop. While bargaining,he pretended labour pains soconvincingly that Zuraik ran into call his wife. At once Quick-silver reached out for the tagand the shop was filled wiib thenoise oi bells and rattles. Zuraikrushed into the shop, took a

lead weight, and threw it at A!i,who was running away. Theweight hit Ali very hard, and hefell down in the street. Later hegot up with a great effort andlimped home.The customers who watched

this scene took Zuraik to task,saying, " What a beast you are!You attract innocent personswith your foul gold, and thenyou throw a lump of lead at apregnant woman !

"

Zuraik did not care for suchtalk. " I know what I'm doing,"he said." Quicksilver " was hardly re-

covered from the blow when heagain started for Zuraik's shop.He was prepared even to die inhis efforts to gain Zenab's hand.

This time he disguised himselfas a servant, took a bag and

went to the shop, "I want somehot fried fish," he said.

" If you want them hot,

"

Zuraik said, "wait till I makethe fire." Then he went into theback of the shop. At once Aliseized the bag, and the bells andthe rattles went off.

Zuraik ran in shouting, "Doyou think that I didn't recogniseyou, you blackguard?" He pick-ed up a lead weight and threwit at Ali. But Ali ducked, andthe weight struck a pot of curdon the head of the servant of akadi passing in the street. Thekadi who was walking behind hisservant was splashed with curdall over his face and beard."Ah, the kadi will pay you

with interest for your sinfulmoney now!" the customerstold Zuraik. (To be concluded)

MAN THE HUNTER|yjAN of the Old Stone Age was essentially a hunter and

meateater. It was hunting that gave him the urge to maketools and improve them, to make him quick and sharp in hisperceptions and movements, and to develop as a socinl animal.

The primate ancestors of man were not carnivorous, but manhad to acquire a taste for flesh because of the ice ages duringwhich fruit trees disappeared and grass lands appeared.

For tens of thousands of years the spear was man's rnoBtimportant weapon. He sharpened one end of a stick with thestone axe and smoothed it with a scraper. Neanderthal manimproved upon the pointed stick by attaching a flint head. Thismade Neanderthal man the best big-game hunter of the Old StoneAge. These Neanderthals became such experts in hunting thatthey could hunt even mammoths. Probably it took them along time to ambush the mammoth, wound it with their spears,wait till it weakened with loss of blood, follow it around till itcould move no further, then approach it and kill it. But thegain justified the trouble. The hunters were provided with largequantities of meat for food, huge skin for clothing, great tusks,and greasy bones for fuel.

To conduct such an operation large groups of men wererequired, and the group formed the primitive family. Probablyseveral groups or families joined together and carried out huntingexpeditions, laying the foundations of society.

In Fiance a primitive hunting station was discovered wherebones of about 100,000 wild horses were found scattered over anextensive area. This tunning ground existed some 25,000 years ago,

Man did not yet know the art of domesticating animals.He killed animals only for their meat and skins. But already menin large numbers were oooperating together to hunt the wildhorBes, wild bison and other animals in large herds. We haveevidence of the animals hunted by the man of the Old Stone Agein the carvings and drawings left by them.

RESOLUTELY Vikram return-ed to the tree, took dowr.

the corpse, threw it across hisshoulder and began to walk backto the burial-ground, in silence."O King," said Bethal, "youseem to think too highly ofhuman effort. Probably youhaven't heard of Ihe queer affairof Seela-vati. Let me tell it toyou. " And he began the follow-ing tale

:

Yajna-dutta was an orphanboy. While still a kid he wentto Banaras, acquired great learn-ing, and leaving Banaras came toVisalpur in search of livelihood.Dharmapala, the king, engagedhim in his court, found a wifefor him and settled him in life.In the course of time Yajna-

dutta's wife gave birth to a daugh-ter who was named Seela-vati.Now Seela-vati wis a very

attractive baby. On the occasionof the naming ceremony, theQueen saw her, and was at onceseized with great maternal love.

Day and night she kept the babyby her side, looked after all itswants, bathed it, dressed it andgloated over it.Sometime later the Queen too

gave birth to a daughter who wasnamed Kalavati. Now she had adaughter of her own, and yet sheclung to Seela-vati wiih all her

heart, treated her like an elderdaughter, and could not bear tolose sight of her. Thus Seela-vatigrew up in the palace all the time.Kalavati called her Sister. Theywere put under the same teacherfor studies.

As Seela-vati grew up, herfather, Yajna-dutta was worriedabout her, because she was beingbrought up more like a Kshairiyagirl than a Brahman girl. Shemight insist upon choosing herhusband from among a batch ofsuitors, and that would be toobad. So Yajna-dutta found a

suitable boy and decided uponmarrying Seela-vati to him.

Seela-vati was greatly hurtwhen she heard about this mar-riage. Long ago she had madea pact with Kala-vati that theyshould both marry at the sametime, that each should approvethe other's husband and so on.All this arrangement was broughtto naught on account of herfather's decision. So Seela-vatidecided to thwart this marriage.One evening while returning

home from the royal gardens,Seela-vati said to Kala-vati, " My

dear, I shall have a dip in theriver and corne. You go ahead."She went to the river, removedher clothes and placed themunder a stone. Then she put onthe clothes of a student-bachelor,unplaited her hair and tied it upin a knot, and walked away.

Kala-vati waited for her sisterfor a long time and then sentsome men to the river. Theyfound Seela-vati's clothes andreported her missing. It was as-sumed that Seela-vati was drown-ed. The palace as well as theBrahman's household was im-mersed in sorrow. Kala-vati toldYajna-dutta, " Sister was moodysince her marriage was decidedupon. I'm afraid she never ap-proved of this marriage."On hearing this the unhappy

father was certain that Seela-

vati committed suicide, and thathe himself was the cause of it. Hegot disgusted with himself, andleft the country with his wife.

Seela-vati journeyed on footfor several days and arrived at avillagecalled Brahma-sthal. Someof the villagers asked her, " Who

*

are you, young man? Whitherdo you go all by yourself? "

"Sirs," Seela-vati replied "I'm

a poor bachelor. Kritavarma ismy name. I'm an orphan. I goto Banaras to acquire learning."

"You needn't go as far iflearning is all you need," thevillagers told Seela-vati. "Wehave here a great pundit ofBanaras called Soma-bhat. Hecan teach you everything."They led Seela-vati to Soma- |

bhat's house. The great punditwas pleased with the bearing andbehaviour of the youg bachelor.He agreed to keep "him" in hishouse and impart education.Now, Soma-bhat had a daugh-

ter to be married. Her name wasSatya-vati. She was never ahandsome girl, and an attack ofsmall-pox made her not onlyhorrid to look at but also blind

in one eye. Soma-bhat neverallowed the girl to be seenby others, while he looked fora husband for her. At lasthis efforts bore fruit and agood-looking bachelor calledVidya-bhaskar agreed to marry

Soma-bhat's daughter. The dayof marriage was fixed. The boysent word to Soma-bhat that hewas coming to see the bride-to-be in person.Soma-bhat was at a loss as to

what to do. He thought up abold plan. He called Seela-valiaside and said to her, "Look, myboy. I want some help fromyou. It's fortunate that boys ofyour country do not shave thehead. You must dress yourselflike a girl." Then he told herabout his daughter and the tangleof her marriage.

CHANDAMAMA45

Seela-vati was a bold girl. Shewas already passing off as a boy,

and putting on another disguisewas nothing for her. She agreedto her teacher's request. In timethe would-be-bridegroom arrived.Seela-vati was dressed like agirl and Vidya-bhaskar wasthunder-struck at the amazingbeauty of his future wife.

Preparations for the marriagecelebrations were afoot. Friendsand relatives of Soma-bhat arriv-ed from far-off places. Mostof them had not seen his daugh-ter at all. Soma-bhat showed

them Seela-vati as his daughter.He intended to carry on thisdeception until the muhurt, andthen get the bridegroom to tiethe mangold- suihra around hisdaughter's neck while she washidden behind the screen.The relatives of the bridegroom

arrived to witness the ceremony.Satya-vati, the real bride, waskept in a basket in the darkchamber, while the false brideSeela-vati was employed for thepurpose of performing Gowriworship, just before the muhurt.The bridegroom's people saw herand were quite happy.

After Gowri worship Soma-bhat placed Seela-vati in a basketand proceeded to take her to thedark chamber. " Where are youtaking her?" the purohit shouted." Bring her here. The muhurtis at hand.

"

Soma-bhat returned and saidto the purohit, "Sir, it is our

custom to hide the bride beforemarriage. The girl's maternaluncle does the hiding.

"

"We don't observe any suchcustoms, " the -purohit said impa-

46

tiently. "In any case, there's

hardly any time. Kindly bringthe bride."

Soma-bhat turned to his bro-ther-in-law, winked to him, andsaid, "All right, bring the bride."Soma-bhat's brother-in-law wentinto the dark chamber, felt aroundfor the basket, found it andbrought it to the place ofmarriage. The bride was sittingin the basket with her head bentdown, and they noticed that itwas Seela-vati who became thewife of Vidya-bhaskar, when itwas too late, while she was beingtaken inside.When Soma-bhat discovered

the error, he was terribly upset.His ruse miscarried and hisdaughter was left unmarried.Also he was under the impressionthat Seela-vati was a boy. Thebridegroom's people might dis-cover this any moment, and therewould be a big scandal. He mustavoid the scandal at all cost.He rushed inside, told Seela-vati

to remove the disguise, and whis-pered something in his wife's ear.Soon Soma-bhat's wife came

out pretending to be possessedby their home-deity. " Why didyou forget me?" she shouted infearsome anger. " How dare youmarry the girl without herworshipping me in the first place ?See what I've done to her now I"Everyone rushed inside and

saw Satya-vati, the real bride.

Soma-bhat pretended to be dis-tressed by the change in the bride'sappearance. But the guilelessbridegroom consoled his father-in-law, saying, "It's just my illluck, sir. Don't blame jourself.I've accepted her as my wife for

CHANDAMAMA47

better or worse, and my wife sheshall be all my life."

Just then Yajna-dutta arrivedthere with his wife. He andSoma-bhat were boyhood chumsat Banaras. Soma-bhat toldYajna-dutta in confidence whatall had happened. On seeingthe substitute bride, Yajna-duttarecognised his daughter, Seela-

vati.

Having narrated the story thusfar, Bethalsaid, "O King, shouldYajna-dutta have considered hisdaughter properly married? Orshould he have kept quiet and letVidya-bhaskar accept Satya-vatias his wife? If you know theanswer and yet do not speak,your head shall split."

"Seela-vati is undoubtedly thereal wife of Vidya-bhaskar,"

Vikram replied. " Vidya-bhaskaragreed to the marriage afterseeing her. He tied the mangal-sutlvra around her neck. Finallyhe agreed to live with his uglywife because to him she was stillthe same girl in a differentform. As for Seela-vati, shewent much further than herteacher wished. She played thebride right to the end withoutprotesting. Thus she was a willingbride. So Yajna-dutta shouldtell his friend the truth aboutSeela-vati and confirm her mar-riage. If Soma-bhat came toknow that Seela-vati was reallya girl, he would never think ofdepriving her of her husband."The King's silence was broken,

and Bethal returned back to thetree with the corpse.

PHOTO tf"1 A DTIHM crw /inrTiTT/^x

7

rnuiu WVrHUJN COMPETITIONSEPTEMBER 1956 AWARD R8 . 10/-

i * v*fcf?^i rwWI

* Choose apt and significant cap-tions for the above pair ofphotos. The captions shouldgo in a pair, either words,phrases or short 'sentences.

* The captions should reach nabefore 10th of July '50.

i

The pair of captions consideredbest will be awarded Rs. 10/-Please write legibly or type thecaptions on a postcard andaddress it to: "ChandamaraaPhoto Caption Competition,"Madras-26.

RESULTS FOR JULYI. PJioto; The Lively Red

II. Photo : The Newly WedContributed by 1

D. Sarin Ruo, 135 Marredpallf, Sccunderabnd (Dcecao)

AWARD Rs. 10

Prof: P. C. SORCAR

^0 find out a selected cardis another popular item

of magic. There are manyways of doing this particulartrick, but in my opinion themethod given herewith willprove the easiest.

If you study the back ofplaying cards you will find

that they come under two

categories (a) one way deck

and (b) two way deck. Some

carry designs of flowers or

persons or ships while others

have either plain borders or

check designs. Picture A,

shows a few such cards. In

the top row we have (1) a

check design, (2) a flower

design, (3) another check

design and (4) a lady's head

design. Now these foiiT cardsare turned upside down inthe bottom row. Checkdesigns (I and 3) are notchanged while 2 and 4 registerchange. So the cards whichchanged their positions (2 and4) are one-way deck. Andthe designs that did not

change or alter (1 and 3) aretwo-way decks. For this trick

you must have one packet ofone-way deck cards. If all

cards in the market arestudied you will easily find

good one-way back decks.The common Great Moghul,Caravan and other packs,though very good, are notsuitable for this trick as they

are two-way decks. Usually

very costly cards haveone-way backs.

Have one complete pack ofone-way deck cards andarrange them all in onefashion e.g. all flowers facing

the same way as in picture B.Having the entire cards soarranged the magician asksone among the audience to

hands of the magician are allface down whereas the cardthat is being returned is faceup. So it is not at all diffi-

cult to find out the selected

card from the pack becauseit is the only card found withthe flower up.

Now it is clear that thistrick is possible only with

i a 3select any card he likes. Theselected card is shown inpicture B. While the peoplein the hall are busy seeing thiscard the magician deftlyreverses the position of thecards in his hands and asksthe person to return theselected card to the pack deck.And now all the cards in the

one-way back cards. Whatabout doing it with doublebacks or regular decks likethe Great Moghul or Caravan?Some magicians put tiny inkspots at one end of the cardsand make them one-way.Others make pencil marksand thus make it a marked

THE BACK COVER

KING FOR A DAY - 5

THE old woman thoughtthat her son was not

quite himselfand said, "Well,son. An odd thing happenedyesterday. The governor ofour quarter was impaled bythe Khalifa's guards. Also,

the Khalifa sent me a thou-sand dinars of gold."

On hearing this Abu'smadness increased instead ofcoming down.

"Why then do you denythat I'm the Khalifa, you oldhag?" he shouted. "It wasI that got the governor impal-ed. It was I that sent you thethousand din ars. I'm theKhalifa!" He fell to beatinghis mother in his rage.The old woman cried out,

"Good people, save me frommy mad son! He is killingme!" At once several peoplegathered there. Abu wasseized and the stick in hishand was removed."Let go of me at once!"

he yelled. " I'm the Khalifa,I can put you all to death."Now everyone was sure

that Abu was really mad-He was dragged to the asylum.Morning and evening he wasthrashed with whips andsticks. After ten days of such"treatment" Abu was completely cured.

" I must be really Abual-Hasan," he said to himself." There is no other reasonwhy everyone should considerme a mad man. Not evenone recognises me as theKhalifa!"

His old mother was greatlyworried about her only son.At last one day she came tosee him in the asylum. "OMother," Abu cried at thesight of her, "somethingpossessed me, and I behavedlike a fool."

His mother knew that Abuwas now cured. She appealedto the officer of the asylumto permit Abu to be takenaway.

Abu went home with hismother. He stayed at hometill the wounds on his bodywere fully healed. When hegot back to normal condition,he once again began to goout every evening and wait atthe bridge for strangers whowould be his guests.One evening he saw the

Mosul merchant coming intothe city once again. Abu'stroubles started only withthis Mosul merchant. So Abupretended not to notice him.Now, the Khalifa, who was

in the disguise of the Mosulmerchant, had learned allthat had happened to Abual-Hasan, and wanted to

compensate him for all thetrouble. So he approachedAbu and said, " O Abu al-Hasan, how are you faring?"

" Sir," Abu replied. " Iknow not who you are. Goyour way and leave mealone.""You make me sad," the

Khalifa said, "by forgettingour friendship so soon. I wasvery anxious to have yourhospitality again. But youappear to be angry with me."

" You have done enoughalready," Abu replied. " Iwish you leave me in peace I"

(To be continued)

On the eve oF Buddha's 2,500 th anniversary. President Prasadmade a broadcast to the nation emphasising the importance ofBuddha's message of peace to tho world which is menaced by atomand hydrogen-bombs. On the same day (May 22) Prime MinisterNehru laid the foundation-stone of the monument (at Delhi) tocommemorate the anniversary.

On Ma.y 24, the actual celebrations began all over the country,with President Prasad, Prime Minister Nehru, Vice-PresidentRadbakrishnan and others in the lead.

At Bodh Gaya, early in the morning, celebration started withbeating of drums and cymbals, blowing of conches, and shenaimusic. Pilgrims from India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon, Combodia,Thailand, Viet Nam, Tibet, Nepal and France started in a bigprocession from tho Mahabodhi Rest House to the 1700-year-oldBodh Gaya temple and then to the Mahabodhi Tree, where theBuddha was worshipped. The puja was conducted by Rev.Jagdish Kashyap, President of Buddha Mahasangh of Rajgriha.

Celebrations were held at Saranath, Sanchi and several otherplaceB. They will continue for six months.

liiiiiiiip^jhi

The Japanese expedition under the leadership of G2-year-oldY. Maki conquered Manaslu, the third highest unsealed peak in theHimalayas. Manaslu is 26,458 feot high. During the past fouryears the Japanese had made two futile attempts to conquer thispeak. They succeeded in this third attempt.

On May 15, an attempt to make rain artificially was success-ful at linker ti, 17 miles from Ootacamund. A mixture of calciumand eodium chloride was vapourisod through a huge funnel, and afairly heavy shower came down three hours later. The experimentwas directed by U. Anandarao.

* *

The American army has developed a new vaccine which isexpected to reduce incidence of respiratory diseases like infiuenza,pneumonia, sore throat and heavy cold. A trial of the vaccineon more than 350 recruits cut down the number of hospitalisedcases of such ailments by more than SO per cent.

* # *

On May 27, the Eighth All-India Sarvodaya Sammelan startedat Sarvodayapuram near Kanchi. Over 5,000 delegates from allover the country attended the Sammelan over which Appa SahebPatwardhan presided. The proceedings started with .intra yajnaled by Vinoba Bhave.

Everest which has been conquered three years ago by Tenzingand Hillary, has been again conquered, this time by a Swissexpedition. The same expedition also reached the top of the27,970-foot high Lhotse, for the first time.

J)icfure Story

^yHILE going along the bazar one evening, Dass and Vasscame upon a sweetmeat shop. Dass wanted to buy

some sweets. But when they searched their pockets theyfound them quite empty. Just at that moment another boywho too had no money, stole a packet of sweets and ran off."Tiger" chased him, and caught him. The shopkeeper wasso well pleased with "Tiger" that he gave him the packet.

Printed by B. NAGIREDD1 at the B.N. K.PreHu (Private) Ltd., and Published by him forChandamamo Publications, from Madras 26 Controlling Editor ; SRI ' OHAKRAPAM

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Chandamamo, July '56 Photo by ft. L. Syed

WinningCaption

CHANDAMAMft (English) JULY 1956 Ragd. No. M.

KING FOR A DAY

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