Beautiful Sculpture of “Mongoose and Snake” in Temples
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Here is a piece of sculpture which distinctly portrays the ” Mongoose and Snake ” story, found carved on columns of Maha Mandapa, Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakkal.
Virupaksha temple ( 8th CE) ,Pattadakal, Karnataka.
The above panel shows the “monkey and crocodile” and the “mongoose and snake” fables from the Panchatantra
The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian treasure-house of animal fables, originally written perhaps about 20 centuries ago, and most commonly attributed to Vishnu Sharma. Vishnu Sharma was a Sanskrit scholar, living in Varanasi in the 2nd/3rd century B.C. He had written’ Panchatantra’ to teach political science to his royal disciples. Panchatantra stories (such as the story of the “monkey and crocodile”, “mongoose and snake” etc. ) are very widely known world-wide. Here I am telling the “mongoose and snake” story for those who have not heard of it…..
A brahmin called Deba Sharma had one self conceived child and embraced a Mongoose. His better half took care of both child and Mongoose, however she was dubious of Mongoose on the off chance that it would hurt her baby.
One day she went to get a water pot filled in the nearby stream, requesting spouse to take care of the baby in her absence. However, thoughtless Deba Sharma went for “Bhiksha”( begging alms for a living).
An enormous snake showed up close to the child and the mongoose didn’t mind his own life and saved the child . After the consummation of the battle, the mongoose killed the snake and joyfully went to Deba Sharma’s wife to tell her that she saved the child.
Taking a gander at blood in Mongoose’s mouth, she misjudged that Mongoose killed her child and out of sudden burst of anger and outrage, tossed water pot on Mongoose.She understood the reality later and comprehended that everything occurred because of covetousness of Deba Sharma.She reviled him and felt frustrated about not trusting in Mongoose.
It depicts the rash killing of a devoted creature, and subsequently cautions against rushed activity.The moral of the story says that we shouldn’t take any action hastily based on sudden burst of anger and disbelief. It also condemns the greediness of the brahmin Deba Sharma, who went for begging alms , leaving alone the helpless child at home.
Sculpture of mongoose (bottom right) in Hoysaleswara temple.
If you like, you may read several other articles revolving around different aspects of our rich culture ( both tangible and intangible) , heritage and tourism resources through the following link.
lunarsecstacy.com
Dr. Manoj Mishra
lunarsecstasy@gmail.com
