THE BULLOCK AND

THE LION
Once, a village merchant named
Vardhmanaka was going to Mathura
on his bullock cart. His two bullocks,
Sanjeevaka and Nandaka, who had
always served him faithfully, were
pulling the cart.
As they were walking along the bank
of river the Yamuna, Sanjeevaka all
of a sudden stepped into a marshy
area and got stuck. He tried to get
out of the marsh with all his strength.
The merchant also tried to get
Sanjeevaka out of the marsh, but
nothing worked. Ultimately,
Vardhmanaka was left with no choice
but to leave Sanjeevaka there and go
on with his journey.

So, Sanjeevaka was left there, stuck

in the marsh. He thought sadly, I
served my master faithfully
throughout my life and this is how he
has treated me.
Now, there were only two options for
Sanjeevakaeither to try with all his
might to escape from the marsh or to
give up and die there. He thought, It
is said that God helps those who help
themselves. I will not give up. I will try
my best to get out of this marsh. So,
Sanjeevake used every bit of his
strength and energy to struggle
against the marsh that was pulling
him down, and finally he managed to
get out of it.

Now, Sanjeevaka had nowhere to go.

He did not want to return to his
masters house after his master had
deserted him so heartlessly. So, he
started walking along the banks of
the river. He wandered about, eating
fresh grass in the nearby forest and
drinking water from the river. Soon,
living in the natural environment, he
regained his strength and became
healthier than ever. He started
bellowing like a lion. His bellows
sounded like thunder and could be
heard from miles away.
One day, the king lion of the forest,
Pingalaka, went to the river to drink
water. There, he heard the thunderlike bellowing which scared him so
much that he ran back to his cave at

once. His ministers were two jackals,

Damnaka and Kartaka. When
Damnaka saw that the king seemed
to be afraid of something, he went
and asked the king about it. What is
the matter, my lord? Has something
scared you? he asked. Tell me, and
I will bring it in front of you at once.
Though the lion, being the king, did
not want to admit his fears, he
ultimately told Damnaka about the
frightening thunder-like sound.
Damnaka at once left to investigate
the source of the sound. Soon,
Damnaka brought Sanjeevaka to the
court and said, This is the animal
who has been making those frightful
sounds, My Lord. He says that Lord

Shiva has sent him to roam around in

our forest.
King Pingalaka was pleased to meet
Sanjeevaka. Soon, they became
friends and spent most of their time
chatting with each other.
Gradually, the lion started becoming
more and more spiritual. He started
neglecting his kingdom and even
stopped hunting for his prey. This
made Damnaka, Kartaka and his
other subjects very worried.
Then, Damnaka came up with a plan.
He went up to the king and said, My
lord, Sanjeevaka has evil plans about
your kingdom. He plans to kill you,
take over your kingdom and become
the king himself.

And the next day, he went to

Sanjeevaka and said, King lion is no
true friend of yours. He has planned
to kill you and distribute your flesh to
the whole kingdom. You should kill
him with your sharp horns before he
kills you.
Sanjeevaka was very furious on
hearing this. He went to the kings
court and started bellowing in a
thundering tone. The lion, who had
already been misinformed by
Damaka as to Sanjeevakas
intentions, was himself very furious.
Like a flash, the lion pounced on
Sanjeevaka with a loud roar.
Both, Pingalaka and Sanjeevaka,
were strong. They had a gruesome

fight at the end of which, Pingalaka

killed Sanjeevaka with his sharp
claws and ate his flesh.
Though he had killed Sanjeevaka,
Pingalaka felt sad about it.
Sanjeevaka had been is friend. But
since Damnaka had convinced him
that Sanjeevaka was a traitor, he had
no choice but to kill him. Damnaka
was later made the chief minister of
the kingdom.
The moral of the story is that one
should never befriend a natural
enemy.