Jataka Tales – Penny Pincher – {Ep.267}

Today’s episode is from the Jataka Tales. It’s about a miser who learns generosity after a craving for lassi leads to surprising changes – bankruptcy, alienation, and a heavenly twin!

Namaskar and welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

In this episode, we’re covering a story from the Jataka Tales. 

The Jataka Tales are stories told by the Buddha. Some of these stories are about 2500 years old. Back then, most lessons were only available in a language that wasn’t really understandable by the common person. Only the rich and the famous got an education because of this. The Jataka tales worked to spread the Buddha’s teachings. We’ve covered a few before. Check out the links in the show notes and on the site sfipodcast.com if you’d like to listen to those episodes.

Anyway, let’s jump in.

Illisa was a big banker in a medieval Indian town, and he was proud of it! And like all financially minded people, Illisa was inclined to save up for a rainy day. But unlike other run-of-the-mill bankers, Illisa saved up money as if he was prepping for a Pralaya, a doomsday event, like a flood of biblical proportions. Although if there were an actual Pralaya, money would likely become worthless.

Illisa was the medieval Indian version of Scrooge McDuck. Almost. He had a giant money bin where he could swim in his coins, just like Scrooge. He was incredibly miserly, just like Scrooge. And he was socially and emotionally isolated from the rest of society, again just like Scrooge.

However, there are two big differences from the lovable Disney character. One, he had inherited most of his money, like a modern day billionaire who lucked out in the family lottery. Whereas Scrooge McDuck had earned every single penny he owned. 

The other big difference was that Illisa did not have a trio of nephews running about the place solving mysteries and protecting Scrooge’s money bin from villains like the beagle boys. He might have had some help in that category if he had been even a teensy bit pleasant in his interactions. After all, Illisa had a family. And by default his wife and children started off loyal to him.

And yet, he wore down their loyalty with his gruff attitude. He lectured his youngest daughter for two hours about how money didn’t grow on trees, though she secretly suspected he had a money tree somewhere. And all because she asked for 1 paisa to buy some chalk that she desperately needed for her classwork. Ultimately, the poor kindergartner, eyes full of tears, resolved to raid the waste paper basket at school for little broken off pieces she could use.

Illisa’s wife, Bholi, didn’t have it any easier. She was given no budget at all for fixing things around the house. Over the years, she had McGyvered her way through repairs. For example she could use a paperclip, a cotton swab and a little bit of yesterday’s newspaper to keep the Chulha operational for a little longer.

So thinking cheerful thoughts about how much he had stretched the home budget, Illisa was walking to his workplace. He could have afforded a Mustang. I mean a horse, not a car made by the ford motor corporation. But spending money on mere convenience was an unforgivable sin.

His choice to walk was fortunate, because this meant his walking route took him through the park. And in that park, he saw – on a bench – a little boy drinking lassi. This sort of indulgence was alien to Illisa. The Lassi looked deliciously cool in this beastly hot weather. Illisa had never had Lassi before – with his own money at least. 

And now suddenly he longed for a tall cool glass. The only thing holding him back from walking up to the nearest vendor and buying himself a glass of lassi was his realization that he kept thinking that he was living what he considered a hand to mouth existence.

Nevertheless, the lure of the Lassi was strong enough that Illisa went home to his wife instead of going to the workplace. His wife, Bholi, was surprised by his arrival just as she was about to help herself to her secret stash of cookies. She thanked her lucky stars that Illisa hadn’t seen the stash. He would never forgive her spending money on frivolities like snacks.

“I want a Lassi,” he said to her.

Bholi’s jaw dropped. Illisa must have misspoken. “You mean you’re trying to buy stocks in a lassi company?” she offered as a possible means for Illisa to slide out of it.

But Illisa was having none of it. “I want to drink lassi. Can you make it?”

“Well, yes,” she replied. But then she rattled off a list of ingredients none of which they had in their pantry. Because their daily meals consisted of dry rice and water. Illisa had to make a very difficult decision. He had to buy lassi. That would cost less than the ingredients individually.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Bholi quipped, and instantly regretted it. Knowing her husband, he would reveal his thoughts, and force her to pay him a penny.

But on this occasion, Illisa seemed not to notice which only demonstrated how deeply he was affected by his new desire.

“Say, Bholi, could you be a sweetheart and buy some Lassi?”

“We’re going to have Lassi?” she asked surprised, and delighted.

“Well, we don’t all have to have it. The kids are young. They’ll soon forget, no need to waste money on them,” Illisa reasoned

“So just you and me then?”

“You’re only pretending to want lassi to keep me company, right?” Without waiting for her answer he added “Well, you don’t have to. I can drink it by myself. What I want you to do is to hide the lassi in the third bush on the left in the park. That way there’s no chance the neighbors will see you carrying in a lassi.”

Bholi rolled her eyes and said the neighbors could see her in the park. Or for that matter, the Lassi vendor was the town’s biggest gossip. Didn’t Illisa think that he would spread the news far and wide?

But Illisa didn’t care. He had to have his Lassi. He grumbled about how he had to break the bank for this and handed her a paisa for his glass of lassi. Bholi merely sighed and complied.

To throw off any possible paparazzi, Illisa took the long way around to the secret rendezvous with his glass of Lassi. If any suspicious neighbors started following him, he’d soon bore them with his long and circuitous route.

While Illisa was making his way there, let’s cut the scene over to someone who was closely watching Illisa. Not a paparazzo, and not a nosy neighbor. This was Illisa’s father, Sakka. And in case you’re wondering why Illisa had inherited his fortune if Sakka was still around – the answer was simple. Illisa’s father was not actually around. He had passed away indeed. But he was reborn as a celestial being. With some magic powers and what not.

And right now, he was fuming! The reason for his ire was his son’s actions. I guess you could call him an ex-son, since that was a past life, but Sakka felt deeply responsible for Illissa’s  ill-behavior. Sakka had built his fortune and earned money, but he had also donated a substantial amount to charities. He had set up homeless shelters and soup kitchens to help those in need. But Illisa had torn those down in a cost cutting measure.

So Sakka set out to teach his boy a lesson. And he did that by turning himself into an exact likeness of Illisa. Quickly he marched to the King’s palace and asked for an audience. 

Illisa may have been a miser and disliked by all, but he was rich enough that if he requested an audience with the King, that audience was swiftly granted.

So Sakka, disguised as Illisa, walked in and announced that he wanted to give all his money away. He had a whole bunch of money that was burning a hole in his pocket. Well not literally. His money wouldn’t fit in his pocket. That’s why he had a money bin. Anyone who wanted could just walk up to Illisa’s home and money bin and help themselves to whatever they wanted. The entire court was stunned into silence. 

“Illisa, are you feeling okay this morning?” the King asked cautiously.

Sakka replied that he felt like a million dollars! And because he felt great, he had money to burn. Except he didn’t want to burn it. He wanted to spread the wealth around.

So he claimed. The King didn’t believe him. This was so out of character for Illisa that the King got Illisa to make his announcement again. In writing, and notarized. In triplicate. Sakka, thanks to his magic powers could replicate Illisa’s thumbprint which served as his signature as well.

The King shrugged and came to terms with this. Miracles could happen after all.

So he had it announced all over town that Illisa’s money and all his properties were up for grabs.

This kind of news travels really fast. No one in court waited. They made all kinds of excuses – some called in sick, others suddenly remembered appointments, a few others claimed they had been summoned for a family emergency. But all of those courtiers mobbed Illisa’s money bin and home. 

Bholi was puzzled and didn’t believe what was happening. But she had to admit that everything was in order when she saw her husband’s thumbprint on the notarized copy of the agreement. She figured Illisa had had his lassi and had become a changed man. She was certainly not going to stop or even delay this mob. So she handed over the keys to the money bin to the mob leader, and she fully threw open the doors to her home.

Let’s go back to Illisa. The real Illisa, who was hiding in the bush enjoying his lassi. He had been drinking slowly. Because he wanted to get money’s worth. He paused mid-sip when he heard a passerby praising Illisa – a rare and curious event. He had never heard a word of praise before. What had he done that made him earn high praise. And from a stranger no less.

He got out of his hiding spot in the bush, and saw his bullock cart. The one he used exclusively for his business. He had it mainly for the tax deductions, to squeeze every paisa out of the system.

Illisa was angry. This stranger must have stolen his cart. He tried to take it back, which led to an altercation, which got the police involved, which got Illisa and the stranger before the King.

Illisa firmly accused the stranger of stealing his stuff. The King was suddenly very glad that he had had the foresight to put Illisa’s request in writing and had the banker sign it.

The evidence was produced and Illisa was surprised to see that it was indeed his own thumbprint on the paperwork. These were precisely the kind of mysteries Huey, Louie and Dewey solved for their Uncle Scrooge. Unfortunately for Illisa, he had no such nephews. He would have to get out of this mess himself.

Things only got more confusing for all, when Sakka came in. The King rubbed his eyes. He seemed to be seeing double here. But when everyone in court rubbed their eyes, it became clear that there was nothing wrong with the King’s vision.

Both Illisa’s claimed to be the Illisa. Even Bholi was brought in to break the tie. She couldn’t tell them apart visually. Which really spoke to Sakka’s remarkable abilities to impersonate his son. Bholi was allowed to ask them some questions. Maybe that would allow her to differentiate between the two.

“Let’s say you’re walking and you find a five paisa coin on the ground. What would you do?”

Illisa was the first to speak. “Save it! With 10% compound interest, it’ll grow to 13.54 paise in 10 years.”

Sakka had a dramatically different reply. “I’ll give it to you to buy some sweets for our kids,” he said with a warm smile.

That answer made it absolutely clear to Bholi. She knew exactly which one was Illisa.

So she pointed her finger firmly at Sakka and said “this one is my husband.”

That was too much for the real Illisa. He fainted.

When he came to, all was well. He didn’t see the other Illisa. Instead he saw his father. Sakka had assumed his original shape again. And he was schooling his son just like he had several years ago when Illisa was just a boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Illisa had tightened his belt, but maybe a little too much. He shouldn’t hoard money like this.

Money was the root of all evil, hadn’t Illisa gotten that memo? 

Illisa had lost all of his money and his possessions, he had had a rude shock of seeing his dead father alive again, and he had felt immense betrayal from the realization that his wife had deliberately picked an impostor over him. And somehow the combination of all of that finally taught him the lesson that Sakka had set out to teach. Material wealth wasn’t bad or terrible by itself, but pursuing it above all else was not going to bring you spiritual satisfaction.

That lesson learnt, Illisa and his wife went home to lead a much more contented life.

That lesson learnt, Illisa and his wife went home to lead a much more contentful life.

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

Previous Jataka Tales:

https://sfipodcast.com/category/folk-tales/jataka-tales

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll continue the Mahabharata along the main storyline. We’ll see what Duryodhan cooks up for the Pandavas after his hopes of assassinating them went up in flames.

Feedback

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