Value for the Money

Parable

Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant by the name of Jveernadhana. He owned a big business however, a flood stuck his village and he suffered huge losses. He decided to try his luck in a new place, with this intention he sold all off his possessions barring ancestral heavy iron balance. Jveernadhana before setting out foot from his place, went to his friend Janak, kept the iron balance in his custody. Jveernadhana travelled far and wide for many years and earned a lot of money. When he returned and inquired about the balance Janak gave a flimsy excuse that the mice ate the iron. He still did not question Janak much and asked him to send his son Ramu to accompany him home as he bought a gift for the kid.

Jveernadhana locked up Ramu in a room of his house. By night Janak came to his house worried for his son's whereabouts. Jveernadhana replied that a hawk swooped down and carried away the boy while they were walking to his place. Janak was left aghast and he went to court to resolve the matter. Jveernadhana in his own inimitable way told the judge that if mice could eat iron then a hawk could as well carry away a 15 year old boy. The judge ordered Jveernadhana to return Ramu to Janak and Janak to return him the iron balance. The strategy of deception soured their friendship permanently.[pic 1]

EPIC/Mythology

During the Mahabharata war Krishna could sense that Drona, the Kuru commander was invincible to all other warriors. The legend goes that as long as Drona has raised his weapons he could neutralise any opponent. Hence, Krishna hatched a plan to kill Drona by playing on his weakness i.e. his love for his son, Aswathama. Krishna makes Yudhishthira his accomplice in achieving this feat as they were aware that a grief stricken Drona would drop his weapons temporarily on hearing the death of his son.

Yudhishthira was adamant on sticking to his Dharma and not breaking story about Aswathama's false death. Meanwhile, his brother Bhima kills a known elephant going by the name of Aswathama . He goes around celebrating wildly anouncing Aswathama's death.