The Hindu Business Line : For whom the dog barks

It happened. There was a ruthless king, much hated by his subjects. “The people of the kingdom were badly oppressed. Their families were hungry and weak and fought over even small morsels of food… There was great suffering and hardship,” narrate Shilpa D’mello and Piya Chakravarty in Tales of Lord Buddha for the Young ( www.magnamags.com ).

One day Gautama Buddha visited the kingdom. “The arrogant king asked the Buddha to tell him a story that would entertain him. The Buddha decided to tell him the parable of the hungry dog.”

Read on the story within the story… This is what the Buddha narrated: “There was once an evil king, who tormented his subjects. To teach him a lesson, Indra, the ruler of the Gods, came down in the form of a hunter. He brought with him the demon Matali, who had taken on the form of a giant dog. Both of them entered the palace, and on seeing the king, the dog began to howl so loudly that it scared everyone, including the king.”

The frightened king asked the hunter why the dog was howling. The hunter replied that the dog was hungry. “The king immediately ordered his servants to bring food for the dog from the royal kitchen. The servants brought plate after plate of delicious, mouth-watering food and fed the dog. But no matter how much he ate, he kept on howling and soon all the food in the kitchen was over. Everyone was amazed at the dog’s appetite,” the authors continue.

“Isn’t there anything that will satisfy the dog’s hunger?” the king asked the hunter in desperation. The hunter said, “Only the flesh of his enemies.” Meekly, the king wondered who the enemies might be. The hunter replied, “He will howl as long as people in your kingdom remain hungry. And his enemies are those who oppress the poor.”

The Buddha ended the story by saying how the hunter’s words sobered the king, and made him realise his mistakes.

But by then, the king we started off with had turned pale. The Buddha said to him, “Each time you hear the bark of a dog, remember this story and you may be able to control the monster.”

Important lesson for those at the helm of contemporary public governance.

D. MURALI

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

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