Pancatantra 1.1

1.1

vardhamāno mahān snehaḥ siṃha-go-vṛṣayor vane |
piśunenātilubdhena jambukena vināśitaḥ ||

The forest lion and the bull
Were linked in friendship, growing, full:
A jackal then estranged the friends
For greedy and malicious ends.

1.1.p1

tad yathānuśrūyate | asti dakṣiṇātye janapade mahilāropyaṃ nāma nagaram | tatra dharmopārjita-bhūri-vibhavo vardhamānako nāma vaṇik-putro babhūva | tasya kadācid rātrau śayyārūḍhasya cintā samutpannā | tat prabhūte'pi vitte'rthopāyāś cintanīyāḥ kartavyāś ceti | yata uktaṃ ca-

And this is how it happened.

In the southern country was a city called Maidens' Delight. It rivaled the city of heaven's King, so abounding in every urban excellence as to form the central jewel of Earth's diadem. Its contour was like that of Kailasa Peak. Its gates and palaces were stocked with machines, missile weapons, and chariots in great variety. Its central portal, massive as Indrakila Mountain, was fitted with bolt and bar, panel and arch, all formidable, impressive, solid. Its numerous temples lifted their firm bulk near spacious squares and crossings. It wore a moat-girdled zone of walls that recalled the high-uplifted Himalayas.

In this city lived a merchant named Increase. He possessed a heap of numerous virtues, and a heap of money, a result of the accumulation of merit in earlier lives.

As he once pondered in the dead of night, his conclusions took this form: "Even an abundant store of wealth, if pecked at, sinks together like a pile of soot. A very little, if added to, grows like an ant-hill. Hence, even though money be abundant, it should be increased. Riches unearned should be earned. What is earned, should be guarded. What is guarded, should be enlarged and heedfully invested. Money, even if hoarded in commonplace fashion, is likely to go in a flash, the hindrances being many. Money unemployed when opportunities arise, is the same as money unpossessed. Therefore, money once acquired should be guarded, increased, employed. As the proverb says: