Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.2246

c7.2246

Once the King and the queen were walking in the garden when they saw two ants which were quarrelling with each other. They were husband and wife. After a time the quarrel ended and they grew more loving than before and the she-ant pressed closely against her husband. Brahmadatta hearing their conversation stood smiling. He could understand the language of every living being because of the merits of his previous births. When the King smiled his wife asked him for the reason. He described to his wife the quarrel of the ant-couple. The queen did not believe his words. She thought that the King had been making fun of her. She asked him how he learned the language of birds and beasts. But the King could not give an answer and he became thoughtful. The remaining four of the ruddy geese took rebirth as the sons of a poor Brahmin in the same city of Kāmpilya. They had the remembrance of previous births. Their names were Dhṛtimān, Sarva-darśī, Vidyācandra and Tapodhika, names befitting their character. They decided to perform severe penance to attain Supreme bliss, and were about to get away from the house when their father, the poor Brahmin cried bitterly, being helpless. They taught their father the following poem and advised him to recite the poem before the King the next morning, in order to get plenty of wealth.