[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975) › c8.1781 # Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1781 Purāṇic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Purāṇic Literature c8.1781 - **Language:** English ### [c8.1781](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1781) Once a chetty (Merchant) had two sons named Dharmabuddhi and Duṣṭabuddhi. Once they were both travelling through a forest when Dharmabuddhi got a treasure from a hole at the base of a big tree. Duṣṭabuddhi advised his brother not to take the treasure to the city as it was dangerous to do so and made him bury it at a place beneath the same tree. That night itself Duṣṭabuddhi went and dug out the treasure and got it buried in his own room. After some days both of them went together to see the treasure and found the place empty of the treasure. They accused each other of stealing the treasure. Both of them complained to the King. The King asked them whether they had any witnesses and they replied that only the tree was there as a witness. The King decided that both of them should go beneath the same tree and dip their hands in burning oil to prove their innocence. Duṣṭabuddhi went to his father and requested him that he should hide in the hollow of that tree and say that it was Dharmabuddhi who had stolen the treasure. Hearing this the father said "Child, when you think of a trick you must also think of the danger involved in it. Once there lived a stork with his wife on a tree. A serpent living in the same tree began to eat the young ones of the stork and the stork complained to his friend fox about it. The clever fox suggested to him a plan. There was a mongoose living near the tree. The stork was to drop fishes in front of the hole of the mongoose and continue dropping fishes in a line leading to the abode of the serpent. The mongoose would thus be led to the hole of the serpent. The stork did so and when the mongoose reached the hole of the serpent it saw it and killed it. I cannot do such cruel things." But when Duṣṭabuddhi insisted, the father half-heartedly agreed to it and went and sat in the hollow of the tree. Next day the servants of the King came to the foot of the tree with burning oil. They asked the tree to tell the truth regarding the theft. Then there came a voice from the tree denouncing Dharmabuddhi as the culprit. Dharmabuddhi then said there was no truth in the bodiless voice and requested them to fumigate the tree from beneath. The royal servants did so and then the father came out and confessed everything. The servants of the King nailed Duṣṭabuddhi on a spike and killed him. - [Previous: c8.1780](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1780) - [Next: c8.1782](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1782) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8) ## Cites (1) - [Pañcatantra (Durgasiṃha)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.kannada.kavya.pancatantra) — Durgasiṃha (Kannada), Kannada --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1781](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1781) · Pramāṇa