Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.2614

c9.2614

SUKUMĀRA IV. A Sanskrit poet. There is a story about the devotion of Sukumāra to his teacher. Though Sukumāra was a dutiful student his teacher used to scold him always. Consequently Sukumāra harboured malice in his heart against his teacher. One night Sukumāra got on the upper attic of the house of the teacher with a big stone. His aim was to drop the stone on the head of the teacher. But that night the conversation of the teacher and his wife was about Sukumāra. The wife asked the teacher why he was scolding his disciple so often, when he was so dutiful and righteous. The teacher said that he loved him most and that the chastisement was meant to make him better and better. When Sukumāra heard this his heart was broken. With tears in his eyes, he got down with the stone and disappeared in darkness.