Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.3651

c9.3651

2) *Tuition fee (Gurudakṣiṇā).* Uttaṅka once returned from the woods with firewood, in a very tired condition. The daughter of the guru shed tears at the sight. Gautama called Uttaṅka to him and asked him about the cause of his grief and sorrow. Uttaṅka replied that the hairs on his head turned grey on account of sorrow that he was not permitted to leave the āśrama although it was hundred years since he had gone there first as disciple. Then Gautama permitted Uttaṅka to quit the āśrama. Uttaṅka asked Gautama what he should offer as tuition fee. Gautama consulted his wife on the topic and she suggested as tuition fee the two ear-rings of gems worn by the wife of King Saudāsa, who used to eat the flesh of man. Immediately Uttaṅka set out to fetch the ear-rings and on his way met Saudāsa in the forest, and told the latter about his mission. Saudāsa tried to eat Uttaṅka, who told him that he was in duty bound to obtain the ear-rings for his guru’s wife and that, after fulfilling the mission, he would return to Saudāsa to be eaten up by him. Saudāsa agreed to the proposition. He directed Uttaṅka to his wife Madayantī, who spoke to him thus—“Devas and Maharṣis covet these ear-rings. If I place them on the ground, serpents will steal them; if handed over to Ucchiṣṭa, Yakṣas will steal them, and if the watchman sleeps, Devas will snatch them off. Therefore, you should bring some token for me to believe that you are deputed by my husband.” Accordingly Uttaṅka went back to Saudāsa and returned to his wife with a token from him, and Madayantī handed over her ear-rings to Uttaṅka. Being told by Saudāsa that Uttaṅka needs not return again to him, Uttaṅka started for Gautama’s āśrama with the ear-rings. Feeling hungry on the way, Uttaṅka tied to the branch of a vilva tree the ear-rings bundled in deer skin and ate vilva fruits. Just then the bundle of deer skin got untied and the ear-rings kept in it fell on the ground. A serpent carried off the rings between its teeth and concealed itself in a mole-hill. Highly grieved and upset by the sight, Uttaṅka fell down from the tree. For 35 days Uttaṅka dug the mole-hill. Then the earth burst open and Uttaṅka appeared on the spot, and passed his Vajrāyudha through the hole. Then the earth burst open and Uttaṅka entered Pātāla through the opening, and a horse, its tail white and the rest of the body black in colour presented itself to him. It asked Uttaṅka to blow through its anus. Uttaṅka did so and the Nāgaloka was filled with flames of fire. (The horse was Agnideva). Then did the serpents return the ear-rings to Uttaṅka, who returned with it to Gautama and presented it to him (Gautama) as tuition fee.