Once upon a time, there lived a herd of eighty thousand elephants at the bottom of the majestic Himalayas. Their leader was a magnificent and rare white elephant who was an extremely kind-hearten soul. He greatly loved his mother who had grown blind and feeble and could not look out for herself.
Each day this white elephant would go deep into the forest
in search of food. He would look for the best of wild fruit to send to his
mother. But alas, his mother never received any. This was because his messengers would always eat them up
themselves. Each night, when he returned home he would be surprised to hear
that his mother had been starving all day. He was absolutely disgusted with his herd.
Then one day, he decided to leave them all behind and
disappeared in the middle of the night along with his dear mother. He took her to Mount
Candorana to live in a cave beside
a beautiful lake that was covered by gorgeous pink lotuses. It so happened that one day, when the white elephant was
feeding he heard loud cries.
A forester from Benaras had lost his way in the forest and
was absolutely terrified. He had come to the area to visit relatives and could
not find his way out. On seeing this big white elephant he was even more terrified
and ran as fast as he could. The elephant followed him and told him not to be afraid, as
all he wanted to do was to help him. He asked the forester why he was crying so bitterly. The
forester replied that he was crying because he had been
roaming the forest for the past seven days and could not find his way
out. The elephant told him not to worry as he knew every inch of
this forest and could take him to safety. He then lifted him on to his
back and carried him to the
edge of the forest from where the forester went on his merry way back to
Benaras.
On
reaching the city, he heard that King Brahmadutta’s
personal elephant had just died and the King was looking for a new
elephant. His heralds were roaming the city, announcing that any man
who had seen or heard of an elephant fit for a King should come forward
with
the information. The forester was very excited and immediately went up to the
King and told him about the white elephant that he had seen on Mount
Candorana. He told him that he had marked the way and would require the
help of the elephant trainers in order to catch this fantastic elephant. The King was quite pleased with the information and
immediately dispatched a number of soldiers and elephant trainers along with
the forester.
After travelling for many days, the group reached the lake
besides which the elephants resided. They slowly moved down to the edge of the lake and hid
behind the bushes. The white elephant was collecting lotus shoots for his
mother’s meal and could sense the presence of humans. When he looked up, he spotted the forester and realized that
it was he who had led the King’s men to him. He was very upset at the ingratitude but decided that if he
put up a struggle many of the men would be killed. And he was just too kind to hurt anyone so he decided to go
along with them to Benaras and then request the benevolent King to be set free.
That night when the white elephant did not return home, his
mother was very worried. She had heard all the commotion outside and had
guessed that the King’s men had taken away her son. She was scared that the King would ride him in to battle and
her son would definitely be killed. She was also worried that there would be no one to look
after her or even feed her, as she could not see. She just lay down and cried
bitterly.
Meanwhile her son was led in to the beautiful city of Benaras
where he was given a grand reception. The whole city was decorated and his own stable was gaily
painted and covered with garlands of fragrant flowers. The trainers laid out a feast for their new state elephant
who refused to touch a morsel. He did not respond to any kind of stimuli, be it the
fragrant flowers or the beautiful and comfortable stable. He just sat there looking completely despondent. The worried trainers went straight to report the situation
to their King, as they were scared that the elephant would just waste away
without any food or water.
The King was extremely concerned when he heard what they had
to say and went to the stable himself. He offered the elephant food from the royal table and asked
him why he grieved in this manner. He thought that the elephant should be proud and honored
that he was chosen as the state elephant and would get the opportunity to serve
his King. But the white elephant replied that he would not eat a thing
until he met his mother. So the King asked him where his mother was.
The elephant replied that she was back home on Mount
Candorana and must be worried and hungry as she was blind and had no one to
feed her and take care of her and he was afraid that she would die. The compassionate King was touched by the elephant’s story
and asked him to return to his blind, old mother and take care of her as he had
been doing all along. He set him free in love and kindness.
The happy elephant went running home as fast as he could And
was relieved to find that his mother was still alive. He filled his trunk with water and poured it over his sick
mother who thought that it was raining. Then she cried out as she thought that some evil spirit had
come to harm her and wished and prayed that her son was there to save her.
The
white elephant gently bent over his blind mother and
stroked her lovingly. She immediately recognized his touch and was
overjoyed. Her son lifted her up and told her that the kind and
compassionate King of Benaras had set him free and he was here to love
and look
after his mother forever.
His mother was absolutely thrilled and blessed the kind King
with peace, prosperity and joy till the end of his days. She was so thankful to
him for sending her son back home. The white elephant was able to take good care of his mother
till the day she died. And when he died himself, the King erected a statue of him
by the side of the lake and held an annual elephant festival there in memory of
such a caring and noble soul.