Paramārthar
Guru Stories
Constantine Joseph Beschi (8
November 1680 – 4 February 1747), also known under his Tamil name
of Vīramāmunivar
(வீரமாமுனிவர்),
was an Italian Jesuit priest,
missionary in South
India,
and Tamil language littérateur (a
literary person, esp. a writer of literary works)..-Wiky
He mastered the Tamil language and published many books with Christian
teachings in Tamil under the name Vīramāmunivar.
His narrative poem "Dembavani" is famous. In the 18th century, he
translated books such as Tirukkural, Devaram, Thiruppugazh and Athichudi
into Latin and other languages. Parmathaguru Kathas, which he wrote in
Tamil culture, adapted from the comic stories popular in Europe at that
time, were famous for their humorous nature and were translated into
many Indian languages.
Vīramāmunivar
wrote the Paramārtha
Guru stories in Tamil, steeped in humor. The naïve Guru and his five
disciples, Matti, Madaiyan, Pēthai, Mūdan, Milēcchan engage in acts,
which
Paramārtha
guru narrates in a story-form with humor. Their names are
everyday pejorative monikers in Tamil Nadu to describe people with
varying degrees of stupidity.
1. Suddenly, Paramartha's belly started growing bigger and bigger. He couldn't sit because of it, nor could he stand comfortably after sitting. Seeing this, his disciples started to worry a lot.
2. "Guru! Your belly is growing a little every day! It's scaring all of us," said Matti.
3. "Your stomach is so big! Could it be that you're about to give birth to a child?" wondered Mūdan, astonished.
4. "Guru! You must not ignore this. Otherwise, one day your belly might just explode with a 'Damār' sound!" exclaimed Madaiyan, expressing his fear with the onomatopoeic sound 'Damār' indicating an explosion.
5. "Oh no!" Paramartha cried out, "What should we do?"
6. "Maybe we should consult a Siddha physician," suggested Mandu.
7. "Going to a physician will be expensive. So, we decided to go to the forest and collect herbs ourselves. From those, we can prepare some medicinal paste that will melt away the belly!" another idea came from Muttal.
8. Mūdan eagerly climbed a loft and rummaged through old palm leaf manuscripts that had scattered around.
9. "Guru! It's written here about a belly-melting medicine! We'll bring the herbs mentioned in this," he exclaimed before jumping down.
10. Thinking that melting his belly was all that mattered, Paramartha instructed, "Disciples! Hurry up. If we prepare a lot of this medicine, we can sell it to others too."
11. The disciples, unsure which herb was the "belly-melting herb," found themselves at a loss in the forest. Nearby, a sage was meditating with a large belly.
12. Seeing the sage, Matti wondered aloud about his sunken belly and approached him to ask.
13. "Sage! Do you know which of these herbs is the belly-melting herb?" he asked loudly, disturbing the sage's meditation.
14. Annoyed, the sage said, "The herb that smells, that's the one you're looking for!" sending them on a misleading task.
15. Trusting the sage's words, the disciples began picking every leaf in sight. They collected a bunch of leaves, some of which were known to cause various diseases.
16. After smelling the leaves brought back by the disciples, Paramartha crinkled his face. "It smells strong! Surely, my belly will melt away!" he said joyfully. "Hurry up! Mix and grind everything," he ordered.
17. Muttal and Mūdan began tearing the leaves into pieces. Matti and Madaiyan, holding their noses with one hand, started grinding the leaves with the other.
18. They then poured everything into a pot and boiled it.
19. The disciples formed the medicinal paste into balls and presented them to their beloved guru, saying, "Our dear guru! Here, the belly-melting medicine is ready! Please eat it right away."
20. The sight of the shiny and fleshy medicine made Paramartha's face contort in many ways.
21. Taking a ball from Muttal, he brought it close to his nose, and the smell upset his stomach.
22. "Guru! Don't hesitate. If you want to live, your belly needs to melt. There's no other way but to eat this," urged Matti.
23. Reluctantly, Paramartha swallowed two balls.
24. "Guru! Eat these too for your belly to melt faster!" insisted Muttal and Mūdan, forcing a few more balls into his mouth.
25. Word got out that Paramartha was eating a special medicine to melt his belly, and some villagers also wanted to try it.
26. The king of the country, who also had a large belly, decided to consume Paramartha's medicine.
27. As time went on, everyone who ate the medicine started to feel stomach discomfort. "Oh no! My belly hurts!" cried Paramartha and the others, beginning to wail.
28. Because they thought they were eating a belly-melting medicine, everyone ended up with diarrhea and ran to the riverbank.
29. The situation worsened for the king as well, who became angry at Paramartha.
30. "For causing all this, imprison that guru for ten days and starve him!" the king ordered.
31. The disciples were astonished to see their guru stumbling out of prison with his belly now reduced.
32. "Guru! The medicine we made melted your belly!" the disciples claimed proudly.
33. "Medicine or mud! I starved in prison for ten days without food or water. That's why I ended up like this!" collapsed Paramartha, exhausted from hunger.