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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.
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| Paramartha Guru
Stories – The Job for the Witless 1. The zamindar in that village needed someone to wash clothes. 2. The disciples of Paramartha Guru asked him, "What about doing that job?" "To do the job of washing clothes, one must have a donkey to carry the bundles. We don't have one, what should we do?" said Paramartha. "What if we don't have a donkey? We can replace it!" said the disciples. Still, it would be good to have a real donkey! "Go and buy a good donkey," ordered Paramartha Guru. That evening, a donkey arrived at their hermitage. 3. Upon seeing the donkey, Paramartha Guru grabbed its tail and twisted it to check. Angered, the donkey kicked him. Yelling "Oh no!" as he fell at a distance, Paramartha Guru exclaimed, "Fools! Didn't you tell the donkey about my greatness?" "Guru! We explained everything about you clearly! Maybe that's why it kicked?" said Madaiyan. "Indeed, Guru! It could be so," agreed Matti with a nod. 4. "No worries, the hand that hits will also caress. Similarly, the donkey that kicks is the one that truly works. Let's keep this donkey!" said Paramartha Guru. A local thief, knowing the guru and his disciples had a donkey, planned to steal it. One day, the thief was untying the rope around the donkey's neck when he heard the approaching sound of the disciples. In a hurry, he let the donkey go and stood in its place. The disciples were surprised and shocked to see him standing where the donkey had been. 5. "What's this? Instead of the donkey, there's a man here?" said Mūdan. "Could it be a magical donkey that knows spells?" wondered Mandu. Just then, Paramartha Guru arrived and asked, "We bought you as a donkey. How did you turn into a man?" "I was originally a man. I was cursed by a sage to become a donkey. Now that the curse is lifted, I've turned back into a man," lied the thief. Not understanding the thief's lie, Paramartha Guru remarked, "We escaped trouble by turning a man into a donkey. Had the sage turned a lion or tiger into a donkey, it would have eaten us all. Lucky escape!" 6. "The trouble is over," the disciples rejoiced. Without a donkey, the disciples joined work at the farmer's house, carrying clothes bundled up to a moldy lake as ordered by the zamindar to wash them until they became sparkling white. In the process, one Matti rubbed the clothes on stones, tearing them, and Madaiyan turned a white cloth green by soaking it in algae. Muttal and Mūdan tore a single cloth into many pieces by rubbing, squeezing, and wringing. They exclaimed, "Ah! Finally, we have washed it thoroughly!" and happily set off for the farmer's house. "You gave us one cloth, and I've returned it as ten!" boasted one Muttal proudly. 7. "I turned the white into green," exclaimed Madaiyan. Seeing the clothes brought by Paramartha Guru's disciples, the zamindar became angry. "You fools! You've torn all the full clothes into loincloths; I told you to do the job trusting idiots!" he lamented, driving them away. "Hmm… It seems no one understands our talent," the disciples said, saddened as they returned to their hermitage. |