CHATURBHUJ-2 -1. Murder Of An Artist

Sage Suryananda took his seat beneath a banyan tree and looked at his students who were eagerly awaiting his recital of a new story that evening. All of his stories taught the children to follow good principles and be virtuous in life. Suryananda smiled at his students benignly and addressed everyone in a crisp voice, “Dear students, today I am going to narrate a sequel to the story Chaturbhuj. As has been the recent practice, you shall have to tell me the moral of this story after hearing it. Alright?” The students agreed and eagerly listened as their guru began the narration of his new story.

King Sukhdeva of Amrapalli was now a relieved man! Not only was the divine ring – which was gifted by the Lord himself to one of his ancestors – in safe custody but even the culprit who had stolen it was now behind bars, thanks to the wit and intelligence of his favourite minister, Chaturbhuj. The King now diverted his attention towards the welfare of his subjects where he was amply supported by Chaturbhuj. The means for the well-being of the people were already in place. It was only that there had to be proper monitoring mechanisms that would ensure whether those means were actually benefiting everyone. Through his coterie of ministers and trusted aides, Sukhdeva made sure that the poor including peasants were not being exploited, the various dharmashalas, ashrams and mental asylums in the kingdom were properly maintained and serving their purpose, gave more teeth to panchayat by providing them sufficient funds to enact welfare measures for their villages, delegated them powers to pronounce punishment for minor offences, taxed the rich more and utilized the money so gained for the benefit of the poor. Besides, on specific occasions the King himself visited several spots of the kingdom incognito and took a stock of the ground reality. All these measures made him a popular ruler and there soon reigned peace and prosperity in Amrapalli. The name and fame of Chaturbhuj, too, spread far and wide in the kingdom.   His clever traits were the talk of the town!

One of the notable decisions taken by the King during this period was for the empowerment of women. His ancestors were guilty of according them step-motherly treatment. They only wanted women to stay indoors and do household chores.

Sukhdeva encouraged them to get education for he firmly believed that this was indispensable to make them aware about their rights and set their goals in life.

There was also a dubious practice which was followed in his kingdom. His ancestors had compelled women to cover their faces with a scarf or ghunghat when moving out to stem the lascivious desires of their male counterparts! King Sukhdeva removed these restrictions. Women were now free to reveal their faces to the outside world. He, however, declared that those who were still comfortable under the veil could continue to do. While women hailed this decision of their King, there were apparently some male counterparts who did not like it. They, however, did not muster the courage to raise their voice against it.

As everything was moving smoothly in Amrapaali, one evening Chaturbhuj met the King with a personal request. He wanted to go on a couple of weeks’ vacation to his native place that was to the north. The King could understand that this minister wanted a break from his hectic schedule and agreed. However, it was difficult for Sukhdeva to manage without his favourite minister. After all, he had got used to taking the views of Chaturbhuj in several administrative matters.   Still, the King knew that it was not possible for Chaturbhuj to always be by his side. The King, thus, prayed for the minister’s safe trip and then diligently continued with his efforts to provide an able administration for his people.

During the period in the absence of Chaturbhuj, a discerning event which occurred was the murder of one of the best drawing artists of the kingdom, Perimal. This tragic event had occurred on the same night when Chaturbhuj had left to his ancestors’ place.   From the facts which emerged, on that fateful night, two men had found someone, who had veiled his face, jumping out of the window of Perimal’s house. Certain that he was a thief, the two raised an alarm. The man started running and the two chased him and eventually overpowered him. They forcibly unmasked him and on questioning, they learnt that the man was indeed a thief by name Sakaram. On finding a window open, he had managed to enter in, stolen some valuables and was escaping when he was caught. The two men took him back to the house to return Perimal’s belongings and to also see whether everything was fine with the artist.