Golden Sparrow

“The secret cellars of Lord Anantha Padmanabha Temple are loaded with wealth, and so far, ornaments worth over Rs 1 lac crore have been found.With such wealth and more to come, it seems the temple may well be the richest in the entire country”.

I had been going through this news and wondering what kind of wealth existed in our days of yore. The ‘Temple of Somnath’, in Saurashtra (Gujarat), also had a similar kind of wealth, which was looted away.

As a child I remember my father telling me a real story. There was once a king who was proud of his wealth. He one day decided to find out how much money people had in his kingdom. Though his minister gently suggested to him that there would be people wealthier than the king, he discarded the idea.

To find how much wealth people had, the king one day made an announcement. He announced that on a given date, people should put flags on top of their houses. The number of flags would indicate the number of lacks that individual owned.

On the appointed day, people early in the morning got busy counting their money and putting flags, at the top of their house. In the same kingdom there lived a ‘money lender’ known as Shyamal Seth. He too got up in the morning and asked his son to go to the top of the house and keep a big silver barrel and a golden shovel.

The king with his ministers, set out to find the wealthy people, in the kingdom. The king would count the number of flags and make out, how many lacks the owner had. As he passed by the streets of his capital he was pleased with himself as his belief got confirmed that he was the wealthiest. Suddenly he came across a mansion on top of which there was no flag; instead there was a big silver barrel and a gold shovel. The king was intrigued and annoyed at the same time.

He stopped and sent for the owner of the house. The owner came out hurriedly and bowed to the king. The king asked him why he had not put the flags and what did the silver barrel and golden shovel indicate.

The owner explained to the king that he was a ‘money lender’ by profession, and that he had so much cash in the form of gold and silver coins stocked away in his cellars that days would not be sufficient and the amount was not easily countable.

The king was at a great discomfort at this frank explanation by Shyamal Seth, but he did not want to show his displeasure. He also wanted to verify whether the Seth was really speaking the truth. Feigning a smile on his face the king said to Shyamal Seth “In that case you can easily give a loan to me for the welfare of the kingdom”. He was sure that the Seth would be caught now for the lie and king would be proved correct.

Shyamal Seth without hesitating a bit instantly agreed and asked the king whether he would wish to have the loan in ‘Gold coins’ or ‘Silver coins’. The next day carts full of coins for the fixed loan amount, were seen outside the king’s palace.

With the doubts at rest and his ego crushed, the king called for Shyamal Seth and asked him to take back his money. The Seth folded his hands and in a gentle voice said to the king, “The money which leaves the house of a ‘money lender’ as a loan, always comes back with an interest amount, be it even for a single day”.

The king was shocked, but realizing that for Shyamal Seth this was plain business, he ordered his ministers to return the loan along with the interest.