Mythical mythology

" Mythology is nothing but the sacred history of mankind ".    This quote by an anonymous writer makes the term very interesting, intriguing, and investigative. Human beings have since time immemorial tried to understand mythical aspects around them as per their imagination. Apart from the depth of this topic Mythology has given mankind many lessons that can be useful in everyday living. We need not mistake that Mythology is only about the divine and demons, natural and supernatural, and animals, birds including other aspects of nature. Sometimes very simple, useful lessons have been taught through mythology. Today let us see one such story from the great epic Mahabharata which has been written by the famous sage 'Veda Vyasa". Before we proceed with the story let us read a few lines about this great epic. Mahabharata has been appreciated as the fifth religious charter while we have the four Vedas also. The epic has taught us about what is right and wrong along with simple life lessons that can be applied in our day to day Mahabharata is recognized as one of the longest epic poems with almost 18 parvas or volumes consisting of so many chapters. Each volume has a particular name and purpose to it that justifies the written content to the fullest. This story is based on the eighteenth volume named 'Shanti Parva. The story is based on the preachings that the great warrior 'Bhishma' of Mahabharata makes to king Dharmaraj the eldest of the Pandavas.                           

 Once there lived a mouse under a Banyan tree in the forest. There lived a cat on the same tree in the same forest. Every evening a hunter used to come and spread a net under the tree and quietly slip away from there. He used to check the net the next day early in the morning and would collect the net with any bird or animal that used to get trapped. One day it so happened that the cat that used to live on the Banyan tree slipped and got trapped in the net that was spread under the Banyan tree. Seeing the cat trapped in the net, the mouse felt fearless and it started moving around the net freely so the cat not harm it anyway. It started looking for food without any fear. Suddenly its heart missed a beat out of fear as it saw Snake and an owl at some distance. The

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mouse knew that both these creatures were a big threat to its life. Sensing danger the mouse started thinking about how to escape from these creatures. Suddenly a bright idea came to its mind. The mouse slowly moved towards the cat that was trapped in the net and said that it will bite the net and free the cat and in return, the cat had to protect it from the Snake and the owl. This deal was okay for the cat who desperately wanted to get free and so it agreed to this proposal. 

                     

The mouse sat near the net and the cat was guarding the mouse. Looking at this the Snake and the owl slipped away for the sake of their own safety.  The cat started pestering the mouse to bite the net and set it free. The mouse replied asking it to wait until the next morning. It promised to free the cat before the hunter would come. The mouse even gave the reason that it had to think twice before helping the cat which was stronger than the mouse. It even expressed the apprehension that how could he believe that once released from the net what was the surety the cat might not eat the mouse as it was after all the law of nature. The cat had no other choice other than to wait until the next morning. The next morning the mouse bit the net with its sharp teeth before the hunter came. The cat was free and it ran away to safety. The hunter on seeing the empty net felt sad and went back empty-handed for the day. After the hunter left the cat came back to the Banyan tree and called the mouse to come near it. The mouse was hiding in the hole and answered back saying it had no such idea as it believed that nobody can judge ad when an enemy becomes a friend and Vice versa. It was safe to stay back in its home in the hole underground.                         

Through this volume of the story, Bhishma preached to king Dharmaraj not to believe the enemy whether he is talking sweet or otherwise, whether he seemed to be weak or otherwise, whether he talked friendship or otherwise. Bhishma advised Dharmaraj to do his duty sincerely and always need to have the benefit of the doubt about everything and everyone. This was the life lesson he taught that is useful to one and all.