Four Monkeys - A Tale of Twists - Part 4 - Labdhapranasam

4. लब्धप्रनाशम् (Loss of Gains)

Finally, the day of the Nirvachana came. Animals, birds and all creatures from all across the forest were feeling empowered. This was the day when they could decide who they wanted as their leader. A great hall was made under the shade of the biggest banyan tree in the forest. A row of earthern pots one each of the different contesting candidates, were placed behind a curtain in the hall. Each ‘orange wielding’ resident would come into the hall, call out their pravara and verify their identity, before proceeding behind the curtain and dropping the orange in the pot of the candidate of their choice. The oranges would be counted at the end of the day to determine the final tally.

While a majority of the forest welcomed the Nirvachana, like in any society in the world, this forest too had some residents who had ideas which could be called - radical. They were of the view that the forest does not need any leader. This group did not resort to any violence but did create a lot of nuisance. They sat on the periphery of the banyan tree’s shade, holding pieces of birch bark, with the slogan “निर्वाचनम् तिरस्करोति ! अपरिग्रह्य​” (Nirvachanam Tiraskaroti, Aparigrahya = [We] reject Nirvachanam. Not acceptable) written on them, and shouting the same at the forest residents coming in with their oranges. Some over-educated idiot protestors, who had some familiarity with the Latin alphabet carried slogans that read “N●TA”. Firstly, they completely ignored the fact that most of the forest residents were illiterate and therefore couldn’t even read the placards written in Sanskrit, let alone the Latin ones. And secondly, does “N●TA” make any sense!

Thus, the blissfully illiterate residents gave their verdict and the oranges were counted in the same evening.  By the end of the Nirvachana, the following tally of collected oranges emerged.

• Pushkara - Nine dozen oranges
• Dhanu-Shiri - Four and a half dozen oranges
• Ghati - Four and a half dozen oranges
• Karatala - Four dozen oranges
• Gibbons - One dozen oranges
• Loris group - One dozen oranges

Remember that Koshadhuma had stipulated that the next ruler needed to come with at least half of the “two dozen dozen” oranges, or twelve dozen oranges. It seemed that the combination of Pushkara and Dhanu-Shiri was all set to rule the forest. It only remained that they go Koshadhuma’s tree-house together and physically show a total of thirteen and half dozen oranges.
 
But, the relationship between the two was no longer as smooth as it was before the Nirvachana. The Dhanu-Shiri insisted that the leadership power should be shared equally as both of them had put in equal efforts in pitching their candidature, while the ‘strong gorilla’ Pushkara, tried to strong arm his position as the partner with more oranges. His logic was that the power division should be in proportion to the oranges brought in by the respective partners. Pushkara said that he is open to allow Dhanu-Shiri to be in charge of certain administrative departments, but he himself will be the Mahamatra (महामात्र​) or the effective King of the jungle. However, Dhanu-Shiri wanted his son Tarunakha (तरुनख ) to be the Mahamatra. This was completely unacceptable to Pushkara who used to call Dhanu-Shiri’s son “तरुणख”.

The duo of Ghati and Karatala could only muster a total of eight and a half dozen oranges between themselves. Even if they could convince all the Gibbons to join them, the total would only come to nine and a half dozen. Far below the requisite twelve dozen. Thus, they openly declared that they do not have the oranges and hence would not be approaching Koshadhuma to claim the throne.

The aging baboon Koshadhuma was worried that the Nirvachana, the only authoritative activity that he initiated in a long time, would turn out to be a stinker as the oranges will naturally grow mould in a few days, go bad in the summer in the forest. And then, they would definitely stink. Hence, he declared that nobody would get to be the leader if none comes to him with at least a dozen dozen oranges within one paksha from the date of the Nirvachana.

Pushkara was quite confident that Dhanu-Shiri would see sense in a few days and come over to him, and they could claim the throne together. However, as the days progressed, there did not seem to be any change in the attitude of either Pushkara and Dhanu-Shiri. With nobody approaching him even as the deadline (that he himself set) drew closer, the meek Koshadhuma asked Pushkara to clarify to claim the throne.

A frustrated Pushkara, confident that there is no other real choice for a leader other than himself, declared that he is not in a position to claim the throne. The reason offered was that he cannot hope to gather twelve dozen oranges as Dhanu-Shiri refused to hold his end of the bargain. The gorilla was so assured of himself. He was sure that his refusal to claim the throne would serve a dual purpose. One, he could argue that he is not a power hungry ape, and two, no other possible conjunction of candidates would be able to muster enough number of oranges before the fruits turn to mush.

But, as they say, Pride hath a fall. Pushkara’s accusing him of “not keeping the end of his bargain” made Dhanu-Shiri mad. That one act was the proverbial “Straw that broke the bow-string”. Dhanu-Shiri did the thing that Pushkara could not have anticipated in his wildest dreams.

Dhanu-Shiri broke his alliance with Pushkara, an alliance that was as old as his son Tarunakha, and started talking to the other influential macaque in the forest, Ghati, to form a new alliance. As a famous taxonomist said, one should always remember “Species is closer than Order”.

With all said and done, at the end of the day,  Pushkara lost a long term ally. He had lost the forest throne which was almost his. He was left scratching his head for a solution that would get him out of this mess