Summary: मनोराज्यस्य फलम्
King Amarashakti's sons were foolish and uninterested in study. The scholar Vishnusharma made them experts in नीतिशास्त्र through entertaining stories; this collection is the पञ्चतन्त्रम्, with five parts: मित्रभेदः, मित्रसम्प्राप्तिः, काकोलूकीयम्, लब्धप्रणाशः, अपरीक्षितकारकम्. This story is from the last.
In a city lived a miserly beggar named स्वभावकृपणः. He filled a pot with the barley flour (सक्तुपिष्टम्) he received as alms, hung it from a peg on the wall, spread a mat below and lay thinking about it.
His dream: if there is a famine, I will sell this flour for a hundred rupees and buy two goats; they will multiply into a herd; goats will buy cows, cows buffaloes, buffaloes mares, and the horses will bring much gold; with the gold, a four-sided house; a rich man will give me his beautiful daughter; we will have a son whom I will name सोमशर्मा.
One day little Somasharma, crawling towards me, will come near; angry, I will tell my wife to take the child; she will not hear because she is busy; a dog will come, the child will be scared, and I will jump up and beat the dog with a stick.
Lost in the dream, he actually swung the stick; the pot broke, the flour fell all over him and he turned white. Moral: one who makes impossible plans for the future ends up white-faced like Somasharma's father.
Key points to remember
- पञ्चतन्त्रम् by विष्णुशर्मा for King अमरशक्ति's sons; five तन्त्राणि
- This story: अपरीक्षितकारकम् (acting without thinking)
- स्वभावकृपणः — 'miser by nature', a beggar
- Pot of सक्तुपिष्टम् (barley flour) hung from a नागदन्तः (wall peg)
- Chain: flour → 2 goats → cows → buffaloes → mares → gold → house → wife → son
- Son's name in the dream: सोमशर्मा
- A dog scares the child; he swings the stick — the real pot breaks
- The story is full of future forms (लृट्): प्राप्स्यामि, भविष्यति, करिष्यामि
- Moral: building castles in the air (मनोराज्यम्) brings loss
