By Sheela, Team   Mangalorean

Bangalore: Anantaiah Setty, 93-year-old man was rescued   near Banashankari Temple, where his son had chained him from the last 18   months. 
   
  On getting intimation, the Bangalore city police raided the house of Suresh   Kumar and rescued Anantaiah from the terrace, where Suresh had chained him   under the overhead tank.
   
  According to DCP (South) H S Revanna, the old man was in a inhuman condition.   There was no proper place to save himself from the hot sun, rain and cold.   The place where he was chained was stinking and the old man was not in a   position to stand properly. His legs were tied with a chain and he was lying   with his legs bent on a old mattress. An empty plate was also found next to   him.
   
  Police have shifted the old man to Jayanagar General Hospital. A Suo motu   case will be filed against his son and daughter-in-law for illegal   confinement and physical abuse, said Revanna.
   
  The incident came to light after a 34 year old woman Hemavati was rescued   from house arrest by the police. After watching this news in TV channels the   neighbours of Anantaiah, informed the TV channel about the confinement of the   old man. The police along with the TV Channel raided the house of Suresh and   rescued the old man.

EPILOGUE … A FLASHBACK IN OUR HISTORY

We have a rich history. Here also, we can find a parallel for BOTH the above stories in History. The tale of Shravan Kumar is recorded in the Holy Ramayana. Here is how it goes:

Shravan Kumar belonged to the time when King Dasaratha ruled Ayodhya. He was born to a Vaishya father and a Shudra mother.^[1]

One day his parents told him that they had become quite aged. They, therefore, wanted him to take them to the forty places of pilgrimage, it is a typical Hindu belief that a pilgrimage to the various shrines and holy places undertaken in old age, purifies the soul. 

The blind hermit and his wife mourn their son, who was slain accidentally by Dasaratha

In those days means of transport were scarce and costly, and Shravan Kumar could not afford it. He, therefore, decided to place his parents in two baskets and carry the baskets on his shoulder to the various places of pilgrimage. He took a strong bamboo stick, at its two ends he tied the two baskets with strong ropes, and placed his father in one of the baskets and his mother in the other. Carrying on his shoulder this bamboo stick with a basket at either end, Shravan started on the pilgrimage.

According to the legend in Ramayana, while hunting in the forest of Ayodhya, King Dashratha heard a sound near a lake and unleashed an arrow, hoping to hit an animal.

When he crossed the lake to collect his kill, he found that his arrow had struck a boy who was bleeding.The boy, Shravan Kumar, told Dasaratha, that he had come to the lake to collect water for his sick and aged parents, who were both blind and who he had been carrying on a sling.He requested the king to take water to his parents. After telling his tale, Shravan succumbed to his wounds and when the king took water for his parents and told them of his tragic mistake, they were unable to bear the shock. They cursed Dasaratha that he too would experience “Putrashoka” (grief due to loss of a son). Sanskrit – “putra” is child/son and “shoka” is grief.

King Dashrath did indeed die in grief. Both his beloved sons were in exile when his end came!

A painting of Shravan Kumar with his parents deserves to be included in this piece. Here it is:

Till this date, when a son is very obedient and caring, he is called “Shravan Kumar”

The Tail Piece

I was looking for a parallel in history for the man chained in Bangalore. The closest I could think of is the Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan. He wanted Dara Shikoh to succeed him. But the war of succession started long before his demise. Aurangzeb proved to be a better soldier and managed to kill all his three brothers. After defeating Dara Shikoh, he ascended to the throne and placed his father under house arrest in the Agra Fort. It is said that he was treated well, but Aurangzeb never met him during the  seven years which he spent as a virtual prisoner. 

An Acknowledgement 

This story is based on a piece forwarded to me by Ms Tulsi Bhandari. Deep within, she has a very sensitive soul, and anything which she sends is worth reading and seeing at least twice. Some of the pictures above came from her…and that impelled me to do this piece. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the debt of gratitude which I owe to her. 

 A POST SCRIPT

My good friend, Jagwant Bath has sent in a suggestion which is given below:

The young man is obviously very fit, and can be assumed to have basic intelligence and perhaps may also be literate. He could have tried to get a job, worked hard managed some savings and taken his mother around in relative comfort as no doubt thousands of sons are doing in India. Instead he chose an option in which the mother would have gone through considerable hardships and both of them subsisted on the hard earned money of others. Am sure they would have often been a traffic hazard too… Perhaps, such things happen only in India!

I gave a detailed thought to the suggestion. Indeed, he could have taken his mother to the ‘Char Dham’ by train. The entire pilgrimage would have been completed in a few weeks. And it would not have cost him a lot of money. He appears to be quite capable of earning that much and saving it for the pilgrimage. But I think it would not have the same effect. In the process of physically carrying her on his shoulders, he has made a statement…in fact he carried a message to thousands of people, without speaking a single word!

And one thing more. Travel by train would not have been the kind of experience which he gave to her now. She met hundreds of people, ate a wide variety of foods (I am told they were treated with great love and reverence everywhere) If they had gone by train, they would merely been to four temples. I remember, when I was in Sikkim, some senior officers used to land at Bagdogra, and then go to Nathu La and a few other posts by a chopper and claim that they had SEEN Sikkim. I think that to get a feel of the place, one has to travel on those treacherous roads and then climb a few pickets (if necessary, on a pony) Then spend some time with the men there to get to know their problems.

All in all, I think what this modern day Shravan Kumar has achieved is significant. If he depended on charity for food and lodging, no great issue.  In our scriptures, those who bring to us a Divine message are entitled to such hospitality. The Budhha whom millions of people worship encouraged the ‘Bhikshuks’ to accept charity. And the Priests of all faiths do that. Finally, I am not sure that such things happen only in India. People hold bicycle rallies to communicate a message in many parts of the world. And I have also heard for trans-continental flights on vintage aircraft. And then there are adventurous people who go out on sail boats to long distances. In all these cases, they can make use of modern technology and travel without risk. But the purpose is to do things in the manner in which our ancestors did them. There is an old world charm in it!

There are times in life when journey is more significant than the destination! And, as they say, Success is a Journey, and not a Destination!