UP Board Solutions for Class 9 English Prose Chapter 4 A Golden Bowl

UP Board Solutions for Class 9 English Prose Chapter 4 A Golden Bowl 

About the Source of Lesson 

This lesson is an anecdote narrated in Jatak Katha. Jatak is a story dealing with an episode from a former life of the Buddha. Bodhisattva is a Buddhist saint who is on the way to the attainment of perfect knowledge and has a certain number of births to undergo. Long series of pious and virtuous deeds make a human being attain the state of Bodhisattva. During the given story Gautam Buddha was undergoing the phase of Bodhisattva. Writers like Hill, Sood, and Daswani compiled some Jatak tales. This work was printed by Oxford University Press. This way the source of origin of this lesson is Jatak Katha compiled by these three writers and printed by Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford, S. England. 

About the Lesson 

In the given lesson Gautam Buddha was going through the stage of Bodhisattva in his previous birth. The lesson peeps into the life of Buddha as a Bodhisattva. This little story shows the attitude of the Bodhisattva and his pious life. He keeps an honest posture in his trade dealing and recognizes the dirty bowl as pure gold. He obliges and gives happiness to the poor family of a little girl and her grandmother. The story establishes that purity in dealing and honesty harness good results and the saying that honesty is the best policy stands true. upon a time, in the kingdom of Seri, the Bodhisattva, who bought and sold pots and pans, was called Serivan. In the company of another seller of pots and pans, a greedy fellow, he crossed the river Televastra and entered the city of Anuradhapura. Dividing the streets between the two of them, they set about selling their pots Once and pans, each in the streets of his own district. 

Now, in the city, there lived a poor family which had once been rich. There were only two people in the family now, a young girl and her grandmother, who worked for their living. Lying among old pots and pans in their house was a golden bowl, which, having been long out of use, looked so dirty that the two women did not know that it was made of gold. The greedy seller went past their door trying, "Exchange your old pots for new !" When the young girl heard his cry, she said to her grandmother, "Do let's buy a new plate, grandmother! There's a man who's selling pots." "We are very poor, child. What have we to offer in exchange ?" the old woman said. "Why, there is this dirty bowl which we never use. Let us exchange the bowl for a plate," the girl said. Both the old woman and the girl were keen to get rid of the bowl. So the old woman called the seller in and, giving him the bowl, said, "Take this bowl, young man, and give my granddaughter a plate in exchange." The seller took the bowl in his hands and suspecting it was gold, scratched a line on the bottom with a needle. He knew his suspicion was right, the bowl was pure gold. Thinking that he would get the bowl for nothing, he pretended that it was useless and scornfully threw it on the ground, rose from his seat, and went out of the house. The young girl was very sad at the seller's rudeness and the old woman could not understand why he had become so annoyed, or why he had behaved in such an insulting manner. The next day, as it had already been agreed between the two sellers, each of them went to sell his pots and pans in the district in which the other had been on the day before. Sheridan came to the same street and passed the same house, crying, "Exchange your old pots for new !" Once again the young girl urged her grandmother to get her a new plate. The old woman said. "Dear child, don't you remember how disappointing it was to have the seller here yesterday? Don't you remember how he threw the bowl on the ground in disgust? We'll only regret calling this new seller." "That seller was rude, but this one looks gentle. He'll likely take the bowl," the girl said. Seeing her granddaughter's eagerness, the old woman called Serivan in. So he came into the house, and they put the bowl in his hands. He was surprised to see that it was made of gold. "Do you really want to exchange this, old mother ?" he asked with hesitation. Encouraged by this, the young girl asked, "Will you exchange it for a plate ?" "Old mother, your bowl is made of pure gold and is worth a lot of money. I haven't so much money on me." Both the women were astonished to hear this. "My son, a seller who came yesterday said the bowl was worthless and threw it on the ground. It must be

your touch that has turned it into gold. Take it! Give us anything you please in exchange and go your way." He gave them all the pots he had and five hundred silver coins that he had with him at the time. He kept only his scales, his bag, and eight silver coins to pay the boatman to take him across the river. Taking the bowl with him, he went to the riverside, got into the boat, and gave the eight coins to the boatman to row him across. No sooner had he left the two women than the greedy seller came to them again and said impatiently, "Bring out the bowl, I'll give you something or other for it." Moved to anger at his pretense, the old woman said, "You said the bowl was worth nothing. Today we had an honest seller here who declared the bowl was made of gold and gave us five hundred silver coins and all his pots for it." Regretting his loss, the greedy seller cried, "He has cheated me of the profit I would have made. I've lost the bowl !" He was so full of sorrow and disappointment and so maddened that he lost command over himself. He beat his chest, threw away his money and goods, tore his clothes from his body, and shouted, "I'll have my revenge on the hateful man! Why did he interfere with my plans ?" The two women were shocked to see his madness but could do nothing to stop him. He rushed after Serivan to the riverside. Finding him already crossing the river, he shouted desperately for the boatman to turn back. Derivan told the boatman not to do so. Watching the boat helplessly, his heart full of jealousy and hatred, the seller shouted insults at the fearless Serivan, who was the Bodhisattva. His threats were of no use, and with all the excitement, his heart burst and he dropped down dead.