Act in haste, repent at leisure

Act in haste, repent at leisure
1 Oct, 2007, 0339 hrs IST,K VIJAYARAGHAVAN, TNN

The story of ‘Kuttathy sisters’ was often recounted by late Seetha Venkatachary, a very good narrator of didactic tales of ancient India. This story illustrates the axiom that one should think twice before acting harshly and that hasty actions would be followed by agonising repentance, which would be of no avail.

Taken from Kerala folklore, this story involves Valia (the elder) Kuttathy and the Kochu (the younger) Kuttathy, who were birds of a particular species, living in happy companionship. One day, Valia Kuttathy obtained from outside, some green gram. She entrusted the job of frying these to Kochu Kuttathy, as she went out.

On her return, she inspected the fried pulses and observed that the quantity had reduced. On being accused that she had eaten a portion of these, Kochu Kuttathy pleaded her innocence. Enraged at what she presumed was her sister’s cheating and lie, Valia Kuttathy attacked her younger sister and killed her.

Another day when Valia Kuttathy herself fried some newly obtained green gram, she found, to her dismay, that the quantity had reduced. On enquiry with others, she came to know that such pulses generally reduce in size on being fried.

In painful remorse, Valia Kuttathy spent the rest of her life, crying out to her dear sister, “Kochu Kuttathy, urr.. urr.. Kochu Kuttathy, urr.. urr..” Malayalam folklore has it that, to this day, the same painful cries can be heard at certain times, from an untraceable bird — possibly a descendant of Valia Kuttathy.

The need to be vigilant against impetuous actions is also underlined by another well known story of a lady, who once went out to fetch water, leaving her infant child to the care of her pet, a mongoose. On return, she observed that the mongoose had blood stains all over its mouth. Presuming that it had devoured her child, she threw the pot on it, instantly killing the creature. Screaming, she thereafter went to her child’s cradle, expecting to find the mangled remains. Surprised, she saw the child peacefully asleep, while a dead snake lay nearby, obviously killed by the mongoose which had intercepted this killer, while it had slithered up the cradle.

Hasty and ill considered actions and also such words, bring in their wake sufferings all over. A well known Tamil proverb observes, Kaanpathum poi, ketpathum poi, theera vicharipathe mei (even what we see and what we hear could be misleading; what is ideal is proper inquiry and analysis). Indeed these are words of great wisdom!