The Vatsan Elephant

You must have heard the story of the Trojan Horse from the Greek epic Iliad. But did you know about its Indian counterpart?

For those who don’t know the story of the Trojan horse, it was a giant wooden horse gifted by the Greeks to Trojans. As the Greeks were unable to defeat the Trojans in a direct war, they created a hallow wooden humongous horse inside which they hid their soldiers. Once the horse was accepted and taken inside the fortress of Troy, they came out of it at night and led to Troy’s destruction. So, now that you know the story of the Trojan Horse. Let’s start with its lesser-known Indian counterpart.

This story comes from a Jain text Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Charitra, written by Hemachandra in the 12th century CE. The same story occurs in Pratijnayaugandharayana, which is a prequel to Swapnavasavadatta, the famous play written by Bhasa.

There was this king of Avanti named Chandapradyota who had a daughter named Vasavadatta. Like a typical Indian parent wanting his daughter to excel in everything as per societal norms, he wanted his daughter to learn all kinds of art. He wanted her to learn the art of music from the best.

That time it was King Udayana of Vatsa, who was the best musicians in the entire of India. Udayana was so good that with his songs he could hypnotise wild elephants leading to their capture.

King Chandapradyota asked his minister to capture Udayana and bring him to the king so that he can be compelled to teach music to his daughter. The minister came up with a plan. Instead of going for a full-on invasion, he decided to kidnap Udayana. He ordered the building of a life-sized realistic mechanical wooden elephant that can walk and move like a real one. This wooden elephant is hallowed allowing soldiers to hide inside. As per the plan, the wooden elephant reached Vatsa kingdom and attracted everybody's attention including Udayana.

Udayana went alone to the elephant and began singing. As the elephant stopped moving, Udayana mounted the elephant believing it has been hypnotised. That very moment, the soldiers came out of the hallow elephant and captured Udayana.

Udayana was then taken to Avanti as a prisoner where Chandapradyota asked him to teach music to his daughter. The king was now worried about him and his daughter falling in love. So, he asked Udayana not to look at his daughter because she is one-eyed, and may feel embarrassed.

Similarly, he also told his daughter Vasavadatta not to look at Udayana as he was a leper. They both agree to the king’s terms and their teaching classes go on with a curtain as a barrier so that they do not see each other.

One day Vasavadatta couldn’t resist taking a gaze at him, and so to irritate him she sang very badly. Udayana was pissed off and yelled at her, and insulted her calling her one-eyed. She replied by calling him a leper. Both of them soon realised something was wrong, so they finally took a look at each other and immediately fell in love.

This story could be possibly influenced by the Trojan horse from Iliad. There are many such stories from ancient Greece and ancient India that bear resemblances, a possible influence of Greek settlements in India. More on that in my next blog.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.wisdomlib.org/jainism/book/trishashti-shalaka-purusha-caritra/d/doc216029.html