DISHONEST BROTHER -
In the Durbar

In the Durbar of King Narendra as  the day proceedings were nearing an end, a strange sight met everyone in the court of King Narendra.  A bulky man entered in alongwith two youngsters who looked strikingly alike! 

Their curly hairs, straight eyebrows, round eyes, sharp nose, deep chin, full lips and the fair complexion! 

Everything looked remarkably similar!  They even wore similar dresses with white dhotis and pale-yellow robes tucked over their shoulders. 

The twins appeared to be not more than sixteen or seventeen years of age. 

Bowing before the King, the plump looking man who donned a white silky attire spoke up, “Maharaj, I am Suketu, owner of a well-known garment shop. 

Today as I was returning home after being to my relatives’ place, suddenly one of them, who had covered his face with a red cloth, stalled my way and threw mud on my attire. I shouted at him and tried to remove the mud from my clothes. 

At that time, he suddenly pulled my chain hard which broke off from my neck.  He took it and started running with the loot.  I ran after him but apparently could not catch up with him owing to my weight.  I continued crying out aloud for help. 

Just then, I could see someone approaching from the other end of the road where the thief was running.  I shouted at the top of my lungs pointing at the thief, “Catch him!  He is running away with my chain!” 

It appeared that the person had heard my call for help for he intercepted the crook.  From afar, I could see some tussle going on between the two but could not explicitly see or understand the proceedings. 

As I neared them, I found one of them who was facing me flashing my chain and shouting, “Sire!  This is your chain!  I have taken it from him!” 

He handed over my chain and then, to my shock, I discovered that both were so similar!  The red cloth with which the thief had hidden his face was lying on the road.  Just then, the “thief” began to accuse the other person of theft and a verbal tussle broke between them. 

Finally, when nothing came out of it, I have brought them here in your Durbar for getting justice, Maharaj.  I want stringent punishment to be accorded to the culprit so that he does not dare to commit such a crime in the future. 

From their heated conversations, I could make out their names, Raghava and Bhargava.   Later when I asked them, they admitted that they were twins.  For now, both are claiming to be Raghava.”

King Narendra nodded in understanding and looked at his ministers.  The seniormost of the council, Chandragupta, rose from his seat and requested the King that he would need to converse separately with the brothers.  The King agreed and one of the twins was asked to wait outside the Durbar. 

Chandragupta came near the other boy and asked him to introduce himself.

“Raghava!”  came the prompt reply.

“What were you doing in that lane today, Raghava?”  the minister queried.

“We brothers usually come for a walk in that area, sire.  Today it was an off day for us from work.  Thus, I initially decided to stay back home while Bhargava expressed the desire to meet his friends. 

A while after he had left, I too felt like going outside and taking a stroll in the evening breeze.  It was when I was walking that I entered this lane and heard the merchant shouting for help.  I volunteered to stop the thief from escaping. 

In the scuffle that followed, I managed to pull off the cloth from the face of the thief and to my disbelief, I found that it was my brother!”

“What do you do for a living?”  Chandragupta asked.

“Sire, I and my brother do household chores like cleaning utensils, brooming, sweeping, washing and drying clothes in a few residences of our locality.”

“Why do you think that your brother would rob somebody?   the minister further asked.

“That would be hard for me to say, sire!”  the boy sighed shrugging his shoulders.

“Was there some level of dissatisfaction involved with your work?”  Chandragupta prodded.

“I will agree that of late both of us are having some level of anxiety and stress relating to our work.  Of all the houses where we are employed, we get a major chunk of our income from a rich merchant’s bungalow. 

However, he is soon to move out to a far-off locality where it would not be possible for us to go.  If we lose our job in his household, it will apparently cause severe strain in our income. 

This was causing us great discomfort and mental strain and so far, we have not been able to get employment in any other house to make up for this imminent loss in income.  I do not know whether this is enough reason for my brother to rob someone!”

 Chandragupta thereafter asked him to wait outside and send his brother in.  He posed similar questions to the other twin to which he responded in similar fashion like his brother. 

Thereby, the other twin was also called in.

“Look!  If the culprit admits to his wrongdoing, I shall request both the King and Suketuji to adopt a linear stance considering your young age.  Otherwise, be ready to face the axe!”  Chandragupta sounded a stern warning.

However, it did not evoke any positive response from the twins. 

The senior minister, then, turned his back towards the brothers and slowly walked in the direction facing the King who was seated in his glittering golden throne.  He, then, suddenly called out aloud, “Bhargava!” and quickly turned at the brothers to see their response. 

In fact, it was not only he but the entire court who looked at the brothers’ reaction to Chandragupta’s call.  But alas!  They found the brothers simply looking down without offering any response!      

Disappointed Chandragupta turned towards the King, “Maharaj, the very purpose behind interrogating them separately was to see if they were giving some contrast replies posing as Raghava. 

In that case, we could have further investigated to verify their claims.  However, that is not the case here.  I feel that further enquiries will have to be made and thus we should buy time to arrive at a conclusion.”

The King looked at Chandragupta thoughtfully and then glanced at Bakul, his wise minister, who was till now watching the proceedings silently.  Bakul consented with Chandragupta that this matter would require further investigations. 

Feeling proud that Bakul had agreed with his views, Chandragupta took his seat.

“Alright then!  Suketuji, I assure you justice but request you to give us some time to reach the bottom of the case.  Till the time the truth is not unravelled, the twins would be kept in the questioning chamber.”  Narendra declared.

Suketu agreed and took his leave.  Later, Narendra anointed Bakul alone to find the truth in this case as he wanted Chandragupta’s services in some other administrative affairs of the kingdom.

Bakul met the brothers privately and asked them whether they had met anyone while walking on the fateful day.  Both answered in the negative.    

He, then, asked them where they resided and got full details of all their friends.  He, then called for the palace drawing artist and asked him to draw the picture of either of them.  He directed his associates to make thorough enquiries about the twins not only with their friends but also with those staying nearby in their area.