Shabale (Sabala) – 5th English

Shabale (Sabala) – Unit – 5 : Prose

1. Once there was a sage whose name was Vasishta. He lived in a forest. Vasishta had a cow by name Shabale (also known as Nandini, daughter of Kamadhenu, the Heavenly Cow). Whenever Vasishta asked her for anything, such as food, drink or clothes, she would give them to him. Both of them lived happily in the forest.

2. One day, Kaushika, a powerful king, and his soldiers came to the forest. They were hunting. They saw a small hut and decided to rest there for some time. When they came near the hut, Vasishta greeted Kaushika and his men. He prayed to Shabale to give his guests a tasty meal. In minutes, Shabale gave them a tasty meal. Kaushika was impressed by Shabale’s special gift. He wanted to take Shabale to his palace. So, Kaushika asked Vasishta to give Shabale to him in exchange for ten thousand cows.

3. But, Vasishta refused. Kaushika even offered his entire kingdom and asked for Shabale, but Vasishta still refused. He said, “Shabale belongs to the Gods and Goddesses and she should not be misused”. Kaushika decided to take Shabale by force. He put a rope around Shabale’s neck and dragged her, but she was not willing to go with the king.

4. Shabale saw her master’s helplessness. She decided to teach Kaushika a lesson. She freed herself, ran and stood next to Vasishta. She underwent an amazing change. Fire gushed out of her eyes. Her head and neck grew larger. Balls of fire came out from her tail. Many soldiers came out from her mouth, udder and her sides. These soldiers chased Kaushika and his men out of the ashram. But they did not kill anyone.

5. Kaushika realized that he was not powerful enough and could not win anything by force. He left his kingdom and went into the forest to become a sage. After many years of prayer and meditation he became a true sage and came to be called Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra means ‘the friend of the world’.

Words to Know:

sage : hermit, ಸನ್ಯಾಸಿ
greet : welcome, ಸ್ವಾಗತಿಸು
entire : complete, whole, ಇಡೀ, ಎಲ್ಲಾ
drag : to pull forcefully, ಎಳೆ
amazing : surprising, ಅದ್ಭುತ, ವಿಸ್ಮಯ
udder : part of the cow where milk is stored, ಕೆಚ್ಚಲು
chased : drove, ಅಟ್ಟಿಸು, ಬೆನ್ನಟ್ಟು
wisdom : knowledge, learning, sound judgement, ಬುದ್ಧಿವಂತಿಕೆ
devotion : great love for God, ಭಕ್ತಿ
meditation : praying with concentration, ಧ್ಯಾನ
gushed : to flow or burst out, ಪ್ರವಾಹ, ಹರಿವು
greedy : desiring more than you need, ದುರಾಸೆಯ, ಆಸೆಬುರುಕ