697. 'House Arrest'

"Minister! I am happy to hear from you and the Chief of Guards that crimes have been brought down, as a result of people committing crime having been caught and convicted. Do you have any special information about those lodged in prisons?" asked King Pamabadran.

"No, Your Majesty. As per your directions, the prisoners are given healthy food. Their health is periodically checked by the physicians. If a prisoner dies in the prison due to old age or sickness, his relatives are informed and his body is cremated as per his family tradition at government expense. Under your governance, everything is being done properly" said the Minister.

After a brief pause, the King asked, "Has any person been kept under house arrest?"

"Your Majesty! There is no system of keeping anyone under house arrest in our country. This has been the status from the time of your late father" said the Minister.

After coming out of the King's chamber, the Chief of Guards asked the Minister, "Sir! When the King asked whether any person had been kept under house arrest, you answered in the negative!"

"Yes, I did. Why, have you kept anyone under house arrest?" asked the Minister, looking at the Chief of Guards, with an innocuous smile. 

"Sir! There is Amudhavalli..."

"We have not kept Amudhavalli under house arrest. As per the directions given to us by the late Thungabadran, father of the present King, we have made arrangements for Amudhavalli to stay in her house safely and live there comfortably, without stepping out of the house. That's all!"

"Sir! As you know, she was the concubine of the late king..."

"My dear friend! The late king had made this arrangement with the objective of keeping his relationship with Amudhavalli hidden from his family members. The arrangement was made to prevent Amudhavalli coming into contact with anyone or anyone from outside her house contacting her. Just as security guards are present in your house and my house to give protection to our family members, security guards have been posted in Amudhavalli's house for her protection. It was the late King's diktat that this arrangement should continue during the lifetime of Amudhavalli and that this fact should not be known to anyone other than the two of us. Bear this in mind!"

"But, from the King's question posed to us, it appears that he has  come to know of this arrangement!"

"I don't know whether the King asked this question after coming to know of the fact or out of a blind suspicion. But this matter is not something he needs to know about. This information is not useful to him anyway. That is why, I gave him an evasive answer, even after he specifically asked us whether any person was kept under house arrest. We have not kept anyone under house arrest. We have given protection to some people. That's all" said the Minister, with a chuckle.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 70
Getting Close to the Ruler

Verse 697 (in Tamil):
vEtpana solli vinaiyila ejnjnAnRum
kEtpinum sollA vidal.

Meaning:

Ministers should tell the king things he is interested in, but should not talk about useless things, even if he asks about them.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'amudhavalli' by the same author.) 

Verse 698 (Soon)
Verse 696