Story Of Silava Elephant ~ Jatak Tales in English

The Story of Silava Elephant is about a wise and kind elephant who lived in the Himalayas and was the king of 80,000 elephants. One day, he met a man who was lost in the forest and feared for his life. Silava approached him and offered to help, but the man was scared. Silava calmed him by standing still, and eventually the man trusted him enough to ride on his back. The man was greedy and ungrateful and eventually took all of Silva's teeth, causing him to die from the pain. The greedy man then suffered a terrible fate himself. The story teaches the lesson of the dangers of greed and the importance of being grateful and kind

Story Of Silava Elephant ~ Jatak Tales in English

Once upon a time there lived an elephant in the dense forests of the Himalayas. His body was bright and white like silver. His eyes were as bright as diamonds. His trunk was as bright as gold bedecked with honey. All four of his legs were as if made of lacquer. He was also the king of eighty thousand yards.

One day while wandering in the forest, Silva saw a man crying. It was clear from his gestures that he had lost his way in that deserted forest. Silva felt pity on the condition of that person. He went ahead to help her. But the man understood that the elephant was coming to kill him. So he started running away. With a view to dispel his fear, Silva stood in his place with great decency, due to which the running man also stopped.

As soon as Silava stepped forward again, the man ran away again and as soon as Silava stopped his feet, the man also stopped. When Silava beat his initiative three times in the same way, the fear of the running man also ran away. He understood that Silva was not a dangerous elephant. Then the man became fearless and became stable in his place. Silva then approached him and offered his help.

The man immediately accepted his offer. Silva then lifted him by his trunk and made him sit on his back and took him to his abode and entertained him with different types of fruits. At last, when the man's hunger and thirst were redressed, Silva again put him on his back and left him near his settlement outside that deserted forest.

The man was greedy and ungrateful. Immediately he came to a city market after having made a deal of ivory with a big trader. Within a few days, he left for the residence of Silava after arranging saws etc. tools and proper food for the way.

When he reached the person in front of Silva, Silva asked him the purpose of his return. The man then begged for his teeth to remove his poverty. In those days, Silava was doing the spiritual practice of being charitable. So he happily accepted the man's request and went down on his knees to help him so that he could bite his teeth.

The man returned to the city and sold Silva's teeth and got a good price for them. But his thirst became stronger with the money he received. Within a month, he reached Silava again and sat examining his remaining teeth. Silva thanked him again.

After a few days, the greedy again reached to Silva and expressed his desire to take out his remaining teeth as well. Charity-loving Silava happily accepted this request of that person. Then what was left? In a moment, the man cut and pierced Silava's gums, pulled out all his teeth and left for his destination immediately.

Moaning in blood-soaked pain, Silava could not survive again and died after some time.

Returning greedy, when he could not even cross the border of the forest, suddenly the house burst and that man got into the cheek of time.

A tree-fairy, who witnessed the whole scene uttered thus:

“Greed demands more, the more it gets
Not all the world can glut its appetite.”

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