Note 3 — The Foolish Youth

In the South Indian account of the Guru Paramārta and his foolish disciples, annexed to the Abbé Dubois’ Pantcha-Tantra, p. 305, one of the disciples was cutting a branch when a Purōhita Brāhmaṇa warned him that he would fall when it broke. After falling he ran after the Brāhmaṇa and inquired when the Guru would die. The answer was that cold at the hinder-parts is a sign of death,3 a remark to which the Guru’s death eventually was due.