Shankheshwar Swami

A village washerman had a donkey who performed his duty faithfully at all times except when the temple priest blew the conch in the evening to call the people to the temple. Hearing the sound of the conch, the donkey would stop working and begin to bray loudly. This happened daily. The washerman noticed it and at last came to the conclusion that the donkey who is so much attached to the sound of the conch must have been a sadhu in its previous birth. Therefore, the washerman named his donkey Shankheshwar Swami, the swami of the Lord of Conch (Shankh).

After some years the donkey died and the washerman went into mourning. He shaved his head. To all those who asked him why he was in mourning, he replied, ‘Don’t you know that Shankheshwar Swami has pssed away?’ And so the word went round the village and soon every man had shaved his head. From one village the news quickly passed to the next village and gradually they all shaved their heads. Finally the news reached the Capital. Hearing the news, the king decided to go into mourning too. The queen, however, did not like the idea of the king shaving his head, and asked the chief minister to find out exactly who Shankheshwar Swami was.

Inquiring from one person to another, the chief minister at last reached the village of the washerman. ‘Who was this Shankheshwar Swami for whom everybody is mourning?’ asked the chief minister. ‘It’s pity we never met him.’

‘Didn’t you not know Shankheshwar Swami?’ replied the washerman. ‘He was my donkey who used to bray at the call of the temple conch.’