The Good Disciple
The kings of Shobhnagar had their family deity in a temple that was inside the palace. Raghu Bhatta was the priest. Raghu Bhatta commanded great respect. Apart from being the priest, he was a trusted adviser to the king. Raghu Bhatta retired from the king's service at the age of ninety. His nephew, Ballav, took over as the priest. Raghu Bhatta, however, did not lose his interest in the matters of the court. Ballav reported to him, regularly, all that took place in the court and the kingdom. The king died all on a sudden, leaving two sons behind. On his death bed, the king had ordered that the princes, Arjun and Subal, should live separately and rule the kingdom from two different towns, Sundarpur and Vilasgarh. But the king had not said who should live where. "Both the princes desire to live here - at Sundarpur," Ballav reported to Raghu Bhatta. Raghu Bhatta looked pensive. Sundarpur was the capital of the kingdom and it was close to the capitals of the neighboring kingdoms. Vilasgarh was situated in that part of the kingdom which was sparsely populated. Raghu Bhatta knew the nature of the two princes. Arjun, the older of the two, was intelligent and sober. Subal was haughty and foolish. Raghu Bhatta wanted Arjun to remain at Sundarpur.