Paudwar is a village situated in a steep slope near the Himalayas. The beautiful scenery of Annapurna Himalayas can be seen from above the village where there are many wide and plain areas. People bring their cattle during summer because there is good grazing for the cattle. Besides, many kinds of birds and flowers can be seen there. It certainly is a beautiful place.
There is a place called "Bhalkhara" where people keep their cattle. A small field is in the east of Bhalkhara called Phukchung. A sage with long hair used to live there many years ago. He had made a small house there. The remnant of his house can still be seen there. Now days people make their cattle shed on the mound of his house during the summer.
The sage was well known as a Tantric, the one who had a mysterious power. With his knowledge he could transform himself to any form of live such as a tiger, bear and others. He usually used to transform himself into a tiger and used to kill the sheep of the villagers to eat.
Nobody was aware of his misconduct. The villagers were surprised to find their sheep decreasing every day. They tried to find out who had been killing the sheep, but did not have any clue. Thinking that either foxes or tigers should have been killing their sheep, they put traps everywhere but they could catch nothing. The sage already knew what the villagers had done to trap him. Therefore, he always used to skip the traps the villagers had put out.
The sage used to transform himself into a tiger in two steps. First, he used to color some grains of rice black and some grains yellow. He used to recite his Mantra while making those colored rice. Then he used to divide the black-colored rice in two parts and yellow-colored rice in two parts and put it in four places. The lower half of his body would transform into a tiger when he ate one portion of the black rice. When he ate the other portion of the black-colored rice, the rest of his body would transform into a tiger. He would leave the two portions of the yellow-colored rice there and would leave to hunt the sheep of the villagers.
After satiating his hunger by killing a sheep of the villagers, he would come back to the place where he had put the yellow-colored rice. When he would eat one portion of the rice, half of his body would turn into a human. Then he would eat the other portion of the rice and he would fully return to a human. In this way, he was passing his life happily in that remote and peaceful area taking advantage of his mystical power.
The shepherds had never seen the sage go to the village and beg for food. They wondered what the sage was living on. However, he looked healthy and strong. When the villagers went to see him in his house, he talked sweet and held them spellbound. There was no grounds for the villagers to suspect the sage.
Some of the villagers later started doubting the sage when they had lost many sheep. They started to spy on the activities of the sage. Thus, they discovered the misdeed of the sage. Therefore, one day one of the villagers hide himself near the cottage of the sage. He watched carefully to see what the sage did to transform himself into a tiger. When the sage became a tiger and left for his prey, the hiding man came out and took one portion of the yellow-colored rice the sage had left.
The tiger killed a sheep, ate until he was full and returned to the cottage. He ate one portion of the yellow-colored rice and was half transformed into a man. When he tried to get the other half of the rice, he couldn't find it. He searched everywhere in vain. There was no way he could transform himself fully into a man without eating the other half of the rice. Thus, he remained half-man and half-tiger. With that form of body, he suffered very much and wandered everywhere. Finally, he was caught in a trap the villagers had laid and was killed.
A painful ending, like that of the sage, is sure for anyone who misuses his power and harms others.
