I have a friend Dr.Madhusudhan Ramachandra Joshi
AKA M.R.Joshi or just Dr.Joshi.A psychiatrist in Hyderabad .
In his house during one of the innumerable Hindu festival rituals, some tree leaf was distributed among friends and relatives as 'SONA" .I did not know then this story behind this tradation .I doubt even he knew about this
Kautsa, the young son of Devdatt, a Brahmin, was living in the city of Paithan. After completing education from Rishi Varatantu, he insisted on his guru accepting Guru Dakshina (present).
But Guru said, "Kautsa, to give 'dakshina' in return for learning wisdom is not proper. Graduation of the disciple makes the guru happy, and this is the real Guru Dakshina."
Kautsa was not satisfied. He still felt it was his duty to give his guru something. Finally the guru said, "Alright, if you insist on giving me dakshina, so give me 140 million gold coins, 10 million for each of the 14 sciences I have taught you."
Kautsa went to king Raghu. Raghuraja was an ancestor of Lord Rama, famous for his generosity. But just at that time he had emptied all his coffers on the Brahmins, after performing the Vishvajit sacrifice. He asked Kautsa to give him three days' time. Raghuraja immediately left to get the gold coins from Indra. Indra summoned Kuber, the god of wealth. Indra told Kuber, "Make a rain of gold coins fall on the "Shanu" and "Aapati" trees round Raghuraja's city of Ayodhya."
The rain of gold coins began to fall. King Raghu gave all the coins to Kautsa, and Kautsa hastened to offer the coins to Varatantu Rishi. Guru had asked only 140 millions, so he gave the rest back to Kautsa. Kautsa was not interested in money. In those days honor was considered more valuable than wealth. He asked the king to take the remaining gold coins back. But the king refused to take them back as kings do not take back the daan (gift).
Finally Kautsa distributed the gold coins to the people of Ayodhya on the day of Ashwin shukla dashami. In remembrance of this event the custom is kept of looting the leaves of the "Aapati" trees, and people present each other these leaves as "sone" (gold).
This story has a hidden meaning to it.
It teaches us to share whatever we have with each other. The one who gives also gets something. We too have something to exchange, as much valuable as the leaves exchanged during dasara and that is, our hearts.
Vartantu Gotra
The word "gotra" signifies "lineage" in Hindu religion. Each gotra takes the name of a famous Rishi or sage who was the patrilineal forebearer of that clan. Descendants of Rishi Vartantu are classified under Vartantu Gotra
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