by Anita Nair
Rohini sighed, ‘I know, my dear sisters. But how can I send him away when he comes looking for me?’
Rohini did her best to send Soma away but in spite of that he continued to lavish all his attention on her. The other wives could bear their hurt no longer and went back to their father’s home.
The rishi Daksha stared at his daughters in surprise. ‘What has happened? Why have you all come back? It’s only a few days since you were married. And where is Rohini?’
The girls put their heads in their laps and wailed, ‘Father, we do not want to stay with him any more. He ignores us and spends time only with Rohini. It isn’t her fault. She does try to send him to us but he seems to like only her. So we decided to return home. Why live with a husband who doesn’t care for us?’
Daksha was horrified to hear this and went to Soma’s palace. There he advised the moon god to be impartial and love his wives equally, and treat them all in the same manner. Soma agreed and the other twenty-six wives returned to their husband’s home.
But soon they discovered that nothing had changed. The moon still preferred to be with Rohini. So the wives went back to Daksha and this time he was so angry that he cursed Soma, ‘Since you gave my twenty-six daughters only a fraction of your time, you will be stricken by consumption and be reduced to a fraction of your size.’
Soma became very ill. All day he coughed and spat blood. He could neither eat nor sleep and lay on his bed wishing he were dead. Every day he grew thinner and thinner and his wives began to feel very sorry for him. So they went to their father and pleaded that he take back his curse.
Daksha shook his head and said, ‘I can’t take the curse back. But I can modify it. His condition will come and go, which means the illness will only be periodical.’
And so for a few days of the month, the moon is stricken with illness and reduces in size. Then it recovers and becomes whole again.
Damayanti’s Swayamvara
Nala was the king of Nishadha. He was brave and handsome, virtuous and learned and very skilful with horses. Nala heard about Damayanti, the princess of Vidarbha, and fell in love with her merely by all that he heard about her. Damayanti too fell in love with Nala without seeing him. They wrote to each other, using a swan to carry their messages back and forth. And even though they never saw each other, their love for each other was complete.
Meanwhile the king of Vidarbha decided to hold a swayamvara. All the kings and princes were invited to the swayamvara where Damayanti would choose her husband by garlanding him. Nala too set forth to the swayamvara quite sure that Damayanti would choose him as her husband.
On the way, Nala met the four gods Indra, Yama, Varuna and Agni. Nala was delighted to meet the mighty gods and, as a mark of homage, he bowed before them and said, ‘Your wish is my command.’
The gods smiled at each other and said, ‘In that case, we would like you to go to Damayanti and ask her to choose from one amongst us four gods.’
Nala, having given his word, had no way of extricating himself from this mess. He pleaded, ‘But how can I see her? She will be in her chambers.’
The gods smiled. ‘That doesn’t matter. We will teach you to be invisible. You can then enter her chambers and tell her our heart’s desire. By the way, this mantra will work just once.’
Nala did as they asked him to. But Damayanti didn’t know it was Nala who had come as the gods’ messenger and sent him away saying her mind was made up. So he returned to the gods saying she was in love with someone else. ‘But perhaps you should send another messenger whose persuasion skills are better,’ he advised.
The gods smiled, having understood with their divine powers that it was Nala whom Damayanti loved. ‘Never mind, we will take your form but you are not to let her know by word or gesture which one amongst us is really you.’
So the four gods and Nala entered the great hall where the swayamvara was being held and they were announced as Nala, the king of Nishadha. Everyone looked up in surprise when they saw five men, all exact replicas of each other. The audience held its breath. Who was the real Nala? And would Damayanti recognize him?
Soon Damayanti walked into the hall carrying a garland. She walked past all the kings and headed straight towards where the five Nalas stood. Damayanti’s eyes widened. Then she smiled and said nothing. She looked at the five men and, without any hesitation, garlanded the real Nala. The gods assumed their real form and Yama, who was curious, asked, ‘How did you know who the real Nala was?’
Damayanti smiled and said, ‘My love for Nala is strong and true and I would know him even if there were a hundred lookalikes in the room. Besides, Nala is a man and I knew that the other four were gods. I saw how Nala’s feet touched the ground and his body threw a shadow and his eyes blinked. I knew for sure that who my heart had guided me to was the man of my dreams.’
The four gods smiled and blessed the couple and left. And so Nala and Damayanti were united and they lived happily for many years.
How Destiny Overtook Parikshit
Parikshit was the son of Abhimanyu and Uttara. In the great battle at Kurukshetra, Abhimanyu, who was Arjuna’s son, was killed. One by one, each one of the Pandava children were killed and the only child left to carry forth the line was this unborn child of Abhimanyu.
Aswathama, Dronacharya’s son, decided to destroy Parikshit as well. He took a blade of grass, muttered an incantation and hurled it. The blade of grass fell like a thunderbolt and killed Parikshit, who was in his mother’s womb. But Krishna came to the rescue and Parikshit was brought back to life. Thus the sole heir to the Pandavas was born. When Yudhishtira retired from the world, Parikshit succeeded him to the throne of Hastinapura.
Parikshit ruled well but soon he became so proud of his success as a king that he forgot the norms of good behaviour and became haughty and proud.
One day he went hunting with his friends and was in such high spirits that he disturbed the peace of the forest. He maimed animals, shot down birds, pulled down trees and soon he arrived at a clearing where a sage sat meditating.
He waited for the sage to greet him. But when the sage didn’t, he lost his temper. He saw a dead snake lying nearby. He took the dead snake and draped it around the sage’s neck. ‘Well, sir, if you won’t greet me with respect, this is how I will greet you,’ he said with a laugh.
The sage opened his eyes and when he saw the dead snake he was furious. He glared at Parikshit and said, ‘Since you are so fond of snakes, I curse you that a snake will cause your death.’
Parikshit reeled in shock. He fell to his knees and pleaded, ‘O sage, I must have taken leave of my senses to have behaved so badly. Please forgive me. Please take back the curse.’
The sage looked at the remorseful king and said, ‘What is done is done. I cannot take back the curse. But if you survive for a year from now, you will never be harmed again by a snake.’
Parikshit thanked the sage and went back to his palace. He called the chief architect and had him build a palace of stone. The palace was built on stilts and it was impregnable. Neither serpent nor any living creature could enter it. ‘I shall stay there till the period of the curse ends,’ Parikshit said and he went to live in his stone palace.
Months passed by and with each day Parikshit began to feel less and less scared. Then there was just one day left. Parikshit thought, ‘If I get past this day, I need never fear death again.’
Soon it became night and there were just a few hours left. Parikshit was unable to sleep even though it was almost midnight. Just a few hours more, he thought. He took a mango from his fruit bowl and cut it open. And from the mango emerged a tiny worm, which bit Parikshit, and thus the king died.
How Narmada Came Down to Earth
Shiva was meditating on top of the Kailasha mountain when suddenly Narmada appeared from his throat. She stood on his right foot and started meditating.
Many days passed and one day Shiva opened his eyes and was astonished to see a beautiful woman perched on hi
s foot. Her radiance was such that she lit up the entire mountain range. She held a kamandal in her left hand and prayer beads in her right.
He looked at her and asked, ‘Tell me, who are you?’
The woman bowed and said, ‘I am your daughter.’
‘What?’ Shiva said. ‘What do you mean by calling yourself my daughter?’
The young woman smiled and said, ‘During the churning of the ocean you saved the world from disaster by drinking the poison that rose. And then you kept it in your throat. I was born from that poison.’
Shiva smiled and said, ‘Do not call yourself the daughter of that venom. You are the result of the strength of my meditation.’
Then he blessed her, ‘Henceforth, you shall carry the radiance you bear through the earth and bless the earth with your presence.’
And so the woman came to the earth as the river Narmada.
Why Yama Couldn’t Ignore Nachiketa
Once there lived a great sage named Vajashrava. He had a son named Nachiketa.
Even as a child, Nachiketa was very interested in the daily practices in the hermitage. On his eighth birthday, he asked his father’s permission to participate in the prayers. Vajashrava realized that it was time for his son to be initiated.
Vajashrava sent Nachiketa to a gurukula. He was taught the various sacred texts. When he was not studying, he and the two other students had to look after the cattle.
One day, Nachiketa saw some cows looking very tired. He wondered why. ‘Oh, those cows are old,’ one of the other students said.
Nachiketa said, ‘How nice it would be if there was no such thing as old age!’
The other student laughed. He pointed to the sky and said, ‘It’s only in heaven that old age and sickness do not exist.’
Nachiketa was curious. ‘How does one reach heaven?’
The other student shrugged, ‘I don’t know. No one knows, I think.’
On another occasion, a deer, who had become one of Nachiketa’s favourite companions, would not get up from its reclining position in spite of his cajoling. ‘Nachiketa, the deer will never play with you again,’ a fellow student said.
‘Why?’ Nachiketa asked, perplexed.
‘Don’t you see? The deer is dead,’ the other boy said.
‘What is death?’ Nachiketa asked.
One of the students there said, ‘Death is when there is no life left.’
Thus started an argument between Nachiketa’s two companions. One said that death is not the end and that life continues. The other said that death was the end.
This verbal duel stirred Nachiketa deeply. He asked his guru, ‘Master, what is the truth?’
The guru replied, ‘One must discover this truth for oneself.’
As Nachiketa was thinking about this, a message arrived from his father asking him to return home. Vajashrava was going to perform the Vishvajit yagna, the giving away of all of one’s earthly possessions. This was considered one of the greatest sacrifices in one’s lifetime.
On arriving home, Nachiketa saw how weak and thin the cattle that his father was giving away were. He feared that his father would be doomed to hell for such meagre gifts. Then he realized that this was all his father had and it made him sadder. Suddenly, he thought, ‘I am healthy and strong. If I offer myself to my father so that he may offer me in turn, he may find the joy he’s looking for.’
Vajashrava agreed to his son’s offer. But now Nachiketa was impatient. Over and over he asked his father, ‘Whom will you give me to?’
His father took this quietly for a while. Then finally, enraged at the pestering, he yelled, ‘To Yama.’ The instant the words flew out of his mouth, Vajashrava repented.
Nachiketa asked his father not to take back his oath. He said, ‘Consider how it has been for those who have gone before and how it will be for those that now live. Like corn, a man ripens and falls to the ground. But corn springs up again in its season.’
Nachiketa journeyed to Yama’s abode with his father’s blessing. When he arrived, Yama was away and he had to wait for three days at his doorstep without food or water.
When Yama returned and saw the young boy and heard his story, he announced that he would give him three boons—one for each night that he had had to wait with no hospitality offered to him. ‘Tell me what you desire,’ he said.
For the first boon Nachiketa asked Yama to grant his father peace of mind and happiness. It was granted.
For the second boon Nachiketa asked Yama to teach him the sacrifice that would take him to heaven, where there was no hunger, thirst, old age or death. Yama taught the little boy all the rites and ceremonies associated with the sacrifice.
Nachiketa paused for a while before he asked for the third boon. ‘Some say that there is life after death,’ he said. ‘And some say there is not. Can you tell me which is the truth? What is the secret of death?’
Yama was taken aback by the request. ‘This is a question that even the gods do not know the answer to,’ he said. ‘Ask me for something else—gold, treasures, earthly pleasure, long life—anything your heart desires.’ But Nachiketa would not be swayed.
Finally, Yama saw the depth of Nachiketa’s passion for true wisdom and began to instruct him. ‘Of the two paths open to men, the wise choose the good. The foolish choose the path of pleasure leading to a never-ending cycle of birth and death,’ he said. He explained further and Nachiketa listened intently.
After Yama instructed Nachiketa, the boy returned home. The body of knowledge he had accumulated is today known as the Upanishads.
Acknowledgements
My mother, Soumini, and grandmother Janaki fed my appetite for myths and legends. K. Gopalakrishnan, Assistant Professor Kathakali, Kerala Kalamandalam, Cheruthurthy, Kerala, in his own inimical manner added and embellished these myths with fresh insights and helped fill the gaps. When I began work on this book, it was their stories and their art of storytelling that I sought to recreate.
However, to make sure that these are authentic versions, I have used as reference pointers A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature by John Dowson and A Dictionary of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell.
Anita Nair
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