Parwati And The Priest

: Deccan Nursery Tales

Once upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there was a

temple to the god Shiva. One day when Shiva and his wife Parwati

were walking about they happened to come to this temple. They sat

down there and began to play saripat. [17] After some time Parwati

seeing a priest close by asked him who had won, she or Shiva. "Shiva,"

the priest replied. Parwati became very angry and cursed him, so that

he became a leper
and the pains which overtook him were absolutely

unendurable. One day a band of Apsaras [18] came down from heaven to

the temple. They saw that the priest who lived in it was a leper,

and they asked him the reason. He told them how Parwati had cursed

him. They replied, "Do not be afraid; do as we tell you and you will

get rid of your leprosy. Fast all next Monday, bathe that evening,

worship the god Shiva, and then get half a pound of flour and mix

it with treacle and ghee and eat it for dinner. But whatever you do,

eat no salt all day. Do this for sixteen Mondays in succession, and

on the seventeenth Monday get five pounds of flour, mix with it ghee

and treacle, and offer it to Shiva inside this temple. Then divide it

into three parts; leave one for the god, distribute a second among

the Brahmans or give it to your cows, and take the third home to

be eaten by you and your family." The Apsaras disappeared, and the

priest followed their instructions and became quite well. Some time

afterwards Shiva and Parwati came again to the temple. Parwati saw

the priest cured of his leprosy and asked him how he had got rid of

it. He told her exactly what he had done. She was very much surprised,

and thought that if she did the same she might win back her son

Kartakswami, [19] who had quarrelled with her and had run off in a

rage. On the seventeenth Monday Kartakswami suddenly appeared, and

both of them were reconciled. Later on, Kartakswami asked Parwati how

she had brought him back, and Parwati told him. Now Kartakswami had a

Brahman friend who had gone into a far-off country, and Kartakswami

met him by accident shortly afterwards. He told the Brahman how the

priest had cured himself of leprosy, and how he and Parwati had become

reconciled. So the Brahman also practised the same rites for seventeen

Mondays. He then set out for a distant country. As he travelled he

came to a town. Now it happened that in that town arrangements were

being made for the marriage of the king's daughter. Several princes

had come from far-off countries to compete for her hand, and the king

had erected a splendid pavilion for the royal betrothal. But he would

not himself choose a prince to be his daughter's husband. He ordered

that a garland should be placed on a she-elephant's trunk, and that

the prince round whose neck the she-elephant threw the garland should

be chosen to marry the king's daughter. But the she-elephant passed

by all the princes in turn, until she came to where the Brahman

stood. For he had come with the crowds of people to see the royal

betrothal. Then the she-elephant stopped and put the garland round

the Brahman's neck. The king ordered the Brahman to step forward, and

he married him to his daughter. Some years later when the princess

grew up, and she and the Brahman began to live together, she asked

her husband by what merit he had succeeded in winning her for his

wife, and he told her. And she in turn practised the same rites for

seventeen Mondays. Nine months later a beautiful baby boy was born to

her; and when he in turn grew up she told him the rites which she had

practised to obtain him. And he in turn began to perform them. On the

sixteenth Monday he set out for a journey. As he travelled in a distant

country he came to a town over which ruled a king who had no son and

only one daughter. The king had for a long time past been searching

for a beautiful and virtuous young man, resolved when he found him to

hand over to him his kingdom and marry him to his daughter. As the

Brahman's son entered the town the king saw him and noticed on him

all the marks of royal origin. So he summoned him to his house and

married him to his daughter and seated him on his own throne. Now

the next Monday was the seventeenth Monday since the Brahman's son

had begun the rites which the Apsaras had told to the priest. That

morning he got up and went to the temple and sent a message home to

his wife that she should send him five sers of flour mixed with ghee

and treacle. But the queen was too proud to do this. For she feared

that the people in the street would laugh at her if she sent her

husband five sers of flour mixed with ghee and treacle. So instead

she sent him five hundred rupees in a plate. But because the flour

and ghee and treacle were not sent, the king was unable to complete

his ceremonial, and it was all spoilt. And the god Shiva instead of

being pleased became very angry indeed. And he told the king that,

if he kept the queen as his wife, he would lose his kingdom and die

a beggar. Next day the king sent for his chief minister and told him

what had happened. At first the minister said, "The kingdom belongs

to the queen's father. If you drive her out your subjects will hate

you." But the king replied, "Yes, but not to obey the god's command

is a worse thing still." At last the minister agreed with the king,

and the order went forth that the queen should be driven out of the

city. So the queen was driven out and became quite poor and wandered

along the road. At last she came to a distant town and lodged there

with an old woman, who gave her food and drink. One day the old woman

sent the queen out to sell fruit puddings. As she went into the bazaar

a great wind came and carried off the fruit puddings. When she returned

to the old woman's house, the queen told her what had happened, and

the old woman drove her out of the house. Then she went and lodged

with an oilman, who had great jars full of oil. But one day she went

and looked inside the jars, and all the oil disappeared. So the oilman

drove her off out of the house. The queen left the town and walked

along until she came to a river with abundant water in it. But directly

her eyes fell on the water, it all flowed away and left the water-bed

quite dry. She then journeyed on until she came to a beautiful lake,

but when her glance rested on the lake, it became full of worms, and

the water began to stink. And, when the cowherds came as usual to

water their cattle, the cattle would not drink the stinking water,

and they had to go home thirsty. By chance a Gosavi, or holy man,

came that way and saw the queen, and she told him her story. The

holy man took her to his house and treated her as his own daughter,

and she did her best to serve him faithfully. But, at whatever thing

she looked, it would either disappear or become full of worms and

maggots. At last the holy man searched for the cause of this by means

of his inner knowledge. And thus he learnt that she had incurred the

sin of spoiling the worship of Shiva, which the Apsaras had first

taught the priest. Unless that sin were atoned for, her evil glance

would never be purified. So the holy man prayed to the god Shiva,

and the god was pleased with him; and when the holy man interceded

with him on the queen's behalf, the god said that he would forgive her

if she began and completed properly the rites which she had spoiled

when her husband was performing them. The queen did so, and the god's

anger vanished. Suddenly there rose in the heart of her husband, the

king, a wish to see his queen, and he sent out messengers on every

side to look for her. At last one of the messengers saw the queen in

the holy man's hermitage and went back and told the king. The king

was overjoyed, and, taking his chief minister with him, he journeyed

to the hermitage. He threw himself at the holy man's feet and then

loaded him with presents. And the holy man was pleased and said,

"O King, I have treated your wife exactly as if she had been my own

daughter. She has lived here just as if she had been in her father's

house. Now take her with you back again and once more go through the

marriage ceremony with her." The king consented, and both he and the

queen prostrated themselves before the holy man, and then they both

returned to Atpat. And they celebrated their home-coming with the

greatest splendour. And the rest of the king's reign was as happy as

possible. And we shall be just as happy if we honour Shiva like the

King of Atpat did.



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