The Golden Temple

: Deccan Nursery Tales

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

king who had four daughters-in-law. He loved three of them very dearly,

but the fourth, who was an ugly little girl, he did not like at all. To

the three daughters-in-law he gave nice food and fine clothes. But

to the ugly little daughter-in-law he gave nothing but scraps from

his table and thick, coarse clothes to wear. He would not even let her

sle
p inside the house, but made her sleep in the stable and look after

the cows. The poor ugly daughter-in-law grew so unhappy that, when the

first Monday in Shravan [26] came, she ran out of the palace, and out

of the town, and then away as fast as her fat little legs would carry

her. At last she went and hid herself in the woods. Now it so happened

that that very day a band of serpent-maidens [27] had come up from

Patala. After wandering through the forest and bathing in the running

streams, they had joined a bevy of wood-nymphs and were coming in her

direction. At first she was too terrified to say a single word. But at

last she asked, "Ladies, ladies, where are you going?" "To the temple

of Shiva," they replied, "to worship the god. For by doing that, one

wins the love of one's husband, one obtains children, and one comes by

the wish of one's heart." When the ugly daughter-in-law heard that by

doing what the serpent-maidens and the wood-nymphs were about to do

she could win love for herself, she at once thought that in this way

she, too, might win the love of her father-in-law. So she told the

serpent-maidens of Patala and the wood-nymphs that she would go with

them. They went deeper and deeper into the forest until at last they

came to a temple of the god Shiva. There the serpent-maidens and the

wood-nymphs offered to the god rice, betel-nut, incense, flowers, and

the leaves of the bel tree. The ugly little daughter-in-law did just

as they did. And when she had finished she cried out, "O God Shiva,

please, please vouchsafe my prayer also, and make my father-in-law

and my mother-in-law, my brothers-in-law and my sisters-in-law like

me as much as they now dislike me." That evening she went home and

fasted, and all the scraps which they threw to her from the king's

table she gave to her favourite cow. And then she sat by herself and

prayed to the god Shiva. The following Monday she once more ran out of

the palace and out of the town and into the woods as fast as her fat

little legs would carry her. There she met again the serpent-maidens

of Patala and the bevy of wood-nymphs and went with them to the

temple of Shiva in the distant heart of the forest. The first time the

serpent-maidens and the wood-nymphs had given her the incense and the

flowers, the rice and the betel-nut, and the leaves of the bel tree,

with which to perform her worship. But they had told her that the

next time she must bring them herself. So when she ran away on the

second Monday in Shravan she brought with her incense and flowers,

rice and betel-nut and bel-tree leaves, and after offering them and

some sesamums to the god she once more prayed, "O God Shiva, please,

please grant my prayer and make my father-in-law and my mother-in-law,

my brothers-in-law and my sisters-in-law like me as much as they now

dislike me." Then she went home and fasted, and giving all her dinner

to her favourite cow she sat by herself and prayed to Shiva. That

evening the king asked her who the god was whom she was honouring,

and where he lived. The ugly little daughter-in-law replied, "Afar

off my god lives, and the roads to him are hard, and the paths to him

are full of thorns. Where snakes abound and where tigers lie in wait,

there is his temple." The third Monday in Shravan, the ugly little

daughter-in-law again started from the palace with her flowers and

incense, her betel-nut and bel leaves, her rice and sesamum, in order

to meet the serpent-maidens of Patala and the bevy of wood-nymphs, and

with them to worship the god in the hidden depths of the forest. This

time the king and her other male relatives followed her and said

to her, "Ugly little daughter-in-law, take us with you and show us

your god." But the temple of Shiva was ever so far from the king's

palace. The ugly daughter-in-law did not mind, for she was used to

cruel treatment. She had also walked to the temple twice before, and

her feet had got as hard as two little stones. But the king and his

relatives were tired to death; and their feet swelled up to the size

of an elephant's, and they became as full of thorns as the back of a

porcupine. And they muttered to each other, "How on earth does that

ugly little daughter-in-law manage to walk as she does through the

heart of the forest?" The ugly daughter-in-law at last felt sorry for

them. She prayed to the god Shiva to build a temple near at hand. The

god consented, and, with the help of the serpent-maidens of Patala

and of the wood-nymphs, he created suddenly a beautiful temple all of

pure, yellow gold. Its pillars were studded with jewels, and the jars

in it were all of crystal. In the middle there rose from the ground

an altar to the god Shiva. And last of all the god revealed himself

to the king and his companions in all his glory and splendour. For

a moment only they saw him; and then he vanished. The king and his

companions stared, too astonished to move or speak. But the ugly

little daughter-in-law prostrated herself and offered to the god

flowers and incense. Then she cried out, "O God Shiva, please, please

vouchsafe my prayer and make my father-in-law and my mother-in-law,

my brothers-in-law and my sisters-in-law like me as much as they now

dislike me." When the king heard her prayer his heart softened to her,

and he spoke kindly to her and gave her jewelry and trinkets. In a

little while he took off his turban and, placing it on a peg, walked

out to look at a lovely lake which, unnoticed by any one before,

now stretched out close by the temple. And behind him strolled out

his companions. But when they had gone out of sight, the beautiful

golden temple by the lake vanished for ever. After looking at the

lake the king came back to fetch his turban which he had left in

the temple. But he could not find the beautiful temple all of pure,

yellow gold, with its jewel-studded pillars and its crystal jars. The

king asked the little daughter-in-law the cause. She said nothing,

but straightway walked deeper into the forest. And the king and his

companions, although weary to death, followed her. At last they came to

the temple where she had worshipped, together with the serpent-maidens

from Patala and the bevy of wood-nymphs. It was a tiny temple,

and inside it there was a rough altar. At the foot of the altar lay

the flowers which the ugly daughter-in-law had offered to the god,

and close by on a peg hung the turban left by the king. Again the

king asked his daughter-in-law the meaning of what had happened. She

replied, "This temple that you see is my own poor little temple. But,

because of my prayers, the god Shiva showed himself to you in the

beautiful temple, all of pure, yellow gold, with its jewel-studded

pillars and its crystal jars." When the king heard her reply, he grew

more pleased than ever with the daughter-in-law whom formerly he had

so disliked. And because the god had revealed himself at her prayer,

the king, to do her honour, sent for his royal palanquin and had her

carried home in state. And the ugly little daughter-in-law became out

of the four the king's favourite. And he was so much nicer to her than

he was to his other three daughters-in-law that they became as jealous

as cats. But the king and the ugly little daughter-in-law did not mind

them the least little bit. And they both lived happily ever afterwards.



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