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Vikram and Vaitaal Stories-2
- Story 6 (Keral
Version)
"Captain
Sir Richard R Burton's Vikram and the
Vampire: classic Hindu tales of
adventure, magic and romance" / edited by his wife Isabel Burton. [etext
Conversion Project, Nalanda Digital Library, NIT Calicut, Kerala State,
India]
6-Three Men
Dispute About a Woman
Vaitaal
started a new story - "There was a city named Dharm-sthal where lived
a Keshav named Braahman. He was a very pious man and worshipped his own
made images. Until 20 years of age, he neglected his studies and
worshipped Kaam Dev and his wife Rati. One day his father rebuked him for
his behavior and
he went away from his house and wandered around, that he came under a fig
tree which shaded an image of Panchaanan. An evil idea came to his mind,
he defiled the image of god and threw it into a nearest tank.
Next
morning, whose livelihood was that image, came there and didn't find the
image. He got very disappointed and reported the loss to village people.
In the meantime, Keshav's parents also came searching him. A man said to
them, that he did see a man sitting near the image but what happened to
that man or image, he didn't know. The villagers suspected that maybe the
same man was the
stealer of that image. Keshav also accepted the theft and showed them the
place where he threw the image. Villagers got very angry at this and they
decided that such a man should be condemned to death. Keshav got
frightened at this and from the same moment he decided to obey his parents. Then
he became the most learned man of the village.
Keshav
had a very beautiful daughter whose name was Madhumaalatee. When she
became of marriageable age, all three, her father, mother and brother got
worried about her marriage. It is said that "An unmarried daughter is
ever a calamity over a house."; and "Kings, women, and climbing
plants love those who are near them."; and "A woman cannot be
kept in due subjection, either by gifts or kindness, or correct conduct,
or the greatest services, or the laws of morality, or by the terror of
punishment, for she cannot discriminate between good and evil."
It so
happened that once Keshav went to one of his customers and his son went to
study, that a young man came in the house. Keshav's wife found him
suitable for her daughter and said to her, "I will give my daughter
to you." Keshav also made a promise to a youth at his customer's
place, and the brother also promised a boy at the place where he went to
study.
After
a few days father and son came back home accompanied by the two suitors
and the third one was already seated there. The first boy's name was
Trivikram, the second one's name was Vaaman and the third one's name was
Madhusoodan. All three were very qualitative in mind, body, knowledge and
age. The father thought, "There is one girl, and three bridegrooms,
to whom to give this girl and to whom not to give. It is a strange
circumstance. What should we do?"
He
then proposed a trial of wisdom. He said - "Whoever will quote the
most excellent saying of the wise, I will give my daughter to the
same." Trivikram said - "Courage is tried in war, integrity in
the payment of debt and interest, friendship in distress, and the
faithfulness of a wife in the day of poverty." Vaaman said -
"That woman is destitute of virtue who in her father's house is not
in subjection, who wanders to feast and amusements, who throws off her
veil in the presence of men, who remains as a guest in the house of
strangers, who is much devoted to sleep, who drinks liquor beverages, and
who delights in distance from her husband." Madhusoodan said -
"Let none confide in the sea, nor in whatever has claws or horns, or
who carries deadly weapons, neither in a woman, nor in a king."
Madhumaalatee
is Dead
While
the Braahman was still deciding to whom to marry his daughter, that a
serpent bit the girl and she died in a few hours time. All were motionless
by the sudden death of the girl. After a while they rose called all kinds
of sorcerers, wise men and women but nobody was able to bring her alive.
One said - "One always dies who is bitten on the 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th
and 14th days of lunar month." The second said - "One always
dies who has been bitten on a Saturday or a Tuesday." The third said
- "Poison infused on certain lunar mansions cannot be got
under." The fourth said - "One who has been bitten in any organ
of senses, the lower lip, the cheek, the neck, or the stomach cannot
escape death." The fifth said - "In this case even Brahmaa
cannot bring her to life. We go now and you prepare for her funeral
rites."
Her
father did her last rites and came back. The three boys decided to travel
as Indra had adviced to travel. Before parting, Trivikram had taken her bones
and became one of Vaisheshikaa, a powerful sect in those days. He took
oath to not to commit 8 great crimes - feeding at night; slaying an
animal; eating the fruit of trees which give milk, or pumpkins, or young
bamboos; tasting honey or flesh; plundering the wealth of others; taking a
woman by force; eating flowers, butter or cheese; and worshipping the gods
of other religions. He professed the five vows of total abstinence from
falsehood, eating meat, theft, drinking spirits, and marriage. He vowed to
possess only a loin cloth, a towel to wipe his mouth, a beggar's dish, a
brush of woolen threads to sweep the ground for the fear of treading on
insects.
The
second boy, Vaaman, tied up the ashes in a bundle and followed the
precepts of Manu, the lawgiver - to perform five great sacraments, wear
black antelope hide; not to cut hair, beard, and nails; taking bath three
times a day; standing in water in winters, sitting surrounded by fire in
summer and standing outside in rainy season; live in a hut without a
house; wholly silent; and eating only fruits and roots.
The
third boy, Madhusoodan, took a wallet and neckband, became a Jogee and
began to wander far and wide. In order to see Brahm he followed these
duties - hearing, meditation, fixing the mind, and absorbing the mind. He
combated the three evils - restlessness, injuriousness, and voluptuousness
by settling the deity in his spirit, by subjecting his senses and by
destroying desires. Though he was connected with worldly affairs, still he
was not indulged in them as he did not consider them realities. He
practiced Praanaayaam, 84 Aasan (postures) etc.
One
day Madhusoodan went to a house for food. The householder offered him food
and sat himself also along with him to take food. He said - "No guest
must be dismissed in the evening: he is sent by he returning Sun and
whether he comes at a right time or wrong time, he must not leave without
being entertained. Let me not eat any delicate food without asking first
my guest to partake of it." As his wife served the food, that her child
began to cry and wouldn't be quiet even after lots of persuasion, so she
got angry and threw him into the fire which burned him instantly.
Seeing
this Madhusoodan rose immediately without eating. The master asked -
"Why don't you eat?" He said - "I am an A-Tithi, that is
OK, but how can eat in such a house where such devilish act has been
performed. He who does not control his passions lives in vain. A foolish
king, a person puffed up with riches, a weak child, desire that
which cannot be procured. And "A king destroys his enemies, even when
flying; and the touch of an elephant, as well as the breath of a serpent,
are fatal, but the wicked destroys while laughing."
The
master went to another room, brought a book (scroll) in which Sanjeevanee
Vidyaa was written. He immediately restored the child by using that book
saying - "Of all precious things the most valuable is the knowledge,
because other riches may be stolen, or diminished by expenditure, but
knowledge is immortal, the greater the expenditure the greater the
increase. It can be shared with none, or it defies the power of a thief;
or it can be distributed to everyone."
Madhumaalatee
is Alive
The
Jogee thought if I could get hold of this book, I can make my beloved
alive. With this resolution he sat down to take food and remained in the
house to spend the night. After taking the food all went to sleep, but the Jogee couldn't
sleep. When four hours of night passed, he got up, stole the book and went
straight to the spot where Madhumaalatee was burned. There he found his
two companions talking about their experiences. As he arrived there, both
of them had recognized him and asked aloud - "What new did you
learn?" He said - "I have learned the science of restoring the
dead to life." Both of them immediately spoke together, "If you
have really learned it, then bring our beloved alive."
He
proceeded to start the process. All the three drew their blood and offered
to Chandee Devee. Then they made a burnt offering of their flesh and each
one prayed - "Grant me to see, O Goddess, our beloved alive again,
for which I present my flesh to you, invoking you for being kind to
me." Then they made a heap of bones and ashes which have been kept
carefully by Trivikram and Vaaman. A white vapor arose from the ground and
gradually condensed into a woman form - Madhumaalatee. She asked them to
take her to her mother's home.
Now
they started quarreling about her to make his own wife. Trivikram told if
he had not kept those bones for such a long time, Madhumaalatee could not
have been revived. Vaaman told that if he did not keep her ashes,
Madhumaalatee could not have been revived. But Madhusoodan told that they
had already kept the bones and ashes for so long, but were not able to
revive her; only he revived her with his knowledge."
After
telling the story so far, Vaitaal said to Vikram - "Thus nobody could
decide who belonged to Madhumaalatee, maybe King Vikram can tell us
that." Vikram
immediately replied - "To Vaaman who kept her ashes." Vaitaal
asked - "But if Trivikram had not preserved her bones how could she
be revved? And if Madhusoodan had not learned the science of revival, how
could she be restored to life? At last it seems to me. What your royal
wisdom says?"
Vikram
said - "Devil, Trivikram who preserved her bones, he reserved the
right of being her son by doing that act; therefore he could not marry
her. Madhusoodan who restored her to life, was naturally her father; so he
could not marry her. Therefore she could be of Vaaman only who kept her
ashes."
Immediately Vaitaal jumped out from the bag and suspended from the tree.
Vikram
thought- "I think I should sit down and listen to his story, perhaps
walking and listening to the story together confuses me." Vaitaal
opposed the idea of this as it was contrary to covenant between the King
and Vaitaal. Vikram repeated the words of his contract and told that those
words were not in his contract. Vaitaal kept quiet at this, then said -
"I will not say a word." But he was also bound by Destiny, so as
Vikram set off, he again started telling a true tale.
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