An age-old tale

The ray of hope is brightest in the darkest of hour.

In our eternal quest for unwavering trust and everlasting companionship in the ‘one’, we fail to realize that we already have the same – in a mother, a sibling and a friend.

To Chinks, who more often becomes my hope, my ‘akanksha’. Wish you a very happy birthday. May God shower happiness, today and ever.

----------------
An age-old story, retold on 7 March 2010, albeit in a shortened form. The last one my grandfather told us all, to give us strength and courage – his parting advice to his handful of children and two handful of grand children. He lives, through all of us now.


In the ancient village of Mithila lived a farmer couple by the names of Madhava and Vishaka, who were ardent devotees of Devi – the goddess of fortune and prosperity. The couple was hardworking and pious, and earned their living by ploughing a small piece of land that was rented out to them by the local zamindar. The couple toiled day and night to make both ends meet, but were content in their meager earnings.

Soon, Madhava and Vishaka were blessed with twin boys, bringing joy into their life. Though poor, the couple tried to give their sons all that they could afford, including good brahminical education. Though their earnings remained the same, expenses increased manifold due to the added members in the family. Madhava was not to be deterred and continued discharging his duties towards his wife and sons with the same fervor.

Another year later, Madhava and Vishaka welcomed their daughter into the world. With his family growing, Madhava was beginning to get anxious. The piece of land he was farming remained the same in size, but the dependants were increasing, and so were their needs. He had to expand his farm size for increasing output and making more money. He approached the zamindar, albeit with some anxiety – what if the zamindar refused to lease more of his land? Madhava knocked on the zamindar’s doors and waited. The zamindar came out and after listening to Madhava’s proposal, agreed to lease him another piece of land. But there was one condition he had put forth – The land could be retained by Madhava only if he manages to maintain the productivity of both the land pieces equally. If the zamindar felt that Madhava was unable to efficiently manage the lands, the zamindar would lease out both the land pieces to someone else. Madhava, though already burdened, could not refuse, and so returned with another land piece to farm, offering a silent prayer ‘Devi, protect us’.

What Madhava thought to be difficult turned out to be much more tiring than he imagined it to be. Earlier, his wife had helped him in seeding and cutting, but now she was busy with the three children, leaving Madhava to take care of everything by himself. Nevertheless, Madhava continued to go about his work as effectively as possible. Soon, with Vishaka’s wise counsel, Madhava employed two tillers and reduced his work load. But they had to pay the tillers on a daily-wage basis, and Madhava had no money as the first harvest was yet to be reaped. Vishaka had to pawn her jewelry to meet their immediate needs. Not losing hope, the couple toiled day and night and soon it was time for harvest. Their hard work had paid off, and the harvest was bountiful, bringing home much needed respite and relief. They had not only covered their expenses with the harvest money, but were left with a neat little profit too. Offering his gratitude to the Devi, the protector, Madhava invested this money in buying some equipment for his farm, and employing another person for sowing and reaping.

Madhava, with Devi’s blessings, was gradually prospering – he had managed to release his wife’s jewelry and also bought the land that he was renting out from the zamindar. Few years passed, and Madhava became very successful, his farms that he acquired over the years were yielding good harvest and he also started trading not only his produce but also other smaller farmer’s produce. From his meager earnings and frugal living days, he now was a proud owner of a house, had three children who were disciplined and industrious and a wife who was not only his partner through thick and thin, but also his most trusted counsel. On the 15th day of Krishna Paksha Ashwayuja, Madhava and Vishaka arranged for a Devi puja – more commonly known as Lakshmi puja, honouring the consort of Lord Vishnu and the ruler of eight forms of wealth – money (dhanam), grain (dhanyam), courage (dhairyam), education (vidhyaam), success (vijayaam), progeny (santanam), luck (varam) and royalty (gaja). Having performed the rituals, the couple prayed to Devi, the protector, thanking her for her kind grace on them and prayed that she remains thus with them always.

Such is the way of life, what is certain now does not take more than a blink of the eye to change. Madhava and Vishaka’s grit, determination and wisdom was soon to be tested. On the third Friday of Karthika month, Devi appeared before Madhava and Vishaka along with their three children while they were offering their evening prayers, and said thus:
‘Madhava and Vishaka, my children, you have served yourselves and others well with honesty and determination, and have my blessings – through the presence of all of my eight forms of ashta laksmi. But such is the cosmic play, change is inevitable. It is the unwrit rule of OM. I must now leave you and go away from this house. However, since both of you have showed strength of character that is commendable, I will bestow one boon – Ask, and I will stay with you in one of my forms. Choose well Madhava.’

Madhava was stricken. Devi, the protector herself was telling him of his impending doom. His life’s worth of hard work and sacrifice would crumble in front of his own eyes, and he would be helpless. Was there nothing he could do now? Did he have naught a choice? Yes you do have a choice, said a small voice in his head. Hear well, said the voice, the Devi herself is asking you to choose. Madhava regained his composure then, and looked at his wife and children. All seemed to be as much stricken with this turn of events as him. Madhava realized that this was his one last chance to choose wisely. ‘Who shall we ask to stay?’ asked Madhava to his wife and children. All were deep in thought, trying to figure out their most essential of requirements.

First, Madhava’s daughter replied, ‘Father, please ask Vidya Devi to stay. If she bestows her blessings on us, I can study, work hard and regain everything that we stand to lose by securing a good job. That will put an end to our worries.’

Madhava turned to his wife for her opinion and she spoke saying, ‘My lord, it is but a tough decision, akin to asking me choose amongst my children. All are as dear to me, but given the situation, I would suggest you ask Dhanya devi to stay with us. With her grace, there shall be no hunger in this house and we will thus be in good health. We can work and restore our past wealth.’ Madhava saw sense in her argument, but waited for his sons to speak.

The elder of the twins spoke saying, ‘Father, I agree with sister and mother. Education would present us with opportunities and we would be hunger-free and healthy. But what use would it be if there is no success met with any work that we undertake henceforth? Hence I beg you to ask Vijaya devi to stay with us.’ Finally the younger of the twins spoke. He turned to his father and said, ‘Father, what any man finally needs is money. It can bring us food, keep us warm and provide for us in hour of need. Please ask Dhana devi to stay.’ Madhava looked at his son and his eyes were full of pleading.

Madhava had heard all the opinions and their arguments, but Madhava was not convinced himself. As if sensing his conflict, his wife Vishaka said, ‘My lord, whatever may be the differences in our opinions, it remains that all of us will stand by your final decision. Your judgment has never yet failed us, and I know for certain that it will not fail us in the future. So speak, my lord, for all of us, without a shred of doubt.’

Madhava was now at peace. He gave his family one last glance, and turned to Devi and spoke, without a tremble in his voice, ‘Devi, our protector. To what I owe this good fortune I do not know, but by giving me this boon, you have given me a new lease of life. I now know for certain who I would want to stay in this house. Please stay with us in this house in your magnificent form of Dhairya Devi (Goddess of Courage) and grace us well. Pardon our mistakes and protect us from evil.’ The Devi, smiling in her enigmatic way, granted Madhava his wish.

Madhava and his family went back to their respective jobs after the incident. But Madhava knew that trouble was around the corner. The repercussions of the incident would be more evident as time goes by. Soon enough came the first sign of misfortune. The rains had completely failed that season, and Madhava’s wells also had dried up. Madhava had invested a large sum of money into his trading business, and due to the draught-stricken state, even that was bound to get affected. Madhava tried all measures to overcome this obstacle – he spent money trying to dig new wells and figuring out water sources. But none were fruitful, there was not a drop of water in the wells and it was past the time for sowing of seeds. As Madhava feared, his crops failed that season and he incurred heavy losses. Madhava had to repay the loans he had taken earlier, and now he had naught but a penny. He had no choice, but to mortgage his house. Atleast, he thought, there is enough food grain stock in the granary to last us for an year. Due to the failure of crops and depleting money reserves, Madhava did not have enough to pay for his children’s gurudakshina – the customary offering given to the Brahmins teaching his kids. Madhava’s children were forced to give up their formal education with their guru’s and stay at home. His sons started helping him and his daughter assisted Vishaka in her daily chores.

Another year passed, and Madhava met with more losses, forcing him to sell his house and farm land and return to their old, modest dwelling. With poverty and hunger over powering them, the children soon started getting into arguments with one another and petty squabbles broke out more often than not. His children began questioning his decision of asking Dhairya Devi to stay with them. His elder son asked him, ‘Father, tell us what good has your decision done to us? If you had asked Vidya Devi to stay, like sister had asked, we would all have some education to go and find jobs at the King’s court or administrative offices. If you had asked Vijaya Devi to stay like I requested, we would have met with success at least on one of our ventures. Or if there was Dhana Devi like my brother suggested, we would have none of these complaints at all. What are we to do now? We have been going ahead hoping that something might turn our luck, but till when? Are we to stay like this forever?’

Madhava, lost in thought with his children’s outburst, was standing in his aangan, wearing a thread bare dhoti and wondering what to do next, when Vishaka came to him and said in a small voice, ‘Our food supplies are almost dried up, the granary is empty and there is no money left to buy grains.’ Saying so, she held up a small satchel and put it in Madhava’s hand. Madhava immediately knew what it contained and looked up to see his wife. Then he realized that in that house, there were still two people who had enough strength to brave these storms. Madhava went to the lender and secured some money by pawning the jewels. He then counted the sum, and set aside some for household expenses and for his children. The rest, he decided to invest in his trading activity as he did have neither the money nor the resources to undertake farming, which was his primary occupation. He was aware of his risks and shortfalls, but also knew he was left with few options. Determined once again, he returned home and called Vishaka and his children. He gave Vishaka the money he kept aside for household expenses and later gave his children the money he kept aside for them. Puzzled, his three children looked at him, not understanding why they were being given that money, for, they neither had any expenses of their own, nor were they in a state to afford some indulgence spending. Madhava smiled and said, ‘This money is for you all to return to your education. It may not cover all your dakshina requirements, but you can surely start with this and also take up some part-time activity at your gurukul to cover the rest. Education is important in life, and more important is the will to learn whole heartedly. I ask you to share my burden by first acquiring knowledge.’

The three children went to their guru’s ashram the next day and the guru, impressed by their determination to learn despite of their hardships gave the girl the responsibility of cooking for the other pupil in the ashram. To the boys, he gave them the duty of looking after the goshala and tending to the animals. All the three children took up and discharged their duties responsibly, never once complaining about the hectic work and all the school work they had to keep up with.

With the rest of the money, Madhava started his trading enterprise. He started trading in small amounts and across different types – he traded in textiles when it was festival season, in grain when it was harvest time etc. He met with mixed response, with both profit and loss to cope with for different products. But as he kept his investments small and focused on maintaining loyal customer relationships, slowly his enterprise started faring well. He was trying hard to come out of the debt situation and kept spending to a minimum and saving to the maximum.

A few years passed on thus, and Madhava established himself as a small, but honest trader. He now had his essentials needs well covered – a house and a stocked granary. Soon, his children finished their schooling and joined him in his business. With the two lads bringing in new ideas, Madhava’s business started flourishing. He expanded his business and travelled to other cities also, increasing their sales and making more customers. Madhava was now a well known name in Mithila as the trader who could always be trusted, with even the king recognizing his services.

On the third Friday of Karthika month that year, Madhava and Vishaka, along with their children organized the customary yearly Devi puja and were offering their evening prayers. To Madhava’s surprise, Devi appeared before him and spoke thus, ‘Madhava, you had indeed chosen well all those years ago by asking me to stay with you in my form of Dhairya Devi, for it is possible only for Dhairya Devi alone to reside in any abode by herself. In any of my other forms, it would not have been possible for me to protect you from peril, as I would have been rendered handicapped due to lack of courage and determination. Did you realize how your courage and grit of character brought back all of my other forms who had turned their backs on you? Your children showed remarkable strength by studying even in the face of extreme toil and effort, thus bringing back Vidya Devi. Your wife showed perseverance in difficult times, forcing Vijaya Devi to come back to you. You faced all the odds with such courage that Dhana Devi and Dhanya Devi had walked back with fervor into your house. Now tell me Madhava, could the other Devis too not bestow you with their grace? They had naught a choice, and they came back to you. Madhava and Vishaka, my beloved children! I now reside in this house in my complete form of Adi Devi! As long as you have Dhairya Devi in your heart, I will manifest as Adi Devi and protect you from all peril.’

And it was so, that Madhava and Vishaka embodied courage, determination and strength. The secret to life is simple – Be brave, be courageous. Life treats us all the same way, what defines us is how we react to it.