The Evil One and the Rat - Part One

 

The Spirit of Creation had finished the work and came to see what had been done. There were mountains, rivers, rice fields and beautiful valleys. The trees danced in the wind and beautiful flowers all over.

The Spirit of Creation was very happy.

The Evil One suddenly appeared before the Spirit of Creation. “You do not have to be so happy.” The Evil One sneered. “There are many things that you have created that are neither useful nor beautiful. This thistle is ugly. The bramble is not useful either.” The Evil One studied the Spirit of Creation. “If I had created things, I would have done it much better.”

The Spirit of Creation became very angry on hearing this. From the anger of the Spirit of Creation, a rat was created.

The rat looked huge and fierce.

As soon as the rat had been created, the rat jumped into the mouth of the Evil One and bit off the tongue of the Evil One.

The Evil One screamed in pain. But then the Evil One realized it. If the rats are here, they can torment all of earth.

So the Evil One increased the number of rats until the rats overran the Land of Ainu.

After this the people were very unhappy. The rats carried off their grains and gnawed the huts that people made and also frightened little children. 

So the people went to the Spirit of Creation. “Please take these pests away.”

Adapted from Japanese Folktales

The Strange Story of King Kanakavarsha and Madanasundari - Part Nine

After this, Ratnaprabha, the Nagi brought Madanasundari and the little baby to the king.

The king was thrilled to see his family and that was when Ratnaprabha continued. “When I heard the curse of Skanda, I took your wife and child away from you, so that they would not have to suffer because of your curse.”

The king was stunned because he realized that his aunt had been the terrible woman who had in reality kept his family safe.

Ratnaprabha smiled at the king. “The dream that you had as described by the monk meant that you would undergo three life-threatening events and then things would go back to normal for you. Now that you have overcome all of that, you can take your family and go back to your own kingdom.”

On hearing this, Muktiphala realized the mistake that he had been about to make and to make up for it, King Muktiphala made friendship with Kanakavarsha.

Kanakavarsha accepted the friendship of Muktiphala and after that, he took Madanasundari and his baby back to the kingdom. 

He made Madanasundari his chief queen and then the two of them ruled their kingdom happily and well.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Strange Story of King Kanakavarsha and Madanasundari - Part Eight

In an attempt to escape the elephant the king ran straight into the forest and he made sure that the path that he was running was full of holes. As the king ran the elephant madly charged him and the elephant did not see properly and it fell into one of chasms on the ground and was killed.

The king was now filled with fatigue and he collapsed near a huge lake. The lake was full of lotuses and the king drank and bathed the water of the lake. He even ate the fibres of the lotus as food.

The king then went to sleep because he was overcome with tiredness. As the king slept some guards returned from hunting on that very path. The guards saw the king with auspicious marks all over his body and were surprised. The guards tied the king and took him to their own king who was King Muktaphala.

King Muktaphala was a believer in human sacrifice. As soon as he saw the man with the auspicious marks on his body, king Muktaphala realized that this man would be an apt sacrifice.

However, just before king Muktaphala could kill the other man something very strange happened. The bounds around the other man's hands fell off.

King Muktaphala realized that he was not supposed to kill this man and hence spared King Kanakavarsha's life. 

Thus this was how King Kanakavarsha had three attempts made on his life within the one year that he had been away from his wife and his son and King Kanakavarsha escaped all of it.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Strange Story of King Kanakavarsha and Madanasundari - Part Seven

 

A lion roared and came out of a cave at the very place that the king was lying down.

At that time a celestial being from the sky descended from the sky. The being was a Vidhyadhara and the Vidhyadhara was a fierce warrior. He pulled out a sword and struck the lion dead in a single blow.

After that, the Vidhyadhara turned to the king. “King Kanakavarsha, what are you doing here?”

The king tiredly studied the Vidhyadhara. “How do you know me? Who are you?”

The Vidhyadhara looked at the king with kind eyes. “I had been a religious mendicant in your city. At that time, at my request you helped me complete some rites and by doing that, I could make a goblin as my servant. With the powers of goblin, I have become a Vidhyadhara.” The Vidhyadhara smiled at the king. “When I saw you and saw that the lion was about to attack you, I came here to save your life.”

The king nodded in relief and that was when the Vidhyadhara told the king that if she were to get his wife and child back he had to go on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Goddess Durga in the Vindhya Hills. “The Goddess would be pleased with you and you may get your wife and child back.” 

After that the king set out to the shrine of Goddess Durga in the Vindhya Hills.

As the king was walking he saw a huge and furious wild elephant came charging at him.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Strange Story of King Kanakavarsha and Madanasundari - Part Six

For five days, things were normal in King Kanakavarsha’s palace. However on the sixth night, something terrible happened. 

A cloud formed covering the entire sky and suddenly a wild wind began to blow in the skies. Huge raindrops pelted the people in the kingdom. 

Then a terrible woman with a sword in her hands appeared in the palace and she took the baby from the hands of the queen and ran away.

Screaming the queen ran after the woman.

The attendants of the palace were bewildered and did not understand what was happening, mostly because of the terrible weather outside.

The terrible woman jumped into a tank along with the child and the queen also jumped into the tank trying to get her child back.

Once this happened, the cloud disappeared and everything became normal in the palace.

The king came to the inner chambers of his queen and then found his wife and child missing.

He was shocked to find that they were missing.

The king was heartbroken and gave up everything including his kingdom. 

He roamed around the forests of Vindhya trying to remind himself of his wife and his child.

Wandering around, the king reached the foot of the Vindhya mountains. He was hungry and thirsty and he drank some water from a stream and sat down at the foot of a tree.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Strange Story of King Kanakavarsha and Madanasundari - Part Five

 

In these times, there were instances of certain females being cursed on entering the shrine of Skanda. So as soon as the Nagi Ratnaprabha heard the words of the Skanda, she left the body of King Kanakavarsha.

Kanakavarsha did not know this and entered the shrine of Skanda.

Skanda looked at the king and realized that the king was missing something. Using the powers of his meditation, Skanda immediately realized that something was wrong.

That was when Skanda realized that the king had used the help of the Nagi Ratnaprabha to overcome the trials when performing his penance.

Skanda became furious and cursed the king. “You have tried to deceive me for a son. So for this, I curse you that you will be separated from your son.”

Kanakavarsha was aghast when he heard Skanda’s words.

But the king collected himself and tried to pacify Skanda with his words.

Skanda studied the king with his anger mollified by the words of the king. “If you survive the dangers faced by you, then you will get your wife and son back.”

The king was relieved and then went back to his own kingdom.

There King Kanakavarsha and Madanasundari soon afterwards had a son.

The king was very happy and showered riches on all the people in the kingdom. 

Kanaka meant gold and Varsha meant a shower in Sanskrit. 

So on the birth of his son, the king literally lived up to his name and showered gold to all his subjects happily.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Strange Story of King Kanakavarsha and Madanasundari - Part Four

The Nagi Ratnaprabha listened to the king attentively and was silent after the king had finished.

Finally she nodded at the king. “Your dream would be relevant only when a child is born to you. I suggest that you go to the Skanda, the son of Lord Shiva and pray for a son.”

The king nodded and Ratnaprabha continued. “It is not easy to get a boon from Skanda. I will enter your body and give you inner strength when you face the trials imposed by Lord Skanda on you.”

The next day, the king went to his ministers and asked them to take care of the kingdom. After that the king went alone and performed severe penance.

The Nagi Ratnaprabha entered the king’s body.

As the king performed penance, rain fell on his like thunderbolts. But with the help of Ratnaprabha’s power, the king was able to withstand it.

Then a terrible serpent appeared before the king, but the king did not fear the snake and continued with the penance.

Then the serpent bit the king, but the king did not back away. The Nagi Ratnaprabha helped him counter the last attack. 

The king continued with his penance and this time he even sang praises of Skanda.

Finally Lord Skanda appeared before the king. “You are a very resolute man.” The God told the king. “I am pleased with you. So ask me any boon that you want and I shall grant it to you.”

“I want a son born to me, a son should have your blessings.”

Skanda smiled at the king. “One of my Gana called Hiranyavarsha will be born on earth as your son.”

Skanda nodded at the happy king. “Come to my inner shrine now.”

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara