A Folklore about Righteousness

Hello

How is your reading and writing life?

I read this story in a book of folklore in childhood.


Once upon a time, there was a king who was very righteous. The people of his kingdom loved him as he took good care of their needs.

Then, the country faced a problem. The economy of the country fell. To stabilize the economic condition, the king held a fair where any person could bring anything to sell. If any item was left out, the king promised to buy it himself.

The fair started and it became a success. The people were happy. At night, after the fair ended, the king went to visit the venue. He saw a poor person in tattered clothes sitting alone with an idol of a deity. The king asked him why he was there. He told that as it was an idol of Alakshmi (deity of bad omen), no one bought it and he was waiting for the king to buy it as promised.

The king bought the inauspicious idol against protest of everyone. Because, he always kept his promises. He brought the idol in the prayer room of his palace.

That night his sleep broke by the sound of crying of a female. The sound was coming from the prayer room. He started to go in that direction. He saw a female coming out of the prayer room. He asked her that who was she and why she was crying. She answered that she was his Grihalakshmi (household deity of prosperity) and she was crying as she had to leave his household. He asked her the reason of leaving. She said that she cannot stay in the same household where the Alakshmi was staying. He begged her to stay. She told him to remove the idol of Alakshmi so that she could stay. But, the king could not break his promise. And, he saw Grihalakshmi leaving his home with a sad heart.

Then, he saw another female coming out of the prayer room. She was Lakshmi (deity of prosperity). And, she also said that she could not stay in the same home with Alakshmi. After that, Saraswati (deity of knowledge) and other deities left, too. The king, promise-bound, saw everyone leaving helplessly.

In near dawn, he saw Dharmaraj (deity of righteousness) coming out of the prayer room, as well. This time he stopped the deity. He said that he did not stop other deities from leaving. But, he kept his promise and by doing so, he upheld his dharma or righteousness. He could not let Dharmaraj leave him. And, Dharmaraj had to agree with the king and he went back to the prayer room.

As Dharmaraj stayed, other deities, who left the king earlier, also came back. Because, the deities stay where there is dharma.

The poor person who sold the king the idol of Alakshmi, came to him and revealed himself as the Supreme God. He congratulated the king as he won His test of righteousness.


So, the moral of the story is that one needs to stick to their principles.

Keep Reading and Writing!

Thanks

Bithi


Copyright 2018 by Bithi Paul