After our darshan, I used to be shifting with the others in direction of a big banyan tree beneath which Swamiji was about to start his sermon of the day: the story of Ganga Sagar. The solar was robust however the tree’s branches offered the perfect cowl so all people was bunching up within the shade. Prahlad, Saroj and their youngsters sat down within the entrance row beside Sarla Aunty, who was patting the sweat on her brow dry. And Veeranwali Mataji, adjusting her listening to help, sat behind them, as did Subhadra Aunty.
The entrance rows had been thus occupied. Which was simply as nicely, as a result of Rashmi Masi stated she couldn’t sit on the ground anyway and Mayank had solely simply discovered a plastic chair for her. We discovered a spot on the again.
Gracefully crossing his legs, Swamiji sat down on the tree’s round cement base. It made for the perfect podium. He then licked his lips. “All people comfy?”
“Ji, Swamiji!” Srishti stated.
Swamiji smiled at her, clapped his arms. “Sab prepared?” And the hubbub of voices went down a decibel.
“There was a King Sagar,” he started, and the chattering now altogether ceased. “… And at some point, he summoned his kingdom’s realized saints and astrologers to his court docket. He requested, ‘What punya karm [good deed] have I performed to be king?’ The astrologers analysed his start chart and stated, ‘In your earlier life, you had been a jackal. In that life, anyone had deserted a child woman within the jungle, and also you picked her up and reared her as your individual little one. And this woman, she grew to change into very lovely. So, at some point, a king passing by means of the world determined to seize her. However you and your pack blocked his path.’
“You stated: ‘O King, it doesn’t behove you to take our woman like this! We’re her mother and father and won’t give her to you until you first ask for her hand in marriage. And you should guarantee us you’ll deal with her with respect and love, solely then we are going to conform to this alliance.’”
Rashmi Masi was straining to catch Swamiji’s phrases. Mummy held out her hand: I’ll clarify later. Mayank met my looking gaze and gave a wry smile. He motioned forward: Pay attention!
Swamiji stated, “The King, surrounded by all these animals, needed to agree. He noticed that the woman had your complete jungle’s backing. So he begged the jackal for her hand in marriage and the jackal agreed to present his daughter to him.
“The astrologers then advised the King that of all of the charities on this planet, kanya daan” – giving your daughter away to her husband and his household – “was the most important, and it was due to this deed that the jackal grew to become a king in his subsequent life.”
For some purpose, mummy determined to present us an English interpretation on the again: “In our Hindu custom, marriage is a sacrament,” she stated. “Kanya daan is thought to be the best charity as a result of a toddler who you’ve nurtured together with your entire coronary heart is given to the groom to boost his household.”
Veeranwali Mataji spoke up: “In our days, when a lady went to her husband’s household, different kinds of daan had been additionally given: home goods and utensils to arrange the brand new home. Folks used to do chakki [flour mill] daan, or give a chulah [stove].” She sat again and gathered her knees collectively.
“Sure, mataji.” Swamiji smiled and the previous woman smiled again.
“King Sagar then had a sudden thought. He stated to the pandits, ‘Inform me, what daan can I do to change into a king of the devtas?’ And the pandits stated that if he did kanya daan of 60,000 ladies, then his place because the King of Devtas was assured. And so King Sagar determined to undertake an incredible yagnya. However now” – Swamiji raised his eyebrows, produced his teasing face – “Indra acquired apprehensive,” Indra, the King of Gods, whose weapon is the thunderbolt. “His seat was beneath risk.
“Because the King Sagar’s yagnya progressed, the gods grew to become happy. However when he opened his mouth to state the article of his prayers, that he ought to beget 60,000 putris…daughters, simply then, simply at that instantaneous” – Swamiji clapped his arms and seemed to Srishti with playful eyes – “Indra struck his thunderbolt into the King’s mouth in order that he couldn’t utter the ‘I’ maatra,” the “I” vowel that turns the phrase putr – son – into putri – daughter. “And so the phrase which got here out of King Sagar’s mouth was ‘putr’. And consequently, 60,000 sons had been born to him!”
Srishti giggled and Sarla Aunty clapped her arms and there was the gentle wind of murmurings that comes when a narrative has reached a delightful denouement.
A small laughter escaped my lips, too. For this story showcased marvellous wordplay, didn’t it? It was mythology, however like all good tales, it sparked the creativeness. Identical to all these years in the past whereas watching the Ramayana on TV the arrows of fine and evil lit up the sky…
Mummy continued: “These 60,000 sons crossed all norms of decorum and even saints weren’t spared! … Then, at some point, these Sagar Putras, sons of Sagar, learnt that there was a wish-fulfilling cow, the Kama Dhenu, with the sage Kapila Muni who lived in an ashram by the Nice Sea. And they also reached Ganga Sagar.”
“Kapila Muni is without doubt one of the earliest rishis of the Satyug,” Swamiji added.
(As per lore, I ought to add that there exists an alternate model of this story based on which the prayer that King Sagar needed to carry out was the Ashwamedha Yagnya, the Vedic horse sacrifice, for he believed doing this may give him dominion over your complete planet. However Lord Indra hid the sacrificial horse close to Kapila Muni’s ashram by the ocean and when the 60,000 Sagar Putras found it there they mistook him because the thief!)
As per each variations of the story, nonetheless, the Sagar Putras ready to assault the meditating Kapila Muni. However earlier than they might, the rishi opened his eyes emitting a terrific hearth bolt and decreasing the 60,000 of them to ashes.
Kapila Muni cursed the Sagar Putras that they might by no means be forgiven for attacking him. He stated that for this sin even their progeny would undergo. Then, many generations later, one in every of King Sagar’s descendants, Bhagiratha determined to carry out a Bhagirathaprayatnam, forefathers’ sins. Standing on one leg at Gangotri, he beseeched God to launch the Ganga from the Heavens, and Lord Vishnu was so impressed that he despatched the Ganga right down to the Earth as a river. When the Ganga first descended, she got here with such torrential power that the Earth was susceptible to being obliterated. And so Lord Shiva stepped in to include Her in his matted locks.
Watching the yaatris lap up Swamiji’s each phrase, a maze of ideas handed by means of my thoughts:
Religion started with story-telling, however you needed to know when to return to actuality, no? At what level did this conventional love for the daughter change into an excuse for girls’s exploitation? How simple-minded these individuals had been! Did it’s important to be so simple-minded to have religion?
Excerpted with permission from Tripping Down The Ganga: A Son’s Exploration of Religion, Siddharth Kapila, Talking Tiger Books.