Stories Related to Navaratras
THE POOR BRAHMIN AND THE TOMARI
Once upon a time there was a very poor Brahmin. He was a religious man and prayed to the Goddess Durga every day. He decided one day, that he would go to the temple of the Goddess Durga during Navratri. As the time came near, he tried his best to gather something valuable to offer to the Devi. He could not find anything worthwhile to take with him, and could only think of his scythe and sieve, with which he used to work on his small piece of land. Since he could not find anything else, he just put these two tools in the bundle with some clothes and food. And went along with the yatris (pilgrims) to the temple.
For nine days he prayed in the temple like everyone else, and when other people offered their cash and jewellery, he offered his scythe and sieve and placed them on the altrar. Soon the puja was over and everyone left for home, but the poor Brahmin stayed behind, and sat behind the altar of the goddess. The idol of the goddess was decorated in full glory. Now the Devi felt a great heaviness on her back, so she called one of her langooras and said to him: 'O lad go and see, who sitting at the back door of the temple? The boy went running and quickly came back to report: 'O Great Mother, a very poor and thin Brahmin is sitting there. He seems too weak and hungry to even move.' The goddess then said: "Go and fetch him here, and let me see as to why he is tarrying, when all else have gone'. The Brahmin was brought into the presence of the goddess, and she asked him: 'Good Brahmin, why haven't you gone? The puja festival is over, and there is no one left but my pujari. Moreover why are you so thin, O Brahmin? He replied with tears in his eyes: 'Mother, O Mother, I am a poor Brahmin, and I am thin because I hardly have anything to eat, and now that I have given my scythe and sieve to you, I have nothing left with which to earn myself a single meal for even a day'. The Devi Ma was touched by his plight, and said: 'Here, take this tomari (basket made out of a dry pumpkin) with you, and whenever, you ask for food or anything else, it will be there before you. You will never go hungry, as you can ask for any amount of the choicest food'.
The Brahmin was very happy, and after taking the tomari, he made his way to his little thatched hut in the village. He soon asked the tomari to get him some good appeared there right in front of him! He ate with relish, and was so delighted that he thought of inviting the whole village for a feast. Not content with that, he decided to invite the king as well. Soon he went around the whole kingdom, and announced that he wanted all the people to have the afternoon meal with him on the very next day, and that he would also be inviting the king! The people were very puzzled and curious as to how this impoverished man would provide for so many, and even for the king! However, they all agreed to attend.
The next day they set out for the lunch, but some prudent ones left some food cooked at home, as they were quite sure that they would come back home hungry. They were surprised when they saw the king along with his men making his way towards the house of the Brahmin. All the persons sat on the grass with a pattal (dry leaf used as a plate) kept in front of them. The Brahmin brought out his tomari, and said: 'Dear tomari, spread the choicest dishes, fit for our king'. No sooner had the words been uttered that such a sumptuous meal was laid out on golden plates, that the eyes of everyone nearly popped out in surprise! They all ate to their heart's content, and the king was very impressed. He asked the Brahmin the secret of it all, and said: 'O Brahmin, you cannot have come into such riches by any known means'. The Brahmin revealed the whole story and said: 'See this is the tomari that the Great Mother has given to me', and showed it to all gathered there. The king's men quickly seized it, saying that such a thing should belong to the king, and no one else. They marched off with the tomari leaving the poor Brahmin in a very sad state. He decided to go back to the temple of the goddess, and narrate to her the tale of the cruel king, who wanted everything for himself.
He joined a group that was going to the temple, and went along with them. He did the same thing as before, and stayed behind even after all had left. Again, the Brahmin was summoned in front of the Devi and she asked him why he had come again, for she had already given him a gift that none else in the world had ever seen or possessed. Now, the Brahmin told her the entire story. On hearing this, she became very angry with the selfish king and his mean. She asked her langoora to go and fetch the tomari's sister mogari and she gave it to the Brahmin and told him to again invite the whole village along with the king and ask the mogari to do as the tomari had done.
So it happened that there was again a great feast where everyone arrived eagerly, along with the king, to have lunch at the Brahmin's house. They were curious to know if the Brahmin could manage a grand meal again without his tomari. The King was also anxious to come, since the tomari (which his men had forcibly taken) when asked to produce food, would just produce bitter seeds, which made the king very unhappy.
Everything was arranged at the Brahmin's house with great pomp and show, just as it had been before. Everyone sat down with great enthusiasm, as they could hardly wait for the meal to begin. The Brahmin brought out the mogari and said: 'O great mogari given to me by Great Mother Goddess, do justice to this gathering for they have come with great expectations'. The mogari picked itself up, and started beating the entire gathering, including the king, who got really sacred and asked the Brahmin to stop it. The mogari would not stop and only when everyone had been thrashed soundly, did the Brahmin ask it in the name of the Mother Goddess to stop. Now it did so and said: 'This is for the selfish and unkind things you have done to this man of God. Give him back the tomari, otherwise I will beat you black and blue. All of them agreed at once, and since in any case the tomari was giving nothing but bitter seeds to eat, the king agreed to give it back and save himself and the rest from this terrible beating.
The Brahmin explained that the Mother Goddess and told him to do all this, and he did not really mean to harm or insult anyone. The king them understood that a person who has enough should not be greedy and snatch away other people's belonging, and that the Mother Goddess looks after everyone who worships her and is faithful to her. So the king asked all who were gathered there to worship Durga Ma every six months, and thank her for whatever she had given them, and only ask her for whatever they needed, and surely they would be rewarded like the Brahmin.
3. THE KING AND THE MAIDEN
Once upon a time there was young king, who was very fond of hunting, and liked to go into the jungle as often as he could. So whenever he was free, he would take along his best young men, and go off looking for something to hunt.
One day, while he was looking for something to hunt, he saw a beautiful maiden sitting under a tree, and singing in a melodious voice. She was wearing ornaments made of flowers and leaves, and was looking so lovely that the king decided to marry her. He soon brought her to his kingdom. A grand wedding was arranged and the maiden became a very beautiful queen. But the maiden, in reality, was the daughter of a farmer, who earned his living from the fields, and brought wheat and millet into his home, and his children, would even eat them raw. The children grew to like their food that way. So, one day when out queen saw some fields, she asked for some sheafs of millet and wheat. She was happily chewing them when the king saw her from a distance. He was very curious, but could mot come to her at once, since he was busy doing the rounds of his kingdom and looking after the welfare of his subjects. However, in the evening, when he met the queen, he asked her what she had been eating. As our queen had been telling everyone that she was a princess from a very rich kingdom and thus was used to a grand way of life, she could not tell the king the truth. So, she told the king that she had been chewing pearls and rubies, which she had brought from her home. The king was very impressed, and asked her to show him the pearls and rubies. The queen managed to make some excuse for that day and quickly ran to the temple of the Mother Goddess. There she lay down flat before they deity. The Goddess was disturbed, and asked her langoora to go and find out what was the problem with the woman. The queen, with tears in her eyes, told the langoora to take her to Durga Ma. The queen was take to the Devi, who asked her: 'What is troubling you my child, that you have been sitting here without food and water for so long?' The queen replied, 'O Mother, Please help me as I have been lying to the king to whom I am married that I am the daughter of a very rich king, who has a great palace in which I used to live, and that I ate pearls and rubies as snacks. Now what do I do? Please, Please help Me! The goddess looked sternly at her, and told her that lying always landed people in trouble, but since she had already done penance by staying at the temple for so long without food and water, and has also prayed with a true heart, she would be rewarded, and said, 'Go my child, and take your husband to the very tree in the jungle under which is he saw you for the very first time'.
The queen did just started on the visit to the kingdom of her father. On reaching thee, they all looked stunned at the grand palaces, houses, roads, wells, gardens, and fountains - even he king was dazzled! The whole convey stayed there for a long time. They were entertained and fed with the choicest of foods that one could imagine. Soon they had to leave for their own kingdom. With a heavy heart, the king bade farewell to all the grand people of that kingdom.
They had travelled a little distance when the king realised that he had left behind his dhoti (a loose type of lower garment worn by mean in India) drying out in the backyard of the palace. Since the dhoti was an expensive one, he sent his horsemen to fetch it. The horsemen obeyed the command and went back to the place where the kingdoms was. But they could not find anything except an old tree amidst a big dense jungle.. They peered inside the jungle and thought that they must have missed the place, as they could find no palace, no houses, nor roads, no fountains! So they came back to their king and with bewildered expressions told him that there was nothing there except an old tree. The queen heard of this and came running to the king, and said: 'My lord, I must confess that I have committed a great sin in telling you a lie when I said that I belonged to a great sin in telling you a lie when I said that I belong to a great kingdom. The king was surprised and asked her: 'Then tell me, who entertained us, and provided us with us such luxury to live in'. She replied: 'All that you saw, O Lord, was conjured up by Deviji, to whom I had prayed after having lied to you.' The king then asked: 'Really my queen does Deviji bestow such abundance on those who pray to her? The queen said 'Sire, I am merely a villager, who lived near the tree where you first saw me. I was only eating millet and wheat, when you saw me in the fields. But as I was afraid that you would thrown me out if you found out the truth, I had to lie to you'. 'You, my queen, whom Deviji has blessed, really are a very pure person for she only listens to those who are good at heart', the king said. 'Now, let me order all my subjects to pray to Deviji every six months for nine days, before the commencement of every winter and summer.
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