United States or Vietnam ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
In the fulness of time the month of Shravan came and with it Nagpanchmi Day . In honour of the festival, one little daughter-in-law went to her grandpapa's house, another went to her great grandpapa's house, another went to her father's house, until at last only the youngest daughter-in-law remained behind.
As stated in the Haft Iqlim to have been the case in Koch Behar, so also in Jaintia, persons frequently voluntarily came forward as victims. This they generally did by appearing before the Raja on the last day of Shravan, and declaring that the goddess had called them.
The poor woman said she was the daughter-in-law of a Brahman, and explained how every year she had given birth to a son on the last day of Shravan, how it had died in the middle of the Shradh feast, and how at last her father-in-law had put the child in her lap and had driven her from home and into the forest. The hobgoblin's wife repeated, "If you value your life at all, go away."
We only see on the canvas of our mind the picture of a beautiful woman, passing under the shelter of the flowering kadambas in the darkness of a stormy Shravan night, towards the bank of the Jumna, forgetful of wind or rain, as in a dream, drawn by her surpassing love.
One first Saturday in Shravan he got up as usual and said to the youngest of his daughters-in-law, "To-day is Saturday; you had better stay at home, and although there is very little in the house, you must try to get some sort of a dinner ready. Go upstairs and scrape together all the grain there is in the grain-jars and make bread with it.
He at once married the girl to his disciple and gave them a house to live in close by his own. Now, on the first Monday in the month of Shravan, or August, the disciple got up and said to his wife, "I am going out to worship the god Shiva. But do not wait for me. Just eat your breakfast directly you feel hungry." He went out, and in a little time his wife began to feel hungry.
But it so happened that on every last day of the month of Shravan, from the day of his father's death onwards, his daughter-in-law gave birth to a little boy. And just as the Brahmans had begun to enjoy their dinner, the child would die. So all the Shradh ceremonies had to cease, and the poor Brahmans had to be sent away feeling most dreadfully hungry. This happened regularly for six years.
He would not even let her sleep inside the house, but made her sleep in the stable and look after the cows. The poor ugly daughter-in-law grew so unhappy that, when the first Monday in Shravan came, she ran out of the palace, and out of the town, and then away as fast as her fat little legs would carry her. At last she went and hid herself in the woods.
Now on the last Sunday in Shravan, when husband and wife went to lie down, the former noticed a light shining under the bed. He looked to see what it was, and saw several platefuls of jewels. He asked his wife whence they had come. Now they were really the uneaten breakfasts, which the god Shiva had turned into gold and jewels.
One day she felt her poverty so much that she went to a gossip of hers who lived close by and told her all about her troubles. The neighbour could suggest nothing better than that the poor woman should worship the goddess Shukra or Venus. So she told the Brahman woman to fast every Friday through the month of Shravan. Every Friday evening she should invite a married lady friend to her house.
Word Of The Day