The Blue Lotus: Myths and Folktales of India by Nayak Meena Arora

Author:Nayak, Meena Arora [Nayak, Meena Arora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rupa & Co
Published: 2018-09-25T16:00:00+00:00

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MARIAMMA AND YELLAMMA

Rishi Jamadagni was one of the seven chief rishis. He was married to a beautiful royal princess, Renuka, and the couple lived a virtuous and contented life in the rishi’s ashram in Peripalayam. They had five sons; the youngest among them was Rama Jamadagnya, who later came to be known as Parashurama—the Rama who wields a battle-axe.

Every morning, Renuka used to go to the river to fetch water for her husband’s puja. She never took a vessel with her in which to fill the water, yet she returned every day with a pot full of water. She was such a chaste wife that with the power of her chastity, the water used to settle itself on her head in the shape of a pot.

One spring morning at the river, as Renuka straightened up to adjust the pot-shaped water on her head, she saw a reflection of a very handsome gandharva, who was flying past, probably on his way to Indra’s court. It was not an uncommon sight. Spring was the season when nature spirits came to earth for sport, and since gandharvas were known for their musical talents, they were most often on earth, enjoying the symphony of spring. Renuka had seen many nature spirits, but this gandharva was more handsome than any male she had seen, and she was strangely affected—just for a fleeting moment. But, in that split second, the water pot on her head shattered, drenching her. Renuka was ruined. She wondered how she would go home. Surely her husband would ask her why she had returned without the water. Why was she soaked? What would she tell her husband? Her mind in turmoil, Renuka sat by the river, waiting for her clothes to dry and her courage to return so that she could face her husband.

In the meantime, Rishi Jamadagni wondered why his wife was so late returning from the river. With his spiritual vision, he sought Renuka at the river bank and saw for himself what had happened and knew that Renuka was no longer a chaste woman. He was furious, and as he waited for her, his fury grew. As soon as Renuka stepped over the threshold, he commanded his eldest son to cut off her head. Trembling in fear at his father’s anger, the eldest son refused. Jamadagni then ordered his second son to do the deed, but he, too, trepidatiously refused. In the same way, the other two sons were also not willing to kill their mother. But the youngest, Rama, followed his father’s orders, and picking up a battle-axe, came at his mother.

Terrified, Renuka turned around and ran towards the village, trying to escape her axe-wielding son. When she saw the open door of a hut, she quickly slipped inside and shut the door behind her. This was a washerwoman’s hut, and seeing Renuka’s panicked face, she quickly hid her. But Rama had seen his mother go into the hut. He broke down the door and cut off the heads of both Renuka and the washerwoman.

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