Greatest Folk Tales of Bihar by Nalin Verma

Author:Nalin Verma
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Published: 2019-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

One faces one’s karma even after one’s death.

The Rakshasi’s Sacrifice

Once upon a time there lived a king with his seven sons who were brave and handsome, and loved each other. They were fond of hunting. They hunted birds and animals to feast on with their parents and courtiers every day.

Once, the seven brothers, chasing a deer, strayed into a deep forest. While the deer vanished into the dense woods, the princes entered the area ruled by seven rakshasi sisters. The rakshasis captured the princes and claimed one prince each, according to their age. The eldest rakshasi got the eldest prince as her share. Similarly, the youngest rakshasi got the youngest prince.

The demon sisters agreed to make love to their respective princes. They collectively decided to kill and feast on the princes once they had satisfied their sexual desires. The princes, despite their physical prowess, found it hard to cope with the rakshasis’ lust. But it saved them from dying; so they kept at it.

As the days passed, the youngest rakshasi fell in love with her prince. She gave up the idea of eating him. She treated him as her husband and cared for him well. The prince, too, showed his fondness for the youngest rakshasi who massaged his feet before going to sleep and offered him delicious fruits and meat to eat.

One day, the rakshashis had a meeting to announce that they had fully satiated their desire with the princes and the time to kill them and feast on them had come. They decided to kill their princes the next evening, when they returned after their chores in the forest. But they didn’t communicate this decision to the princes in their custody.

The youngest rakshasi attended the meeting but stayed silent throughout. She was opposed to the idea of killing the man she had fallen in love with. She began thinking of some way to save her man.

As she went to bed, she began massaging the prince’s feet. But she started sobbing. Her teardrops fell on the prince. ‘Why are you weeping?’ the prince asked.

The rakshasi revealed the plan to the prince. ‘I am weeping because I will turn into a widow tomorrow evening. My sisters will kill and devour all of you.’

The prince got frightened and asked, ‘Is there a way we can save our lives?’

To this, the rakshasi suggested, ‘Early morning tomorrow, I will open the back door, which leads to the stable. You will find seven horses tied in the stable. Alert your brothers about my sisters’ conspiracy. You all should silently sneak out of the house once we leave the place. Ride the horses and run away.’

The youngest prince shared the idea with his brothers the next morning after the rakshasis had left the house. The youngest rakshasi had opened the back door. The princes found the horses and fled.

That day, the rakshashis did not enjoy their outing for too long and returned early, only to find that the princes had fled. Soon, they regrouped and began searching for the princes.

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