Saturday, June 25, 2011

The story of Chithrarekha and also four gems as told by Sampradayavalli doll

The story of Chithrarekha and also four gems as told by Sampradayavalli doll

Retold by
P.R.Ramachander

On the twenty ninth day Bhoja raja after his morning duties again started climbing on to the throne of Vikramadhithya. He was stopped on the twenty ninth step by Sampradayavalli doll. It told him that he does not have great qualities of the king Vikramadhithya and is not fit to occupy the throne. Then king Bhoja asked that doll, “Doll please tell me about the greatness of Vikramadhithya. The doll started telling the following story.

King Vikramadhithya was so great that he never saw any differences between beings and helped them all. Because of this the Devas and Gods helped him always. Don’t you know that once a man takes a firm decision Gods would help him? Have you heard the story of princess Chithrarekha regarding this? When king Bhoja feigned ignorance of the story of the princess the doll started telling the story of Chithrarekha.
Chithrarekha was the pretty princess of the country called Pundravardhanam. In that country lived a great carpenter and weaver. They were very close friends. One day the weaver happened to see Chithrarekha and fell in love instantly with her. But he was told by the people of the country that the princess had decided to marry Lord Vishnu and no one else. When with great dejection the weaver told this to his carpenter friend, he promised to help. The carpenter built a flying doll of garuda, the eagle on which Lord Vishnu rides. The weaver himself weaved remarkably great yellow silk cloth. Then he dressed himself as Lord Vishnu and flew in to the terrace of the palace in which Chithrasena lived. Chithrarekha thought that he was Lord Vishnu and treated him with reverence and informed him her wish to marry him. The weaver gladly agreed and the marriage and it was performed the Gandharwa way. From then on daily the weaver used to visit the princess at night. Due to her bodily changes, her friends informed the king, that there was something wrong with the princess. When the parents confronted her, the princess told that Lord Vishnu was her husband and he was daily visiting her at night. He asked her parents to hide in the terrace and watch coming of Lord Vishnu. When they say the weaver dressed in silk coming on flying Garuda, they were convinced. But the king started becoming very proud that Lord Vishnu himself was his son in law. So he stopped paying tribute to his emperor. The emperor, who was very strong, came with a large army to attack him. Then the king approached Chithrasena and asked her to request Lord Vishnu to save her father. The weaver readily agreed and started towards the army of the emperor. Seeing this the devas went to Lord Vishnu and appraised him of the situation and also told that if the weaver was defeated all human beings would lose faith in Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu was convinced and riding on Garuda, he exterminated the army of the emperor using his Chakra. The weaver was pleasantly surprised.
Ending the story like this Sampradayavalli doll continued with the story of king Vikramadhithya. Once king Vikramadhithya thought that there was no point in keeping great riches. So he decided to give it all away to the needy people He sent invitations to all Gods. Among them he sent a poor learned Brahmin to invite the God of the sea. The Brahmin went to the sea, prayed God of the sea and told him that he has been invited by king Vikramadhithya. Nothing happened and was returning. The God of the sea took a human form and approached that Brahmin. He told him that due to his position he cannot attend any function in earth. So he gave him 4 gems to him, which were to be delivered to king Vikramadhithya as his present. The first gem would get all wealth that is desired. The second gem would give the food that is desired. The third one would give a powerful army and the fourth one would give luxurious home, dresses, wealth etc. When he gave them to the king, he told that he was happy with the present but wanted to give one of those to the Brahmin. The Brahmin wanted to consult his family before making the choice. While his son wanted gem giving army, he himself preferred that which would give wealth. His wife preferred that which would give food while his daughter in law preferred that which would give luxuries. Not able to take any decision the Brahmin went and told the king that he does not want any of them. Understanding the reason, the king gave him all the four gems.


The doll then told, “Oh king Bhoja, this is the greatness of Vikramadhithya who occupied this throne. If you think that you are equal to him, then you can definitely go up. Bhoja returned back that day without further climbing.

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