The story of Sargunavathi of Nirjeeva pattana as told by eleventh Vidhwath siromani doll

The story of Sargunavathi of Nirjeeva pattana as told by eleventh Vidhwath siromani doll.

Retold by
P.R.Ramachander
On the eleventh day Bhoja raja after his morning duties again started climbing on to the throne of Vikramadhithya. He was stopped on the eleventh step by Vidhwath siromani 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:-
Once before starting on his six month sojourn in forest, Vikramadhithya send Vetala to locate some very strange place. Vetala after a lot of search came back and told.”There is a town called Varanapuri which was ruled by its king Koil swaroopa. At his old age he became father of a pretty daughter called Sargunavathi. When she grew up in to a pretty girl she was given great education. She also became a very pretty girl. She was kept under the guard of women. Once when day Koil swaroopa went for hunting he took alcoholic drinks and happened to see the wife of a saint. Attracted by her he tried pulling her by his hand. The sage’s wife who was a very chaste and pure lady cursed him, “What you have done is unpardonable. Let you and your country become corpses on all days and come alive at night. Immediately her curse took effect. From that time the princess used to wake up at night and spend all her night time on the terrace thinking about her future. At this time one powerful Rakshasa who used to live in Himalayas came wandering and saw this town which wakes up at night. He was terribly attracted by the princess and took her away by force to his home in the Himalayas. The princess who was intelligent told him that he was willing to be his wife but after a three month penance prescribed for virgins to get a good long living husband. The Rakshasa was overjoyed and permitted her to carry out her penance. Next night when the king and queen were not able to find their darling daughter, they cried a lot and are searching for her. This is the story of Varanapuri.”
Vikramadhithya, whose sojourn to the forest was due, immediately left for Varanapuri. He felt extremely sad and prayed his Goddess, the Kali of Ujjain. She immediately came to his presence and told him that the princess was in immediate danger and the curse can be lifted only by the wife of the sage. She also told him how to find the wife of the sage. With the help of Vetala, Vikramadhithya took the form of a very old man, went near the home of the sage, arranged for a big fire to be lit and was about to jump in it. Hearing about an old man committing suicide, the wife of the sage came and asked him, why he was attempting suicide. Then the old man (Vikramadhithya) told her, “I belong to a city called Saraswathi pattanam. For a very long time, I did not have a son and a son was born to me at my very old age, after great penance. I taught him all arts and science and when he came of age, he married the daughter of Veda Shasthara Bhatta of Varanapuri. I brought the groom and bride to my home. After a few months they went for a visit to Varanapuri. By that time everything has changed there. In the day time all people became corpses. His wife seeing the sorrow of her parents continued to live with them. One day I went to bring them back and came to know of the sorrowful life that they were leading. When I asked them about it, Veda Shastra Bhatta blamed my son for the state of affairs as this state of affairs took place after his marriage. Unable to bear this unjust accusation, my son committed suicide. Due to this his wife also committed suicide. Unable to bear this shock her parents also committed suicide. I am also very sad about all this and want to die.”
The sage’s wife then told, “All that did not happen due to your son but because of the curse given by me. Since none of you were responsible for this, I am removing the curse that I put on the town. Now all people would wake up including your son’s family. “
Vikramadhithya profusely thanked her for her gesture and left along with Vetala in search of the princess and the Rakshasa. They found her out easily. They were fortunate to see her alone as the Rakshasa had gone out. As soon as the princess came to know that it was king Vikramadhithya who had come to rescue her she told him, “There is only one day left of my intended penance told by me to the Rakshasa. He wants me to marry him tomorrow. So please take me along with you.” Vikramadhithya replied, “Dear Princess, I do not steal or take away people like that. When the Rakshasa comes back ask him, how you can be safe with him as he would be killed by somebody soon. I will come again tomorrow and then you can tell me what he had told you.”
That day the Rakshasa came back happily but the princess acted as if she was very sad. When he asked why she was sad she replied that she was scared and sad for his life. Then the Rakshasa told,
“I cannot be killed that very easily. In the bottom of Mallikarjuna Mountain, there is a Vinayaka temple. Below the statue there is a tunnel. That would lead you to a tortoise called Koormathi. In the stomach of the tortoise, there is caterpillar. My soul is on the head of the caterpillar. If some were to bring the caterpillar, cut it in to half and throw before me, then only I will die. So you need not get worried.” The princess acted as if she was happy and appeared to look forward for her marriage with the Rakshasa.
When this was informed to Vikramadhithya, he went riding on the Vetala to the Mallikarjuna Mountain, located the temple and after praying God, entered the tunnel, killed the tortoise and brought the caterpillar. He killed the caterpillar in front of the Rakshasa and killed him.
While he was returning back, a poor very learned Brahmin fell on love with the princess and requested for her hand. Seeing the intensity of his love, Vikramadhithya took him along with him to the kingdom of the princess and gave her in marriage to the Brahmin and made him the new king of the country.
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