Who the Gods fear
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Early on in the demon-slaying career of Sri Rama, the prince of Ayodhya went to a swayamvara. He had to string a bow (allegedly Shiva’s) to win a princess’ hand in marriage. In his boyish enthusiasm, he overdid it and ended up snapping the divine instrument in two.
“Oops!” he said under his breath as all of Mithila cheered for him and Sita’s cheeks reddened.
Somewhere far away, the divine triumvirate of Shiva the destroyer, Vishnu the caretaker, and Brahma the creator were watching this live by means known only to them.
Shiva rubbed his forehead self-consciously, taking care not to pry open his third eye by accident. “You will pay for that too, I trust?”
“As always, my lord,” said Vishnu. Brahma as usual, had innocent smiles on all of his faces.
Shiva didn’t like looking stingy. But there were more serious matters at stake here. Had it not been for the vain ceremony, nobody would ever have known he even HAD a bow. He himself didn’t remember the last time he had seen his bow. But now that the snapping of his bow was public knowledge, there was little he could do to stop devotee rampage.
Rampaging devotees was more than even he could handle.
“Don’t worry my lord,” said Brahma, reading his thoughts. “The boy will only have to deal with Parasuram.”
“Nandi’s holy cr*p! Parasuram the Kshatriya slayer?” Shiva was aghast. “I thought he was done already!”
“It won’t be that bad,” said Brahma, smiling. “I dare say he will get away with it.”
Shiva really didn’t want anything to happen to the boy. He saw great promise in him. Just to be on the safe side, he issued the traditional akashvani warning to Rama.
“You know,” said Vishnu. “I was just thinking about how difficult all this would get later. No direct contact with mortals, no akashvani, no nothing. I just looked into Kaliyug and saw some Krishna devotees baying in indignation because someone took the liberty of dressing me in more contemporary garb.”
Silence prevailed for one cosmic second.
“They expect me to wear dhotis for all eternity,” said Vishnu and all three roared with a laughter that by itself would have purged Mrityulok ten times over, had it only sounded here.
Those who believe Ravana himself was present at Sita’s swayamvara, say there was a lot of commotion at the ceremony due to technicalities. Some say the akashvani contained dire warnings. Details! Details!
Posted on Thursday, September 21st, 2006 at 3:39 pm and filed under stories, ramayan.
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Too too good. Why aren’t you writing a book you ass?
Until I read your profile info, I wouldn’t have thought this came from a 23-year old guy. You have so much potential, don’t lose it in your humdrum existence. Please take the time to publish a book, if not now, some day. I have bookmarked you and will be visiting often.
gopal, vidya: Thanks a lot. It feels good not being addressed as a 23-year-old boy.
How do you know all this? Were you a journalist in Mithila? Or a secret agent 008?
I was a journalist working for Tretayug Times.
Please DO write a book, or post more often but beware of the “baying devotees” who’ll probably be after ur blood then!
haha, nice stuff…. hope the book is happening….. i dropped a ramayana idea sometime back for lack of one strategic character….. let me know your mail id, will send you the preface
meanwhile, check this out..seems to be in context - http://manuscrypts.blogspot.com/2005/01/all-in-name.html
Man! seriously.. u remind me of p.g.wodehouse! too good..!! hehe!!
So Sad u Guys think and make this look like a Spoof and especially the writer.iam sorry u dnt really understnd the Sacrifice and the Love tht Rama had for the world.hope u get series about history thn to make it look like a spoof.
K.V
No Offence it was jst wht i thought maybe iam wrong .everyone thinks differently it was jst my view on history.
Hi Karan! No offence taken. As you said, people have different ways of thinking.
Having said that, I would like to say that just because one chooses to smile back at history and mythology, doesn’t mean one lacks respect. I hope you understand this some day. People who love the world would also understand that the world cannot survive without smiles.
And for the record, this is not a spoof. A spoof is something directed at making fun of someone or something. I think it is quite obvious that I am making fun of no one here.