|
|
“Taunted by their wives, who brought their husbands’ manhood
into question, asking how could they, who were Gods, fear a mere rishi,
those Vasus came down like eight comets on that mountain and took Nandini
and her calf from Vasishta’s asrama.
“But Nandini was like Vasishta’s daughter; he could not live
without her. The muni was a seer of time. He looked into his heart and
knew the Vasus had taken his cow. When he saw how his gentle animal had
been spirited away, crying out, her calf lowing in terror, his eyes blazed.
With all the power of his long tapasya, he cursed the Vasus.
‘Arrogant Devas, be born as mortal men!’
“He felt drained. In their distant world, the Vasus became aware
of the curse and they trembled. It was unthinkable for them, who were
as free as light, to be bound in flesh. They flew to the rishi’s
feet, with Nandini and her calf, and cried, ‘Muni, forgive us!’
“But a rishi’s curse was no trifle that it could be withdrawn.
Moreover, the germ of a deep destiny was hidden in that curse; there were
mysterious designs to be accomplished by it, on earth. Vasishta had grown
calmer now and felt pity for the contrite Vasus.
“He said, ‘I cannot withdraw the curse and you must pay for
what you did. But for seven of you let the curse be brief. You will spend
nine months in the darkness of a mother’s womb; but as soon as you
are born you will meet your deaths and be free again.’
“It was the eighth Vasu, Prabhasa, who had actually seized Nandini.
He stood with his head hung before Vasishta. The rishi said kindly to
him, You led the others to sin; you must pay more fully, than they. Prabhasa,
you will live a whole life as a man on earth and yours shall be a great
human life. But now, Devas, go and find a woman who can be your mother
in this world.’
“The curse, and even its softening, had exhausted Vasishta. He had
to find a lonely place to begin his tapasya once more. Taking Nandini
and her calf with him, he disappeared from there.
“Left alone on the mountain, the Vasus saw a sparkling spring that
issued from a cleft in some rocks. They knew this was from where the Ganga
flowed down into the world. It struck them that there, surely, was providence
trying to show them their way ahead: who better than the river of heaven
and earth to be their terrestrial mother?
“They worshipped her on the icy mountain and, surprised at their
being there, Ganga appeared before them. Already like children, the Vasus
fell at her feet and cried, ‘Devi, listen to the curse Vasishta
has laid upon us.’
“They told their tale by turns. At last, Prabhasa said: “We
beg you, O Ganga, take a human woman’s form. Marry a king of the
earth and become our mother. And as soon as we are born cast the first
seven of us into your waters. But I, Prabhasa, must suffer the whole span
of a mortal life.”
Ganga ended her story softly, “With the other curse already hanging
over me, Shantanu, and longing for you as I did, how could I refuse?”
Now Shantanu knew she was pure. He knelt before her and asked her forgiveness
that he had doubted her. Then, without a word, he handed her the shining
infant he held in his arms. Tenderly, she took the child, the Vasu Prabhasa,
from him.
Ganga said, “When he is 16 our son will return with you to Hastinapura.
And one day, he will rule the Kurus.”
Shantanu realised the time had come for her to leave him. He cried, “And
you, Ganga? Will I never see you again? What if I come to the river? Won’t
you meet me here in secret, hidden from the eyes of men and Gods? Oh,
how will I live without you?” Briefly, she was sad. But then she
stroked his face, and said, “Nothing is hidden, nor ever shall be.
Our time together is past.”
With the child in her arms, she vanished. Shantanu’s cries rang
against sky, forest and river. Again and again he called out her name;
but she had gone. In a while, knowing his old life was truly over, he
climbed wearily into the chariot in which she had driven here, and turned
home.
|
July 24, 2004
|
| 1 2 3 |
|
|
