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According to the Shani
Mahatmya, the wise King Vikramaditya of Ujjaini is asked to rate the seven
planets according to their powers. Saturn or furious. He decides to teach
the king a lesson and comes to Ujjaini disguised as a vendor of
horses.
Saturn presents a spectacular
steed that spirits the king to a faraway city. Here he meets a merchant's
daughter with a priceless necklace who wants to test him in the bedroom. The
king pretends to be fast asleep. The disappointed girl hangs the necklace on
a peg before retiring. Then a swan in the mural near the necklace comes to
life, and gobbles up the necklace only to disappear back into the painting.
Vikramaditya notices the swan's shenanigans but is powerless against the
planet's power. He is accused of theft and has his hands and feet lopped off
under orders of King Chandrasena of Tamalindi.
Eventually, an oil-presser's
daughter-in law discovers the crippled king sitting under a tree. She takes
him home where he eventually ends up tending the bullocks on the oil-press.
Seven years pass and deliverance draws near. Vikaramaditya is an
accomplished master of the arts and has gotten into the habit of singing
while driving the mill. One evening, he sings the raga Deepak so soulfully
that all the lamps in the city light up spontaneously. King Chandrasena's
daughter notices the lights, which go off the moment the king stops singing.
She has him brought into her quarters, where he regales her day and night
with divine music.
Finally, the father breaks up
the party when the girl vows to marry none but Vikramaditya. By then Saturn
decided that Vikramaditya has had enough. He's willing to grant any boon to
the king. That's when Vikramaditya shows his mettle. Instead of asking for
his hands and feet, he only wants Saturn to spare rest of mankind from the
kind of travails he has had endure. Touched by the king's selflessness and
compassion, Saturn accedes to the request and restores the king to splendour
greater than ever before.
The story is really about
grace under pressure. The manner in which the king leverages his boon shows
that greatness lies in how you respond to calamity. As the Sanskrit proverb
says, those with true grit always bounce back, like a ball rebounding from
the earth. It's the weak- willed who grovel in the mud, bemoaning fate. |
