watched.

                                               

This post has been picked as one of Blogadda’s WoW posts of the weekend.

This time your entry must contain, ‘One thing he/she/they didn’t know that they were being watched.’

King Harishchandra , known as 'Satyavadi Harishchandra' ,  has donated his entire kingdom to Sage Vishwamitra.He then walks off with his wife and son.

                                      

 As  a part of donation , the sage further asks  for 'dakshina' from the King. After having donated his entire kingdom , Harishchandra does not have anything at his disposal to fulfill the Sage's demand.

                                   

 He decides to 'auction'  his wife Taramati to the highest bidder. A brahmin 'buys' her to help his wife in household duties. Harishchandra's son , Rohitashwa , starts crying on parting with his mother. The brahmin pitying the small boy , 'buys' him too and offers a small amount of money to Harishchandra. But the money is insufficient to pay the entire amount of 'dakshina' and hence Harishchandra starts working at the crematorium helping with the dead bodies and the final rites and rituals.

Meanwhile Rohitashwa is bitten by a snake in the garden and is soon dead. Taramati asks help from the brahmin to carry out the final rites. But the brahmin refuses to oblige her and Taramati walks off from the brahmin's house  carrying the dead son in her arms and reaches the gates of the crematorium , guarded by Harishchandra. 

Taramati recognizes him and introduces herself. But Harishchandra is adamant and reminding her of the payment to be made to the Sage as 'dakshina' asks her to pay the required amount for the rituals to be carried out.

                                   

 Taramati does not have anything to give him and undrapes the cloth which covers her upper part of her body, to shroud the body of her dead son. One thing she didn't know that they were being watched by the Gods from their abode in the Heaven. The Gods were moved by Harishchandra's adherence of faith to  'dharma' and duty bound virtue, that they appear in their true form along with Sage Vishwamitra and bless the trio. Prince Rohitashwa is brought back to life and the King and the Queen are given back their Kindgom.

The man who had employed Harishchandra at the crematorium was none other than Lord Yama (God of Death) in disguise.  

King Harishchandra is known for his truthfulness , righteousness and  duty-bound while Queen Taramati does not question her husband's actions and motives.

 P.S. :- This is the my first attempt at mythology. 

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.  We give out creative writing topics each weekend for Indian bloggers.

list of winners here.