A half-clad madwoman chased by dogs and boys...

नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम्

 देवीं सरस्वतीं चैव ततो जयम् उदीरयेत्

महाभरत

Mahābharata

As retold by

Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahāyogi

Nala and Damayanti

Nala leaves Damayanti

Damayanti walked all night, and all morning in the sun, until finally she arrived in that city of vast stone towers painted gold. Disturbed, emaciated, covered with dust, her hair tangled, and her dress torn, Damayanti hardly looked like a queen. The street urchins began to follow her through the streets and tease her, calling her names. “Maniac!” they cried, and “madwoman!” Snarling dogs nipped her heels and barked. On she walked, past the markets with their colorful tents and banners. The city boys followed, throwing stones at her. And circled by this throng of dogs and boys, she staggered to the palace gates.

At this time, the Queen Mother was watering her roses in her terrace atop the lofty palace rooftops. As she plucked a weed, she heard a noise below her.  

“What is it?” said she to her lady-in-waiting. “Is today a festival day again? Why are the people creating such an uproar?”

And her lady-in-waiting looked out over the rampart walls. 

Damayanti had fainted. The boys pressed around her, delighted with the fun as they tormented her with name-calling. The dogs became more animated and leaped into the air with canine joy.

Damayanti lay unconscious before the gates of the palace of King Chedi. 

The Queen Mother snipped a wilted blossom from the rosebush. Joining her lady-in-waiting at the rampart walls, she looked down to the public square before the palace. 

The Queen Mother saw a scandal of barking dogs and dirty boys laughing at the half-clad madwoman fallen at the gate. And from her tower high above the city,  she called down to a guard.  “Stop this scandal! Dismiss that mob at once. Help that lady to her feet.”

The guard, who had had been watching the boys, stepped forward with a fierce look, his strong right hand on his sword hilt. The boys could see he was serious and ran away in glee, taking the dogs with them. He went to Damayanti.

The Queen Mother told her hand-maid, “Go down and bring that woman to me. Bring her to me. I wish to know who she is.”

“Perhaps she is only a madwoman,” said the hand-maid. “It may be dangerous to bring her here.”

The Queen Mother said, “Yes, she appears to be a madwoman and a maniac, but there’s something about her that tells me she is special. I have never seen her in the village. By her dress, she comes from far away. And her lotus eyes tell me she must be from a royal family. Even disguised as a half-naked madwoman, she seems to me like an angel from heavean. Please, go down and bring her to me.”

And so the maids of the Queen Mother went down the marble stairs of King Chedi’s palace. And when the arrived at the front gate, they found Damayanti still unconscious in the care of the royal guards. 

With a potion made of herbs they revived her. And taking he by the hand they said, “Come with us. The Queen Mother would have audience with thee.”

And so they ascended the palace stairs to the tower above the city of King Chedi, where the Queen Mother kept her roses on the rooftop terrace.

And when they arrived, Damayanti was given a fine sitting place befitting a princess of royal blood. The maids brought her a refreshing drink made of rose-water and cooled her brow with a cloth moistened with lavender.

The Queen Mother said, “Who are you, child? While worn with distress, half-clad in rags, and covered with dust, your beauty shines like lightning through dark stormclouds.  Your form is more than human. While you wear no jewelry or ornaments, still you have an almost transcendent loveliness, as if you were the bride of a god. Are you a goddess fallen to earth with some purpose for the king? Or an apsara come to bless our people and free us from some dark curse?

And Damayanti told her story: how she was born as the daughter of King Bhima in the realm of Vidarbha where once Sita held court; how the gods had wanted her as a bride; how she had chosen Nala, and the misfortune that had befallen her when Nala had gambled away their kingdom. She told her how Nala had abandoned her in the forest after taking half her garments, how she had wandered through the forest and met the wise men and the caravan, and how the mad elephants had broken up the caravan.

Damned by the gods for her beauty

“Perhaps I have been damned by the gods for my beauty,” she said. “When I did not take them as my husband, they were angry and have cursed me. You are kind, but it will be dangerous for you to give me shelter. The curse of the gods will follow me wherever I go.”

But the Queen Mother was kind and said, “Stay here with me, child. What you say is interesting, but I cannot believe that one so fair as you has been cursed by the gods. My men will find your husband. I don’t believe that one so fair as you has been cursed by the gods. Stay here for a while. We shall announce to the world that you have arrived here and your husband will surely come here and find you.”

“You are kind,” said Damayanti. “I will stay if you insist. But I have a few conditions. I will not eat leftovers from any plate or wash anyone’s feet. I will not speak with any man, and none shall seek me as their wife. Any man who harasses me again and again to be his wife shall be put to death.  This is my vow. Also I need to speak with those forest sages who promised I would reunite with my husband.”

And the Queen Mother agreed, saying, “So be it,” and called her daughter Sunanda.

Sunanda was the Crown Princess, sister to King Chedi himself. And the Queen Mother said, “Sunanda, please accept this goddess-like lady as your personal companion. She comes from the land of Sita-devi herself and is paying us a royal visit.” 

And the Queen’s daughter Sunanda welcomed Damayanti into her own apartment with her associates and hand-maids and accepted as her personal friend, showing her all respect.

And in this way Damayanti lived in the court of Suvahu as the personal friend of the lady Sunanda for some time.