Mb002. Kacha Devayani Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

MAHABHARATA

An Asura King Vrishaparva.
Had his Guru Sukracharya.
The lifesaver Mritasanjivani spell
This great Guru knew it well.

The dead ones when lost,
Once this spell was cast,
As if from their sleep
Afresh they all rose up.

Suras from the Heaven,
Many times quite often,
With Asuras they fought.
More deaths it brought.

Alive came these Asuras,
As a menace to the Suras.
This secret how to learn?
It became Sura's concern.

Brihaspati's son named Kacha,
For a studentship under Sukra,
Suras sent him down to the earth,
To learn it and conquer the death.

This wasn't an easy mission,
As he doubted for his admission,
Though enemy camp he was from,
Still as a student Sukra took him.

Sundry jobs household to attend,
The cows and calves to tend,
Kacha served the guru this way.
With dedication he did it everyday.

Happy was Sukra with this lad.
A daughter pretty the guru had.
Devayani was her name sweet.
Kacha, she had a chance to meet.

All her love she gave him on her part.
Which she hid it deep in her heart.
But at a distance he kept her,
Not to offend his great master.

The object of his stay
The asuras knew why?
They harassed him daily.
And treated him mercilessly.

Asuras, one day, killed him,
And into pieces they cut him.
But at Devayani's demand,
The guru obliged her command.

The spell alive brought him,
But again they killed him,
Ground him into a nice paste,
Mixed it in seawater, in haste.

Once again at her request,
Sukra revived him at last.
"To end him how? " they thought,
As back each time the Guru brought?

From the past lessons they learnt,
His body this time they burnt.
His ash in a big wine cup,
Well, they got it mixed it up.

The nasty mixer the Guru drank,
That made his mind quite blank.
The truth they purposely hid.
He knew not what they did?

At Devayani's persistent insistence
The Guru broke his pretence.
The present Kacha's hidden place
In his body he could easily trace.

"My child, death is inevitable.
It isn't all the time reversible.
To tell you I feel very much sad
That the asuras don't like this lad."

"A sensible maiden you're
You can bemoan how far?
Your desire you must limit.
As this time I can't commit."

To these words of consolation,
She paid her little attention.
Fast unto death she remained,
Till her object she gained.

It was his addiction to the drink,
That led his life to the brink,
How to get back Kacha again?
Will it not cost his life main?

Kacha told from Sukra's stomach,
"Please don't take any such risk."
But the Guru to please her daughter
He taught Kacha the secret matter.

The Guru then cast his spell,
At his feet Kacha came and fell.
But he saw the Guru's body torn,
When he came out newly born.

Now aware of the secret spell,
The same Kacha began to tell.
Alive his Guru came back.
Afresh to continue his life track.

To go back he was ready by then,
Having learnt the magic spell one.
Devayani when revealed her love,
He wanted to escape somehow.

"Your father's stomach ripped open,
Afresh once more I was born.
As your father's son I got this life,
You're my sister, not my wife."

He said this and left for Heaven,
That made her face crestfallen.
With this the story didn't end,
As her ways she didn't mend.

Into the forest she went once,
With Sarmistha, the princess.
Between them arose an argument
That ended in their disagreement.

Who was the one superior?
The king or the preceptor?
Each one claimed that her father,
Did command over the other.

The princess became angry
And threw her into a well dry.
To her ill fate she was left,
And for days there she wept.

King Yayati of the Puru race,
In his hunting expedition chase,
For water he peeped into this well,
But saw there a beautiful damsel.

He lifted her from the well.
In love with him she fell.
The king himself a Kshatriya one,
Refused to marry a girl Brahmin.

To go back home she felt much
As she was left there in lurch.
When her father came in search
She sobbed and cried too much.

"The princess offended your name,
How can I swallow the same?
The king always bows before you.
So in rank he isn't superior to you."

"How can I return to that place,
Where I should live in disgrace? "
She said so and refused to budge,
Leaving it to him, a better judge.

To the King Sukra complained.
His position he clearly explained.
That he wished to leave him at last,
Once his honour this way he had lost.

To the forest the king then went.
He expressed his words of repent.
His princely daughter he gave her
Life long, as a slave, to serve her.

The happy marriage of Devayani,
With the King of Puru, Yayati,
Sukra arranged as she craved for,
This way he finally appeased her.

Later Yayati married in secret,
Sarmistha, the maid slave he met.
Thro' this maid two sons were born,
And thro' Devayani three were born.

The two sons resembled Yayati how?
Devayani questioned her maid now.
Out came from her the truth real
Of their erstwhile clandestine deal.

Her father on hearing went in rage,
And cursed Yayati with old age,
Which went against her interest,
As she was still in her days best.

To repeal it both pleaded,
For this he never heeded.
But he allowed the old age,
With any youth to exchange.

Puru, his fifth son took his age,
Yayati then took his son's age.
The king enjoyed sensual pleasures
He spent like this rest of the years.

Tired one day Yayati came back
Puru's old age he took back.
His youth hood Puru regained,
For years the kingdom he reigned.

To the forest Yayati retired.
Due to old age he was tired.
His other sons were disinherited,
As they weren't well merited.