T he Sarayu carried more tears than water. Ayodhya was a sad kingdom. Dasaratha was a good king. He upheld dharma – justice and morality – as best as he could. The citizens were apparently happy. Then, one day, it all changed. One person is enough to change the destiny of a whole kingdom. Who was that one person? Some say it was Kaikeyi, one of the three official wives of Dasaratha. Some others say it was Manthara, Kaikeyi’s chief maid. Manthara was a hunchback. She was the caretaker of Kaikeyi right from the latter’s childhood; foster mother, so to say, because Kaikeyi had no mother. The absence of maternal influence can distort a girl child’s personality. With a foster mother like Manthara, the distortion can be really bad. Manthara was cunning, selfish, and morally ambiguous. A severe physical deformity can make one worse than all that. Manthara was as devious and manipulative as a woman could be in a men’s world. Add to that all the jealousy and ambition that insecure peo...
Cerebrate and Celebrate
Lovely pic and precious memory.
ReplyDeleteThe picture remained in a book all these years!
DeleteNice one
ReplyDeleteVery spiritual and pure. What we believe in matters! :)
ReplyDeleteThe picture is captivating and evokes nostalgia.
Each person creates his heaven/hell...
DeleteI will agree with the sentiment on one condition - no claim that all stairs get you to the same place, the Vivekanandaesque assertion, ampere assert ion, neither provable nor dis provable; an analytic.
DeleteRE
The inscription is right. To climb to heaven we have to build our own stairs. Nice text.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Easwar ji.
DeleteTrue indeed. We all follow the paths architectured by our deeds. Great thought.
ReplyDeleteExactly. We are the architects of our heaven. Or hell!
Deletenice one.
ReplyDeleteThank you for such a wonderful reminder .. call it karma, call it architect .. you reap what you sow ...
ReplyDeleteYes, Sangeeta. Simple truth but a profound one.
DeleteLovely picture and Lovely quote . I Loved it.
ReplyDeleteTravel India
Glad you loved it.
Deletehow true..!and we have to climb it all by ourselves....
ReplyDeleteI know .. my bit ..I am building the staircase .. step by step and with utmost care !! encounter with reality :)
ReplyDelete