Padmavati

I think the next story I will tell you, Lakshmi, is from your last life, the one right before you rejoined me, the Brahman.

Our story starts when the sage Bhrigu decided to determine who among the Trinity was the greatest. He started with myself. He searched and searched for me , but he was foolish and did not realize that I am everywhere, that I am the universe itself. He could not find me, even within himself, and chose instead to try and locate Shiva.

Upon reaching the place where Shiva was residing, the guards tried to tell Bhrigu that Shiva was not taking visitors at this time, but he pushed past them and entered anyway. Bhrigu did find Shiva, but he was sporting with his companion, and did not take notice of Bhrigu, let alone acknowledge him. In light of the situation, he chose to find your companion, Vishnu.

When Bhrigu found him, Vishnu was fast asleep, and you were with him. You two were cuddled close. You used to adore sleeping with your head on his chest, so you could doze off to the sound of his heartbeat. Bhrigu called out to him, in an attempt to wake him. Neither of you stirred. Bhrigu got frustrated that his plan to determine the greatest among you was thwarted at every turn. He decided that at the very least, Vishnu would acknowledge him. He marched up to Vishnu, and kicked him right in the chest. But Vishnu's godly body was more than Bhrigu had bargained for, and his foot glanced off of Vishnu's hard chest and right into your nose with a loud crack. He fainted on the spot.

This did succeed in rousing you and Vishnu from your slumber, though. You woke with a start, clutching your nose. Vishnu reacted to your movement and surveyed the scene. He looked over at the sage.

"It would appear that he broke his foot on my chest, and has fainted from the pain. Will you run and bring me some bandages?" Vishnu said, almost chuckling at the sage's predicament.

"Yes, but first I will bring a bucket of water to throw over him. I will help you tend to his foot after he apologizes for kicking me in the nose."

"Oh darling," he said, "don't you think this poor fool has already paid penance for his actions?"

"No. As a matter of fact I do not. He barged into our house, and, unprompted, kicked us while we were sleeping! He should at least apologize for his actions. And if he won't, well, then he can deal with the consequence of his actions."

"That's a little unreasonable, don't you think?"

"No. I think his actions are unreasonable," you said, and then, after a pause, continued, "I'm going to go cool off for a bit, before I say or do something rash."

And you left. Vishnu gave you time to come back, but you did not, and so he went to Earth to look for you. He wandered Earth for days. Days turned into months, and still no sign of you. One day he found a river with the most beautiful lotus flowers. Just on the bank of the river was a temple to you, Lakshmi. He picked the lotuses and laid them at the feet of your statue.

"My darling, please return to me. I miss you so dearly."

You thought for a second before speaking to him through the statue. "Every day for one year, bring me a lotus flower. Then I will return to you."

Vishnu took the name Venkatesha, and settled in a nearby village. Faithfully, every day, he picked a lotus and brought it to your statue, every day leaving you with words of praise.

"I cannot wait to be with you again, oh most beautiful Lakshmi."

But slowly, through constant devotion to you, his tone started to change.

"I hope this gift is pleasing to you, oh divine Lakshmi."

On the final day, he brought you a flower, just as he had been doing for a year. He placed it saying, "Oh precious Lakshmi, if it so pleases you, return to me."

There was a great splashing in the river behind him. He turned to see an enormous lotus burst forward from the water and start to bloom. You were standing in the middle of the bloom.

"Vishnu, I had only wanted for you to consider my feelings. I see that you have learned that now. I will happily return to you."

Lakshmi took the name Padmavati, for the padma flower from which she emerged, and you two lived happily in the village until the end of your days.

Padmavati emerging from the river in a lotus, or padma flower.

Author's Note: For this story, I mostly stayed true to one telling I found, but I did add my own twist. I found a second telling, but I did not really prefer any of the elements I found there. For example, in the first telling, the sage literally kicked her. In the second telling, she was not physically kicked, but because she resides in Vishnu's heart, the sage effectively kicked her by kicking him in the chest. I thought it was more emotionally impactful if she was sitting there holding her nose.

I also added the twist of having Lakshmi ask for an apology from the sage, and wanting for Vishnu to pay mind to her feelings. I didn't want to paint either Lakshmi or Vishnu as a villain. Neither are entirely in the right, nor are neither entirely in the wrong. But, in the end, they understand each other better. It took me a while to find a good middle ground as to why Lakshmi finally returned. For a while I tossed around the idea of having it be that he finally apologized to her. I didn't want to make Lakshmi the type that gets mad if someone can't figure out what is bothering her, and who won't simply tell them what is bothering her, though. Instead, Vishnu had to work on his own to understand how to consider how she might be feeling. I tried to paint a shift from "You should come back because of how I am feeling." to "You should come back if you feel like it."

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