Karma Got the King

Once upon a time, there was a greedy king that ruled a village. He built his palace twice the size of any other king and clothed himself in jewels. He had anything anyone could ever imagine...except the one thing no one could give -- a son.

The king prayed to the gods to grant him a son and the village was shocked when the sky turned bright as day in the middle of the night. The gods had heard his prayer and were coming to grant him his greatest wish.

Everyone stepped outside of their homes to watch as beams of light moved closer and closer until the palace was illuminated so bright it looked like it might catch fire.

An hour passed with everyone in the town wondering how the king could ever have a prayer answered with the lifestyle he lived but, with time, it fell to the back of their minds.

A few days later, the king announced that all six of his wives were pregnant. Again, the town did not understand how such a man could be given this gift. They waited the see if the sons were of an evil spirit, but, once they were born, they all seemed to be the most perfect humans.

Years went by and the town grew to love the king's sons more and more. They were men of honor and dignity and always wanted what was best for the village.

One day, the king decided that six sons was not enough. He prayed and prayed for six more. Once more, the Gods granted his prayers and the village was traveling down a path of confusion yet again.

The gods told the king that he would have to go on a mission in order to receive his sons. It would be a mission of great challenge that included not eating for days and carrying anything he needed on his back. He agreed and the gods rose back to the heavens.

The next morning, the king awoke and did not want to go through the hardship the Gods had asked of him. Instead of going, he told his sons they must prepare as he was sending them on a mission to receive his six new sons -- even though this was not part of the deal he had made with the Gods. Being loyal sons, they agreed. Each son packed a small bag of light essentials and they went on their way.

Just minutes after the sons left the village, havoc stirred from the heavens. The sky turned black as night during lunch time and the ground began to shake. Everyone was confused and frightened as this had never happened before.

"I told you what you must do to be blessed with six more sons and you took advantage of my kind offering!" A voice spoke from the heaven, so deep that it caused the ground to shake even more.

The king tried to apologize, but his palace collapsed on top of him before he could say one word.

The village cheered with such volume, the sons came running back from the mission they had begun to see what had happened.

When they saw the palace crumbled to pieces, confusion filled their faces. The town explained that the mission was for their father to endure and that he broke his promise to the gods by sending them on the mission instead. Slowly, smiles spread across each of their faces.

"Although we will always love our father, we are excited to rebuild this wonderful village the way it was prior to his ruling!" shouted one of the sons.

The ground began to shake once more from the endless cheers the villagers were sending up to the gods. They now understood why such a man was ever granted with answered prayers in the first place.

Author's Note:

In the original story, Sagara, a king of Ayodhya, had no children from his two wives. All he wanted was to have one son to call his own. After much prayer, the Gods granted the king a son from one and sixty-thousand from the other wife of his. After finally having an abundance of sons, the king was set on offering a horse sacrifice. Someone stole the horse and the king commanded his sixty-thousand sons to go find it. During this journey, the princes all burned to ashes and never returned to the king. The king was worried when they didn't return and sent his grandson to find them. He got to the spot where the horse went missing and found the ashes of his sixty-thousand uncles.

In my own story, I changed most of the original story and just took the idea of a king wanting more sons and exaggerated it by also adding in that the village did not support the king. I feel as though this was the best way to get across a similar story without having a whole bunch of background in Indian Epics.

Rayamana, Part A. Sources used: M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder.