[Sticky] My Monsoon Story

My Monsoon Story

Monsoon and rains are an amazingly unique feature of nature. Rains are so refreshing and essential for nurturing life on earth but can also be highly destructive too. Probably that is why, rains have an accentuating effect on all of our emotions; love, happiness, despair– all get magnified in real life as well as . In fiction. Thus, rains can make any incident memorable. 

Today I am going to recount a very well known rain-soaked celestial incident that happened long, long ago and has also been repeatedly depicted in fiction. However, the best thing about this incident is that it is a significant part of our lives even today.

Read along if you haven’t guessed it yet.

The heavenly incident I am talking about happened more than five thousand years ago, at midnight, on the eighth day of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapad month, which is the peak of monsoons.

It was very dark outside. Heavy rains were pouring and flashes of bright light coupled with loud thunder dispelled the darkness slightly but made people shudder even when inside. There was no one to be seen outside though.

Inside a dark prison, at this unearthly hour, the miracle of life was taking place. The faces of the parents showed no signs of joy. Soon the baby would be snatched away and killed by his own uncle like his seven brothers had been killed earlier. Little did they know that things were ordained to be different this time.

Suddenly, darkness in  the prison gave way to bright light. A heavenly voice from above guided them into action. Their chains suddenly fell away by themselves. The task was to carry the new-born baby to a village across the river and bring back the baby girl born there into the prison.

Without even the slightest doubt or fear the man prepared to execute the task. Carefully, he placed the baby in a basket and covered him nicely.

As he started to go out, he saw that the prison guards were asleep. In fact they seemed unconscious. The doors of the prison were opening one by one, on their own. Without pausing to think even for a moment, the man hurried out. The seemingly difficult task didn’t scare him at all. He just wanted to execute it as soon as possible.

Unmindful of the heavily pouring rain and the scary thunderstorm, he embarked upon the journey. Soon he reached the river. 

The river was overflowing with high waves. Without thinking even for a second, the man started walking through the river. And soon the water level started rising. He raised the basket above his head. Out of nowhere there appeared the multi-headed Sheshnag and guarded the baby from the torrential rain.

Within no time, on reaching the destination, the man entered the designated house and placed his child next to the sleeping mother. He put the baby girl carefully in his basket and started his return journey.

After crossing the river, he reached the prison, where he found the doors open and the guards still asleep. Once he entered the prison, the doors closed automatically and mysteriously the chains bound them, as if nothing had happened. Very soon the guards woke up from their deep slumber. 

The scene was back to normal. Nothing seemed to have changed. The guards didn’t even realise that they had slept. Upon hearing the baby cry, they rushed out  to inform the birth of the child.

The divine incident wasn’t over yet. Another miracle was about to happen. 

The so-called uncle, upon being informed, came to the prison. His sister and her husband pleaded with him to spare the baby girl. The eighth child, a threat to his life, was a girl. He did not want to take any chances with his life. Turning a deaf ear to their pleas, he snatched the baby girl from them.

As he tried to kill the child, the baby girl transformed into a goddess and disappeared in the sky, saying, “Your slayer has already taken birth and is safe.”

The backdrop and the events that followed this celestial event are all too well-known, as all my readers would agree. So then, what am I trying to convey through my narration of this monsoon story?

The answer to this question is: by narrating this one of its kind, all too familiar monsoon story, I am trying to convey the impact of the story. The impact I have felt on myself. The impact I feel others have felt and most importantly, the celestial impact of the story.

First is the divine aspect of the story. As a child, I used to feel overwhelmed by the miracles in the story that helped overcome seemingly difficult situations. God’s miraculous ways to help the righteous not only gave hope to carry on the right path despite all odds but also strengthened my faith in the almighty God.

That I guess is exactly the way many others also feel about it. The reason why I am sure about how others feel is that this story has been narrated in different forms innumerable times. Not only that, every year, at the designated time and date, all over the country and in other countries as well, people recreate the whole story over and over again.

I find this monsoon story to be a unique combination of reality, fiction and a part of every person’s real life even after more than five thousand years. I hope it will continue to enthrall people for centuries to come as well. 

So, in the end, may I ask you, if you have correctly guessed the monsoon event I have talked about.

In case any of you may not have guessed it, here are the clues. The place where this event occurred is the jail of Mathura, the place where the babies were exchanged is NandGaon. The parents of the wonder baby are Devki and Vasudev and the cruel uncle is Kans, the ruler of Mathura.

The incident occurred on the eighth day of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapad.

The celestial event was the birth of Lord Krishna, the eighth Avatar of Lord Vishnu. And

every year, Hindus all over the world celebrate this event as Janamashtami.

Written by Poonam Malik

Digital Writopreneur

#Poonam Malik #Monsoon story #Rajinder Soni #writing contest #digital writopreneur