Disclaimer: This ancient story contains themes that may be distressing to some, including scenes of loss. Reader discretion is advised.
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In times ancient, there lived a young man named Shravan Kumar. He was an only child and devoted to his elderly parents who happened to be blind.
He diligently attended to both his work and his parents. This was his life, and he harbored no regrets; rather, he joyously embraced his responsibilities.
One day, he returned home to find his parents in a mellow mood, judging by their preoccupied responses to his inquiries about their day and health.
On asking what bothered them, they replied, “Nothing, dear Shravan. Which parent can ask for a better child in the three worlds? We are blessed, and have nothing to worry about.”
But Shravan was not fooled. After living with them for years, he was able to easily distinguish their expressions, moods, and needs. So he persisted in knowing what was on their mind.
They then tentatively expressed their desire to embark on a pilgrimage to the holy sites.
It is worth noting that this was a time when few conveyances were available to the poor and middle class who could not afford carriages, chariots, or horses.
However, upon hearing their dream, Shravan did not hesitate in the slightest.
Shravan assured them that if this was their desire, he would find a way to make it happen.
How could he be a loving son if he failed to help fulfill their desires in their old age?
It was also his bounden duty to do so, otherwise, it would not be in accordance with Dharma (righteous conduct).
He left them to have a peaceful night and sat on the verandah of his hut, pondering late into the night. He eventually fell asleep in the same spot.
The days passed as he mulled over the problem of how to convey his poor blind parents to the holy sites they desired to visit.
It is no secret that when you intensely wish for something and focus your mind on the problem, sometimes a solution develops from deep within the recesses of your subconscious, and emerges into consciousness when least expected.
For Shravan, this occurred when he was walking in the village gathering supplies for his home.
He noticed, at a shopkeeper’s loading area, a peculiar type of instrument made of wood and ropes that helped the workers lift heavy objects onto the weighing scale.
This sparked such a rush of ideas in his mind that he sat down immediately and observed the workers.
When they took a break, he quizzed them about their methods for lifting weights.
With their assistance, he designed a system that would enable him to carry his elderly parents on his shoulders and travel.
The system designed comprised three parts:
One stout wooden bamboo or other strong wood long stick.
Two jute baskets with open tops capable of seating an elderly adult.
A rope to tie the basket to each end of the wooden stick.
Shravan intended to carry this wooden bamboo stick on his shoulders with two baskets at either end, held by strong ropes to seat his parents in each basket.
With the workers' help, Shravan crafted and tested the carrying pole with younger adults.
Since his parents weighed less than the younger adults, he correctly surmised that if the carrying pole could support the weight of the younger adult males, it would be able to support his parents without any danger.
As for his ability to carry the weighted pole for a long distance, he was not afraid to bear this heavy burden on his shoulders.
He began to strengthen himself physically in preparation for the long journey ahead.
Only when he was satisfied that all arrangements were tight, he shared this plan with his parents.
They were apprehensive - about the trouble they would be to him and the potential danger to his health.
However, after being reassured on both fronts, they began to entertain a semblance of hope.
Over the days, this hope gradually turned into slow joy at the idea that they could travel to their desired holy places and be blessed just by being there, even if they could not see the deities.
Moreover, knowing that their son would serve as their eyes and describe the beauty of the deity, they felt less concerned about this fact.
After all the preparations were made, including testing the baskets with the parents seated in them and ensuring Shravan's strength to carry them for hours together, they began to make plans.
The three of them, after dinner each day, discussed their visit excitedly.
They mapped out the paths they would take to ensure all three of them could rest, eat, and continue their journey comfortably.
One fine day, a year after they first had this desire, the three of them set out on their journey without any reservations. They were well-prepared and had saved enough to sustain them throughout the entire trip.
Shravan joyfully carried his parents in his innovative contraption to the most desired holy sites. He ensured they rested when needed and aided them in understanding the atmosphere and blessed nature of the sites.
He found immense joy in the journey for himself as well, having not ventured beyond his village since his youth. He considered himself fortunate for the opportunity to explore the world.
Six months passed, and their desire was fulfilled beyond their wildest imaginations.
The parents relied on Shravan for everything, considering themselves blessed to have his unwavering demeanor and patience in supporting them. They marveled at the good fortune bestowed upon them to have such a remarkable son, whom even the Gods would envy.
When they felt satisfied that their inner desires to see the holy places had been fulfilled, they decided to head back home.
After traveling a long distance on the return journey, they eventually grew tired and arrived at the interiors of a forest in the kingdom where they resided.
Shravan stopped near a dense cluster of trees, finding a clearing where they could rest against the tree trunks. He carefully placed his contraption on the ground and assisted them in exiting the baskets.
After ensuring their comfort, Shravan then took their drinking copper water pot, a faithful companion on their trip, and assuring his parents of his quick return, he went in search of water.
Spotting a stream quickly, Shravan was struck by the beauty of the surroundings and the calmness of the water that flowed. He sat down to rest for a short minute reflecting on the success of their trip.
Then, lying down flat on his stomach at the water's edge, he bent his face and drank from the stream directly, as an animal would, with his mouth on the water's surface.
The sound of water gurgling filled the air as he drank.
Satisfied, Shravan took the narrow-necked copper water pot and dipped it into the stream. After washing it thoroughly, he filled it with water and then overturned it on the bed of grass beside him.
Dipping it back into the water, with its bottom half submerged and the upper half lying to the side, he allowed the water to flow in and out, creating the same gurgling sound as water gushed in and out of the water pot.
After filling the copper pot, he set it aside and bent back down to drink from the stream again. Gurgling sounds filled the air as he drank his fill, and then suddenly, Shravan screamed in pain.
Out of nowhere, an arrow struck him in the chest, wounding him deeply.
“Mother!” Shravan screamed as he fell onto his back on the bed of grass. “Mother, Oh Mother,” he cried out in pain and distress, his piercing human cry breaking the silence of the tranquil forest.
As he lay there, his life slowly ebbing away, his eyes watching the sky recede, he heard footsteps running towards him.
Someone knelt down by his side and lifted his head from the grass bed onto the warmth of a human lap.
He looked into the eyes of an older man, a dark beard dotting his face, an expression of horror evident at the act he had unwittingly committed.
The man kept saying, “My dear boy, why did you make those sounds? I thought you were a deer. Alas, what moved you to drink like an animal from the stream?”
“Forgive me, forgive me. I have made a mistake. I was chasing a deer through the forest, and hearing your sounds1, I mistook you for the deer.”
The boy looked at the man kindly. He was dressed in royal garb, a sword hung by his waist on the side, his bow and arrow thrown away in sorrow. He wore a golden crown and had a kindly regal face. The boy watched him in wonder and recognized him as the crown-prince.
The royal attempted to revive the boy, but the boy could only manage to beg the prince for a favor with great difficulty.
“Anything, anything,” replied the prince.
Shravan then pointed to the water pot that lay on the grass a bit further away, its contents spilled by now.
He whispered, “My parents in the forest…,” pointing in their direction, “thirsty… need water…. urgently…please help…..convey my regrets …. I could not quench their thirst …. please….. tell them what happened….I forgive you.”
The young man spoke the last part unasked, for even he could perceive the realization of his mistake and the regretful sorrow on the prince's face.
“Look after them…..” the young man whispered.
The prince nodded vigorously, “Yes, yes… I will… I will… I am so sorry….”
The young man then peacefully closed his eyes in the arms of the man who had shot him, mistaking him for a deer drinking water.
The prince held the young man close to his chest for a few minutes, the sorrow weighing heavily on his heart, the final words of forgiveness piercing him further.
After a few minutes, the future King of the land laid the boy down on the grass gently and arose to face the most difficult task he had faced until then.
He took the same copper pot, filled it with water, and walked in the direction the boy had pointed.
Soon enough, he reached the dense overgrowth and then the clearing, where he came across the odd contraption and two old parents, resting against the tree.
As they heard footsteps, they eagerly asked, “Shravan, is that you? Son, why did you take so long? We are dying of thirst. Please give us some water.”
The prince remained silent and quietly went near them to offer them water.
But something in his manner and the nature of his touch alerted the parents. “You are not our son. Who are you? Where is our dear boy? Shravan, where are you?”
Tears silently washed down the prince’s face as he related the whole incident and sincerely begged their forgiveness.
“Shravaaaaaaaaan,” the parents screamed into the quiet of the forest air. The mother’s cry rang longer and further than the father’s.
“Oh, my dear Shravan. Why didn’t we die instead? What use is this life to us now?” they wailed in succession. “Where shall we go to find you now? What use is our living anymore? Who will speak to us as you did, dear son, gently, and calmly look after our needs? Was there ever such a son as you in the entire universe? Dearest Shravan, why did we not die in your stead?”
Their tears and sorrow had no answer and met with silence in that grim forest air.
The prince sat silently, listening to their mourning. He was lost for words, unable to offer comfort.
Slowly, their tears turned into anger. “What kind of man are you who cannot distinguish a human from a deer? How careless you have been to take the life out of our lives, hunt so indiscriminately, and kill our son so cruelly.”
“Had you no compassion, no care to check before you shot your cruel arrow into the heart of our only son, our young boy who had not yet seen his life blossom?”
“How are we to live now? You have taken away the sole support of our old age, the son we doted on, and happily depended on for our welfare. Who is to care for us now?”
“Oh Shravan,” they cried aloud again as the sorrow of never hearing his voice, and feeling his loving embrace slowly dawned on them.
Anger in their voice, they turned to the man who they had since learned was the prince, and cursed him, “Just as we have felt the sorrow of our son taken away from us so abruptly, so shall you know the heartbreak of losing your son. May you know the deep sorrow of the loss of your son2 as you have caused us to know this immeasurable and unspeakable sorrow.”
“No, please forgive me.” the prince started, shocked.
But the parents had cursed him already.
The prince sat stupified. Then, he composed himself and arranged for the final arrangements for the son, but the parents, unable to bear the sorrow, also died3 instantly.
When he set out that morning for his daily hunt, the prince had not imagined it would result in the untoward killing of a young boy or that he would become accursed.
His heart welled with sadness, regret, and sorrow at their plight. He rode back alone to the palace, deep in thought.
Years later, as King Dashratha4, of the dynasty of the Sun, the prince had cause to remember the sorrow of Shravan’s parents and their curse as he lay heartbroken after his third wife, Kaikeyi, ordered his oldest son, Rama to go into exile for fourteen years.
To the King, Rama was like the Sun. Without the Sun, there was no life.
After bidding farewell to Rama as he set forth to the forest, the King took to his bed, stricken with grief, never to rise from it again.
None of his four sons were by his side.
Questions for Reflection
What role do karma and destiny play in one's life?
Was it predetermined that Rama would go into exile, thereby causing the heartbreak of the King, or was it the curse that shaped circumstances such that the King had to lose his son to exile?
What of Rama himself?
As the Preserver-God, he was cursed by one sage and then another to experience the loss of his beloved. Did he go into exile because of his father's mistake or his own?
If he had not been exiled, he would not have been parted from his beloved. But because he was cursed to be parted from his beloved, did the circumstances create the event that was destined to be?
Then there's King Ravana himself. He sought a boon to be invincible and feared no being, much less a human.
Though of half-Brahmin, half-demon heritage, his demonic tendencies led him to acquire so much power that he lost sight of the distinction between good and evil. His actions ultimately led Rama to seek him out, thereby causing his destruction.
Was the entire play laid out for Ravana's destruction? So was the ultimate end to protect the forces of good against evil?
Were the events that occurred set in motion because of Ravana’s actions? Was this pre-destined?
Root and cause, cause and root are intertwined in such a way as to compel anyone reading to consider the impact of actions, whether intentional or mistaken, and the cycle of consequences they unleash.
Is this the enduring power of the story, regardless of whether its characters are divine or flawed?
The King was skilled in the art of hunting prey by their sounds.
Shravan Kumar is considered the ideal child.
Believed to have either died of shock, or on the son’s funeral pyre.
This is one of the backstories from the Ramayana.
The celebration offer is available until April 10 - enjoy 100 stories at your leisure - $3.60 a month or $36 for the year (or 36 cents per story). What’s more, once redeemed, the discount is always on!
A deeply moving and sad tale. It would seem to me that even Deities (in their human form) are subject to an overall Fate. You cannot escape your Fate. Thank you again, Jayshree, for these amazing tales.
Can’t wait for more 💙🙏💫🌿
Of course, if Rama had not been exiled, if his beloved Sita had not been stolen, he would not have fulfilled his purpose of defeating evil.
I did not know (or I’d forgotten) the first half of this story, which makes it even sadder.