Note: Continuing this series of Indian folk stories, travelling through north and west, today I have arrived south with a Tamil folk story for you. Happy reading!
Once there was a big businessman. He had a son and a daughter. Both were happily married. The brother and sister had a great regard for each other. They decided that in case a daughter was born to one and a son to another, they would marry them to each other so that the family bonds continued. The son had three sons and the daughter had three daughters. The businessman became old and one day he passed away. As he was in debt, the creditors took away a large portion of his money, with the result that his son became poor.
The businessman’s daughter was married to a rich man. He prospered in his business. He gave two of his daughters in marriage to two businessmen who were rolling in wealth and both the husband and wife were busy in settling the marriage of their third daughter. At that time, the third daughter reminded them of the promise they had made to her uncle. She also told that all her cousins were refusing to marry till she also got married and that she would marry one of them only.
When her mother heard this, she was stunned. She said, “Both of your sisters have married in rich families. If you marry a poor man, who will respect you?” She further said, “If you insist on marrying your cousin, I will push you in their house and will never talk to you.”
The girl did not give in. She had decided to marry one of her cousins only.
The girl’s mother had no other way out. She sent a word to her brother that she will give her youngest daughter in marriage to one of his sons. When her brother heard this, his happiness knew no bounds. He made all arrangements and the marriage was celebrated. The other two sons were married in poor families. The youngest son was married to this girl. Her parents never came to see her or enquired about her welfare.
She was very happy in the poor man’s family and never acted as if she was from a rich background. All the three brothers earned their living by stitching banyan leaves and selling them in the market. In this way they were passing their days in extreme poverty.
One day the king of that place was having his oil bath. He had taken off his ring and had kept it on the floor. Suddenly an eagle came and took away the ring and dropped it in the house of the businessman’s son. At that time only the youngest daughter-in-law was in the house. She picked up the ring and tied it to the edge of her sari and did not tell anyone about it.
The king had seen the eagle taking away his ring. He made an announcement that whosoever brought the ring back to him would be rewarded with whatever he asked for. The youngest daughter came to know of this announcement. She told her husband about it and said, “Let us go and give it to the king. Whatever I ask from the king, you must be satisfied with that and will never get angry with me.” Her husband agreed, and both of them went to the palace and gave the ring to the king.
The king was happy to find his ring and he asked them what they wanted. The lady said, “Your majesty! I do not want riches. My only wish is that on one friday, nobody should light lamps in their houses. Even in the palace there should be no lamp. Only I will light lamps in my house.” The king agreed to this. An announcement was made throughout the town that no one should light his house on the following Friday, and if he did so their eyes would be plucked out.
The youngest daughter, as soon as she got permission from the king to light her house on the following Friday, told her brothers-in-law to bring at least two varakan (1 varakan = 3.5 rupees) on loan and that the whole house had to be lighted on the next Friday. She also asked one brother-in-law to stand near the front door and the second one to stand near the back door. She told them that if anyone wanted to enter the house, they should only let him on the condition that he would not come out, and in case anyone wanted to go out of the house, they should only let him on the condition that he would not come in again.
All the three brothers went out to bring some money. The two younger brothers kept their eldest brother in mortgage and borrowed two varakan. They bought oil, earthen lamps and cotton, to illuminate the whole house.
The long awaited Friday came. The youngest daughter with her two sisters-in-law observed a fast that day and during the night lit the whole house.
The whole town was in complete darkness because if the king’s order. Goddess Lakshmi went from house to house but could not find even a ray of light anywhere. In the end she came to the youngest daughter’s house. There she saw the brother-in-law standing in front of the house. She took his permission to go in. He enquired who she was, and let her go in only after being assured that she would not come out.
No sooner had she entered the house than Poverty, Goddess Lakshmi’s sister, could no longer continue to live in the same house and had to leave the place. She quickly came out and asked the brother-in-law’s permission to leave the house. He was reminded of his sister-in-law’s words. He enquired who she was and secured her promise that if she left the house she would not enter it again, only then he would allow her to leave. She promised that she would not come back again and left the house through the back door.
The next morning when all the three brothers and their wives got up they found all the vessels, trunks, almirahs, full of gold coins. Poverty had disappeared altogether and they became rich. The youngest daughter’s parents and her sisters started visiting her thereafter.
Do you know that from that day onwards people light their houses on Friday and perform pooja to invite Goddess Lakshmi?
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This Tamil folk story was written, in its current form by K.A. Seethalakshmi in her book Folk Tales of Tamil Nadu
Kalampedia 