Once there was a moneylender, who had no shortage of money or grains. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. But was without any child and with this wish, he used to go to Lord Shiva's temple every day and light a lamp. Seeing this devotion of his, Maa Parvati asked Shivji to bless the moneylender with a true son as he was a true devotee and his troubles must be removed. Shivji said “O Parvati, there is no chance of a son in the fortune of this moneylender. In this situation, even if he gets the boon of having a son, he will live only till the age of 12 years.”
Hearing this, Mother Parvati urged Shivji to bless him, otherwise why would the devotees worship him? Bholenath decided to give this moneylender the boon of a son on Maa’s repeated requests. But also said that the child would live only for 12 years.
The moneylender heard everything and he was neither happy nor sad. He continued worshiping Bholenath as before. While Sethani became pregnant and was finally blessed with a lovely son. There was so much joy in the whole family but the moneylender remained as before and did not mention the child was to live only for 12 years.
When the boy turned 11 years old, the moneylender's sister-in-law asked for the boy's marriage. So the moneylender said that he would now send the child to Kashi to study. After this, he called the child's maternal uncle and told him to take the child to Kashi and at whatever place he stops on the way, perform yagya and feed the brahmins. On the way to Kashi, marriage nuptial was happening of a princess. The one she was to marry was blind with one eye. So when his father saw the handsome moneylender's son, he thought why not make him sit on a mare and get all the marriage functions done? So he talked to his maternal uncle and said that if he would give immense money in return, to which the uncle agreed.
After this, the moneylender's son sat on the marriage altar and when the marriage ceremony was over, before leaving, he wrote on the edge of the princess's ‘chundri’ "You were married to me, but the prince you will go with is blind from an eye." After this, he left for Kashi with his maternal uncle. On the other hand, when the princess found this written on her ‘chunri’, she refused to go with the prince.
And so even the king did not see off his daughter with the procession. The procession returned. On the other side, the maternal uncle and nephew had reached Kashiji. On the day when the yagya was organized as per the moneylender’s command, the child did not come out of hut for a long time, his uncle went inside and found him dead. He was very upset but thought that if he started crying now, the Brahmins would go away and the work of Yagya would remain incomplete. When the yagya was over, the maternal uncle started crying and informed them about what has happened.
Shiva-Parvati were walking nearby, then Mother Parvati asked Shivji, who cries and why? Then Shiva reveals that he is the son of a moneylender born with the blessings of Bholenath? Then Mother Parvati says O Lord, make him alive, otherwise, his parents will die while crying. Then Bholenath said, “O Parvati, his age was only this much, so he has already suffered.” But on the repeated requests of maa, Bholenath brought the child back to life.
The boy woke up while chanting Om Namah Shivay and the maternal uncle and nephew both thanked Gods and returned to their city. The same city lay on the way and the princess recognized them, then the king sent the princess along with the moneylender's son with a lot of money and grains. In the city, where the moneylender and his wife were sitting on the terrace. The moneylender had taken a vow that if his son did not return safely, he would jump off the roof and sacrifice his life. When the boy's maternal uncle came and told the news of the moneylender's son and daughter-in-law coming, but they couldn’t believe it, the child’s uncle swore, then both of them got faith and both welcomed their son & daughter-in-law. The same night Lord Shiva appeared to the moneylender in a dream and said I am pleased with your faith. Similarly, whoever reads or listens to this story, all his sorrows will go away and all the desired wishes will be fulfilled.
P.S This is a common story widely told by the elders or grandparents to the children of their families. This retelling is in no manner to offend the original creator or take profit. The whole purpose of translating this story is to attempt to make it available to the public in the language English.
Nice work, keep up!
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