On the shoulders’of giants-A tribute to better/’bitter’ half

When I posted the first part of Kalidasa story I intentionally left the second part, obviously as it was not relevant for the occasion and time constraints also was there.However, the second part of the story is also very important especially from female perspective.So I thought I post it on 8th March for understandable reasons.There are very interesting takeaways in this story especially the version I was told.(There are many variants of this story.But our interest is not in those stories).Here you can see that where the arrogance of knowledge lead the princesses.Arrogance is not a virtue.That is why we generally see humility with knowledge.Second takeaway is that even the idiotic blabbering can be transformed into pearls of wisdom in the right hand.Third takeaway is what kind of company you keep.In the company of scholars even an idiot becomes a wise man.Now let us come back to remaining part of the story.

the clever pundits gave super-excellent explanations. The princess was highly pleased with the shepherd , and she said, “I am now prepared to marry this great scholar.” The pundits also received generous rewards from the princess for bringing such a great scholar to her.

So the princess and the young man got married. Oh God, hardly two hours had elapsed before she came to discover that this fellow was the worst possible fool in God’s entire creation! When he started talking, nothing made any sense. She was miserable that she had been fooled by the pundits, but what could she do? She said to her new husband, “I will keep you as my husband provided that you listen to my request. Otherwise, I am going to throw you out of my palace.”

He said fearfully, “Yes, I will listen to you.”

She told him to go to the Mother Kali temple that very evening and bolt the door from the inside. Then he had to pray to Mother Kali. When Mother Kali knocked at the door, he had to tell Her that he would allow Her to come in only if She agreed to bless him and make him a great scholar.

The young man obeyed his wife. He went to the Mother Kali temple and bolted the door from the inside. Then he started praying most devotedly. After a few hours, Mother Kali came and knocked at the door. As he was opening the door for Her, he said, “Mother, Mother, I will let You in only if You bless me. Otherwise, I will not allow You to come inside.”

Seeing his sincerity, Mother Kali looked at him and poured all Her Compassion into him. She said, “Open your mouth and show Me your tongue.” When he did so, She wrote down on his tongue a mantra — something most sacred and secret. Immediately, he was endowed with divine gifts: he became very cultured; he was able to speak Sanskrit fluently and he started composing poems.

When he returned home later that night, his wife was so pleased with his transformation. To her greatest joy, he had become a great scholar and poet overnight. The two lived very happily together. The young man became known as Kalidasa. ‘Dasa’ means slave or servant. He received wisdom-light from Mother Kali; that is why his name was Kalidasa — the servant of Mother Kali.Now what are the takeaways in it.The girl was intelligent enough to realize her mistake but was not a quitter.She knew “a quitter never wins and a winner never quits.”So she took the challenge and advised him accordingly.He was wise enough to accept her advice and executed it.All are winners in this.Mind you today that lady is remembered as the kalidasa’s wife not kalidasa as the princess’s husband.Much of the credits goes to her.That way she was really wise .(The second part of the story also has relevance in my life but that is for another day)