Sati sat on the floor of her room, one room among many in
her father’s large mansion, looking through photos of her sisters. Each of her beautiful sisters stood beside
their god-like husbands and they seemed to fit so well together. Her father had arranged these marriages to
gain fame, power, and respect and in the process had made her sisters into very
happy and carefree wives. However, now
it was Sita’s turn to marry and this time she would choose, she would marry the
most powerful man in the world. She
would marry Mahadeva, this man was a simple man without wealth, instead he held
immense power in his hands. He had the
ability to create and destroy anything, they called him the “creator”. Sita had chosen this man when she was young,
despite his power, he was also known for his focus, his meditation, and his
spirituality. It was rumored that he
even possessed a hidden third eye, with which he could see the future.
Her father opposed the marriage because it would not bring
him any more wealth and would not bring his daughter the happiness and ability
to be carefree like wealth would. However, in the end he had to let her marry
him because she refused everyone else.
Soon she left that luxurious room in her father’s mansion
for the small cottage that Mahadeva had for her. There she was happy, so happy. She sang to the birds while she threw them
rice, she sang to the deer so that they would come out from the woods, and she
sang to the flowers to bloom in the sunshine.
She and Mahadeva were complete opposites and in this they were perfect.
He was strong and large, she small and sweet.
Together their hearts beat as one and they meditated together out on the
peak underneath a shade tree, they were perfect together. However her father was still angry at Sati
for choosing Mahadeva and was angry at Mahadeva for being penniless and without
wealth. Therefore he came up with a plan
to shame Mahadeva and Sati, he would throw an immense party and would send a
messenger to tell Sati and Mahadeva that they were not invited!
Maharaja Prajapati made all the arrangements, he ensured he
invited all of his daughters and their powerful husbands, he invited CEO’s and
world leaders, he invited everyone except his youngest, Sati, and her
husband. When her husband told her that
she was not invited, she insisted that she had to go anyways, she said, “The
invitation is merely a formality, of course I’m invited! Please allow me to go! Please my love! I only wish to go to show them my pride in
being married to you!”
Mahadeva of course could not go against his wife’s wishes so
he had his only car brought around and sent her on her way with two of his men
to accompany her. Along the way she
encountered Kubera, a man of great wealth, and his wife. As friends of Mahadeva they stopped Sati in
order to dress her in fine silks, flowers, and jewels. She no longer looked
poor.
It was like this that she entered her father’s parties and
she outshone all of her beautiful sisters and their wealthy husbands. She outshone everyone and everyone noticed,
her father most of all. He was enraged
with her presence and he let her know in front of everyone assembled
there. He scolded her for coming
uninvited, he scolded her for marrying Mahadeva, and he scolded her for coming
without her husband like a proper wife would.
Sati bowed her head at her father’s torrential outburst and remained
silent until it ended, the she raised her head to her father and with angry,
hurt eyes she cursed him, “I am so ashamed to be the daughter of one who only
knows the worth of a man by his wealth, therefore I curse you father to look
like the animal you are!”
Like magic the king’s head was replaced with that of a goat
and all he could do was bleat his outrage, because goats cannot speak the human
languages. Then Sati fell to the floor
and yelled, “I am ashamed to have been the daughter of an animal and as such I
cannot bare this life knowing that I was born from a father like the Maharaja
Prajapati!” Then and there her soul fled
from her body and her life was gone.
Sati no longer belonged to this world and Mahadeva felt it and knew this
would happen, and when it did he flew into a rage and vowed that he would
destroy the world. A world without Sati
was no world at all!
However Mahadeva could not complete his vow because her
sisters, who wished to save the world, hired a pilot named Vishnu to spread
Sati’s ashes all over the world in holy places.
By this act his rage was slighted and he became sorrowful and went to
sit beneath his shade tree on the peak of the Himalayas by himself. He meditated for days at a time in order to
touch the essence of Sati’s soul and when he finally did he felt finally at
peace for his love was with him always and forever.
Author's note
I really liked the story of Sati and her want to marry the most powerful man despite the fact that he owned nothing of his own. That she alone understood that he was the one who held the most power in this world. So I decided to retell it in a slightly modern setting but with the original story as the focus.
