In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Nala being intercepted by Indra and Co. as all of them are making their way to the Vidharba Desha to participate in the “Svayamvara” event for Damayanti. Stopping him on the way thus, Indra requests King Nala to go as a messenger to Damayanti and convey the news that the Devas are very interested in marrying her. Even as King Nala objected, Indra is in no mood to relent from his stance. He sticks to his resolution and instructs King Nala to obey his order! Without having an option thus, King Nala goes to Damayanti’s place and requests her to consider Indra’s proposal, instead of she being in love with him! As Damayanti hears this, she is shell-shocked and she sticks to her firm stance that if at all there is a marriage that is going to happen in her life, it would be only with King Nala and nobody else! Even though King Nala tries to convince her to change her stance, Damayanti stands firm! Instead, she gives an idea to King Nala to ask all the Devas to come and participate in the Svayamvara event, and in front of all of them, she would choose King Nala! If such a thing is done, nobody could object! Thus, the plan is made and King Nala goes back to Indra with whatever Damayanti said to him.
Moving on thus, Indra and Co. proceed along with King Nala to the Vidharba Desha. The “Svayamvara” event is about to start and all the kings assemble in the big hall! Damayanti comes out with the garland in her hand. She looks dazzling in her attire and all the kings are being taken aback by her exceptional beauty! Each king is waiting eagerly for Damayanti to approach him and put the garland around his neck. This includes Indra and Co. too. As Damayanti enters the Svayamvara hall, her eyes directly start searching for King Nala! She is looking around the hall to find out where he is seated. She passes through king after king, but she is unable to find King Nala. However, after a certain distance, she is able to spot King Nala! Readers should remember the plan of Damayanti here – In front of the Devas and the entire gathering, Damayanti would choose King Nala to be her husband, which cannot be questioned by anyone! However, to her utter disbelief, she saw not just one King Nala, but five of them! Now what is this game being played? How can King Nala take the form of five people? Is he also one of the Devas? Or, is Damayanti being tricked here, so that a confusion is created in her mind? Thus, as Damayanti sees five King Nalas sitting in front of her, she doesn’t know how to react! The ultimate reality here is that, all the Devas, including Indra, took the form of King Nala and are sitting beside him!
At this point, Damayanti knows only one way to come out of this tricky situation – She folds her hands and offers her prayers to Indra and Co. thus, “Oh Devas! If it is true that I love King Nala to the best of my heart, if it is true that I’m in love with only one person in this world and nobody else, if it is true that I’m a chaste woman and not otherwise, please show me who the real King Nala is! Please do not let my chastity hang in shame!” As Damayanti prays ardently and sincerely thus, Indra understood his folly. He understands how deeply Damayanti is in love with King Nala, and decides that neither he nor his other Devatas should interfere in this. Thus, since they are Devatas, Indra and Co. clearly reveal their differentiation by their feet not touching the ground! King Nala (The original one) being a normal human being, has his foot on his ground, and with this, Damayanti identifies him! Immediately as she does so, she is in tears of joy and thus, puts the garland around King Nala’s neck!
As Damayanti puts the garland around King Nala’s neck, the entire Vidharba Desha is extremely happy! Indra and the other Devas are also happy for both of them and provide their divine “Anugraha” to the couple. With this, the King Nala-Damayanti marriage happens with a lot of grandeur in the Vidharba Desha and the happy couple decides to live together forever henceforth. As the marriage gets over, Indra and the others leave the marriage hall, and as Indra does so, something strange happens! Kali Purusa arrives there from nowhere! So for today, let us also join hands with the people of Vidharba Desha to celebrate the marriage between King Nala and Damayanti. We shall witness in the next episode as to why Kali Purusha is coming here, and what he is going to do! Stay tuned for an interesting and absorbing accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 