THE KING'S FEAR OF A SWEEPER

In my childhood I had the habit of going to the nearby temple and listen to the Ramayan form the cheif priest of the temple. The chief priest would read out various exhaustive texts written about the Ramayan.

On day one of the listeners asked the chief priest , "Why did King Janaka did not send any invitation to the kingdom of King Dashrath in ortder to attend the contest of braking the bow of Lord Shiva and win the hand of Sita in marriage"

The cheif priest smiled and began to read a chapter of a book that had exhaustive notes about the Ramayan.

He began to answer the question.

King Dahsrath of Ayodhya was not an ordinary king. He was from the solar dynasty and was righteous. He was truthful and a worshipper of the Sun God. He had the blessings of sages on him . All these qualities made him so powerful that even gods sought his help in order to fight against demons. Once after King Dahsrath deafeated an army of demons, Lord Indra, the king of the gods living in heaven blessed him with a boon. According to the boon, Dashrath could re-enliven any dead creature, animal or human being. This boon had some restrictions on it. Dashrath could use this boon on creatures that had been killed unrighteaously. He could not use it on creatures who died due to natural causes like disease and old age. There was one more blessing bestowed upon him. According to that blesing, the righteousness of the king would give extra ordinary strength to his subjects.

When King Dashrath was given this boon, Lord Rama had not been born to him.

Many years passed after Dashrath got this boon. In the neighbourhood of Ayodhya lived a king named Janaka.

King Janaka, the king of Mithila and the father of Sita , knew the strength of Sita when he saw her lift the bow of Lord Shiva. The bow had been kept in the temple of Shiva that had been built in the kingdom of King Janaka. Janaka wished to get his daughter Sita married to a person who would be as strong as her ,so he invitated various kings and princes in order to take part in a contest. The contest was of breaking the bow of Lord Shiva.

Once the king was sitting in his room when his attendant told him that the minister wanted to meet him. "Let him in" said King Janaka.

The minister entered the room of the king.

"What happened ? What made you come? Did my invitation reach the kingdoms far and near?" asked King Janaka

"Yes, it has, My King"said the minster. "But?"he wanted to say something but was reluctant to say.

"But what, minister. you can say whatever is in your mind"

"I have question"

"And what's that?"

"My King, you sent invitations to all the kings living near our kingdom and even to the ones that are far away but why didn't you send any invitation to Ayodhya, the kingdom of King Dahsrath , our closest neighbour.?"

King Janaka looked sharply at the minister. The minister stood at his place with his head downcast. "I am sorry, if I asked anything wrong" said the minister.

"No there is nothign wrong in what you asked" said Janaka thoughtfully. He got up from his chair and began to walk in the room. "I will tell you the reason of my not inviting Dashrath , but you give me word that you won't tell this thing to anyone" added Janaka

"Yes, My highness" said Janaka.

King Janaka began his narration:

Once King Janaka was on a hunting expedition. As a king he needed to hunt down harmful wild animals like lions, tigers, etc in order to protect cattle. While huntinng he went to the extreme border of his kingdom. He shot an arrow at a wild animal but missed. The next thing that could be heard was a painful bellowing of a cow. King Janaka went to see what had happened .He saw a dead cow with an arrow piereced into its body. The arrow was of Janaka. The king got worried because the cow had died in the area which was in the border of King Dashrath. The killing of a cow of another king meant declaration of war. King Janaak did not want any kind of war with King Dahsrath, so he had to do something very fast.

He did not return to his palace that nigth and entered the border of Ayodhya in disguise.

The king headed to the palace of King Dashrath. he saw a sweeper walkign out of the palace. He called the sweeper and said " Brother , I have a big problem. I want your help"

"If you have a problem ask the help of the king or the soldiers of the king. How can a sweeper like me help you?" asked the sweeper.

"The problem is such that I cannot take the help of the king or his soldiers. They may misunderstand me. There are the chances of an unnecessary war" said Janaka in disguise

"In that case let me see what is the problem "

Janaka took the sweeper to the dead cow. He narrated the sweeper how he killed the cow by mistake. He wanted this act to be hidden as this act was not done intentionally and he did not want to fight with King Dashrath.

The sweeper smiled and took some water from the small pot he was carrying. The sweeper held the water in his hand and said "If it is true that my king Dashrath is righteous , just and follows the path of truth , then let this dead cow come back to life"

The sweeper sprinkled the water on the cow after King Janaka had pulled out the arrow from its body. The cow became alive and walked away. Janaka was shocked at that time. He was relieved that he was not going to be pitted in a war against Ayodhya.

Janaka left the place without knowing the identity of the sweeper.

"You did not try to know the identity of the sweeper , my King?" asked Janak's minister

"Yes. I forgot to ask the name as i was in ahurry to leave that place " said Janaka

"But I don't get the point why you did not invite King Dashrath"

"A simple sweeper of Dashrath's kingdom had so much power because of the righteousness of Dashrath. If Dashrath sends some servant or any sweeper after recieving my invitation in order to win the contest I have organsied for the marriage of Sita , then imagine what will happnen. If that servant breaks the bow and wins the contest, then i will have to marry Sita with that servant or sweeper . This is my fear"

Janaka was afraid after seeing the act of that sweeper that day.

The cheif priest read this much and looked at the person who had asked this question. There was no further question from that person. May be the fellow got a convincing answer.

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