Vikramaditya was dedicated to the well-being of his subjects and to the promise he made to the sage. So, without being discouraged by the escape, he rushed back to the old peepal tree, pulled the corpse onto his shoulder, and began walking.
Betal in the corpse praised the determination of the king and said,” O king, the journey to the destination is boring and thus tiring. So, I’m going to tell you a story which will definitely lessen your burden.” Betal began his tale:-
Rudrasen was the king of a kingdom named Chanakyapuri. Besides being an able administrator, he was a man of principle and had a high regard for social and moral values. In his kingdom, marrying another man’s wife was considered a grave, unpardonable act and was liable to attract severe punishment
There lived a rich merchant in the capital who had a young, handsome, and unmarried son called Hrishikesh. One day, young Hrishikesh met a beautiful girl at a social gathering. He was so enchanted by her beauty and grandeur that the young bachelor lost his heart to her. After a little inquiry, he came to know that she was the daughter of another merchant in the same kingdom, and her name was Malini. After gathering the required information about the girl and her family, Hrishikesh decided to send a close friend to the girl’s house as his messenger, for he found it quite impossible to live without her.
The friend met the girl’s father and conveyed Hrishikesh’s wish and deep love for Malini. However, Malini’s father expressed his regret and showed his inability to accept the proposal. He informed them that Malini was already engaged to a young man named Jayendra.
The friend returned to Hrishikesh with the disappointing news. Hrishikesh was shattered to hear the news. He felt it hard to live a life without his beloved. He chose to live a lonely, colourless life in the future. Meanwhile, one day, Hrishikesh got a letter from Malini. She had written that she knew of his deep love for her and respected it. She expressed her regret for the whole turnout. She showed her willingness to meet him but displayed her inability to do so, as it might defame her family. However, she promised to meet him after her marriage.
The feeling of being acknowledged by Malini as her lover gave a tremendous boost to Hrishikesh’s mental health, and he steadily returned to his normal self.
On the due date, Malini was married to Jayendra with much fanfare. After the ceremony, Malini proceeded to her new house with her husband. Upon reaching home, Malini disclosed Hrishikesh’s love to her husband. She also told him about the promise she made to Hrishikesh that she would come to meet him after the marriage. Jayendra appreciated his wife’s truthfulness and decided to honor her wish. He said, “I’m relieving you. If you want to go there, you can happily go.”
Malini thanked her husband and proceeded toward Hrishikesh’s place. It was evening. Malini, in her bridal gown and adorned with numerous precious pieces of jewelry, was passing through a narrow, secluded lane. Suddenly, a robber appeared before her.
“Surrender all your jewelry,” thundered the evil man.
“Please let me go with these jewels for now. In a couple of hours, I’ll come back and happily give them to you,” begged Malini, as she related the whole story to him.
The robber sensed the honesty in her words and let her go.
Till the time Malini reached Hrishikesh’s place, it had become dark. Malini knocked on the door, which was opened by Hrishikesh. Seeing her on his doorstep was quite an unexpected sight for him. Instead of welcoming her happily, he shouted in an anxiety-laden voice, “What are you doing here at this odd hour?”
“I’m here because I promised you I would meet you after my marriage,” remarked the shocked girl.
“But don’t you know the king’s rule and the punishment for the flaunters? You are a married woman, and if the king’s men found you here at this late hour, both of us would be sent to jail for the crime of adultery,” yelled the young man.
“You must go back at once to save your as well as my honour,” commanded Hrishikesh. Malini was quite hurt and felt dejected to see his unimaginable behaviour. With tears in her eyes, she returned. On the way, she passed through the same lane and met the robber again. The robber noticed her sad face and asked the reason for it. Malini poured her heart out to the robber. The robber felt pity for her condition and decided to let her go without robbing her. He rather escorted her to her husband’s house.
After reaching back, Malini thanked the robber and entered the house. She told everything honestly to her husband, Jayendra. But the man said, “I allowed you to go as per your wish. Now I can’t accept you as my wife. You can go where your wish takes you.” Finding both the doors closed for her and observing the insulting fallout, Malini could not cope with despair and ended her life.
Ending his story here, Betal put forth his question, “Vikram, who was the supreme person among the four? Was it Hrishikesh or Malini or Jayendra or the robber? If you knowingly evaded the question, you know the consequence,” warned Betal.
I would like to invite my readers to find the appropriate answer to the question posed by Betal before they compare their answer with Vikramaditya’s reply.
“Betal, Hrishikesh, was the lover of Malini. But after marriage, when Malini went to meet him, he got scared of the king’s punishment. In his fear, he did not even bother to talk to her who had come to meet him so bravely. So he cannot be considered a supreme person. Malini felt sorry for Hrishikesh, who was shattered because he could not marry her. She considered herself responsible for his plight, and so she went to soothe him. Thus she too had a reason to behave in such a noble manner. So far as Jayendra was concerned, he was a considerate man but could not prove himself a considerate husband. He allowed his wife to go and meet Hrishikesh but failed to keep faith in her, thus refusing to accept her back as his wife. So Jayendra too cannot be considered a supreme person among the four. The thief by profession was supposed to rob the people. But in Malini’s case, he felt pity over her condition and decided to let her go without robbing her. Even though he was in no way related to the girl, he felt concerned for her plight on humanitarian grounds. No doubt he was the noblest soul and a supreme person among the four.”
The king’s reply pleased Betal greatly. He praised him aloud, but he was not so kind when it came to going along with him. So as soon as he heard the explanation, he left the king and flew in the sky, leaving the king running after him.
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