Week 7, Story telling: Gandharva

Gautham was well known gandharva among the gods and humans. He was humble and his talent for singing was extraordinary. When Gautham starts singing, both earth and heaven sinks in to his beautiful voice. Gautham has come of age and his parents were trying to find a suitable apsara for him. He received many proposals from suitable apsaras. Someone of them were even beautiful as the lotus and had a voice of nightingale. However, he did not find anyone suitable for him, he felt like all of them was missing something.

By the days go by, his parents started getting impatient with him. Finally his father decided to speak with him about their concern.

Gautham’s father – Son, many suitors came and showed interest in you, you rejected everyone! Don’t you realize that you are getting older and older, your mother and I would like to see you get married before we close our eyes.

Gautham- Father, I understand your concerns. However, I hope you do understand that I cannot make anyone my life partner without feeling a connection towards them. I have always been obedient towards you and mother and followed every word you have spoken to me. Please give me some more time to make a decision.

Gautham’s father- Of course son, but do consider your parents too. We are getting older and we do not have much time on heaven.

Gautham – yes father.

Gautham walked away feeling pressured to make a decision about his life partner. He decided to go for a walk in the forest to clear his mind and hoping that he will be able to narrow down his options of the proposals.

Gautham was deep in his thoughts when he accidently bumped in to a maiden. They both apologized to each other and walked away. Gautham started walking through the forest. He could not think about anything else except how beautiful the maiden’s eyes were. There is nothing special about her, however the way she looked at him drew him towards her. The next day Gautham waited in the same path hoping that she would pass by. For Gautham’s luck she passed through the same path. He stopped her and introduced himself and she introduced herself. Her name was Meena, she lives in the nearby village and comes to the forest every day to feed her cattle.  Gautham started becoming an everyday visitor and gave Meena company while the cattle went on to enjoy the tender grass in the forest. Slowly they fell in love. Finally, Gautham decided to inform his parents about his love.

Gautham – Father, Mother, I found someone and would like to get married to her with your blessings.

Gautham’s father- We are so pleased to hear than son. Whom did you pick from the proposals?

Gautham – Her name is Meena and she is a human who lives in the village next to the forest.

Both his parents were furious to hear this

With ranging anger his mother spoke, “We wanted you to get married to an apsara, not a mere human girl. She is an ordinary girl, not even a princess. We will not give you our blessings if you proceed with this”.

After many arguments and reasoning, his parents finally decided to meet Meena. When they met her they were impressed by her intelligence. They were pleased to see that meena was well mannered and humble. They agreed to give blessings for their marriage.

Author’s note

While I was reading the reading Diary, I came across vocabs gandharvas and apsaras. I had to click in the link provided and it took me to the Wikipedia page and I was fascinated by them. So I had to write a story about Gandharva. Since I am a big junkie for love stories, I had to turn this in to a love story.

Bibliography
Gandharvas, Wikipedia
Click here to access the wiki page about gandharva

Duryodhana and the Gantharvas, PDE Mahabharatha
Click here to access story telling which mentions gandharva

Gandharvas