chapter-5

chapter-5

Adu and Ajju soon after coming back from school went in search of grandpa wanting to share their day at school. It was an exciting day for Ajju for the little girls and boys in his class had wrestling time to establish superiority over each other. Ajju told grandpa with a glee that the girls lost to the boys , since according to him boys are stronger than girls. Grandpa helped the children to change from their uniforms and took them to the dining table for their evening snacks. While eating he started telling them a story.

"Boys, strong boys, do you want to hear about a little strong girl who lived long ago" asked gramps.

" Yes , Yes, " chorussed the boys. " Very very long ago, nearly 1800 years back lived a little girl by name Auvai , pronounced as 'au' as in audio and 'vai' as in vain. Auvai's parents were very proud of their beautiful little girl as she was very intelligent and showed interest in learning. The girls were allowed access to education in those days under the supervision of their parents. When Auvai turned thirteen or so her parents started looking for a groom for her, as it was a custom in those days to marry young. Auvai did not want to marry and lead life like everyone else. She wanted to learn more and wanted to tour and meet the uneducated and poor. She wanted to spread awareness about education amongst people. Her parents opposed her proposal for women were not allowed to remain unmarried. They told her that it was not safe for young beautiful woman to stay single. Auvai tried to convince them but then her parents were horrified at the very thought of Auvai's idea of travelling for women did'nt travel much in those days. Friends and neighbours advised Auvai not to go against her parents' wishes and they literally called her a fool after hearing about her proposals. As for Auvai all her efforts in convincing her parents went in vain. The little girl was also very religious and she sought help of her favourite God Ganesha. She prayed fervently to Him seeking His guidance and help. In her prayer she also requested Him to remove her youth and beauty as she felt that with an aged look no one would want to marry her. And the next moment her skin started drying up , her hair turned white and she even lost stability needing the support of a stick to stand and walk. Ganesha had heeded to her prayers. Auvai's parents understood her determination and supported her in her mission. From that day Auvai's mission was to travel widely all over south India which was ruled by Chera, Chola, Pandia kings. Even though the three kings were rivals she was welcome in all the three kings' courts. She was held in high esteem by those kings and she used that influence to help the poor people by creating employment opportunities. She enjoyed the status of a intellectual friendship with the kings. She lived amongst the poorest of poor bringing in awareness about basic ethics, cleanliness, lifestyle, education and so on. To her, Kings' courts and homes of poor peasants were same. She loved children and was of strong view that good values should be taught when young. Hence she composed many poems for children through which she taught them good values and ethics. Singing is part of any culture, you'd find farmers ,weavers, potters, priests of yore good at composing and singing while going about their routine jobs. Children also followed suit, they were also good at composing songs spontaneously while playing . Some of those compositions have survived till today. She was and is lovingly called 'Auvai Patti' , meaning grandma. If she had married as her parents had proposed she'd have got only a small family to call her own, but now you see she is patti to millions and she will remain patti for centuries to come.

Now what do you have to say about this little strong girl" asked grandpa.

" Amazing grandpa, girls are stronger" said the kids.

chapter-4

chapter-4

It was TV viewing time at home and there was the usual scuffle for the remote between the two kids. While Dittu wanted to watch wolverine Ajju wanted some other cartoon channel. Grandpa tried to forge some peace but understandably failed. As a distraction grandpa announced that he was ready with a story for any willing listeners. Both the kids raced to reach grandpa throwing TV remote somewhere along the way.

Chapter-4

Grandpa begun thus: In Tamilnadu during fifth/sixth century B.C there lived a Saiva saint called Manickavachagar. He was a devotee of Shiva and has sung in praise of Shiva many hymns. But before he turned a total ascetic he was a minister in the king's court. A valiant minister was he , had led armies on many wars and have won almost most of them. He was well appreciated and respected by one and all and the King also held him in high esteem. Though he was a valiant soldier he was deeply devotional and would spend all his free time in visiting temples and other religious places. He was slowly being drawn towards an ascetic way of life and was spending lots of money on renovating temples. Sometimes he would divert even taxes that he collected from chieftains of villages. The other ministers who were jealous of manickavachagar's close proximity to the king took this opportunity to alert the king about the tax diversions. The king ignored these complaints as the amount involved was small and since the king himself was also religious manickavachagar's diverting money for religious purposes did not anger him much.

Once since the army was in need of good breed of horses the king told manickavachagar to personally go and procure good breed of horses. Manickavachagar set out with a small army for he was carrying lots of money to buy horses. On the way he saw a temple in a very dilapidated condition and stopped there to enquire about the temple. It was a shiva temple and the locals said that they were not getting any financial help from the king to maintain the temple hence the poor maintenance of the temple. Manickavachagar halted there and started renovation work of the temple with the money that he was caryying. His change of plan reached the ears of the king and he got furious for this time a huge sum of money was being spent without his approval. He sent for manickavachagar and sought his explanation for spending money on some other purpose other than what it was meant for. manickavachagar told the king that he had ordered for horses to be delivered and they would arrive next day. The king did not believe him and ordered for his imprisonment. The minister went to jail without any remorse and spent his time in prison singing hymns on shiva.

The next day a very handsome young man came to the palace and sought audience with the king. The king met him and the young man informed that he had come to deliver the horses that manickavachagar had ordered and paid fully for. The king was taken by surprise and came out to inspect the neatly turned out herd of horses. They were all of highly excellent breed and the king was extremely happy , ordered for release of manickavachagar. The young man left immediately after delivering the horses. When night set in , everyone were fast asleep in the kingdom and suddenly people started hearing howling of pack of foxes. Everyone in the place woke up and the soldiers went in search of the source of the howling and to their horror found that the horses that were delivered that day had all turned into foxes in the stables. They ran to the king's chamber and informed him. The furious king sought explanation from manickavachagar and the minister told the king that he had lied about the horses and he also informed the king that he had indeed diverted money meant for buying horses for the renovation work of a temple . He also told that he had not paid money to anybody for delivering horses.

In the meantime the foxes freed themselves from the stables and started running on to the streets. The soldiers chased them and to their chagrin saw them all disappearing into a shiva temple. On hearing this king and all the ministers entered the temple and to their dismay did not find even a single fox there. Instead they heard a voice from the sanctorum addressing the king. The voice said thus" King, manickavachagar is an ardent devotee of mine and I played this drama to bring him fully into asceticism. Maintaining places of worship is also duty of the king during peace time and you failed in that duty. Hence this drama was also for teaching a valuable lesson to you". The king and the others realised the saintly nature of manickavachagar and sought his pardon. Manickavachagar renounced his wealth and status to turn an ascetic and his hymns on shiva are sung even today in all the shiva temples.

" Children, this story is called "pariya nariyakina kathai"- Pari means horse, nari means fox, hence this story is about horses turning into foxes, somewhat like the wolverine story, is'nt it?" asked grandpa. "yes, grandpa, but this one is more thrilling", chorussed the kids.