In a close by village named Veletur lived a rich and famous Ramarao, family; they owned hundreds of acres of very fertile land.Ramarao couple had two sons Suri and Ravi. Ravi was married to a beautiful girl and had a couple children. He was a happily married man with wonderful children running around, content in life. He was a happy go lucky personality. He loved his food, comforts of life and had very simple needs of life. He did not like to waste time worrying about the nitty gritty of life. He loved his brother Suri. He took care of his brother with tender care.
Suri turned out to be an extremely introvert person. He loved his books. He always shied away from social events, people and relatives. He loved his isolation. His best friends were books. They took him beyond the boundaries of his village and vision. There were oceans of knowledge in those bound papers. He spent his entire time absorbing all that those books could offer. He did not like wasting time on eating and other activities. Food should be eaten only to survive was the philosophy of his life. He did not like to indulge in it. He mastered all the ancient Indian books on philosophy, all the Vedas and all the Sanskrit scriptures and epics. He tried to understand all the hidden meanings in those scriptures. Every time his mother approached him with the subject of marriage his instinct was to run away from the scene as fast as possible, as far as possible and go into a hiding. In his endeavors of search for knowledge he lost track of time. He turned into a saintly enlightened thirty year old man. World saw very little of him and he was aware of the world around him very little. Food had to be eaten for survival so he ate whatever was served to him without paying attention to it that too just enough to live. He lived on solving the mysteries of the God and his ways. He visualized himself as a part of the universe with result he went beyond the boundaries of the little EGO. His self was not just this body, it was the entire universe. He saw love in every living being on this earth, in every leaf in every tree, mountain, river and cloud. Such a soul could not be tied down in wedlock.
Suri and Ravi’s mother could not understand her younger son. She could not understand what was it that was in those printed text which fascinated her son. Her son could not see anything else around him. Why could he not enjoy life like her elder son Ravi? Why could he not worry about getting married like her elder son? The boy had crossed the marriageable age. He was too old to be a bridegroom to a good looking girl from a well to do family. As far as she was concerned the only happiness a man could have was by getting married, have children and live a comfortable life. Now, the worry that disturbed her were, what was in store for Suri when he grew old? She knew that her son was not interested in a family life. He did not need wife, children, relatives or friends to go through life. All he needed was ancient books.
The old lady knew what she had to do. She had to get her son married to a girl who would look after him when he was old. No eligible young girl wanted to marry a saint who could not give them worldly comforts of life. Moral values and godliness could not put food in their plates. So the old lady looks for alternatives, and decides to secure her son’s old age. She finds a poor family who had a very pretty three year old daughter. She promises a fat some of wealth to the poor family that could steer the family out of poverty for the rest of the life; in return they should agree to make their daughter her thirty year old son’s bride. She would have the advantage of having a daughter-in-law at the same time enjoy her as a daughter till she grew up. She knew it was very unfair on her part to ask for such a request, but she had no other choice. She knew her little son was already thirty years old and very soon he would be an old man. Then she would not be around to take care of him. As far as she was concerned he was not capable of taking care of himself at any stage of life. Loving mother was far sighted. She had to groom a caretaker for her saintly son from now. Who else could be better than a young and capable wife? Convincing the little girl’s parents was a comparatively easy task. Bigger challenge was to convince her beloved son. Her little son Suri was saintly but stubborn in many ways. Her biggest problem was to make him agree to the wedlock. She approached him cautiously, feigning ill health. Emotionally blackmailing him that she was in the last stage of her life and her last wish before she died was to see his bride. These tricks at first did not work. This act of ill health had to last long enough so that her son could be sent on a guilt trip. Penetrating her son’s stubborn barriers was not easy. She was after all his mother, and she had to win the battle. Slowly and steadily she kept putting pressure on him till he buckled down to her emotional black mail. His love for his mother was strong enough to sway him from his stand. He left the choice of the bride to his mother; after all she had to deal with his bride because it was her requirement. Loving mother cleverly concealed the age of the bride to be. She knew if Suri found out about the age of his bride in advance he would back track his move faster than her breath, so she had to be careful. This was her only chance to trap her saintly son into wedlock. Preparations are at full swing but in a very small scale and very secretive. Bride groom was not disturbed till the last moment. Horoscopes were tallied, auspicious day and moment was selected. Select few family members were invited Bride groom was called to the venue. Amidst chanting of mantras and sacred hawan fire was lit with the purest of sandalwood and melted butter from purest cow milk. The bride is brought to the podium dressed in silk long skirt by the bride’s mother. Suri is a little surprised. He thinks the lady carrying the child is the bride. He is proud of his mother for considering widow remarriage. Alas he was tricked into marrying a mere three year old. Suri felt very defeated, he felt his heart had been wrenched out of him by this cruel trick of fate. He resigns himself to his fate. He makes sure his mother raises his bride with utmost care and love. His bride a mere three year old Subhadra starts living in his house. Every time he sees her his heart melts with grief and repentance. If only he could turn the clock backwards. Time and tide wait for no one. Very soon Subhadra turns into a fair and beautiful damsel. Stories of her beauty spread in all the neighborhood villages. When Subhadra turns into an eighteen year old all the ladies in the family start asking her “When is she going to become a mother?” A tender feeling of motherhood is the forbidden apple she wants to taste now. It’s very difficult to shake her husband into giving her motherhood. He treats her like a tender fragile child. Now he does not know how to fulfill her request, he had never refused any demand his little bride had put forward but this request was beyond him. He consults his elder brother Ravi for a solution for this problem. His happy go lucky elder brother finds a solution for this problem in no time at all. He is the proud father of five children and one more in the way. He consults his wife and offers his unborn child to his brother to adopt. After all
Child will grow up in the same house under the care of two mothers.
Very soon a lovely robust boy is born to Ravi and his wife Rewati. He is adopted with all the legal formalities by the Suri and Subhadra. This child is named Vijay. Vijay grows up in the tender care of two mothers and five elder brothers and sisters. The whole family dotes on him. Suri is also happy that Subhadra is very busy with the baby. She has no time to encroach into his space. He could spend all the time on exploring that sacred ancient knowledge passed down by the Gods themselves. Life was too short and knowledge to be collected was too vast.
Vijay grows up to be an intelligent, fair and handsome boy. He is very cultured, outshines in his studies. His scholarly father encourages him in his scholarly pursuits. Vijay’s interests were in modern education. Suri encourages him in whatever field of education he wants to pursue. Soon he completes his high school and goes to one and only Gindy College. He becomes a qualified civil engineer.
Hindu culture of life those days believed in three stages of life an individual should follow to achieve happiness in the life of flesh and blood. First stage is from childhood to adolescent known as Bramhacharya. In this stage of life people are supposed to follow celibacy. They need to follow strict discipline of life. This is the time meant for devotion to learning. They could learn whatever their cast expected out of them. If they were from the Khsatriyas (royal family) they needed to master more of martial arts and little bit of all the other fields of learning. Knowledge of martial arts was necessary to defend their subjects from enemy invasion, to maintain peace and order among the subjects themselves. If a member of the royal family was averse to blood shed how he could protect his subjects. If they were from Brahmin family they needed to master the Vedas (Ancient literature of India) they had to know all the ancient hymns in praise of God. They had to show the right directions to all the people to lead a healthy spiritual life. Yet they needed to master all the other fields of learning. So on and so forth.
Second stage of human life was Grihasta ashram (Family life) this is the time when a man reaches his manhood stage, from the age of twenty one years to fifty years. He is considered to have learnt all he needs to as a Bramhacharya. Now is the time to put all his learning to good use. He is required to marry, have children to expand his family, protect them and provide for them decent shelter, good food, protection and all the other basic requirements a family could have. The couple’s basic duty is to cherish the children and give them the best upbringing, so that they can face the world with strength emotionally, mentally, physically and wisely when they grow up.
The third stage of life is when they reach old age. From fifty years to the last stage of life of flesh and blood is known as Vanaprasta Ashram or Sanyas Ashram (Retreat).They are supposed to have fulfilled all their worldly duties and they are required to spend time understanding the truth about themselves. They need to understand the reality about life and death, the purpose of their life. They need to let go their ego and understand the divine. They have to understand that this life is not just this body of flesh and blood. We are a part of bigger universe and bigger plan of the universe. Our job in this world is to evolve our society and make this world a better place to live for our future generations.
Vijay is now a handsome, fair six feet tall youth. He is well read and qualified eligible bachelor. All the families in all the neighbor hood hamlets have their eyes on him. If only they could secure his hand for their beloved daughters. Many girls’ horoscopes were matched and rejected because of some fault or the other. Maniratnam also approached Suri and Subhadra for the alliance. Suri was too involved in his own scholarly pursuits; he did not know how to deal with these worldly dealings, so he lets Subhadra deal with it without bothering him. Subhadra found Manirathnam’s daughter Ratnakumari to be the most eligible match for her beloved son Vijay.
Horoscopes are matched, stars positions are calculated by the best astrologer available and auspicious day, hour and minute are selected for their betrothal, so that they could have a happy, long and healthy married life and bear lots of healthy children and make her a proud grandmother. Subhadra wanted her son to have a happy married life which she missed in her own life. She had no complaint from her saintly husband otherwise but he was more like a father whom she could bully. He lacked as a husband.
There was no shortage of funds in either family, so the wedding was a grand affair. Clothes and jewelry was imported from the best stores of Madras. Local village jewelers were not found good enough for this occasion. Lots of planning went into the event. People talked about the event for years. The food was prepared by the best culinary experts. Taste of the exotic dishes lingering in the taste buds for years on each guest’s taste buds. Decorations were so beautiful that people imagined that they had entered an enchanted dream fairy land. White horses chariot was decorated with tons of white jasmine flowers the smell of which enticed the whole evening, the couple taken around the village with best band, music and oil lights, every guest dancing to the melodious beat of the music. The whole village had to witness the grandeur and feel envious of Subhadra’s luck at having such a handsome son and such a beautiful daughter-in-law. The celebrations lasted a month with all the festivities.
Subhadras family is now complete. Daughter-in-law is like a daughter she never had. So far, so good. She doted on Ratnakumari. Subhadra loved Vijay and Ratnakumari in her own way, but she could not share them with each other. Every time the couple was alone her jealousy would consume her. She wanted them to give attention only to her and not to each other.
