Kaali Maatha Blesses Seetha

Seetha went to bed and started weeping. Kumara Swamy, halfway through lunch, rose, washed his hands and followed Seetha to the bed and sat besides her. She moved close to him, tears falling, placed her head on his shoulder, and told him about losing the earrings.

*

Kumara Swamy and Seetha live in the village of Polakalapally. They have an independent, two-roomed house. The house is built two feet high above the lane. There is a three-foot-wide raised platform adjoining the front wall for seating. The house has a country-tiled roof. The front and back door frames are made of locally available wood, and the doors are of bamboo, fixed with toddy leaves. They are agriculture-based. The front yard is used for their cattle and dog shed, as well as for cattle feed. Kumara Swamy goes to the fields with his cattle early in the morning and returns before noon.

The village’s population is 1,200. Every house has a neem tree in the front yard. They have no compound walls. Except during winter, they mostly sleep under the neem tree on cots. There were no thefts in the village because anyone entering could be identified. Every house has an open well in the backyard and a bathroom without a roof, for women. 

Men take a bath at their field open well after brushing, before returning home, or at the house open well.

*

 Seetha is young, recently married, and comes from a well-to-do family. Seetha studied up to the fifth standard in her parents’ village. At the time of her marriage, her parents gave her a gold necklace, a long four-strand chain, two sets of earrings, one with bell-shaped hangings and another with diamond-studded circular ones. She had an engagement ring. She keeps the necklace and the chain in the aluminium box, along with her pure silk sarees, under lock and key. This box is kept in the corner of the first room, below the other boxes containing their dresses. She wears the necklace and the long chain on special occasions and festivals.

She alternates the earrings every week. Before she takes a bath, Seetha removes the hanging earrings. There is a six-inch-square Shahabad stone slab, fixed to the corner of the wall, six feet above the floor, for placing certain items. She put the earrings on the slab so they wouldn’t obstruct her from washing her ears or from soap getting stuck to them.

When she takes a bath, she puts her removed and to-be-worn clothing on the bathroom door to indicate that she is inside. After the bath, she puts on fresh clothes, collects her removed clothes and earrings, and enters the house. Seetha wears earrings after makeup, along with a bindi.

*

Gouri lives in the house next door. Gouri is 35 years old and has two children. Her children completed fourth class at the village school. Her husband and her son go to the field early in the morning. The girl helps her mother cook.

 Gouri frequents the backyard to clean vessels, pluck curry leaves, or collect fresh tomatoes. She discusses general things with Seetha whenever she finds her in the backyard.

*

One day, Seetha, after makeup, wanted to wear the bell-shaped earrings after coming out of the bathroom. She could not find them in the house. She thought she had forgotten them in the bathroom corner stone slab and went to retrieve them. But to her surprise, she could not locate them there.

She searched the bathroom floor and the area outside it several times on her way back to the house, moving back and forth to the bathroom. She also searched the house, including the front room and the kitchen. She did not find them. She did not expect any theft, as no new person had entered the village. She was afraid of informing her husband. Her eyes welled with tears. She sat on the bed in the front room, thinking about the earrings. She was in disarray.

*

Confused, she called her neighbour, Gouri, and informed her of the lost earrings. Gouri thought for a minute and discussed where Seetha kept the earrings. She also went inside the bathroom, checked for herself and searched around the path to the house. She also checked Seetha’s earlier-worn saree, petticoat, and blouse to check if they had got stuck to the clothing. She shook these clothes in vain.

 She finally told Seetha, “There is only one possibility. The earrings might have been carried away by crows from the corner slab of the bathroom. Normally, crows flying in our trees catch hold of new things they come across. This is the only possibility.”

You don’t worry, as the crows don’t need them; they try to throw them somewhere around here. We will search the backyard later, after some time or days.

Seetha was not convinced of Gouri’s thinking about crows.

*

In the afternoon, Kumara Swamy came home. He sat for lunch in the kitchen. While serving, Kumara Swamy noticed grief on her face, and her facial beauty was missing. As he examined Seetha with care, he noticed she was not wearing her hanging earrings.  

Kumara Swamy asked Seetha, “Seetha, why did you not wear the earrings today. They add a lovely, smart shine to your face. This morning, I saw you with those bell-shaped hanging earrings. Why are you not wearing them?”

Seetha started weeping and went to bed. Kumara Swamy, halfway through lunch, rose, washed his hands and followed Seetha to the bed. He sat by her side. She moved close to him, placed her head on his shoulder and told him about losing the earrings in the bathroom.

*

She also told him how she searched the bathroom, the pathway to the house, and the house itself. Her neighbour Gouri also searched the bathroom, the house, and her washable clothes. Gouri pointed out the possibility of crows in the backyard trees lifting the earrings from the bathroom’s stone slab.

Kumara Swamy thought for a while and said, “I do not believe in crows lifting the earrings. I am sure someone stole them. We need to investigate who it is.”

In the evening, he discussed with his close friend Ranga. Ranga advised him to contact the Collyrium Sorcerer in the nearby village.

*

 The next morning, Kumara Swamy and Ranga went to the Collyrium Sorcerer. He made them sit and enquired about the details.

 He said, “ I will visit the place of loss and conduct the process there itself.”

He fixed an auspicious date during the same week and said he would visit them on that date at 10.00 am.   He gave them a list of materials to be purchased for the pooja day. He asked them to be ready after taking a head bath. There must be no other person present except Kumara Swamy, his wife, Seetha, and Ranga.

On the specified day, the Sorcerer came by a bullock cart. As the bullock cart came to the village, everyone was surprised. All the villagers whispered about his coming to the village. He was received by Ranga at the village entrance and taken to Kumara Swamy’s house. Kumara Swamy and Seetha were ready.

The Sorcerer enquired of Seetha, “How did she miss them?” She explained in detail how she placed the earrings on the stone slab and later forgot to wear them in the bathroom. When she searched, she could not find them. Her neighbour, Gouri, also searched and said there was a possibility that crows would lift them away.

*

The Sorcerer removed his shirt. He was six feet tall. He looked dreadful, with oil mixed with black powder on his body and sacred ash smeared on his forehead, broad shoulders, and chest. His eyelids were painted black. He had a large, circular, red bindu over the smeared ash, long, wide, horizontal lines on his forehead. He had a large Rudraksha garland adorning his neck to his chest. He was wearing a black pure silk dhothi with a wide red border. His voice was loud,  easily heard in the surrounding houses.

He sat on a mat, drew an octagonal-edged star on the ground with turmeric powder, and put big red kumkum dots at all its eight corners, pointing in eight directions. He kept a coconut, covered with a red silk cloth, on a copper bottle. The copper bottle was decorated with black paste, turmeric, and kumkum dots.

He asked Kumara Swamy and Seetha to sit side by side, facing east, before a Homa Kund of a two-by-two square of unburnt bricks, while he faced north.

The Homa Kund was lit with small,  dried, fallen tree branches. The couple offered ghee onto the Homa Kundam with a long wooden spoon in small amounts to keep the fire glowing.

The white smoke from the Homa Kundam gradually increased. As the Sorcerer was inviting the Kali Maatha, in a louder voice, the Sorcerer asked the sitting pooja couple to close their eyes and visualise Kali Maatha.

Then the Sorcerer began by offering prayers to Kali Maatha and reciting Sanskrit mantras.

 As Pooja’s performance went on, the Sorcerer gradually became ferocious, his eyes turning red, radiating red-hot rays.

The Sorcerer started saying in a louder voice,

 Oh, Kali Maatha, bless the couple with earrings,

 Oh, Kali Maatha, bless the couple with earrings, 

 Jai, Oh, Maatha, bless the couple with earrings.

*

He asked Seetha to get cooked rice on a plate and eight lemons. He mixed turmeric powder into the rice, which turned yellow. The half-cut lemons were placed at the eight corners of the plate.

He continued the pooja. 

Oh, Maatha, if the thief does not return the earrings, it is my curse that s/he will die within a week, by omitting blood. 

 He then took the conch shell and blew it. The sound of the conch was heard in the entire village.

 After three rounds of blowing the conch, he said in a louder voice, “Hey Maatha, Bless this Couple.”

The Sorcerer started, chanting,

Jai, ho, Maatha, Jai, Jai, Ho, Maatha,

Jai, Ho, Maatha, Jai, Jai, Ho, Maatha,

Jai, Ho, Maatha,  Jai, Jai, Ho, Maatha, Jai, Jai, Ho, Maatha

*

He then asked Kumara Swamy and Seetha to open their eyes and visualise the flame. They could see Kali Maatha rising from the Homa Kundam’s swirling smoke, blessing them. Kumara Swamy and Seetha bowed before Kali Maatha. Maatha disappeared in the smoke.

Then the Sorcerer began by offering prayers to Kali Maatha and reciting Sanskrit mantras.

The Sorcerer asked Seetha to place the rice plate at the roots of the tree. After that, he blessed the couple with Akshintalu and said, “You will get your earrings back shortly”.  

 The entire pooja lasted more than an hour. Kumara Swamy, Seetha and Ranga thanked the Sorcerer for performing the pooja. Ranga saw him off at the village entrance.

*

Ranga was standing at the entrance, checking that no one entered the house during the pooja. Gouri came and asked Ranga, What was going on? Ranga told her about the Sorcerer and the pooja for earrings.  

 After some time, Gouri came and told Ranga, that there were a large number of crows in the tree. A few crows saw the rice plate, called the other crows, and all the crows ate the rice.

After the pooja was completed, Ranga conveyed the same to Seetha. Seetha went to the backyard. She found no crows around the rice plate or in the tree. The plate was empty. To her surprise, the earrings were under the tree.

*

The Sorcerer heard Gouri speaking to Ranga about crows. And was happy that his pooja was a success.

*

Seetha called Kumara Swamy and Ranga and showed them the earrings. Kumara Swamy and Ranga were happy.  

*

Gouri was afraid when the pooja started. She heard the blow of a conch shell. She thought that Kali Maatha would kill her for the theft. She was frightened that she would die from omitting blood. She was in a dilemma about what to do. While the pooja was going on and the crows were eating rice, she threw the earrings under the tree.  

*

 Earlier, when Seetha went to the bathroom, Gouri saw her with earrings. When she came out after the bath, she had no earrings. Gouri thought it was the right time and snatched the earrings from the bathroom while Seetha was dressing.

Gouri did not expect that Kumara Swamy would contact a Sorcerer. She was afraid of her death due to omitting blood. So she put the earrings under the tree, as if they were taken away by crows and dropped by them.

When Seetha told the Sorcerer about Gouri’s imagination of crows taking away the earrings, he thought Gouri was the thief. Then he created the rice plate, so that Gouri could place the earrings under the tree.

Seetha and Kumara Swamy thanked Ranga for the idea of the Sorcerer.

Gouri was happy as Seetha thought the theft was by crows. The Sorcerer was happy.

*

 ( Note: This is purely an imaginary story.)