The Demon's Daughter: A Love Story from South India

Chapter Four

Chapter Four Amaranarya, in all his brilliance, blessed by the goddess Sri, wise as Brhaspati—the guru of the gods—always enjoyed the company of poets and delighted in their poems. The Goose Interrogates the Parrot The parrot continued: “The prince in the garden looked at me and said, ‘Great bird, a certain royal goose called Sucimukhi is in that city. Please find out where she lives and deliver this letter to her. That’s my request.’ I was deeply moved by his distress and, out of kindness, without thinking much about the consequences, I agreed to take the letter. I thought to myself, ‘What harm is there in delivering a letter to a goose?’ I asked him to tie the letter tightly inside my wings. When I came to this garden, I heard the cackling of geese in the ponds and saw you in the company of those girls. I was just resting in a tree and wondering if Sucimukhi could be there when I got caught in the noose. That’s when my troubles began.” The goose was very happy to hear this statement, which suited her purpose well. “That’s as much as she knows,” Sucimukhi concluded and, hiding her joy, decided to play down the importance of the letter, to distract the parrot with other matters, and to let her go. “Anyone who writes a letter addressed to a bird must be out of his mind,” she said. “There’s no point in pressing you for more details. Just tell me without lying: Why did you have to go to Dvaraka in the first place?” The parrot hesitated, saying nothing. The goose pressed her further, thinking perhaps there was something of interest here, yet the parrot stood her ground fearlessly. “I prefer to die. I won’t say 49   anything until you take a vow to keep the secret. Strong people will never reveal their masters’ secrets, not even if you give them all the money in the world or hold a knife to their neck.” So the goose took the vow. Now the parrot could tell the story. “Vajranabha has a brother, a fierce king named Sunabha. He has two charming daughters, Gunavati and Candravati. One day Narada happened to go to his court. Sunabha received him with honor and sent him with the palace guards into the inner chambers, where the queens and daughters bowed to him, to receive his blessing. Narada, pleased with their devotion, blessed the girls: ‘You’ll find loving husbands and give birth to sons.’ The maidservants wanted to know more. ‘Who exactly will their husbands be? Tell us that, too.’ “Narada thought for a minute and said, ‘These two young women will marry two very handsome young men from Dvaraka, Gada and Samba, born in the Yadu clan.’ This upset them. ‘Everything was just fine until we asked this question. Dvaraka is far away, and who are these two men, Gada and Samba, anyway? If the king finds out, it will be a disaster. Dvaraka is an enemy city.’ They hushed up what Narada had said, so no one could know. But the two girls, from that moment on, were totally devoted in their hearts to their husbands, Gada and Samba. They prayed and performed rites for their welfare. “Meanwhile, as they grew up, their desire to be with their husbands deepened. Since there was no word from distant Dvaraka, they grew weak and thin, though their beauty was still striking. I’m a close friend of theirs. They brought me up and taught me to talk. They treated me as one of them. I’ve been longing to do something to repay the immense kindness they showed me. So I said to them, ‘Girls, I’ll go find out how your husbands are and report back to you. Trust me. If possible, I’ll speak to them in secret and make your desire known to them. I’ll bring back word. Don’t worry, give me leave to go.’ “They, however, were reluctant to let me go. They didn’t want to be without me. Still, I made them consent and took off for Dvaraka city, where I accomplished whatever I could. As I was returning, this letter fell to my lot. You know all the rest. I’m afraid that if Prabhavati sees me and marks me, some danger might befall Candravati and Gunavati. Today is the day I mentioned as the very latest I would return...