I Heard A Story

Once upon a time there lived a woman named Shukhiya in a village on a sea coast. She was gentle, hardworking and extremely devoted to her husband. One day her husband went to the jungle to cut the woods, as he was about to cut a branch, he was bitten by a poisonous snake and he instantly fell dead.

The villagers noticed and brought the dead body of the husband home. Shukhiya had gone out to get water from the well; when she returned she saw a small crowd collected outside her home. She rushed inside; there…she saw the dead body of her husband which had turned black and blue due to the snake poison. She cried Alas! My husband and out of grief, fainted.

The villagers sat outside, waiting for Sukhiya to regain consciousness. In the meanwhile Sukhiya recovered….seeing no one around her, she slowly pulled her husband’s body, taking it by the back door she put the body on the boat and set out alone on the wide sea.

She wanted to bring her husband back to life. For days she rowed, through rain and storm, protecting the body. The tides and the wind destroyed her boat, the body too decomposed but she continued her journey.

 One morning as she was rowing she came across a beautiful island where she saw a strange happening. A woman came to wash her clothes with two children. Before she sat down for washing, she chopped the children to death and started washing the clothes. After finishing she lifted the bucket touched the bodies of the children who instantly became alive and with the kids in tow she started walking.

Sukhiya couldn’t understand whether she was dreaming or awake. She rowed the raft to the island anchored and ran behind the woman. She managed to reach the woman and explained how she had been carrying the body of her husband, with a hope to get him back to life. 

  The woman heard her and told her not to worry, and that she had come to the right place the ‘Shiv Lok’. The beautiful island was where Maa Parvati sported. Sukhiya was taken to Mother Parvati who was touched and also pleased by Sukhiya’s story. The Mother blessed her and the body of her husband who instantly came back to life, the couple thanked the Mother who blessed them with health and wealth.

Thus Sukhiya managed to bring back her husband from deadly clasp of the death.