What Became of the King and the Merchant

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 102 Two men sit on a riverbank, in front of a small image of the Goddess that they have made with their own hands out of the sand and clay of the bank. They have been sitting there for three years. One of them was a king. The other was a rich merchant. Both have lost everything. And for three years, fasting, praying, chanting, they have waited for her. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 55 first. Source note. Label: Purana, with quotations. The story is the Devi Mahatmya, chapter thirteen, read with its translation on devimahatmyam.aurobharati.in: the sage's closing words; the king and merchant on the riverbank, chanting the hymn to the Goddess, worshipping an earthen image, fasting, and offering blood from their own bodies; the three years; the Goddess's appearance; their wishes; and her boons. The verses quoted are chapter thirteen, verse seventeen, and verses twenty-one to twenty-two, as numbered there. The identification of the hymn they recited with the Rigvedic Devi Sukta is a common understanding of the text. The frame story was told in episode fifty-five. The reflections are my own. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verses. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.