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NOVEMBER, 1894.]
"Who is this princess? What is her story? Why is she undergoing punishment ?" the merchant asked, as if he knew nothing about her.
FOLKLORE IN SOUTHERN INDIA; No. 35.
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The maid-servant related what little she knew, but all she knew was that Ambika was suspected, and that her husband, the prince, was punishing her for unfaithfulness. When he had heard all she had to say the merchant, as if a new thought had dawned upon his mind, thus replied:
"Then it is already established that her character is bad. If you but aid me in seeing her for a night, I shall in return make over to you, or to her, my whole property. That may also relieve you from your present miseries. Nothing will be lost thereby. The reputation of the princess is already tainted."
The maid-servant did not know what reply to make. But the merchant, by his winning conversation, soon made her agree to talk upon the subject to the princess; and with this mission she went away. At first she did not know what to do. How to open the subject was the great difficulty she felt, but she was somewhat emboldened by the thought that Ambika was already a suspected character. At last she told her everything.
Ambika listened to what the maid-servant had to say very attentively, and, taking her into her confidence, related to her in detail every part of her miserable life - her pure unsullied character, the cruelty of her husband, the vow, and so on.
Ambika then continued: "My kind Dêvî, from to-day you must lend me all your help to enable me to fulfil my vows, for to-day I make you the chief of my maid-servants. To secure us funds for the raising of the Saiva temple, the suggestion of the pearl-merchant has provided us with means. He wants to sleep with a princess. Let him have his wish, and let my character still remain unimpaired. What if we decorate one of the maid-servants in all my ornaments and pass her off for me for a night? I can easily wear her clothes for the night. By doing thus, the pearl-merchant will be duped, the funds required will be secured, and my character will remain unsullied. So run you to the merchant and tell him that he shall have his desire fulfilled this very night."
Dêrî pitied Ambika for all that she had related to her, and, resolving within herself to do her best to assist the poor princess, at once arranged everything with one of her co-servants, and ran to the pearl-merchant. He was delighted to hear that matters were settled so easily, and was full of hope that he would the next day carry the news to Vijayanagara as to how pure a princess Ambika was; so he hastened that very night to Ambika's quarters. He spent the night with a maid-servant in the belief that the woman he slept with was the princess, and the next morning, quite in keeping with his promise, he made over to Dêvî all the wealth he had with him, in return for her assistance, and left Madura. He journeyed for a fortnight, and reaching Vijayanagara, informed his monarch that his mission was successfully accomplished, and that the princess was no better than other women. In proof he shewed one or two ornaments of the princess, which he had carefully brought with him. They were, no doubt, the ornaments of the princess, which the maid-servant had worn on the night on which she slept with the emissary. These proofs were quite enough to convince the Pandiyan prince that his wife was of a bad character. He had all along entertained that kind of doubt about her, though now and then there were circumstances, which made him waver in his opinion. The minister's mission and the supposed successful execution of it, made the husband think that he was all along wrong in having now and then entertained a better and higher idea of the Akhandakârêri princess. He looked at his talisman, and not a petal had faded. The king of Vijayanagara called it magic, and the trophy, which the minister had brought with him, in the shape of the ornaments of the princess, in token of his having spent a night with her, made the enraged husband think that the talisman was magical, that his wife was a bad woman, and that there was no use in testing her conduct any longer.
