Sajahan asked him who the girl was, and then he summoned her. He said to the man, “Now make your complaint.”
The man said, “Your Majesty, we were in love for many years. Five months ago we got engaged. Since then, I have spent all my money on her. Because of her, I have become practically poverty-stricken. And now, all of a sudden, she has decided that she no longer wants to marry me. When I had a lot of money, she was all love for me. Now that I have no money, she hates me.”
The girl said, “Your Majesty, this is a total lie!”
Sajahan asked the man, “Can you prove what you are saying?”
The man said, “Oh yes, easily I can prove it. You know, we were so close, so intimate with each other that I can tell you where she has marks on her body.” Then the man told the Emperor about them.
Sajahan asked two elderly women to take the girl into another room to see if the man was correct.
The elderly women returned with the girl and said, “O Emperor, what he says is absolutely true. There were marks in exactly the places that he said.”
Sajahan turned to the girl and said, “You liar! You have to marry this man.”
The girl cried and cried. Then she said, “I beg of you, can I wait just three months before I marry him? There are quite a few things I have to do to get ready for the wedding. I will definitely marry him in three months’ time, since it is your order.”
The Emperor turned to the man and asked, “Will you agree to wait for three months?”
The man said, “Yes, I will wait. But remember that she is promising to marry me in front of you, your Majesty.”
Sajahan said, “Yes. She must keep her promise and obey my order. If she does not, then she will be hanged.”
In two weeks’ time the girl hired three strong, stout women and went with them to the home of her future husband. As soon as he opened the door, they immediately started strangling him and the man was totally helpless. Then the girl put a bracelet into his hand and started screaming.
All the neighbours rushed over to see what was happening. The girl told them, “This man came to my house and stole my very precious gold bracelet. Fortunately, my friends were there, and we chased him to his house. Now he should be punished.”
The complaint went to Sajahan that this man had stolen the gold bracelet. The Emperor summoned both the girl and the man to his palace. He said to the man, “You are such a rogue! You must be punished.” Then he asked the girl, “How do you want him to be punished? Whatever punishment you want, just tell me. Do you want him to be hanged?”
The man was frightened to death. He said, “O Emperor, I wish to tell you that somebody else also deserves some punishment.”
Sajahan said, “Who? What are you talking about?”
The man said, “The maid of this particular girl also deserves punishment. I bribed that old lady with a lot of money so she would tell me something about the marks on the girl’s body. That lady was her servant for many years and used to braid her hair. I learned about the marks from her.”
Sajahan summoned the maid and ordered that the man and the maid each be whipped one hundred times. Then he said, “This innocent girl doesn’t have to marry this rogue. In fact, I am going to give her lots of money to compensate for the suffering she has gone through because of this rascal.”
After a few months the girl again came to Sajahan’s palace. This time she was full of remorse. She told the Emperor about her trick with the gold bracelet. She said, “I never had anything to do with him, and I didn’t want to marry him. Since he told so many lies about me, I wanted to see him punished.”
At first the Emperor was shocked to hear her story. Then he said, “Do not worry. You did the right thing. He deserved that kind of punishment for lying and saying that you had been in love. He was the one who started everything. What you did, I admire. I need intelligent women like you in my kingdom!”From:Sri Chinmoy,Illumination-experiences on Indian soil, part 3, Agni Press, 1982
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