Story Time -2

This is the story of King Indradyumna. 

King Indradyumna was the son of Bharata and his wife Sunanda. I hope everyone knows the story of Bharata.

King Indradyumna performed many yagnas and donated a lot of cattle and wealth among other things to the poor.

He earned plenty of good Karma through his deeds and went to Heaven after his death.

He stayed there for many years exhausting his bank of good Karma, until one day he realised to his great surprise and dismay that his Karma was almost down to nothing .

Indra, seeing his trouble face, told him, “ O King, go down to earth and show me one single being who remembers your good deeds, or is still enjoying their benefits. If you can point out even one, you can continue staying in heaven. The truth is that no man can stay here forever no matter how much good he has done in the past .”

So Indradyumna came down to earth. He was confident that people would remember him and all that he had done.

The first person that he met was Sage Markandeya .

Indradyumna was aware that the sage had defeated the god of death with Shiva’s help and had been on a planet for a long, long time .

“O, Sage Markandeya, do you remember my deeds?” asked king Indradyumna.

“I am sorry, but I do not remember who you are. I spend most of my time meditating and reading sacred scriptures or going on pilgrimages. However there is an owl much older than me in the great Himalayas. He might know you. Come with me and I will take you there.”

Indradyumna nodded and two went to the Himalayas and met the owl.

“I am Indradyumna,” the king said introducing himself. “ I think you can help me. You are one of the oldest beings in this world. Do you remember me ?”

“I don’t remember you,” replied the owl. “You must have lived on earth way before my time but don’t lose heart there is a lake not far from here. My friend, a giant crane, resides there. He is much older than I am. Maybe he knows who you are. Come let us go to him”

The three soon reached the lake. The crane however did not know King Indradyumna . He said,” it is quite possible that my old friend, the king of the turtles, might remember you. He has lived here from the time of my parents.”

The four of them together went to meet The turtle.

When the turtle saw Indradyumna, his eyes filled with tears of joy. He prostrated before the king and said, “ O Indradyumna, I have heard of you from my grandfather. I am blessed to see you. In your time you were known for your generosity. My grandfather told me that you gave away millions of cattle as charity. This water body was formed by the movement of those cow hooves and that’s why the lake even bears your name- Indradyumna lake”.

Indra immediately sent his chariot to bring Indradyumna back to heaven.

The king realised that it was his generosity that made him great.  The presence of the water body led to the turtles setting there for a long time thus benefiting from Indradyumna’s actions.

Today, Indradyumna the lake is near Puri and there are still turtles living in it. This area is also home to one of the World’s great nesting areas of The Olive ridley Turtles that are believed to be descendants of the turtle mentioned in this story.