The king, the merchant and the question

In this episode

• A king who lost his kingdom still worries about it.
• A merchant expelled by family still worries about them.
• Both ask the sage why they cling to what’s gone, hinting at Mahamaya.

Read along

Namaste, and welcome to the first night of Navratri. Light a lamp if you like, or simply sit somewhere quiet. Take one slow breath with me, in, and out.

For the next nine nights we are going to tell the Devi Mahatmya, the song of the Goddess's greatness. In many homes it is read as the Durga Saptashati, seven hundred verses, during these very nights. We will not recite it here. We will tell the story in our own words, simply, one evening at a time. The verses belong to the reciters, and to you, if you read them.

The Devi Mahatmya sits inside a much older book, the Markandeya Purana. And it does not begin with the Goddess. It begins with two very ordinary people who have lost their way.

**

The sage **Markandeya** tells the story. Long ago, he says, there was a king called **Suratha**. He was a good ruler. He cared for his people as a father cares for his children. But rivals rose against him, and in the end he lost.

He came back to his own capital, a smaller king than before. And there, in his own city, his ministers turned against him too. They took the treasury and the army for themselves. The king understood that he had nothing left to hold.

So one day he mounted his horse, said he was going out to hunt, and rode away alone into a deep forest.

**

In that forest he found a hermitage. It belonged to a sage named **Medhas**. It was a strange and peaceful place. Animals that are usually afraid of one another moved about calmly there. Students sat with the sage and learned. The king was welcomed, and for a while he stayed.

But peace around you is not always peace inside you. Suratha walked through the quiet forest, and his mind walked back to his city. Are my elephants being looked after? Are my people being treated well? The treasure I gathered with so much care, are they wasting it?

He had lost everything, and still he could not stop thinking about it.

**

One day, near the hermitage, he met another man. This man was a merchant. He looked tired and sad.

"Who are you," the king asked, "and why do you look so troubled?"

The merchant said, "My name is **Samadhi**. I was born into a wealthy family. But my wife and my sons wanted my wealth more than they wanted me. They sent me out of my own house. Even my close relatives took away what was mine. So I came to this forest."

And then he said something that surprised the king.

"Even now, I do not know how they are. I keep wondering. Are they well? Are they happy? Is something wrong at home?"

The king looked at him. "These are the same people who sent you away, out of greed. Why would your heart still go to them?"

The merchant said, "You are right. I know you are right. And still my mind will not let them go. I do not understand it myself."

**

So here were two men. One had lost a kingdom. One had lost a home. Both knew, very clearly, what had happened to them. And both were still tied, by some thread they could not see, to the very things that had hurt them.

Together, they went to the sage.

**

The king bowed and said, "Sir, there is something I want to ask you. I know my kingdom is gone. I know it is no longer mine. And yet my mind keeps running back to it, as if it were. This merchant was sent away by his own family, and still he is anxious for them. We both understand what has happened. So why are we still caught? Knowing, and still in the dark. Why is this?"

**

The sage smiled gently, and he began to answer.

"Every living being knows something about the world," he said. "Some creatures see well by day, some by night. Birds know when to fly and where to find grain. Yet look at the birds. Even when they are hungry themselves, they will drop the grain into their children's beaks. People, too, long for their children and hope for something in return. That pull of attachment is in all beings, the wise included."

And then he gave it a name.

"This is the power of **Mahamaya**, the great Maya, the Goddess. She is the one who draws even the minds of the wise into attachment. And she is also the one who, when she is pleased, sets a person free. She binds, and she releases. The whole world moves within her."

**

The king leaned forward. "Who is this Goddess you call Mahamaya? How did she appear? What does she do? Tell us everything about her."

The sage looked at the two men, a king without a kingdom and a merchant without a home, and he said, "Listen. I will tell you."

**

And that is where we stop tonight. Tomorrow, on the second night, the sage begins his story, and it starts not on earth but at the very end of a world, on a vast ocean, where the god Vishnu lies in deep sleep, and something must wake him.

But keep tonight's question with you. Is there something you know you have lost, and still hold on to? You are in good company. A king and a merchant asked the same thing, a very long time ago.

**

This narration uses an AI voice. The story is retold from the Devi Mahatmya by the DharmikStudio team.

Keep going

• Listen: The king, the merchant and the question
• Next: The sleep that held the preserver
• All episodes of Devi Mahatmya: nine nights, nine stories