Over the ages, man has always accorded value to the fair glow in the metals be it copper, silver or gold. Iron though being the working metal still ranks behind…
Ganpat the farmer had a daughter Megha and Dikshit, a well to do person in the same village had a son Sachin. Both Sachin and Megha fell in love once they saw each other at the last year mela or the village annual fair at the Bhuvaneshwari temple. The Goddess at the temple was known to be very powerful.
When one day, Ganpat told Dikshit about his wish of his daughter’s marriage to Sachin, he made fun of Ganpat saying he wanted to give his daughter to someone his equal and not to a poor farmer.
Over the summer months, Ganpat was busy tilling the fields . One day he went to the blacksmith with his pick axe to sharpen it. The blacksmith was sitting in rapt attention as if listening to the tools in front of him. He asked ganpat to be seated but continued to listen to the talking metals. The pick axe also joined in the conversation. Yes, you are right. Iron is the downtrodden one just like this ganpat. He tills the land with his plough made of iron. The rich go in vehicles made of iron but does anyone give him or us the position we deserve.
They give value only to the fair silver or gold. They spend their lives either in getting it or hoarding it. They cover the temples and the gods in silver and gold as soon their positions improve. What happens to us, who toil day in and out for him.
The goddesss Bhuvaneshwari on her walking rounds reached the blacksmith’s workplace. She touched ganpat lightly on his shoulder so that he could see her and listen to the talking metals.
Man in pursuit of riches and happiness takes countless births. For the ever changing man greed is the only constant. He gets sorrow pain and happiness in return. Just like when he digs for gold he gets other metals, but he disregards it and his persistence wins and when he gets the coveted metal he thinks he is happy. These so called noble metals carry stories of war, murders and betrayal. After all the painstaking efforts to get it, then you need to protect it and there man loses his peace.
Ganpat fell at her feet and told his problem. All the while, working at the fields I was at peace but the moment Dikshit mentioned 25 sovereigns of gold, I lost my peace. Metals like iron, I hold in high esteem because they are the working metals like this Ganpat, the rest all are useless, said the goddess.
The talking metals and the blacksmith praised the goddess who was taking their leave. Ganpat, I will help you with your request but I want you to adorn me with 25 sovereign iron jewels. The money for the metal shall come from your hard earned money and you should buy the metal from the blacksmith. Give it to the village jeweller. I will give the instructions to him in a dream. Put your request this Sunday in front of me at the temple and ask dikshit to repeat how much he wants in jewelry. This time, I will adorn his tongue when he replies to you.
On the eve of the Sunday festival, among the jostling crowd, Ganpat put his request again to Dikshit for his daughter’s wedding. A ruffled Dikshit sounding agitated said how many times Ganpat I have to tell you I won’t take anything less than 25 tolas of loha from you. Everyone one was surprised to hear this strange ask from Dikshit. Ganpat again asked, can you please repeat it, to which Dikshit confirmed the same, “25 sovereigns of pure iron”.
Everyone talked about it during the day but no one had the guts to ask Dikshit as to why he had made such a strange request. Ganpat after offering salutations to the goddess hurried home took his hard earned money, gets the iron from the blacksmith and goes to the blessed and informed jeweler the next week who takes upon the task of making iron jewelry for the goddess. He decided to make a set of bangles, earrings and a chain that would come to 25 sovereigns just as how the goddess had instructed him in his dream. After a couple of months the jewelry was completed. It was shown to Ganpat, the blacksmith and to the goddess on an evening at the blacksmith’s hut. The goddess was satisfied and so were the talking metals. Now Ganpat, tell the priest about all what has happened. He will understand and adorn this jewelry on me this Navami. Now to the bewildered and at the same time blessed jeweller, “prepare one more set exactly like this for Ganpat and show it to me first before handing it over to him”.
On the Navami day, the goddess shown with a brilliance never seen before, partly due to a new metallic jewelry which had a rare hue. To some it seemed blue while for others a combination of other colors. It really is a rare metal jewelry gifted by Ganpat to our goddess, remarked many. Even Dikshit was surprised to see the change in fortunes for Ganpat. It was heard that the jeweller was now making the jewels for his daughter’s wedding.
The second set of jewels were ready. They were again taken to the blacksmith where on her evening visit, the goddess Bhuvaneshwari saw them and touched them sending a spark of energy through all who were present including the talking metals.
The rest of the story goes like this. Ganpat’s daughter got married to Dikshit’s son who never came to know that he had asked for iron jewelry, but whenever his wife showed the priceless jewels, to him, it was beyond doubt made of the finest gold, one that had a blue hue and a sparkle of other metallic colors that radiated from it. Please close the jewel box Radha and keep it in the safe, he lovingly told his wife, It is so divine that one cannot look at it for long just as the jewels gifted by Ganpat to the goddess…
Perceptions 