Week 11 Story: Laila and Majnu

Laila and Majnu (Wikipedia)

The baby Krishna had performed another miracle. No one had known that spirits had been trapped for long years underneath the roots of two ancient trees. The baby had freed them, giggling joyfully.

Yasoda, Krishna’s foster mother, goggled with shock at the ephemeral spirits. One appeared to be a man, the other a woman. She couldn’t imagine how they had been trapped or why.

“So, why were you two trapped under those trees?” Yasoda gave in to the urgings of her curiosity.

“We were trapped there long ago by an evil sorcerer.” The spirit with the female aspect answered Yasoda’s question.

“Will you tell me your story?” Yasoda asked.

“Of course. It will help us to talk about it,” the spirit woman replied. My name is Laila. This man was my love when we lived. His name is Majnu.”

Majnu nodded in respect to the mother of his lord and began to relate the sad tale of the two lovers. “We had loved each other for years, but Laila’s father refused my offer of marriage until I had a better life to offer. I worked hard to build something that Laila and her father could be proud of. We were just about to get our blessing when the evil sorcerer showed up.”

Laila nodded and continued the story. “The sorcerer was a cruel, greasy man. He asked my father for my hand in marriage, but I begged my father to deny him. I loved Majnu, and even if I didn’t, I was horrified at the prospect of marrying such a terrible person.”

“We convinced Laila’s father to reject the sorcerer’s offer, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He cursed us and trapped us under the roots of these two trees. The sorcerer swore that if he couldn’t have what he wanted, then no one else could have it. It amused him to trap us so close together, but with no way to reach each other. We knew we would be trapped there until our lord would come to free us. It has felt like forever.” Majnu finished their tragic tale.

“But, now we are free. We did not get a life together, but Majnu and I will spend eternity side by side. Bless you and your divine son for releasing us from that terrible prison.” Laila began to shimmer out of sight as she finished her expression of gratitude.

“Yes, thank you. We are grateful for this blessing from our lord, Krishna.” Majnu also faded away to nothing.

Yasoda shook her head in consternation. The world is a very strange place when you are mother to a god. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to just accept the weirdness as it came. Her decision made, she picked up her giggling son and went back to her work.

Author's Note: In the stories about the Divine Childhood of Krishna, many different miracles and unusual events that occurred around the child are talked about. One of those is about the time that his foster mother tied the boy to an axle in an effort to keep him from wandering while she was busy doing work. There were two ancient trees growing close together, and the idea was that the axle would be too heavy for the child to drag. In the event that he was able to drag it, the axle would wedge between the two trees and limit his movement. However, Krishna was not only able to easily drag the heavy axle, but after it wedged itself between the trees, he was able to pull the trees down. After the trees were uprooted, two spirits appeared. They claimed that they had been held captive, by a spell, under the trees for many years. Krishna had saved them from their prison. I was curious about the two spirits. I thought that they should be lovers who were kept apart by an evil sorcerer. The sorcerer lusted for the woman, but she rejected his advances in favor of her poor, but kind and honorable lover. Enraged by jealousy, the sorcerer imprisons the two under the trees, so that they are apart, but tortured by their closeness. For the names of the two spirits, I chose the two famous star-crossed lovers from an old eastern story: Laila and Majnu.

Bibliography: Cradle Tales of Hinduism by Sister Nivedita. Web source.