Ardhastama Sani and Story of Nala-Damayanthi

During Gochara when saturn traverses Fourth house from natal moon , inavariably man leaves his existent place of stay. Many a great kings had to face exile during this period. Rama went to forest in ardhastama,.Pandavas went to vanavas when saturn was in aquarius. When in vanavas Yudhisthira meets Sage Bharadhwaj and relates to him his plight. Yudhisthira says ” oh sage look how unfortunate I am ,I have lost all my wealth, Kingdom and belongings and am wandering in his dense forest. Perhaps no other person would have been as unfortunate as I am .” For this sage Bharadhwaj says,” Oh great King, Consider yourself as fortunate as you have the company of your wife and brothers even at this moment of calamity , to share with you your misfortunes.Pitiable is the plight of him who has no company of his near and dear in times of trouble. King Nala lost his kingdom in a game of dice to his brother , and left to the forest along with his beautiful wife Damayanthi.Damayanthi had a great shining goblet on the head near forehead inside her hair braids. King nala spent a night in the jungle ,along with his wife ,who also set out with him.Nala in the morning saw his clothes fly away by wind , as a result of saturn in the fourth. He thought His wife would go away to her father’s house, if he deserts her in the jungle,, So he tears a part of saree of his wife to cover himself and deserts her goes away deep into the forest. Damayanthi with a torn saree , is caught by a hunter who tries to touch her , but because of her pativratya is burnt to ashes. Damayanthi wanders into the forest and reaches into a city, where  the queen of the city , takes her as a dasi. Damayanthi takes a promise from her that she would not be sent to entertain any males in her Kingdom. Nala tries to rescue a snake in a pit and is severely bitten by it .[ So much for ardhastama , a  beningn act is also rewarded with a poison].Poison of the snake turns Nala into a dwarf , ugly man. Snake says he has done a favour on him by biting himand deforming him. There are difficult days ahead , it would be difficult for him to bear them as NALA. Nala became BAHUK in his crippled form. Snake guided him to go to Raja Rituparna of Ayodhya. Nala was expert in cooking, economics,horse racing,and reaching any places without obstacles. HE could cook without igniting fire, without fetching water and aroma of the substance he touched increased many times. Walls dont offer resistance he could pass through them.

Rituparna was amazed at his abilities and kept him as his personal charioteer. Damayanthi’s Father was a king of VIDHARBHA , he knowing the fate of his daughter sent many bramhins to look for her in various countries. One of the purohits saw damayanthi in the city and recognized her from her Goblet in the head. He took her back to Vidharbha. Then these bramhins also found out that there was a Bahuk ,the dwarf in Ayodhya who could cook. Damayanthi suspecting BAhuk to be her husband, declares her second swayamvar , and send invitation  everywhere . Now invitation said the swayanvar was on the next day only. Ayodhya was the nearest country about 1000 km from Vidharbha . Only Nala could drive a chariot at 1000km within a day in those days. So Bahuk upset at his wife’s decision , inspires Rituparna to attend Vidharbha Swayamvar. Rituparna agrees but is afraid whether they can reach Vidarbha overnight,BAhuk assures.  On the way  Rituparna is amazed at Bahuk’s ability, he wants to learn the art, so he asks BAhuk,” can you tell me how many leaves are there on the tree below “( their chariot is actually flying in the air at that speed) . Now BAHUK says how can one count leaves on the tree . Rituparna says he has a amazing mathematical technique,He gives the number and it turns out to be exact . Rituparna agrees to teach this technique provided Bahuk teaches him his Art.

Both reach Vidharbha but find no festivities, Rituparna immidiately hides his intention ,and accepts hospitality. Now in a outhouse damayanthi spies on BAHUK as to how he cooks and how obstacles vanish in his presence and how aromas of trees an flowers increase manyfolds . She recognises NALA , Asks him why he had deserted her. HE says he knew how powerful,intelligent she was , and was confident that she would take care of hersellf.  With this Damayanthi and NALA pray shani and Kali inside him unable to bear the poison comes out and asks forgiveness and leaves away. Hari gives boon that whoever listens to this story is freed of miseries of kaliyuga . Both Nala Damayanthi regain the kingdom and  live happily, Rituparna is proud that he had for a friend such a great KING.” #

Oh Yudhisthira , you atleast have everyone by your side , look at NALA he even lost his own self ,and was left with none to share his woes. So pray Lord Krishna for being so kind to You.”

Saturn in fourth brings everyone to his ground self be it a king or common man . We are all puppets in the hands of planets.

krishnarpanamastu