How The Rains Came

This was a time when the earth was a good place to live in and there were only a small group of humans who lived with each other in perfect peace. They did not identify seasons as it was one long and moderate summer.They had just begun to make homes of clay and wattle and kept their homes wet with water day and night to prevent them from getting too hot. There was not much vegetation because there was no rainfall. People grew figs and ate them with heart's content. There were not many needs and so people did not need to go to many places. If they had to, they rode on tortoises, who carried them slowly to their destinations. During daytime there was enough light for the basic work and at night Goddess Lavanya gave them just enough light to see a feet ahead of them. Humans were happy. They did not need more than this. But what about water?

Incidentally, this place was named Mitranagar and every fortnight the great god Indrashish visited them and with his magic wand filled the huge and only lake with water. Since there was no rain and only evaporation, the lake again dried up within a fortnight but before that it gave the people of Mitranagar enough water for drinking and bathing. The magic water was pure and crystal clear . It tasted delicious! After all the water of the god.

The people of Mitranagar laughed and sang and bowed down to their gods. Sunaina, the sun goddess, Lavanya, the lunar deity and Indrashish the water god.

But the days of peace were not to last. Soon the number of human beings increased in Mitranagar and there was a crisis of water. In spite of the huge lake being filled every fortnight, people still found it difficult to drink enough and take a bath daily. God Indrashish, heard their daily squabbles from the skies and felt sad for his children. He decided to fill the lake every seven days. But still the fights continued. Lavanya, Sunaina and Indrashish had a meeting and ultimately they decided to refill the lake everyday. Mitranagar by then was teeming with people who crowded round the lake to drink water or zal (as they called it) bathe and and bathe their tortoises too! They carried away water to grow other vegetables in their front garden. The zal slowly lost its sheen and became dirty.

The people prayed to the Gods once again to solve their problems. But what could the gods do? they had tried their best! From then on the gods stopped appearing and showing themselves to people.

On not hearing or seeing their favourite gods, the people of Mitranagar hatched a plan. They send their children on tortoise backs to the lakeside to pray to the gods and solve this water problem. Sunaina, Lavanya and Indrashish were moved to see so many little children pleading to them with folded hands. Their hearts melted and they came down to the lakeside. But no children could see them anymore, just as their parents could not. They had lost their magic vision because they had acquired the habit of quarreling and this had corrupted their hearts. The gods felt helpless.

Only, one child could see them! A blind boy with two angelic eyes and a face as beautiful as rose! "So beautiful is Sunaina!" He cried aloud, as others looked at him with wonder.

Goddess Sunaina, Goddess Lavanya and God Indrashish beckoned the boy to come to them. But how could he! they were so high up in the air!

Sunaina smiled to him and dropped a wattle ladder and gestured him to come up . The boy could see everything! As he went up to her, Sunaina gave him a magic brush and told him to paint ! The boy did not know how to paint! So he held the brush tightly and moved it round and round on the sky till there formed huge figures in the shape of clouds ! Sunaina kissed the boy and held him tight to her bosom! No sooner had she, all the three gods vanished along with the blind boy and huge water drops in form of rain started falling on Mitranagar.

The people of Mitranagar now had all the seasons, the summer, the rains, the autumn, the winter and the spring ! They had much water and rivers too, but they still did not stop quarreling! And of course no one ever saw the gods again and the blind boy.