Leelavati

Once again, King Vikramaditya pulled down the corpse, put it on his shoulder and set out for his kingdom. After some time, Baital said to King Vikramaditya, “Remain quiet if you want to. But I will tell you a story to make the journey short and comfortable.” Nevertheless, Baital began to tell a new story as follows:
There was a Brahmin whose name was Haridatta. He lived in the city of Kashi. He had a beautiful daughter whose name was Leelavati. She was of marriageable age. But Haridatta was not able to find a groom for her as he was poor. Once, when Leelavati was sleeping in her room, a young man crept into her room.

Leelavati woke up immediately. She saw the young man standing in a corner. He was actually a thief who was hiding from the King’s soldiers. He begged Leelavati to remain quiet. Leelavati told the thief to hid behind the almirah. The soldiers came and asked Leelavati’s father a few questions. Then they went away.
Leelavati, in the meanwhile, fell in love with the thief. She confessed her love for him. Soon, they got married.

After some time, Leelavati became pregnant. The thief went to some other city to steal. Time passed by but he did not return. Leelavati later found out that the thief was given death penalty for stealing in the palace. Soon, her father got her married to another young man. Later, she gave birth to a male child. Now nobody knew the real identity of the father. It was assumed that the baby belonged to the husband.
Years went by. The baby grew into a handsome youth. Leelavati and her husband passed by.

When the Shraddh days came, he decided to go to the banks of River Phalgu to offer oblations to the departed souls of his father and mother. While he was offering oblations, he saw three hands, two of the men and one of the woman, emerging out of the water. The young man was puzzled and he first asked the lady’s hand, “Whose hand is this?” “It is your mother’s hand,” replied the hand. The young man offered her the maternal oblations.
Then, he questioned the second hand, “Who does this hand belong to?” “It is your father’s hand,” replied the hand. “Whose is the third hand?” the young man asked in confusion. “It is your father’s hand,” the third hand replied. Now, the young man was even more confused. He asked bewildered, “How can I have two fathers?” Then the second hand, which belonged to the thief, told him about the past. The third hand said, “I brought you up for years till you became a young man.”

The young man thought, ‘One father gave me birth and the other brought me up.’ He did not know to which hand he should offer the paternal oblations.
Baital continued, “Tell me which hand was entitled to receive the paternal oblation. If you do not answer my question knowingly, I will split your head into pieces.” Vikramaditya replied, “The one who brings up a child has the right to become a father. Nobody becomes a father by just giving birth to a child. As in this case, the husband was his real father as he had actually brought up the boy. He had taken care of the boy. Therefore, it was the third hand which was actually entitled to receive paternal oblations.”
Baital exclaimed, “Vikram, you have once again proved your merit. But you have not kept quiet, so I am flying away to my tree.” Thus, Baital flew off with King Vikramaditya following in hot pursuit.

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