Raja Gandharvasena, the ruler of Malwa Union was a very illustrious and valiant one whose glory ever spread throughout the lands. Ujjayani was the glittering capital of Malwa that was often compared with the celestial capital, Amravati.
Raja Gandharvasena had three queens. The first queen was called Madanrekha, the second was Saumyadarshana and the third was Saraswati. The youngest queen Saraswati had given birth to the lone son of the family called Bhartri. All three queens used to dote on Bhartri and treated him as their common darling child.
All over the land peace and prosperity reigned. The sujbects loved and respected their king. On his part the king took good care of the subjects and gave justice to everyone without discrimination. Entire royal family was religious and God faithful. Traditions and customs were the part of the family values.
The eldest queen, Madanrekha was devoted to Lord Shiva. In her Lord she had ardent faith. She used to keep fasts and rituals dedicated to Shiva. The name of Lord Shiva she ever incanted and infact, breathed. Raja Gandharvasena was also an ardent devotee of Shiva.
Once Gandharvasena was reclining in his bed chamber. He was asleep or half asleep. He thought an incident actually happend although in dreamy way. The morning hour dreams feel too real life like. Raja thought it was really happening. He saw himself in his pooja room praying to Lord Shiva who appeared to have manifested there in person.
After a while Shiva smiled broadly at him. Raja Gandharvasena opened his eyes on impulse and stared at Lord overwhelmed. He could hear the soft hisses of the snakes gracing the neck and the arms of Shiva. Also emanating was the gushing sound of the stream of Ganga flowing inwardly through his matted hair although the water vapours rose from the hair locks and coils. Suddenly Raja felt droplets of water getting sprinkled on his face as if to wake him up from stupor.
Raja Gandharvasena rose up from his sitting posture and made obeisance to Lord with folded hands. He mumbled a prayer with trembling lips.
Lord spoke, ”Son! We are very pleased at your true devotion to us. Does your mundane life suffer from any woe?”
”No. My Lord. By your grace everything is fine. With you as my guardian deity how can any misery target me? Your faithfuls are ever protected by your natural good will,” Raja Gandharvasena prayed.
”Our faithful are dear to our heart. Their love and devotion keep us bound to our divine duty to defend the trust of the believers. That is our divine dharma just like serving the interest of the subjects is yours.”
”Lord! No one can understand your maya and your glory is boundless. In beholding you with my own eyes my life stands redeemed. How may I ever thank you, My Lord? My poor light has no words to sing your paeans adequately.”
”Dear devotee.” Lord spoke benevolently, ”Wish for any boon.”
”Let my mind ever be beamed into you, O Lord. I have no worldly unfulfilled wish…,” Raja mumbled.
”Then, we shall grant you a boon on our own. Take it as our blessing,” benevolent Lord said.
”I will accept it as a divine gift from Lord to his humble devotee. It surely will be for my own benefit. O divine Lord, please tell me what boon you wish to grant me?”
”Son, a son you will be blessed with. His name will be Vikrama whose glory will be as bright as the sun. He will conquer all the worlds with his noble qualities. Beget such a son, you will.”
”Thank you, My Lord divine,” Gandharvasena bowed.
”His full name will be Vikramaditya,” so saying Lord raised his right palm in the pose of blessing. A light beam emerged out of the divine palm and went into the folded hands of Raja Gandharvasena. When he unfolded his palms he found a lotus flower in between. He looked at smiling Lord in puzzlement.
Lord revealed, ”Give this flower to your eldest queen Madanrekha. Smelling it will beget her the son I blessed you with. A divine joy she would feel.”
Then, Raja Gandharvasena woke up to full conciousness. He found himself lying in his bed. He realised that his beholding Lord Shiva and their conversation was merely a wishful dream. But he was feeling aflush with an ethereal joy. Then, his eyes widened up and he sniffed the air. Yes, it was the sweet scent of red water lilly (lotus).
It made Raja Gandharvasena extremely joyful for some reason. He sat up on his royal bed and with his eyes closed again savoured the entire dream through mental recall. He rose up to go out to begin day. To his surprise he saw a lotus flower placed neatly by the left side of his pillow as if it were token of love or devotion. It was the source of that fragrance which scented the air of the royal chamber.
Raja stared at the lotus, the glistening red blossom, exactly the same as Lord had blessed him with. He bowed his head in reverence to it and respectfully picked it by his fingers. Then, he rushed to the chamber of Madanrekha.
The queen followed a strict devotional regimen. She would get up at pre-dawn hour, do her morning duties, wash herself clean and sit down in meditation of her Lord, Shiva. When Raja reached her chamber she was getting up after meditation. She was puzzled to see her husband there before sunrise which was unusual. With a smile Madanrekha greeted Raja Gandharvasena with folded hands and normal courtesy.
The queen got the king beseated and offered him the pooja prasadam. Then she sat by his side.
”Master!” she spoke, ”why did you take trouble to rise early and come to me? You could have called for me through a maid.”
”I am here on a special mission as ordered by our Lord Shiva, ”Raja said mysteriously.
”Lord Shiva’s order?” Madanrekha asked incredulously. When and how did you get his order?”
”Call it a dream or real, it is difficult to say but I am certain it was his divine work.”
”Tell me about it?” the queen asked curiously.
Raja Gandharvasena produced the lotus flower and extened it towards her, ”My dear queen! First look at his divine flower.”
The queen had yet not noticed the flower. She stared at it speculatively. She took a deap breath. The fragrance intoxicated her making her comment, ”Umm….it smells divine. It looks fresh and fills me up with a sublime joy.”
”It indeed is divine and sublime. You won’t believe the story,” Raja said.
”Try me,” Madanrekha invited.
”Lord Shiva gave me this flower as his blessing to us and it is specially for you, dearest?”
”Really!” she spoke excitedly. The very thought of her Lord blessing her in whatever way was gratifying. The king narrated the dream tale as the queen listened wide eyed. Then, she put the lotus to her nose and smelled. Its fragrance swathed her body. A divine pleasure charged up every corner of her inner space. The scent and the feeling of pleasure assimalated to condense into a ball which the queen felt had lodged itself in her womb.
She became ecstatic. Her physical reality went into a creative mode like a blossoming flower. Raja Gandharvasena also got infected by her happiness. Infact, entire family rejoiced.
The time passed by. Queen Madanrekha was becoming more and more aglow as her pregnancy advanced. In pregnancy some women become more beautiful and reveal a new angle and dimension of feminine charm. She becomes a symbol of nature’s creative power. Raja Gandharvasena could see her divine beauty and kept her ever within his view. Gradually nine months went by.
On the sixth day of the tenth month Madanrekha felt on urge to lie down on bed and small baby eased out of her without putting her in labour pains. The news of the birth of the child elated Gandharvasena. Entire palace and the city rejoiced. The kingdom celebrated the arrival of the newborn. For the subjects it became a festive occassion. The people knew about the divine origins of the baby as they had heard knowledgealbe sources talk about it.
Raja Gandharvasena doled out gifts, presents and charity generously. The priests and brahmins reaped a harvest of royal largesse. The courtiers were given rewards for their benediction.
For six days the celebrations continued. On the seventh day the naming ceremony was organised an auspicious hour. The king had not revealed the order of Lord Shiva conveyed to him in his dream. Surprisingly the priests and the astrologers also found that the new born could have only one name and that was Vikramaditya. It delighted Raja Gandharvasena and Madanrekha and the others who were in the know. Thus, the baby was christened with the same name. All the guest and representatives of the people groups presented gifts to the royal child. The holy men and elders blessed him. The baby looked happy at being the object of all eyes and being fussed over. Once or twice he did bawl to protest against overcrowding of faces over him.
The next day, Raja Gandharvasena, his three queens Madanrekha, Saumyadarshana and Saraswati went to Shiva temple with the baby Vikramaditya to worship the Lord to thank him for fructication of his blessing. Vikramaditya began to grow up fast being nurtured by the love and affectionate care of three mothers. Each one of the queen appeared to be the real mother of the baby. Thus at that very early age Vikramaditya pratically experienced that human society functioned at a very differnet level higher than the animal life where only biological relationship mattered. But humans were more influenced by ideals, principles, ethics, depth of emotions, compassion, justice, rules of equality, repect, sentimental equations and civilised conduct.
