Himal and Nagraya

Soda Ram was henpecked. No, for him there was no peace or respite from his wife's shrewish temper. One day it reached his ears that the Raja of Kashmir was to distribute alms among the poor. "I too shall visit the capital to receive the Raja's bounty," he said to himself. "That will take me away from my wife's loathsome presence, if it be only for a short while."

So Soda Ram set out on the distant journey. But on the way, overpowered by the summer heat, he went to sleep under a tree in the forest. When he awoke he found to his consternation that a serpent had crept into his sack. A sudden bright idea, however, drove the terror away. He snapped the sack shut, fastened it securely and hurried home, for here was salvation at last from his wife's evil tongue.

"Look, I have a lovely gift for you," he shouted to the woman, flourishing his sack even before he had crossed the threshold. "Get into the privacy of your own room and open it. You will have a surprise!"

The avaricious woman snapped at the prize and rushed indoors, while the husband, chuckling to himself, waited for the end. But, instead of the agonised shriek he hoped to hear, there issued from inside a joyous cry. Soda Ram tip-toed to the room, and what should meet his eyes but the loveliest boy you could think of. There the little one stood tike a prince and no trace of the serpent was found. The childless couple were transported with joy. Here was a son to be a solace to their declining years. They called him Nagraya and brought him up as their own child.
Nagraya grew up comely and intelligent beyond his years. There was no wish of his that his fond parents would not fulfill.

One morning he begged his father to be taken to the fairest pool in the neighbourhood for a bath. "The loveliest pool here about belongs to our young princess," said Soda Ram, "and the like of us may not use it. And how, indeed, could you get to it? There are seven rings of walls around it and guards at every gate."

"But take me thither,' implored Nagraya. And, when the fond parents had led him to the outermost wall, the lad changed into a serpent and crept in through a drain pipe. No sooner had he reached the pool than he changed back to his human shape and disported himself in the sparkling waters.

It chanced that the splash-splash fell on the ears of the Princess who ran to discover who the impious intruder could be. There before her eyes was as handsome a prince as she had ever beheld. She was smitten with love but how could she let the trespass go unpunished. She summoned the guards to seize the offender but Nagraya had in the twinkling of an eye changed into a serpent and stealthily crept out of sight. Himal- that was the Princess' name-secretly resolved towed the comely intruder and it was long before her servant had traced him to Soda Ram's cottage. 

It was unthinkable, the Raja said, to let his only daughter wed a poor Brahmin's son. But how could he hold out against her unceasing importunities? So at last he agreed to the match.

As the day appointed for the wedding dawned, Soda Ram was filled with a gnawing sorrow. How could he provide the fineries becoming the Princess' bridegroom? But Nagraya comforted him, saying, "Go to the pool by the spot where you first found me, cast this pebble into the water and hurry back without as much as one glance over your shoulder."

Wondering greatly, Soda Ram, performed this strange rite and at his threshold turned round to behold a resplendent retinue of soldiers with music and banners, and pile upon pile of magnificent gifts for the bride. His own rags, the pour Brahmin now discovered, were gone. He was attired in regal splendour even as Nagraya was.

So the procession set out for the palace and the king and queen, who despised the groom for his poverty, now gazed with bewildered pride on this gorgeous array. The wedding ceremony of Himal and Nagraya was performed with great pomp and show.

As so often happens in life, the happiness of Himal and Nagraya did not last long. Nagraya, as we have said, was actually a snake who could transform himself into a human. He was a king of snakes and his abode was the pool by the mulberry tree, where Soda ram had found him. It was a hallowed pool, and deep under it was his palace where lived his snake-wives.

The snake queens missed Nagraya very much. They despatched spies all around to discover his whereabouts. The spies came back with the report that Nagraya was living in splendour with Princess Himal in her palace. One of the wives - they too had the capacity to take the human form at will - decided to take the initiative to bring Nagraya back to them.

Dressed as a gypsy, she approached Himal, and asked her pointblank, "Please tell me whether Nagraya, my husband, lives here."

Angered by the query, Himal said, "How can Nagraya be husband of a low-caste woman like you? He is a Brahmin, of the high caste, and he is my husband."

Not to be put off, the snake-wife persisted, "You don't know Nagraya, the clever one. He is a cheat. He is not a Brahmin at all. I tell you now to test him. Ask him to stand in the water of the pool by the stunted mulberry tree, you know the big pool, the sacred one. Then you ask him to swear that he is a Brahmin."

Himal did precisely that, against the protestations of Nagraya who had understood the game that his snake-wives were playing to get him back. He kept on telling Himal, "Don't persist in this game. You will repent later." But her mind was made up. She made him stand in the water of the pool and asked, "Now take an oath that you are a Brahmin."

Nagraya's feet sank in the sand and slush of the pool. Slipping down and down, he went on saying, "Don't Himal, don't", to which she replied obstinately, "Tell me your caste". Unknown to her, the snake-wives were pulling Nagraya from below, and he disappeared, leaving not a trace. Realising her loss, Himal cried and sobbed, and returned forlorn to her palace.

Living practically like a widow, Himal spent most of her time in prayers, looking after the poor and needy. One day when she was giving alms, a hermit accosted her and said, "I passed the sacred pool by the mulberry tree and a strange sight met my eyes. A youngman dressed as a prince came out of the water. He carried a plate full of viands. He kept it under the tree, saying, "Dear Himal, this is for you."

Realising that the Prince was none other than her own Nagraya,
Himal thanked the hermit and repaired to the pool at the hour of midnight. Sure enough, Nagraya, as handsome as ever, emerged from the pool with the plate in his hands. He was about to deposit it when
Himal went near him, prostrated herself in front of him, imploring, "Forgive me, my Nagraya, "Controlling her sobs, she added, "I can't live without you. Take me with you."

Nagraya told Himal his fear, his snake-wives would kill her but she would hear none of it. So he thought out a stratagem. He changed her into a shining diamond and, with that in his pocket, he went down to his palace in the bowels of the pool. The snake-wives were too smart for him They smelled human flesh and asked him to produce the person.

Left with no other alternative, Nagraya changed the diamond back to the form of Himal. It took him a long time to persuade the snake-queens to let her stay. None of them liked her hold on him. To make her horoughly miserable, they made her do the most exhausting chores and fed her the least. Himal was not the one to complain so long as she was near her long-lost Nagraya.

Things came to a head too soon. One day Himal had boiled a pot of milk when the snake-children were crying for their feed. Not knowing that hot milk should not be served to the off-spring of snakes, Himal let them have it. The result was that they died one and all, the hot milk scalding their throat. Beside themselves with rage, on seeing the spectacle, the snake-wives stung Himal again and again, and she died on the spot.

Nagraya was shocked to see Himal lying dead. He had her fair body embalmed, and carried it to the mulberry tree. He made an alcove for her body and left it there in the shade. Every day he would come up to the spot to remember Himal and cry a little.

A hermit chanced to come that way one afternoon. Seeing the beautiful embalmed body, he took pity on it. Crushing some herbs, he extracted a fluid which he put in the mouth of Himal. And, to and behold, Himal got up as if she had never been dead! The hermit conducted her to his nearby Ashram.

Coming up for his tryst with the mummy, Nagraya found that the body was gone. He sent his spies in all directions to find out where it could be. They came back with the happy news that she was alive, in an 
Ashram, and very well looked after.

Changing into the form of a snake, Nagraya entered the Ashram at the dead of night. He found Himal asleep and did not want to disturb her sleep. So he lay by her, still in his snake form. It so happened that the son of the hermit entered the room. Seeing a snake next to Himal, he killed it with a big stick.

Awakened by the fight between man and snake, Himal saw the dead snake, and recognised it from the crown on the hood. She addressed the boy, "You don't know what you have done. You have killed my husband. He had come here in the form of a snake."

The dead snake was cremated as befitted a prince. Himal threw herself into the funeral pyre. Hardly had the hermit expected that this would be the fate of Himal, when he brought her back to life. He was saddened at this state of affairs.

As the hermit sat, pensive and sad, a voice came from the unknown: "Don't be sad any more, O sage. Take some of the ashes of Himal and Nagraya and throw these in the sacred pool by the mulberry tree. They will come back to life."

The hermit did as he was told. The lovers, Himal and Nagraya, lived once again, coming out of the pool in their human form. They went back to Himal's palace. When Himal's father died, Nagraya became king, and they lived happily for a long time.