Vikram Betal - The Three Suitors

Dadi: "Guddu, here's another riddle from the Vetala. Three young men all loved the same woman. She died. Each showed his love in a different way. When she was brought back to life, who should marry her?"

Guddu: "That sounds like a puzzle! Tell me the whole story, Dadi."

Dadi: "In the town of Brahmasthala, there lived a Brahmin named Agniswamy who had a beautiful daughter named Mandaravati. When she reached the age for marriage, three young Brahmins came to seek her hand."

Guddu: "Were they all good matches?"

Dadi: "Perfectly equal in every way - learned, handsome, from good families. Neither Mandaravati nor her father could choose between them. The whole family debated for days without resolution."

Guddu: "What happened?"

Dadi: "Tragedy. While Mandaravati was still thinking about the three suitors, a poisonous snake entered the house and bit her. Before anyone could help, she died."

Guddu: "Oh no! What did the three suitors do?"

Dadi: "Each responded to grief in his own way. The first suitor collected her bones and traveled to the holy Ganges river to purify them - a son's sacred duty."

Guddu: "He acted like a son to her?"

Dadi: "Exactly. The second suitor built a small hut at the cremation ground and began living there, sleeping on her ashes - the behavior of a devoted lover who cannot leave his beloved."

Guddu: "And the third?"

Dadi: "He couldn't stay in one place. His grief sent him wandering on pilgrimage. During his travels, he stayed at a Brahmin's house where he discovered something miraculous - a book containing a spell that could bring the dead back to life!"

Guddu: "Did he steal it?"

Dadi: "In the dead of night, yes. He raced back to the cremation ground where the second suitor still slept on Mandaravati's ashes. The first suitor had just returned from the Ganges with holy water."

Guddu: "All three were together again?"

Dadi: "At that moment, yes! Working together, they performed the spell. The one who found the spell recited it. The one from the Ganges sprinkled holy water. The one sleeping on ashes provided the remains."

Guddu: "Did it work?"

Dadi: "Miraculously, yes! Mandaravati rose from the ashes, alive and whole. But immediately, a new problem emerged - all three claimed her as their bride!"

Guddu: "Each thought he deserved her most?"

Dadi: "The first said, "I purified her bones in the Ganges - a sacred duty that saved her soul!" The second said, "I never left her side, sleeping on her very ashes - that's true love!" The third said, "I found the spell that brought her back - without me, she'd still be dead!""

Guddu: "They all have good arguments!"

Dadi: "Exactly! This is the riddle the Vetala posed to King Vikram. Who should marry Mandaravati?"

Guddu: "Let me think... The one who found the spell did the most important thing - without him, she wouldn't be alive at all."

Dadi: "But Vikram answered differently. He said the one who traveled to the Ganges performed a son's duty. The one who found the spell gave her new life - like a father. But only the one who slept on her ashes, who couldn't leave her side even in death, showed a husband's devotion."

Guddu: "So actions reveal relationships?"

Dadi: "Precisely! How we behave tells us what we truly feel. The man on the ashes wasn't trying to accomplish anything practical. He wasn't going anywhere or finding solutions. He simply couldn't bear to be separated from her - and that's the essence of married love."

Guddu: "But Dadi, the spell-finder saved her life!"

Dadi: "And he was honored for it - Vikram said he became like her father, her life-giver. The one at the Ganges became like a son, performing ritual duties. Both were important roles. But husband? Only the one whose love made him stay."

Guddu: "I think I would have answered differently."

Dadi: "And that's perfectly fine! These riddles have been debated for a thousand years because reasonable people can disagree. What matters is that you think carefully about why you believe what you believe. That's the real lesson."

Guddu: "So there's no wrong answer?"

Dadi: "There are better and worse arguments, beta. But the Vetala's riddles are designed to make you think, not to make you obey. Wisdom is asking good questions, not just accepting given answers."