Week 6 Story: Ending Love

Satyavati. Source: Wikipedia

When Satyavati married Mohabbat, she thought she would never be that happy again. She was proven wrong month later at the birth of her son. The couple cried happy tears and prayed never ending prayers over their child. 

A few years passed and the couple only grew more in love with each other. One day they were walking through a traveling bazaar and came across a fortune tellers booth. Satyavati insisted Mohabbat hear his fortune, as she was sure it would only be filled with love and happiness. 

"Only one person may stand at the booth at one time," the fortune teller said. "Multiple people with different futures in front of me will cloud my sight." So Satyavati kissed her husband, and carried her child across the street to wait. 

The fortune teller took Mohabbet's hand and closed her eyes. "You have a strong aura. You block the future of your wife and child. They have a destiny that can only be fulfilled if you are gone. If you remain in their lives, they will never live up to their fullest potential."

"I don't understand," Mohabbat said with tears in his eyes. "With me they have love in their lives. What more could they have?"

"Without you, not only would they be loved, but they would taste power. Every need they could imagine would be provided for. They would never want for anything."

Mohabbat looked back at his wife who waited across the street. She was laughing and nuzzling her nose against her son's. His son was laughing that purest laugh only an innocent child could have. They deserved everything. 

"What must I do?"

"When you are gone, all will fall into place."

He knew if he talked with his wife, he would not be strong enough to leave. Instead, he walked past the fortune teller towards the stream. Satyavati didn't immediately notice he had left, but when she did, she followed him into the forest. He stepped into a stream, and took the knife from his waist. With one hand he held the knife to his throat. With the other, he reached up to the heavens.

"Mohabbat! What are you doing? Please stop! Come back to me!" She desperately searched for a safe place to set down her child while also keeping an eye on her husband. 

"I will now leave this life and promise myself to the gods so that my wife and child may have their best chance at a great life. My only condition is that my son protect my wife, no matter the cost. Because that is what I would do for her." And with a flash of his knife, he was gone. 

Satyavati collapsed to her knees, clutching her child to her breast, sobbing. Moments passed until she could feel her child moving. She looked to see that he was growing. Suddenly, her son was a fully grown man. 

"Mother, the gods have blessed us due to my father's sacrifice. I am now grown, strong, and able to protect you. I must go now to find a life for myself. But if you ever need me, just say my name three times and I will come to your aid."

With that he was gone. Satyavati looked to the stream, her husband's body was gone, taken by the gods. She was alone. She curled up into a ball and lay there for many nights, unable to leave the spot where she had lost everything. 

Author's Note: In the original version, when it discussing the father of Satyavati's son, it doesn't go into great detail and we don't know why she didn't stay with him. I liked the sacrifice Bhishma made so that Satyavati could be married to his father. So in my story, it is clear the sacrifices made so that Satyavati could marry the king. It all truly began with her first husband. While the original story doesn't say that she was married or why the father of her first child doesn't stick around, I imagined that they must have been in love. Because if Satyavati is really so beautiful and loved by all who see her, how could someone not have loved her before the king?

Mahabharata Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).