When Peahen Drinks Tears

      The world is filled with miracles, that we lest know when to expect one. There was a time when peacocks were considered to be celibate and they maintained their state of celibacy throughout their life. Mind it if you think I am wrong it will bring the contempt of the court on you and those disagreeing with me will be liable to prosecution and given severe rigorous punishment.

In a famous Hindi story Neelkanth, the famous writer Mahadevi Verma, wrote the romantic story of a peacock Neelkanth (because of his blue throat, not that he was Lord Shiva), and a peahen Radha. Radha loved Neelkanth passionately and unconditionally. But then the author dared to interfere in the unique romance by bringing a third character (another peahen named Kubja), making it a love triangle. It was to test the celibacy of Neelkanth, whether he would stick to one female all his life and still be celibate, or he would woo the other peahen and end his celibacy.

   And it seemed to be a boon or blessing from Lord Krishna for Neelkanth to be celibate, and one of his greatest devotee who would be a high court Judge in his next life because of the service he had done to the animal kingdom by proving that cows exhales oxygen, and thus safeguarding animal rights and making the Holy Cow the most sacred animal on earth with a sound scientific explanation to a religious belief. Gone were the days of Galileo when science had to prove itself through religion. The present trend was to make religion scientifically sound so as not to astonish the disbelievers.

 God intervened and Neelkanth kept his vow of celibacy like Devavratha to become Bhishma of Kaliyuga; but he died of a broken heart, even though he had the valour to fight against injustice when a big snake dared to attack a baby rabbit. And so did the new girl die at the hands of Kajli the cat, who wanted to end his celibacy like the Apsara Menaka had ended the meditation of rishi Vishwamitra.

  And whenever it rained, I promise you the author must have thought the readers would think her mad and so she didn’t write about it but that was what she had meant to convey. Radha would perch on a tree and weep and drink her own tears remembering Neelkanth. Who would have thought many, many years later, the prophecy would turn out to be true!

For summary of Neelkanth. Stories of Mahadevi Verma link

The News of Peacocks Celibacy