"Alakh Niranjan"- an earth-shattering voice outside the gates diffused the buzz across the courtroom.
Entered the famous Sage Baba Gorakhnath. An intimidating figure clad in saffron robes and rudraksh beads. King Bhartrahari at once got up from his throne, walked up to the sage and bowed before him. Sage got instantly impressed with the king's humility. Over the course of that day, sitting gracefully in the royal court, the sage observed the king's conduct. In the evening, the king also walked behind him alone with folded hands to see him off.
Sage Gorakhnath spoke softly before leaving- "You are a well-mannered, wise and tactful ruler Bhartrahari. I am mighty pleased with your hospitable conduct today. Ask what your heart desires. I will grant you one wish."
Bhartrahari replied humbly- "I had the good fortune of hosting you today. What else do I need oh seer?"
Gorakhnath became even more impressed with his wit and humility. He produced an apple out of his sack and spoke in a lowered voice- "This is no ordinary fruit Bhartrahari. It is an Amar-fal, plucked from the Kalpavriksha directly. Two days from today will arrive the full moon night. On that night, anyone who takes a bite of it, shall never age a day longer, shall see no disease or death and shall live as long as the sun and the moon walk the sky."
King Bhartrahari took the apple thankfully and rushed to the palace to see his lovely Queen Pingala. Pingala was a youthful, slender figured, gorgeous girl and she used to disarm the king with her deep dancing eyes every single time. He brought the immortality-granting apple out of his pocket, showed it to his dear queen and recounted his whole day. Queen listened to it all wide eyed. At the end, the king said to her- "My heart desires nothing more, than to see this angel face every single day of my life. Precisely like this moment. With not a wrinkle of time on it." With those praises, the king hugged her and the curtains dropped.
Pingala the delightful. Pingala the desirable. Pingala the disloyal.
She fancied about the king's charioteer Mahipala, a sycophant stable-man, and entered into an illicit relationship with him. The next day when the king went to the court, she took Mahipala out on pretext of visiting a temple. Pingala showed him the fruit on the way and told its magic. She said- "You have given me great happiness, Mahipala. I want you to have it. As a token of my love and fidelity to you." And thus, amar-fal now came into Mahipala's possession.
But poor Mahipala never truly loved Pingala. He tended to her so he could garner some influence. Mahipala, for his part, was fascinated about a rajanartaki (a glorified title of 'royal-dancer' those days for a courtesan), someone who fulfilled the abhorrent desires of rich men, to make a living. Lakha, this charming woman had many rich suitors who claimed to be in love with her at night. But refused to recognize her in broad daylight. Mahipala couldn't usually afford her time and company being poor. On this night however, he had something magical to earn her affections. He proclaimed his true love for her and gave her the amar-fal. The fruit switched hands now and fell into Lakha's.
Lakha, despite her maligned reputation, always received admiration and respect only from King Bhartrahari. He never looked at her as an object of lust, but as an honorable artist. She took the fruit the next day to the court and sought an audience with the king. When she got her turn after a long wait, she spoke elegantly- "Oh benevolent king, I am an artist living under your generous patronage. Last night one of my suitors brought me this gift with some pretty tall claims. Even if his claim of immortality about this apple is true, then I have no use of it. But there is hardly anyone else who deserves it more than you in this entire kingdom. Please accept this humble gift, so we all can live happily under your blessed rule forever."
Blood left Bhartrahari's face and at the throne now sat but a pale shocked shadow of him. In a few moments, his senses returned along with a stirring rage. On inquiring about the suitor's identity, Mahipala was called to the court from horse-stable under the suspicion of theft. But when he spilled the beans, Bhartrahari received the biggest blow of betrayal in his life. It made him ponder- "My one true love, whom I was devoted to beyond immortality itself- stabbed me in the back. And what for? A charioteer's flattering? What is true anymore in this world? On one hand there is an ill reputed woman who committed the biggest of sacrifice. And on the other tip of the scale there are my treacherous wife and opportunist driver, whom I held in such high regards. I will kill them both now."
Bhartrahari stood up to order the execution, words froze in his throat as he struck a revelation- "But vengeance isn't going to fill this void now either. If anyone is at fault, it's I myself. By fostering this notion of commanding true respect and love, just by being a king or a husband? I deserve neither to be a king, nor a husband. This whole world is Maya, a huge lie. I give it up right now in my heart."
Without a hesitation, King Bhartrahari took off his fancy clothes, descended from his emerald throne, and left all his worldly possessions behind in a split second and handed over the reign to younger brother Vikram. No amount of tears could dissuade him otherwise. As he stood at the gates clad in a saffron dhoti, a kamandal and bare feet, an earth-shattering voice drew everyone's attention outside.
"Alakh Niranjan'- boomed the unforgettable voice. Bhartrahari smiled contently and went out of the courthouse to follow his guru's footsteps. On the path of true immortality.
Baba Bharthari, as he is fondly remembered after 2000 years today, has been the hero of folklore across UP, MP, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. As a great king who turned a disciple of baba Gorakhnath, left his materialistic distractions behind and served the humanity without a crown or title. His younger brother Vikram went on to become one of the wisest and most famous kings of India's history. Vikram Samvat is the calendar India widely follows, marked to have started from his coronation day- the extraordinary day we read above. Vikram himself has been the protagonist of famous folktales like Vikram-Betal and Betal-Pachchisi.
.King Bhartrahari meditated around the foothills of Aravali in his last days, near present day Sariska tiger reserve in Alwar and is regarded as a powerful deity among the locals. If you ever get a chance to travel across the eastern part of Rajasthan, don't be surprised to hear a chant before commencement of any journey or at an auspicious occasion- "Bharthari baba ki Jai."
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