Roth Story
Satish Raina
It is a story that emphasises on belief and
faith. It may not stand to any logic thus reaffirming that if you have
strong faith in doing anything, miracles would happen defying any logic.
The Story:
There lived a poor Brahmin family comprising of Brahmin, his wife and
beautiful young daughter. Brahmin used to support his family by pittance
collections he used to get as Bhikshya. The daughter used to go to the
forest for collection of firewood. One day during the month of Bhadoon
Shakula Paksh on 4th day, when she was in the forest, she saw some Devis
descending from Heaven. She hid herself behind a tree and was keen to watch
them and to know why they have come to the forest. She saw Devis cardooning
off an area and cleaning it thoroughly. They Devis started kneading wheat
flour and mixed sugar and ghee and cardamom etc in it and then they baked
it on hot plate. After finishing Devis looked around to find a girl, as
they could not perform Pooja without presence of a girl. They took the
notice of Brahmin girl hiding behind the tree and called her over. They
gave her a bath and a new dress to wear. After finishing pooja they gave
her Roth prasad and some money as Dakshana. After this the Devis left for
their abode. The Brahmin girl was dazed with what she witnessed and was
happy to receive new clothes and some money. She went to her home where
her parents scolded and thrashed her on her possessions. They thought that
she has got it some ill means. The Brahmin girl narrated to them entire
thing that she had witnessed but her parents did not trust her. Days passed
by and the routine of their hardships followed.
Brahmin girl developed a desire within to do same thing what Devis had
done on the same auspicious day next year. She started preparations for
the same in advance. Having no money with her, she collected cow dung where
from she separated wheat grain and collected them over for some days, dried
them and converted them into flour. She could not afford sugar or ghee
and thus made roth without these materials on the auspicious day after
cleaning the area etc as Devis had done. This she was doing with absolute
faith, which was being witnessed by Devis in their abode and they were
happy with such dedicated faith of Brahmin girl. Devis decided to reward
her. The Brahmin girl performed pooja of Roths, which she had kept under
a cover. After pooja when she removed the cover she was astonished to see
Roths converted into golden cakes. She could not believe her stars but
knew it was a miracle possible only by blessing of Devis. Thus she thanked
Devis and rushed to her home with prized possession. On seeing golden cakes,
her parents locked her in a room and thrashed her to maximum thinking that
this time she has done some bigger crime. The girl kept on pleading and
pleading and told them everything she had done, but her parents did not
believe her. During the night Devis came in the dream of her parents and
told them about what girl had done and that she should be treated nicely.
On listening to Devis, the parents blessed the girl with love and affection.
Thus the status of Brahmin family improved and they kept on repeating this
Roth puja every year. Devis kept on blessing them with prosperity and wealth.
Roth (Click here for Recipe) Years passed by, and one day the King of the state was returning from
hunting expedition when he took notice of Brahmin girl who was relaxing
under a tree in her courtyard. Her youth and charm fascinated the king
and he decided to marry her. He summoned her father to the court next day
and asked for his daughter’s hand. The marriage was solemnised with great
pomp and show and the Brahmin girl became queen of the state.
When the Roth day was approaching, she asked the King to arrange the
materials for the performance of Roth Pooja. King asked his minister to
do the necessary arrangements. The Minister ill advised the King that it
was just a fantasy of the queen and it was not necessary. He did not believe
that she could have afforded the material that the queen had asked for
while she was not married. He suggested that it was her greed that she
is demanding such a huge amount of materials for doing some Puja of which
he had not heard of. The king was convinced by Minister’s logic and refused
to give any material to the queen.
The queen was very upset and she pleaded with the king. She cried and
begged of King without any luck. She went to Puja room and begged of Devis
to pardon her for no fault of hers.
During the night King dreamt of Devis who warned him that he would lose
his kingdom next day as he had not fulfilled the necessary arrangements
requested by the queen. Very next day, neighbouring state king invaded
his
kingdom and he was dethroned and exiled. He realised his mistake and asked
his wife to pardon him. His wife in turn asked him to seek pardon from
Devis and to take a pledge not to do such things in future. He prayed and
prayed and prayed. Finally Devis took mercy on him and blessed him since
he vowed to perform this pooja irrespective of whatever condition he would
be in. Next day the faithful soldiers of the King who got wind of where
the king was hiding came to see him. They assembled in large numbers and
worked out a plan to conquer back their kingdom. In next few days the King
with the help of his soldiers regained his kingdom. Ever since the king
and entire state performed the Roth Pooja every year.
Concluding prayer:
Now we pray Almighty to bless us in the same way as they blessed the
Brahmin girl and to strive in us a true, dedicated & strong faith in
the pooja.
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