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SATI SATI

It was long, long ago, when the earth was young, that Daksha Prajapati (Maharajah of Daksha) reigned over a kingdom which stretched along the foot of the mighty Himalayas, and his capital stood on the river Ganges, where Hardwar now is. He was one of the richest and most powerful Maharajahs in Jambudwipa, the country now called India, and much respect was shown him by devas and kings because of his many lovely daughters. As each fair child grew to maidenhood Daksha Raj married her to a rich god, and thus his own influence increased, for who would dare offend the father-in-law of over a score of gods!

Now Sati, the youngest of this large family of girls, was the loveliest and from infancy had been her father’s favourite, and she determined that. she should make the best match of all, and he proudly watched her growing into the most beautiful, fairylike and exquisite maiden the world had ever seen. Ever and again, he thought over the qualities of all the eligible gods and kings, but, while he thus dreamed and planned and pondered, Sati grew up with her ideal in her heart.

Rising up from the plains are the glorious, snowcapped Himalayan mountains, in ancient times the home of the gods. Far above all towered Kailash, the kingdom of Siva, the God of gods. Often in her childhood Sati gazed up at those silver peaks while she listened to her mother’s tales of the worlds, of earth and air and sky, and the story little Sati loved best to hear was about Siva, the Destroyer and Regenerator of the living world. When the summer glory faded and trees stood brown and bare with their dead leaves lying round about them on the silent earth, Sati’s pure, childish fancy understood that they died for Siva, because he willed to revivify the earth, and when the sweet and playful Vasanta (Spring) flew forth over fields and hills NINE IDEAL INDIAN WOMMEN