Nityatti- The Power of Durga
The sky had turned ombre with the vibrant shades of yellows and violets. Streaks of golden lights beamed through the fluffy white clouds.
Like most of the villages in India, Baruni was blessed with bounties of nature. Named after the most powerful Goddess Durga the residents of this village were ardent devotees of the Goddess. Despite its beauty, Baruni was a primitive community, where the endowed men of the community used to practice power on rest of the town’s people and women were hardly respected like the Goddess; but things were not same for Nitya – she belonged to one of the wealthiest families residing in that village and every year her father would donate thousands of rupees to the panchayat.
Nitya ran out of her house to collect fresh flowers for puja. While she was coming back she couldn’t control being tempted by the sweet smell of laddoos which the ladies were making as prashad. She sneaked into the kitchen and relished on her favourite motichoor laddoo. She was caught by her mother who yelled at her for breaking the fast, “Nitya! Have you got no sense! You’ve ruined everything! Wait till I tell your father!” Nitya started crying and followed her mother and mentally prepared herself for her father to shout at her. When she entered the room she saw her father laughing. “She is just a child… and anyway God loves kids I am sure the Lord won’t mind”. Nitya giggled and ran towards her father and hugged him. She felt safe in his arms for she always knew her father would be there to protect her. He taught her life skills to make her independent, he taught her to think instead of just bending to the societal rules.
Little did Nitya knew her happy little world was set to be destroyed. Her father fell sick and he lost the battle with the illness leaving his wife’s and daughter’s fate at the hands of their uncle. Nitya’s uncle was one of the most respected members in the panchayat, and he strongly believed that a woman’s place was with her family and within the boundaries of her house. He had never approved of the freedom Nitya’s father had bestowed upon her. He now gradually started to snatch her freedom away from her. He ordered all the members of the house to tame her wild spirit and train her to love the household chores. As she entered in her teens Nitya accepted her fate, she made peace with her surroundings and started to enjoy the little sunshine of freedom she used to get. She used to steal few minutes from her busy life to go out and breathe the fresh air of freedom. Every morning when the golden rays kissed the earth she would go out and pick the freshest and the most beautiful flowers for the Goddess. She gradually forgot the lessons her father had taught her, and transformed into a woman she was forced to be.
As time passed Nitya grew to be a beautiful woman. With alluring dark brown eyes, fair complexion and skin as soft as a feather, Nitya was like a painting of the Goddess brought back to the life. She was a peace-loving woman who had learned to find joy in small moments of life. Everyone in her family, except her, thought that it was the right time to marry her off before their community started gossiping and taunting them. Being the only heir to one of the wealthiest family of the community, dozens of families would offer them marriage proposals, which her uncle rejected for he was looking for a groom from equally wealthy and powerful family. Little did all of them know that fate had different plans.
One fine morning when Nitya had gone out near the side of the stream she met a stranger, who claimed to have come from a faraway land and was lost. He told her that his name is Shiva and is a government employee and was transferred to this village two days back. Nitya agreed to help the stranger find his way. This journey embarked a new chapter in her life. As the days passed Nitya began to spend more time with Shiva, she began to lie to get out of the house, he taught her to live again like her father used to. He used to give her books to read. On one hand, her family was searching for a suitable groom for her and on the other and she gradually falling in love with Shiva. Finally, on the break of the most beautiful dawn, Shiva expressed his desire to marry Nitya. She was ecstatic to hear the words from his mouth, that she couldn’t contain her excitement.
Nitya ran back home to tell her mother about this, expecting her mother to be very happy, for her beloved daughter had finally found the man of her dreams… but to her surprise, her mother only nodded and asked her to bring this young man home. The very next day Shiva was made to sit surrounded by the elders of Nitya’s family and was asked questions about this being which he answered honestly. Everything was going fine until they realized that he was a meager government clerk and that he was also an orphan. They started hurling insults at him which broke Nitya’s heart. “Stop it!!! I love him… and I want to marry him, please uncle… mother let me marry him, he will take care of me. I don’t care about the money, we both will be happy with whatever we earn and have, even I will work to support him. Please let me marry him! I have never asked anything but please let me marry him… I love him very much and I cannot…” before she could complete her sentence her mother’s hand came crashing down on her cheek. “Have you got no sense? Is this what we have taught you? You disgrace us all… when will you learn to be a woman!” yelled her mother at her. “If only my father was alive, he would have understood me. You people don’t love me, you took away my freedom, taught me to stay in limits, what kind of love is this?” “Enough!” blasted her uncle “you spoke too much for a girl, go back to your room and stay there.
Soon after this incidence, her uncle found a suitable groom for her who was from an affluent family residing in the neighbouring village. He was the perfect man for her for he was the most feared man in their village and he had also fallen in love with Nitya and wanted to acquire her as his own. One day while sitting with her family who was busy in marriage preparations, her friend sneaked a letter to her from Shiva, it said that he will be leaving tomorrow as he has been posted in a different city. If she wishes she can join him, for he still loved her. On that very night, Nitya packed all the stuff she could, and ran away from her home. She and Shiva went to nearby town and got married in a private ceremony in a small temple.
Nitya and Shiva settled in a new town of Madhopur. Along with Shiva, Nitya also started doing a job to support their life. Both of them were more than happy in their own small world. Shiva was the perfect husband Nitya wanted, for he supported her and loved her. Like every young couple madly in love, they yearned for each other’s touch. Every morning Nitya used to offer her prayers to the Goddess, then she used to cook breakfast for their family and head out to work. At night Shiva used to help her cook dinner and their day was concluded in each other’s arms.
After few months Nitya found that she was pregnant and Shiva couldn’t be happier! “I don’t know who my parents are, but I will love my child with whole heart” he exclaimed, “I am sure you’ll be a great father, ” Nitya said.
Her happiness was short lived. Her uncle who had been consumed by fury for the doom she had brought upon the family, finally found her. On one ill-fated day, he barged into their home and slashed Shiva resulting in his death. When Nitya returned home, she found her beloved’s lifeless body lying in the pool of blood. Shocked, she collapsed down and began crying her pain out. Her uncle who had been waiting for her came out of the shadows and blasted at her, “this is the cost of the doom you brought upon our family! How dare you live in peace while we face the wrath of villagers! You are the reason we lost all our pride and position in Baruni, and you will pay for it!”
Before he could react Nitya pushed him away and ran away into the woods through back door. She ran as fast as she could, but being pregnant she got tired and the monsters caught her. They held her hands so that she couldn’t escape, she struggled but in vain they were too strong. She begged them to leave her, for her unborn’s sake. She pleaded her uncle to leave her but his soul was poisoned with vengeance and fury.
He kicked her in her stomach hard “this filth in your stomach will die first!” and kicked her again, so hard that she collapsed and began withering in pain. She could feel the life being taken away from her womb. Blood trickled down her thighs, fear gripped her heart, her soul wailed for the loss of her child, but the monsters didn’t care they grabbed her hair and pulled her up for her uncle to slap her. The force was so strong that she twirled and banged her head on a stone statue of Goddess Kali.
Suddenly wind began to make a howling sound scattering all the leaves and soil, blood started to flow from Nitya’s forehead, a force took over her soul. She gathered all her strength, got up and grabbed a trishul from the idol’s hand and stabbed the man standing nearest to her. Everyone got stunned and went away from her. Nitya’s hair was dancing on the wind’s tunes, her blood boiled with anger, her eyes only spoke vengeance, her soul craved for lives it was as if the Goddess herself was standing and war ready to do tandav of death. One by one she killed everyone except her uncle, she brutally injured him and drained all his strength. “You are a fool! You thought I was weak, you could easily get rid of me… if you wanted to kill me you should have attacked me! What did my husband do to you? What had my baby done to you? You rotten human, what kind of man kills his own kin… have you no shame or modesty within yourself? You are no human! People like you are filth which this world has to deal with, women are nothing but objects to you… and now you will meet your salvation through a woman” as she screamed the last words she rammed the trishul in his heart and plunging his soul into the depths of hell to rot forever.
Love and warmth is her essence. Freedom and knowledge are her true adornments. Care for her and respect her, she will shower happiness upon you, but dare you try to break her you’ll face her wrath.
