The idol stood still……….

This is a story I once read in a Marathi newspaper that truly deeply touched my heart. It was translated from Kannada, I think. This is an abstract English translation of the story from memory, in order to reach a wider audience.

There was this small village surrounded by a forest. In the centre of the village was a sacred temple, that everyone in the village regarded with great pride and faith. The temple housed a beautiful and serenely still idol of Lord Krishna. The idol was reputed to be the oldest and the most beautiful ones among all the idols in neighbouring area. People said that the calm expression on the face of the idol, the sereneness with which it stood, for years and years and years, was absolutely matchless. The idol had survived spells of famines, floods, droughts, and was as still as ever. This fact had strengthened the devotees’ faith in the idol all the more.

One dark, stormy night, the rain poured like cats and dogs in this remote village surrounded by forests. It was thundering; lightening cut across the sky like shining blades of swords. There was not a living thing in sight, with everyone alive safe under shelter. Even the normally noisy crickets and grasshoppers did not dare to venture outside. All the doors and windows of the houses in the village stay shut.

And at such a time, an outcaste from the village, who had gone into the woods to arrange for his daily bread and butter, was trying to return back home. Fully soaked, scared and shivering, he reached the border of the village. Desperate for shelter, his glance fell upon the temple that stood so elegantly amidst the sheer chaos created by mother nature. Relieved at the sight, he rushed towards the temple. In his mixed feelings of desperation, fright, elation, and hope, he forgot one so-called important fact. He was an outcaste, and was not allowed to enter any place frequented by the again-so-called elite upper classes of the society.

As he tried to climb the 1st step of the temple, where there was this serenely still idol, the priest spotted him. “Stop there, you wretch!!”, he shrieked, and charged towards him. “Don’t you know you outcastes are NOT supposed to enter a sacred place like this!! How dare you ruin the sanctity of this place!!!”, he roared. The outcaste, then trembling with fear, looked at the sacred idol. It stood still. He fell to the feet of the priest, and begged for mercy. The priest of course did not oblige. The idol stood still.

As the fury of the winds grew in magnitude, the outcaste again requested the priest for refuge inside the temple. The priest, furious due to the blasphemous behaviour of the outcaste, again told him to get lost. “If you try to take even 1 step forward, I swear I’ll teach u a lesson!!, he screamed,” The God will teach u a lesson!” The sacred idol in the altar stood still. Despite the threats of the priests, the outcaste put his foot on the step of the temple – ’cause his desperation outweighed his fear. The priest was outraged!! “How dare an outcaste disobey me??” He ran inside the temple, got hold of an axe, and charged down at the outcaste. “You  wretch….Wait till God teaches u a lesson!!” He lifted his hand and at once brought down the axe…

The outcaste died, bleeding profusely due to the fatal blow he received! The idol still stood still…