Story of Nala & Damayanti - part 01

Nala, the Nishada king and Damayanti, daughter of the Vidarbha king Bhima, were in love with each other. So much so, that at her swayamvara, Damayanti had already decided to garland Nala from among the several high-profile suitors including the likes of devas, and choose Nala as her husband. However, there was a sudden turn of events with a twist that happened at the swayamvara venue. Read on to know full story of what exactly transpired....

दमयंती, एक जैसे दिखने वाले कई नलों में से सही नल को चुनते हुए

<p>Nala and Damayanti were in love with each other. Damayanti was the daughter of the Vidarbha king Bhima while Nala was the king of the Nishada tribe.</p><p>King Bhima had organised a swayamvara for his extremely beautiful daughter Damayanti, wherein she was free to choose her husband. Nala was invited and so were many of the mighty devas. </p><p><br></p><p>On the day of the swayamvara, many of the invited kings, princes and devas reached the venue. When Nala reached there, flouting the rules of the function, he addressed the king at once, and began narrating a story.</p><p><br></p><p>So, when Nala was on his way to the swayamvara, he had met with four Brahmins who had wanted to speak to him urgently. Asking him about his journey where he admitted his love for Damayanti and the fact that she did too, the Brahmins disclosed themselves to be the devas - Indra, Agni, Varuna and Yama. They further asked him to continue his journey and announce their arrivals at the venue. As a result of this, Nala mentioned that he would relinquish his participation in the swayamvara, as he was now the announcer for the devas.</p><p><br></p><p>Before anyone could react to this news, in came another man, an exact lookalike of Nala! </p><p>He claimed that he was the original Nala, and had come there to participate in the swayamvara! </p><p><br></p><p>Everyone was dumbstruck at this turn of events. Again, before anyone could make a sense at the turn of events, three more lookalikes reached the venue, and now there were a total of five Nalas standing amongst them!</p><p><br></p><p>It was obvious to the onlookers that only one of them was the real Nala, and four others were the imposter devas.</p><p>Damayanti then took the matters in her own hands. She announced she would decide and choose between the five lookalikes. She then took permission from the king to take all of them out in the sun.</p><p><br></p><p>Once there, she observed the five for a couple of seconds before she garlanded one. No sooner had she done so that the other four instantly transformed to their original avataras of the four devas!</p><p><br></p><p>On being asked how she could identify Nala so easily, she mentioned that being a human, he was the only one with a shadow unlike the other four divine beings!</p><p><br></p><p><em>This story is in association with </em><strong><em>The Eternal Epics™</em></strong><em>. You can check out more such hindu mythological stories on their </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjszlVoIb1l/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" contenteditable="false"><em>Instagram</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEvNiSFAHJs4BT39GsA7eBw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" contenteditable="false"><em>YouTube</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/theeternalepics/posts/pfbid02VMCJVpwT4cG3WVDdZKVvEoKc2tWTg3CUzBUTQD8CDM4QBwqv4z7JQe2TE8hBzMCbl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" contenteditable="false"><em>Facebook</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://studio.thisday.app/editor/www.theeternalepics.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" contenteditable="false"><em>website</em></a><em>.</em></p>