The story of the Dharmaadhaakari

In Madurai, people are very happy to see V due to his radiance and knowledge. He is answerable to all knowledge questions. In one such instance, there is a talk of the temple’s Dharmaadhaakari being on death bed. People try to get astrologers to check if his life span can be increased but V says that his life has neared its end. But nobody will listen to him. Even astrologer informs that his stars are not in the right position.

There is a push by his (Dharmaadhaakari) near ones to obtain that Dharmaadhaakari post (and wealth) but he is unwilling to give away the post. So his near ones want to get him married to a girl from poor family so that the near ones can control the bride’s life and Dharmaadhaakari’s money. V is totally against this. But the Chief Astrologer informs vaguely that in case the Dharmaadhaakari (D) gets married to this poor girl, his life span might increase. V is angered at this because he knows that that is not true. But no one pays heed to him. D’s brother-in-law and sister and their son is desperate to get the wealth and the one way of doing this is by controlling the poor girl after she becomes a widow.

In spite of V’s valiant efforts, the marriage happens. For V’s ‘butting-his-nose’ attitude, V’s brother-in-law (BIL) gets a mouthful from D’s BIL. So V’s BIL tells V to mind his own business and not poke his nose into other family matters. But V is concerned about the poor girl (Saraswati (S))’s life and especially her life as a widow. So V even comes to the wedding hall but is obstructed and sent out forcefully.

Soon after marriage, D gets to death bed. S is very sad and is trying all in her power to get D back on life but is failing. D’s BIL spreads word around that S is a very dedicated wife and is a very obedient and traditional wife.The idea is that once D dies, they want to convince the world that S, on her own, chooses to do Sati (entering husband’s pyre alive to attain moksha). Finally D dies. As planned, word is spread around that S will enter pyre. S herself is shocked but she is then brainwashed about the difficulties of leading a widowed life and hence she too thinks she was destined for Sati and hence agrees, as if in a trance.

Once she enters the pyre, V enters the scene and appeals to the audience to stop this nonsense which is amounting to murder. He bares all facts and asks if any of the womenfolk present also get into Sati. No one agrees. No man wants it too. Then V informs that S’s entering pyre is all part of master plan from D’s BIL to get the wealth. Then people realize the truth. The Chief Astrologer too comes and tells that when he saw S’s kundali (birth-chart), he found that her first husband will die and in her second marriage, she will attain bliss. Noticing that D was anyhow going to die, he informed all that this was an ideal marriage for both D and S. Now that D was dead, S should be set free to seek her happiness. D’s BIL and family are fuming to see their plan go kaput but sensing that the people around were all against them, they finally succumb and S comes out of her trance.

But although she does not die, she cannot enter hubby’s house because she had decided to do Sati, she cannot go back to parents’ house because she is married. People around ask V to marry her but V is shocked. He says that his role was just to save her life and not that of a hubby. So he asks her to just go away and seek shelter where she finds it best and she leaves the town. Thus ends the story of Dharmadhaakari. It is not clear who finally got Dharmadhaakari’s wealth!