Brave Onakke Obavva

Many years ago, there lived a brave woman named Obavva in the kingdom of Chitradurga in Karnataka, India. This story is the story of Obavva’s bravery, wit and presence of mind.

At that time, the Chitradurga fort was ruled by King Madakari Nayaka. It was a rough time in the history of Chitradurga. Hyder Ali of Mysore had tried to attack and besiege the fort multiple times. But the fort was so well and tactically built that Hyder Ali, even with his mighty army failed to conquer it.

One day, while keeping a watch on Chitradurga fort, Hyder Ali’s soldier accidentally discovered a small crevice which could enable them to enter inside the fort and conquer it. Delighted with this news, Hyder Ali, with his small bit of information, planned to attack the fort one more time. And this time, he dreamed of successfully conquering it by sending his army through the crevice. The crevice was so difficult to reach that one had to undertake a lot of climbing. Also, it was very narrow, only one person could pass through it at a time.

At that time, Kahale Hanuma, a guard in King Madakari Nayaka’s army was secretly guarding this crevice. Obavva was his wife. They stayed inside the fort and guarded this crevice all day and night.

One afternoon, when Kahale Hanuma went out for lunch, and Obavva had just begun going uphill to fetch water, Obavva saw Hyder Ali’s soldiers secretly trying to approach the crevice. She immediately sought a pestle (Onakke) and by using the secret internal path, positioned herself inside the crevice loosing no time.

As soon as a soldier crawled in through the crevice, she muffled the soldier’s mouth and struck him hard with the pestle. She had no prior experience in warfare or physical combat. But common sense told her to anticipate more soldiers and be ready for the next one while silently killing and hiding the previous enemy soldier.

As anticipated, more soldiers were crawling in one by one. One after another, she pounded them to death with the pestle and dragged their dead bodies aside. When her husband, Kahale Hanuma, returned from lunch, he was shocked to see blood soaked Obavva standing guard with a pestle and a lot of dead bodies strewn around her. He immediately sounded alert, warning his army about the breach of security and treacherous attempt of Hyder Ali’s army.

Obavva’s heroic act and presence of mind delayed Hyder Ali’s plan to besiege Chitradurga. Obavva perished the same day, however the cause of her death is unknown.

Obavva displayed exemplary courage in the face of threat. She single handedly fought with the enemy soldiers with whatever little resources she had. Thus, history remembers Onakke Obavva as an epitome of bravery for fighting off the enemy soldiers single handedly.

You can still visit the crevice where Obavva showed her bravery. Today it is known as “Obavvana Kindi”.

Moral: With presence of mind, courage and determination, one can overcome any challenge faced in life.

The birth of Goddess Ekadashi.

Long long ago, there lived an evil and fearsome demon named Mura in the city of Chandravati. He terrified all the living beings including the powerful demigods. With his terrible power and might, demon Mura had defeated Indra, the god of Heavens; Vivasvan, the Sun-god; the eight Vasus; Lord Brahma; Vayu, the god of Wind; and Agni, the god of Fire. He had expelled all the demigods from their positions and left them powerless.

Worried from the suffering caused by the atrocities of demon Mura, Lord Indra prayed to Lord Shiva, “O Lord Shiva, benovalent Bholenath, we are all suffering the atrocities of Mura and spending our life in Mrityu Loka. Please help us to get rid of this problem.” Upon hearing their problem, Lord Shiva suggested them to visit Lord Vishnu as he was the only one capable of dealing with this demon Mura.

As suggested by Lord Shiva, the Gods and demigods visited Lord Vishnu. After describing their terrible plight and suffering at the hands of demon Mura, they pleaded Lord Vishnu to kill this demon. Upon hearing this Lord Vishnu assured, “Do not fear, for I will deliver you from this problem. I will fight with demon Mura and annihilate him.”

Immediately, Lord Vishnu reached Chandravati with all the gods and demigods. When Mura and his army of demons saw Lord Vishnu arrive at their city, they began attacking him with all their power and weapons. A great battle ensued between the demon Mura and Lord Vishnu. The cunning demon Mura had acquired tremendous amount of power. He had acquired so much power that the weapons employed by Lord Vishnu didn’t affect him. The blows from Lord Vishnu’s weapons felt like a shower of flower for the wicked Mura. The battle continued for many years, but Mura could not be defeated.

Fatigued by the unending fight with demon Mura, Lord Vishnu left for Badrikashrama to take rest. There he entered a beautiful cave and went to sleep. Mura, with his tricks and mystical powers entered the cave with a determination to kill Lord Vishnu. Upon seeing Lord Vishnu fast asleep, Mura planned, “Today, at this very moment, I will kill this slayer of all demons.”

While the wicked-minded Mura was making his plans, a young maiden manifested from Lord Vishnu’s body. She carried various brilliant and shining weapons. She was ready to fight and challenged Mura for a duel. Challenged by a young female, Mura’s ego was hurt. He underestimated her and thought it must be very simple for him to defeat this young and incompetent lady.

A big fight began between the two. The young maiden was undefeatable. While fighting, surprised and tired Mura wondered, “Who is this angry, brave, fearsome girl? She has been fighting with me like a thunderbolt. I must not lose at the hands of this weak girl. It would be very shameful to taste such a defeat. Instead, I must win over her and make her my queen.” In that moment of distraction, the young maiden shattered all of Mura’s weapons and destroyed his chariot. Angered by this act, Mura hastily ran towards his attacker with bare hands to wrestle her down. But the young girl immediately sprung in action and slayed Mura’s head with a swipe of her sword. Looking at the pitiable fate of Mura, the helpless demon army fled from the battle and went in hiding. The young lady stood guard to ensure no one disturbed or harmed Lord Vishnu.

Upon waking up from his slumber, Lord Vishnu saw dead Mura as well as the maiden bowing down before him. Astonished he asked, “Who has killed this vicious demon? Who is it that has so mercifully protected me in my sleep? Whoever it is, ask any boon you may desire, and I promise to fulfill it.” The maiden replied, ” I, O Lord Vishnu, have killed this demon after appearing from your body. I am your maha-shakti. I have killed this terrifying demon to protect this universe, the three worlds. O Lord, if you are pleased with me, then give me the boon to deliver anyone from the greatest sin who fasts on this day of my birth.”

Pleased with her, Lord Vishnu replied, ” O auspicious lady, I have granted your desire. Since you have appeared on the eleventh day of waning moon in the auspicious month of Margashirsha, let your name be Ekadashi. Henceforth, all my devotees in this world will fast on your birth day.”

And thus , this is the story of goddess Ekadashi.