Near the village of Vanassi, which is located on the great Ganges River, two children were born to two different sets of parents. Both sets of parents were mutual friends and decided to have their children marry each other when the children reached the age of sixteen. Arranged marriages were normative then in India centuries ago.

When the boy, Dukulaka, and girl, Parika, grew up and reached sixteen, their parents told each of them about their upcoming marriage. Dukulaka and Parika refused to marry for several reasons. Their main issue was that both sets of parents killed animals for food.

However, Dukulaka and Parika's parents forced their children to marry. Nevertheless, they did not have sex and became hermits in the forest. Finally, both sets of parents allowed their children to go separate ways. Dukulaka and Parika lived as brother and sister while remaining celebrate but cared and protected each other.

Dukulaka leaving his parents

Thagya Min, the king of the celestial realm, heard about Dukulaka and Parika and was so moved by their dedicated lives that he sent an envoy to earth. The king's envoy built a monastery and nunnery in the forest for Dukulaka and Parika. The two hermits wore dressed in dark saffron robes and worked hard as hermits deep in the secluded forest. Their activity of hard work and dedication to a good life kept bad animals away from them and provided good vibes among the good animals and them.

Thagya Min looked into the future of Dukulaka and Parika and saw that both would become blind in the years to come. He discovered that in a previous life, they punished someone who did not pay them what was owed them. Dukulaka and Parika caused the debtor's son to be blind. Therefore, in their next lives, they would become blind as punishment for their previous lives.

Since Thagya Min could not remove the punishment, he told Dukulaka and Parika that they could marry and would have a son who would care for them when they became blind. Thagya Min drew a circle on the stomach of Parika, which magically caused her to become pregnant. After nine months, they have a son whose name is Suvanna Sarma, because he had a golden complexion. He also became a hermit and wore saffron robes like his parents.

All was well for Dukulaka and Parika as they raised their son, Suvanna Sarma. However, one day sixteen years later, the parents sought shelter under a large rock to protect them from a storm. While being sheltered from the storm, a dragon nearby awoke from his sleep due to smelling human flesh nearby. The dragon shoots fire and toxic gas toward Dukulaka and Parika, which caused them both to become blind. They manage to find their way home even though they are now blind, and Suvanna Sarma cared of his blind parents. During this time, Suvanna Sarma became a friend of a herd of golden deer.

However, a local king was hunting deer in the forest and saw Suvanna Sarma with his golden herd of deer. The hunter-king mistakenly thought that Suvanna Sarma was a part of the herd of deer and shot an arrow into the herd. The hunter-king mistakenly hit what he thought was a deer and goes to retrieve it only to discover that he had shot Suvanna Sarma.

The wounded Suvanna Sarma

Suvanna Sarma was slowly dying from his wound. The king was panic stricken at his mistake. The king apologized and asked what he could do for Suvanna Sarma. The boy knows he is dying. He tells the king to care for his blind parents but to take him to them before he dies, which the king did.

Dukulaka and Parika are grief-stricken. Thagya Min saw this. He went to Dukulaka and Parika, and gave them one wish. Their wish was to see their son walking strongly toward them carrying a pot of gold on his shoulders. Thagya Min granted them their wish. Suvanna Sarma did not die, and Dukulaka and Parika could see again. The last part of their wish was that the hunter-king was to take the pot of gold to both their parents as of symbol of their gratitude since the gold had no use to them.

01/23/14