Shabari

The story on the kite

Shabari was born in a hunter’s family. Shabari is an epitome of patience, perseverance, devotion, purity, and the spirit of service. Though the meeting between Rama and Shabari lasted only a few minutes, it contained a decisive moment when all her penance and devotion were duly rewarded by Rama.

By nature, forests are rugged — stones, pebbles, twigs, dry leaves, and thorns all around. Every day, the sage used a particular route to reach the river nearby for his morning ablutions. Shabari deemed keeping this route perfect — free of thorns and pebbles — her top priority. To see that the road was free of thorns, she would lie down and roll along the way, so that the thorns pricked her own body and were removed, and the sage’s feet were not hurt.

After years of staying in the ashram, sage Matanga disclosed to Shabari that her good deeds and penance over the years had earned her a great fortune: the darshan of Sri Rama, when he would pass that way years later in search of Mother Sita. The sage asked her to wait for those blessed moments.

As told by Bhavna on Kite Stories, where this work was first published.