I am Earth. I have many names, Basudha,Basundhara,Dharitri, Prithivi.The Creator Brahma created me by separating mud and water from the primeval ocean and then he created the Sky or Dyau. Sky and me were playmates. At one point of time,when Night was about to hide herself and Day was waiting to come,Brahma created Usas or Dawn. Looking at her I forgot to breathe. She was so beautiful. All the creatures were looking at her in awe and wonder. So was Brahma. He was charmed by his own creation, and was looking at her in amazement. ,"Beautiful,you are really beautiful!",I heard him whisper in her ear. But then something happened ,which should not have happened. He held Usas in a close embrace and locked his lips with hers. The gods who had come to watch Brahma's new creation,grew angry and shook their head in strong disapproval. But they were helpless. None of them had the power to stop Brahma from doing what he was about to do. Then they called Rudra. I saw him for the first time. His hair tied in a knot on the top of his head. His strong arms holding a bow and three arrows. His face dark with anger. He aimed an arrow with his taut bow at Brahma and shot it . It hit its target. Two more arrows followed it. Brahma screamed in pain as he turned his head and looked at Rudra. Usas blushed with shame, and freeing herself from Brahma's arms she ran towards the East, where Sun was waiting with his chariot which he would drive across the celestial path stretching from East to West. She found shelter on Sun's chariot, and from that day rode with him across the sky on his daily journey. The gods left the place with Rudra following them. Brahma sat alone, sad and penitent. That night I saw the three arrows which Rudra shot at Brahma, twinkling in the sky as three bright stars.Days followed days ,and one day I got the news that Rudra had married Sati,one of Dakhsya's daughters and they were living happily as a couple. One day I saw them riding over the clouds, Rudra had become Jimutabahan,the rider of the clouds. But then one evening I got the news that a terrible thing had happened. Rohini, Sati's sister returning from her father Dakhsya's house where she had gone on an invitation to attend a ritual came to me and told me what had happened there. Sati came there uninvited, and hearing her father showering abuses on her husband,whom he disliked intensely,had committed suicide by sacrificing herself in the ritual fire. On getting this news Rudra had rushed to the spot with his followers who were fierce and terrible and had spoilt all rituals. The gods had fled to save themselves from Rudra's wrath,and he had left the place with Sati's lifeless body, dancing his rapid dance of Tandav, besides himself with anger. I do not know why I began my search of Rudra, and one day I found him, sitting under a big Banyan tree by the side of a river. I felt so sad on seeing him. His hair had turned into dreadlocks, his eyes, dulled with sorrow, his body weak and trembling from starvation and covered with dust. He was sad and quiet. I went and stood before him. I led him towards the river and told him to take a bath. He listened to me and got down into the cool river. After he had bathed himself, I brought him many sweet and ripe fruits, which I had stored in a basket. He ate and after that he fell into a sound sleep. Such a sleep he had not slept for ages. I sat by him watching him and then I lay beside him. It was a moonlit night of Spring. The air was fragrant with freshly bloomed flowers and a soft breeze was fanning us. "Aren't you Basundhara?",I heard him asking me. He had risen from his sleep."Yes.",I answered to him."Why are you so kind to me?" he asked again. I looked into his eyes, those dark eyes I had seen for the first time ,at that magic moment,when Brahma had created Usas when night was about to meet day,and answered "I love you."He smiled. It was a beautiful smile. We lived together in a cave, as man and wife. He spent his days in meditations and prayers and when he sang on some rainy nights or cool evenings or clear dawn, the place around him became charmed and wild animals sat around him to listen. I cared for him as a wife should and a son was born to us. Shiva called him Mongol, the auspicious one, and he grew up to be a bright and brave young man of eighteen. But then again the gods. They arranged a marriage between my husband and Parvati, the beautiful and young daughter of Himalaya, the king of the mountains. Now they called him Shiva, the calmed one, and not Rudra, the angry one. As he set out to marry with the gods following him in a grand procession, I left the house and took shelter on the sea shore,where Dyau and I used to play as children collecting seashells and building sand castles, far away from him who is sleeping with another woman and loving her. Still on some dark moonless nights or clear evenings I can hear his footsteps falling , restlessly , looking for me and crying,"Basundhara,Basundhara,where are you?Come back to me.I want you back." But I remain silent. I hide my tears in the falling rains.
