AN ANCIENT MILLIONAIRE'S UNDYING DEVOTION FOR LORD RAMA

NOTHING hurts us more than being betrayed by those we call our own. The Ramayana and Mahabharata are both shattering examples of this. But its protagonists are heroes, heroines and gods.

- RENUKA NARAYANAN

Whereas the tale I would like to retell this week is about someone who was not a hero, saint or god. His name was Jana Jaswant and he was a regular person of simple, straightforward piety, whose origin and whereabouts are unknown. Yet his story gained a hold in the devotional landscape of India. It found a place in the Bhakta Vijaya, the Book of Saints, compiled by a person called Mahipati in the 18th century in what is now Maharashtra. The Bhakta Vijaya was translated from Marathi into several modern Indian languages and also into English. It is frequently drawn upon in religious discourses involving stories about the people of the Bhakti tradition, and so we may say that Jana Jaswant still lives on in the Indian mind.

Jana Jaswant was a devotee of Lord Rama and seemed to have been blessed greatly by the Lord. He had a loving wife and five healthy sons. Moreover, he was a millionaire many times over for he had greatly expanded his family business. He had a wide and loyal clientele because he was honest and meticulously professional in his transactions and deliveries.

"How can you afford to be so honest?" teased a cousin once.

"What I can't afford is having to hide my face in shame from my Lord Rama," answered Jana Jaswant, smiling.