Green Gold

In Maharashtra there is the practice of offering the leaves of the Aapati tree as sona/gold on Dussehra and saying  “Sona ghya, sonasarkha waga” (take gold and be like gold).There is a deep significance behind doing so.

According to the Puranas,Kautsa, the young son of a Brahmin called Devdatt, lived in the city of Paithan. After completing his education with Rishi Varatantu, he insisted on his guru accepting Guru Dakshina, a present. The guru said, “Kautsa, to give dakshina in return for learning wisdom is not appropriate. Graduation of the disciple makes the guru happy, and that is the real Guru Dakshina.”

Kautsa was not satisfied. He still felt it was his duty to give his guru something. The guru said, “All right, if you insist on giving me dakshina, then give me 140 million gold coins, 10 million for each of the 14 sciences I have taught you.”

Kautsa went to King Raghu. Raghuraja was an ancestor of Lord Rama, famous for his generosity. But just at that time he had spent all his money on the Brahmins, after performing the Vishvajit sacrifice. Raghuraja asked Kautsa to return in three days. Raghuraja immediately left to get the gold coins from Indra,the king of the Gods. Indra summoned Kuber, the god of wealth. Indra told Kuber, “Make rain of gold coins, fall on the Shanu and Aapati trees around Raghuraja’s city of Ayodhya.” Read more of this post