The Hunger that Moved a Goddess

Telugu:Endapalli Bharathi

Our Jayakka is a good woman. She handles all kinds of household and outdoor tasks efficiently but cannot bear hunger. Something must fill her stomach at mealtime every day. While living with her parents, she managed to eat on time with whatever was available at home. Her troubles started after marriage, when she moved in with her husband and his parents. 

Jayakka’s husband is a dutiful son, but his mother never gave her daugher-in-law enough food. So, she relied on occasional offerings from kind neighbours. When the mother-in-law discovered this, she accused the neighbours of corrupting Jayakka’s mind and ruining her family ties, stopping their help. Thus, Jayakka could neither get sufficient food at home nor accept what the neighbours offered.

One day, she visited her parents, and her father shopped in town to celebrate. Her mother prepared oliga—a sweet flatbread of wheat flour, cooked lentils, and jaggery—and a meat chop soup. Starving, Jayakka devoured her meal like someone surviving a drought, not having eaten for days. My avva watched and said, “Jayamma, seeing you eat like this reminds me of a story. Let me tell you.” And so, the tale began.

“Once, in a village, there lived a mother-in-law like yours and a daughter-in-law like you. The mother-in-law never fed her properly. Desperate, the young woman faced the Sankranti festival, when dosas and hyacinth bean curry were made at home. Fearing she’d get none, she hid the food in a water pot and ate it inside the Gangamma temple at the village entrance. The goddess’ idol, witnessing this, placed a finger on her lips in astonishment.

Soon, passersby noticed the idol’s new pose, and word spread. Villagers wondered if it was a bad omen. The headman announced, ‘Whoever makes the goddess remove her finger will receive one-fourth of an acre from the temple’s land.’ The woman’s husband heard this, came home troubled, and told her, fearing misfortune. ‘Oh, is that all? Tell them your wife can fix it—just give me some betel leaves,’ she replied confidently. 

The next day, after chores, she went to the temple with a basket of fruits, camphor, and flowers. A crowd from nearby villages gathered. She requested a white cloth to cover the entrance, shielding the goddess from view. Secretly, she hid a broom under her saree frills. Outside, people whispered, puzzled. 

Inside the sanctum, she confronted the idol, brandishing the broom. ‘I ate food from my home, earned by my husband and me. Did I take anything of yours? Why put your finger on your lips? Remove it, or I’ll hit you!’ Frightened, the goddess complied instantly. The woman stepped out calmly.

When the villagers entered, they saw the goddess in her original pose. The headman praised her piety and awarded her the land. Her husband carried her home triumphantly on his shoulders amid drum beats. Even her mother-in-law, awed by her power over Gangamma, stopped harassing her. You must do something like this to change your mother-in-law, Jayamma,” my avva concluded. 

“My mother-in-law won’t fall for tricks, avva. She’d scare even Goddess Gangamma,” Jayamma lamented, chewing her oliga.

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