Parvati 'Sandalwood Maiden' of Vietnam

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The sandalwood maiden

Adapted by George F. Schultz

Note: The "sandalwood maiden" of this legend is the goddess Po Ino

Nagar(or simply Po Nagar), the Cham counterpart of the Hindu goddess

Uma (or Parvati), Siva's sak-ti. Po Nagar is said to have created the

Earth, rice and sandalwood.

 

In the forest near Nha Trang there once lived a poor couple who

managed to keep body and soul together by gathering firewood and

selling it in the village. Although the couple often sacrificed to the

gods and constantly prayed for their favors, they had remained

childless. But one evening, as he was returning home, the woodcutter

came upon a small girl who had been abandoned in the forest. He took

her into his arms and carried her home to his wife.

 

The good woman was overjoyed to have a child to love and cherish at

last. In spite of their abject poverty, the couple gave the little

girl every care and attention. They saw to it that she wanted for

nothing and let her have her own way in everything. Sometimes it

seemed to them that their daughter had very strange wishes.

 

As the years passed by, the little girl turned into a beautiful young

maiden. One day, she brought home a piece of sandalwood from which a

very special aroma seemed to come forth; it was much more fragrant

than any other variety of sandalwood. The maiden took very good care

of her new possession and no one else was permitted to touch it.

 

Since their daughter was very well-behaved, the parents did not deny

her this strange pleasure. A day came, however, when she informed them

that she had been commanded to go to the Court of the Emperor of

China, where she would marry his son, The woodcutter and his wife

forbade their daughter to undertake this journey. But she continued to

offer new proofs of Heaven's Will and pleaded incessantly for their

permission.

 

Finally, wearied by the young woman's pleas, the parents offered no

more opposition to her plans and with heavy hearts agreed to let her

depart. The maiden said farewell and went immediately to the seacoast,

where she threw her piece of sandalwood into the water. Borne

northwards by the current, it reached the shores of China. As for the

maiden, she vanished without a trace.

 

Shortly thereafter, on the China coast, a fisherman found a wonderful

piece of sandalwood in his net. He realized that it must be of great

value and at once took it to the Imperial Palace.

 

When the Emperor's son gazed on the piece of sandalwood, he was seized

with an overwhelming desire to own the costly object. He begged his

father so insistently that the latter finally let him have it. The

crown prince then wrapped the sandalwood in a silken cloth and kept it

near him in the palace.

 

During the night the silken cloth was seen to move. The crown prince

looked at it wonderingly and then remove it. From beneath the cloth

appeared a beautiful maiden. The prince's heart was filled with such

love for her that he went at once to his father and begged permission

to marry her. The Emperor gave his consent and the wedding of the

woodcutter's daughter and the son of the Emperor of China was

celebrated with all the customary pomp.

 

The young couple were very happy in their first weeks of wedded life.

Then, one day, the young wife told her husband that she had promised

to visit her foster parents and requested his permission to make the

journey to her old home.

 

The prince did not want his beautiful wife to be away from his side

for a single day, however, and refused to grant her permission to

leave. Prayers and tears availed her nothing. The young woman then

went to the seashore with her piece of sandalwood and hurled it into

the water. Before her husband's very eyes, she immediately vanished

into thin air.

 

A few days later, the woodcutter found a piece of sandalwood on the

beach of Nha Trang. It was a sad remembrance of his lost daughter. But

when he returned home and found that she herself was present there,

joy reigned again in the little household.

 

The crown prince was furious at his wife's disappearance. He equipped

a fleet and sailed south with it in order to search for her.

Unfortunately for the prince, his mistrust had angered Ngoc Hoang, the

Emperor of Jade, who rules Heaven and Earth. As soon as the prince's

ship entered the harbor of Nha Trang, it was changed into a rock.

 

The sandalwood maiden remained in Nha Trang and did many good deeds in

helping the sick and the poor. When she died, a temple was erected in

her honor and all the people of the city, both Cham and Vietnamese,

venerate her as their patroness.

 

Note: The "sandalwood maiden" of this legend is the goddess Po Ino

Nagar(or simply Po Nagar), the Cham counterpart of the Hindu goddess

Uma (or Parvati), Siva's sak-ti. Po Nagar is said to have created the

Earth, rice and sandalwood.

 

The mention of Ngoc Hoang, the Jade Emperor, supreme divinity of

Taoism, would make it appear that the version given here is of Taoist

inspiration.

http://www.vietspring.org/legend/sandalwood.html