There was a city named Dharmasthan on the banks of Yamuna. A king named Ganadeep used to rule in that city. A Brahmin named Keshav also lived in the same place. Brahmin used to chant and do penance on the banks of Yamuna. He had a daughter named Malati. She was very beautiful. When she became eligible for marriage, her mother, father and brother were worried. Coincidentally, one day when a Brahmin had gone to the procession of one of his hosts and his brother had gone to study, then a Brahmin’s boy came to his house. Seeing her beauty and qualities, the girl’s mother told her that I will marry her daughter to you. It is promising that on the other side the Brahmin father also got another boy and he gave the same promise to that boy as well. On the other side, where the Brahmin’s son had gone to study, he made the same promise to a boy there.
After some time, father and son gathered in the house and what did they see, there was a third boy present there. Two came with him. What is to be done now? The brahmin, his son and wife were immersed in deep thought. What happened by chance that the girl was bitten by a snake and she died. His father, brother and all the three boys ran around, called poisoners, but there was no result. Everyone went their own way.
Being sad, they took that girl to the crematorium and performed the rituals. One of the three boys picked his bones and went into the forest disguised as a fakir. The other tied a bundle of ashes and started living there by putting a hut. Being the third yogi, he started roaming around the country.
It was a matter of one day, that third boy reached a city while roaming around and sat down to eat at a Brahmin’s house. As soon as the Brahmin of that house came to serve food, her little boy caught hold of her lap. He did not leave his aanchal from Brahmin. The brahmin’s wife became very angry. She reprimanded her son, beat him, still he did not agree, then the Brahmin picked him up and threw him into the burning stove. The boy was burnt down to ashes. The brahmin got up without eating his food. The family members said a lot, but he did not agree to have food. He said, I cannot eat in a house where there is such a demon.
Hearing this, the man went inside and recited a mantra by bringing the book of Sanjivani Vidya. The boy who had been burnt to ashes became alive again.
Seeing this, the Brahmin started thinking that if this pothi falls in my hands, then I can also bring that girl back to life. Thereafter, he ate the food and stayed there. When everyone went to sleep at night after eating and drinking, that Brahmin silently left with the pothi. Going to the place where the girl was burnt, he saw other boys sitting there talking. On the Brahmin saying that he had got the pothi of Sanjivani Vidya and he could revive the girl by reciting mantras, both of them took out bones and ashes. As soon as the Brahmin recited the mantra, the girl woke up. Then all three started to fight because of that.
Having said this, Betal said, “King, tell me whose wife that girl should be?”
The king replied, “The one who built a hut there, his.”
Betal asked, “Why?”
The king said, “The one who kept the bones became equal to his son. The one who gave life after learning knowledge, became equal to the father. The one who was happy with the ashes, he deserves it.
After hearing this answer of the king, Betal again went and hanged on the tree. The king had to return again and when he took him away, Betal told the third story.
