A version of this story appeared in Amar Chitra Katha as “The celestial necklace” by Toni Patel. It is said to have been an adaptation of a Jain story, written in Hindi by Muni Mahendrakumar
Once there lived a pious and charitable king. Pleased with his devotion, a Demi God blessed him with a celestial necklace of colored gemstones. However, the Demi-God warned the king that if ever the necklace were to be repaired, the person who did it would die. Having instructed the king to handle the necklace with care, the Demi God disappeared.
The king gave the necklace to his queen, who wore it with pride and joy. It became a part of her being and her persona. One morning, as the queen was about to wear the necklace, it broke. She ran to her husband crying and asked him to get it repaired. However, the kind remained silent as he recollected the warning. As a ruler, he could not knowingly put one of his subjects at risk. But at the same time, he did not like that his wife thought of him as incompetent – that he could not even get a necklace repaired.
Helpless, he turned to his minister for ideas. The minister suggested issuing a proclamation offering a reward of one lakh gold coins for the mortal task. No goldsmith in the kingdom was willing to take the risk and for a very long time, no one came forward to do the work. Then a poor old goldsmith decided to take the king’s offer thinking his sons could benefit from the reward after his death. Pleased, the king gave him an advance and the goldsmith started working.
The Repair of the celestial necklace
The goldsmith took creative measures to remain alive during the repair of the celestial necklace. He dipped the end of the beading cord in honey and had ants carry the beads and stone studded components. In this manner, the ants strung the various strands of the necklace. However, only the goldsmith could complete the repair by attaching the clasp. Unfortuntaly, the moment he attached the clasp, he fell dead.
After mourning the loss of their father, the two sons of the goldsmith took the necklace back to the king. He took the necklace but refused to pay the money and sent them saying that his contract was only with the dead goldsmith.
A monkey interferes
Meanwhile, the goldsmith took rebirth as a monkey and understood what had transpired. He wanted to teach the king a lesson for he had a broken a promise. One day while the queen removed her ornaments to take a bath, the monkey swooped down from a tree and stole the celestial necklace. This theft caused a whirlwind in the kingdom. Houses were being searched and thieves were rounded up and questioned. The minister set out to seek and retrieve the necklace.
The monkey had to find the perfect place to hide the necklace. He saw an ascetic meditating in his hermitage and felt that the necklace would be safe with him. So thinking, the monkey placed the necklace on the ascetic’s neck. Later that night, when the disciples were practicing austerities with the king’s minister they announced their fear of the material world. The minister did not fully comprehend what they were talking about.
Next morning, as the minister who was staying at the hermitage prepared to leave, he noticed the queen’s necklace on the ascetic’s neck. He understood why the disciples were scared the previous night. Their fear was caused by this new found wealth and in their opinion wealth is the cause of all evil.
The minister took the necklace back to the king and explained how it’s theft was connected to some injustice. They recalled the episode of the goldsmith who repaired the celestial necklace. Owing to the curse, the goldsmith must have died instantly and his sons were denied full payment. The king sent for sons of the goldsmith at once and rewarded them for their father’s sacrifice.
The monkey who was watching from afar was at peace now that the sons were cared for. He left the land knowing that the promise that had been broken had now been repaired.
References
Patel, Toni, and Muni Mahendrakumar. 1980. The Celestial Necklace: How A Promise Must Be Kept. Mumbai: Amar Chitra Katha. https://archive.org/details/65264499thecelestialnecklaceamarchitrakatha_316_u/page/n1/mode/2up.
Note
All stories have been collected from various sources, including oral histories and temple histories and compiled to form one narrative. Hence, there may be differences from the master narrative. The project hopes only to be a curator of stories and not an expert on history, religion and iconography.