THE EXCHANGED

HEADS
When Vikram put Betaal back on his
shoulders, he again started one of his
stories: Once upon a tim,e there lived
a washer man named Devashish.
One day, he was washing clothes on
the bank of a river when he saw a
very beautiful lady, and he instantly
fell in love with her. He enquired
about her and found out that she was
the daughter of a Brahmin who lived
in a nearby village and her name was
Madhusundari.
Devashish went to meet
Madhusundaris parents and asked
them for her hand. They readily

agreed and soon Devashish was

married to Madhusundari.
A few months went by happily. On the
occasion of Dussehra,
Madhusundaris brother came to
invite his sister and brother-in-law to
their place. Devashish agreed and
the three of them started their journey
to Madhusundaris home. On the way
they happened to pass by the temple
of Durga Devi. Her brother wanted to
pray to the Goddess, and went to the
temple. But as soon as he came near
the idol of the Goddess, he was
overwhelmed with emotions, and he
decided to cut off his head and offer it
to the goddess.

When the young man did not come

back for a long time, Madhusundari
sent her husband to see what the
matter was. On seeing the dead body
of his brother-in-law, Madhusundaris
husband also decided to offer his
own head to the goddess and
severed his head with a knife.
After some time, Madhusundari
herself went inside the temple to see
what was wrong. She was
devastated to see both her brother
and husband lying on the ground.
She decided to take her own life and
begged the goddess to give her the
same brother and husband in the
next life. The Goddess was pleased
and stopped her from killing herself.
She asked her to join their heads and

bodies so that she could grant them

life.
Out of excitement, she attached her
husbands head to her brothers body
and her brothers head to her
husbands body. When she realized
her mistake she looked at the
Goddess for help but the Goddess
said that it was not possible to
exchange the heads.
Betaal then stopped Vikram and
asked him, Who among the two is
the husband of Madhusundari?
Vikram replied with a lot of thought,
The head is the most important part
of the human body, so
Madhusundaris husband should be
the body that carries her husbands

head. As soon as Vikram had

finished his answer, Betaal
disappeared back to the tree.