wedding ring found in fish in Australia ~ Abhijnanashakuntalam repeats !!

Abhijnanashakuntalam [Shakuntala]  is a Sanskrit play by the ancient Indian poet Kālidāsa, dramatizing the story of Śakuntalā told in the epic Mahābhārata and regarded as best of Kālidāsa's works.  Dushyantha Maharaja was a Great King.  He was the husband of Shakunthala and father of Emperor Bharatha, after whom the Nation was named Bharat.  There are references to them in Mahabaratha and in the Shakunthalam.    The great King Dushyanthan was ruling a vast empire from Gandharam [present day Afghanistan] down to Vindhyas; from Sindhu to Vanga.  The story of Dushyanta's encounter, marriage, separation and reunion with his consort, Shakuntala, has been immortalized in the epic. 

Shakunthala was the daughter of Sage Vishwamitra and Menaka.  Dushyantha in one of his hunting expeditions, sees Shakunthala and falls in love.  They have gandharva marriage.  He gives her a royal ring as an insignia during his departure and promises that he will come back to her.  Back in the Kingdom, he gets absorbed in running the affairs of State and delays his return much to the despondence an despair of Shakunthala.  In a quirk of fate, Shakunthala is cursed by Sage Durvasa, as she does not attend to him properly.  After waiting for years, Shakunthala sets off to the capital Hasthinapuram to remind the King Dushyanthan of their past love and marriage.  She loses the ring given by the King and has no proof with her now.  Due to the curse, the King is unable to recollect and remember her.  The ring falls in to a pond and is consumed by a fish.  That fish is captured by a fisherman; his wife finds the ring inside the fish and then takes  it to the Royal Palace – upon seeing the ring,  the King Dushyantha recollects his love, realizes his folly, takes Shakunthala into the Palace and they lived happily thereafter………………

There would be some disbelievers as it is a  Mythological legend, unrecorded and hence for some, may not have occurred !! but the same people would accept all that is recorded in media and circling again and again in social media !  A snorkeller has managed to find a groom's missing $1,000 wedding ring after spotting the piece of jewellery around the neck of a fish, reports MailOnline in an interesting article.

Suzie Quintal and her husband Nathan Reeves, who live in the Gold Coast, were visiting Norfolk Island around 1,600km north-east of Sydney to see family over the Christmas period. But as Ms Reeves went for a swim in Emily Bay he suddenly noticed his ring had fallen off. All hope was lost until this week local snorkeller Susan Prior spotted the missing ring lodged around the body of a mullet fish. 

Norfolk Island local Susan Prior spotted a mullet fish with a missing groom's wedding ring  stuck around its body this week.  She said she'd heard that a couple had lost their wedding band earlier this year and miraculously was able to track them down on a community Facebook page. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Prior said the sight of the fish trapped in the ring was 'gut-wrenching'.

She said she'd seen other fish caught in plastic rings but to see one weighed down by metal was truly worrying. 'The metal can only be removed by catching the fish in a net and gently removing it,' the diver said. 'The fish seems to be OK so far but as it grows, the ring will cut into it.'  Ms Quintal said her husband searched high and low for the missing jewellery but all to no avail. 'He tried to look for it and then broke the news to me and I was not happy,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I always tell him to take it off before he goes for a swim. He lost it a day before our second wedding anniversary.' She said after having no luck finding the ring themselves, locals on the island immediately banded together to offer their help - some with metal detectors. She said she just 'spun out' after hearing Ms Prior had found the ring five months later. 

The snorkeler, Ms Prior said she managed to track down the couple who owned the wedding ring, with locals on the island now working to catch the fish.  'People are now trying to source nets, some have got scuba gear. The team in the glass bottom boats are going to have a look - Norfolk's really good like that.'  The woman who lost added : 'I just couldn't believe it. I've got a few friends on the island and they're pretty adamant that they'll find it. 'It doesn't worry my husband, he doesn't understand all the fuss. I'm just worried about the poor little fish.'    

Ms Quintal and her husband have been unable to return to Norfolk Island and are now anxiously waiting to hear if their ring has been retrieved.

The saga of Shakunthala repeats ! down under.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
16^th May 2021.