Story of King Suratha and Medha Muni

A long time ago, there was a king named Suratha who governed his subjects like his sons. There was a time when the king became hostile to the Kshatriyas, known as Kola Vidhwansis. Despite having a large army in the war, he lost the battle to Kola Vidhwansis and only got to become the king of his capital. After that, in his kingdom, his evil ministers joined hands with the enemy and seized the capital from King Suratha. This made him very unhappy,so he left his wife and sons in the city and went into the dense forest on a horse on the pretext of hunting. After that, he went into the forest and stopped at Medha Muni’s ashram,where the sage welcomed him respectfully and also gave him a hut for his stay. There lived a Vaishya named Samadhi,who was from a very rich family, he had great faith and devotion to religion. He was always helpful towards unhappy people and helped such people to remove their sorrows. It was Samadhi’s nature to always speak the truth, but his wife and his son were greedy by nature. Due to the greed of money, they throw Samadhi out of his house. For this reason, Samadhi left his home and went into the dense forest. Afterward she stayed at the same ashram of Medha Rishi, where King Suratha was also residing and thinking of getting his kingdom back. During their stay, Samadhi always used to stay worried about his son and wife, thinking about whether they must be enjoying themselves or not, how they are living and so many other things. While staying at the ashram of Medha Rishi, one day, King Suratha was sitting below the tree, he was tensed and worried about how his kingdom must be, how the ministers of his kingdom are using his hard-earned money. Maybe they are wasting his money on useless works, the money that he used to donate to people might be going into liquor and gambling games, because those men showed no faith in the religion. That time, Samadhi also came to meet King Suratha, then King Suratha asked Samadhi to introduce himself and asked the reason for his stay at the ashram. Then Samadhi introduced himself and told King Suratha that his wife and his sons had thrown him out of the house, and yet his mind worried about them. He keeps thinking about whether they are happy or not, and that his heart is not tough towards his sons and wife, he also stated that he knows that there is a flaw in their qualities but Samadhi is worried about his sons and wife. Because of this, he is very distracted and not at all relaxed.
Seeing such concern of Samadhi towards his family, King Suratha says that it is a great surprise to see that he has such affection towards the people who have thrown him out of the house because of greed. King Suratha says that he is also in the same situation and he keeps thinking about his family and his kingdom. Then the very next day, King Suratha and Samadhi went to Sage Medha and asked him the reason for their sorrow. Then the sage tells them that all the human beings in the world are fascinated by the powers of Mahamaya Bhagwati. Due to her desire, all the living beings stay in fascination and narrate the story of Devi Adishaktis' deeds and various demons killed by their hands. After hearing the tales of Goddess Durga, King Suratha and Samadhi awaken their devotion towards the Goddess Durga, and they both go to the forest and start worshipping Goddess Bhagwati after getting permission from the Medha Rishi. Thus, for three years they continuously worshipped Bhagwati Mahamaya with faith and devotion. Due to this, the Goddess appears in front of them and grants them the wish of getting their kingdoms back and says King you will rule with this body for ten thousand years, after that, you will become a son of the sun and will be named by Manu named Savarni and she granted the wish of salvation to Samadhi as per his will.
When the king was going back to his city after getting a boon from the Goddess Bhagwati, with permission from the sage, his ministers who had previously betrayed him, fell at his feet saying that his enemies were killed in the war, and he shall forgive them. Thus King Suratha gets his kingdom back by the grace of the Goddess.
Vaishya Samadhi too leaves his family and goes for the pilgrimage. During the pilgrimages, he would tell the story of the Goddess to the people.

Lesson from the story:

Suratha was a legendary ruler of the ancient kingdom of Kalinga. He was also a person of Hindu lore. He was the devotee of Devi Durga. According to the Markandeya Purana, he preached and followed the Devi Mahatmya (Sri Sri Chandi) in Marthya (earth) among the dweller of earth, and also he was the first organizer of Durga puja ritual in Prachya-Ganga and later the ritual of Durga Puja festival became popular in many parts of India. The story of King Suratha and Medha Muni was primarily found in the Markandeya Purana. It revolves around the dethroned king Suratha, who sought solace in the forest and encountered the sage Medha Muni, who guided him towards spiritual enlightenment by explaining the divine powers of Goddess Durga, which ultimately leads King Suratha to perform a special ritual to overcome the materialistic worldly attachments and find the peace. This story is often depicted as the origin of the practice of performing Durga Puja during the Basant Panchami (spring season). Thus story teaches us that with true devotion and dedication comes great boons in life. So worldly pleasures should be avoided as much as possible.