One In a Million

Maha Shiva-Rathri is a very sacred day for the Hindus. On the morning of that day, they go to the seashore in hundreds of thousands and take a holy bath.

On one such occasion, a certain Brahman went to bathe in the It was very early in the morning, and the beach was not crowded. But soon, people would be coming in large crowds. The Brahman had a copper vessel, and he feared someone would take it if he left it on the sand. So he thought of a way to conceal the vessel until he finished his bath. He put the boat on the ground and covered it with a small mound of sand which looked like a Shiva Linga.

But, having finished his bath, he came back and found to his horror, thousands and thousands of similar mounds all over the beach. The innumerable bathers who arrived after the Brahman saw the mound thought it was a Linga of sand prescribed by the ritual and made similar Lingas before they went in to bathe.

In fine, the Brahman lost his vessel as if it was stolen.