Sheila, a seventeen-year-old girl with a charming, innocent face and placid, almond-shaped brown eyes, was sitting cross-legged on the living room floor of a large brick home in Pidi Village, located in the northwest of India. Five days ago, on March 5, 1842, she arrived in this house after marrying Nathu, the only son of the village chief. The henna paintings on her hands and feet, done during the marriage ceremony, were still glistening. She stifled her sobs, but the tears managed to channel down her red cheeks. As she dabbed her eyes with the end of her sari, the gold bangles on her arms made jarring sounds.

There was no furniture in the room except for a jute-string cot. An injured young man, showing sporadic breathing, was lying on this cot. He was her husband, Nathu. A large earthen lamp was shooting dark tendrils near the head of the cot, creating ghastly figures on the walls. Another earthen lamp rested on the sill of the window. The village Hakim (medicine man) had wrapped Nathu's broken head with Brahmin cow dung plaster, in which he had mixed his medicine.

Sheila's heart had sunk to the bottom of a deep ocean. The awful smell of cow dung, the odor of the burning mustard oil in the lamps, and the irritating smoke of smoldering red peppers in the Hakim's stove were choking her.

The Hakim circled the bed while chanting mantras and throwing peppers on the burning charcoal in his hand-held stove.

"I've scared the devils with the burning peppers and my chants, but god Brahma is not showing any mercy," he stuttered.

He checked the pulse, slapped his forehead, and said, "Poor Nathu has left us."

To ceremonially announce the death, the chief snuffed the wick of the earthen lamp. Then, the chief and Hakim lifted the corpse from the cot and laid it on the ground. The cot was taken out of the living room, and a marble statue of god Vishnu was placed near the head of the corpse. This implied that Nathu was now in this god's custody.

The Hakim dabbed his misty eyes, offered his commiserations, and left with his implements.

Sheila buried her head in her hands but failed to kill her scream. She had become a widow while in her teens and was facing a miserable life. She glanced at her in-laws: Her father-in-law, a tall, bald man in his late sixties, was whimpering under the tent of his hands, and her mother-in-law, a hunch-backed lady with white braided hair, untied her hair and started beating her chest. Sheila knew a wife is always blamed for her husband's untimely death and was preparing herself for the hard times of torture, humiliation, and insults. The berserk mother-in-law rushed to wipe the red spot, the symbol of marriage, from Sheila's forehead, and yelled, "You're an evil omen; your marriage brought death to my son." Then she spat on Sheila's face and shrieked, "You're a husband killer."

Sheila wiped the spit and the tears with the end of her sari, choked a sob, and said, "Mom, I loved him and would have given my life to save him. We are helpless; everything is written in our karma. I beg you to give me ten minutes to be alone with my husband."

"Go ahead, you have already done your deed. We'll arrange the wood for the pyre and then go to the temple and bring the priest to prepare Nathu for the cremation," the old lady snarled.

The old couple shuffled back to the kitchen and then left. Sheila bolted the door, clung to her husband's cold body, and cried, "Nathu, why have you left me? You promised me seven sons."

There was no response from the corpse.

She heard thumping footsteps and the swish of robes. The wick of the lamp, resting on the windowsill, fluttered, and she felt a cold draft. She was terrified. She didn't see any person entering the room, and she thought the Yammas (the carriers of the dead) had arrived. She prostrated herself before god Vishnu's statue, rubbed her nose on the floor, and begged, "God Vishnu, please stop the Yammas from taking away my husband."

She had full faith in the omnipotent god Vishnu who is the preserver of the universe, and she worshipped twice daily at his temple. Suddenly, the room was flooded with light, and she saw god Vishnu standing before her. The god placed his hand on her head and said, "Child, I can't stop that, but I'll provide you with wings which can make you fly faster than the Yammas."

"Thanks, but I can't see the Yammas; how can I reach them?"

God Vishnu touched her eyes and said, "Now you will be able to see things which human eyes can't perceive. Get up and put up a fight. My blessings are with you."

A great surge of adrenalin began pumping through her body. She stretched her arms to touch the god's feet, but he had vanished. Then she felt her arms and found huge wings had sprouted along them. She slightly flapped the wings, and her head hit the ceiling. When she looked out of the window, she was surprised to see many miles beyond the horizon. After saying a prayer of thanks, she flew out of the window toward heaven in search of the carriers of her husband's spirit.

In five minutes, she discovered the shadowy figures flying to heaven. She winged faster. As she came close to them, she noticed four dark figures, with hooded black robes, transporting a stretcher on which her husband's spirit was strapped. These were Yammas who carried flashing spears in their one hand, while firmly gripping the stretcher with the other hand.

She stood with her extended wings and folded hands before the Yammas. Without saying a word, the Yamma nearest to her pierced her with his spear. She felt sharp pain as the blood shot out from her arm. She stopped the bleeding by bandaging it with a strip which she tore from her sari. Now she realized that there was no use in her begging these cruel and heartless Yammas, and she must approach god Brahma, the creator.

She prayed to god Vishnu who appeared and showed her the location of god Brahma's palace.

In a few seconds, she entered the heavenly gates of god Brahma's court. She was dazzled by the glaring lights from the moon crescents in the god's black hair. She protected her eyes with her hands, and before the guards could spear her, she shot to the throne and grabbed the god's feet.