‘Watchman of the Lake’ by R.K. Narayan enacts the legendary story of the martyrdom of Mara, an innocent villager of Sakkarepatna situated in the eastern base of Baba Sudan Hills, in Karnataka. It was once the capital of a king called Rukmangada.

One night Mara saw in his dream, the Goddess of the River Veda which flows down the hills throughout the year. The Goddess told Mara to meet the king and ask him to build a tank and to give her a home. Though no one believed Mara’s story and made fun of him, Mara managed to meet the king one day and narrate his story. The king, unlike the others, believed Mara’s account and eventually got a tank built and stored the waters of the river Veda. The king made Mara the watchman of the lake and saw to it that the water of the lake was properly utilized for agricultural and other useful purposes.

Many years later, one evening Mara noticed that there was going to be a thunderstorm and owing to strong winds, there were waves in the tank rising very high and hammering at the bank. Mara at once realized that it was a dangerous situation and the waters of the lake might overflow the banks and destroy his village. He feared for the lives of the people and their property in the village. Mara, at once, went down on his knees and prayed earnestly to the Goddess of the river. The Goddess appeared before him carrying a sword in her hand and her forehead was splashed with vermilion. She told Mara to move out of his hut at once and save himself. She told him that she was going to break out of the tank and flow over the villages and the towns and the king’s capital beyond it.

Mara immediately prostrated before her and begged her to give him enough time to go and inform the king about it. He requested her to wait and not do anything until he returned.

Later Mara met the king, narrated the whole story and also gave him a suggestion as to how he could save the tank and his people. He requested the king to get him executed so that he would never return to his place and the Goddess would continue to wait for Mara.

Though the king was not ready to accept Mara’s suggestion, Mara persuaded the king to get him executed so that the tank and the people of his kingdom could be saved. The king agreed and as per his wish, got Mara executed. Next, he got a shrine built for Mara in which the top pedestal had the idol of the Guardian Goddess of the village and just below it was the idol of Mara. The king ordered that the villagers should worship those idols every Tuesday and Friday to commemorate the martyrdom of Mara.