THE CURSE OF BRAHMA Page 17

  Chanur and Banasura couldn’t believe what they had heard. Their border security was thoroughly professional, very unlike the patrols within the kingdom. It was almost impossible for anyone to breach the security checks there. Yet, Jarasandha had somehow managed to smuggle in a large number of asuras into their respective countries without them being any the wiser.

  Jarasandha knew what they were thinking. He decided it would help to explain. ‘The numbers in your lands are actually very low. I smuggled only a few of the asuras into your kingdoms as a test. I knew if I could smuggle them into your land, I wouldn’t have too much of a problem getting them into other nations in Mrityulok.’

  ‘The other kingdoms…they have a larger penetration of asuras?’ Chanur asked hesitatingly.

  Jarasandha nodded, ‘Yes, most of the other kingdoms would each have an average of a couple of thousand asuras inhabiting their lands currently.’

  Banasura took in a sharp breath, ‘What are these asuras going to do within these kingdoms?’

  ‘Right now, nothing!’ Jarasandha replied evenly. ‘However, at my command, they will start wreaking havoc within each kingdom. Each of these asuras is a trained assassin, accomplished at killing. At first it will be minor offences—robberies, looting and other forms of vandalism. Gradually, the tempo will step up as they begin to commit murders of innocent people and start harassing the citizens. In some cases, they may dress up as soldiers of a neighbouring country and attack the towns of bordering nations. At other times, they may commit offences in the name of the king himself. Whatever they do, the end result will be confusion within these kingdoms, and in some cases, misguided wars between neighbouring countries.’

  ‘And all of this will keep these kingdoms busy with either internal strife or in fighting with their neighbours,’ Banasura finally nodded in understanding.

  ‘Yes, and it gives us enough time for what we have to do.’ Jarasandha smiled. ‘What are the next steps?’ Chanur questioned.

  ‘We have to get a final lot of ten thousand asuras into Mrityulok, and this needs to happen over the next two months,’ Jarasandha said quietly.

  Chanur nodded as he began to understand the dilemma Jarasandha must be facing. ‘You cannot smuggle in so many asuras from Magadha alone in such a short time, right?’

  Jarasandha nodded. His respect for Chanur went up a notch higher as he realized Chanur had figured out his problem without his even mentioning it.

  Chanur was thoughtful, ‘So you would like to smuggle in some asuras through my land and through the country of Banpur too!’ It was more of a statement than a question but Jarasandha nodded in acquiescence.

  ‘But even if Banasura and I allow the asuras to enter through, we will still not be able to smuggle in such large numbers without making it an open secret. Therefore, you need to have the immediate support of a few more kingdoms that can help smuggle in the asuras. Am I correct, Jarasandha?’

  Jarasandha smiled, ‘You have got it my friend. We will need at least five to six kingdoms helping us in this effort, which will be difficult if not impossible to manage in such a short time.’ He paused for effect. ‘Or we can smuggle in a majority of these numbers from one country alone!’

  ‘Madhuvan!’ exclaimed Chanur as he finally understood what was in Jarasandha’s mind.

  Jarasandha slapped his thigh with enthusiasm. Chanur had understood the plan to perfection. ‘Yes, it has to be Madhuvan!’ he said excitedly. That is the only kingdom in Mrityulok whose borders spread out the most. There is no other kingdom through which we can get in such large numbers without raising suspicion.’

  Banasura snorted, ‘But Ugrasena will never allow the entry of asuras through his land!’

  Jarasandha smiled and this time, his smile was full of meaning. ‘You are right, he won’t. But Kansa will!’

  This time both Chanur and Banasura were so shocked that the only response they could offer was blinking their eyes in utter confusion.

  ‘Kansa?’ Banasura said in disbelief.

  ‘Kansa would never get involved in this, Jarasandha,’ Chanur said quietly, recovering quickly from the shock. ‘Especially not after a bunch of asuras almost killed his sister!’

  Jarasandha took a deep breath before replying. He still wasn’t sure if he should be involving Kansa, but the stakes were too high now to be ambivalent. ‘That’s exactly why he will help,’ he said softly. ‘He has been told that the asuras being smuggled into Mrityulok are actually inhabitants of Pataal Lok who have been banished from the netherworld by the asura council because they were not willing to conform to the evil practices laid down by the council members.’

  ‘So he doesn’t know that these asuras are actually trained assassins who are going to create destruction in Mrityulok?’ Banasura was incredulous.

  Jarasandha nodded. ‘No, he doesn’t know that. At least not yet. When the time is right, I will tell him, but he is not ready yet for that truth.’

  Chanur still looked unconvinced. ‘Even if he believes that these asuras are unfortunate creatures who have been banished from their world because of no fault of their own, the fact still remains that three of these creatures tried to kill his beloved sister and almost killed him too. Knowing that, why would he support the entry of more asuras into Mrityulok?’

  Jarasandha sighed. For all his inherent evil, he still wasn’t comfortable with what he was doing to Kansa, and talking about it only made him feel worse. It was like admitting that he was willing to risk his best friend’s happiness for his own selfish reasons. But there was no choice. The Dark Lord had offered him too high a reward for helping him in his war against the devas.

  Jarasandha shook his head. He knew Chanur was waiting for an answer. ‘Ugrasena unwittingly helped us in this matter. The old fool seems to know a little about the asuras being smuggled into Mrityulok. But I don’t think he has any idea that they are actually trained assassins infiltrating our world with the purpose of causing death and chaos at a later date. He seems to believe the story that the asuras have been banished by their council members for not adhering to the practices set by the netherworld. He told Kansa that the Asuras who attacked Devki possibly did so because they panicked at their presence being exposed.’

  Chanur shook his head, slightly irritated. ‘I still don’t understand why Kansa would help smuggle these people in.’

  Jarasandha nodded patiently. ‘From what Ugrasena told Kansa, he believes that the attack would never have taken place if the asuras had not panicked that their presence being exposed might lead to their persecution by people in Mrityulok. He feels that if the asuras in Mrityulok can be assured that no harm will come to them, they will also not resort to attacking mortals. And it will prevent any occurrence like the one that happened with Devki.’

  Chanur felt a little better after hearing this. But something still bothered him. ‘How much does Ugrasena really know about the asuras? And how?’

  This was a question Jarasandha had been asking himself too, ever since he realized Ugrasena knew something about the asuras entering Mrityulok. But he kept his reservations to himself. ‘I don’t know how much he knows. Perhaps with time, we will get to figure it out. For the moment, lets focus on what we can do.’

  Banasura looked a little unconvinced. ‘What you said about Kansa sounds good. But will Ugrasena also be in favour of allowing so many asuras to come in through the borders of Madhuvan? I mean, if he believes that the asuras entering Mrityulok have been banished from Pataal Lok, wouldn’t he also realize that they can’t be so huge in number?’

  Chanur seemed to agree with Banasura. ‘That’s right. Once he sees a few thousand asuras entering through his land in a short period of time, he is bound to realize something is not right. He is not a fool you know!’

  Jarasandha grunted, ‘We don’t have to bother about Ugrasena. He won’t be king for long. If everything goes as per plan, he will be deposed from the throne soon.’

  Chanur gave a start. The thought that Ugrasena would no l
onger be king seemed incredulous to him, even in his current state. ‘Who…who will depose him?’ he asked haltingly.

  Jarasandha smiled, his eyes like two balls of fire, ‘Kansa!’ He paused for effect. ‘Kansa will depose the old king. I just need to work on his mind a little before that.’

  Chanur and Banasura tried to absorb what Jarasandha had just told them. Their troubled thoughts were interrupted by a noise like the screeching of a banshee that raised the hair on the nape of their neck. Jarasandha recognized the sound for what it was. The Dark Lord was laughing, but it sounded more like the howl of a wild animal caged for centuries and yearning to get out. For the first time that day, Jarasandha too shivered in fear and the expression on his face mirrored the feelings of the two warrior kings sitting next to him. He knew he couldn’t fail the Dark Lord.

  The Plot Begins to Unravel

  asudev sat under the gigantic banyan tree, which was the pride of the royal garden of Madhuvan. It was just under an hour that he had been waiting for Devki to appear. Most young men would have given up by now or would be fuming with anger at being kept waiting for so long by their lady love. But Vasudev was different. He had waited for several years to marry Devki and waiting an hour for her while she beautified herself didn’t bother him at all. He gazed in wonder at the mammoth roots of the tree. Like most tropical trees, the banyan was a ‘strangler’ tree. The seeds of banyans are dispersed by fruit-eating birds. They then germinate and send down roots towards the ground, which frequently envelop part of the host tree, giving the banyan the popular name of ‘strangler fig’. The ‘strangling’ growth habit is common in banyans as its several roots compete for light.

  The banyan is so much like the kshatriya race, mused Vasudev. A king lovingly brings up several Princes and then the heirs fight amongst themselves in order to survive and win the crown; at times not just destroying themselves but also the source of their existence. Vasudev sighed. He had seen numerous examples where aggressive and blindly ambitious princes had destroyed everything their forefathers had built. In some unfortunate cases, a son would wantonly kill his father in order to usurp the throne. Vasudev shuddered. Patricide was the most shameful act a person could commit, and yet so many warriors did it every now and then. He was glad there was no case of pitrhanta (patricide) in his family or in Devki’s clan. In fact, Kansa loved his father Ugrasena just as much as Vasudev loved his own father, Surasena.

  He shook his head to shake off the depressing thought of patricide from his mind. He glanced at the overhead sun to make out the hour of the day. Dusk would be at hand in another hour. Devki would possibly take that much more time to get ready. He smiled at the thought. He loved the fact that she was always excited about meeting him, enough to take the trouble of getting dressed for him; even though he loved her in her simplest attire, devoid of any make-up.

  Let me make something nice for her, he thought with the sudden enthusiasm of a child. The philosopher-warrior unhooked his scabbard and kept it gently, with the enclosed sword, on the ground. He didn’t want any encumbrance as he bent down to find what he was looking for.

  He searched for the freshest-looking leaves. The banyan tree leaves were large, leathery, glossy green and elliptical in shape. The leaf bud is normally covered by two large scales. However, as the leaf develops the scales fall off. The young leaves left behind have an attractive reddish tinge and are extremely soft to touch. Vasudev finally selected four large red leaves and clubbed them together to form a kind of funnel. He took out a small curved knife from his inner pocket and gently grazed it in a downward motion against the bark of the tree. A thin layer of the bark was stripped off and acted as a natural rope with which he tied the four leaves so that they would hold together like a bouquet. Then he searched for the best lilies in the garden and plucked out a dozen of the most beautiful white flowers. The stem of the lilies was dug into the surface of the banyan leaves, with just the flowers showing on top of the red leaves. In a moment, a beautiful bouquet of flowers mounted on the attractive banyan leaves was ready. Vasudev raised the gift he had prepared for Devki at eye level in order to admire his handiwork. She will love this one, he decided with relish, his teeth gleaming in a smug smile.

  ‘So, the foremost warrior of Bateshwar has turned into a gardener, I see!’ The voice was loud and full of mischief. Startled, Vasudev turned around and was mortified to see Devki accompanied with her attendants, laughing uncontrollably at the sight of him holding up the flowers. His face turned deep red, and he swore under his breath. Devki was quick to notice his discomfiture.

  Dismissing her attendants, she went up to him. ‘My warrior prince,’ she cooed lovingly. ‘I always knew no one could wield a sword like you. But you never told me you had this talent too.’ She smiled as she raised herself on her toes to kiss Vausdev on his lips. Vasudev was slightly taken aback. She had never displayed affection in public before this day, even though they had had their share of intimate moments in private. Vasudev returned Devki’s kiss tentatively at first. And then lost in the fervour of her emotions, he allowed his own restraint to relax too. They kissed passionately for what seemed to be a lifetime, but were in fact, just few moments. Finally, Devki pulled gently away from Vasudev’s tight embrace. ‘Easy, my love, easy!’ She smiled as she looked up into the eyes of the only man she had ever loved. ‘There will be time enough for this after we are married.’

  Vasudev sighed as he relaxed his hold on Devki. He loved her in a way that was difficult for anyone to comprehend. She was the one thing that made complete sense in his life. Marrying Rohini had been the most difficult decision for him, and he would not have been able to do it if Devki herself hadn’t coaxed him to do it for reasons that were beyond both their control. But while he had the highest regard for Rohini, his love was entirely reserved for his childhood beloved, Devki—the woman who made his life seem complete in every way.

  ‘I can’t wait to be married, my love,’ he said, his voice heavy with a strange amalgamation of desire and deep affection.

  Devki giggled. ‘I know you can’t. All you men are the same!’ Vasudev’s face fell, and he gave Devki a hurt look.

  ‘Oh, come on,’ Devki was instantly repentant. ‘I was only playing with you. I can’t wait to be married either. I have waited so long that it feels when the day comes, I won’t know how to react.’

  Vasudev impulsively took her in his arms, ‘Don’t worry. You will do fine. Just be yourself. I love you that way!’ He kissed her lightly on her forehead.

  There was a coughing sound behind them. ‘Can you two lovebirds leave each other at all?’ Mandki was grinning from ear to ear.

  Devki glared at her friend. She rarely got any time with Vasudev, and he had come to Madhuvan for the first time after their marriage date was fixed. And here was Mandki, interrupting even those few precious moments of her time with him.

  Vasudev, however, was chivalrous as always. He bowed slightly to Mandki and smiled at her. ‘How’s your soldier doing, Mandki? I heard he got hurt in that fight with the asuras.’

  Mandki struggled to hold back her emotions as she remembered holding Airawat while he lay unconscious, his left hand cut off by one of the demons he was fighting with. And then later, when he regained consciousness in the hospital. She had looked into his eyes and sensed the sadness there.

  Devki realized her normally stoic friend would break down any moment and she went up to Mandki and hugged her close. Vasudev looked kindly at her. ‘He is a tough man, that soldier of yours. Losing his arm is not going to keep him down. I believe King Ugrasena has retained him as his cavalry commander. That was a sensible decision. He is still the best man in the Madhuvan army.’

  ‘He…he said you spoke to him in the morning. Thank you. It was very kind of you,’ Mandki murmured.

  ‘You don’t need to thank me,’ Vasudev laughed. ‘I was trying to see if I could persuade him to join the Bateshwar army as our cavalry commander. But he is too loyal to Devki’s father to leave.’


  Devki and Mandki both laughed at this. The clouds of sadness were momentarily dispelled and Mandki seemed to relax somewhat. Then all of a sudden, she remembered why she had come there. ‘Prince, the king requests your presence in his personal chambers. He said it won’t take too much time but it is urgent.’

  Vasudev looked uncertainly at Devki. He didn’t want to disrespect Ugrasena’s request but neither did he want to put down Devki. He knew she had been looking forward to spending some private moments with him for a long time.

  Devki nodded her head, ‘Go,’ she said. ‘But come back soon. I will be waiting near the lake.’ She seductively fluttered her eyelashes at him, hinting at the possibility of some more play at the end of his meeting with her father. Vasudev grinned and strode off quickly towards the palace.

  ‘But this is incredulous!’ Vasudev exclaimed. What Ugrasena had just shared with him had astounded him beyond words. ‘Are you sure, tatatulya?’ he persisted, hoping he had perhaps misunderstood Ugrasena. The use of the term tatatulya (meaning ‘like a father’) was sub-conscious and it was the first time Vasudev had used it for Ugrasena.

  Ugrasena looked closely at his future son-in-law. He knew he had shocked Vasudev. The prince of Bateshwar looked every bit as alarmed as he himself had been when he first got to know about the truth behind the asuras entering Mrityulok.

  ‘I am sure!’ Ugrasena replied softly. ‘Narada himself told me about it.’

  At the mention of Narada, Vasudev’s face grew grim. He had been hoping Ugrasena’s source might have made a mistake. But knowing Narada, he would have verified everything before sharing his fears with Ugrasena.

  Vasudev was lost in thought. Then something struck him. ‘When did Narada tell you about this?’