THE CURSE OF BRAHMA Page 36

  Brahma ignored the question. He knew he couldn’t explain his greatest fears to Narada without mentioning Amartya Kalyanesu. The last thing he wanted right now was to talk about that. Like Shiva, Narada too would look down on him if he realized the current crisis in Mrityulok was a consequence of what he had done to Amartya two hundred years ago.

  ‘What news from Pataal Lok?’ he asked, changing the subject abruptly.

  Narada shook his head. ‘Devayam has disappeared. He was my source for most of the news from the netherworld.’ He paused. ‘I do know that Vrushaparva, the asura king, has given his consent to assemble a large army of every kind of asura. But no one seems to know whether it has been assembled yet or by when it would be done.’

  Brahma nodded. ‘That is some good news, at least. What is the latest on Kansa and Jarasandha?’

  Narada’s face darkened at the mention of Jarasandha’s name. ‘Jarasandha has shown himself to be worse than the worst asura. ‘He has conquered several kingdoms including Bateshwar and he seems to be the mastermind behind the asura assassins entering into Mrityulok. His generals and commanders managing the conquered kingdoms on his behalf have given free rein to these assassins who are committing every conceivable evil on the hapless mortals.’

  ‘What about Kansa?’ Brahma enquired.

  Narada shook his head in frustration. ‘Kansa does not seem to be getting any better. By some inexplicable turn of fate, he has gone from being one of the noblest men to becoming a raging madman. Unlike Jarasandha, he is not committing atrocities on his people directly. But neither is he doing anything to stop the carnage in his kingdom. It looks like he is supporting the entry of the assassins into Madhuvan and is also conniving with Jarasandha in the overall plan.’

  ‘It is his destiny. He has to bear the consequences of his actions,’ Brahma said softly.

  Narada snapped uncharacteristically. ‘Father, his destiny is affecting other people’s lives as hundreds of innocents die every week in his kingdom; victims of the assassins he has allowed into Madhuvan. We need to do something,’ he ended emphatically.

  Brahma got up abruptly. ‘I need to meet the Mahadev,’ he said, urgency evident in his voice. ‘You return to Mrityulok and try to get other countries to form their own task forces against the assassins.’

  Narada nodded and was preparing to leave, when Brahma called after him. ‘You have done well, my son! Take care of yourself while you are there.’

  Narada stared at his father. This was the first time Brahma had praised him for anything in his life.

  Mandki hovered around excitedly as Devki’s contractions began. The ardhadhara (surgeon) nodded to her assistant and indicated that the uterus had contracted sufficiently and the cervix was dilated enough for the baby to be pushed out. She asked Devki to push gently. Devki looked anxiously at her but the ardhadhara’s serene smile made her feel relaxed.

  Mandki watched in amazement as the baby came out. ‘It’s a beautiful boy,’ she whispered reverentially as she saw the surgeon’s assistant clean up the howling baby and wrap it in a fine muslin cloth.

  ‘Get ready for the next one,’ the ardhadhara smiled at Devki.

  ‘The next…next what?’ Mandki asked bewildered.

  The ardhadhara looked up calmly towards Mandki. ‘The next baby; she is having sextuplets.’

  ‘Sex…sex what?’ Mandki stammered.

  ‘Sextuplets! Six babies,’ the ardhadhara smiled at her. ‘Now don’t just stand there. There’s going to be a lot of cleaning up to do here.’

  Shiva nodded thoughtfully as Brahma related to him all that Narada had told him. He sat contemplatively, lost in his thoughts. After a while, he looked up, his mind seemingly made up. Brahma stared at the Mahadev and he realized that Shiva had put up a cosmic shield around them to ensure that no one would be able to eavesdrop into their consciousness through cosmic telepathy.

  Shiva quickly conveyed his instructions. Brahma stared uncomprehendingly as he tried to make sense of what Shiva had asked him to do.

  Shiva smiled at his former student, ‘Just make sure it is done. Narada needs to be back with it as soon as he can.’

  Brahma nodded, the urgency in Shiva’s voice leaving him in no doubt about the significance of what he had been asked to do.

  ‘Aum-Num-Ha-Shi-Vai,’ he said reverentially, as he took Shiva’s leave. He would have to tell Narada what the Mahadev wanted before Narada left for Mrityulok.

  Kansa was at the Shiva temple hill praying, when he heard about Devki’s childbirth. He had been a devotee of the Mahadev for several years, and praying to Shiva had always imbued him with a sense of peace. Of late, he had started visiting the temple regularly and he realized it made him feel better. The headaches had become less frequent and the lapses into his malevolent self had also reduced dramatically.

  The last two days he had been in an especially buoyant mood. His wife, Asti had told him yesterday that she was pregnant; Kansa had been thrilled at the news. Asti and he had been trying to have a child for a very long time and they had not been successful. His other wife Prapti had been diagnosed during the early days of their marriage with a condition that made it impossible for her to ever have a child of her own. Kansa had wondered if he would ever become a father. Now that Asti was finally pregnant, Kansa had started imagining how life would be with a child in the house. He was certain it would be a boy. He will get all the love that I didn’t receive, he resolved.

  As he stepped out of the temple, he looked around the hill top. This was the same place he had fought the pisaca and the other assassins who had tried to kill Devki. With a jolt, it hit Kansa that the same assassins he had battled to save his sister were now guarding her on his instructions. When did I change sides? he asked himself, as he walked to the point where he had fallen after the bonara had attacked him. The image of Devki standing over him, willing to risk her life to protect him from the pisaca came unbidden to his mind, and he doubled over in agony at the realization that he had been keeping his sister a prisoner all these months.

  I need to get her out of there. I will make everything fine between us again, he determined as he began to walk down the hill. And then the messenger came with the news of Devki’s childbirth. In his current state of mind, this was the best news he could have received. It was a great opportunity to make amends with Devki. I will take a gift with me, he thought. And then I will get Devki out of there.

  He ran down the hill in his excitement. After what seemed like an eternity, he was beginning to feel like his old self. He made a brief halt at his palace, and debated what he could take as a gift for Devki. He wished Asti and Prapti had been there, but both sisters had left for Magadha in the morning. As per tradition, the mother was supposed to spend the entire duration of her pregnancy at her maternal home. Though Asti and Prapti’s parents were no longer alive, Jarasandha had played the role of both, a father and mother to them. The sisters would spend the next few months at Magadha till Asti gave birth.

  Kansa excitedly looked around for something that he could take as a gift for Devki’s children. He wanted it to be something really different; something appropriate. And then it came to him. What could be a better gift than the traditional chaddar? The chaddar upacara was the age-old ceremony followed by Kansa’s ancestors. It involved a male member of the family putting a coverlet over a newborn, which symbolized the fact that the person doing so vowed to shield the baby from all calamities throughout his life.

  Kansa smiled in satisfaction. He would himself undertake the chaddar upacara for all of Devki’s six children. The symbolic gesture would tell her more than anything else he could do that he still loved her and was vowing to protect her children forever.

  He selected a gold-braided coverlet which was wide enough to cover the six babies. It was made of fine silk and would be fitting for the newborn princes.

  Mandki glared at Kansa as he came bounding up the stairs. She stood protectively at the doorsill, her arms folded across her chest. She would
not allow him to hurt her friend anymore. Kansa observed her aggressive stance and was slightly taken aback at the immense hostility emanating from her.

  ‘What do you want?’ Mandki demanded, her voice quivering with a mixture of fear and anger, at the man who had almost totally destroyed her friend’s life, and her own.

  Kansa looked at her, awed by the loyalty she displayed towards Devki. He could have simply brushed her aside, but he was determined to make things better between Devki and himself. Antagonizing and hurting her best friend would not help do that.

  Kansa smiled patiently at her. ‘I have come to put this over Devki’s children,’ he said gently, holding out the gold-braided coverlet for her to see.

  Mandki saw the blanket he carried. She was well aware of the significance of the chaddar upacara. Once Kansa performed the act of putting the coverlet over the newborns, he would be bound by the law of his ancestors to protect the children throughout his life. She hesitated, unsure what to do. This man had almost killed Vasudev and imprisoned his sister and father. And her Airawat…he had hurt him so much too. She stared at Kansa, trying to comprehend his motives. He looks so eager, and so…so sincere, she thought, her resolve wavering.

  ‘Let me come in Mandki. I have come to make everything alright between Devki and me,’ Kansa said quietly.

  Mandki looked closely at him. He seemed to be like his earlier self. His eyes…they no longer blaze with that insane green light, she noted with relief.

  Her resolve faltered further. ‘Devki is sleeping,’ she said hesitatingly. ‘She…uh…she was exhausted after the childbirth and the ardhadhara gave her a strong medicine to make her sleep.’

  Kansa grinned. ‘Not a day old yet, and they have already started exhausting their mother,’ he said lightly.

  Mandki looked at Kansa in amazement. He seemed to be the same prince everyone had loved.

  ‘Should I wake Devki?’ she asked, undecided.

  Kansa shook his head. ‘No. Let her sleep. She needs rest. I will come back later to meet her,’ he paused. ‘Can I at least put the coverlet on the babies?’

  Mandki considered the situation. She knew the chaddar upacara would bind Kansa to protect the children in the future. More importantly, it looked like he genuinely wanted to make things better with Devki.

  Mandki made up her mind. ‘Okay, you can perform the ceremony,’ she said slowly. ‘But for God’s sake don’t let the babies wake up. I have spent the last three horas just trying to put them to sleep,’ she said in mock horror.

  Kansa laughed genially as he followed Mandki to the room where the babies were sleeping.

  Kansa gazed upon the babies, sleeping peacefully in their cot. They looked beautiful, and he could see Devki’s features mirrored unmistakably in their faces. Kansa sighed as he remembered how Devki had been as a child. These children will be like her, he thought nostalgically.

  ‘Can you get me some water, Mandki?’ Kansa said, his throat feeling parched all of a sudden.

  Mandki nodded slowly, not sure whether she should leave him alone with the babies. But he looked so peaceful as he gazed adoringly at Devki’s offspring. She turned to leave, to fetch the water, leaving him standing near the babies’ cot. Kansa gently put the coverlet over the sleeping children. Reciting the mantras he knew by heart, he commenced the chaddar upacara that would bind him to these babies forever.

  Mandki stood at the door, watching him mutter the mantras. She groaned as she heard one of the babies get up from his sleep. And then the other five also began to move around and making wailing noises. Thinking they had got scared of seeing a strange face looking at them, she took a step forward to calm them. She came to a sudden halt as she heard Kansa pause in his mantras to talk gently to the children. She looked on fascinated as the babies settled down and started making happy gurgling sounds. Kansa laughed with them; and they seemed to like the sound of his deep laughter. Mandki smiled to herself and left to get the water for Kansa.

  Kansa playfully tickled the feet of one of the babies, making it gurgle happily. The other children lying in the cot seemed to take offense at being ignored and tried attracting Kansa’s attention, by raising their arms in his direction. Kansa smiled and obliged the other children by tickling their feet too, one at a time. But each child craved individual attention and demanded it by trying to babble louder than the others.

  Kansa began to experience the beginnings of a headache as the babbling of the children grew louder. He pressed his hands to his temples in an effort to quell the increasingly throbbing pain in his head. But the agonizing ache refused to go away. He looked at the babies and felt suddenly that they had stopped making their gurgling sounds. Ignoring the growing pain in his head, he tried to make funny faces at them to make them burble in mirth. It worked. The babies started to laugh as they saw the comical expressions he was making. They raised their arms to him again, wanting him to pick them up.

  As Kansa looked at them through the haze of his pain, it seemed to him that they were no longer laughing with him. They now appeared to be laughing at him. Their raised arms seemed to point accusingly at him as they continued to laugh at him. The sound of their laughter threatened to split open his head. Kansa put his hands to his ears in an effort to drown out the sound, but it only seemed to increase in intensity. And then the laughter seemed to erupt from inside his head, and his entire body twisted in pain, the seizure taking hold of him. In a desperate attempt to quieten the babies, he covered their faces with the gold-braided blanket he had placed over them. He pressed down with all his might, and stayed that way till the laughter gradually faded.

  As the force of his seizure left him, and the green light of Aghasamarthan faded from his eyes, he gazed in confusion at the babies in the cot. They lay still, their faces shrouded by the blanket he had brought for them. With trembling hands, he lifted the edge of the blanket and stared at the eternally quiet faces of Devki’s six children.

  A howl escaped his lips as he looked at the expression on their innocent faces.

  Mandki was returning with the water when she heard the howl. It shook her to the core and the goblet of water dropped from her hand, clattering to the ground. She raced towards the babies’ room and stared in dismay at the vacant room. Kansa was no longer there. With an ominous feeling she crept slowly towards the baby cot. She forced herself to look at what she was by now certain she would see. But the shock of seeing left her horrified. All six of Devki’s babies had been mercilessly strangulated.

  Mandki waited for the drug to take effect before she entered Vasudev and Devki’s bed chambers. Devki had gone insane when she woke up to find all her children murdered. She had raged at Mandki for allowing Kansa to meet the babies. For the first time in their life, Devki had refused to talk to Mandki as she stormed out of the room, tearing at her hair and calling on the gods to end the life of the brother she had once loved more than anyone else.

  Concerned for Devki’s sanity, Mandki had called the Ardhadhara who arrived and gave her a potent dose of a medicine that would help Devki sleep. The ardhadhara instructed Mandki to keep Devki on the drug for the next few days, till she was able to absorb the reality of her children’s death. Mandki had been following the doctor’s instructions for the past two days, and she had just given Devki her dose for the night. She looked at Devki sleeping next to Vasudev; two vibrant people whose lives had been reduced to a vegetative state by the one man they had both loved above everything else.

  Mandki approached their bed, trying not to make any sound that could rouse them. In her hand, she held the sterile packet that had been given to her an hour earlier by a man she now knew she could trust completely. She had never met the man before in her life but she had heard of him from Airawat and she knew he had implicit faith in this person. She didn’t know how the stranger was able to reach her room without being apprehended by the assassin guards who were stationed all over the palace compound, but he had somehow managed to give all of them the slip. He had then handed her
a sterilized packet and told her what he wanted her to do with it. When he saw her waver, he had told her his name and suggested she confirm with Airawat if she could trust him. Mandki had made a quick trip to Airawat’s cell. The guards did not stop her as they were used to her regular visits to his place of confinement. When she told Airawat the man’s name, he asked her to describe him. After hearing his description, he gave her a smile full of hope. The only thing he said was, ‘If you can’t trust this man, you can’t trust anyone!’

  Mandki returned to her room and told the man she would do what he wanted. But first she would have to give Devki her dose of medicine for the night. She had done that some time back and the drug seemed to have taken effect. Devki slept soundly. Vasudev lay next to her, immobile as usual. Mandki approached Vasudev first. She touched his head, and carefully picked out a strand of his hair. Then tracing the strand to where it emanated from his scalp, she gave a sudden tug and it came out in her hand. Vasudev did not make any sound. He lay in the same manner he had since the day Kansa had dashed him to the ground. Mandki opened the sterilized packet the man had given to her. She placed the strand of hair, its root dangling at one end, inside the packet, taking care not to let her fingers touch the inside. She repeated the same procedure with Devki’s hair, a little more cautiously. Devki groaned briefly as the strand of hair was pulled out along with its root, but then she settled down. Mandki sighed in relief, as she placed Devki’s hair along with Vasudev’s in the same packet.

  Sealing the packet carefully, she quickly left the room.

  Narada gave Mandki a relieved smile as he took the packet from her. He peered inside, holding the packet close to his eyes, as he observed the roots of both strands of hair. The bulbs were intact, he noticed with satisfaction.

  He smiled benevolently at Mandki. ‘Thank you, my child. The world will thank you someday for what you have done today!’