Two women and a Eunuch

This is the heartland. This is where the heart lies. Ganga gushes by as Jahnavi and Mandakini and Deva Ganga. She sure is disdainful at times despite that ancient churning and humiliation in the unending gridlocks of the ultimate masculine. Ganga would have happily been in heaven, had not Indra played his nasty trick with Sagara's sons. But then, this lady purifies our land, and her father himavan protects us. This is the heartland, this is where Ganga flows.

I keep getting these strange images in the middle of the day. I see two women in distress, pale bloodless faces, hope purged eyes. The first one drags herself through fields of unclaimed corpses, slain warriors, decaying limbs, souls chained to purgatory till eternity. The fallen are her sons who went in search of the meaning of death ,for churning out the potion of life. She searches in vain for a drop of the potion, she argues in vain for vengeance, she cries in pain when her priced foetus is cut in seven inside her womb with a thunderbolt. She is the mother.

The other woman, the ravishing one, is always in a state of suspended surprise. She remembers a man dressed up like her celibate husband, she remembers him entering every pore in her body like a thunderbolt and she, trying in vain to convince herself that she was doing no wrong. She remembers her husband cursing the thunderbolt into a piteous eunuch and condemning her to a moss-filled existence. She is the wife.

I see the man emerging from Diti's vagina and Ahalya's body. Vishwamitra says he is the arch-toppler of dynasties and as powerful as Gods. He is the smasher of enclosures, the impeller of streams, the agitator of the waters. The Gods call him their king, Indra, the King of Gods. Vishwamitra says, with my new weapons like Pratihaaratara and Dundunaabha I am more powerful than the Gods themselves. If Indra was anywhere around, I would have definitely killed him.

The men and the sage rescue Ahalya from her moss-filled existence. They continue their journey to Mithila where destiny, and its child awaits them.

Killing of an Enchantress

This is Dandakaranya, the dark dark forest. A daily ingest of bala and atibala kept us alive through this tiresome journey through Angadesha and Kaamashrama. The sage population is pushing south by the day, they have spread across the plains and now into these southern forests. Fights and skirmishes between the forest dwellers and the sages happen everyday ; the sages have weapons, Vishwamitra himself is a sage warrior. The northerm kings like Janaka and my father aids the sages, the Pulastya king Ravana I have heard secretly helps the forest dwellers. The forest is dark and dangerous , feels like the air is impregnated with a war ,waiting to be born.

I was surprised at first when Vishwamitra asked us to trumpet the bows in the middle of the night. Tataka, a haughty middle-aged women came shouting at us from the top of the hill we were climbing. She was very annoyed at the disturbance, still she was beautiful.

"Kill her", the sage shouted "do not get mesmerized by her beauty, she is an enchantress, a yakshi and she instigates these forest people against us"

"Oh great sage" I asked "I am here to preserve dharma as you and father had said, isnt it against my dharma to kill a women and it sure is against my heart to kill such a beautiful thing"

"Your father has left me in charge of you both" Vishwamitra said "my word is the dharma, now teach her a lesson"

Tataka, the enchantress sensing danger charged at me with rage. I was terrified and accidentally released the arrow which pierced the space between her full, rounded breasts and killed her instantly. The forest suddenly became beautiful , it was as though Tataka hived in herself the entire beauty of her land , which she was releasing now forever. I felt a vacuum in my stomach , I crouched there wailing.

The sage says she was evil and he says this all the time. He was very happy that I killed her and gave me and Laxmana some powerful weapons and deadly arrows. I have started admiring the sheer power of these weapons, it makes me feel all powerful and the sage promised us more if we continue the good work. At times, I feel the sage was right, Tataka must have been evil and I did the right thing by killing her. But still, she was a beautiful enchantress.

The boys went on to kill Subahu and decimate Mareecha at Vishwamitra's ashram. The journey to the heart of darkness had begun.

the boys leave Ayodhya

This tranquil flow is the Sarayu river and the turbulence behind me is Ayodhya. We the princes of the Sun dynasty dissolve in these cold waters of Sarayu at the end of our lifes , in ashen forms. Sarayu carries the ashes into the holy Ganga and from there ,like every drop we find our ocean. Khatvanga who begot Dirghabahu;Dirghabahu who begot Raghu ;Raghu who begot Aja ;Aja who begot Dasaratha ; then me and my three brothers, all have ended or will end in this mighty flow. Sarayu is the destiny of Raghuvamshis.

Vishwamitra, the angry sage wants me to fight against the demons disrupting his holy rituals. I am twelve years old but father wants me to go. He had begged the sage with tears in his eyes but Vishwamitra insists on my going. I am afraid, I dont know what demons are but father has to keep his word,his dharma. I am setting out on this journey with Laxmana and the sage, I am terrified ,I want to stay back in Ayodhya. Did Rishyasringa curse the dynasties at the end point of his innocence , did he feed the flames of Ashwamedha with his own tears.

The two boys with quivers and bows follow the Sage Vishwamitra to keep their father's word and the warriors dharma. They would never be twelve year old boys anymore.