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Harappa

The Lure of Soma

[Hariyupia]

Shankar N Kashyap

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INDEX:

1. Preface.

2. City of Gold

3. The Council of Elders

4. A Tired Physician

5. The Black Magus

6. Trip to Sindhu

7. Rendezvous with the Spy

8. Avestan Dilemma

9. The Great Yajna

10. She smiled at me!

11. Trip to Mount Mujavant

12. The Glorius Suvestu Valley

13. The Puzzle of Missing Soma

14. The War Council

15. The Rajasuya

16. Map 1: Geography of Bharata and Ariana

17. Map 2: Map showing movements of Meluhhan and Avestan troops.

18. Glossary of Words

19. Further Reading

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The Main Players

Bharata – Present day India

Harappa – Present day Harappa

Sindhu – Present day Mohenjodaro

Parushni River – Present day Ravi River

1. Upaas – Trainee Physician

2. Pindaara – Cow herd/Cart driver

3. Pradipaka – Council light man

4. Nivya – Upaas’s younger sister

5. Lopa – Avisthu’s daughter from Saraswatha

6. Vidhayaka – Upaas’s elder brother

7. Satakratu – Upaas’s younger brother

8. Shushun – The Elaamite

9. Parthava – Upaas’s friend

10. Ubhaya – Trainee physician

Council of Elders:

1. Sage Shunahotra - Chief Priest/King

2. Master Kapila – Chief Architect and Upaas’s father

3. Master Ashwin – Chief Physician

4. Master/General Nahusha – Army Commander

5. Master Kodhandaki – Chief Priest of Temple

6. Master Adhvadipa – Commander of Defence

7. Master Audyogica – Chief Engineer

8. Master Skanda – Chief of Education

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Preface

Middle of third millennium BC was the golden era of Indus Valley Civilization or Harappan

Civilization. It stretched from the river Indus and Hindu Kush mountains in the west to the

Ganges-Yamuna doab in the east, Himalayas in the north and the Arabian Ocean in the south.

The area was over a million square miles and the biggest empire of the time, bigger than

Sumerian or Egyptian civilisations put together.

After the Last Glacial Maximum about 13,000 years ago, the Himalayan glaciers receded just

far enough north to leave a vast fertile alluvial plain between the Hindukush mountains in the

north west and the Aravalli hills in the east. This area was flooded every year like a clock

work by the river Indus. This vast land was fed by waters of seven great rivers – Sindhu

(Indus), Parushni (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum), Vipasa (Beas), Sutudri (Sutlej), Asikni (Chenab)

and Saraswathi (Gaggar-Hakra).

The Indus Valley civilisation was at the peak of development in the middle of third

millenium BCE with several large urban centres such as Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Kalibangan,

Dholavira and Rupar. The excavations show uniform developments across the area,

suggesting area wide communications, exchange of ideas and resources across the vast land.

The Harappan seals have been discovered as far away as Mesopotamia and Egypt in the west

and in places at the southern tip of Indian sub-continent, suggesting travel and

communications over vast distances. This vast civilisation appears to have disappeared

around 1900 BCE. There are several theories for their demise.

The question of who were these people has been asked for centuries. Not many people

subscribe to the “Aryan Invasion” theory anymore. It is now generally accepted that the

population of Indus Valley civilisation was made up of indigenous people and there was a

gradual migration and integration of Indo-European speaking people from the central Asia.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was probably difficult for scholars to accept

that such an advanced civilisation could have pre-dated a population which they considered

lacking in cultural development. The conclusion that there was an “invasion” of the Aryans

from the steppes of central Asia was drawn based on tenuous philological evidence. So far

there has not been any evidence to suggest mass destruction or warfare among the ruins that

have been excavated so far to suggest any invasion. There is, however, a grain of truth in that

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the warfare was conducted in battle fields rather than the cities being attacked or ransacked

during the pre-history.

There are still thousands of sites waiting to be excavated. The excavations so far have

revealed a highly advanced civilisation with well developed city planning including roads,

engineering, water supply and drainage. Some of the discoveries show that the system of

drainage could be compared to modern day. The Indus Valley script still defies our experts

and remains a mystery. Very little was known about the people who lived in these cities until

recently. Now we know what they looked like, what kind of clothes they wore, their

jewellery, their food habits and religious practices to some extent.

All the cities of Indus Valley Civilisation show an extremely high standard of engineering

and mathematical skills not seen in any other contemporary civilisation elsewhere in the

world. For example all the high streets of the large cities such as Harappa and Mohenjodaro

were set in major cardinal axes. For such an achievement a sound knowledge of astronomy

and mathematics along with engineering skill was essential. Mathematical texts ‘written’ by

eminent sages such a Baudhayana, Apastambha, Manava and Katyana have been placed

between 800 BCE and 200 BCE. The dating again is based purely on linguistic evidence

comparing with other contemporary texts. Apasthambha described both Pythogarean

theorem and Pythogarean triples dating at least 200 years before Pythogaras.

There is a school of thought, that subscribes to the idea that the Vedas were composed by the

Harappans or the Meluhhans as the Meopotamians called them. Rig Veda is the oldest of the

Vedas and has been dated to have been composed around 1700 BCE. Niraj Mohanka of New

Dharma takes it even further to 4000 BCE as the timeline for Rigveda. There was no

archaeological evidence to suggest the dating of the Vedas until recently. This was based

purely on linguistic and philological evidence. The evidence hence is within the books

themselves. However evidence is emerging now that the Vedas might have been written a

long time ago during the Bronze Age dating back to 3000 BCE. There are now both

archaeological and textual evidence emerging which show that both the Vedas and Harappans

belong to same time period. One of the grammar texts – Rigveda Pratisakya – used during

the construction of Rigveda has been dated back to between 3100 and 800 BCE. New

evidence is emerging all the time which is putting our history further and further back. It will

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not be long before the Indus script is unravelled and we may get an answer to if the

Harappans wrote the Vedas.

Rig Veda is the oldest of four Vedas – Sama, Yajur and Atharvana. It is organised into ten

books or ‘Mandalas’ and consists of 1028 hymns. Numbering of the books is rather arbitrary

and again based on linguistics. For example, the first book of the Rigveda in considered

much younger than the second. The language of the Vedas was considered ‘archaic’ as long

ago as the time of the great grammarian, Panini, who has been dated to have been around

sixth century BCE. David Frawley suggests that the positioning of vernal equinox in the

Vedic scriptures suggest that the authors were from 6000 BCE. Astronomical configurations

shown in the Vedas and Bramhanas suggest that thes were written well before 3000 BCE. I

recommend a visit to www.Indiahistoryonline.com. It has an excellent link to an extremely

well researched chronology of history, of not only the Vedic people but also other reliogions

of the world.

Zarathustra (Zoroaster) is considered to be the author of religious text of the Avestans, Yasna

Haptanghaiti. This has been dated to around middle of second millennium BCE.

Geography of Ariana is quite clear in the book and puts in squarely in present day Iran and to

some extent Afghanistan and north-west Pakistan. There is very little known about people

who lived in these parts before Zoroaster. According to the Avestan Gathas, he teaches the

Avestan King Vishtaspa and overcomes obstacles placed by other priests and ruling class.

The dating of both these individuals has been severely contested, some placing Zoroaster

from 700 BCE to as far back as 7000 BCE. The language used in the Yasna Haptanghaiti is

old Avestan and the date of the language is still contested.

There is archaeological evidence to show that there were significant tectonic activity in the

area and several of the rivers were diverted during the second and third millennium BCE.

Diversion of several major rivers left parts of the country barren and unliveable. Even now,

Greater Iran shows seismic activity with regular earthquakes.

It is in this context that the lives and trials and tribulations of people living in the Indus valley

during the middle of third millennium BCE are tackled in this book. I have used existing

archaeological evidence along with known historical evidence in writing this book. I have

used some poetic license to accommodate the dates and times of various individuals and

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events to suit the story telling. The book tries to portray the life of ordinary people during the

period of Harappans, while trying to tell the tale of the priestly kings, Magi, Rishis and Sages

of the great Indus Valley Civilisation during the middle of third millennium BCE. This is the

story of our hero, Upaas, a trainee physician from Harappa. It is a story of a young man

growing up, falling in love, getting involved in adventures and finally fighting for the city he

loves most – Harappa. The story shows the human elements of people around him. He faces

friendship, love, hate, jealousy, treachery and deceit in day to day life. There is generous

sprinkling of magic and sorcery. As the country of Ariana, west of Hindukush dries up, the

Avestans facing with near extinction take up arms against their neighbours to obtain the

precious Soma. The tactics used include deceit, sorcery and finally a war between the

Meluhhans and Avestans

The Soma plant has been the centre piece of several hymns in the Vedic scriptures. It is a

plant still not acurately recognised. The Vedic people revered it as a God, drank the extract

from the stalk of the plant, used the plant for medicinal purposes and it is supposed to have

magical properties. The Avestan had a similar plant and called it Haoma and their scriptures

also revered the plant for its spiritual properties. Vedas describe it as growing in a sacred

mountain around a sacred lake (Mount Mujavant and lake Sharynavat). Avestan scriptures

describe a similar sacred mountain and a sacred lake in Sistan where the Haoma plant grew.

Similar to the Soma of Indus valley, we still do not know exactly what this plant was as it

disappeared at the same time as the Harappans.

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Shankar N Kashyap

Newcastle upon Tyne

August 2012

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Map of Bharata and Ariana

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The City of Gold.

I slowly laid the heavy axe down on the ground and mopped the sweat off my face with the

towel I had tied around my head. As I did so, my eyes caught the sun. It was a bright

crimson ball with wisps of cloud coming off the seam. The entire sky had turned red and

edges of cloud shone with a red and yellow tinge. This was my favourite time of the day and

I loved coming here to watch the sun go down over the western hills. As I watched intently,

the sun changed from red to purple. I always marvelled at the power of the sun, which could

turn the colour of the whole world from red to purple to black within minutes. A gentle

breeze cooled the sultry summer air at this height. It was peak of summer and the days can

be hot, especially if you had been chopping logs all day.

The crows were making a lot of noise as they settled in their nests for the night. Tall trees

towered around me all but obscuring the mountains of the north. The green foliage spread for

as far as the eye could see. Distant snow capped mountains appeared to be wearing a

pearlescent tiara. The tree-line appeared to stop well below the white peaks. The narrow

streams of fresh water from the molten snow looked like tears flowing down the cheeks of the

mother earth. At this time of the day, they caught the sunrays at an angle and made them

sparkle. I could hear the cowbells and cows calling ‘ambaa’ as Pindaara hustled them home.

The cool breeze rustled the leaves underneath me and I could smell distant rain. I like the

smell of first rain during the summer months. It has the unforgettable distinct wet earth smell

that is not like anything else.

As I turned around, I could see the city down below and there was a lot of activity at the

Western gate. The guards were getting ready to change for the night. The guards belonged

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to the elite group commanded by Master Nahusha. The entire process was extremely

impressive. The protocol was drilled three times a day and it was a sight to watch. These

guards were specially chosen for their alertness and skill with the arms. The training was

hard and often lasted two years before they were posted to on the walls. More than half of

the apprentices left the cadre because of the hardship. All of them wore bronze shields and

carried tall brass tipped spears. The sun caught the shields and brass tips of the spears and

made it look like stars dancing against the wall.

There were quite a few bullock carts at the gate trying to get into the city. The dock just off

the gate was quiet with all the boats moored down for the night. There was very little activity

seen. The river Parushni appeared to kiss the city wall just south of the gate and flow down

south along the western wall and again turning southwest just past the city disappearing into

the dense forest in the south. The dusk made it look like a thick black ribbon snaking around

the borders of the city. The river had a gentle smooth flow at this point, but as it neared the

great river Saraswathi two days ride away, it became a raging torrent, swollen with several

streams joining her on the way. Only the large boats could navigate the river as it joined the

great Saraswathi. Last of the boats appeared to be hurrying towards the dock before the sun

set completely. As I stood there fascinated by the scene, I could see the guard saunter across

to help the last of the fishermen. The fisherman manoeuvred the boat deftly towards the

moorings and threw the rope over the dock to the guard who steadied the boat against the

dock wall. The guard on the dock helped to tie the boat down to the anchoring stump on the

dock.

The city was basked in golden light of the setting sun. The light shining off copper and

bronze plates and finials over the walls and doors made it look as if the whole city was made

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of gold. No wonder they called it the ‘City of Gold.’ The towering walls of the city with

flags on top of them did not conceal everything from this height. I could see the guards on

top of the walls pacing up and down. The imposing Temple just inside the walls, dwarfed

everything else in sight. The gold finials on the copper dome on top of the spire caught the

light of the dipping sun and looked as if soaked in blood. I could see movement in the

Temple where the priests were getting ready for the evening prayers. More than the high

walls of the city, it was the Temple which gave the city, a sense of invincibility and power. It

gave me a sense of safety and belonging whenever I saw the magnificent Temple towering

above everything else in the city. The elephants belonging to the temple were being taken

into the enclosure. The Gurukul (school) stood next to the Temple and even though large in

itself, the Temple almost completely dwarfed it.

The Upper town was relatively smaller than the lower town and obviously more prosperous.

All the houses in the Upper town were large two storied structures and belonged mainly to

the priests, and Elders of the Council. As I looked past the Temple towards the east, I could

see smoke rising out of the small flat roofed houses of the lower town. The lower town had

grown in size over the last few years with large number of people coming to live in Harappa.

The city attracted men from far and beyond, because of its prosperity and safety. Now there

were people from Dravida Kingdom, Elaam, Sumer and Median living side by side with the

native Harappans. The lower town had nearly doubled in size over the last ten years.

I could just make out the outlines of the massive Peepal tree on top of the hillock just past the

eastern gate, which marked the start of a deep forest beyond it. I could not see the northern

gate as it lay behind the large houses of the Middle town. The Middle town housed all the

rich merchants and some of the senior soldiers in the army. Beyond the city on all sides, the

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countryside was lush and green everywhere with tall trees gently swaying in the breeze

interspersed with large expanse of green barley fields. The swaying of the green barley fields

made it looks like someone was playing with a very large green carpet. I could see a thin line

winding down through the middle of the trees. That was the road starting at the southern gate

and going down all the way to Sindhu. That road meant that Sindhu was only two days ride

away.

I thought I had better start to make my way back to the town. I still had to deliver the wood

to the master’s house before going home. The gates will shut at sundown and I knew how

hard it was to get them to open once they shut the gates. I looked at the neat pile of logs I had

chopped down over the past four hours. That should be enough for both my Master’s and our

house for the month. The donkey could carry one load for the Master’s house today and I

will have to come back for the other half tomorrow for our house. I was sure no one would

steal it if left it there over night. The donkey was lying down munching the grass I had left

for him near the tree in the shade. I took the pail down to the stream to get some water for

the donkey. I washed my face in the cool fresh water, which came all the way down from the

Shivalik Mountains. The stream was narrow and not deep. It always had fresh, sweet cool

water through the year and it meandered through the forest in the hills before joining the

Parushni River at the bottom. The animals in the forest depended on this stream as much as

the forest itself for the water. I took the pail of water to the donkey and he drank it with gusto

as it had been quite a hot day. As I brought some more hay, he stood up ready. By now, he

knew the routine. He knew he would have to carry the load down. I tied half the pile of logs

into two lots with the hemp rope I had brought with me. As he was eating the hay, I loaded

his back with the two piles of logs. I tied the two piles down to the donkey and balanced it on

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either side so it would be easier for him to carry. I waited for him to finish eating the hay

before setting off back down the hills. The sun was going rapidly down and I would have to

hurry.

As I reached the western gates, I could see there were quite a few travellers trying to get into

the city before they shut the gates. Already the camp outside the walls had some travellers

who could not find a place to stay inside the city. The camp was just outside the gates as the

travellers wanted stay close to the guards at the gate. It gave them a sense of security and felt

safe in presence of the hefty security guards who patrolled the gate throughout the night and

generally kept an eye on the surroundings. The Guards on top of the wall sometimes came

down to their campfire in cold winter months to warm themselves in between rounds. I

counted at least fifteen caravans and wagons heavy with goods parked in a circle in the field

just outside the gates. Their campfires were burning bright and I could smell their cooking. I

could make out the travellers were from foreign lands. Some from as far as Sumeria, by the

smells emanating from their cooking. I could detect the smell of garlic in the air and that

meant Dasyu merchants from Dravida Kingdom in the far south and their precious gold. It

was always exciting to see the travellers who brought exotic goods to sell in the weekly

market tomorrow. There was a large fire right in the middle of the circle of caravans. There

were people already sitting around the fire, and listening to the music played on the drums by

the Dasyu travellers. It was very melodious and the rhythm was haunting. I stood there

watching for a while. Soon another musician joined in with a wind instrument and the sound

became almost bewitching. A couple of the men stood up and started to dance to the music.

The whole thing was fascinating and I stood there mesmerised by it all.

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“It is beautiful isn’t it?” an even more melodious voice of a girl brought me out of my

reverie. She had come up from the dark shadows of one of the caravans and standing next to

me. “I have been listening to this music almost every night for the last few weeks. It is so

restful and divine.” She was the most beautiful creature I had seen, I thought. I could see in

the dim light of a setting sun a moon right in front of me. I was taken aback for a minute and

could not say anything.

“Yes. It is very beautiful.” I stammered staring at her eyes. I was spellbound by her eyes,

which were as black as coal with a glitter of a large diamond.

“I am Lopa, daughter of Avisthu from the city of Saraswatha.” She said.

“I am Upaas, son of Kapila Angirasa.” I was tongue-tied. I could hardly say more than that.

“ I saw you come down the hills. Do you go up to the hills often?” She asked.

“No not very often. I had to get firewood for my Master’s house.” As we were talking,

someone started to sing in a deep and gentle voice. I could not understand the words as he

was singing in a Dasyu language. It was filled with passion and deep melancholy. “Do you

know what he is singing about?” I asked.

“Yes I do. He is singing about his homeland. It goes something like this;

I am in a land far far away from home

I feel all alone!

I miss the verdant green of our land

I miss the deep blue colour of our skies

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I am in a land far far away from home

I miss the sweet scent of our flowers

I miss the tinkling sound of our rivers

I am in a land far far away from home

I feel all alone!

Even the darkest woods in my land...

It goes on for a while about his homeland.”

“That is very impressive. He must miss his home land very much.” I said.

“It has been several months since they left their home land. You should listen to the songs he

sings about his loved one. It is haunting.”

“How do you know the language so well?” I asked.

“We get a lot of travellers from Dravida, Elaam, Sumer, and even Median in our city. They

come to meet my father and learn languages. He is a teacher of languages, you see.” She

said with a smile “You better be getting back into the city before the gate is closed.”

She disappeared into the darkness around the ring of caravans as quietly as she had come. I

stood there for a few more minutes trying to figure out what just happened. I was not sure if

that was a dream. Just as I was trying to shake out of it, I heard the cowbells and a voice

saying,

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“Namasthe, Master Upaas.” It was Pindaara with his large hoard of cows. That quickly

brought me out of the reverie. He was hurrying them along through the gates. One of the

younger ones was not too keen on going back home. He was a stocky, well-built character

who always ambled rather than walk everywhere. He always had a smile on his face.

“Namasthe Pindaara. I see that Navika is still causing you trouble.” I said. Pindaara loved

his cattle. He had given names for all of them and looked after them as if they were his

children. One of them, a young cow he had named Navika as she was born on the day he had

met this sailor who was on his way to the port of Saraswatha (Lothal). That was another

story. The sailor had told him of distant places in the middle of desert and building of large

pyramids. He believed him and it was his dream one day to go to this land of pyramids. The

young cow was “head-strong”, as he would put it and gave him no end of trouble when it

came for home time.

“Yes, Master Upaas. But one of these days she will learn that I am the boss.” He said

smiling and at the same time goading his favourite cow through the gates. “It is already late

for evening feed for them and I still have to clear up afterwards.” He took his chores very

seriously. I said goodbye to Pindaara before turning to speak to one of the guards who was

saying something to me.

“Master Upaas. You should not stay outside the city walls so late. It is not safe. There have

been reports of Avestan attacks in Sindhu. Sage Shunahotra and the council of elders are

considering providing travellers’ accommodation within the city walls.” He said.

“I am sorry. I lost track of time in the woods. I will try to keep an eye on time next time.” I

said and hurried my donkey on. As I passed through the gate, I looked up as I always did to

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see the sign on the top of the stone column on the left side of the gate. It read ‘Sunset Gate’

to mark the western gate. The two large stone columns on either side towered over me to a

height of over thirty feet with six large fire lamps on each of the columns. Brass finials and

plates embellished the two massive wooden doors of the gate, which shimmered like gold in

the light of the burning lamps. These finials were sharp and points large enough to kill a man

if impaled on it. The brass sheets had patterns imprinted on them, which depicted the

emblem of the city – a rising sun which was also on the flags on top of the gates as well as

the walls. There was no arrow or spear made that could get through those brass sheets

covering the door. The door itself was so thick and heavy, that it took ten people to open or

close each one of them. Each door had six heavy brass hinges, at least a feet long and an inch

thick with brass nails. There were three latches on the doors, which must weigh as much as a

small child. Bronze strips covered the edges of the doors.

The architect was none other than my father and I felt very proud every time I passed through

the gate. He was very particular about the details of the gate and the door. It had taken more

than a year to build the outer gate and the doors. I had gone with my father to the forest to

pick the thickest of trees for the wood for the doors. Father used to go away for several days

to the quarry, which was a day’s ride from the city to supervise the stone cutting for the gate.

I had gone with father once to the quarry in the northern hills. I was still in school at the time

and it was an adventure for a school kid. It was not much of an adventure for the drivers or

the horse who had to negotiate narrow steep tracks and treacherous ledges on hillsides on the

way up to the quarry. It was not long after that trip that one of the carts had slipped and

rolled off the hillside killing it driver and the horse. I was not allowed to go to the quarry

after that.

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As I pushed my donkey along the streets, I could hear the temple bells from the Temple

getting louder and as I neared the Temple itself, the bouquet of sandal incense, wafted

through the gentle breeze. As I walked past the Temple, I could not really see the top of the

spire as it was so high. It was built hundreds of years ago at the time of Lord Indra and its

construction was supervised none other than one of the Sapatharshis, the great Sage Brighu

and built to the plans of the heavenly architect Vishwakarma. Now, I knew I was late for my

evening prayers. The streets were almost completely deserted save for Pradipaka who was

going around lighting the street lamps in the corners. He would carry the torch in one hand

with a ladder slung over his left shoulder and looked like father time! I do not really know

how old he was, but he had been doing this job for as long as I could remember and father

used to say that he was ancient. He was old but very steady on his feet and strong as an ox.

He never bumped his ladder against any of the corner bolsters, that father had installed in the

corner of the streets to stop the carts and chariots hitting the buildings. As I turned the corner

of the street in front of the great Pushkarni, I saw the wide open gates of the Temple.

Everyone had to wash their feet and hands in the Pushkarni before going into the Temple. I

could hear the priests singing the Vedic hymns so beautifully in there. I could sit and listen

to that chanting for hours. It was soothing and gentle and at the same time powerful enough

to lift your spirits up. I had learnt several hymns of the book composed by Sage Vishwamitra

Gathinah from Sindhu by now, and I took pride in reciting them in the proper mitre they were

taught to me.

It was dark by the time I reached Master Ashwin’s house. I tied the donkey to the post

outside the door and pulled down the two piles of logs off the back of the donkey. As I took

the second pile into the courtyard of the house, Ma Ashwin called out.

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“Is that you Upaas?”

“Yes Ma. It is I. I had gone to get some wood for the house.” I said. I knelt down and

touched her feet as she walked in.

“May God bless you Upaas. I was going to ask you get some tomorrow. We were running

out of wood. However, it is late and quite dark outside. Master will be out in a minute. He

is busy with his evening prayers. So should you be.” She said with a tinge of affection in her

voice. Ever since she lost her son a few years ago, she depended on students for all these

chores. The students loved doing the chores, as she was such a gentle and affectionate

person.

“I will do, as soon as I put these logs in the storage and go home.” I said.

“I have a jar of cold butter milk for you. It will help you quench your thirst.” She said.

A glass of her cold buttermilk will just hit the spot. There is nothing better than a glass of

cold buttermilk at the end of a sweaty hot day’s work. She kept the buttermilk in a mud pot,

which kept it nice and cold. She added a smidgen of spices and coriander leaves to make it

tasty as well when she served in a mud jar.

“Thank you Ma. I am really grateful” I said as I gulped it down.

“Don’t be so formal Upaas. You are like my son. It is my duty to look after you” I could see

a tear in her eye as she said it. She missed her son badly. It made me feel bad to see her sad.

All of us at the hospital tried to make her feel wanted and treated her as our own mother.

“Is that you Upaas? It is late and dark. You should not be out at this time of the night. It is

getting increasingly dangerous to be outside the city walls at night” Master Ashwin said as he

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walked in. I kneeled and touched his feet in obeisance. “Ayushman Bhava. May God Bless

you.”

“I do tend to lose track of time when I am out there in the woods. I will be more careful next

time” I said as I stood up.

“We will need to start early tomorrow as we have quite a few patients to see tomorrow. You

better get home and get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow” Master said. I

had been training to be a physician under tutelage of Master Ashwin since leaving the

Gurukul in Sindhu five years ago. He was considered the best physician in Bharata and all

hankered to be trained by him. He chose his apprentice very carefully. We had to pass

several tests designed by him before chosen to start training. It was very hard work, but very

satisfying. He did not take kindly to shirkers or malingerers. There were six apprentices

working under him and all of us wanted to impress him with our knowledge and skill.

“Yes sir. I will be in early tomorrow. Do you want me to get anything from the forest before

we start?” I asked.

“No. I think we are comfortable with our stocks of medicine for now. We may need some

Palm leaves and steatite pencils for writing. I am sure we can get it off the travelling

merchants camped outside the walls. I think you should go into the traveller’s camp

tomorrow and see if there are any merchants with writing materials. We are running short

and there won’t be anything left before long. Now you better hurry back home” He said.

My eyes lit up. I might even see that girl again tomorrow. I should speak to her properly this

time. I could still feel her presence near me and her lilting soft voice still lingered in my ears.

My knees went weak at the thought of seeing her again.

22

“I will do that after work tomorrow Master.” I said quickly before he had a chance to change

his mind.

“But don’t stay outside the walls after dark please” There was genuine concern in Master’s

voice. He loved all of his disciples and students as his own children.

“No. I won’t. I promise Master. I lost count of time today on the hills and the forest was so

peaceful.”

With that, I took leave of the Master and Ma Ashwin and hurried home with my donkey. On

the way home, I kept thinking about Master Ashwin’s words. As I tied the donkey to the post

outside the house and walked into the courtyard, my sister, Nivya called out.

“Is that you Upaas?” She always called me Upaas to the annoyance of mother. The

shortened name was stuck with my friends as well and that annoyed mother even more.

“Yes. It is I. I know it is late. I was in the woods getting wood for Master Ashwin’s house.”

I said.

“I am glad you are home safe. Father has been waiting to talk to you” She said with a smile

on her face as she poured water for my hands and feet.

“You know how I am when I am in the woods” I said.

“I know and as do Father. That habit of you, losing yourself in daydreams worries the lot of

us. You better perform the evening prayers and speak to father” she said.

I changed and sat down for my prayers. Master had taught me the Gayatri hymn and he had

insisted that I should recite it at least five times a day. This would be my fifth one. I really

23

should have recited the fifth one at sun set as per the instructions of the great sage

Vishwamitra. I was instructed the recitation of this hymn at my baptism a few years ago by

none other than our chief Sage Shunahotra. I finished my prayers and went into the hall

where father was sitting. I touched his feet in obeisance and got his blessings.

“How was your day Upaas?” He asked

“It was good father. A little tiring, I had to get some wood for the Master’s house today” I

said.

“I am glad that you are serving your Master well. How is your training coming along?”

“It is good father. I am now quite good at diagnosing many conditions myself. Master often

lets me do the treatment by my own” I replied.

“Have you thought about what you want to do after finishing your training?”

“No father. I have not had much chance to think about it. My friend Bhishagvida went east

last year when he finished his training. I believe there is a large city on the banks of river

Ganga where there is a lot of work for people like me. I am busy helping build up the

collection of new drugs for the Master at present” I replied.

“How long do you think that will take? I am sure your mother will not be particularly

pleased with the idea of you going away.”

“I don’t know father. People tell me that when his work is finished, Master Ashwin will have

the largest collection of medicines in the known world and I as his apprentice will be a sought

after physician anywhere” I was quite enthusiastic about the entire project.

24

“That is not the only reason you should be thinking of moving to the east. Lately there have

been several reports of Avestan attacks on Sindhu and it won’t be long before they start to

attack Harappa as well” Father continued “They had been very quite since Lord Indra

destroyed Viratra and his army over a hundred years ago. They seem to have regrouped and

have their eyes on the riches of our great country of Bharata (Saptha Sindhu) now.”

“That is so sad father. Avestans have always been welcomed here. I have treated several

Avestans with my Master.”

“You should make sure you are within city walls before it gets dark. Sage Shunahotra

discussed several safety concerns at the meeting of the council. The reports from Sindhu are

not good. The Avestans seem to have raised an army, which appears to be well equipped.

They are using the Elaamite horses to raid outlying farms and steal cattle successfully. Those

Elaamite horses are big and very fast. Several people have been killed so far, in and around

Sindhu.”

Just then mother walked in and said,

“What is this all about war and strife at this auspicious hour? How are you Upaas? You must

be tired. The dinner is ready. You should come and have your dinner now.”

I touched mother’s feet and took her blessings. For mother, there is a time and place for

everything. Nothing inauspicious should be discussed or even thought of during “auspicious

hours”, that is at sunrise and sunset. She used to say that is the time when Goddess Lakshmi

enters the house and she won’t come in if inauspicious thoughts or sounds are in the house.

“Your mother is right Upaas. You should have dinner now. It has been a long day” Father

said, “We will be along now” looking at mother.

25

As we walked into the dining room, my two brothers, Vidhaayaka and Satakratu were ready

and waiting for father to sit down. My elder brother Vidhaayaka had finished his

apprenticeship as an Engineer and he was working at central works. My younger brother,

Satakratu was named after Lord Indra as he was born after penance to the Lord. Mother was

not very well during the pregnancy and father was very worried for her health and had

performed a month long penance as prescribed by Sage Shunahotra. He had taken up this

new engineering training and still had a long way to go. He was due to go to the university in

Sindhu this autumn. Father always worried about him as the “slow one”. He had not shown

any aptitude so far for the field he had chosen. I sometimes wondered if his peers had pushed

him into it. The sweet smell of mother’s cooking was all pervading and spread everywhere

making us hungry. Nivya was hovering around the corner, fretting as usual.

Father sat down at the head of the room and we all followed suit. He said the prayers asking

the Lord to bless us and thanked him for the food we were about to receive. We all looked

forward to our dinner every night. Like most people, I thought my mother was the best cook

in the world. She made the best bread in Harappa – soft, sweet, and always hot. I never

knew how she could keep the bread hot and at the same time did not get it hard. The

vegetables were cooked just right and meat was just tender enough, with the right amount of

spices – never too hot or too spicy. She always insisted that we used clarified butter on our

bread to eat with. The dessert was made out of barley and sweetest honey and went down a

treat always.

We all sat down and both mother and Nivya served us. It had been a long-standing tradition

that the women folk of the house served the men first before sitting down for their meal. No

one spoke during the meal as Father strictly forbade anyone speaking during a meal. He said

26

that it is unhealthy to speak while eating and an insult to the person who had prepared the

food.

As we retired after a sumptuous meal, Father asked Satakratu “How is your training

progressing now Satakratu?”

“It is progressing very well father” He replied.

“Are you settling in now?”

“Yes Father. I like my work and I am really enjoying myself. My Master is very happy with

me” Satakrathu really looked happy with himself. Father was pleased.

“And how are you doing Vidhaayaka?” He asked the firstborn.

“I am fine Father. I am content at work and we are looking at increasing the number of

people working with us” He replied. The whole family was very proud of Vidhaayaka.

Being the eldest of the family, he was like a father to us while father was away with his work.

Father used to be away for days on end, particularly during the rebuilding of the city walls

and it was left to Ma and Vidhaayaka to run the family. He looked after all of us and when

mother was ill for a short period, he even cooked for us. Vidhaayaka got me enrolled into

studying Medicine at the university in Sindhu.

Everything was working very well and I was very happy with the world. I went to bed

content with myself and was thinking of my work at the hospital tomorrow. I was rudely

woken when I was thrown off the bed on to the floor. As I woke up, the first thing that I was

aware of, was the loud rumble and the floor heaving up and down. It was frightening to see

the walls and the floor move dangerously. I was afraid the roof was going to come crashing

27

down on my head. My first thought was to see how mother and Nivya were. I rushed out to

their rooms calling out.

“Ma. Nivya. Are you OK?”

Luckily, everyone was OK and we all ran outside to see what was going on. By the time we

came out, the rumbling had stopped and the ground stopped moving as well. Everyone was

outside on the street and there appeared to be a panic. Suddenly everything was very still.

There was nothing moving apart from people who appeared to be wandering around in

silence and in a trance. There was deafening silence. It was as if the quake had swallowed

up the sound. . We could almost hear each others’ breathing. No one said anything for a

while looking terrified. Then I heard it, it was gentle at first and then it became more

powerful. It was a low pitched whine that seemed to envelope everything. Instinctively I

turned left to see the sky was turning orange and I could see a waist high thick mist, down the

street. It was a strange sight, looking at a thick white mist with an orange rim at the top. The

air was so still, that the mist looked like a thick white woolly blanket with an orange topping.

There was something else. Something was missing. There were no birds! I suddenly

realised that I could not hear any of the birds that normally thronged the rooftops of the

Harappan houses at daybreak. I looked up to see the rooftops were empty and I could not see

them in the trees either. In the distance in the north I could see a thick dust cloud slowly

rising up and above the mist. Instinctively, I knew that there was something wrong.

“That was a very strong tremor. We have not had such a strong tremor for a long time.” Our

neighbour Skanda said.

28

“Yes. I hope there has not been much damage. Last time we were lucky and got away

without any damage or injuries” Father replied.

As we watched, the cockerel, which was very quiet so far started to announce the day-break.

It was late for the cockerel. It was as if the quake had frightened the cockerel into silence. A

baby started to cry in the distance and suddenly everyone seems to come awake.

“We better get to work and see what the damage is and see if any help is needed” Father said

turning round to us.

We all went back into the house to get ready to go out again. I wanted to go to the hospital as

quickly as possible to see if there had been any injuries needing my attention. I had a quick

shower and did my morning prayers before rushing out to the hospital.

As I reached the hospital, Master was already there along with couple of others. There were

already few patients in the front waiting to be seen. Luckily, the injuries were minor scrapes

and one with a broken arm. The young lad with broken arm looked rather sheepish, as he had

actually fallen down going back into the house after the earthquake. I took him into the

treatment room and set the arm with bamboo splints and paste. There was a slow trickle of

patients coming in for minor cuts and bruises and before I knew it, it was noon. Master had

to go to the Council of Elders meeting and I was left in charge.

I was getting used to being left in charge by now. Initially, I was terrified of being left in

charge of the whole place, especially when others started to come and ask me difficult

questions about managing patients. I soon got used to it and now I actually look forward to

the Master’s absences. I still remember the first time Master had to go away called out

urgently by Sage Shunahotra. He called me and said.

29

“Upaas, you have been training to be a physician now for over five years. It is time that you

started to take some independent decisions on patient management.”

I was thrilled and at the same time terrified. I did not know if I could manage to treat patients

without the Master being there behind me. What if I made someone worse? What if I got the

diagnosis wrong and gave the wrong medicine. What if, God forbid, I killed someone?

There were a million questions and I knew I would have to find the answers myself. I bowed

my head and said,

“Yes Master. I will do my best for the people of Harappa” I could not hide my anxiety. He

detected the concern in my voice and my fright written all over my face.

“I would not worry Upaas. I have full confidence in you and you ability. I have been

thinking about this for a while now. All you have to remember is, to be patient and

remember all you have been taught. Leave the rest to God Ashwin, the heavenly physician”

He said with a smile on his face.

That day had gone very quickly and there seem to be interminable number of patients and

numerous problems. However, when I looked back at that day, there were less number of

patients that day than normal and all of them had done well. Master Ashwin was very

pleased when he came back and saw the results. That day seemed to be a long time ago, but

it was only a few months past. I had been left in charge a few times since then and I had not

tripped up in any one of those days. It made me grow in confidence and I suspect helped me

mature as a physician.

By lunchtime, we had treated well over a dozen people with minor injuries. I was feeling

quite happy with myself and congratulated our team for the day’s effort when we sat down

30

for a few minutes break. Just as we were patting ourselves in the back, a soldier rushed in

and said.

“Master Upaas. Come quickly. There are problems near the northern wall.”

The disaster that I had dreaded that morning appeared to have come true. He had been

running hard and was out of breath and sweating profusely. One of the boys gave him a cool

yoghurt drink to cool and calm him down.

“Please stay calm soldier. Finish your drink, take a deep breath and tell us what the problem

is, slowly and as much detail as you can” I said.

“There has been a collapse of part of the northern wall and it has fallen on some neighbouring

houses. There may well be people trapped under the rubble” He said after finishing his drink.

“Well, I think we should take some supplies and get there as soon as possible” I said looking

at Ubhaya and the two junior most trainee physicians. I could see the look of sheer terror on

the faces of both of them. I cannot have two of my assistants scared out of their wits right

now. I needed everyone to be at their best and sharpest.

“Snap out of it you two. Get going and gather the supplies. We will need plenty of bamboo

sticks, paste, ropes, salves, and portions with us. You better load a cart and let’s get going” I

said. I had hoped that the authoritarian tone I took would have the effect of gearing them up

for some action.

All of them started to rush around gathering supplies and loading the cart. The soldier gave a

hand to load the heavy stuff. It was not too long before we were ready and set off towards

the northern wall of the city.

31

The Council of Elders.

There had been no damage to the Great Hall. No one really knew how old the Great Hall

was. It had been there since antiquity. Legend had it that it was built by God Indra to

celebrate the victory over Vratra, along with the Temple. It had seen some changes since

then and the chief of Elders, Sage Shunahotra had the hall extended to include some side

rooms for the priests and the caretakers to live in the Hall all the time. The walls of the Great

Hall were made of several layers of bricks and could withstand much bigger tremor than we

had this morning. The Great Hall was busy as usual that time of the morning. The priests

from the temple had just finished the daily morning prayers, decorating and offerings to idols

of God Indra on the central platform of the hall flanked by Pashupathi and Varuna on either

side. They were preparing to offer the temple elephants their daily feed once they had been

calmed down by the mahuts (elephant carers). The animals had taken real fright at the

earthquake and it was only a miracle that they had not broken loose of their chains.

Sage Shunahotra had taken his usual seat near the base of the central platform, Father was

sitting to the right of him, and my Master Ashwin was on his left. The other dignitaries of the

Council of Elders were sitting in a rectangle around the Agni Kunda (sacrificial fire altar) in

the middle. The fire was never allowed to go out as the legend had it that the world would

end when the fire in the Great Hall goes out. There were five elders seated on either side of

the hall all along the wall. They were all sitting cross-legged on a mat made of thick hemp.

The council of elders sat in the great hall once a week to discuss the issues of administration

of the City. There were thirteen in the Council of Elders and the Great Council had five

elders. The Council of Elders dealt with the daily running of the city and the Great Council

made decisions of major importance. The Great council was responsible for the security of

32

not only the city but also the surrounding villages. The Great Council also controlled the

foreign trade and made decisions about scriptures.

Sage Shunahotra was the descendant of none other than the great Sage Bhrighu and he had all

the great qualities of the Saptharshis. His son Grtsamada was my contemporary and

extremely clever. He knew the scriptures backwards. He could recite almost the entire Rig-

Veda in tune. Last time I had met him he was talking about composing some more hymns to

God Indra and God Agni. Sage Shunahotra was the leader of the Great Council and our

father was one of the members of the Great Council as well. There was always a Master

from Sindhu in the Great Council. It had been a rule set in the Vedas that the Great Council

of every city should have an elder from a neighbouring city. The scriptures explained that it

gave a balance for ruling the city. Our own Master Kothandaki was in the Great Council of

the city of Girinagara.

Sage Shunahotra welcomed everyone in his usual inimitable style and quoted the scriptures

of from Rig-Veda reminding everyone that it is their holy duty to keep peace and harmony

among all mankind.

“The first order of business is to find out if there was any damage by the tremors that was felt

in the early hours of this morning. I pray to God Indra that none of our families have seen

any serious injuries or death. Master Kapila, has there been any reports of major damage?”

Sage Shunahotra asked father. Father had already done a quick round of the city’s main

districts before coming to the Council. He had sent several of the engineers to major

structures of the city to assess the damage and arranging repairs. He was particularly

concerned with the great Pushkarni, which not only cleansed us for the Yajnas, but was also

33

the storage for our water supply. He had sent someone to go around the city walls and

someone to check the drainage system. He was still waiting for detailed reports.

“I have only had a chance to do a cursory inspection so far. There has been some damage to

the eastern drainage system, some damage to the Pushkarni and several stones on the Eastern

road may have to be replaced. The damage in all is not too severe. There were some reports

coming from the northern wall. I have sent my people to check it out. So far there have not

been any reports of any of the buildings being seriously damaged and no major injuries have

been reported so far.” Father replied.

“I am really glad to hear that. Was there much damage to the Pushkarni?” Sage Shunahotra

wanted to know.

‘Not too bad. Our engineers are working on it now and we should know the extent of

damage very soon. Luckily, the damage does not appear to have affected the water supply at

all.” Father replied.

“We have had a few minor injuries attending the hospital today. So far, there have not been

any reports of major injuries. And thankfully, no deaths have been reported so far.” Master

Ashwin said.

“Thank you Master Ashwin. That is heartening to hear.” Sage Shunahotra replied.

“I hope we will not see anything serious as it is still early days after the quake.”

“This is the third earthquake this season. Mother Earth is angry with us and this is a warning.

We are not following our scriptures and the Gods are not pleased with the way we perform

our sacrifices.” Master Kodhandaki intervened. He was looking even dourer than before, if

34

that was possible. He was not only the commander of the famed Gandhari regiment, but also

in charge of the up keep of the Temple and the Yajnas. Gandhari regiment had the honour of

guarding the Mount Mujavant and the Lake Sharnyavart, where Soma plants grew. The

regiment protected the installation on the mountain for making the extract of the Soma

leaves. Gandharis were a race apart and they were renowned to have great magical powers.

A detachment of the Gandhari regiment always protected the Temple. He was a dour man and

I had never seen him smile. He had his own interpretation of scriptures and was considered

radical by several of the elders. Nevertheless, he was very good at his job, the Temple had

grown in splendour and the attendance to the Yajnas, and festivals had increased enormously

due to his tireless work. He was not very popular for some of his radical ideas, which

included sacrificial rights at the altar during a Yajna. He transliterated the scriptures his own

way. However, it was difficult to convince Kodhandaki. He always stuck to his guns as he

was doing just now.

“Master Kodhandaki. Thank you for your observation. May I remind you of the scriptures

that forbid the route you want to take for our Yajnas? You have always followed the Yajnas

as prescribed by the scriptures and we have followed your instructions. Please don’t ask us to

deviate from our path” Sage Shunahotra replied.

Master Kodhandaki was not happy. He was clenching and unclenching his fist as he replied.

“I feel the interpretation of the scriptures by the elders have been wrong so far and we are

seeing results of that now.”

There was a pin-drop silence at this outburst. No one had dared criticise elders so openly

before. It was unheard off and considered a sacrilege. If such a thing were uttered in Sindhu,

35

it would have been quite serious for Master Kodhandaki. It would have meant at least

imprisonment or at worst banishment.

“Master Kodhandaki. I sincerely hope you do not mean that. It is because of our elders that

that this country of Bharata has endured for over thousands of years. It is because of our

elders that our Sanathana Dharma has prospered for so long. We know Gandharis have a

slightly different view of our scriptures to the rest of us. I and the rest of the elders here have

the utmost respect for your capability and your views. At the same time we have to

understand and abide by the scriptures and the laws laid down by great Swayambhuva Manu

whatever your views may be. We will keep what you said within these four walls.”

Sage Shunahotra appeared deeply pained when he said that to all the elders. He was very

proud of the elders and extremely proud of our faith, which he called “eternal faith” or

Sanathana Dharma. The scriptures had been written by the elders over the thousands of years

and he felt they are continually evolving. The legend had it that he could communicate with

elders of the past through divine thought and that he could communicate with elders hundreds

of miles away instantly through the Divine vision.

There was no response from anyone else. They all sat there rather dumb struck. Just as

Master Kodhandaki was going to say something, there was a knock on the door which broke

the silence. It was the door attendant.

“Enter” Sage Shunahotra said.

The door attendant entered, looking rather worried at the thought of disturbing the elders

meeting in the middle. He bowed his head with respect as he entered and said.

36

“Thousand apologies to Sage Shunahotra and the Council of Elders. There is a delegation of

travellers outside requesting an urgent audience.” There was an audible sigh of relief from

everyone around the room. It could have become rather ugly and unpleasant. This was a

welcome distraction.

“Please welcome them in” Sage Shunahotra replied.

He withdrew bowing his head again only to return a couple of minutes later with four of the

travellers and Uttarapada, the interpreter. Protocol required that an interpreter be present,

when foreigners are in the Great Hall in front of the Council, despite the fact all the elders

could speak seven different languages. One of them was a Sumerian who could be easily

recognised by the flat cloth cap he was wearing. He was tall, rather thin, with thick bushy

eyebrows, long nose, clean shaven and rather dark complexioned. He wore a long white

cloth dress with full sleeves and leather shoes with rope thongs. The wooden sandals made

clicketty clack when he walked. The gown was tied around the waist with a hemp rope and a

large gold medallion hung from the end of the tied rope.

The second one was obviously a Dasyu who was stocky, well built, like a wrestler and thick

black moustache and a short pointy beard. He was taller and lighter skinned than the usual

dasyu’s seen in Harappa. He wore a wrap-around cloth around his waist and bare chest and a

turban on the head. The shawl he carried over his shoulder was typical Dasyu style, over the

left shoulder and down under the right arm pit to go around the body. He also had rosary

beads around his neck and a gold chain with a pendant. The picture etched on the pendant

was rather interesting. There was a figure of a female Goddess, which looked very much like

our mother Goddess. We don’t see many Dasyu’s in Harappa as there was a long standing

conflict with rogue Dasyu’s tribes who regularly raided the far flung towns of Bharata in the

37

south for as long as one could remember. They had reputation of being rough, violent, and

uncultured. Father used to say that most of the reputation was ill founded on hearsay and

rumours. The Dasyus, I had seen were always polite and gentle and their music was lilting

and very soothing. I could not imagine any civilisation that could produce such

transcendental music could be violent. Most of the gold in Harappa came from the land of

Dasyus in Deep South, past the Vindhya hills.

The third man was different from others. He was very tall, well built, had a very light skin,

high cheek bones, long flowing beard and emerald blue eyes. His hair caught everyone’s

eyes. It was jet black and curled down the cheeks almost down to the shoulders. He was

wearing a thick short dress with a leather top and wore cloth truncated cone shaped cap with

a rope tied around the base. A deep purple cape covered his top and there was a leather belt

across his waist. I could make out a short ivory handled dagger tucked in its sheath under the

leather belt. It was unusual in that he was wearing sandals made completely of leather. He

had bright and piercing eyes, and held his head high at all times. He had his hands folded

under the cape. He kept quite most of the time and appeared to be taking everything in that

was being said. He had an aura around him that was hard to pin point. He stood out from

others not just because of his height. There was something about him that was perplexing –

mysterious and at the same time loud and bold.

The fourth man was intriguing to say the least. He was not very tall, looked very scruffy and

olive skinned. He had a rather unkempt beard and a greying moustache, which bobbed up

and down when he spoke. He had a distinct stoop which made him look even shorter than he

was. The facial features were covered by hair and unrecognisable. He had thick bushy

eyebrows, which almost covered his eyes. He was completely wrapped with what appeared

38

to be one sheet of cloth. He was carrying a long gnarled oak wooden staff in left hand and a

cloth shoulder bag. The bag also was worn, tattered, and hung down at his knees with weight

of whatever was inside.

Behind the fourth man was our interpreter, Uttarapada. Uttarapada bowed his head to Sage

Shunahotra and offered obeisance to everyone in the room.

“I am glad you could come, Uttarapada. Not all of us here can understand the languages

spoken by our respected visitors very well.” Sage Shunahotra was being very modest. He

could speak at least six different languages fluently including Avestan and Sumerian. Most

of the elders could speak at least four different languages.

“Please welcome our respected visitors to our humble city. It would be an honour to assist

them in any way.”

Uttarapada turned around repeated Sage’s words in four languages to the visitors. All of

them nodded their heads and bowed their heads in respect to everyone in the room.

Uttarapada turned around and introduced each one of them.

The Sumerian turned out to be Shamash, son Etana of from the city of Uruk and he was a

merchant trading in Steatite and Lapis Lazuli. The Dasyu gentleman was Bhattora, son of

Kadambapan from the city of Naridavile in Deep South and he traded in Gold and precious

metals. The third gentleman was introduced simply as Shushun from Susa in Elaam trading

in oil. The fourth man who had attracted everyone’s attention by his uncouth appearance was

Hethro, a priest from Media.

39

Sage Shunahotra responded to the introduction with a “Namasthe to all of you. May Lord

Indra bestow health, wealth, and happiness to you and your family. What can this humble

city do for you?”

The Sumerian took the lead and said through Uttarapada

“I bring greetings from my glorious enchanted king Gilgamesh and the people of magnificent

land of Sumer and the city of Uruk.” He bowed deeply this time.

“Our humble greetings to your Great King Gilgamesh and people of Sumer. We have heard

the great exploits of your king and your people.” Sage Shunahotra replied. The legendary

stories of King Gilgamesh were already well known and carried a lot of respect among elders.

He had almost single handedly built up the whole empire from what was shambles with all

the tribes fighting each other. He had built the great city of Uruk and reinforced the city with

great battlements. The city wall that he had built around Uruk was legendary and considered

impregnable by everyone.

“We are very concerned about the attacks by Avestan soldiers. There have been several

attacks in Sindhu and some of our fellow travellers have been killed and injured. They do not

appear to be regular soldiers as two of the injured merchants were Avestans themselves. We

feel they are not governed by the rules of the war and may attack civilians for material gain.

We would like sanctuary within the city walls during our stay.” He was rather a serious

looking gentleman and looked very worried.

“I am very sorry to hear your concerns. I have been made aware of the Avestan attacks in

Sindhu. Your presumption is right. They are not regular Avestan soldiers. I am sure they

are rogue bandits dressed up as soldiers. I cannot imagine Avestan army would dare attack

40

this far south from their country. The council is trying to arrange for accommodation for all

the travellers within the city walls. I have asked Master Abhiyantaa to provide a space where

you can park your carts within the city walls. The Council of Elders is also planning to send

a delegation to Ariana’s capital city of Mundigak to discuss the issue with the Avestan King.

Master Abhiyantaa, can you tells us how far has the plan progressed to provide the travellers

with accommodation within city walls?” Sage Shunahotra said turning to Master

Abhiyantaa.

“My engineers are busy clearing the land to the north east of the city where the travellers can

be safe. It will take at least a week before the land is ready for the travellers to get their

caravans and bullock carts into the city” Master Abhiyantaa replied.

Uttarapada translated the words to the travellers each in turn. It was Bhattora, the Dasyu

merchant was still not happy.

“Oh Great Sage. I bring greetings from the people of Kingdom of Dravida and our Pandyan

King, Kadamban” He said bowing his head almost all the way down to the floor, the red tail

of his turban trailing on the floor. He had a deep soft voice belying his size and demeanour.

Almost musical. I can imagine him singing to the rhythmic beats of the Dasyu drums and the

one stringed instrument.

“Our humble greetings to you sir and your great King Kadamban and his subjects” Sage

Shunahotra replied. “We welcome you to this humble city and be rest assured that we will do

all we can to protect everyone who comes into our city.”

“Forgive me Oh Great Sage. We have brought our families with us hundreds of yojanas

(distance travelled by a cart in one day) from home and it takes several months to reach here.

41

Our concern in not just for our goods but for the lives of our families, our wives and

children” One could understand his concern as he was carrying precious Gold in his cargo

and he would be targeted first by any raiders.

Master Adhvadipa replied this time.

“Pardon the intrusion oh great Sage Shunahotra” and turned to the travellers and said, “I have

made arrangements for our soldiers to patrol your camp through the night and they will

provide any assistance you may require. They will protect you.” Turning back to Sage

Shunahotra, he said, “I have deployed a platoon of soldiers armed with bows and spears to

protect them day and night.” He was the commander of our forces. He had an army of about

one thousand soldiers including one hundred horses, fifty elephants, and fifty chariots. He

was a very strict taskmaster, but he looked after his soldiers very well. All of his soldiers

loved him and they would lay down their lives for him.

“Thank you Master Adhvadipa. We are extremely grateful for your help. As usual you have

done your duty before it was asked.” Sage Shunahotra said.

When all this was translated to the travellers, they appeared very happy. The gentleman from

Elaam who was quiet all along said.

“I bring offerings and greetings from our glorious King Awan and the people of Haltamti.”

Uttarapada explained that Elaam was called Haltamti in thei language. The Sumerian looked

rather uncomfortable at this. The age-old enmity between the Elaamites and the Sumerian

was well known. The Elaamites had only recently regained their independence from the rule

of Sumerians. The Sumerians had ruled Elaam for the past hundred years from the city of

Uruk and had been very successful in suppressing any attempt at revolt repeatedly with brute

42

force and superior power. King Awan had raised a formidable army and was instrumental in

getting their freedom. They were known for their strong horses, which outpaced anything

else on four legs in the known world. They were also known for their skills in archery on the

horse.

“Our humble greetings to your great King Awan and your people from Haltamti. We have

the greatest respect for your king who fought so valiantly for his people” Sage Shunahotra

replied. There was a moment’s silence at this. Everyone in the room was looking at the

Sumerian to see his reaction. The Sumerian had his head down and was difficult to gauge his

reaction. The only thing we could see was that his fist was clenched and knuckles were

turning white. Sage Shunahotra was an old hand at diplomacy. He looked directly at the

Sumerian and appear acknowledge his discomfort. The Sumerian obviously felt the Great

Sage’s eyes on his head and lifted his head to look at Shunahotra. The eyes were locked

together for a long time.

“Everyone is equal here as long as they are on the sacred soil of Bharata. Any dissent will

not be tolerated. We have a great respect for all the civilisations and expect all travellers to

respect our wishes.” Sage Shunahotra finished and kept looking at the Sumerian. His voice

was measured and at the same time carried his authority and left nothing to doubt in anyone’s

mind who was listening. The Sumerian lowered his eyes and visibly relaxed and unclenched

his fist. There was a sigh of relief from everyone in the hall.

“I have been to several countries over the years and visited number of cities. However, this is

the friendliest city in the world. I have never been welcomed like this anywhere else. My

complements to the Council of Elders. You have been extremely generous and kind. I wish

there was something that we could do for you in return for your generosity.” The Elaamite,

43

Shushun said and he appeared to mean what he said. There was a sense of genuine

acceptance in his voice.

“That is very kind of you sir. Our scriptures say “guest in our house is like God” and they

have to be treated as such. You could do something for us during your stay here. You could

teach us the ways of your culture and you could teach us how to make oil.” Sage Shunahotra

said through Uttarapada.

The Elaamite smiled at this and said, “I would be glad to teach your people the ways of our

culture. However, I cannot teach you how to make oil. It is my livelihood. If I teach you

how to make oil, you will not need me here.”

When Uttarapada finished translating his words, Sage Shunahotra smiled and said, “I

understand you perfectly. We do not want to jeopardise your livelihood. However, you

come to us once a year because of the great distance you have to travel and we often run out

of oil long before your return. Secondly, we will not be able to make the Olive oil, as they do

not grow in these parts. We would very much like to produce oil using our indigenous seeds.

That way, it will not affect your livelihood.”

Sage Shunahotra was very clever. He was trying to get one of the most profitable industries

into Harappa.

“Thank you. Oh Great Sage. I will do my best to teach your people the extraction technique,

provided you give me your word that you will not buy Olive oil from anyone else” The

Elaamite merchant, replied.

“I will have to discuss the proposition with others in the Council before I can give you a

reply. I am extremely grateful for your offer. Please accept our hospitality and let us know if

44

you need anything else.” Sage Shunahotra replied. It was decided that word would be sent

out to him as soon as a decision is made. He then turned to the Median priest who appeared

to be half-asleep with his eyes closed. “I hope you are satisfied with the arrangements as

well, honourable Priest Hethro.”

He opened his eyes, smiled at Sage Shunahotra, and bent his head with his right hand raised

palm forwards in the typical Median blessing. He was not very young. In fact, he looked

ancient. It was hard to imagine that he had travelled this far from Media.

“May the God Baal bless you and the people of the great city of Harappa” he said with an

extremely cultured voice. It was a shock to everyone there to see such a tone from such a

scruffy looking individual. He was obviously well educated and from a religious upbringing.

“I am only a humble priest. My requirements are small. If Lord wants to take me today or

tomorrow, it matters very little. My concern is not only for my fellow travellers, but also for

all creatures. I have seen some atrocious acts by these attackers. I am here only to show

support for my fellow travellers and beg for your assistance in safeguarding them. From

what I have seen here today, my fears are unfounded. I am sure we will be very well

protected by the Great Sage.”

It was well said. I could see the pride swell in those who were listening to his words. The

stories about Median people as barbaric nomads and uncultured were evidently not true.

“Thank you for your kind words oh Priest Hethro. Our city and all of Bharata prides itself in

protecting the vulnerable and upholding the law. You have nothing to fear. I personally

would welcome a discourse from you and teach us the great scriptures from Median.” Sage

Shunahotra replied.

45

“I have learnt some of your scripture sire. They are not much different to ours. I know that

the great Sage knows our scriptures fully. I have come here to update my knowledge of your

scriptures, which now is very little. I hope by the time I leave this great city, I will have

learnt at least a fraction of your great culture’.”

“You are only too modest sir. I have heard of the Priest Hethro of Median and his cosmic

wisdom. I can tell that you possess great knowledge. I beg you to impart some your

knowledge to us with a discourse” Sage Shunahotra continued.

The Priest finally agreed to give a discourse on the Sun God at the Great Hall the following

week. With that, the travellers withdrew from the Great Hall.

As soon as the door was shut behind the travellers, Sage Shunahotra turned to Master

Audyogica, who was in charge of the industries in Harappa and said

“Master Audyogica, please make sure you get the information out of the Elaamite and I want

our engineers to build the necessary equipment as soon as possible to extract oil from ground

nut.”

Master Audyogica said “I will certainly do that Sage Shunahotra. I must complement you on

your diplomacy. The Elaamites are not known for their generosity. You managed to strike

such a bargain with him that is sure to improve our prosperity. I will get on to it straight

away.”

“There is something about this Elaamite; I am still unable to place. I don’t honestly believe

that he is a simple oil merchant” Sage Shunahotra said.

46

There was a murmur of consent from around the hall. Nevertheless, no one was concerned as

the Great Sage could use his divine thought to find out all the details of the Elaamite. It will

not be long before he would divulge the secret behind the Elaamite.

Sage Shunahotra turned to Master Skanda of Education and said “Master Skanda, I would

like you to delegate the best student with you to learn as much about their culture as possible.

It is likely that the merchant will be with us for two to three months and we will have to make

good use of this opportunity.”

“I will send Priyavada, who is probably the best student we have to learn from the merchant.

I will have to get Uttarapada for help with the language.” Master Skanda replied.

“How are we doing with our food production Master Vaishyakarman?” Sage Shunahotra

asked. Master Vaishyakarman was sitting on the left side almost near the door. He was in

charge of agriculture. He had introduced several new techniques of crop cultivation and

storage since taking over a few years ago. One could say that he was in charge of

breadbasket of the city. Because of his efforts, Harappa was not only self sufficient in food

but also capable of distributing food to neighbouring cities and towns and still have a surplus

for trading with foreigners. His innovations had increased the prosperity of the city to a large

extent.

“We are doing very well. The crop this year was very successful and our storages are full to

the brim. Our farmers have come up with a new idea to keep the grains fresh for a long time

and it will help. We lost a fair amount of grain last year due to rotting of grains. They have

found out that if we can allow some air into the granaries through vents at the top, the grains

will last longer.” Master Vaishyakarman replied.

47

“Thank you Master Vaishyakarman I am sure the city will be extremely grateful for that”

Sage Shunahotra replied and continued “Were there any damage to the granaries during the

earth quake?”

“No. There was no damage. These granaries are built to last. They have been around for

hundreds of years and I am sure they will be there for another hundred years” Master

Vaishyakarman replied.

“We have to beef up the gates at the western and southern ends. I need more soldiers and

more protection for the soldiers at the gate” Master Nahusha said. He was sitting quietly in

the right hand corner of the great hall watching and listening to everything. Nothing escaped

his eyes. Safety and security of Harappa depended on him and his select band of security

guards. “We have to increase the copper plate production for the breast plates for the

soldiers. I want them for everyone.”

Sage Shunahotra turned to Master Audyogica and said “How are the copper foundries doing

now?”

“We have increased the production at our foundries. Unfortunately, we have to go deeper for

the copper in our mines. Our engineers are looking at a couple of alternative sites for copper.

I hope that it will not be long before we find another seam of copper. Some of our engineers

feel that much of the ore is wasted during extraction. I believe the Sumerians know of a

technique to extract copper with very little wastage. I wonder if we can get that information

from our Sumerian friend.” Master Audyogica replied.

There was a smile all around. No one could imagine the Sumerian’s giving up any of their

secrets. There had been several wars between Sumerians and Elaamites on the very subject.

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Sumerian’s possessed knowledge of superior metallurgy, mining and also agricultural

techniques. It was next to impossible to get any help from them. They had strong links with

the Egyptians and their science of metallurgy came from Sumerian slaves coming back from

Egyptian mines. They had used their knowledge build an impressive army and taken over

Elaam for hundred years. It was King Awan, a minor Elaamite chieftain at the time, who had

gathered a large army and fought valiantly to regain their land only recently. It was

rumoured that the Sumerians had left some of their equipment behind and that the Elaamites

might have knowledge of the latest metal extraction techniques. It was also rumoured that

the great Egyptian Pharoah Khufu himself had assisted the Elaamites to punish the Sumerians

for stealing the technology from Egypt.

“Let us get over this problem that we face now caused by the earthquake. The travellers will

be here for a few months. We can always approach ...”

There was an urgent knocking on the door before he could finish. It sounded rather frenetic

and everyone turned around towards the door.

“Please enter” Sage Shunahotra said.

The door attendant entered with me running behind him. I just could not wait for the

pleasantries of the protocol of the Council. There were lives at stake. I was quite sure that I

will be reprimanded by the elders later.

“Yes Upaas. Please welcome. What can we do for you?” Sage Shunahotra said. Nothing

fazed him. I could see the looks of disapproval and disappointment from father as well as

Master Ashwin.

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“My most humble obeisance to the Great Sage Shunahotra and the Council of Elders. My

deepest humble apologies for bursting into the great Council and interrupting the meeting of

Elders. However, I need help. We are facing somewhat of a medical disaster. If we do not

hurry, lives will be lost. I need my Master Ashwin’s help urgently” I blurted out before

anyone else could say anything.

“Exceptional circumstances need exceptional actions. We will discuss the Council’s Protocol

later. Pray tell us what has happened. We were under the impression that the earthquake had

not caused any serious damage?” Sage Shunahotra replied.

“I am eternally grateful for your words oh great sage. The city wall in the northern quarter

has collapsed on to some houses and I believe there are people trapped inside. We have so

far pulled out five people and they are seriously hurt. We need many people to help us clear

the rubble and pull others out from under the rubble. I can hear some cries coming from deep

inside” I said.

“Have you asked any of my engineers to help?” Father asked.

“Yes father. Brother Vidhaayaka is already there supervising clearing operations. He has

also started to bolster some of the neighbouring buildings to stop them from collapsing.

Brother Sathakratu is also there helping” I replied.

“Do you have enough medical help? Do we need to get any help from other cities?” My

Master asked.

“My humble apologies to you master. I had to do this without your prior approval. I have

Ubhaya and two of the apprentices with me and we are clearly struggling. I am sure we can

manage with your help” I was also thinking that it would take at least two days at least before

50

we can get anyone from the nearest city which was Sindhu. That was, if the earthquake had

not damaged the road from Sindhu. I know the path to Sindhu went through some

mountainsides and landslides were quite common. If there were landslide due to the

earthquake, they would have had to go around the hills and would take at least three days to

get here.

“My engineers were busy with the aqueduct which was slightly damaged. I will get them to

come along and give a hand” Master Abhiyantaa said. “I am sure they will find a way of

reinforcing the structures until they are rebuilt.”

“We are grateful for your efforts Master Abhiyantaa” Sage Shunahotra replied. “How about

using some of your soldiers to help out Master Adhvadipa?”

“I will make arrangements for a platoon of our soldiers to come and help” He said.

“Clearly there are matters which need all out urgent attention outside this great hall” Sage

Shunahotra said “We will adjourn our meeting today and get on with what is required now.

Please stand up for the prayers now” With that he turned towards the deities on the platforms.

“Oh God Indra. Praise is to you. Give us strength in these difficult times. Give us strength

to overcome our shortcomings.” Sage Shunahotra raised his hands to the God and then said

the closing prayers in Sanskrit to God Indra, Varuna, and Pashupathi. He finished by paying

obeisance to Agni the God of fire. I could see him standing tall against the blazing sacrificial

fire, his long white hair braided and rolled up on top of his head, a brilliant long white beard

bobbing slowly with his intonations, broad raised forehead with a large white ash mark in the

middle and piercing eyes ever so alert. He was impressive at all times and commanded

respect from everyone who met him. He commanded a respect the minute one lays their eyes

51

on him. He had dark deep brown eyes, which did not miss anything. An ethereal aura

surrounded him and you felt safe in his presence at the same time afraid. Since he had taken

over the role of Chief of Council of Elders of Harappa a couple of decades ago, there had

been unparalleled prosperity. Peace had settled on the city and the bountiful harvest every

year made everyone happy. Hariupia had become a very rich city indeed. The legend had it

that he could speak to God Varuna and get rains to the land at will. No one really knew how

old he was. The only thing we knew was that he was with the Sage Vishwamitra in the deep

forest of Shivalik hills meditating for years and that he had visited Mount Kailash and been

blessed by God Pashupathi himself. He had untold powers at his disposal and which was

seen an action during the troubles with rogue Dasyu tribes from the deep south several years

ago. I was too young at the time to remember any details first hand. Father used to tell us the

story of how some Dasyus had developed demonic powers and causing havoc in the forest as

well as the outlying farms. The story of Sage Shunahotra went to the rescue and defeated the

Dasyus is still recited at schools and had become part of folklore. Great Sage Shunahotra

had used his divine powers to vanquish the magical powers of the Dasyus for the last time.

Dasyus had since then given up their demonical worship and lived in peace with everyone.

As he finished and walked past us to the door, we all slowly walked behind him to the bright

sunshine outside. As if by magic, the priests appeared at the side door and started to fuss

over the deities on the platform. They will have a long ritual ahead of them to “put the Gods

to sleep”.

“I will be at the Temple for the rest of the day. If you need any help from other cities, please

let me know as soon as possible” He said before turning and walking briskly away. He

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obviously had a lot on his mind. Many things had happened that day and he had a lot to think

about.

“Father, I have brought two spare horses for you and Master Ashwin. I thought it would be

quicker to get to the northern wall that way” I said turning to my father.

“That is good thinking son. We are grateful to you” He said. I could see Master Adhvadipa

and Master Abhiyantaa rushing off in different directions to get their people moving. It just

occurred to me that we have such a cohesive society here in Harappa and thank God for that.

As we rode along the roads towards the northern wall where it had collapsed, I brought both

of them up to speed about the situation at the site. All of us were very anxious and I could

see both father and Master Ashwin were in deep concentration. It is never a good idea to

disturb either one of them during one of their “trances”.

53

A Tired Physician

We ambled along with the two apprentices sitting in the cart. Ubhaya and I on our horses,

followed the soldier who had rushed to us with the information of the collapsed wall. As we

turned the corner to the northern approach road, we could see a cloud of dust rising from a

distance. The road itself appeared to be covered in a diffuse brown and grey haze. I could

not see very far and the dust started to affect our breathing. One of the junior apprentices

started to cough and our eyes started to water. I stopped at the corner fountain and dowsed

my shoulder cloth in water and after thoroughly wringing all the dripping water off, I

wrapped the cloth around my face. I asked the others to do the same. There was nothing I

could do to stop eyes watering.

When we reached the site where the wall had collapsed, it was a hive of activity. There were

many people trying to help in clearing the rubble. I could see some of them were crying and

sitting by the wayside. As we got close, first of the men trapped under the rubble was pulled

out and we started to work on him as quickly as we could. It looked like he had broken his

leg and was bleeding profusely from a wound. I could see Maya, the junior most apprentice

go white around her ears and quickly sat down. She has been in training for less than a

couple of years and had not seen many serious injuries yet. I hoped she would not faint. I

did not want an extra patient to look after now.

I asked Ubhaya to unload the salves and splints. I quickly used the cloth sheets and a wooden

stick to apply a tourniquet around his leg to stop the bleeding. As I twisted the cloth sheet

with the stick, the pressure increased on the thigh and eventually stopped the bleeding. I

knew I had to do something quickly and find the bleeding vessel to stop it spurting with a silk

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tie. Otherwise, the tourniquet would itself destroy the circulation in the leg and he will lose

his leg.

“I need plenty of water quickly. Can you get a few pails of water please?” I asked the

soldier who had come for us. He rushed off in the direction of the nearest fountain and came

back with two full pails in his hand.

Dhatri, one of our nurses who had accompanied us, held the leg as I washed the debris off the

wounds and found the bleeding vessel. I took a silk thread out of my pouch and tied it around

the vessel. I released the tourniquet by untwisting the stick watching the suture all the time.

Luckily, the suture held and there was bleeding. I dressed the wound with the Salve that we

had brought with us. Ubhaya cut some bandages for me to tie around the leg.

“Can you cut some bamboo for splints please Ubhaya?” I asked.

He soon got some bamboo splints made for me. I would have thought that he would have the

splints ready by now. I have had this problem repeatedly with Ubhaya. He appeared not to

pay any attention to what was happening around him. His mind was always somewhere else.

It had become extremely difficult for him to start concentrating of on any subject for too

long. I had seen Master asking him to be more proactive on several occasions. So far, there

was no visible improvement or change. I was beginning to wonder if he did not have the

aptitude to be a physician.

“Can you hold this leg for me while I apply the splint please?” I again asked. I could see

Dhatri was struggling to hold the leg still, on her own. Ubhaya knelt down to hold the man’s

leg. By now, he had lost consciousness due to pain. Maya gave me more bandages to tie the

55

splint around the man’s leg. As I was concentrating on the man’s leg, a voice said to me in a

heavily accented Sanskrit.

“It would heal better if you use mixture of Honey and Sea weed on the wound before you

apply the splint.”

I looked up to see a tall Elaamite gentleman staring down at the man’s leg. It gave me a start.

He was the last person I had expected to see there. I could see that he was an Elaamite by the

way he was dressed. He was rather tall and gaunt looking, bushy eyebrows, and a dark thick

moustache and was wearing that typical cone cap with a rope around the base of the cap. He

was also obvious by the leather sandals that he wore.

“We felt the tremors in our camp. Luckily, there was no damage in the camp. We saw the

dust cloud rising above the city as we came out of the Great Hall. We thought we might

help” He continued.

“Thank you for your advice. I have heard of that treatment technique from my Master. It is

an Egyptian remedy, Master tells me. Unfortunately, I have neither the honey nor sea weed

here” I finished tying the splint and stood up. “Namaste. I am Upaas, a Physician from the

hospital. It is very kind of you to offer your help” I said.

Elaamites had learnt a lot of medicine from their neighbours, the Egyptian physicians.

Egyptians were known for several elixirs, salves, and potions, but they had never divulged

their secrets to anyone else in the world. The Egyptians were trying to make friends with

Elaamites so that they will have a buffer against the Edomites and also to punish the

Sumerians for their “treachery”. Elaamites were known for their ferocious large steeds

proven beyond doubt in the recent conflicts with the Sumerians. Egypt at that moment

56

needed as many allies as possible, what with Nubians revolting in the south, Hittites in the

north and the Edomites to the east. The rumour was that the Pharoah Khufu had sent his

personal physicians to teach medicine to Elaamites in exchange for horses and army support

during any conflict.

“I am only too glad to help. I am Shushun from Haltamti. I have been welcomed with open

arms by your city. It is the least I can do to repay your kindness. I have some seaweed in my

caravan. I will get my boy to get some over here.” He turned to a young boy who was

standing a few feet behind with deference and said something rapidly in Elaamite language.

He was speaking too quickly for me to understand what was being said. My command of

Elaamite was not that good yet.

He did not speak like a commoner. I could detect a regal bearing in him. We made the

patient as comfortable as possible and I asked the soldier if he could get some help to move

him to a safe place while we deal with others. By now, they had pulled out a couple more

people and a child of about five years old. She was crying her heart out and I had difficulty

keeping her still while I examined her. Luckily, she had not suffered any major damage.

Only minor bruises on the legs. I applied some liniment on the legs and got one of the

soldiers to take her to her relatives if they could find them.

As I turned around to speak to Shushun, the Elaamite, disaster struck. The wall, which was

leaning against a house, suddenly gave way with a loud thud. The dust nearly blacked out the

sun and the ground trembled as if there was another tremor. I knew there were soldiers under

their trying to get some of the survivors out. As the dust started to settle, I realised the

enormity of the situation. I needed help and very quickly. Just the three of us, four if you

count the Elaamite, was not going to be enough.

57

“I will go and get my Master from the Council of Elders. We will need help now.” I said.

“Please do not worry Master Upaas. I will look after the injured as much as I can by the time

you get help.” The Elaamite said. I did not think twice. Something in him made me think

that he was no ordinary traveller or simple merchant of Oil and that he would be more than

capable of looking after the situation while I get help. He knelt down and pulled up his cape

to tie around his waist. As he did so, I could see a brief flash as the sun caught the golden

ring on his finger of left hand. He quickly removed and pouched it before I could see it

properly. Was it a royal seal on the ring? I wondered. It did look familiar. I was deep in

thought when I heard.

“You better start get going and get some help soon. We will need all the help we can get.” It

was the Elaamite speaking. I shook my head to get me out of the deep reverie I had fallen

into. There were a thousand questions I wanted to ask. However, I did not have time. It will

have to wait for a time when this was over.

I called out to the nearest soldier I could find;

“Can I have three of your best horses please? I need them urgently to get more help here

with the injured.”

The soldier did not need to be asked twice. These guys had been trained to take orders and

follow them quickly. He ran across to other end of the street where the soldiers’ horses had

been tethered and came back with three of them. They all looked reasonably rested and fresh.

“Here you are Master Upaas. Please hurry as there are quite a few soldiers trapped under the

debris now.” There was a sense of urgency in his voice. I hopped on to one of the horses as

the soldier gave me the lead for the other two horses in my hand. I set off at a gallop with the

58

other two horses trailing behind me to bring back Master Ashwin and father. I had realised it

would need the help of father as well as my Master to coordinate the rescue effort and

reinforce the buildings and the wall. I had galloped at high speed with the two other horses in

tow to the Great Hall where I knew there was the meeting of the Council of Elders today. As

I got of my horse at the Great Hall, one of the soldiers at the door helped me tie horse to the

stake outside.

“I have to go into the Great Hall. I have an urgent message.”

“I am sorry Master Upaas” The soldier knew who I was. He was at the hospital not too long

ago with painful knees and I had given him a liniment and dietary advice for his arthritic

knee. “The travellers had just been in with problems. They took quite a long time inside.

Uttarapada was there as well to translate and the council meeting has already been delayed. I

do not know if I can disturb them again. I will need to speak to the captain and he has just

gone on his rounds.”

“Look here, soldier. This is an emergency. I am sure the Great Sage Shunahotra would

understand. Several lives are at stake. If we don’t hurry many people will die.”

That got some action from the elderly soldier. I could see his eyes widen and started to fiddle

with his spear. He was clearly afraid to break the protocol of the council and at the same

time, he did not want to be responsible for the death of innocent people.

“All right Master Upaas. Please follow me.” With that, he walked past me and opened the

large wooden doors of the anteroom of the Great Hall. He beckoned me in and as I followed

him he walked fast and stopped in front of an ornate door decorated with copper finials all

along the frame and had two burning lamps on either side. The door was made of thick wood

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covered with bronze plaques and a solid brass knocker in the shape of a lion’s head. The

lamps produced dancing shadows on the walls on either side of the door and reflected off the

bronze plaques and copper finials over the door. It gave the feeling of the room being larger

than it was and also it made you aware of the power behind those doors. Some of the most

powerful men of the great Bharata were sitting behind this door. I was too preoccupied with

the matter in hand to notice the detailed paintings on the walls on either side. They depicted

the great war of King Divodasa against the Dasyu’s a long time ago. The other wall depicted

God Indra helping King Divodasa defeat the demons from the north. He knocked on the door

and did not have to wait long before Sage Shunahotra said

“Please enter”

As the soldier opened the door, I could not contain myself any longer and burst into the Great

Hall, rushed past the soldier up to the altar in the far distance, and knelt in front of the Great

Sage.

That is how I came to be in the Great Hall for the first time in my life. It was a pity that I did

not get a good look around as I had heard so much about the hall and very few people had

ever seen inside of the hall.

Now, as we made our way back from the Great Hall along with my Master and Father, it

occurred to me that there might be repercussions on my actions of today. I had done several

things today which would be frowned upon. I had left a stranger, a foreigner at that, in

charge of a disaster scene, I had burst into the Great Hall and disturbed the Council of Elders

without going through the set rules of etiquette. There was nothing I could do but wait for

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the consequences. I could sense father looking at me as he rode next to me. I was sure he

read my mind at that precise moment.

“Who have you left in charge of your patients while you came to fetch us?” Father asked.

It drew me up sharp. Not that he had asked me a question, but he had asked me that question.

It suddenly realised that it is going to be difficult to explain that I had left a total stranger in

charge. How am I going to explain this? My mind was racing to find a way of getting out of

this. Then I remembered what the Great Sage Shunahotra had said to me on the last day of

my schooling at the Gurukul.

“One thing that will take you far in life is, being honest. Be honest with yourself and honest

with everyone else. Making a mistake is human and forgiving someone else’s mistake is

divine.”

I knew that it would be best to come clean and tell the truth.

“Father. Master Ashwin. Please accept my apologies as I have left a total stranger in charge

of the scene with Ubhaya assisting.”

“Who is it? What do you know of him?” It was the Master who asked this time.

“He is an Elaamite called Shushun. I believe he had been in the Great Hall to speak to the

Council of Elders earlier. He looked and behaved with such knowledge of medicine that I

felt I could leave him in charge for a short period. I was facing a situation where I had to

make a quick decision about getting more help. We were clearly overwhelmed and I could

not ask Ubhaya to go and fetch help” The words came out in such a rush that I was not

completely aware of what I was saying.

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Master Ashwin and father exchanged glances with each other. Both of them looked a bit

worried about the information they had just heard.

“Yes. He was in the Great Hall a little while ago. Tell me Upaas, what made you have so

much faith to leave such a stranger in charge of the operation?” Master asked me.

“He appeared to know a lot about medicine and he was offering advice on treating patients

when the wall collapsed further. He advised me on the use of Egyptian remedy of honey and

seaweed for wounds that you have wanted to try, Master. He appeared to know much about

the treatment of injuries.” I replied with some hesitation.

“I hope you have taken the right decision. Only you know if have or not. It takes courage

and conviction to take such quick decisions in time of emergencies. I have full faith in you,

Upaas. I am sure you have made the right decision.” Master was being kind “Now. Tell me

the extent of damage and your estimate of casualties at the northern wall.”

“We had helped a few people out of the rubble of two houses when the northern wall came

down on top of the entire row of houses. There were soldiers and engineers trying to get

people out of the debris when it happened. I am sure there are still several people trapped

under all that rubble. At a rough estimate, including the six rescuers there must be around

twenty-five people trapped under the rubble. I am only guessing master. I have asked the

soldiers to try to find out how many people have been not accounted for. Hopefully by the

time we get there, the soldiers will have the number for us.”

“If there are as many as twenty five people needing urgent treatment, we may need assistance

from outside Harappa. We need to do a quick assessment and let Sage Shunahotra know as

soon as possible” Master said. Rest of the journey was made in silence.

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It was not long before we reached the north wall. The scene there was one of chaos with

fallen debris all over the place and soldiers covered in dust running around extricating people

from under the debris. The Elaamite, Shushun appeared to have things under control. He

had all the injured under shelter arranged in two rows. He had managed to commandeer a

few of the soldiers to help with cleaning and getting the patients ready for treatment. I could

not see Ubhaya anywhere.

As we came near, Shushun who was busy with a patient with multiple injuries stood up and

greeted my Master and father. His white robes were covered in blood and dust from the

debris. His hands however were still spotlessly clean.

“Greetings Masters, now that you are here, we should have this mess cleared up in no time.”

“Thank you for your help in our hour of need, Master Shushun. It is indeed very kind of

you” my Master replied. “What is your assessment of the situation now?”

“The soldiers and engineers have extracted most of the people from underneath the debris.

There have been only two fatalities so far. There are 18 people with injuries who need

treatment. My view is that four of them will need hospitalisation for more treatment” The

Elaamite continued.

I was quite impressed with his assessment. I was still wondering where Ubhaya was and

voiced my concern.

“I sent him off to have some rest. He had been working for a long time and looked tired.”

Shushun replied. My Master was not very impressed with that.

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“This is no time to have rest. He will have plenty of time to rest once all the patients are

treated.”

He turned to one of the soldiers and asked him to find Ubhaya and get him back. Ubhaya

returned looking rather sullen and unhappy at being summoned in the middle of his rest.

“I had been working hard for several hours now and I only sat down for a minute.”

It was the Elaamite’s turn to look surprised.

“But Master Ubhaya, you went away nearly an hour ago?”

“It does not matter. Our priority now is to get all the walking wounded treated and to move

the seriously wounded ones to the hospital as soon as possible.” Master Ashwin replied and

turned to the Captain who had just joined us from the rescue operations. “What is your

assessment of the situation, Captain?”

“I think we have the situation nearly under control Master Ashwin. There are only four

people un-accounted for including two soldiers. I have men digging out the debris from the

damaged houses” He replied.

Master Ashwin looked at Father before continuing;

“How long since the wall collapsed now, Captain?”

“I know what you are thinking Master. It has indeed been a long time since the wall

collapsed. But, we cannot give up until we have found them one way or the other.”

“I agree entirely with you Captain. You find them and let’s us see if we can revive them or

not. I don’t hink we should give up until all the people have been accounted for.”

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I was not as hopeful as the Master in reviving someone who had been crushed for several

hours. Master turned to the captain again and said;

“I want you to send one of your soldiers to my house with a message to my wife and to

Master Kodhandaki at the Temple.”

Captian barked out orders to one of the soldiers nearby to get a fresh horse. When the soldier

returned, Master Ashwin took him to a side and whispered some instructions to the soldier.

“And I want you to return as quickly as possible with the supplies from home.”

He could see the questions in our faces as he said that.

“I have asked him to get some supply of Soma. It is extremely useful in seriously injured

patients. Master Kodhandaki is a Gandhari and I would welcome his Gandhari skills in

managing some of these injuries. They are known for their magical healing powers.”

The captain returned with the news about the four missing people. The soldiers had managed

to locate all of them but were too late to save any. We were saddened to hear the loss of

further lives. But, considering the extent of destruction, the human cost was not extensive.

That day revealed why Ashwin was the Master of Medicine. His skill at assessing and

treating patients was unparalleled. We had all the patients treated and the place cleared

quickly. The seriously injured patients were stabilised and transferred to the hospital in

bullock carts. The Elaamite was a surprise as well. He was quick and extremely deft with his

hands. The way he conducted and supervised the soldiers showed that he was no commoner.

The sun was just beginning to go down by the time we finished. It was very tiring and at the

same time, very satisfying. I felt relieved that we had only lost so few people that day. The

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death toll was limited to nine people, three soldiers and six commoners, mainly because of

the skill of Master Ashwin and the help of Shushun. The disaster could have been worse.

The bodies had been handed over to the relatives and the final rites would be held that

evening before sunset. Sage Shunahotra would preside over the ceremony as it affected the

whole city. There was a continuous flow of people coming to pay respects to the departed

and bodie had been moved to the cremation grounds outside the northern gate. The scene

that evening was a reminder to all of us how fragile human beings were. The entire

procedure was done with extreme dignity and according to Vedic scriptures. Sage

Shunahotra lead the rites and the prayers were made to God Indra to accept the men and

women into his kingdom of heaven.

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The Black Magus

It was a pitch black, moonless night. Not a soul was stirring anywhere. Most people were

fast asleep in bed by now. It was nearly a week since the earthquake and it had affected most

of them one way or the other. Some had lost immediate family and some had lost loved ones.

The final rites had finished just as the sun was going down and the whole ceremony had left

the city in a sombre mood. A few had lost their homes, which were being rebuilt under the

guidance of brother Vidhayaka.

It was about an hour after Pradeepika had finished lighting all the street lamps. The only

visible light was from dimly lit stars in the sky and the little pools of light at the street corners

under the lampposts. The night patrol was moving along the streets rather casually as they

were not expecting any trouble. This night patrol had become more of a tradition rather than

of purpose as there had not been any trouble at night in living memory. There had never been

any crime of any sort in Harappa for as long as I could remember. Everyone appeared to be

content and under the rule of Sage Shunahotra, Harappans lead a happy and prosperous life.

A lonely figure appeared to be darting from one deep shadow to another on the street. He

appeared to know exactly where he was going and he was rushing towards his goal in

hurried, yet quiet footsteps. He was tall and lanky and had covered his head with a hood.

Closer inspection would have shown a drawn face with a greying beard and moustache, long

pointed nose, bright dark brown eyes, ears pinned back and bushy eyebrows close together.

There were heavy wrinkles under the eyes from hours spent planning and worrying about his

people and the skin over the face was drawn and made him look older than he was. His arms

were very long reaching almost to his knees with long scrawny fingers. The cloth top he

wore nearly covered his arms down to the fingers. Brass bangles on both wrists shimmered

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in the street lamps when the sleeves rode up when he swung his arms. He carried a long

wooden staff in his right hand which had odd carvings on the rounded knob at the top. The

staff did not make any noise on the pavement as he walked with a slight limp on the right

side. The Magus had waited outside the eastern Gate most of the afternoon before making

his move to enter the city. He had set off from Saraswata as soon as he had heard about the

quake from his friends in Harappa. He had travelled fast, but it still took him three days to

reach Harappa. He had left his beloved horse back at home, for the fear of recognition on the

road. He had to stay out of the main path whenever he heard any travellers. He managed to

keep the contact to a minimum by setting off very early in the morning before sunrise and

stopping in small villages out of the regular route between Saraswata and Harappa. The road

ended at the southern gate of the city. However, he did not want to get in through the

southern gate. There were too many guards and there would be too many questions that he

could not answer. As he neared the city, he took a wide detour through the forest and

approached the eastern gate, which was much quieter. It was used mostly by the local

farmers and occasional travellers. He had done his homework well. He knew that the road to

the eastern gate was uphill and as the bullock carts struggled to get to the gate, the Guards

often came down to help, leaving the gate unattended.

He had reached the gate rather early in the afternoon and waited within the line of trees out of

sight of the guards. He had chosen the site very well. He was sitting in the dark shadows of

a very large Peepal tree at the edge of a coconut grove. He had placed himself strategically

so that he could see both the eastern approach road and the gate without moving into sight.

He had watched farmers with their carts chugging into the city heavily laden with produce

from their farms, hoping for a good price in the city. Most of them were filled with heavy

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sacks of barley and rice. There was a long line of carts filled to the brim with juicy

sugarcane. The smell of sugarcane wafted up to him and made him feel hungry. There were

carts filled with vegetables and fruits, fresh from nearby farms. They were followed by their

wives and often with young sons tagging along. There was a lot of chitchat and laughter.

They all seemed so happy. A tinge of apprehension knotted his stomach thinking of what he

was about to do that evening. These people looked so happy and content. Why should they

not share their wealth and happiness with our people? Whenever he closed his eyes, the

scene of emaciated and weak men and women digging in dry hard land to eke out a living

flashed in front of him.

These last few years had been particularly hard on him. Quite a few people had given up the

fight, left the city of Sistan, and emigrated south and west to Elaam and even as far as

Sumeria. Some of the stronger ones had tried to cross the Pariyatra mountains (Hindu Kush)

in the east, into the famed land of Bharata. Most of these had perished in the harsh mountains

and were never heard of again. The Magus, Matriya was one of the few successful ones to go

through the high passes in the summer nearly five years ago and had made his way down

south to the port city of Saraswata where he could disappear among numerous foreigners in

the city. The river had almost dried up a long time ago and the wells that were dug did not

have much water. The country of Ariana, with nine rivers was starving and thirsty with very

little water in any of the rivers. It looked like the Gods had given up on his people and his

beloved Sistan. They could not please the Gods as the sacred Haoma (Soma) plant on Mount

Hara had become scarce due to lack of water. The story was much the same across the

country and the leaders in Mundigak, the capital did not seem to be doing anything.

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He could still see his mother, emaciated from years of poor nutrition and hard work

struggling to look after the ailing father. His father had become ill all of a sudden and had

not been able to work for a number of years. The land had lain fallow as he was too young to

cultivate it and mother was not strong enough to do it. There was no help as everyone else

was in the same boat as they were. There were plenty of abandoned houses all around them.

Some of the houses had fallen down giving the whole place a dilapidated look and he was

sure it would not be long before the land would claim the city back.

His father could do nothing but look on at struggling mother with tears welling up in his eyes.

He had lost his voice when the dreadful illness stuck him over a year earlier. Mother would

feed him first and her son, Matriya before she ate. That meant that she went without any food

most days. There were days when his mother would go out looking for food from

neighbouring houses. It pained him to see his mother beg for food. It hurt his father to see

the family wither away in the face of destitution. The family was eking out a precarious

existence in the face of mounting adversity.

Slowly over the years, all the “friends” had moved away from them and hardly anyone came

to his house. Very few people ever asked about his father or his mother, in case he would ask

for help. Just as Matriya became big enough to start working on the land, his father finally

had given up the fight and died. There was no one to help him cremate the body. More than

half of Sistan was deserted and looked like a ghost town. There was no one to question him

if he had cremated his father right outside his door. The local priest had long gone west

looking for greener pastures. The chief priest was the only one in the city and mother did not

want to ask him to perform the last rites. He had performed the last rights himself with

mother watching from the doorway. She did not cry. The tears had dried up a long time ago.

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She even helped him put the body onto the cart and followed him on foot behind the cart all

the way to the burning ghat outside the city. He had lit the pyre just as the sun was going

down and said his last prayers asking God Mithra to take his father to heaven. He vowed to

his late father that he would do his best to revenge for what had happened to their family. He

blamed the elders of the city as much as the Mother Nature for the plight. He also vowed to

his father that he will learn to control the Mother Nature and will never let this happen to

anyone else. They had taken the ashes in a mud pot to be dispersed in the almost dried up

Ustavaiti River later. There was not enough water in the dried up river for them to have a

bath after the final rites. They had gone to the well nearby and bathed to cleanse their body as

much as their soul before setting off back home.

It was quite dark as they walked back. His mother appeared to have aged that day and had

become very weak. The ravages of the recent years were showing and she hung to Matriya

for support as she limped along the road. It had started to rain heavily and a proper storm had

begun with thunder, lightning, and howling wind. It was as if Mother Nature had taken

exception to his vow and was showing her displeasure. The rain was too little and too late for

his father and his family and for the entire country at large. Both were completely soaked by

the time they got back home. He had worked hard on his land and at the same time enrolled

himself into the school to become a Magus. It was hard work. He would listen to the teacher

through the day along with other pupils and work on the land in the evenings. It gave him

very little time for anything else. His mother had watched him work himself to the ground

silently. She never said anything to stop him doing what he was doing and she catered to his

bodily needs. There was plenty of food in the house and wood for cooking since he had

started to work on the land. He made sure that his mother had her share of the food at every

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meal. This did not make any difference to her health. The loss of her husband seemed to

have taken a lot out of her and she never recovered. He had brought the physician to help her

and fed her with fresh fruit every day. Soon she was too weak to cook or look after the

house. He spent more and more time at home cooking, cleaning, and looking after his

mother. He cleaned her, fed her, and made sure she took her medicine and fresh fruit every

day. He got a Magus from the forest to give her some potions to get her back to health. He

even hired someone to help at home. It was all to no avail. It was as if his father had taken

away her will to live. It was not long before he was taking her body to the same place as his

father for cremation. That was a big blow to the Matriya. He had come to depend on her for

both physical and moral support to grow stronger and fight “the enemy” as he saw the Mother

Nature. By that time, he had become a fully-fledged Magus and people were coming to him

for help.

The death of his mother did was hard to take for young Matriya and something appeared to

snap inside. He had started to make seemingly irrational decisions and was always falling

out with the city elders. He had felt that they were all against him. His hypothesis and theory

of trying to control the nature did not go down well at all. He could see that he was getting

more and more alienated from the society slowly but surely. He was considered extremely

radical and bordering on being unhinged. Less and less people were coming to him for help

as a Magus with his magic and his potions. It was in one of the summer meetings, when the

council of elders of Sistan were discussing new ways of getting water to the city, that he had

made the suggestion of getting the mighty river Sindhu (Indus) to change course.

“Is it not true that some of the sages in Bharata are more powerful than the Gods? Is it not

also true that Gods come to the sages for help? Is it also not true that the Sages there can

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travel vast distances at will and see into the future? Is it not true that they control the rivers

and mountains?”

The Magus would have gone on if the leader of the council had not stopped him with;

“What you say may be true son. We don’t know if they can control nature and move rivers

and mountains. They are all stories propagated by story tellers. No one alive has seen them

do such feats. Dont they also tell you that these sages go through such strenuous training and

hard penitence which is impossible normal mortals? Even if we wanted to, we don’t have the

Haoma plant necessary for the great Apan Yasht for Goddess Anahita. We don’t even have

enough Haoma for our daily rituals, let alone such a powerful Yasht for affecting nature. The

only place we can find enough Haoma is on Mount Mujavant, which is in Bharata. The great

Pariyatra Mountains are impassable. We don’t even know where that mountain is. You very

well know how many brave Avestan people have perished trying to cross those mountains”

chief of the council said. This enraged the Magus even more.

“Are you trying to tell me that we are inferior to the Meluhhans? How are they superior to

us? If they can do it, so can we. I will find a way to cross the mountains. Is it not our great

Ahura Mazda, who said that for mortals, where there is a will there is a way? This council

lacks the courage to act. We should take this to the great King Vishtaspa and let him decide”

he had retorted.

The leader of the council had tried his best to get him to understand the futility of his quest

and live within the community. The Council of elders of Sistan had come to understand their

fate and had come to accept the inevitability of their situation. Matriya was not going to let

that happen. He will show them it can be done. He had stormed out of the council chamber

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and gone home. That night he had packed everything he could carry, taken his favourite

horse, and left the city in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep.

He had travelled for days towards the east and the great Pariyatra Mountains. He had spent a

few days hiding in the border town of Haozdar trying to recruit some help for his venture into

Bharata. He had chosen summer months to avoid the harsh winter for crossing. He had

nearly died when the horse missed a foothold going down the mountain toward the

abandoned city of Sudra (Mehrgarh). He had come down several feet with nothing more than

few scratches on his body. As he entered the Bharata, he had exchanged his Elaamite horse

to a local horse at the border town of Roruka (Nausharo), to avoid rising suspicion among the

locals while travelling. He was looking for the Tantric Yogi who was reputed to live in the

mountains, who could teach him the art of magic and get him the power to control Mother

Nature.

A loud thud woke him up from his day dreams. A coconut had dropped to the ground not too

far from where he was sitting. He had been sitting there for a couple of hours at least waiting

for the right opportunity. He looked up at the sky. The shadows were getting longer and he

could not see the men at the gate because of dark shadows. The sun was going to set soon

and the gates will close. That will not do. He had to get to the house tonight, the ceremony

had to be performed before midnight tomorrow, and time was running out. There were many

things to be done. The hearth has to be prepared, the Soma juice had to be brewed with the

secret recipe he had hidden in his clothes, the Altar has to be drawn according to the

scriptures, and the devotees had to be taught the hymns. Twenty-one people had to chant the

hymns together in unison in exact octaves. The type and quality of sound was of paramount

importance for success. Otherwise, it will not be successful. He patted his gown at the thick

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palm leaf roll he had hidden in the fold to make sure he had not dropped it somewhere. He

might have to risk walking through the gate on his own if nothing comes along soon.

Just when he was about give up he saw what he was waiting for. There was a heavily laden

bullock cart being pulled along by two bullocks followed by the farmer’s wife struggling with

her head-load of melons. The farmer was too busy trying to coax the bull to pull the cart up

the steep hill to the eastern gate. The Magus looked left and right to see that no one was

watching and ran up to the farmer’s wife and said

“Let me help you. That looks really heavy.”

As he took the load off the woman’s head, she smiled weakly with gratitude and said;

“Thank you kind sir. I did not how I would make it up to the gate.’

“It is my duty sister. I am only too glad to help. I am also going into the city. I will be more

than happy to drop it off wherever you are going” he said with a smile. “Where do you live?”

“We live in the farm just a yojana from here. We are going to the lower town tonight to our

brother’s house and hope to sell our vegetables in the morning. We were hoping to get some

good cloths and some jewellery for our daughters in the market tomorrow.”

“I am going into the lower town as well to my friend Maricha’s house” the magus said. He

asked the woman about her family and her farm.

“You see our daughters have reached marriageable age and we are looking for a suitable

groom.”

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She was just telling him how hard it was to get her grown up son to help out in the farm when

they reached the gate. As expected the two guards came down to help the farmer push the

cart through the gate.

“That is a heavy load. You should not load your cart so much. Look at the state of the two

bulls. They are really struggling. Have some sympathy. Next time I’ll have to report you to

the captain.” elder of the two guards said looking at the farmer with some disapproval. The

Magus did not say a word and just walked alongside the cart with his head down as if the

load was weighing him down. He had to bend at the knees and hunch forward to bring his

height down and hoped that the guards had not noticed his real height. He was quite tall -

much taller than the Harappans. The guards were too busy reprimanding the farmer and

helping him get through the narrow gate to take any notice of this old man with a heavy load

on his head. He pretended to be preoccupied talking to the farmer’s wife and helping her

with the load.

Once they were inside the gate, the farmer turned to him and said.

“Thank you, kind sir for helping my wife. I did tell her not to carry so much weight. She

will not listen to me. She was trying to be kind to the bulls.”

“Not at all. It is my pleasure to help. The scriptures say to help one’s fellow man is equal to

praying to God” The Magus replied.

The farmer asked him where he was from, what he was doing in Harappa, and where he was

going. The Magus became suspicious for a minute at all these questions. Then he realised all

Harappans were normally that inquisitive. They want to know everything about everyone.

That is another trait of Harappans the Magus could not understand.

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“I am a traveller from Saraswata” No point lying about his origin as it would be easier to

continue the conversation without being caught. “I am on my way to the mountains in search

of a Guru (teacher) who can teach me the ways of penance so that I can try and attain moksha

(liberation) from this earthly bind.”

This obviously impressed the farmer and his wife. They both stared at him for a moment.

They had never come across anyone doing such a noble deed so far in their lives. They had

heard of great sages such as Shunahotra doing penance in the deep forest in the mountains.

This was the first time they had actually met someone who was going for it. He did not tell

them that he was in fact looking for Mount Mujavant, where the Soma plant grew in

abundance and that he was really after the Soma plant.

The husband turned out to be very talkative. By the time they finished exchanging details,

the farmer had reached the market place within the city walls where he would get park for the

night and could trade his produce in the morning. Only farmers were allowed bring their

carts inside at night as the trading began very early in the morning at sunrise. The vegetables

were all sold before the sun gets high enough to damage the vegetables. The Magus said

good-bye to the farmers and set off in the direction of Maricha’s house.

He could feel the excitement growing within him as he reached the house. It was a

nondescript house, just like any in the inner quarter of the lower town. There were no

distinguishing marks on the house or the door. The only difference was the windows were

blacked out by a hemp curtain and looked completely deserted. However, he had been there

before and knew exactly which the house was. He had managed to avoid bumping into any

of the citizens after he left the farmer and his wife. He had ducked into the shadows when the

patrol approached him and thanked the stars for being so dark. He avoided looking at the

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door of the house as he went past it. A hundred yards down the road, he bent down as if to

pick up something he had dropped and looked behind him as he did so, to see if anyone was

following him. There was not a soul in the street. He was not convinced. He got up,

straightened himself with an elaborate gesture, all the time looking around without turning his

head. He started walking again, went around the next corner, and stopped. He crept back to

the corner and looked over the corner of the building. Still no one was following him.

Finally, satisfied that no one was following him, he set off slowly towards the house. His

ears were trying to listen to any footsteps or anything that was unusual. Both his eyes and

ears were working with heightened sensitivity. He was not taking any chances tonight. Such

a chance is unlikely to be repeated in one’s lifetime. All the signs were there – moonless

night, stars in the right place and the major event of an earthquake showing the displeasure of

mother earth. The alignment of the stars with the moon was just right and on the full moon

day in fifteen days, he would have everything perfect for the next stage. It would be the

culmination of all those years of his effort. He could not have asked for more.

He will show all of those experts back home. They had laughed at him when he said that he

could control the forces of nature with his chants and command the mighty river Sindhu to

change course. All the so-called pundits and seers back home had mocked him and he was

booed out of the assembly in shame. He had left the town the same night and hiding in

Saraswata all these years waiting for the signs. He had not wasted his time. He had perfected

his chants that he had learnt from the Yogi in the Shivalik hills a few years previously. He

had spent several years and trekked hundreds of yojanas searching for the right Yogi. He had

wasted time with charlatans who had claimed to be the Yogi of his dreams only to be

disappointed in the end. He had been lured into the bizarre world of Satanism and Tantrism.

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He had barely escaped with his life from one of the caves crawling with venomous snakes.

He was almost sacrificed to a Goddess in the foothills of Himalayas. He had spent a whole

month standing on his head reciting strange hymns taught by a Hata Yogi, only to find that he

could not even move a hair, let alone a river. It was years of heartbreaking search and anyone

else would have given up by then.

It was chance encounter with a monk in the snowy hills of Himalayas, which led him to the

Yogi he had been looking for. He still remembers the first encounter. He had climbed to the

top of a hill covered by dense forest, where very light shown through. He had difficulty

finding a path and had fallen several times on brambles and sharp stones. He had fallen into

fast flowing streams and had been washed back to where he had started. By the time he

reached the top he was battered and bruised with several cuts on his legs and arms. The Yogi

was sitting on a flat rock at the edge of a stream under a large oak tree. He looked dirty,

rather unkempt with wild flowing beard which had almost completely covered his face. He

could not make out any features on his face. First impression was not a very good one.

He had his eyes closed and kept his eyes closed for a long time. He would not answer to him

despite several calls. Matriya had used several languages in case the Yogi did not

understand. He stood there for a while looking rather dejected and was about to start the

slow painful trek back down the mountain when suddenly the Yogi said without opening his

eyes;

“You don’t even have the patience to wait for me to finish my prayers. How can you perfect

the Yogic powers?”

Matriya was taken aback and nearly fell down with shock. He recovered quickly and said;

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“My apologies. But I have been here for a while and I thought I might have mistaken.”

The Yogi continued as if he ahd not heard Matriya, “If you perfect your intonation of the

chants and stars are in alignment, you can control anything. You can move mountains.”

“Can I change the direction of a river?” Matriya asked. He had a one-track mind – of

changing the course of river Sindhu (Indus). The Yogi opened his eyes and smiled at the

Magus. He had a very expressive eyes and appear to stare at him without blinking his eyes.

“You can move oceans, change the weather, and even make the earth change its direction”

The Yogi had boasted.

He had spent a whole year serving the Yogi. Working hard every day looking after the

Yogi’s demanding needs and learning a little of the skills occasionally. He had found the

Yogi’s demands extreme, most of the time, and often demeaning. It was as if he had found a

slave in the Magus. He was beginning to think that the Yogi was never going to divulge the

secrets of the control chants when one day he called the Magus over and said;

“My feet are sore from walking. Come and massage my feet.”

The Magus took some sandal oil that the Yogi loved so much and the polished granite stone

to massage the Yogi’s feet. He was massaging the feet for a long time and nearly finished the

entire coconut shell full of sandal oil, when suddenly the Yogi said,

“So. You want to control the Mother Nature?”

“Yes Master. That is my humblest wish.”

“Why do you want to control the nature? You do realise, it needs a lot of hard work,

concentration, sacrifice and penitence on your part?”

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“More than what I have been doing?” the Magus thought.

“I will work hard, Master. I will do as you bid” he showed his eagerness by massaging the

feet even harder.

“Once the process has started it cannot be stopped. If you give up your training in the

middle, you will not be able to start again. It is a once in a life time process. Are you sure

you are ready?”

This was a golden opportunity that Magus would not want to lose.

“Yes Master. I am ready for it. I have been ready ever since I came here and I have been

preparing for this day all my life” The Magus was getting rather apprehensive and was

getting increasingly worried that the Yogi might turn him down after the all that hard work.

“Let it be on your head. If it is written that you can achieve this, you will complete the

training or forever live with an utter failure. Do you also realise that if you use the powers

inappropriately, it can act against you? Your powers can kill you in the process of changing

nature. Do you feel that you can carry the burden of responsibility?” He asked.

“Yes Master. I will guard the power with my heart and will use it only for the good of my

fellow being” The Magus replied. What he really meant was that good of his family and city

at the detriment of the rest of the world.

“If you are ready, we will start tonight after the sun sets” The Yogi had said.

The training was hard and long. The Magus nearly died in the process. There were several

days when he had nearly given it up. But the strength of his feeling and hatred he had for the

“rest of the world” as he put it kept him going. At times of despair, he would close his eyes

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and the images of his sad and struggling mother and that of his ailing helpless father appear.

The scenes of his humiliation and banishment from the court rang in his ear to strengthen his

resolve to continue. These scenes had tortured him for years and they were now so firmly

imprinted on his mind that sometime they would appear even with his eyes open. He could

not get rid of these images from his mind and the only way out was achieving power to

control mother nature and get his land to be happy and prosperous again. It was a long hard

slog and agony, before he could utter the powerful chants in the way the Yogi wanted and

learn all the yajnas needed to control the mother nature. There was little time for food or

sleep during that year long training. He had to learn to control his mind at will. Hardest part

was to learn to control the six senses. After several months of penitence and hard graft, he

thought he was ready for his final chants. He turned to the Yogi and said,

“I am ready for my final chants. If you can teach them to me, I can fulfil my desire to help

my people.”

“Unfortunately, I do not think you are ready as yet” Yogi said not looking at the Magus.

“I can control my mind and all my senses are under my control. What else do I need?” The

Magus asked.

“So. You think you have the powers?” the Yogi asked. “I want you to lift that stone and

place it in the stream so that I can cross the stream without getting my feet wet.”

The Magus thought that would be child’s play. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the

large granite stone. He could see the rock rising within his closed eyes. Suddenly there was

a loud rumble and he opened his eyes startled. The rock fell down with a thud. There was

small avalanche of loose rocks from the side of the hill which had caused the rumble.

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“Yes. You can control your mind and control your senses. But apparently not together. It

requires a lot more work from you to control them together. You also need to overcome the

basic instinct of fear before you can control nature” The yogi had grumbled and walked

away. It was yet another year before the Yogi rather reluctantly let him go.

The Magus had paid his respects and took leave of him promising to return if he was

successful. Now, that chance had come and he was not going to make a mess of it. If he was

successful today, he could do the final sacrifice in two week’s time in the forest and get the

river to change course towards his town and prosperity for his people. The chief priest will

have to accept him as equal and his name will be immortalised in folklore. They might even

compose a hymn in his name.

He had reached the door by now. He knocked at the door with a pre-arranged signal. After

the third knock, the door opened and he was rushed in before anyone could see him. The

door was quickly shut behind him and he thought he had gone blind. It was darker inside the

room than the street which was lit by dim starlight. Someone lit a lamp and he could see two

people in the room. Both of them prostrated full length at his feet with folded hands and said

in unison.

“Welcome Oh great Magus. Our saviour.”

“Please raise gentlemen. We have a lot of work to do” and he turned to the elder of the two

men and said “Have you managed to get everything? Is everything ready?”

There was silence for a minute, and he had to repeat the question. Both of them still had their

heads down. They were afraid to look at his face and particularly his eyes. He had come

with a reputation of being a great magician and extremely powerful. They really did not

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know what to expect. They wanted his help to get better in their lives and at the same time,

they did not know what to expect from him.

The elder of the two, Maricha, plucked up enough courage and said.

“Yes great Magus. Except for the Soma plant. We could not get any. The plant is stored in

the Temple and the pharmacy and both are well protected. We have managed to find a

substitute that you had asked for – a somalataa plant.”

He half expected the Magus to lose his temper and turn into them into ashes or some animal

form. Both of them were surprised when nothing happened. There was a deep sigh from the

Magus and said;

“Well. That is not as good as the Soma. We have to get the Soma plant for the final

ceremony next week. Do whatever is necessary to get the Soma, at whatever cost. I do not

need to remind you, that no one should know about what is happening here. If the word gets

out to the Sage Shunahotra, all will be lost.”

“We will certainly get it for next week Great Magus. Please forgive us this time. The Sage

will not find out and anyway, we will make sure that the Sage cannot come here or to our site

in the forest.” The younger man said with sudden found enthusiasm.

The Magus smiled.

“The Sage Shunahotra is so powerful that he does not have to move from where he is to stop

our ceremony. I would not be surprised, if he knows about tonight’s ceremony right now as

we speak.”

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This news made them even more scared. They did not who to be afraid of more – the Sage

Shunahotra or the Magus. Matriya read their mind and said,

“Do not worry. I am here to protect you. As long as I am here no harm will fall on you. I

have created a shield around this house to stop from Sage Shunahotra from interfering.”

“Thank you Oh great Magus. We will pray for your success.”

“Pray for our success” he corrected “Come now. There is no time to waste. There is much to

be done. Have you gathered everyone? Where are they?”

“They are all gathered and ready in the courtyard Magus. The sacrificial lamb has been fed

with the Somalataa extract and the altar is ready” Maricha said.

“Good. Let us not waste any more time.”

With that, he walked past them towards the inner door. He was lead out through an internal

door into a large courtyard. The courtyard was an open square surrounded by eight houses of

the lower town all opening into the courtyard. In the middle, they had built a brick platform

and tied the somalataa plant to a stake in the middle. There was an Agni kunda (fire altar) in

front of the platform. There was a small fire blazing in the hearth. He could see twenty pairs

of frightened eyes looking at him in the flickering light thrown by the fire. As soon as they

saw who it was, all of them prostrated themselves in front of him with hands folded. There

was a chorus of

“Welcome Oh great Magus our saviour.”

The Magus raised both his hands high in the air with palms facing forward blessing them all.

“Raise my Children. May the Lord bring what you ask for.”

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He then went straight to the altar on the platform. He busied himself with the altar and the

ingredients around for a short while grunting ‘well done’ and snorting with disapproval some

of the time. He opened his shoulder bag and brought out several containers containing

potions and powders. He threw a pinch of white powder into the hearth. Everyone was

blinded by a bright flash, as if lightening had struck the court yard. He tipped a drop of green

liquid from one of the containers on the fire again there was a bright orange flash and thick

smoke. He placed sixteen men at imaginary corners of an eight pointed star around the altar.

He again looked around and checked all the ingredients. He chose one of Maricha’s

neighbours to act as his assistant and spent some time telling him what he wanted done

during the ceremony. He went and checked the huge kettle drum that stood near the corner

of the courtyard. The Magus was concerned at the noise level and if it would attract the night

patrol. Maricha reassured him playing of drums and music in general was quite common in

the lower town and would not attract any attention. He turned to the drummer and spoke to

him in quiet tones for a couple of minutes. When he was satisfied and ready, he turned

around and said;

“Please listen to me carefully. All of you have to follow my instructions to the letter. There

is no room for any deviations or errors or mistakes. No matter what you see or hear, you

have to pay attention to my voice and my voice alone. The chants should accompany the

rhythm of the drums. Even if one of you get the instructions wrong, the whole process will

collapse and all your efforts will be wasted.”

He turned around as he was speaking and looked at all of them individually. They all nodded

their heads mutely and with increasing apprehension. He could see some of them trembling

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slightly and going weak in the knees. He cannot have anyone of them fainting in the middle

of the chants. It is time to for some more reassurance.

“You have to remember that I am here and support you to till the end. Success will be ours

and all you have to do is to follow me and we will look at a bright future for all of us and

throw away this yoke of repression.” He smiled at them as he continued. He could see a

visible relaxation among his audience. He turned around and sat down crosslegged in front

of the altar.

He closed his eyes and with folded hands above his head started the hymns taught by the

Yogi in earnest. Once he had finished the initiation service, he turned to the audience and

said;

“Please repeat after me. Ham, Hreem, Ho hum.”

They started slowly and haltingly at first and appear to gain more confidence along with the

somalata juice that was going around in a large gourd. The man with the drums increased

the volume and tempo slowly. The increase in speed was imperceptible. By now there was a

shroud of thick smoke from the burning incense. The effect of somalata juice along with

inhalation of smoke from the powder that was being offered on to the hearth was intoxicating.

The spectators started to sway to the rhythm of the drums chanting continuously. They had

their eyes closed and there was tears rolling down their cheeks. Whether it was with the thick

acrid smoke or with emotion, it was hard to tell. The entire scene was surreal. Sixteen

grown men swaying to the rhythm of the drums and the chants, the fire relentlessly increasing

in size, the smoke billowing out of the hearth, dark moonless sky produced an ethereal sense

in anyone watching it.

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Maricha, who had called for this event, felt scared and at the same time elated. When objects

on the ground started to move around on their own accord, he became terrified.

“What have I done? Have I unleashed the power of something unholy? Does this Magus

know how to control this power?” Thousands of questions came into his mind, but it was too

late to ask anyone. These were the question he should have asked before asking the Magus to

come to Harappa. The Magus had come highly recommended by people from Saraswata and

he was in a desperate situation to get out of what he perceived to be a rut in his life. He had

joined hands with a few Harappans who were in a similar situation. They felt disaffected and

disenfranchised by the leaders of Harappan society. They wanted a change in the hierarchy

and they wanted to control the governing of Harappa. There were over forty of them who

had come forward to fund this enterprise and were willing to take the risk of being ostracised

and thrown out of Harappa if the plan had failed.

A loud bang brought Maricha out of his reverie. He had continued to chant and suddenly

opened his eyes at the loud bang. He could see the Magus was standing up and throwing

some powder onto the fire alternating with some leaves. The fire was roaring now and the

smoke was dense and burning. All his people appeared to be in a trance, swaying to the

rhythm of the drum beats and chanting had become increasingly loud. He was sure the noise

of this would reach Shunahotra whether he was with or without supernatural powers of

detection. It was too late to worry about that now. The Magus had asked the man he had

chosen to be his assistant to be ready for the sacrifice. The assistant took the long brass

sword and with one sweep brought the sword down on the neck of the goat. The goat by this

time was completely under the influence of mixture of drugs in the potion made out of

somalata juice and the liquids the Magus had brought with him. There was not a sound from

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the goat as the head rolled onto the floor. The Magus picked up the head of the goat and

poured the blood on to the sacrificial fire. He sprinkled some more of the leaves he had with

him along with the white powder. There was another blinding flash and he threw the head of

the goat on the fire. The smell of burning flesh mixed with all the powders the Magus had

been feeding the fire was very strong. As the chanting became more intense and the beat of

the drum got faster, the Magus took a small mud pot from his bag and emptied the contents

onto the sacrificial fire. There was an almighty bang with a bright orange flash and a large

cloud of thick orange smoke enclosed the whole quadrant. Suddenly, he could no longer hear

the voice of the Magus. The only sound that could be heard was the fast beat of the drum and

the loud chanting of his people. The fire went out and within minutes the smoke cleared.

There was no sign of the Magus near the altar. His empty shoulder bag and pieces of the

broken pot near the altar were the only evidence of his presence. It was as if he had

disappeared into thin air. Maricha raised his hands to stop the chants, but to no avail. He

asked the drummer to stop. As soon as the drum stopped, they all opened their eyes and

looked at the altar. There was an audible gasp when they could not see the Magus.

They spent the rest of the night looking for the Magus within the quadrant and the houses

around it. There was no sign of him anywhere. Discrete enquiries around did not show any

sign of anyone leaving Maricha’s house that night. They had spent the rest of that night

clearing up the altar and all the debris. He was not sure if the procedure had worked or not.

He and his friends kept looking for any untoward events or occurring to see if there were any

after effects of failure. When as the days went by and nothing happened with all of his

friends safe and sound, Maricha started to breathe a sigh of relief. He became more confident

that the experiment had been a success and even started to look forward to the next stage. He

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had to make sure he got the Soma plant or at least the Soma juice somehow before the full

moon.

Maricha knew of someone in the hospital who had access to the Soma plants and the juice.

He will have to try and get some plant or the juice either by bribery or threat.

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Trip to Sindhu

Father returned home late one evening a few days after the earthquake and looked sombre.

As we sat down for dinner, he said;

“There has been a disturbance in the Prana the day after the earthquake. Sage Shunahotra is

concerned. I felt the changes as well that night and it does not look good. Someone in the

community has been conducting Tantric Yajnas.”

“That is worrying father. Who could have done such a thing?” Brother Vidhayaka asked.

“The Council of Elders has good idea who the perpetrators are. However, we need proof.

We need to catch them red handed. Whoever it was, they have only done the initiation ritual.

They have initiated the forces of underworld and they have woken up the forces of evil. We

will have to catch them when they are in the next stage” Father replied.

“Is there anything that can be done to reverse the process?”

I wanted to know. I had never come across this Tantrism before. I had heard of Dasyus and

Medians were active Tantrics in the past. Dasyus from the rogue tribes along the border had

used Tantric magic to cause havoc among the Meluhhan farmers along the border until Sage

Shunahotra put a stop to it several years ago – long before I was born. There were rumours

that there were still some Medians who practiced Tantric Yajnas.

“It is difficult to control the demons of the underworld once they are released. However, if

we can stop the perpetrators from completing the next stage, the process will die a natural

death within two weeks after the initiation” Father replied.

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“Why would anyone want to do such a thing Father? Harappa is such a beautiful city and

hundreds of people are coming in every week to settle down here. They all seem to be happy

under the rule of Sage Shunahotra. There is plenty of everything to go around for all

Harappans” I said.

“It goes beyond Harappa, son. This is an act against the whole of Bharata. We have had

some news now for a while that there were some disaffected people, mainly foreigners, who

would like to take advantage of the goodness of Harappans benefit from it” there was pain in

father’s voice.

“How can they do it? We offer all comers food, shelter and a lifestyle” I persisted.

“I know son. The world has both good and bad people. That is the law of Manu and there is

nothing you can do to change it. We have had information that there were some Yogis in

Himalayas who perfected the art of Tantric science and have super-natural powers. Someone

must have learnt the art of Tantrism well. The disturbance that has been felt by all the elders

was quite significant and worrying. We have had minor disturbances in the past, but never to

this extent.” Father replied.

“We have ten more days to stop them” Brother Vidhayaka said.

“Yes. But, we have a more pressing engagement right now. I have heard from my

colleagues at the university in Sindhu (Mohenjodaro). They have accepted your brother

Satakratu to study architecture this year. I need one of you to take him to Sindhu. I know

Vidhayaka is going to be busy for a while with reconstruction of the collapsed wall. How is

your work at the hospital, Upaas?”

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“Congratulations to Satakratu for getting admission into the prestigious university at Sindhu.

The work at the hospital is very quiet at the moment. We have only one seriously injured

patient from the earthquake left in the hospital. I can ask Master Ashwin if I can be allowed

to go” I replied.

“I have already spoken to Master Ashwin and he is happy to let you go. But you must speak

to him and get his permission. I also want you and Satakratu to have some more practice with

archery before you go. I am concerned with the attacks by the rogue Avestans recently. I

will speak to Master Adhvadipa who will supervise your extra practice.”

“I will father. I have to go to the Traveller’s camp today to get some writing materials before

I go and see him in the morning. I can leave day after tomorrow if everything is ready.” I

continued. I was already looking forward to the trip. It would be nice to see my old masters

from the university and see my Alma Mata again. Sindhu was one of the largest cities of

Bharata and the university was well known across the world. People from several countries

came to study at the university. The Masters were one of the best in the world. They kept up

with the latest in every field by keeping in touch with masters in Egypt and Sumeria. There

was a continuous exchange of thoughts and ideas. Our Masters had visited learning centres

in Egypt and Sumeria and there had been several experts from those countries residing in

Sindhu at any given time. There were a lot of pleasant memories of Sindhu which I

cherished. I loved to visit Sindhu and renewing some of my old acquaintances and visit some

of my old haunts.

The prospect of meeting the beautiful Lopa next day made it even more exciting. I kept

dreaming of her jet black eyes and long black hair which fell down to her waist. I was out of

the city and at the camp quite early in the morning. As I walked toward the stationer’s

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caravan, I kept looking around to see if there was any sign of her. There was very little

activity in the camp. Maybe I was too early, I thought. The stationer was very friendly and I

finished buying some steatite pencils and dried treated palm leaves very quickly. I put them

all in my shoulder bag and made my way back taking the long route back home through the

camp. I kept looking at all the traveller’s caravans as I did not know which one was Lopa’s

caravan. I was not really paying much attention to the path when I tripped into a ditch and

fell, face down dropping the bag and the contents rolled out on the ground.

“If you watch where you are going, this would not have happened” again that lilting voice I

had heard that night. “Your palm leaves are ruined. We will have to go back and ask for

more. These leaves are pretty useless now for writing.”

I was acutely embarrassed. How could I have let her see me like this? I was prostrate flat on

my face. I must have looked like an idiot stumbling around a fair. If I was trying to impress

her, this surely must have done the trick. I was sure that she would never speak to me again.

As I dusted off the dirt from my clothes, she continued,

“Come on. Let us go and speak to the stationer. I am sure he will replace your palm leaves”

She had picked up all the leaves and steatite pencils and put them back in my bag.

“Thank you very much for our help. You must think I am very clumsy.”

“The carts and caravans have left these deep tracks in the mud after the rains last week. You

are not the first one to fall here” she was smiling when she said that.

“You are very kind to say that” I said as I walked alongside her. I could smell her beautiful

fragrance and our hands touched a few times during that short walk back to the Stationer’s

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cart. She turned out to be more talkative than the other night. She told me all about her

family and the neighbouring cart’s families, what happened to her dog and why she loved

coming to Harappa. It was like a flood gate being opened. This was turning out to be better

than I expected. I was walking along with this gorgeous creature and I was feeling happier

than ever before. I was quite disappointed when we reached the caravan. I wish we had

taken the long route back.

She did all the talking with the Stationer who was very kind and seem to know Lopa very

well. He replaced all the damaged Palm leaves. As we walked back to the edge of the camp

towards the city, I said,

“I would like to see you again if that is OK” The words rolled off easily. I did not feel any

apprehension or reticence in asking her. She made me feel at ease and it was easy to talk to

her.

“I would love to see you again. We will be here for at least another month, if not longer”

She said with a smile and a glint in her eyes.

“I am off to Sindhu tomorrow to take my younger brother to the university. I certainly would

love to come and meet you on my return.”

“How long will you be away?”

“May be a week at the most. I will look forward to meeting you again” and I took leave of

her and walked towards the city gates. When I neared the gate, I looked back to see her, still

standing on the little rise where we had parted. My heart skipped a beat and I waved to her.

She waved back and turned and ran towards her caravan. I walked towards the hospital with

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a song in my heart and feathers in my feet. The whole day I was smiling at everyone I met on

the road. I was still smiling when I walked into Master Ashwin’s house.

“You look particularly happy today Upaas. Did you manage to get the writing materials we

needed?” The Master asked.

“Yes Master. I have Palm Leaves and steatite pencils to last for at least a year.” I replied.

“My father wants me to take Satakratu to Sindhu to join the university. I would like your

permission to take time off to do that.”

“Yes. Your father spoke to me yesterday. The work at the hospital is quiet at the moment.

Nothing much is happening. This will give Ubhaya an opportunity to learn some

responsibilities while you are away. You have been protecting him for a long time. It is time

that he learnt that being a physician is not just diagnosing disease and treating them. He still

has not learnt to treat a patient as a whole” the Master said. “I would like you to run some

errands for me while you are there.”

“It would be my honour to help in any way I can Master. I will be leaving tomorrow morning

with Satakratu” I said.

“Please call in on the house on the way and Maa will give you something to take. It is some

work I have been doing for some time on treating infections. I would like to have an opinion

from the leading physicians at the University.”

“I will certainly do that Master” With that I took leave and returned home to pack and get

ready for the next day’s trip. I knew mother had been busy since yesterday cooking dry food

for our journey. I had to take our horses to the shoe maker to get their shoes repaired and

make sure they will last the journey. My horse Shankara was a tall white steed with a long

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mane. He was nearly as big as an Elaamite horse and very strong. I loved riding Shankara.

As soon as he saw me coming in with his feed, he lifted his forelegs and neighed loudly. I

stroked his neck and said,

“We are going on a long journey my friend. You will have to look after me and my brother.”

He nodded his head and nuzzled against me. I spent a few minutes talking to him and

checking his shoes and the saddle. I then checked Satakratu’s horse and fed him as well. He

was dark brown with a white patch on the neck and not as tall as Shankara.

I went to the armoury to pick our bows and quivers of arrows for each of us for practice.

Father had insisted that both of us should be armed and trained with archery for the trip in

case there were any rogue Avestan attacks. I picked up Satakratu and went to meet Master

Adhvadipa for practice and additional training. We spent most of the afternoon in the

shooting range practicing our archery. I was quite pleased that I could release 10 arrows at a

go and hit most of them on target. Master Adhvadipa was not very impressed.

“Our soldiers can release 30 arrows at a go and the best ones can release up to 50. If you are

attacked by a gang of raiders, you need to be able to fire at least 15 to 20 arrows a go to have

any chance of success” He said.

It took me several attempts before I could reach 15 releases a go and managed 18 releases by

the end of the day. Poor Satakratu. I think he was born with two left thumbs. He managed

only 10 releases by the end of the day and could not really hit the target more than half the

time. Master Adhvadipa was reasonably happy by the end of the day. He checked our Bows

and filled our quivers with several different types of arrows. There were multiple release

arrows and arrows with magical powers. Some of them exploded on impact and there was

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one which exploded with a bright light to blind the enemies. I particularly liked the one

which spewed out a huge cloud of dense acrid smoke on impact.

It was quite late that evening by the time I had everything ready. By the time I returned home

that evening, both mother and Nivya had been busy packing food and spare clothes for me

and all the paraphernalia Satakratu would need for his stay at the University.

We had been up very early in the morning as I wanted to start before the sunrise and be in the

shade of the forest by the time sun came up.

“I do not have to tell you to be careful Upaahsantha. But, please be vigilant on the road and

keep a look out for trouble from the rogue Avestans. Did you have a good practice session

yesterday with Master Adhvadipa? Are you satisfied with your preparation?” Father said and

turning to my younger brother, “Satakratu, this is the first time you are going away on such a

long journey. Please listen to your brother and follow him. I have prayed to God Indra to

protect both of you. I want you to work hard in the university and serve your Master well.

You must remember that your actions reflect the name of this family. Your brothers, Upaas

and Vidhayaka have upheld the good name of this family over the years at the university. I

would like you to continue the tradition” Father said with a little emotion in his voice.

“Yes father. We had a good practice session yesterday with Master Adhvadipa. He was

satisfied at the end of our session. He has personally checked our bows and arrows and filled

our quivers. I will be careful on the road and try and avoid any confrontation if possible” I

replied.

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“Please don’t worry father. I will work very hard and I would rather die than taint the honour

of the family. I will try to rise up to the standard set by you and my illustrious brothers at the

university” Satakratu replied. I knelt in front of father and touched his feet.

“Dheergayushman Bhava” Father blessed me and repeated the same to Satakratu when he

knelt and touched father’s feet. “I want you to take these documents to Sage Vishwamithra

Gathinah from me and our Sage Shunahotra.”

“I will father. It would be an honour to meet one of the greatest Sages of our time” I replied.

We loaded the two horses with our supplies and checked our bows and arrows in the quiver

again. Mother and Nivya embraced both of us and had tears in their eyes.

I knelt down in front of mother and touched her feet asking for her blessings as did Satakratu.

She put her hands on my head and said,

“Dheergayushman Bhava. May God Indra protect you on your journey. I pray for your safe

return.”

There was lot of tears from both mother and Nivya to see Satakratu leave. He was the baby

of the family and obviously we will miss him immensely. We walked the horses towards

Master Ashwin’s house to collect documents from Maa. She was ready and waiting for us.

We collected the roll of Palm Leaves and she gave us a parcel as well.

“Here is something for your journey Upaas. I don’t want you to stay hungry during the

journey” She said.

“Mother has given us plenty of food for both of us Maa. It is very kind of you” I replied.

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“I knew your mother would have given you plenty of food to take. But, I have packed your

favourite sweet. I know how much you love my sweet. You need plenty of strength to ride

such a long distance. Please be careful both of you. I will not be able to sleep properly until

I see you back here again” She was genuinely concerned. Both of us took her blessings and

mounted our horses. As we trotted down towards the southern gate, I could see Maa standing

at the door for a long time. As we reached the gate, the soldiers were getting ready to open

the gate for the morning traffic.

“Good morning Master Upaas” one of the soldiers called out “You are early this morning.”

“I am on my way to Sindhu to drop Satakratu off at the University” I replied.

“Please be careful Master Upaas. Be on the lookout for the Avestans. I would stay off the

road at night. You should be able to make the village of Pushkar before night fall if you keep

a reasonable pace” he said.

“We will be careful. Thank you” I replied.

We set off the road skirting along the eastern bank of Parushni and we were in the forest just

as the sun was warming up. There were not many people on the road apart from the farmers

who were going into their farms nearby. We kept a decent pace throughout. When we

stopped for a break just after noon, a patrol of soldiers passed us and we exchanged

pleasantries with the captain. It was well before sunset when we reached Pushkar. Father

had already sent messages to the Inn keeper for our lodgings for the night.

We crossed the river Parushni in the morning as we had to change travel in a more westerly

direction to reach next stopping point of the journey. The journey was uneventful over the

next three days. We passed several patrols and many travellers on the way, but no sign of

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any trouble. We reached the banks of river Vipas (Beas) on the fifth day and decided to have

a break. It was beginning to get dark and we decided to cross the river in the morning. There

was a clearing in the forest with some large rocks as shelter. I chose a spot on a raised knoll

with a very large rock on top as our resting place for the night. We tied our horses to the

trees and went back into the forest to get some dry wood for the fire. As we were gathering

some dry wood from the forest floor there was a loud scream and soon followed by several

more. We ran towards the sound. We could hear the sound of scuffles and more screams as

we reached the brim of a rise. I raised my hand to stop Satakratu and knelt down behind a

bush to look over the rise to see what was happening. I did not want to give away our

presence till I knew exactly what was happening.

It appeared to be a group of men dressed as soldiers who were attacking a merchants’ camp.

I quickly assessed the situation. There were at least six men on what appeared to be very

large horses, attacking the camp with long swords and spears. One of the tents was on fire

and I could see several merchants including women were lying on the floor injured. I looked

at Satakratu and said,

“We have to help. There appears to be unarmed men, women and children out there in

trouble.”

“I agree with you, brother. But remember what father and the Master said” Satakratu

replied.

“I know we have been told to avoid confrontation. But this situation appears desperate. By

the time we find the patrol of soldiers and come back, it would be too late. We have surprise

on our side and plenty of arrows in our quiver. We will attack them from here. There are

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plenty of thick trees to give us cover” I asked Satakratu to go back to the knoll and bring our

bows and arrows. By the time he retuned, I had sized up the situation again which had not

changed much. I pulled out my Bow and applied the string to the bow. “I will take those on

the left and you try those on the right.”

With that, I took a careful aim and fired my first arrow at the nearest attacker. It was

probably a lucky shot, but he fell with my first arrow. The attackers stopped and turned

around and started towards us. I quickly released ten more arrows at the attackers and

managed to get one more of them. Satakratu appeared to be firing arrows rapidly at the

bunch of attackers. He had felled one attacker and appeared to have injured another. By the

time they had travelled half way towards us, I had managed to fell another. The sixth

attacker and the injured man decided to make a break for it and ran away on their horses as

fast they could. We walked down to the camp to check what the damage was. As we

approached some of the men, women and children slowly came out of hiding and gathered

around us. No one spoke first.

“We are eternally grateful to you strangers. We would have all been slaughtered if you had

not interfered” one of the merchants who appeared to lead the convoy said. He was a tall,

rather thin, middle aged man speaking Elaamite. He appeared to have injured his left

shoulder.

“I am a physician from Harappa. My name is Upaashnatha. That is my brother Satakratu.

We were on our way to Sindhu when we heard the scuffle. Let me help you with the injuries”

I replied and turned to Satakartu and said “Can you please get my medicine bag brother?”

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“You are extremely kind. We do have a supply of medicines with us and one of our friends

in the camp is a physician as well” he replied.

By now the entire camp was milling around us. There were about fifty of them including

several women and children. It was a mixed bag of merchants with several Dasyus,

Elaamites and even Sumerians. The attackers appeared to have killed three men who had put

up resistance, and there were six men and one woman who had been injured with sword and

spear injuries. There was a quite a bit of anguish from the families whose men had been

killed. The women were crying over the fallen men and the children looked bewildered and

frightened. The elders of the convoy had the bodies moved to a spot away from the camp for

a funeral later.

“Can we move the injured to the shelter please?” I asked. I wanted to get to the injured as

quickly as possible.

Satakratu had brought my medicine bag and I was examining the first patient when a bulky

Sumerian came and introduced himself “I am a physician travelling with the convoy. I would

like to help.”

“That is very kind of you sir. I would welcome any help” Several of the women came

forward to help as nurses. It was not long before we had all the injured splinted and dressed.

The merchants were troubled and at the same time grateful for our help. The Elaamite who

appeared to be their leader said,

“Master Upaas. Our deepest gratitude for your help. Please accept our hospitality and stay

with us tonight.”

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“We are grateful for your hospitality sir. At the same time, we do not like to impose on you”

I replied.

“Master Upaas. We insist. It would be an honour if you share our humble camp as your own

tonight.”

“Thank you. We will accept your hospitality sir. It would be prudent to send one of your

riders to the Meluhhan soldiers camp we passed by. It is half a day’s ride to the north. They

may be able to offer to escort you for the rest of the way” I replied.

“Thank you for that information Master Upaas. I will immediately despatch our postal riders

to the camp and request for help. We are on our way to your great city of Harappah” he

replied.

We walked down to the banks of river Vipas to wash and refresh ourselves. The river down

here was leisurely and meandered slowly. The molten snow from the Himalayas where it

started as a small stream, had swollen the river to a wide expanse of water. I checked our

bows and quivers. We had taken the unused arrows from the attackers’ quivers. The

merchants offered us to take the large Elaamite horses the attackers were using. We decided

to keep one of them to carry our supplies and gave the rest of them to the merchants.

The camp that night did not have the usual laughter and gaiety associated with these camps in

the evenings. There was a fire in the middle of the ring of caravans and there was music, but

it was rather sombre music. All the families in the convoy wanted to feed us. It was a feast

with Dasyu, Elaamite and Sumerian food. That night as I laid down looking at the stars in the

clear sky with half moon, I mulled over the day’s events. I was quite pleased with the way

we had managed to overcome the attackers with not a scratch on us. We had gained a

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beautiful Elaamite horse and won several friends. Satakratu had shown that he could be

relied on in time of crisis. He had not lost his cool and this was the first time that I had seen

him do something with some responsibility and had shown maturity. The Sumerian

physician turned out to be a great help as well. The half moon suddenly reminded me that we

don’t have much time to stop the perpetrators from performing the next stage of Tantric

yajna. I prayed to God to give strength to our Council of Elders so that the yajna can be

stopped. I drifted off to sleep dreaming of Lopa’s beautiful smile and her last goodbye.

We took our leave from the merchant’s camp early following morning. All of them came to

say good bye. The leader of the convoy said,

“We are eternally grateful for you and your brother for your assistance last night against the

attackers. Our families have asked me to express their deepest gratitude for your help in

treating the injured after the attack. Here is something we would like you to accept as a small

token of our gratitude” He offered several large bamboo baskets full of gifts.

“You are very kind with your words sir. However, I cannot accept the gift. I was only doing

my duty as an honest citizen of Bharata. It is our custom and tradition in our country to treat

our visitors and guests as equal to God. It would have been a dereliction of my duty first as a

Meluhhan and secondly as a Physician to not to have helped last night. Please convey our

gratitude for the kind gifts. But we will have to respectfully turn them down” I did not want

to offend them and at the same time did not want to go against the centuries old traditions of

our ancestors. It would have also been pretty impractical to carry all those heavy baskets

without a cart. As we were leaving the riders came back with four Meluhhan soldiers.

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I could see the merchants and their families standing where we left them waving us good bye

for a long time as we moved down river before we could cross. There was a spot where the

river Vipas was narrow with a wooden bridge to cross across to the west side. I knew from

past that once we cross the bridge, it was less than a day’s journey to Sindhu. It was all new

to Satakratu. He was thrilled and excited to cross the long bridge. When it is seen for the

first time, it is an imposing structure. There were two tall columns on either side made of

solid oak trunks. Several thick hemp ropes hung from the columns on the east bank to the

west. Thick solid oak planks tied to each other and slung from the trunks formed the road.

There were further large tree trunks sunk into the river bed which supported the bridge. The

bridge swung side to side in strong winds and also when heavy carts rolled on the bridge.

Rumour had it that it was the biggest man made structure in the known world. This was

before we found out about the large pyramids built by the Egyptians. Strong winds buffeted

us as we crossed the bridge. Satakratu did not say a word during the crossing. He was not

only thrilled, but frightened as well, particularly when the bridge started to swing

dangerously while were in the middle.

I could see Satakratu visibly relax once we crossed the bridge. We made good after that and

reached Sindhu before sunset. The towering buildings of the city came into view as we

crossed the summit of a small hill. I could see the buildings long before we reached the city.

We would be approaching the Eastern gate. The city was much larger than Harappa. It had

imposing walls surrounding the city. Like most large cities, it had three segments, upper,

middle and lower town. The Temple was much larger that of Harappa and was set on the

highest point of the city making it even more imposing. There were several very large

buildings including the Great Hall, the hospital and the University.

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We were heading towards the southern end of the city where the University was situated. It

was of immense size, slightly bigger than the Temple. It was tall with four floors. The class

rooms were and the offices were on the first three floors. The students’ quarters were on the

top floor. We tethered our horses in the common stable just outside the University walls and

walked into the university through imposing front entrance which was two floors high. I had

to report to the offices to register Satakratu and find out where we would be billeted for the

night. Memories of my time in the University came flooding back to me in the corridors of

the university. I pointed out the several key spots to Satakratu as we walked towards the

office. I was pleasantly surprised when the officer in charge immediately recognised me. I

did not have to show him the appointment document for Satakratu. He appeared to have

everything under control and the formalities finished very quickly. He sent one of the boys to

show us room we would be staying in that night.

We emptied the supplies in the room and went to meet Master Vishwamitra Gathinah with a

letters from father and Sage Shunahotra. He lived in one of the largest houses in the city near

the Temple. We were greeted by the great sage himself at the door. He had an imposing

stature. He was tall, slightly dark complexioned, angular features hidden somewhat by the

long flowing white beard and a white moustache. His white hair was rolled up in a bun on

the right side at the top of his head. He wore ash mark in the form of three horizontal stripes

over the forehead with a central black ash dot. He carried around an aura of authority and

divine power within him. Both of us prostrated in front of him and said,

“Our humblest obeisance Oh Great Sage. We bring greetings from Sage Shunahotra and

master Kapila of Harappa.”

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“Dheergayushman Bhava. Please rise my children. I was expecting you. You did very well

helping the merchants. How was your journey? How are my dear friends, Sage Shunahotra

and Master Kapila?” The Sage replied touching our heads. I could see Satakratu gasp at the

mention of merchants encounter. I have to tell him a few things about these Sages and their

powers before I leave Sindhu.

“They send you greetings and these documents. If there is a reply, it would be our honour to

take them back” I replied.

He opened the documents and read them in silence. As we were waiting, the maid brought us

cool yoghurt drink to quench our thirst in small mud pots. The Sage turned around and said,

“I do have a reply to these letters for both Sage Shunahotra and Master Kapila. Would you

please return tomorrow and pick the replies from the Council of Elders?”

“It would be an honour Sage. I will come to the Council of Elders tomorrow and pick up the

replies.”

“Please convey my obeisance to Sage Shunahotra and Master Kapila and thank you for

coming to see me.”

We withdrew from Sage Vishwamitra’s house utterly impressed by the humility of the great

sage. We thought his reputation of being extremely short tempered and arrogant was entirely

untrue. He was not only a gentleman and a scholar but also extremely polite.

We met quite a few students along with some parents in the dining room that night. The

initiation was set to happen in two days time and most of the students had already registered

at the University. There would be a rush next morning to meet the Masters. I wanted to meet

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the Masters and finish the errand for Master Ashwin before lunch time so that I could be at

the river crossing before night fall.

Next morning, I left Satakratu with his Master at the Engineering department and made my

way out to meet my old Master at the University. Master Ashwin’s chamber was not very far

from the Engineering department. He was busy meeting the new students. I waited for a

while for him to be free. As last of the students left his office, I knocked on the door.

“Enter” Master’s voice as authoritative as ever. He was busy mixing potions and powders

and did not notice me come into the room at first. When he saw me enter the room, he put

the jars down and before I could do anything, embraced me with such an affection that

brought tears of joy to my eyes.

“Upaas. It is indeed a pleasant surprise son. I am so glad to see you after so many years” he

was beaming from ear to ear. I was extremely happy to see him. I knelt down and touched

his feet.

“Dheergayushman Bhava. What brings you to Sindhu?”

“I have brought my brother Satakratu, to join the university. He will be studying

engineering” I replied. We spent the next hour talking about old times. He was very pleased

to hear of my progress. I heard about one of my old classmates going west towards Sumer to

learn and had not been heard since. I was quite buoyant when I left my old Master to go to

the Great Hall to meet Sage Vishwamitra.

The Great Hall was an impressive building, much bigger than the one at Harappa, standing up

to about ten yards in height. The walls were made of large granite stones and gave an

impression of impregnability. The front door was massive and ornate. The carvings on the

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door panels depicted the scenes from the story of Manu helping Matsya the fish. The frame

was clad in brass with lotus flowers all around and bronze finials in the middle. The guard at

the front door took me into the Great Hall and knocked on the inner door of the Hall and

waited. The sound from the brass knockers was very loud and reverberated in the hallway.

“Please enter” The booming voice of Sage Vishwamitra was evident.

The guard opened the door and bent forward at the waist and said,

“Master Upaas from Harappa is here to meet the Council of Elders” he withdrew from the

hall closing the door behind him.

“Our hearty welcome to Master Upaas. Our deepest condolences to the families who lost

their loved ones in the earthquake. Our greetings and support to the city of Harappa” Sage

Vishwamitra said. “I have briefed the Council of Elders the details of letters you had brought

from Harappa. The letters mention a disturbance in the Prana at Harappa. We too felt some

disturbance here at the time mentioned in the letters. Please tells us about your experience

during that night when the event occurred.”

I did not have a clue about the content of the letters I was carrying all these days. “My

humble apologies to great Sage Vishwamitra. I did not feel any unusual experience on that

night. The only unusual thing I noticed, was during the following morning. There was a

strong smell of burning flesh in the lower town as I walked towards the hospital” I said.

“That probably would be burnt sacrificial lamb or a goat. Was there anything else? Did you

feel any unusual changes around you that day? Any sudden changes in the weather pattern

perhaps?” The Sage continued. I racked my brain to see if I could remember anything

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unusual on that day a week ago. Nothing came to mind and I was getting rather flustered.

The Elders of Sindhu will not be impressed by my observational powers as a physician.

“I am sorry. I cannot remember anything unusual that day. We were extremely busy dealing

with several trauma cases from the earthquake” I said rather sheepishly looking at the elders

sitting around the Great Hall. I had a distinct impression that they were scowling at me for

being particularly dense.

“Did you notice anything unusual about patients coming to you after that day? Were there

any patients with burns? Were there any one with excessive drink or drugs?”

It suddenly occurred to me that there were more than the usual drink related patients over the

past few days. “Yes. I do remember seeing more than our usual number of patients with

drink related problems. I don’t remember seeing anyone with burns” I burst out, hoping that

I may have given the elders a clue. I was getting increasingly embarrassed and felt

completely inadequate. I was beginning to wonder why they were asking me all this

questions. I was quite sure that our elders, particularly Sage Shunahotra would have

conveyed all the information through their telepathic powers and I was beginning to wonder

why the information had been sent in a letter and through me rather than a courier. I could

see Sage Vishwamitra looking at me and smiling.

“We are not questioning your observational capacity, Master Upaas. Please be reassured.

The disturbance caused by the perpetrators was strong enough, to suspect their ability to

intercept such messages. Hence, Sage Shunahotra could not send the information through

telepathy. You were chosen to bring the letters, as the safest mode of transmission. All we

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are trying to do, is ascertain the technique of any yajna that was performed to cause the

disturbance.”

I was stunned by the clarity of detail with which he had read my mind. He virtually repeated

every word I had said in my mind. I had clearly underestimated the powers of these Sages.

Sage Vishwamitra got up and came forward.

“The Elders of both Harappa and Sindhu have decided to take action against the perpetrators

and stop them from carrying out the next step of the yajna. They are trying to unleash a

power they do not understand and they cannot control. They are invoking powers to change

nature herself. Please take this letter to Sage Shunahotra and your illustrious father. We have

made slight modifications to the steps written by them to make sure that we are successful.

As I said before, we do not want to use telepathy to convey or discuss these issues. I know

that you will not be tempted to open and read the documents. With all due respect, you do

not have the power to stop them from reading your mind. Please be reassured that whoever

they are, they will be able to read the document, at almost the same time as you do” Sage

Vishwamitra looked deadly serious when he said that. He handed over a rolled Palm-leaf

document with his personal seal. For a minute, I did not know what to say.

“I am sure you understand that speed is of essence as we do not have much time to lose now.

When are you leaving back to Harappa?” He continued.

“I am leaving Sindhu as soon as I have said good bye to my brother at the university. I

should be able to reach Harappa in three days if I make good time” I replied.

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“God speed. Our blessings and prayers go with you. There is no reason to tell your brother

about the nature of your business” He said. It was clear that it was not a suggestion, but an

order.

“No sir. There is not” I said with alacrity.

I bowed to the council of Elders and took my leave. It took me a while to gather my thoughts

and take in everything that had just happened. I had to plan the return journey slightly

differently now. Luckily, I did not have the heavy luggage with me to slow the travel. I even

thought of disposing off the Elaamite horse that was given to me as a present after the

“rescue” during our journey to Sindhu. I went quickly to the University and bid good bye to

Satakratu.

“I will have to leave earlier than I thought, Satakratu. Look after yourself. I know your

Master is a very kind person. If you have any problems, discuss with him. If you want me to

come back to see you for any reason, send me a message and I will come back.”

“I thought we will spend some time together and you were going to show me interesting

places in the city” Satakratu said with some disappointment.

“Yes, we were. However something has come up suddenly and I have to go soon.”

Satakratu did not say anything. He was very trusting with everything and everyone. I cannot

remember him questioning any of the decisions made by any of the elders in the past. It

would be an anathema to him. I left soon after lunch riding Shankara and tagging the

Elaamite horse along. I left through the Western gate with some trepidation and also sadness

at leaving Satakratu all alone. He was the baby of the family and had never been away from

home before. I had to get back to Harappa as quickly as possible as the time was running out.

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Just the thought of evil men getting hold of powers that can control nature was terrifying.

This thought spurred me along and increased the pace of the horse to a canter. I managed to

reach the bridge across River Vipas before nightfall. I made my way towards the Inn near the

bridge. I knew the Inn keeper from my previous stays while I was at the University.

“Master Upaas. It is so nice to see you after so many years. You have not changed a bit.

How are you? What brings you to these parts? Don’t tell me you are coming back to work in

Sindhu?” The words came out in a torrent from the Innkeeper.

“Bhavadutah. It is nice to see you again. You have not changed one bit. You still have

problem stopping your racing tongue. No. I have not come back to work in Sindhu. I

brought my younger brother Satakratu to start his University this year and I am on my way

back” I replied.

“You are always welcome here Master Upaas. You know there is a bed here for you any

day” He smiled. “Come, dinner is about to be served. You will like the hot bread that is just

coming out of the oven. I will show you to your room after dinner.”

He gave me water to wash my hands and feet and led me by the hand to the dining table.

There were a couple of men sitting at a table across the room in darkness away from the

window, talking in hushed tones. As soon as we walked in, they stopped talking and looked

at us. Bhavadutah introduced me to them. I did not catch their names. They smiled at me

and went back to their bread. We sat down at the other end of the room for our dinner.

Bhavadutah was full of questions about father, mother, Vidhayaka and Nivya. As usual, he

wanted to know about everything including what is happening in Harappa. As we finished

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the food served by his kind wife, we noticed that they had completely stopped talking. It was

not long before they left saying goodnight.

“I have an excellent drink to finish off the evening” Bhavadutah said and went to the cellar to

get the drink. I sat there looking around the old familiar room where I had spent many a

pleasant evening during my days at the University. The room was large with high ceiling

supported by large oak beams and thick wooden columns. There was enough space for six

large tables and benches. There were two small windows which opened out and let a decent

amount of light. The kitchen was set off to the left side. The walls were painted with bright

ochre with red skirting all the way around. There were lamps mounted high on the walls

which were lit at nightfall every day. We could hear the fast flowing Vipas from where we

sat and occasionally the creak from the bridge whenever a heavy cart passed over it. He still

had the same old hangings on the walls. A large mural on the wall next to the counter, which

depicted a figurine with a bird’s head and strange hieroglyphics underneath. He took a great

delight in telling everyone how the picture was given to him by the grateful Egyptian in

return for saving him from the waters of River Vipas. The picture was that of an Egyptian

God of sun. There were hangings from several countries on all the walls. These were

presents from sailors and merchants on boats going up stream from Saraswata on River

Vipas. They often stopped at the bridge for a break and rest and relaxation.

Bhavadutah came back with the drinks and his wife. We sat there for another hour chatting

about old times.

“I need to be up early in the morning and leave before sunrise. Bhavadutah, if I am not up by

an hour before sunrise, can you please wake me up?” I asked.

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“Of course Master Upaas. What is the hurry?”

“I have to be back in Harappa within next three days. I have a lot of work to do since the

earth quake.” I could not possibly tell him the true reason behind my trip. Bhavadutah knew

better than to pursue questioning. I bid good night and turned in after my usual Gayathri

hymn.

Next morning it was still dark when I walked out of the Inn. First thing I noticed was the

absence of the two horses belonging to the strangers. I raised my eyebrows at Bhavadutah

who had come out to see me off.

“They must have left very early this morning without saying good bye. I heard the horses

leaving the stable a long time ago.” Bhavadutah said. His wife came out as well to say good

bye. “Be careful Master Upaas. The roads are not as safe as they used to be.”

I checked my bow and the quiver full of arrows once again to make sure nothing was

missing. I waved good bye to the two and set off across the bridge leading the Elaamite

horse by the rein. I kept thinking about those two strangers at the Inn as I trotted along the

road to Harappa. They appeared secretive in their behaviour – speaking hushed tones, furtive

glances and finally leaving very early without saying good bye to the inn keeper. Was it a

coincidence or was there something more sinister? I wondered. After going through this

scenario several times, I finally decided that I was being paranoid and that they were innocent

travellers minding their own business. I needed to concentrate on my riding if I have to reach

Harappa on time. I increased the speed to a gallop with the Elaamite horse easily keeping

pace with me.

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I kept up the pace for most of that day except for a break in the afternoon for about an hour

and reached the Janshar valley as the dusk was setting in. I was heading for the next staging

post in the valley when I saw smoke rising from the forest away from the path. I slowed

down and stopped near a clearing, tied the two horses to a tree. There were muffled voices

from the other side of the rise. I slowly crept up the hill careful not to make any noise

towards a rock at the top. I could see from behind the rock that there were about ten people

sitting around a camp fire in a clearing in the forest. They were fully armed with swords,

bows and spears. Their horses were tethered on the opposite side of the clearing. They were

dressed as Avestan soldiers. The two strangers from the Inn were there, now dressed as

Avestan soldiers. The mystery of the two strangers was beginning to unfold. They must

have been in Sindhu and followed me around. They must have known that I had met Sage

Vishwamitra and followed me to the Council of Elders. I had not taken any notice of people

around me at the time as I was not expecting any foul play. It must have been a child’s play

to follow me around in Sindhu with so many people in the city.

At first, I could not see any look outs and then I saw them. There were two of them, one of

which was directly above me sitting on the rock behind which I was hiding. The other look

out was sitting on a tree just above the horses. This was inconvenient, I thought. There were

too many of them for me to fight and it would take too long to go around them. I could not

afford to spend that much time to climb the hill on either side of the valley to reach the

staging post. I decided that there was no other option but to try a diversionary tactic to go

past them. The special arrows Master Adhvadipa had provided, would come in very useful.

I crept back to the horses and gave them a small feed. As I stroked and talked to the horses, I

went over the plan and chose the arrows I needed. I picked up the bow and strung it to the

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right tension that I wanted. The slow walk up the side of the hill with the Elaamite horse

trailing behind, was rather nerve racking, as I did not want to make a noise. The hoof steps

sounded ominously loud in the quiet of the forest. I was quite sure that the Avestan guard

could hear us approaching. I had to reach the large oak tree to get a good shot at the guard

sitting on the rock. If I could take him out without alerting the rest of them, I had a good

chance of escape. The certain way to do that would be to get him in the throat with one shot.

The angle of the shot had to be right, not only to stop him from crying out, but also kill him

instantly by hitting the brain. As I climbed to a vantage point on the tree, I could see the

guard was sitting looking south over the path I had to take. I loaded the very fine tipped

arrow and took a careful aim at the guard’s throat and prayed to God Indra before firing the

arrow. It must have been a lucky shot, as the arrow found its target and the force of the arrow

made the guard roll sideways, and almost fall off the rock. That would have been disastrous.

I jumped from the tree on to Shankara and walked him to the path. As we approached the

bend in the path, I loaded one of the special arrows and fired it, aiming it at the fire. The

arrow arced high in the sky before coming down at an angle to hit the fire. It was important

that I should not look at the fire when the arrow hit the fire. The arrow hit the fire just as I

turned the bend and came into direct vision of the Avestans. Couple of them saw me and

stood up with their bows. There was a brilliant orange flash and a loud bang as the arrow hit

the fire and everyone was blinded momentarily. I loaded my next arrow and aimed at the

flash and let loose. There was another loud bang and smoke billowed out as the arrow

exploded at contact. It was thick and black, completely covering the clearing. This was my

cue, and I goaded Shankara to a gallop. My heart was thumping as we sped past the camp

into the forest. I did not stop until I reached the staging post. It must have been the most

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terrifying few minutes of my life. I was sweating profusely and my heart was pounding so

hard that, I was afraid it might burst. I did not feel safe until I saw Meluhhan soldiers in the

staging post. When they heard what had happened, the captain sent off a platoon of soldiers

to the Avestan camp.

It was not until I had washed and eaten the dinner the soldiers served, that I could calm down

and my heart stopped pounding. The captain wanted the full details of the altercation. I told

him about the two strangers at the Inn the previous night and described them as best as I

could. The light was poor and I was not paying much attention to them. It was clear that my

description was not brilliant, from the disappointment from the captain’s face.

“Master Upaahsantha, by your description, it does not sound as if they were professional

soldiers. It does not look like the tactics of Avestan army. These are most likely bandits

dressed up as soldiers. Please take good rest Master Upaas. If you want I can arrange a

guard for the rest of the journey for you.”

“That is very kind of you. Now that I am out of the valley, rest of my journey should be safe.

I don’t want to take your soldiers away from important duties.” I replied.

“With due respect, Master Upaas. Protecting you is one of our main duties as soldiers. Even

though you are out of the valley, there are still several ambush points between here and

Harappa. I insist that you take one of my soldiers with you as a bodyguard” He insisted.

I could not persuade him otherwise. If I had told him the nature of the documents I was

carrying or the reason for my journey, he probably would have insisted on coming himself

and a platoon of soldiers. As I laid down in bed that night, I went over the events of the

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previous twenty four hours. All the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle were falling into place. But

there were still gaps which I could not fill.

The random attacks on outlying farms by men dressed as Avestan soldiers, the disturbance in

the Prana at Harappa, the document I was asked to take to Sindhu, the two strangers at

Sindhu and now the attack on me appeared to be part of a much bigger scheme than I

originally thought. I tossed and turned throughout the night, mulling over these events and

still could not link them all together. Finally, I fell into a fitful sleep only to be woken up by

one of the guards at the stage-post. It felt as if he woke me up just as I was falling asleep.

“Master Upaas. Your horse is very restless and we cannot pacify him. Please come quickly.”

Urgency in his voice woke me up instantly. Shankara was a very placid horse and would not

cause any problem. I wondered what would be causing him problems. As I ran outside to the

yard, I could see he was trying to cut loose and four of the soldiers were struggling to control

him. I ran across and took the reins from one of the soldiers and called out to him.

“Shankara. What is the matter? It is me your master” and started to stroke his neck and

back. He stopped pulling at the reins as soon as he heard my voice. It took me another half

an hour to pacify him completely. I fed him the sweets I carried in my bag and then gave him

some water. He kept snorting all the time. The morning light was just appearing over the

horizon and the birds were chirping away marking the onset of dawn. I decided to make an

early start, gathered all my belongings and saddled Shankara. The transformation in

Shankara was amazing as soon as the saddle went on his back. He turned around and looked

at me as if to say “it is about time.”

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The sun was beginning to climb when I reached the river Parushni. I knew I was on the final

stretch and speeded up the horse. It was not long before I noticed a dust cloud in the distance

and thundering of hooves. There were six riders in a hurry riding fast towards me. The

soldier who accompanied me sadi;

“We better hide in the forest till the riders pass, Master.”

There was no time to play hide and seek. I have to get back to Harappa quickly.

“No. There are only six riders and we can take them. There is no time to waste now. Come

with me” I said “Don’t shoot until I tell you.” The soldier looked at me with surprise and

resentment. A civilian giving him orders! But, he did not say anything and followed me.

I took Shankara and the Elaamite horse off the path and climbed a large banyan tree to take

up position well hidden from the riders. The riders were dressed as Meluhhans soldiers and

carrying Harappan standard. I was not going to take any chances. I took out my bow and

fired three arrows across the leading riders’ path. The horses stopped suddenly making the

two leaders lose their balance and fall off the horses. The others stopped and reached for

their bows.

“Not so fast soldier. I would not do that, if you value your life. I can pick each one of you

without moving from here.” I said in the most menacing voice I could muster under the

circumstances. There was a gasp from the soldiers and one of them said.

“Is that you Master Upaas?” I thought I recognised the voice. I was still apprehensive after

what happened the day before.

“Who wants to know?” I asked.

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“We are soldiers from the defence command under Master Adhvadipa. Sage Shunahotra has

sent us to look for you. You are needed urgently in Harappah.” He replied.

“Let me see some proof to say who you are” I was still not convinced.

“We are carrying the standard of Harappa as you can see and here is the seal of our

Command” he held out his left hand to show the large golden seal of the captain of the

Defence Command of Harappah on his right index finger.

“Lay the seal on the ground. Drop your weapons and step back so that I can check it.” I said.

“I am sorry Master Upaas. I cannot do that. You know very well, the only way this seal can

be removed from me is by killing me” he replied. He was telling the truth. The royal seals

given to Captains and Generals of the army or defence forces once worn, are never removed.

“In that case, get your soldiers to drop the weapons and move well back. I want you to drop

all your weapons and take three steps forward with your hands in front of you all the time” I

said.

The soldiers including the ones who had fallen down, dropped their weapons and stepped

well back with their hands held high. The captain also dropped his weapons – both the sword

and the bow and the quiver on the ground and walked forward.

I jumped down from where I was hiding and keeping my bow fully armed walked forward to

inspect the seal. The soldier also jumped down with me and as I came closer, I recognised

the Captain and the seal was genuine. I took down my bow and sheathed the arrow back in

the quiver.

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“I am sorry Captain. I have been attacked twice in the past week and I was not taking any

chances. Now tell me, what it the hurry? I would have reached Harappah by tonight

anyway” I said.

“I fully understand Master Upaas. Unfortunately, I do not know the reason for urgency. We

have been sent to escort you back to the city and reach as early as possible. We can get fresh

horses if you want” he replied.

“There is no need. My Shankara can outrun any of your horses” I turned around and whistled

my signal. Shankara came running to me leading the Elaamite horse. I could see that the

captain was quite impressed by seeing two horses, particularly the Elaamite horse.

“I see that you have acquired an Elaamite horse, Master Uppashantha?”

I described the events that won the Elaamite horse.

“I wish we had accompanied you Master Upaas. Now we must hurry. Sage Shunahotra

wants you back in the city before sunset” The Captain urged.

Rest of the journey went very fast. I did not have to worry about keeping alert and avoid

potential ambush areas. The scouts were way ahead in front who made sure that the path was

clear. We reached the southern gate well before sunset. I did not a chance to get home and

freshen up. I had to go straight to the Council of Elders where all the elders were waiting in

the Great Hall. Sage Shunahotra got up from his seat and came rushing forward to greet me.

I could see there was a sense of relief on his face as well as all the elders. My father and

Master Shunahotra also came to me. I touched the feet of them in turn asking for their

blessings.

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“It is God Indra’s blessings that has brought you back home safely. How are you Upaas?

You look tired. We have been extremely worried over the past few days, ever since we learnt

that the renegade Avestans knew about the contents of the letter. None of us dared use

telepathy to contact you as it would have pinpointed your position to the rebels” Sage

Shunahotra said with genuine concern.

I was surprised on two counts. One was that the Council of Elders knew about the rebels and

secondly that the Sage was concerned about their powers. Until now, my impression was that

Sage Shunahotra and our council of elders were invincible.

“My obeisance to all the Elders. I am grateful for your concern. I did have some problems

on the way, but manageable. I met Sage Vishwamitra and he has given me this document as

his answer” I pulled out the Palm-leaf roll tucked under the tunic all this time since Sage

Vishwamitra had given me three days ago. It was only three days ago, but it felt like three

months ago.

“Thank you Upaas. The city of Harappa is indebted to you for this. I am sure that you are

very tired from your journey. But, Master Adhvadipa would like details of the attacks on you

during the journey. It is important that we piece together all the information we can get to

catch the rebels as soon as possible. It is a matter of life and death for Harappa” Sage

Shunahotra continued.

Master Adhvadipa got up from his seat and led me out into one of the numerous side rooms

of the Great Hall.

“Please follow me Upaas. I have asked the guards to get you some refreshments while we are

talking.”

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The room was sparsely furnished with a wooden desk and few chairs. There were two

windows on the far side overlooking the vegetable garden the Great Hall was famous for. I

walked over to the window to see the gardener tending to the plants with a brass water pot

with a long spout in his hand. Two shafts of light shone over the desk which was set on the

right side of the door. There was wooden bowl full of fruit, freshly picked from the garden, a

tray with freshly baked flat bread, a small bowl full of honey and a large jug full of refreshing

thin yoghurt drink. The sun was going down and the light from the windows was getting dull.

Master Adhvadipa sat behind the desk and said;

“Take a seat Upaas. Have something to eat. The fruit are fresh from the garden and the

bread was baked by Ma Pounarvasava. I can see from your face that you are puzzled. I also

know that you want to get home, rather than sit here talking to me” he smiled. “But this is

important and rather urgent.”

I helped myself to some grapes and picked up the jug with yoghurt drink.

“I fully understand Master Adhvadipa. It is my duty to help in whatever way I can. Several

questions have been plaguing my mind over the last few days. I would like them clarified” I

said sitting down opposite Master Adhvadipa.

“I am not surprised. The events have moved rapidly over the last few days. I think I know

your questions. Let me try to explain” He took a deep breath and leaned forward looking into

my eyes.

“Yes we have found the perpetrators of the yajna which caused the disturbance in the Prana.

It is an Avestan Magus who has rebelled against his leaders and has instigated some

disenfranchised Harappans to act against us. He has obviously promised them a false utopia.

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He is leading a rebel force of Avestans against Bharata. We have intercepted messages from

within the group which shows that they have an informer and spy within Harappa.

Unfortunately we have not been able to find this spy who is helping the Magus. Your

assignment, though kept secret, appeared to have been known to them from the beginning.

We found out their plan to intercept you only last night. We were afraid that we may be too

late to warn you. Despite several attempts by us, including the great Shunahotra, we could

not find your Prana signal. Their next target is obtaining Soma plant or the Somarasa. If they

get hold of either one of those, their yajna will be successful and we will not be able to stop

them. We know who the Harappan rebels are and who the Magus is and where he is right

now. Unfortunately, we do not know who the spy or the helper is. The Magus has thrown

such a strong field around him or her, that we cannot penetrate. One way of catching him is

to allow the yajna to go ahead and hopefully catch him red handed. However, that is a risky

proposition. Now that you have brought advice from Sage Vishwamitra, we might be able to

stop the yajna and catch the spy as well at the same time’. He stopped to take a breath.

That was the longest soliloquy for Master Adhvadipa that I had heard. I was beginning to

understand the events of the last few days. It was much more serious than I had thought and

a lot larger problem than I had ever imagined.

‘Thank you Master Adhvadipa for explaining everything to me so clearly. I can now

understand the reason for all the events over the last couple of weeks since the earthquake. I

still find it difficult to understand that there are people in Harappa who are unhappy with their

life enough to harm Harappa and its life style. I had thought that we were living in an

Utopian society. Everyone here has a good life style, have jobs, shelter and enough food to

go around. Our council of Elders have kept our society self sufficient for hundreds of years.”

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Master Adhvadipa sighed again before replying.

“The world is full of both good and bad people. There are some who are never content with

their lot. There have been problems in Ariana with drought over the last few years. There

are many discontented people in Ariana, who are jealous of the success of Bharata. We have

offered help to them and there are moves to divert some of the waters of our rivers to the

west. Sage Shunahotra along with the Grand Council have had meetings with the Avestan

King. Unfortunately there is a rebel unit who have other plans which includes diverting the

great river Sindhu to the west. There is unfortunately some here in Harappa who have

decided to help the rebels. Unfortunately for us, there is also someone with access to the

information about Somarasa who has decided at act against Harappa. It is up to us to stop

them.”

I had finished the entire bowl of fruit and the jug of Yoghurt drink by then. The sun had set

and Master Adhvadipa had lit the wall lamps as he was talking. I suddenly noticed that it was

very quiet. The flickering of the wall lamps produced strange images over the walls. The

atmosphere was rather sombre and we spent the next hour discussing the events and people I

had met and the attack on me on the return journey. It was quite late by the time I said

goodbye and left the Great Hall.

I walked out of the large front doors into the night and stood there for a minute, stretching my

arms out and took a large gulp of fresh cool night air. I could smell the fresh rain somewhere

in the west of us. I loved the smell of first rains on the sun scorched earth in the west. It was

nice to get out into the open once again. It was dark and Pradipaka had already finished

lighting all the street lamps. The room was beginning to feel claustrophobic with so much

information being loaded on to me. It was time for me to go home. The guard at the stables

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had brought Shankara around for me. Master Adhvadipa wanted to check the Elaamite horse

for any clues for the owners of the horse before letting me take him. It was quite late that

night before I reached home and what I thought was a well deserved sleep in my own bed.

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Rendezvous with the spy.

The Magus made his way around the now familiar roads of Harappa towards the eastern gate.

He was very pleased with the results of the night’s yajna. It had been lot more successful

than he had imagined. All the steps of the yajna had gone according to plan and all his

subjects had behaved impeccably. He had made the right impression on his subjects. All the

powders and portions that he had taken from the Yogi had worked extremely well. He had

spent many a night perfecting the portions with chemicals he had obtained from Sumerian

and Median travellers. He firmly believed that he was better than the Yogi and he could do a

lot more than the decrepit old man from the mountains. The disappearing act was particularly

impressive, he thought. He had spent some time perfecting the art and it had worked very

well. His subjects were suitably impressed and he was sure that they would do his bidding

without question.

He is now ready for the next stage of his plan. The Prana field he had generated by the

night’s yajna should shield his spy in Harappa from the most powerful Meluhhan sages. The

spy would be crucial not only to obtain the Somarasa, but also the technique of

manufacturing it. If the spy could lead him to the source of Soma plant, his job is done and

nothing in this world can stop him from attaining his goal. Then it would be up to his allies

up in the north to do the rest. He was relying on the vast armies of his allies to do the

physical job of capturing the Mount Mujavant and the precious fields of Soma. The rebel

general had promised him the armies as soon as he gets the information. He was also certain

that once the Harappans lose the Soma, it would be easy to defeat them and capture Harappa.

Strategically, it was important that he captures Harappa first after Mount Mujavant.

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It was crucial that the spy remains hidden until the final stage is finished and he can invite the

Avestan elders into Harappa as victorious rulers. First Harappa and then the rest of Bharata.

The thought spurred him and he hastened his pace with new found vigour.

He still remembers the first encounter with the spy in the wayside Inn between Harappa and

Saraswata. Maricha had asked him to be at the Inn to meet someone important and who

would help them in their common cause. He was not very hopeful as he rode towards the Inn

that evening. It would be yet another meeting with yet another “important” person, only to

end up in disappointment. Most of them had turned out to be disgruntled officials who were

looking for a bit of excitement. None of them had any information about Soma, let alone

access to the plant or the Somarasa. The first impression was again very disappointing and

his interest was only aroused when he found out where the spy worked. The spy had

positioned himself in the shadows and had a hood over his head despite the heat and humidity

within the Inn. He never made eye contact with the Magus. He looked shifty and

uncomfortable. He kept smiling throughout the meeting and said very little. Magus noticed

that smile never reached his eyes though. The Magus had to literally drag the information out

of him. His answers were mostly monosyllabic and noncommittal. After about an hour of

what turned out to be a monologue, he gathered that the spy worked in a place with access to

the extract of Soma and also that he would be willing to get the extract for him at a price.

The spy turned out to be completely noncommittal about the whereabouts of the Soma fields

and Mount Mujavant. He appeared to say that he knew where the mountain and the lake was,

but was not prepared to divulge the information. The Magus was really excited and thought

he was finally getting somewhere. So far, the spy had been good at his word and they have

had a several meetings. He could not really rely on Maricha and his cronies for getting Soma

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plant extract or the Somarasa. His best bet would be the spy. With the spy’s help, there was

no reason why he would fail in his endeavour. The spy had been promised the leadership of

the Council of Elders for Harappa on the day of the awakening as the Magus had come to call

the final victory.

The sun was just coming up as he reached the Eastern gate. He was positively beaming

inside by that time. The thought of capture of all the Harappan gold along with Soma fields

was mesmerising. But he dare not show his emotions publicly. He pulled his hood further

over his head to try and cover his face without being too obvious. He only had to wait a few

minutes for the gates to be opened by the guards. He was one of the first ones to pass

through the gates on to the road. As usual there was a lot of traffic at that time – travellers,

merchants and farmers waiting to continue with their day’s work within and out of the city.

As he waited for the gates to open, he scanned the crowd waiting to see if he could see his

man. There was no sign of him. Either he was being extra careful and come later or he may

have forgotten about the rendezvous. Anyway, he did not see that there was any point in

worrying about it. He will just have to go to the place and wait for him.

He mingled with the farmers going out into the fields with their scythes, ploughs and

implements of farming, wives hard behind their heels with packed lunches. He walked with

the crowd for a while waiting for an opportunity to peel off without being noticed. There was

a slight commotion ahead of him as some of the implements rolled off the back of a cart as it

was climbing an incline. Everyone tried to help the driver to get the implements back onto

the cart when he slipped into the trees and hid behind a large bush. It was not long before the

road became empty of workers and farmers. He doubled back along the road towards the city

and turned off the road again just before the he reached the gate into an overgrown path. It

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pleased him to see that no one had been through the path for a while judging by the

overgrowth. He soon reached the rendezvous point. He had identified this cave several

months ago and had used it a couple of time before for meeting his friends from Harappa. He

never used any site more than twice. Unfortunately his man was not prepared to travel much

further out of the city than this and it was too dangerous to meet inside the city.

He entered the cave and cleared a space to sit. The sunlight was just struggling to filter

through the entrance of the cave as it was covered over by dense bushes and a small water fall

over the mouth. The cave was well hidden from prying eyes. It was off the beaten track and

no one ever came near the site apart from some straying goats. His friends from Harappa had

spread a rumour quite successfully about a man-eating monster in the area. It kept most, if

not all of the Harappans away. It was perfect for a hideout, as it was almost impossible to see

the cave from outside unless one knows there is a cave. He sat down and took out the bread

he had brought from Maricha’s house the night before. It was typical Harappan bread soaked

in honey and sundried. There were some dates as well in his pouch. He enjoyed the

breakfast as he was quite looking forward to meeting his spy and everything was falling into

place at last. He washed the food down with the water from the fall at the mouth of the cave.

The sun was coming up and it was getting hotter as it was the beginning of summer. There

was no sign of his spy. Doubt started to creep into his mind. Has he forgotten the meeting?

Has he forgotten the directions to the cave? Has he missed the cave altogether? Has he

changed his mind about helping? He decided to better go outside and look out for him from

the top of the cave. He peered through the bushes to make sure there was no one outside

before walking out. He moved slowly outside and had to go around the hillock to climb on

top of the cave. It was a good thing that he was tall as he had to reach high up to the branches

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of the tree above the cave to help him climb up. He managed to scramble up the boulders and

worked himself around to the front again to sit just above the cave behind the tree which was

growing out of the side of the stream at the top of the cave. He could see the clear stream

which wound its way down to the cave from afar. He could not see where it came from due

to dense forest.

He must have sat there for hours or at least it felt like hours. He tried to keep himself covered

and also not to make any noise that would attract attention of people as well as animals of the

forest. He was just beginning to give up hope of his man turning up when he heard

something. It sounded different to the normal sounds of the forest. It was an intrusion into

the tranquillity of sounds of the forest. There was silence again apart from the crickets and

the frogs in the distant pool. He was alert now. There is something not right here. He

scanned the surroundings and in the direction of where he thought the sound came from.

Nothing. He closed his eyes and uttered the hymn taught by the Yogi under his breath. This

was the hymn that would let me see in the dark and distances. Still nothing. He suddenly

remembered, if it was his man, he could not see him either. The field he had put around his

man would stop anyone seeing him through divine vision. Then he saw within his mind, an

image of the field he had created, not too far from the cave. The image was so faint that it

had to be his man. The image was not moving and it did not look like that he was going to

move at any time now. He had to take a chance and show himself. He had notion to the

mind of his spy. He was a coward and willing to sell his soul to the highest bidder. He

would not allow himself be seen above the wall to be shot at. If he let him sit there, the

Magus will end up sitting all day and would have to go home empty handed. He took a deep

breath and stood up and jumped off the roof of the cave on to the ground beneath. He landed

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on the balls of his feet in a crouch and supporting himself with his hands on the ground. He

was trying to be as quiet as possible and at the same time attract his man’s attention. Still,

there was no movement from the clump of bushes where he knew the spy was hiding. The

Magus stood up and said;

“Hello. You can come out now. It is quite safe inside the cave. No one can see us in there.”

“Huh. No. Please stand there where I can see you and turn around slowly. Mmm... Stand

facing the cave and can you keep your hands where I can see them please?” The spy said.

He sounded uptight and his words were more of a mumble and stutter. The Magus could

detect a slight tremor in his voice. He was obviously afraid. The Magus was not sure if the

spy was afraid of him or afraid of being caught by the Harappans. He turned around to face

the cave opening and kept his hands to his sides. He could hear the spy jump down from the

tree he was sitting on and move towards him. After what appeared to be ages, he said,

“My apologies. Huh... But I had to make sure no one was watching us.”

The Magus turned around and looked at the spy. He looked rather dishevelled and tired. He

had his head and face covered with his ever present hood. He looked as if he had not slept

for a long time and looked very tired and apprehensive. He kept darting his eyes everywhere

as if looking for something or someone.

“I wondered if you had either forgotten our meeting or forgotten the place.”

“Can we go in please? I don’t want to be in the open any longer than absolutely necessary.”

“Yes. I understand. Please follow me. Be careful, it is very slippery. You will be OK as

long as you follow my footsteps. The bushes are harmless.”

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The Magus walked into the cave with sure steps and the spy followed gingerly being careful

to walk on the Magus’s footsteps. Once inside, he let out a deep sigh. The Magus went to

the clearing inside the cave where he had made space to sit. He sat down and put his hands in

his bag.

“No. Please don’t” the spy cried out. He looked petrified.

“I am just taking some bread out for you. You look famished. Have you had anything to eat

this morning?” the Magus replied.

The spy just nodded his head first and the immediately said,

“Huh... No. I did not have time. Huh.. I left when it was still dark this morning.”

“I looked for you at the gate.”

“Huh.... I did not come through the gate” was the cryptic reply.

The Magus was not going to ask how he managed to get out of the walled city. It was

interesting to know that there are ways of getting in and out of the city without going through

the gates. It would be extremely useful in future. He offered the bread and dry dates he had

in his bag. The spy took them and ate with gusto. That was the first time the Magus had seen

him do anything with enthusiasm. He sat there and watched him finish the bread and drink

the water from his leather pitcher. As he passed the pitcher back, the Magus asked,

“Did you bring the substance I had asked?”

The spy put his hands deep inside the layers of sheets he had covered and got out a small

leather pouch and handed it to the Magus rather hesitatingly. He was very reluctant to let go

off the pouch. The Magus literally had to prise it out of the spy’s fingers. He opened the

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pouch carefully to reveal a greenish black powder mixed with some dried leaves and some

white granules. The Magus had never seen an extract of Soamarasa before. But he did not

want the spy to know his ignorance. He assumed this powder must be an extract used for

transport of the precious stuff. Difficult to imagine transporting Soma plants hundreds of

yojanas to Harappa from the Mount Mujavant, in the Himalayan mountains. He could see

that the spy, for the first time looking at him intently. The Magus did not want to give

anything away either. He had to think fast. He took a gamble and said,

“This looks good. Approximately how much Somarasa can we make out of this?”

The Magus did not take his eyes off the spy.

“Huh... One pouch is enough to make a cauldron of Somarasa, if you get water from

Saraswathi. And mmm.. I am not sure, how much you will get if you use any other river

water. I suspect, mmm... the Somarasa will not work if you don’t use the Saraswathi water.”

The words were coming out haltingly. He had his head down and staring at a point on the

floor behind the Magus.

“We have to make sure that the water from Saraswathi is available” the Magus replied. ‘you

also said that you would give me a list of ingredients for the extract?”

The spy lifted his head up and looked at the Magus, again being careful not to look at the

eyes.

“Umm. That was very difficult. Huh.... I was nearly caught writing things down.”

He put his hands again inside the folds of his clothes and pulled out a rolled up palm leaf and

handed it to the magus.

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“Thank you. You will be rewarded many times over when we are in charge of Harappa. Be

rest assured.”

He was busy reading the palm leaf roll. Several lines of texts were scribbled in a hurry and

with couple of diagrams which the Magus had never seen before. That caused his eyebrows

to rise and looked a bit puzzled.

“What are these diagrams?”

The spy immediately replied,

“Um.. The diagrams are the shape of the grinder you have to build to get the correct

consistency of the powder from the Soma stalk” he replied “and the stones are from Mount

Mujavant.”

“Can you tell me where the mountain is?”

“Huh.. I will, when the time comes.”

The Magus knew that to attack Harappa with any chance of success, he will need more than

one cauldron of Somarasa. He will just have to wait until the Gomedha was finished and has

control of the rivers before he could get the information again.

“I have to go to the site of the yajna for next week. I want you to come with me and make

sure that the plans are correct.”

The spy looked shocked. He immediately lifted his head up and nearly shouted out.

“No. I am not going anywhere. Huh.... I am going back home. It is up to you to do the right

thing” He looked as if he was going to have a stroke.

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“I want you to look at my arrangements and tell me if we have done it right. It will not take

long. No one will see you or recognise you” the Magus insisted. It was of no avail.

“Huh. No no. I am not going anywhere. I am going back home” and he turned around

towards the entrance of the cave. He stood near the entrance hidden behind the bushes and

the water fall looking out for anyone outside. Once he was happy that there was no one

outside, he started to walk out. He had only taken a couple of steps when he slipped and fell

down into the pool below. The Magus was watching him leave with mixed feelings – both

anger and frustration as well as pity. Anger, that this man would not give him the

information which might make him the future leader of the city that he desperately wanted

and pity at the cowardice.

He immediately got up to help the spy. He went to the edge of the pool and held his hand

out. The spy took his hand pulled himself out of the pool.

“You will never achieve anything by losing your temper. Join hands with me and you will

achieve everything you ever dreamed of” the Magus said looking at the spy “just follow my

footsteps as before and you will be safe.”

The spy followed him out of the cave and turned around and said.

“Thank you. Huh... I will get in touch with when I have some more information.” With that

he turned and walked away. He could not get away fast enough. He was out of the Magus’s

sight before he could say “stop.”

The Magus sighed deeply and set off toward the place chosen for the final yajna – the

Gomedha. It was the ultimate sacrifice which would give him untold powers. He would be

sacrificing the sacred bull at the end of the yajna. Everything was falling into place at the

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right time. He needed the spy for the directions to the mountain and he needed a mole within

the camp as it were to get as much information as possible. He got what he wanted for the

yajna from him now and he will not need him till after the sacrifice yajna. He would have

been much more happier if the spy had looked at the preparations to be absolutely sure. He

saw the spy disappear behind the trees and literally run off in the distance.

The Magus had more important things to do now. He started off in the direction of the little

temple in the woods where he was supposed to meet his friends from Saraswata. The sun

was nearly at the top and getting hot. He pulled his hood over the head for shade and

increased the pace. He wanted to get to the ravine before it gets dark. It was not long before

he reached the little abandoned temple to find his friends sitting down for some lunch. His

horse was also ready and waiting.

“We were getting a bit concerned. It is getting rather late” Ankasa said. He stood up as the

Magus approached. He was always in a hurry. He was the only one from his city who

believed in the Magus and had agreed to help the Magus. Ankasa had travelled to Saraswata

after the Magus had come back from the time with the Yogi. The Magus had sent messages

to several of his acquaintances from the past to come and join him. Ankasa was the only who

had responded. There were three other Avestans who had settled down in Saraswata who had

joined forces with the Magus.

“I had to wait for my man to turn up from the city. He was late in coming. We may have a

slight problem with our man. He needs a lot of coaxing and cajoling. I still don’t have all the

information I need. We may have to find some other way of getting it from him” the Magus

replied as he helped himself to some hot barley gruel and corn mixed with amlaka.

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“Is there anyone else that we can use?” Ankasa persisted.

“Yes. There is potentially someone in the Great Council itself. I still cannot make out if that

person would betray his chief and country.”

“Is it is worth a try contacting him?”

“I don’t want to show my hand until we are sure which way he is playing. I know that he is

not happy with the way the council is working. But that is all I really know. He has a quite a

powerful aura around him and I cannot penetrate to read his mind.” The Magus replied.

“Well. May be we can persuade your man after the Gomedha. He may change his mind once

he sees the effect of the yajna. We better hurry now.”

All five of them climbed their horse and set off in a gallop towards the ravine. It had taken

the magus and his friends nearly a year to find this place. It was about half a yojana from

Harappa and took less than an hour from the eastern gate on a horse. It was almost an

accident that found the ravine. It was one of those cold wintry days where they were all

wishing they would rather be home in front of a fire when suddenly Hugav’s horse lost his

footing on some loose stones and nearly fell down. He reared up in fear and dropped Hugav.

As Hugav fell, he rolled down a steep slope all the way down to the bottom of the ravine. It

was very well hidden behind large trees and thick tall bushes. If Hugav had not fallen down

the slope, there was no way of knowing that it existed. Hugav was one of those strong silent

types and did not make any sound as he went down. The other four immediately got off the

horses and moved towards the edge of the ravine. It was with mixed feelings that they saw

what they saw. They were afraid that Hugav might have broken something in his fall as the

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ravine was quite deep. He had dropped at least 25 yards down to the bottom of the ravine.

He was not moving from where he had stopped.

“Hugav. Are you Ok Hugav?” the magus shouted.

Hugav looked up from where he was lying down and slowly got up. The way he was dusting

himself told the watchers that all he had hurt was probably his pride. The Magus looked

around for a safe route to climb down. There was no way the horse could climb down the

slope. They had to go back a fair distance where the slope flattened out and he could make

out a disused path winding down to the bottom. It took nearly half an hour to get to the

bottom to find Hugav pacing up and down.

The memory brought a smile to the Magus’s face. Ankasa, who was riding next to him

noticed and said,

“Something funny? Would you like to share it with us?”

“I just remembered the way we found this place for Gomedha. It was funny to see Hugav so

angry. I don’t think he liked to be seen as a normal “mortal”. I had never seen him so vocal

before that episode.”

The others joined in and laughed except Hugav. He had the face of thunder and kept quite

the whole of the journey. They chatted about the good old days in Ariana and their childhood

memories and how they were going to get them all back soon. The journey went very

quickly and they were at the path down into the ravine. As they approached the spot which

was hidden by carefully placed boulders and bushes. They got to work to move them and

started the climb down into the ravine. The ravine was obviously a dried up river bed. The

Magus knew that this was the course of Parushni hundreds of years ago. He remembers the

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Yogi telling him how the Harappans had moved the river to suit the city of Harappa when

there was a continued long period of drought hundreds of years ago. The story had

impressed him immensely. But he always had a doubt at the back of his mind about the

capacity of anyone to move a great river such as Parushni. Now that he had seen this ravine,

he was quite certain that it was the old course of the river and had obviously change course a

long time ago.

The climb down to the floor of the ravine was slow and they had to be careful not to trip or

slip as that would take the horse and rider to a certain death. The ravine was ideal for their

purpose. It was flat sandy floor with a spattering of red sandstone boulders and a few thorny

bushes. The sides of the ravine rose high up by about 25 yards, made out of red sandstone

cut over thousands of years by the river Parushni. The sides were almost vertical with very

few footholds. The only things that could climb up or down were monkeys and there were

quite a few of those. There were some small caves as well on the walls of the ravine and they

were pretty inaccessible. It was amazing to see some small trees growing out of the cracks in

the walls. The ravine ran north to south, was long and C shaped and narrowed sharply at both

ends and once around the corner the walls dropped rapidly and the course was taken over by

the jungle. There was a small pool of water right around the corner towards the south with

large trees growing at the edges of the pool. A narrow stream which flowed at the edge of the

ravine, fed the pool. The trees practically covered the pool completely and the water was

always cool. When they had looked around the ravine for the first time, the Magus thought

that it was an omen. The ravine had everything they wanted – plenty of space, complete

secrecy from prying eyes, extremely easy to defend in case of an attack and no one would be

able to see the smoke from the altar from outside the ravine. He thought the Gods wanted

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him to do the Gomedha and that is why they have shown him the most ideal place for the

yajna.

Once they reached the floor, they started to work quickly. Their cave was just off the pool

around the corner, again well hidden with established bushes. They had to climb over some

large boulders to actually get into the cave. They moved the boulders out of the way to get

bricks out of the cave. His friends had done well. They had managed to get a cart load of

bricks from Saraswata with a pretext of repairing Maricha’s house in Harappa. It was hard

work transporting the bricks down to the bottom of the ravine. Hugav, who was a black

smith by profession had designed a pulley system and they had lowered the bricks using large

cane baskets and thick hemp ropes. Hugav and Ankasa were busy clearing a space near the

eastern wall of the ravine for their yajna. The magus had decided the spot near the eastern

wall as the only way to get to it was through the ravine floor. The wall at that point was

particularly steep and there were large trees at the top overhanging the edge forming a

camouflage. The twins, Katav and Kurav, helped the Magus move the bricks, cowpat powder

and the powdered sandstone, down to the spot. The Magus marked out the spots for the five

altars they would need for the yajna. They carried water in large brass vessels for the mortar.

The Magus then took out the palm-leaf with drawings of the altar and how to build them on

it. This was copy of the altar design given in the Yajurveda mainly for Purushamedha. He

took a stick and drew the drawing of the altars that he wanted his friends to build. It was

important that the person who is going to use the altar had to build the altar. There would be

one at the apex of the pentagon for himself and one in each of the other four corners for this

freinds. The four altars were identical and in the shape of an octagon. His apical one was

slightly different and was higher and had sixteen corners. Once he had drawn the details of

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the altar, he called his friends over to him. He ckecked the drawing in the palm-leaf again to

check the distances between the altars.

“It is very important that the instructions are followed exactly and the measurements and

directions cannot be deviated. As you can see your altars are all in the shape of an octagon.

Each sides of the octagon has to be exactly two feet long and the first step would be sixteen

inches in height. The second step should be eight inches and the third and the last one would

be four inches in height. Each brick is exactly four inch in height” the Magus could see

everyone was concentrating hard “we will prepare the floor and the foundations for the altars

today and we can finish building the altars tomorrow. Help me draw the outlines of the altars

and you can start building the foundation and the floor. Are there any questions?” he looked

at the four who nodded in unison.

“No Magus. That seem pretty clear to us. We have been through this drill a few times

before.” Ankasa replied for all of them.

“Yes. I know. But I don’t want to take any chances of making a mistake” the Magus replied.

He took some strings out of his bag and with the help of Hugav, cut several lengths of two

feet each. Then, he looked up at the sky to see the position of the sun. He will have to wait

until the nightfall to see the position of the Arundhati (Ursa major) star and decide the exact

orientation of the altars. Dusk was approaching as they started to clear the space and damp

down the mud. They mixed the cowpat powder with water and sprinkled on the prepared

area. Once the cowpat solution was on the floor, they dampened it down again with the large

wooden stompers to get the area nice and flat. The area had to be large enough for the five

altars and for them to sit and perform the yajna and for the helpers to move around. His

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subjects will have to sit on the sandy floor of the ravine which looked quite comfortable. By

the time they finished the whole area for the floor of the yajna, it was getting dark.

The Magus looked around with some satisfaction. He had timed this perfectly. He looked up

at the cloudless sky to see the Arundhati (Ursa Major) star just above the northern horizon

over the lip of the ravine. He quickly marked the position on the floor and using the evening

star, Venus and the Saturn for triangulation marked out the four altars. He looked at the

drawings on the floor again to make sure that they formed an arrow pointing to the Arundhati

star. The main altar, that he would be using was at the apex pointing directly at the

Arundhati. He sat down at the base of the formation of the altars and looked again to confirm

the direction of the formation. He checked the distance between the altars and the sizes of the

altar sides. Once he was satisfied, he said,

“Let us get some wood and start a fire. We need some light to build the foundation. If we

can get the foundations done now, we can spend the whole of tomorrow building the altars.

That will give us two more days for the final preparation. Plenty of time to make sure

everything is perfect.”

With that the Magus started to walk towards the edge of the ravine where there were some

scraggy trees and shrubs. They managed to gather some twigs and branches and started a

camp fire near the area of the altars. The five of them got to work with the implements they

had stored in the cave and the altar foundation was ready in no time. The Magus checked the

plans and the designs and nodded with satisfaction at the work they had done.

“That is looking really good. We should be able to finish the altars tomorrow and can start

the preparations for the yajna itself” he said with a smile.

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They had brought dried food and fruits from Saraswata. The twins, who worked as cooks in

the Temple of Saraswata, cooked up a delicious meal of rice, long peppers and lotus stem

with spices. It was quite late that night when the Magus went to sleep content with the fact

that everything was going so well beyond his wildest dreams. He refused use of Bhang for

everyone that night which upset Hugav considerably. Nothing can go wrong now, he thought

and drifted off to sleep just as the moon came up over the rim of the ravine.

The noise of the cockerel woke the Magus up to see the bright orange sun coming up over the

eastern rim of the ravine. Most of the ravine was still in darkness when he went to the pool to

get himself cleaned and offer prayers to the Sun God and Varuna.

He stepped into the pool and poured cool and fresh water over his head, washed his hair and

tied the long greying hair up in a twirl. He tied his freshly washed wrap around while it was

still wet. First he recited the hymns in praise of Mithra and asked him to grant success in his

endeavours. He turned east towards the sun and lifted his hands high above his head read out

the hymns in praise of Sun God. He took the water from the pool and lifted it up over the

head as he poured it back down into the pool, recited the hymns in praise of Varuna.

The four friends joined him in the pool and said their prayers together to Mithra. The sun

was just peeping over the eastern rim of the ravine when they started to build the altars and

they had finished as the sun had reached the zenith. The magus checked everyone’s work

several times and corrected the angles of the octagon a few times until they were absolutely

perfect copies of the drawings on the palm leaf. He stood back at the bottom of the formation

and inspected the finished work with some satisfaction.

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He went back to the cave and checked the materials stored for the yajna. He wanted to be

absolutely certain that he had everything ready in the cave. This was middle of nowhere, at

least half day’s journey from anywhere by the fastest travel possible – horseback. All he

need now is, his subjects and the right confluence of stars which will be in two days time. It

is time to get back to the Inn he and his friends were staying, for the duration of the week.

He turned to Ankasa and said,

“Ankasa, my friend. You will have to go to Harappa and make sure Maricha and his friends

get here on time without arousing suspicion. It is not a good idea to show my face there too

often.”

“I understand. I will leave in the morning to Harappa. I feel the best option is to move them

in batches of about 20 people at a time to the camp site in the forest.” Ankasa replied.

“I agree. Do we have enough facilities at the camp site for 100 people?” the Magus wanted

to know.

“I expect about 50 people to attend, but we have facility for over 100 people” Ankasa

answered.

They spent the rest of the day at the Inn discussing the various steps of the yajna. His

friends’ knowledge of scriptures was good, but needed a lot of coaching in intricacies and

different steps involved. He knew that any mistake in the steps would end up in disaster and

the results did not bear thinking about. Just the thought of that made him shiver. Then there

is the question of the sacred bull. At the moment it was tied up at the Half-way inn along

with three other cows. The inn keeper had been told that they were being taken to the

Harappa. They could not bring one bull, as it would have raised eyebrows and very difficult

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to explain on one bull being taken all the way from Saraswata to Harappa. It was now the

responsibility of the twins to bring the cows to the ravine on the day of the yajna.

He could not leave the security of the ravine to the hands of Harappans. One never knew

when they would switch their allegiance. He had hired twenty of the elite forces from the

Avestan army. Only the captain of the platoon knew the reason for their presence. The

soldiers thought they were on some form of secret exercise on Harappan land. The generals

were very sceptic of the Magus’s exploits and did not think he would succeed.

“Meluhhan sages are very powerful. The only way to take Harappa is through force and one

day we will have the force required to do that. Your way is doomed to failure. You should

know that they can read your mind and they have powerful magic on their side” the General

had said and dismissed his offer out of hand. ‘He will sing a different tune when I welcome

them into Harappa’ – the Magus had thought to himself.

The Magus went over all the arrangements several times in his own mind. He could only

hope that he had thought of everything. It was quite late when he finally fell asleep, content

that he had done everything right.

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Avestan Dilemma

It was a sombre and quite day at the court of King Vishtaspa in Mundigak, capital of

Sogrdiana. The King had called for an extraordinary meeting of the leaders of the council of

Elders of all the seven districts in Ariana. There had been a lot of infighting and discontent

among the people of different districts, mainly because of water. The land of seven rivers

was drying up. Recent series of earthquakes appeared to have changes the course of some of

the rivers. The districts of Bactria and Gava were particularly affected as the rivers flowing

through their districts had changed directions and now were flowing mainly into Sogdiana.

All the leaders had brought their advisers and ministers as well as their senior Magi along

with them. There was a lot of distrust and doubt among them.

One could see that there were factions forming within the groups. They were gathered in

different corners of the vast hall of the King’s court discussing among themselves, throwing

furtive glances at everyone else. The hall itself had lost its grandeur of the past glory. The

hall was quite large measuring probably about thirty yards in length. There was a podium at

the far end of the hall where the King’s throne took a prime position in the middle. There

were two smaller chairs on either side of the throne, slightly set back from the throne. There

were four excquisitely carved solid wooden columns on either side of the large podium and

there were three steps leading up to the podium in the middle. The solid gold ornaments

adorning the walls, brass plates and shields over the door panels and the silver lamps were all

missing. The walls were now painted to look like gold ornaments and brass shields. The

huge solid wooden doors to the entrance of the wall still had brass trimmings and locks. The

throne seat was now an elaborately carved wooden chair, replacing the previous one which

was embellished with gold plates and studded with precious and semi-precious stones. There

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were a series of wooden columns on either side of the hall abutting the wall. These columns

gave the walls a solid feel. There was a line of chairs slightly set off the walls on either side

for the ministers and the Elders of Councils of the seven districts. There was a cluster of

benches in the nearside corner near the main door for visitors and celebrities. There was a

small narrow door to the right side of the main door in the corner for the general public to

seek audition with the king. The King’s court was free for audition for all his subjects when

the court was in session. He was a very popular King with his subjects. The guards stood

near the main door and also several of them inside the hall, standing rather discretely near the

side walls and behind the throne. The walls had brass lamps mounted at a height with oil

fired wicks burning brightly. The plaster from the walls was peeling off in places and the

wooden columns were showing signs of decay in places. If they were not repaired or

replaced soon, the roof was likely to cave in soon. For those of the elders who had seen the

place in its former glory, it was rather depressing to see the decline in fortunes of the country

so vividly portrayed in the hall.

The humming of over thirty people within the hall made it sound like a market place as some

of the voices were raised frequently and angry gesticulations were threatening to get out of

hand. One could see that the leaders of Areia were particularly vociferous. No one knew the

exact reason for the meeting. The leaders of Areia felt that they were called up to be

punished for the change in course of the rivers. Others felt that the King had called them to

ask for resources to fund the Kings next expedition wherever it may be.

The leader of Carmania, felt that they have been called to announce the arrival of the long

awaited Messiah. There had been a long held belief that a Messiah will come one day and

lead the Avestans out of misery into heavenly kingdom. The legend said that the Messiah

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will unify all the seven districts and Ariana will be more powerful than ever. The Messiah

will cure all the problems and the country will be flowing with bounty again.

The men from Sistan were rather quiet in their group. The leader of the Council of Elders,

Isvant, looked distinctly worried.

“I hope the King has not heard of the exploits of Matriya, the renegade Magus” he whispered

to no one in particular.

“The Energy generated by the ritual was powerful enough to be felt by the weakest Magus. I

cannot see how it would have been missed by the Magus with the King. He is one of the

most powerful Magi in the country” his senior Magus, Hutana, who had accompanied the

team from Sistan whispered back.

“The King will not be happy, Hutana. We will have to face humiliation when all these

people find out why that Matriya has done the ritual. We will be the laughing stock of the

country” Isvant was getting more and more worried.

“I am not sure you can dismiss what he has done so far. If he succeeds in the next step, we

will be laughing at everyone else. If he succeeds, he will be able to control the Prana and he

will become the most powerful Magus in the world. Even more powerful than the Sages of

Sindhu” Hutana continued.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the same faith in the strength of Prana as you. If we get

humiliated today, we lose all the support from the King and that would be the death knell for

Sistan” the leader, Isvant replied. “have you heard anything from our spies in Harappa?”

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“No. I am expecting a messenger to come with some news any day now. He has been asked

to come directly to Mundigak with news” Hutana replied.

“I hope for all our sakes, he brings some good news” Isvant said with a deep sigh. His head

was deeply furrowed with worry.

The team form Bactria and Gava were grouped together near the door and there was a lot of

gesticulating going on. There appeared to be heated arguments.

“If your people had not resorted to unholy practices, we would not be in this state right now.

The Magi from Areia would not have been able to create those Earthquakes and move our

rivers. There was a lot of heresy, blasphemy and sinful acts going on in your district which

reduced the strength of Energy. There was anarchy in your district which has lead to our

downfall” the leader of the council of Bactria was shouting at the leader of the council of

Gava pointing a finger at him.

“That is not true. Our people are pious and have always followed the laws laid down by

Ahura Mazda. It must be the occult practices in your district which must have upset the

gods.”

Neither one of them were prepared to back down. Just when it looked like it was going to get

out of hand, there was a drum roll and the trumpeters announced the arrival of the King. The

enormous solid wooden doors at the front of the hall were opened by two soldiers. The King

looked majestic in his purple robes with golden silk threads and a tall golden crown encrusted

with semi-precious stones and a tassel at the apex. The curls of his long blonde hair crept

from under the crown and came down to the shoulders. The pure white beard and the

moustache hid a handsome face wrinkled with worry. The white beard was short and pointed

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and gave him an air of distinction. The heavy velvet robes made a swishing sound on the

floor as he walked down the aisle towards the throne. The only other sound to be heard was

the slow beat of the large drum in the corner which kept up with the King’s footsteps.

Everyone in the Hall had moved to the side walls and with heads bowed down. No one was

allowed to look the King in the eye when he is not seated. There was a reverent silence as he

walked accompanied by his courtiers, guards and his standard bearers. The rpyal Magus was

walking to his left and slightly behind the King with his Generals walking behind him. The

ministers, who were rather portly, shuffled ungainly behind the generals. The captains, who

were behind the ministers, dispersed sideways as the procession marched towards the throne

to line up on either side of the aisle. The guards and standard bearers stood in a line behind

the throne. It was an impressive site to behold.

The King Vishtaspa was a highly respected, righteous ruler and well liked by all his subjects.

He ruled the country with fair, but firm hand. Until the recent natural disasters, people lived

a happy and contented life under his rule. His popularity with the subjects made the life of

the Councils of the districts much more difficult. His subjects had direct access to the King

to voice their concerns. This often led to the officials in the councils getting into trouble.

As the King reached the throne, the Generals took their seats on either side of the long

podium at the far end of the hall. The Ministers huddled together near the steps of the

podium on to the right. The royal magus stood on the left of the throne just behind the King.

The drum stopped as the King sat down. The Herald stepped up as the King sat down and

started to proclaim the feats and award of the King. The King raised his hand and stopped

him in mid-sentence. There was a pin-drop silence as the King stood up to speak.

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“This is not the time for self congratulations when the people of my country are suffering. I

am sure the respected leaders of the Council of elders of our districts must be wondering the

reason for being here. It is disrespectful to make them wait any longer” The King bowed his

head to the subjects on both sides of the hall. There was a reciprocating bow from all who

were standing. “Please be seated and I will continue. I see that all the Elders have brought

their Magi along. It is as well judging from what has happened.”

Everyone looked at one another with even more apprehension than before, but no one would

dare say anything. All the elders of the seven councils were provided with suitable chairs

reserved for them. The Elders bowed their heads again and sat down in their chairs with their

Magi standing on one side and their entourage standing behind the chair in a group.

“These are extraordinary times. I will not try to hide the fact that the country is in deep

trouble. Gods appeared to have abandoned us. I will try not to insult your intelligence by

stating the obvious. However, I have to lay out the reasons for what I am proposing. Please

bear with me and indulge me with your patience. It is the first time in history since the great

flood several hundreds of years ago that we faced such a series of natural calamities. The

earthquakes have damaged our rivers and changed course of some of them. Our land of

seven rivers is drying up. Crops have failed repeatedly and mining of minerals have taken a

serious blow with several mines collapsing during the earthquakes. Our Magi tell me that the

Gods are displeased with us and we have to perform several Yasna’s. Unfortunately, we

cannot do that as the two holy lakes of Kasaoya and Frazdanu in Sistan have nearly dried up

and the fields of Haoma have been destroyed. Without the Haoma plant the Yasna will not

succeed. As I was saying before, we face a disaster and we have to find a solution and find it

fast. Now, I am asking our learned Elders of the seven councils for advice.”

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There was utter silence for a few minutes. No one wanted to be the first to one to come with

any suggestion. The leader of Areia broke the silence;

“Begging your pardon, your Highness. Medians are going through trouble themselves with

strife and internal conflict. We would be successful in any campaign against the Medians.”

The King looked solemnly at the Leader of the Areian council of Elders and said,

“I thank the respected Eder from Areia. The Medians may be easy target for military action

as the access is easy. There are no mountains to cross. Our spies tell me that the economic

situation in Media is bad and the spoils will not pay for a campaign against them. We are still

faced with the problem of obtaining Haoma for our Yasna. With deepest respect, I do not

think that is a very good option.”

The Elder from Carmania stood up to speak;

“We have had very good relationship with Elaam. Why don’t we ask King Awan of Elaam to

help?’

The King turned to the left and looked at the leader of the Elders from Carmania. Their land

bordered Elaam and the King always suspected that there was unhealthy friendship with

Elaamites.

“King Awan is unlikely to help us as we sided with Media during their war against Elaam.

Before anyone make a suggestion of taking armed action against Elaam, let me remind you

that Elaam has become very powerful since the victory over Sumeria and a military option

for us would not be reasonable.”

The Leader of Bactrian council of Elders spoke up at this point;

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“We should be looking east towards Sindhu. It is a land of plenty. Their rivers are fed by the

melting snows of the Himalayas and rich in minerals. More importantly they have bountiful

supply of Haoma. Their leaders have always been friendly to Avestans in the past. The only

hurdle I can see is the Pamir mountains. If we can come up with ways of going over the

mountains, that is our best option.”

The King smiled at this suggestion and looked at the group from Sistan which was keeping

quiet all this time.

“I think we should ask the Council from Sistan for their opinion on this. I have been hearing

rumours of activity in that area” he said. Everone in the hall turned to look at the Sistani

group. The leader of Elders from Sistan looked very uncomfortable.

“We have had a very good relations with the Meluhhans. I am sure they will help” Isvant

tried not to make eye contact with the King.

“That is not what my messengers tell me Master Isvant, with due respect to our Elders from

Sistan. I am sure you will tell us that our messengers were wrong” the King looked at him

pointedly. The entire audience were now staring at the group from Sistan.

“I don’t know what the messengers have been telling you, your Highness. But we have

always been very friendly with our neighbours” Isvant looked distinctly nervous and started

to sweat. He could feel all the eyes on him. Hutana, who was standing next to him was

trying to make himself smaller and smaller and wished he knew how to disappear.

“Our messengers tell me that some of Sistan soldiers have been attacking merchants from

Sindhu and stealing the merchandise. I hope they are not doing that with the Council’s

approval?” the King continued.

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“My humble apologies your Highness. We have heard of the some rogue soldiers have been

up to some mischief within Sindhu. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find out who

they were or apprehend them. We are making efforts to find out and stop them” Isvant was

desperately trying to defend himself and his district.

“I have the greatest respect for our Elders from Sistan. We have also had information from

Sindhu that one of your Magi has conducted a Yasna in Sindhu causing a disturbance near

Harappa. Is there any truth in that?” The King asked Isvant, but was actually looking at

Hutana. It was more of a statement than a question.

“We are waiting for our messenger to bring some news, your Majesty. He has been asked to

bring the message to the court directly” Hutana replied looking somewhat confident.

“That is the kind of activity which would upset our neighbours in Sindhu. They have

powerful sages who can control anything. It is not a good idea to upset them” the leader of

Areia was vociferous. The King’s Magus looked at him disapprovingly. It is not the done

thing to speak up in the King’s court without being asked.

“Our sincere apologies, your Majesty. We will try and stop Matriya continuing further. We

are trying to find out his whereabouts now” Isvant replied.

“I think you should stop him. We will send a delegation to Harappa to ask for a supply of

Haoma. The Meluhhans would love a few cart loads of precious stones from our hills in

Sogdiana. I am sure our Magi can get as powerful as the Meluhhan sages if we have enough

Haoma to perform the great Yasna” the King said and turning to Hutana, he continued “Can

you please ensure that nothing untoward happens while we are negotiating with the

Meluhhans?”

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“I certainly will do my best to stop him and bring him to his senses, your Majesty” Hutana

was only too relieved to be let off so lightly. Both he and Isvant had expected to be severely

reprimanded and even removed from their posts for what had happened. Just as they were

breathing a sigh of relief, there was some commotion outside the court and one of the guards

came inside. He walked up to the podium and knelt down on one knee and said;

“My sincere apologies your Highness, but there is a messenger outside who insists on coming

into the court. He does not understand that the court cannot be disturbed today. I have taken

him into custody and will stay there till the court is finished.”

“Did he say who he was?” The King asked the soldier.

“No your majesty. He is not an Avestan. He is a Meluhhan. Unfortunately none of us can

understand his language. He knew only one Avestan word ‘messenger’ and he keeps

repeating it.”

There was pin drop silence at this announcement. The King stood up and came forward and

turned to Isvant, the leader of Sistan and said;

“Is this your messenger Master Isvant?”

Isvant looked at Hutana, who had stopped smiling and turned again to the King,

“I suspect so, Your Majesty. We have a few Meluhhans working for us and keep us

informed of the news from Sindhu.”

The King looked quite thoughtful as he turned and looked at his ministers before saying,

“I hope you are not making a mistake Master Isvant. The relationships between Avestans and

the Meluhhans had been strained for a long time and we had only started to build bridges

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with them. he continued, “I think you should find out what this messenger of yours has

found out and let us know.”

“We will your Majesty. If the court excuses us for a few minutes, we will find out what has

happened and return quickly” Isvant said and bowed down to the court and the King along

with Hutana and left the court following the soldier through the side door. As they walked

out into the bright sunshine, he was blinded by the brightness and could not see anything for

a minute. The soldier took them to the side of the King’s Court where the messenger was

sitting on a bench with two guards standing over him. He looked rather flustered and angry.

As soon as he saw Hutana, he rushed forward only to be held back by the guards. He started

to flail his arms about and shouting in Sanskrit.

“Let me go, you oafs. I have an important message to the Magus.”

As Isvant and Hutana approached, his agitation got worse;

“Please tell these brutes to let me go. I am hungry and thirsty. Is this the way you treat your

guests in your country?”

The soldier with Isvant signalled to the two guards who let him go. Hutana said to him in a

heavily accented sanskrit;

“Calm down. The guards did not know what you were saying. They don’t understand your

language. You were trying to barge into the King’s court without permission and they rightly

stopped you” and turning to the soldier, asked him to bring some refreshments to the

messenger. He sat down again on the bench still looking sullen and angry. Hutana

introduced his leader to the messenger while they were waiting for refreshments.

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“This is Master Isvant, our leader of the council of Sistan.”

“Welcome to Ariana. We will wait until you have had some refreshments” Isvant said to the

messenger. It was not to long before the messenger was fed and watered with honey roasted

bread and fresh grape juice. As he ate the food, one could see the messenger calming down

and look almost sheepish at his outburst. Both Isvant and Hutana looked at the messenger

and smiled.

“Now. You must tells us what you have found out” Isvant said.

“Your Magus has been very active. He has found several accomplices from the town of

Saraswata and some people from Harappa who are willing to help him. He has completed the

first stage of the great Yasna which caused a lot of disturbance in the Energy or Prana as we

call it around Harappa. A messenger was sent to Sindhu for help. The Magus sent spies to

try to intercept him without success. He had planned to the next stage of the great Yasna in

the form of Gomedha. I left Harappa over two weeks ago. I suspect he has already done the

next stage.”

The messenger stopped and looked at Isvant. Both Isvant and Hutana were dumbstruck and

were speechless. They could not for a moment believe what the messenger was saying. They

had ignored the rumours of the Magus’s success so far as what it was – a rumour. To be told

first hand came as a shock to them. To think the Magus had probably completed the second

stage was utterly unbelievable. After asking the messenger a few more questions, they let

him go to the accommodation they had arranged for the night in Mundigak before returning

back to Bharata.

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As the two of them walked back in silence, both of them were immersed in deep thought.

Suddenly, Isvant pulled Hutana into a dark alcove in the outer wall of the court.

“Now. Tell me. You are a Magus and you should have felt if he had done the final stage of

the Great Yasna and Gomedha”. Isvant hissed. Hutana was taken aback by this.

“I have not felt anything in the Energy Master Isvant. I have been told that the force

generated by the Great Yasna is wide spread and even the weakest of Magi would have felt it.

Either he has not done it yet or he has not been successful in completing it” he replied.

“Either way, it does not look good for us in the Royal Court. What are we going to tell the

King and the Court?”

“Can you ask for a private audience with the King and explain to him?” Hutana asked.

“I can see that causing problems with all the other districts. We are in deep enough trouble

with others as it is. All of them think that we are the cause of disasters in the country. No,

we will have to tell the truth and hope to get a pardon from the King and Court. You never

know, we might even win some sympathy from the court” Isvant sounded a bit more

optimistic than before “We better get back into the court before they send out the guards.”

They hurried back into the court through the side door. Both of them curtsied with a deep

bow to the King and the court before entering the hall.

“Yes. Master Isvant. What news from your messenger?” The King asked.

“Please accept deepest apologies from me personally and the people of Sistan, both to the

King and the Court. It is as your Highness suspected. The Magus has completed the first

stage of the Great Yasna which did produce changes in the Energy around Harappa. We are

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fairly certain that he has not been successful in the final stage your Highness. We will make

every effort to stop him going ahead with the final stage of the Great Yasna.”

There was a lot of whispering among the audience. The King raised his hand and looked

around at everyone;

“I am sure the whole congregation is interested in what the respected elders of Sistan have to

say. The discussions that are taking place makes it difficult for everyone to hear what Master

Isvant is saying.”

There was an immediate silence. No one wanted to get the King angry now. The royal

Magus said something in his ear.

“My learned friend, the Magus, tells me that the final stage had to have been performed at

two weeks after the first stage to be effective. He also tells me that he, same as all the other

Magi in the kingdom, would have felt the changes in the Energy if the final stage had

occurred. If the first stage was done three weeks ago, the final stage should have been

completed last week. There has not been any reports of that so far. That leads us to one

conclusion. That, his final stage has been stopped by the Meluhhans. This is very

unfortunate. Our negotiator will not have any success with them now. It is unlikely that the

Meluhhans would negotiate a deal to exchange Haoma for our precious stones. We will have

to think of other ways of obtaining the Haoma for our Yasna.”

The King appeared disturbed. The leader of the Areia stood up as soon as the King stopped;

“The Sistan council should be punished for what has happened. When the Meluhhans hear of

this, I am sure they will understand that there was no hand of true Avestans in this action. I

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have always said that Sistans are not true Avestans. I propose that the Sistan council be

disbanded and the King should appoint a new Council.”

“I suppose Areians will then rule Sistan” Isvant was outraged at the suggestion that he was

not a true Avestan “let me tell you that we are more true to Ariana than Areains any day. Our

Magi and priests perform the Yasnas and all the Yashts are recited every day in our temples.”

The King stood up and stamped his staff hard on the floor. The sound of the brass end of the

oak staff hitting the granite floor was like a thunder bolt and quietened everyone in the court.

“I would remind everyone that you are still in the King’s court. This is not a market place. I

will not tolerate insubordination. This is not the time for dissent and blaming each other.

The only way forward for us is to unite and think of an alternate strategy. I suggest we wait

for our negotiator to return before making any more plans. I will send words to him

regarding the developments and we will request the Meluhhans to consider their better

judgement before deciding any action. I have met their Sage Shunahotra as well as the Sage

Vishwamitra. They are reasonable people and they will listen to reason.”

The entire assembly became very quiet after that. The assembly was discharged with a

promise that the next assembly will be soon after the negotiator returned.

Everyone in the hall stood up with their heads bowed for the King and his entourage to depart

through the main doors. As soon as the main doors were closed behind the King, there was a

mad rush to the side doors to get out. No one was keen on discussing the day’s events. There

may be King’s spies within the hall and no one wanted to get into any more trouble.

Both Isvant and Hutana were quiet on the way out of the King’s court. Once outside the

building, they walked briskly towards the Inn they were staying in.

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“I think we should visit the temple before we return to our Inn” Isvant said suddenly. Hutana

and others looked at him with a surprise. He had never gone to temple in the evening time

before. No one said anything and followed him towards the temple of Mundigak. As they

neared the temple, Isvant took a detour towards the woodland around the temple. He was

walking very quickly and before anyone could say anything he was quite deep into the

woodland and they could barely see the temple or the city. He stopped behind a large rock

outcrop shielded from the city and turned around.

“We have to decide what to do now. I have a suspicion that we will be punished despite what

the King said in the court. I don’t think we should get back to the Inn. It is not safe. Hutana,

send two of our men to get our horses from the Inn and if we start to walk now, we should be

outside the city before nightfall. I want your men to take the horses towards the western road

and work their way around the city to meet us outside the city. They have to be careful not to

be recognised or caught. Please ask them to remove all the insignia and markings of our

district from the horses. The Inn keeper is from Sistan and he will help them. We will meet

up on the eastern banks of the river Khuba near the base of the hill where the river curves

around.”

Hutana despatched two of his trusty men with instructions to be careful and avoid any

soldiers. They walked along the overgrown path between the rock hewn landscape

interspersed with small square built mud houses and reached the outskirts of the city before

sunset. They waited in shadows of a derelict house – there were several in the district – till it

became dark enough for them to go across the clear fields to reach the rendezvous point.

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It was well past midnight before their men came up to the rendezvous point with the horses.

Both Isvant and Hutana had nearly given up hope and had visions of walking all the way

back to Sistan, which would have taken at least three weeks.

It turned out that Isvant’s suspicion had proved correct. The King’s soldiers were waiting for

them at the Inn. The Inn keeper, realising that something was wrong had moved the horses to

a safe place and when Hutana’s men came to the Inn, he had provided them with some food

to take as well. The men had to wait until dark before moving out of the safe place and

dodge all the patrols to get out of the city.

The Sistanis did not waste much time. They wanted to get back into Sistan before anything

else happened. It was a very tired group which trotted into Sistan after five days of non-stop

riding. They only stopped for food and once to change their horses.

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The Great Yajna.

The Magus was happy. Everything was working like clockwork. He wanted to start the

proceedings within the first prahar after the sunset and exactly at the Moon rise. All his

subjects were assembled in the ravine. They had followed his instructions to the letter –

bathed in the pool and covered themselves in the holy ash Maricha had brought from

Harappa. That was the ash from the goat sacrifice couple weeks previously. The meat of the

goat was distributed among his friends. They had burnt the skin and the bones in the altar as

per the instructions of the Magus. The ashes from the altar was carefully collected and stored

in a large brass Urn covered with hemp cloth dipped in turmeric. The mouth of the Urn was

tied with hemp rope and sealed with tar. The Urn was kept in Maricha’s house and offerings

were made every day. The Urn had been carefully carried on a mule to the Halfway Inn first

before taking to the ravine. Maricha and his friends had been warned of dire consequences if

the container was opened or the ash had spilled anywhere.

“The ash has magical properties and anyone spilling it will face dire consequences” The

Magus had said. It was not surprising that Maricha and his friends had taken extra

precautions to protect the Urn.

The sacred bull had been brought into the ravine the night before and the twins were guarding

it with the Avestan soldiers who had joined them on the way. The renegade General of one

of the Avestan regiments ahd sent a platoon of special forces to help hi. He had promised the

captain the post of a general of the captured Harappan army. The Magus had convinced him

that the Yajna is being performed by the orders of the Elders of the Great Council of Ariana

and had the personal blessing from none other than the King Vishtaspa himself. The

soldiers wore the black uniform of the elite special forces of the Avestan army. They were all

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hand-picked and had undergone years of rigorous training in the special forces. The captain

had deployed the soldiers all along the rim of the ravine in strategic points to cover the whole

area. The soldiers had chosen points well hidden from outside and they each had a good view

of the ravine and the approaches to the ravine from all directions. The signals to warn others

of any approaching enemy was well rehearsed throughout the day till the captain was happy

that they could do it with their eyes shut. The captain himself had taken the position near the

northern mouth of the ravine which was considered the most vulnerable to attack. The ravine

was narrower and the wall at that point was shallowest and horses could easily gallop down if

ridden by expert riders.

“Are you happy with your arrangements captain?” The Magus asked.

“I could have done with twenty more soldiers. I did not realise the size and complexity of

this place. It is very secluded and an ideal spot for ambush. What kind of attack are you

expecting?” The captain asked “It is not a place for large armies.”

“The Meluhhans don’t have a large army in this area. I have spies in their camp who tell me

that they don’t know about this place and the yajna tonight. But, I always assume that the

enemy is well prepared. That way, I can always be one step ahead of them” the Magus

replied.

“Please don’t worry sir. We have the place well surrounded and I have spotters on the

neighbouring hills as well who will signal us if there is any unusual activity. All of my

soldiers have been hand-picked by me personally” the captain sounded quite confident. The

Magus was impressed by the captain and was quite happy that his venture was well protected.

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“May Lord Vratra protect you and your men. You please carry on your duties” and had gone

back to the altars.

The Magus had collected two large brass vessels full of water from river Saraswathi and

stored them near the Halfway Inn in a cave. It had taken them good two weeks to collect the

water and transport it to the Inn. They had to go to a pool in the Shiwalik hills in the north

which connected to the river through an underground channel. When the Magus arrived with

his friends, he was surprised to find that the pool was guarded only by a couple of Gandhari

soldiers who did not appear to be very sharp. It was quite easy for them to just walk up to the

pool after nightfall and collect the water in large leather pouches. This was poured into two

large brass vessels on their boat. They made several trips to the pool to fill them up. It was

very late by the time they finished filling the vessels. The captain of the boat was getting

jittery as he wanted to be well on the way down the Saraswathi by daybreak.

They had sailed down from the pool, on the river for two days and carried the two vessels on

a cart to the cave near the Inn. There was a nagging in the back of his mind that it had been

all too easy to get the water from the pool. But, he dismissed the thought every time it

bothered him. Everything was going smoothly and he kept saying to himself, ‘because the

Gods want me to succeed.’

The water from Saraswathi along with all the other ingredients was hidden in a cave near the

northern end of the ravine, well hidden behind a clump of trees. He went into the cave and

pulled the rough wooden fence behind him. The Honover did not take very long and was out

of the cave before anyone could notice that he was missing.

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All the altars were ready already half filled with wood and lined with dried cowpat cakes.

There were five containers with ghee (clarified butter) for the fire sacrifice, one for each altar.

He had distributed the powders and portions that he had prepared using the Yogi’s

instructions. The portions were all in four smaller brass containers kept near each altar.

There were two mud pots near each of the altars containing special powders for the fire. The

large altar at the apex also had one leather pouch which had a paste which no one was

allowed to touch. The five of them had spent some time drawing the images and symbols

around the altar with red ochre mud paint. Right in the middle of the formation of altars was

a drawing of eight pointed star using yellow ochre. There were three more stars drawn within

the larger drawing, with apices abutting the sides of the larger star. In the centre of the

drawing was a large red dot which was slightly raised using dried cow pat cakes. On top of

this was a collection of eight mud pots. Each mud pot had a row of palm leaves with a

coconut placed in the middle. Stuck to the tip of each coconut was a bunch of incense sticks

already lit. The smell from the incense was quite strong and somehow invigorating to the

people sitting around the valley.

They had spent that morning preparing the Somarasa. The Soma extract was further ground

and had to be mixed with water from Saraswathi. The water from the brass vessels was then

poured into a large brass cauldron which was placed on a fire. As the Magus mixed the

extract powder into the cauldron, a white mist arose from the water and there was an acrid

smell which stung their eyes. Soon the water was boiling and they could see green bubbles

on the surface. They had spent nearly an hour stirring the cauldron with watering eyes and

the mist was clogging up their chest. By the time they finished mixing, all of them were

coughing and spluttering and their eyes hurt and they could hardly see anything. The mist

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settled down to a faint purple haze over the mouth of the cauldron after a while. The liquid

itself looked greenish with a purple tinge. The Somarasa was then filtered into the two large

brass vessels using thinned out sheepskin as a filter as per the instructions given to him by his

spy. The filtered juice was mixed with the correct portion of fresh cow’s milk. The

Somarasa from one of the vessels was divided into five smaller bronze pots and one each kept

on the left side of the seat in front of each of the altars. The mist from the bronze pots

containing the somarasa mixed with the smoke billowing from the incense sticks was

intoxicating. The smell of the mixture was potent and it filled the whole ravine.

The sacred bull was tied to a post at the back end of the configuration. It had been fed with

sweets and a whole pot of Somarasa. The Bull was chewing the cud and had sat down and

before long was fast asleep. It had been decorated with a chain of flowers around the neck

and the horns had been painted red and the tips covered in bronze caps. The back was draped

in purple and gold cloth with brocade tassels down on either side. The hump on the back had

been painted with yellow ochre and red. There were drawings of eight pointed stars on either

side of the neck and shanks. There were brass bells tied to the neck and brass anklets on the

all the four legs. They made a sweet chime whenever he walked. The Bull looked grand and

appeared to be in peace with itself.

All his subjects were made to stand in three rows around the configuration of the altars except

the towards the apex of the arrow formation. The twins had gone around distributing each

one a small mud pot of Somarasa to drink as they found their places. The fumes from the

Soma containers, the incense and the drink had had their effect on them. The Magus could

see some of them already beginning to sway on their feet. The two drummers he had brought

specially from Saraswata were ready at the two opposite corners were waiting for the

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Magus’s signal. The entire ravine was eerily quiet. The constant twittering of birds had

stopped. There was not even the noise of the crickets or hundreds of frogs near the pool.

Even the breeze that blew through the ravine and made a howling sound near the narrow

mouth had stopped. There was a lone eagle which was hovering over the ravine which

unnerved him a little. The soldiers had tried to shoot it down and chase it away with some

arrows, but it had come back. He was not sure the meaning of the lone eagle.

The Magus was content and as he looked up at the sky to see the Moon lining up with

Arundhati star and the Saturn, coming into the same line as Mars. He could not have asked

for more. He needed one of them to be aligned, but he had two alignments. It cannot get any

better, he thought. The only thing that still worried him was the shadow of the eagle over the

Moon. He had to do the ritual of sacred Honover in secret before he starts the Yajna. It

cannot be revealed to the commoners and he remembered his Magi guru’s words at the time

of his graduation very well;

“The pure, the holy, the prompt Honover, I tell you plainly. It existed before the sky, before

the sea, before the earth, before the animals, before the trees, before fire, son of Ormuzd,

before the pure man, before the deous, before the whole world; it existed before there was

any substance. It should not be explained, in its essence, to the magi alone. The common

people cannot even know of the existence of this venerated name under penalty of death or

madness.”

He called his friends over to him and said;

“Friends, I have waited for this moment all my life. This is the day our lives are going to

change forever. We will forget the life of nomads of the last few years. No more scrounging

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and hiding from soldiers. No more of kowtowing to the so called leaders. We will be the

leaders from tomorrow. We will take our people out of this miserable existence and lead

them to a life the wealthy Harappans have at the moment. Here is to us. May God Vratra

make us succeed.”

He then turned around to all the people standing around, partly affected by the Somarasa and

partly by the whole event, looking dazed and petrified. He lifted his arms to the air and said

in a booming voice;

“Friends. This is the day we have all been waiting for. This is the day you will throw away

the yoke of slavery and be free men. God Vratra will take us far and we will rule this land in

a just and honourable manner. You will all be rich beyond your wildest dreams. I promise

you that you will not have to work so hard in the baking sun in the fields so that your masters

can get rich and fat. Join me today and pray and make this sacrifice successful.”

There was a loud chorus of;

“Hail great Magus, Hail our saviour” with raised arms with palms forwards.

He then signalled his friends to take their places. Hugav and Ankasa were on the two altars

behind him and the twins bringing up the rear. He sat down in front of the main altar, took a

deep breath and closed his eyes.

‘This is it. This is what I have been waiting for, all my life. I cannot fail now. It is up to me

to get what I want now. God Vratra, please don’t fail me’ He thought to himself.

There was a sudden panic in his heart. ‘What if I fail today? All the hard work over the past

ten years would be a waste and the leaders who laughed at me would be right. No. I cannot

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fail. Concentrate. Concentrate’ he said to himself. He should clear the mind of everything

and he has to have full control of his mind now if he has to control others’. He took another

deep breath and scanned the ravine through his inner eye looking for any enemies.

Unfortunately, the deep red stone walls of the ravine had some metal in them, which would

not let him see beyond the ravine. But the good news was that, it meant the ‘divine vision’ of

the Meluhhan sages would be useless as well and they would not be able to see into the

ravine.

He took the flints and set the altars alight as did the others at the same time.

He started the hymns to God of Fire with pouring of ghee on to the fire in the altar ending

each hymn with “Swaaha”. The prayer for the God of fire went on for a while and as he

finished, he took a white powder from one of the containers and sprinkled on the fire. There

was loud bang and huge ball of bright red fire went up in the air. There was a loud gasp from

the audience and it was also the signal for the drummers. They started off with a roll and fell

into a slow beat.

The Magus went into the next step and poured the contents of one of the brass pots onto the

fire as did his friends on their altars. This produced a thick yellow smoke which was sweet

smelling and appear to have a calming effect on the audience. They stopped swaying and

they were signalled to sit down by Maricha. The Magus then went on to the next brass

container and poured the liquid onto the fire which produced intense sizzling of the fire and

lit up the whole ravine.

The Magus raised his hands and started the chant;

‘Hram, hreem, hom, hum’

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The congregation picked it up and started to chant to the beat of the drums. As the Magus

continued with his hymns praising one God after another, the chanting became louder and

louder. The drummers increased the speed ever so slightly at the start of every new hymn.

By now the all the five altars were going full steam. Thick yellow smoke billowing out of

them mixed with white smoke from the incense sticks had created a thick cloud over the

whole of the ravine. The Moon light filtering through the smoke and the flickering light from

the fire from the five altars gave the place a mystical aura. The congregation started to sway

again. All of them had raised their folded hands up in the air and swaying to the rhythm of

the drums. As the Moon came up to the zenith, the Magus was ready for the crucial point of

the yajna, the Soma sacrifice. He signalled Maricha to move the brass vessel containing the

Somarasa closer to his altar. Maricha and two others lifted the vessel and started to move it

across when they heard a swishing noise and the Eagle which had been hovering high over

the ravine swooping down on them. They panicked and literally ran across and dropped the

vessel near the altar. Luckily, it did not tilt over and there was no spill. The Magus was too

deep in his hymns to notice anything wrong and carried on. He took a large ladle filled with

Somarasa from the vessel and was about to pour it over the fire chanting the Soma sacrifice

hymn when it happened.

Three arrows shot into the altar in front of the Magus and there was a loud bang and a huge

explosion in the altar. All hell broke loose. There were arrows flying all over the place and

explosions over all the altars. The fires from all the altars went out. There was sheer panic

among the congregation and all of them were running towards the northern end of the ravine

where they had kept the carts and the horses. There was a near stampede. First reaction of

the Magus was shock and utter disbelief. He could not believe what was happening. He saw

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the castle he had built in his mind tumble down in ruins. One of the arrows hit the brass

vessel containing the Somarasa and tipped it over spilling all of the juice. He saw the

Somarasa flow down the slope with his ambitions of power and glory.

The instinct of self preservation took over the Magus. He looked around to see where the

arrows were coming from as he reached for the leather pouch on the floor next to his seat. As

he opened the pouch, he looked for his friends. They were all standing still as if mesmerised

by what was happening. Only Hugav was running towards the southern end of the ravine at a

fast clip. He wondered why he was running. Then he heard the thundering hoof beats of the

horses which were bearing down on the whole congregation from the southern end of the

ravine.

‘Hugav’ He shouted, ‘Don’t go. Come back, please come back’

Hugav obviously could not hear over the din that was happening with nearly hundred people

running for their lives and the pandemonium caused by their screams. He could see Hugav

drop to the ground when one of the arrows hit him on the chest.

‘Ankasa, Katav, Kurav. Come to me now’ he screamed. It was too late to help Hugav. The

three friends ran to him and stood close. He took the contents of the pouch in his hand and

threw it up in the air over their heads. There was a loud explosion and thick cloud of black

smoke. Maricha who was running towards them stopped suddenly in his tracks. The four

had disappeared into the black smoke.

The Harappan soldiers had reached him and they all had their bows drawn and arrows at the

ready pointed at Maricha’s chest. The rest of the congregation who were running towards the

northern end to escape, suddenly stopped confronted by a group of Harappan soldiers and

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turned around and started to run towards the south, only to be stopped by some more soldiers.

Some of them tried to climb out of the ravine by clawing their way up the red rocks. As

Maricha watched, they all came tumbling down as they lost their footing. One of them had

nearly made it to the top when his hand slipped and fell backwards all the way down to the

valley floor with a thump. Maricha ran towards him, only to find a lifeless body with head in

a funny angle.

It was all over by the time we reached the lip of the ravine near the northern end. The entire

congregation had been rounded up and brought to the area of the altars. I was with Master

Ashwin and two of our assistant physicians. We had left the cart full of medical supplies at

the top of the ravine and made out way down to the floor of the ravine to help the injured.

I was quite taken aback by the scale of what I saw on the floor of the ravine. When my

Master had called me into his room three days previously, I was a bit nervous. I had not had

a proper debriefing since my return from Sindhu. I had a suspicion that I had done something

wrong or I had forgotten to do something in Sindhu.

“Come in Upaas. Have you recovered from the trip yet? You do look refreshed” He said.

“Yes Master. I am fine. The trip was not too taxing. There was a bit of excitement on route.

I was helped by our soldiers on my way back” I replied. He smiled at me and said.

“Oh yes. I did hear about your exploits. I am very proud of you. All that training and time

spent in the army school practicing your archery paid off. You may have a chance to use

your skills again soon.”

“Thank you Master. I was quite pleased at the way I could handle the situation. I am always

keen to try out my martial skills again. It is different from our daily grind” I said smiling. It

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must be something to do with the message I had brought back from Sage Vishwamitra I

thought.

“Yes. You are right. It is the message that you brought back from Sindhu. We have

identified the culprits who interfered with the Prana couple of weeks ago and they are getting

ready for the next stage of the yajna. Sage Shunahotra says it would be a Gomedha and these

culprits are after supernatural powers to control nature. You know what that means. It would

mean the end of our way of life and our country if they succeed. We have identified where

the Yajna is going to be held and when. They have managed to steal one portion of Soma

extract from our pharmacy for the Yajna. They have had help from one or more individuals

amongst us. We have not been able to identify the person or persons who are helping. It is a

rogue Avestan Magus who is leading this Yajna. He probably has more Magi helping him.

He has thrown such a powerful shield around the traitor that even Shunahotra has not been

able to pierce it to identify the traitors” the Master was looking more and more serious as he

went on. “Master Nahusha himself is leading a contingent to capture the culprits and stop the

Yajna. We need to accompany them for medical help.”

I was shocked at how easily and quickly he could read my thoughts. I still had not mastered

the art of disguising my thoughts yet.

“I am ready Master. I would do anything to help our soldiers beat this atrocity. Tell me what

you want me to do.”

“The Magus appears to have some magical powers. The injuries may not be just physical

injuries. There are likely to be chemical injuries, poisoning as well as burns. We will have to

carry antidotes and burns dressings. It is also imperative that no one else should hear about

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this. The others will be told that we are going on an exercise with the soldiers. As you might

have guessed the soldiers have been told the same story. We will need to take two more

physicians with us and a cart to help us carry the supplies” the Master replied.

“When do we have to leave Master?”

“The Yajna is scheduled for three days time and we will have to leave in two days. It does

not give you much time to get prepared with medical supplies. Get Ubhaya to give you a

hand.”

“Who do you think are the traitors? I find it hard to believe that one of our own can betray

us” I said.

“It has to be someone with access to the pharmacy. It could be someone working with us or

it could be even from the Council of Elders” the Master looked in pain when said that.

“Why would they betray their own people Master?” I persisted.

“There can be lots of reasons. They may not be content with their lot. They may have been

offered a bribe or there may even be a blackmail” Master replied. He looked away as he said.

He was quite distressed. The fact that there has been a betrayal in Bharata must be the first

time in history. It distressed him that this had happened during his time as one of the elders.

He probably felt that he was somehow responsible for someone feeling wanted. “But, no

doubt we will find him or them. You better get going Upaas. We don’t have much time to

waste now. I have made a list of things we will have to prepare and take. You do understand

that your father knows about this, but you cannot discuss this with him at home.” The Master

was looking at me intently when he finished and I could sense the stress he must be under at

that moment.

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“Please don’t worry Master. I will get everything prepared and ready by nightfall tomorrow.”

With that, I took the list written out on a roll of palm leaf and left. I tucked the roll under my

clothes and hurried along to the pharmacy. I sent word to Ubhaya asking him to come and

give a hand in preparing for the ‘exercise.’ We had spent the whole night getting everything

ready and loaded the cart the next day. Ubhaya was unusually curious at the start and gave

up questions after a while.

That evening, we went to the army barracks to join the soldiers who were going on the

‘exercise.’ They had chosen the guards of the Temple for the job as they were trained for

secret missions and involving the regular forces might have aroused suspicion. Master

Nahusha, the General of the Guards, was giving them a ‘pep talk’ as we reached the camp.

We left the city that evening through the northern gate going towards the mountains. Our

Master stayed with us behind the soldiers. We were on our horseback. I was still using my

trusty old friend Shankara. I had not got used to the Elaamite horse I had captured yet. Once

we were well on the way, the General raised his hands up and stopped the column.

“We are going to take detour here through the forest” and pointed to the small path that lead

off on the right into the forest. There were quite a few eyebrows raised at this, but no one

dared question him. It soon became apparent to me that we had completely changes direction

from going up north to actually going down south-east. By day break we had travelled all the

way around Harappa and running parallel to the road to Saraswata. He stopped the convoy

around lunch time for a well deserved break for a whole prahar. The cooks fed us with

delicious army rations and the water from the nearby stream. It was dusk before we set off

again, but this time we were heading directly east through the jungle with overgrown path. It

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was difficult for the cart driver to keep the mules pulling the cart through very difficult

terrain. Within an hour, we were stopped again. The General came around to us and said;

“My salutations to Master Ashwin. This is where we part company. We will scout ahead

and return soon” he was looking directly at our Master and did not make any eye contact with

any of us. That, I thought was strange. He had always been very friendly with me and he

never passed me by without stopping and talking to me. He turned abruptly and galloped off

at speed followed by his soldiers. We could hear was the thundering hoofs of the horses as

they sped off. Very soon the hoof beats stopped completely. Our Master turned around to us

and said;

“Let us keep going now. This is the start of our exercise and hope to see casualties on the

way and we will have to assess and treat them as if they are real injuries’.

It was quite dark despite a full Moon and a fully starlit sky. Further along he stopped us and

said,

“We will have to go on foot rest of the way.”

That was the first time I saw the lone eagle silhouted against the bright full moon. The night

was deathly quiet and an instinct made me look up at the sky. Master Ashwin saw me looking

at the Eagle.

“That is Sage Shunahotra’s eyes.” He said quetly under his breath.

It was not long before we saw the first casualty. It was not one of our soldiers. It was an

Avestan soldier dressed in all black and fully armed. He had been shot between the eyes and

had obviously died instantly. Soon we stumbled upon several more dead Avestan soldiers.

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They were all dressed in black and fully armed. An unusual thing was that they had all been

killed either with a neck or head wound. Whoever has been killing them did not want the

soldiers to make a noise at the time of death. By this time, everyone in our group had

realised that this was not an ‘exercise’ and there was a battle, the kind of which they had

never witnessed before. This was a ‘secret battle’ where the enemies don’t see each other. I

could see a cloud of smoke rising above the canopy of jungle in the distance. An easterly

breeze had picked the smell of incense and something else I could not put a finger on. We

saw a couple of flashes of coming out of depth in distance. Just as we reached the rim of the

ravine, I heard first of the several explosions. We all wanted to run ahead and see if we can

help anyone, only to be held back by our Master.

“Only fools rush into the unknown. You don’t know what to expect on the battle field. I

would not rush into it. If there was an emergency, Master Nahusha would have sent word for

us. Be patient and follow the tracks.”

The full extent of the battle became apparent as we looked over the rim of the ravine. There

was thick smoke billowing out of the floor near the western wall in the middle. The smoke

was pungent and acrid and brought water to our eyes. We could see a group of people

running first to the north and turn back at the sight of Harappan soldiers only to be stopped by

another contingent of soldiers from the south who had appeared from nowhere. I saw

something being thrown up in the air and a sudden burst of thick black smoke covered the

whole scene. We could not see anything. As the cool breeze cleared the smoke, we could

see that nearly a hundred people had been captured by our soldiers and there were few more

bodies on the floor of the ravine. We ran across to see if we could help. One in the middle

was beyond help as he had been shot right through the heart. The body near the wall was

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lying with head at an awkward angle. It was obvious that his neck had been broken in the fall

from the wall. He must have been really desperate to try to climb that wall. None of our

soldiers had any significant injuries. Some of them were coughing and spluttering because of

the chemical smoke. I had brought a cream just for this problem with the chest. I asked one

of our helpers to start a fire and boil some water. I added the cream into the boiling water

and had the soldiers inhale the medicated steam. Ubhaya and one of the other helpers were

doing the same. There was only one physical injury – a soldier who had lost his footing

while coming down the ravine and fallen down badly breaking his arm. His arm needed to be

set and supported by bamboo splint with plaster cast.

The sun was coming up over the eastern rim of the ravine by the time we finished tending to

all the soldiers and the people of Harappa who had come to take part in the Yajna. I went to

the stream and washed myself along with the Master. As we sat down under a tree drying

ourselves, I could see for the first time the ravine properly. It was beautiful at the same time

overwhelming. The walls were the first ones to hit you with their size. They were steep

bright reddish brown rocks with dull yellowish black streaks across in several places. The

size of the rocks was immense and we could just make out the trees whose branches grew

over the edge at the top of the ravine. The floor of the ravine was flat and sandy, strewn with

several large boulders of similar colour. I had never seen stones of that colour before. I

turned to the Master and said;

“I have never seen stones of this colour before Master. What are they?”

“They are unusual for not only their colour, but also for their content. It has some element

which makes the rocks very strong and also has protective property against magical powers.

We have not been able to isolate the element or extract it from the rock yet. Our scientists are

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working on it. It is that element which gives the rocks that colour. These walls of the ravine

protected the Magus and his people. We could not penetrate their minds to find out what was

happening once they entered the ravine. Sage Shunahotra had sent his “eye” to watch over the

ravine” Master replied.

“The Yajna they were planning looks very elaborate and complex. The five altars are in an

unusual combination and I could not understand the drawings of the stars with pots and

coconuts” I asked.

“The Magus was mixing occult magic with Avestan scriptures. If he had succeeded in

fulfilling the Yajna, he would have possessed more powers than even the great sage

Shunahotra. God knows what he would have done with all that power. We stopped him just

in time” The General, who had joined us, replied with a note of satisfaction. “And we did it

without much loss of life. It is a pity so many of the Avestan soldiers had to be killed.”

Just then, some of our soldiers who had gone looking for the Magus came back.

“Hail General. There is no sign of the Magus or his collaborators. We found this bag and

several charms on the floor near the southern end of the ravine. Judging from the amount of

horse dung at the site, it looks like they had left five horses tied to a tree there for a while.

The hoof prints suggest that they must have left in a hurry. Do you want us pursue them

General?” The captain asked.

“There is no point now. They have had a good start. The way he stage managed his

disappearance suggests that he may have more tricks up his sleeve to avoid capture” the

General replied. “I will arrange for the wounded to be taken back to the hospital if you wish”

He said turning to my Master.

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“That would be extremely useful. We can treat them better once they are back in hospital.

They have all had urgent treatment and the rest of the management can be done when they

are back in Harappa.” My Master replied. The General gave orders to the captain who was

still waiting with his soldiers.

Just then the second group of soldiers who had turned up at the southern end of the ravine

joined us with their captain.

“Our salutations to the General. We have rounded up ninety five of the collaborators.

Questioning all of them will take some time. Most of them appear to be peasants and

workmen. I am afraid we may not get much information out of them. There is one Harappan

called Maricha, who is a supervisor in the works gang in Harappa. We may be able to get

some useful information from him” the captain said. He had one of those lilting sing song

accent which was typical of coastal towns such as Saraswata.

“Thank you captain. You and your platoon did a wonderful job down there today. We will

do the questioning once we get them across to Harappa. Most of them would be misguided

people and unlikely to be involved any conspiracy. Did you have any problem travelling

from Saraswata?” The General asked.

“No sir. We did not have any trouble at all. If the General will excuse us, we will set off back

to Saraswata tonight” the captain replied.

The captain and his platoon were excused and they left with their horses through the southern

end of the ravine. It would be a three day march for them to reach Saraswata at least. That

was a cue for our Master.

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“I think we should make a move as well. We do have a lot to do once we get back to the

hospital. I will leave two of our assistant physicians to accompany the wounded back to

Harappa.”

“Thank you Master Ashwin. I am grateful to you and your team for the wonderful job done

today. How many wounded are there?” The General asked.

Our Master looked at me for an answer.

“There are five of our soldiers with chemical inhalation and there are twenty one of the

congregation with inhalation and burns injuries, sir. There are three of the burns which are

quite serious and we have to get them to the hospital as quickly as possible for more

treatment” I said.

“How many casualties altogether?” the General asked.

“There are twelve dead General. Ten of them are Avestan soldiers including their captain,

one avestan dressed as a Magus and one Harappan who fell off the wall of the ravine” I

replied.

“That is a pity. We might have got some information from the captain. It is unlikely that we

will get any information from the soldiers.” the General said.

The Master asked the two assistant physicians to accompany the wounded along with the cart

full of supplies and gave them instructions on management on the way. We bid goodbyes to

the General and left the way we came on our horses. The return journey was smoother and

much faster. It took us less than half a day to get back to Harappa.

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She smiled at me!

It was an organised chaos at the hospital. The convoy had returned in early hours of that

morning. Out of the three seriously wounded, one had died on the journey and the other two

were not looking very good either. It had taken all the skills of our Master the whole of that

morning to stabilise the two. By that afternoon, both of them looked slightly better. We

breathed a sigh of relief when they opened they regained their consciousness a little. They

were still not out of woods yet. They were still struggling to breath and we could only feed

them liquids through bamboo straws. We had not been able to get any information from the

two survivors about what happened. The rest of the congregation had only reached Harappa

in the morning and none of them had been questioned yet. Our scientists had collected

samples from the altars and the pouch the soldiers had found at the end of the ravine and were

trying to analyse them.

“Upaas. There are certain signs of injury in these patients that I have not seen before and I

have been able to identify the poison or chemical that has been used. It must be something

the Magus had used during his incantations and offerings on the altar. The chemicals

appeared to have caused significant burn injuries to their lungs” our Master looked puzzled.

“They seem to be stable now Master. I wonder if the Elaamite who helped us during the

earthquake might know anything of this. They do have Magi in Elaam and he appeared to

have some medical knowledge” I said.

“Yes. You are quite right Upaas. I think you should go to the Traveller’s camp today and

enquire” the Master replied. My heart skipped a beat and my eyes lit up at the thought of

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going to the camp again. It was what this patient wanted. I hoped that I would see Lopa

again at the camp. Master smiled.

“You have been smitten. Have you not, Upaas? The girl is from a good family and I am sure

your parents would approve” he said. I blushed furiously and must have looked like an idiot

with a wide grin on my face. I must learn how to mask my thoughts soon. Is there anything

that he does not know? I thought.

“I am sorry Upaas. It is difficult not to read your thoughts. It is an old habit of mine which

helps diagnose and treat patients. I hope you would master the art before long. It will stand

you in good stead in your career” he replied “Now go and see your girl in the camp. But

don’t forget that errand which you have been sent for.”

“Thank you Master. I will go this afternoon as soon as I am finished seeing some of the

injured brought in from the Yajna site” I replied.

I decided to go home and freshen up and put some fresh clothes on before going to the

Traveller’s camp. Nivya was surprised to see me back home in the afternoon.

“What are you doing home at this time in the afternoon, Upaas?” She asked.

“I have to go to the Traveller’s camp to speak with Shushun, the Elaamite” I replied.

“And since when did you clean yourself and wear fresh clothes to go and see a merchant?”

she said with surprise.

“You ask too many questions. Don’t you have something to do? I thought I will make an

impression” I replied. I could see that she did not believe me. There was a twinkle in her

eyes when she said;

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“Come on then. What is her name and where is she from?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t know anything about any girl”

“I have known my brother all my life. It is not just your Master who can read your mind. I

can read you like a book” she replied. I started to blush again at the thought of Lopa. I hope

Nivya did not see that.

“There you are. I was right. Now you will have to tell me everything about her. Or would

you rather tell father?” Nivya was laughing and pulling at my clothes.

“Promise me that you will not tell father. I will tell him at the right time.”

“OK. I will not tell father. Now, tell me then” She insisted. I sat her down on the chair and

went down on my knees holding her hands. I loved my sister dearly and would do anything

for her and she knew it.

“She is Lopa, daughter of Master Avisthu from the city of Saraswatha. I met her when I

stopped at the camp on the way back from the forest few weeks ago. She is beautiful and she

has an amazing knowledge of languages. Her father is a teacher of languages” I said.

“I am glad you have found someone you like Upaas. Does she love you as well?”

“I don’t know yet. She seems to be happy every time I meet her.”

“You should ask her. You know the travellers won’t be here forever. Once they are gone,

you will not be able to see her again. Saraswatha is at least a week’s travel from here” she

said.

“I know. I only have a couple of more weeks, before she goes. Wish me luck.”

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“I will do better than that. I will pray to Indra to grant you your wishes.”

I kissed her on the forehead and left home with a song in my heart and feeling slightly

anxious. I headed towards the western gate and I thought I would get permission from the

captain at the gate to return late.

“I am visiting the Traveller’s camp to meet someone. It may be late when I return. I am sure

it will be after the gates close.”

“That is fine Master Upaas. Here is the code you will need to tap on the panel for the guards

to open the door for you” and he whispered the code in my ears and showed me the wooden

panel by the side of the door.

I left the city through the western gate and headed for the traveller’s camp. The site to house

the travellers within the city walls had not finished yet and the travellers still stayed in their

camp outside the walls protected by round the clock guards. I was not sure who to meet first.

My heart said meet Lopa first, but it would make sense to meet her after finishing the errand.

I can spend more time with her. I went straight to the Elaamite’s caravan first and knocked

on the door at the side of the caravan. It was an imposing caravan which needed six bullocks

to pull and it had a separate accommodation carriage at the front and the carriage at the back

carried the cargo for his trade. Each carriage was so big that it had two wheels on either side,

making it eight wheels for the whole cart. It was decorated on the outside with brass finials

and carving depicting the Elaamite God Varuna. There was a gold flag with red Elaamite

markings flying on the mast at the front.

Shushun himself opened the door and said;

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“What a nice surprise. It is Master Upaas! Come inside this humble abode my friend. Please

make yourself comfortable.”

He drew a folding chair from under his bed and unfolded it for me. It was an unusual piece

of furniture I had never seen before. The solid wooden legs had hinges at the seat which

allowed the chair to be folded flat.

“Thank you and Namaste Shushun. Please call me Upaas. It is very nice to see you too” I

said as I sat down. The wood smelled of lemon. When he saw me staring at the chair, he

said;

“It is made of cedar wood, found growing in abundance in our country. Our craftsmen make

unusual furniture. You should visit our country. There is a lot you can learn from our

physicians and you can see our beautiful country.”

“I still have not thanked you properly for your help during the recent earthquake. I am very

grateful for your help. I would love to visit your country. There is a lot I can learn from your

physicians. That brings me to the reason for my visit. We have been involved in a small

skirmish lately which involved a Magus from Ariana. I have some patients with unusual

chemical injuries we are having difficulty with. Even my Master has not been able to

identify the chemical that the Magus has used. I have heard that there are Magi in Elaam. I

wondered if you would know anything about their portions and powders?” I asked. I could

see his face get serious at the mention of the Magus.

“Yes. I did hear about your skirmish. I am glad that you are OK. Unfortunately, we do have

Magi in our country. Magi historically were sages who meant well to the people and nature.

Lately, we have had some Magi who have started to use their powers for ulterior motives.

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They have started to dabble in the occult practices. It has brought a bad reputation to the

entire Magi community. I have some knowledge of their portions and unfortunately seen

some of the injuries caused by them. It would be my honour to help you. I have nearly

finished my trade here and have nothing to do until the camp moves in a few weeks time” he

was earnest in his reply. The travellers never travelled alone and always moved in convoy

for sake of safety.

“I am extremely grateful for your offer. I will come and pick you up on the way to the

hospital if you are free in the morning” I said.

“Can I offer you some beverage or some sweets from Elaam?”

“No. Thank you kindly. I do have to meet someone else in the camp and it is getting late” I

replied. I hoped he was also not one of those who can read thoughts.

“I understand. May be next time you will accept Elaamite Hospitality” he said with a smile

on his face.

“I will certainly hold you to your invitation to visit Elaam” I said as I stepped out down from

his cart.

I walked quickly to the other side of the camp where Lopa’s caravan was tethered. I knocked

on the door of the cart. It was a more modest caravan, but still sizeable needing four bullocks

to pull. It had only one carriage which acted both as accommodation and supplies carriage.

The carriage was made of solid oak and had unusual carvings on the walls I could not

understand. It was Master Avisthu who opened the door.

“Namaste Master Avisthu. I am Upaas, son of Master Kapila.”

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“Namaste Upaasantha. I know who you are, son. Lopa has told me everything about you. It

is very nice to meet you finally. Lopa has just gone to the well to draw some water. Make

yourself comfortable. Come, we will just sit outside here and she won’t be long.”

He walked around the caravan where there was a canopy with chairs and a small wooden

table laid out.

“Thank you very much sir. I had come to see Shushun, the Elaamite in the camp and thought

I would drop in and say hello to Lopa.”

“Please sit down. Will you have something to drink?” He asked.

“No. Thank you sir.”

“Tell me Upaas. What are you doing now and what are your plans for your future?”

“I am a trainee physician sir, under Master Ashwin at Harappa. My Master tells me that I

should be ready to start my own practice in less than a year from now. I spent four years

learning medicine at Sindhu. I am hoping to continue practicing in Harappa in the future” I

replied.

“I am very pleased to hear you are doing so well. I have met your father when I visited your

Great Hall. He is an honourable man of distinction” he said.

“Thank you sir. May I ask what are the figures carved on the walls of the cart? I have never

seen anything like it before” I asked. He smiled and said;

“It is a fancy of mine to learn and collect different languages. Those reliefs are Egyptian

Hieroglyphs and they are the names of all our family members. One day I will describe them

to you.”

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We sat there talking about Harappa and how it had developed in the last ten to twenty years

with the influx of numerous foreigners into the city. The city would benefit from a linguist

such as Master Avisthu, as the languages spoken in Harappah were becoming numerous. As

a Physician, it was becoming increasingly essential that one should know several languages.

Master Avisthu offered to help me learn languages of Elaam, Median, Dasyu and even

Sumerian.

“I see that you two have met. What are you talking about?” it was Lopa, standing at the

corner of the caravan. I did not how long she had been standing there. My heart skipped a

beat and was beating very fast. I immediately stood up.

“How long have you been standing there? Your father has kindly agreed to help me learn the

languages of our neighbours” I said with a smile as broad as my face. I could see that she

was happy to see me as well.

“I will leave the two of you youngsters alone. Lopa, please look after our guest. Give him

some of your delicious yoghurt drink” he said to Lopa and turning to me, “she makes

probably the best yoghurt drink in Bharata.” He left saying his goodbye towards the city.

“Father is obviously biased. I am really happy to see you again. I will get the drink for you in

a minute” she disappeared into the cart again only to reappear a couple of minutes later with

two mud pots. Her father was right and it was probably the most delicious yoghurt drink I

had ever tasted in my life.

“Your father was absolutely right. This probably is the best yoghurt drink I have had in my

life” I said. I could see she was blushing as well at that. “Shall we go for a walk? I will

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show you where I go for the wood. It is my favourite place. You can see an absolutely

gorgeous sun set from there.”

“I better leave a message for father that it would be dark by the time we get back” she called

out to the caravan driver and said;

“We are going out to see the sunset and will be late coming back. Can you please let father

know when he comes back.” I was impressed with the respect with which she spoke to the

driver. It showed good upbringing.

“I was afraid that you might have left Harappa. I had been busy over the last couple of

weeks” I said as we walked along towards the forest and the hill. I went on to give her the

details of the exploits during the trip to Sindhu and the recent skirmish with the Magus and

his cronies. I found that she loved talking. I found out that she had two more sisters and a

brother who stayed back in Saraswatha with her mother. She always accompanied her father

during his trips. She had visited several cities and countries during their travels. This

probably would be her last trip as her younger brother was growing up and would accompany

her father in the future. We had reached the stream near the top of the hill by this time. The

distance seemed to be ever so shorter. We sat on the banks of the stream with our feet in the

cool flowing water. When the sun started to set, she was very impressed by the change of

colours.

“I see why you keep coming back to this place. We see some impressive sunsets in

Saraswatha over the ocean. But the colours here are outstanding as the sun sets over the

distant mountains” she said.

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“We better be getting back now as it gets dark very quickly” I said rather reluctantly. Time

seemed to have passed quickly and I was disappointed the time with Lopa would be over

soon. I wanted to be with her forever, keep listening to her voice and looking at her face.

Well, it was not to be. It was not too long before we had reached the bottom of the hill and

the camp. The centre of the camp already had the fire and we could see the travellers were

into their music. We sat there watching their dances and listening to the music for a while. It

would be time for me to leave soon. I thought that I should let Lopa know what my heart has

been screaming for a while before it if too late.

I turned to Lopa and held her hands and looked into her beautiful black eyes and said;

“You do know I have fallen in love with you, Lopa. I cannot think of anything apart from

you when I am away from you.”

“I love you too Upaas. I have done so, ever since I first met you that day when you were

sitting watching the Dasyu dance. You must come and speak to father before we leave. We

are due to leave in a few weeks time” She said squeezing my fingers. That was like music to

my ears. I held her in my arms for a long time and then reluctantly walked her to her caravan

holding her hands all the way.

“I will come and speak to your father before you leave. I want you to come home and meet

my sister and mother. My sister will love you” I kissed her goodbye and walked back

towards the city with a heavy heart. I looked back several times to see her outlined against

the light of her caravan in the doorway. She waved her hands as I turned the corner towards

the gates of the city. I stood there for a few minutes waving my hands till she closed the door

of the cart. I turned around and knocked the secret code on the panel. The guard opened the

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gates to let me in. It was with a happy, but heavy heart that I reached home quite late. Nivya

was at the door like a shot and wanted to know everything that happened.

“Come on tell me what happened? Did you see her? Did you speak to her? What did she say?

When are you bringing her home?”

It was like listening to a raging torrent!

“Calm down Nivya. One question at a time please. Yes, I did speak to her and she turned me

down” I said with the gravest face I could muster.

“What? Why did she turn you down? You must have done something wrong. What did you

do? I will go and speak to her” She looked completely crestfallen. I could not let it carry on

as I did not want to torture her any more. She is too soft.

“You are easily wound up. I did speak to her and yes, I will bring her home soon to meet

you. My only worry is that after she meets you, she may not want to speak to me again. She

will not be able to answer all your questions. She will think it is an inquisition.”

“No, no. I will promise to behave. Please bring her home as soon as you can. I would love

to meet her” she replied. I could see how eager she was. I will have to bring Lopa home to

meet Nivya and mother soon.

“I see that you did not ask any questions about my meeting with Shushun?”

“I am sorry Upaas. The excitement of your news made me forget. Tell me how did it go?”

“He has agreed to come and help us. More importantly, he has extended an invitation for me

to visit his country of Elaam. I am really excited at the prospect. The Elaamites have had a

long relationship with the Sumerians and the Egyptians. They have knowledge of both

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Sumerian and Egyptian medicine. I will be able to learn techniques from Elaamite physicians

and might even have a chance to visit Sumer, as it is quite close to Elaam. I will have to

speak to father and my Master for permission” I spoke on about it for a while and I could see

Nivya watching me.

“It looks like you have been bitten by two bugs today Upaas. One is Lopa and the other one

is the travel bug. I remember father telling me that you always loved travelling when you

were a child” Nivya said slightly fascinated by my outburst.

“I am sorry if I went on about it. Yes. I would love to visit Elaam and Sumer, but in time. I

still need to a lot here before I do travel. There are lots of things happening here in Harappa

which need my attention.”

“You speak like one of the elders on the Great Council.”

“I admit that, I am not one of the elders in the Great Council. But, without sounding

pompous, there are responsibilities on me as a physician working with my Master which I

cannot ignore. To start with, I will have to sort out the problems we have now with the

injured from the latest skirmish with the Magus. Unfortunately, it also means that there are

some disgruntled citizens in the city which came as a surprise to me.”

“Yes. I heard about that and it came as a surprise to me as well. I always felt the everyone

was happy under the rule of the Great Council with Sage Shunahotra at the head. The citizens

have amenities such as safe drinking water, healthy environment, employment and welfare

for everyone, which are not available anywhere else in the world” Nivya was puzzled.

“I have always wondered that and it takes someone more cleverer than me to explain that.

Anyway, I have lots of things to do tomorrow and I better get to bed now” I said.

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“You obviously would not be hungry as you are full with Lopa’s dreams” Nivya laughed as

she went back into her room. She would have the last word in any argument.

I had numerous things on my mind as I went bed that night. I dreamed of Lopa as I drifted

off to sleep with a smile on my face thinking about the day’s meeting with Lopa.

Next morning, I was at Shushun’s Cart at crack of dawn with two horses. I had the Elaamite

horse, back with me after being scrutinised by General Nahusha’s officers. I thought he

would be at home with an Elaamite horse.

“Namaste Upaas” he said trying his best Sanskrit. “I see that you have acquired an Elaamite

horse.”

It was more of a question than a statement.

“Namaste Shushun. Yes, I have acquired an Elaamite Horse recently” and went on to explain

the circumstances under which it came into my possession.

“Ealmite horses are so popular among the Avestans that, most of the Avestan cavalry is made

of Elaamite horses. However, that also means that they can fall into hands of undesirables.”

“I know a lot of Avestan people and generally they are very nice people. At the moment their

country is going through difficult times because of drought and natural disasters” I replied.

“Shall we go to the hospital now?”

“Yes. Certainly. I will see if I can be of some help. Please remember that I am not a

practicing physician.” Shushun replied. He climbed on to the Elaamite horse which still had

not been named, with ease of someone who had spent a lot of time on horseback.

“What is he called?” He asked as we neared the western gate of the city.

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“He still does not have a name. The soldiers wanted to give him an Avestan name, but could

not think of any.”

“In that case, we shall call him Sampa which means the wind in Avestan, if that is alright

with you. He moves smoothly like a wind.” Shamash said.

“That sounds appropriate. He does ride well and well behaved. I see you have a good

knowledge of Avestan.”

“I have been visiting different countries since I left home two years ago and I spent nearly six

months in Ariana. I have picked up their language while I was there. It is quite similar to

Sanskrit. I also noticed a lot of unrest among the Avestan population while I was there” he

replied “You are right. The country is going through difficult times with drought and natural

disasters. I missed a very large earthquake in Haozdar by a few days. I believe it left

thousands of people dead and destroyed most of the city.”

When we reached the hospital, Shveti was already there checking the two remaining patients

who were still serious. She was extremely conscientious and took her job seriously. She had

started only a couple of years ago with us and already she was showing a lot of promise. She

read a lot and listened with attention to everything that was taught. I had seen her practicing

her suturing skills on the pips of Naranag fruit using cotton thread and needle. I had more

faith in her than Ubhaya.

“Namaste Upaas. How are you? Both of these patients are stable, but I still have not seen

any progress. They appear to be struggling with their breathing still. We still have to feed

them through bamboo straws. If we don’t find a solution soon, I am afraid we will lose

them” she said.

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Shveti, this is Shushun from Elaam. He is a friend of mine and he has seen some injuries

caused by the Magi in his country. He has come to help us.”

She looked at Shamash suspiciously and said;

“Welcome to Harappa, Shushun. Any help in saving these men would be appreciated.”

I could see that she was not convinced.

“I will do my best. I must emphasise that I am not a physician, but I have seen what our

physicians did to our soldiers after similar attacks. Can I see the patients please?” he said

with sincerity in his voice.

Shveti lead us into the hall where the two patients were kept under observation. The two men

did not look good. Both of them appeared to be breathing hard. Shushun walked across to

one of them and looked down closely at their faces and said to the nurse sitting next to the

patient;

“Can you lift the sheets off please?”

When the nurse lifted the sheets off the patient he looked down on the chest to see yellow

stained burns and discolouration of the skin.

“It looks like sulphur burns and poisoning to me. I remember after one of the episodes where

the Magi had produced thick yellow smoke and the smell was awful, the results were

similar.” he said.

“We have had some information from the captured men who reached the city only yesterday.

Their description of events appear to match what you have described just now. Lot of thick

yellow smoke was produced when the Magus threw a powder on the altar. When we reached

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the ravine, most of the smoke was gone but there was an acrid smell which irritated our nose,

still lingered” I said.

“It must be burns caused by gandhaka poisoning. Our physician covered the wounds with

honey and seaweed paste and fed them with extract of Neem plant to get rid of the sulphur

from the system” Shushun replied.

Our Master walked in as he was saying this.

“Master, Shushun has been telling us that this looks like gandhaka poisoning and suggests

treating with honey and seaweed paste and extract of Neem plant.”

“Namaste Shushun. I suspected as much. However, I had not had the opportunity to witness

such a burn before. Thank you for your suggestion. I think we will try your remedy and see

what happens. We have exhausted all other methods. Shveti, can you arrange for the same

please as soon as you can. We will get hold of the Neem plant and try the extract when the

patients are conscious and able to drink some liquids” Master replied “Now tell me Shushun.

The Magus and his colleagues sit close to the altar while this chemical is released and yet

nothing appears to have happened to them. That has puzzled me since that day in the

ravine.”

Shveti sent one of the nurses to the pharmacy to get the honey and seaweed paste and got

busy with the patients.

“I am not sure sir. Our physicians think that the Magi use the extract of the same plant over a

period of time before the Yajna to protect their body against the chemical insult. But that is

only a guess as the Magi are very secretive and very few people other than the magi know

their science very well” Shushun replied.

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“We will have to try and find that out somehow. It will be extremely useful information for

our soldiers in the future.”

“Can you check the dressings please?” The nurse asked me. She had finished applying the

paste to the wounds. Both myself and Shushun checked the dressings.

“That looks good. I hope I am right and the dressings work” Shushun said.

Master turned to Shushun as we all walked out of the room and said,

“That is the second time you have come to our help. We are very grateful to you. You

should let us repay your help in some way.”

“No sir. Your city has been extremely kind to me. I have been looked after very well. I have

learnt a lot from your community. There are a still a lot we can learn from your city. I am

very impressed by your city’s engineering. I have never seen a city so well planned,

especially in civic amenities such as water supply, roads, drainage, food storage and

cultivation techniques. Even the Egyptians who are well known to be great builders don’t

have cities so well planned. If your Great Council would allow our engineers to come and

learn the techniques, I would be grateful. I am also impressed by your literary work of Vedas

in Sanskrit. I personally would like to learn at least some of your Vedas” Shushun replied.

“I cannot see that being a problem. Our engineers would be delighted to help. Upaas’s father

is the chief engineer for Harappa. I will speak to him and we will arrange a visit. As for the

Vedas, our Sage Shunahotra’s son, Grtsamada, is considered an expert in the great scripture

compositions and I am sure he will be delighted to help you with the Vedas. It takes an entire

lifetime of dedication to learn the whole works. I am not aware of any one other than the

great Rishis, who has mastered the entire scriptures” Master replied. “Upaas tells me that you

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have invited him to visit Elaam. That will do him good and it will further develop the links

between our countries.”

Shushun was quite pleased with Master’s reply. I was pleasantly surprised at his tentative

approval for my journey. When I had mentioned the invitation to the Master a few days ago,

the reception was not altogether favourable. He was rather non-committal in his reply.

“Let’s think about it” was a short and dismissive reply at the time. I was under the

impression that he was not very keen on the idea somehow. Now, it looked as if he wanted to

me to go to Elaam for the greater good of Harappa. I was clearly excited at the prospect of

visiting Shushun’s country. I looked at him and he appeared to be pleased as well.

“Yes Master Ashwin. I have seen the work you do in here and I am sure our physicians will

learn from Upaas as will he. I would be honoured if he would visit our country and spend

some time with me” Shamash replied. “I will be in Harappa for few more weeks before

moving on. I will make necessary arrangements for his visit on my return home. Our King

would be pleased at any opportunity for improving links between our cities.”

Master left soon afterwards for the Council of Elders and I dropped Shushun back to the

camp. I went to Lopa’s caravan on the way back. She was, as usual, bubbly as ever and

getting more beautiful by the day, I thought. She was fascinated by the Elaamite horse. We

went for a ride in the forest. I found that she was a born rider. She handled the horse

beautifully and the horse seemed to like her as well.

“Where are you taking me Upaas?” Lopa asked,

“I will take you to this most enchanted place near Harappa. It is my second most favourite

place” I replied. She laughed at this and said;

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“You seem to like nature and spend a lot of time outdoors. Where do you get time to treat

patients?”

“I make time. You’ll see soon why I like this place”j I replied.

We rode for an hour deep into the forest towards the distant hills. The path in the forest

wound around small hillocks and enormous black rocks dotted around randomly as if tossed

about by a giant. As we went around a rock where trees appeared to be growing out of the

beautiful lake Nishantha in front of us. The legend said that Swayambhuva Manu himself

had camped on the shores of the lake. It was a large oval shaped lake with clear calm waters,

large Peepal trees growing on the shores leaning over the waters as if to protect the lake from

the harsh sun. The shade of the trees made the water always cool and refreshing and water

always looked green. No wonder it was called the ‘lake of tranquility’. There were places on

the shore with clear sand and few large rocks where deer and ibexes came to drink water.

The legend said that Manu protected the lake and the animals had no fear. Lotuses grew in

abundance over the lake and often covered half the lake with large green leaves and beautiful

white and red flowers. The smell from the flowers stimulated the senses and the chit chat of

the birds filled the atmosphere. Even in broad day light, the only noise you could hear was

the birds and the gentle lapping of the lake water. The atmosphere is so peaceful that it

calmed the nerves of even the most volatile person.

I could see that the place impressed Lopa.

“Wow. This is absolutely gorgeous. It is so peaceful and gentle.”

I thought it was an unusual way of describing a lake. But, it was most apt description for the

place, the lake was ‘peaceful and gentle’ I thought.

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“This is not only the most beautiful place, but also has the best fruits in Bharata. Come we

will sit down on that rock over there. I will get some fruits you will not have tasted before” I

said and got down from the horse. I helped her down from her horse and we sat down on one

of the black rocks on the beach.

“Can you see that tree over there, which looks like a small Peepal tree?”

“Yes. I can. There is something unusual about it” Lopa said.

“Yes. The bright yellow things you see on the branches are amra (Mango) fruit that I told

you about. I had my first taste from a Dasyu trader a few years back and he called it

‘Nagarugam.’ The legend says that Swayambhuva Manu saved seedlings from all parts of

the world during the Great Flood and planted them here. The amra fruit tastes delicious. I

will get some for you” I said.

“Don’t tell me that you are going to climb that tree? Please be careful if you do” Lopa said

with concern in her voice.

“Dont worry. I have no intention of climbing any trees” I took the sling shot I had in my

pouch on the horse back and chose few smooth pebbles from the beach. The first one did not

hit anything and flew harmlessly through the tree. I could see Lopa giggling to herself.

“You will not be laughing in a minute. Just wait and see” I had immense belief in my aim

with both archery and slingshot. I took careful aim and let loose the next stone. A juicy ripe

Amra fell to the ground. I quickly picked it up, rinsed it in the lake water and peeled the fruit

and gave it to Lopa.

“Let me know if you like it and I will get some more for you” I said.

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Lopa took a bite and said;

“It is deliciously sweet. The aroma reminds me of the flower we grow back in Saraswata”

she said.

“I will get some more for you to take home. They will last for a while.”

I picked up a few more stones and within minutes I had a bunch of fruits in a neat pile on the

sand. Neither of us noticed the passage of time and the chit chat of the birds going back

home woke us to the fact that it was getting late.

“Upaas. I think we should be getting back home. Father gets worried if I am not back home

by nightfall” Lopa said.

“It is not safe to be out in the forest nowadays after dark. There have been problems with

rogue Avestan bandits. Come I will take you home. I will come and speak to your father.

Nivya wants to meet you and I want you to meet my mother. I will come and speak to your

father tomorrow and then we can go and meet Nivya and mother after that” I said.

“That sounds like a good idea. I will look forward to tomorrow” we set off back home and

reached the camp before nightfall.

“Lopa. Sampa seems to like you very much and you are very comfortable riding him. I want

you to have him. I am sure he would rather have you ride him than me” I said with a smile.

“Can I, really?” Lopa said with delight.

“I would love you to have him. Looking at the two of you, you are made for each other” I

said.

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It was with great reluctance I said good bye to Lopa and went home that night a very happy

man.

Next few days are just a blur. Things moved so fast that I only remember short bits of it.

The days went so fast that I was running around catching my tail most of the time. When I

went to visit Lopa’s father and speak to him about Lopa, he was most generous and said he

was thrilled to have me join his family. Lopa was a big hit with both Nivya and mother. I

was almost forgotten once they met her. The things took their own turn very quickly. I did

not have to ask father. Mother took Lopa to meet him and he was also smitten by her.

Things were moving so well that I could not have asked for anything more. All was well

with my world.

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Trip to Mount Mujavant

“Upaas, we are running short of supplies. The injuries we have had to treat over the last few

weeks have emptied our stocks. It is time for another trip to the Shivaliks I am afraid. Our

Soma stock has been depleted as well. This time, I want you to take Ubhaya with you. It is

time he learnt how to identify the important roots and flowers we need” Master Ashwin said

to me.

“Yes Master. I will get prepared. I had to go further up the mountains last time to get some

of the roots and we need to go higher still for the Kantalika (belladonna) plants. I may have

to be away for longer this time. The rishi and the Gandhari’s who guard the Soma are not

easy to find. I will take permission from my father and mother and set off tomorrow” I

replied.

“I will speak to Ubhaya and also his parents for their permission” the Master continued. “Do

not worry about finding the rishi, he will find you. The Gandhari guards are supposed to stay

invisible. Otherwise, their effectiveness is reduced. You will have to be extra careful and

keep a watch out for the rogue Avestans as well as the wild animals” I could hear a faint tinge

of concern in the Master’s voice.

“I will be careful Master. Avestans have not been seen in the Shivalik hills. It is too far for

them and they will have to avoid our patrols. I was under the impression that they do not

really know the existence of Mount Mujavant or the lake Sharyanavat of Soma plants. The

Avestans that we have treated here appear to be very nice people” I replied.

“You see the whole world through your heart. Unfortunately, the world is not as pure or as

peaceful as your heart Upaas. There are bad people among the Avestans as well as

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Harappans. Judging from what happened at the ravine, we have to assume that they at least

know that, we will be running short of Soma extracts. We still have not found who the mole

is who is supplying the information to them. The same mole will tell them about your trip

and I will not be surprised if they come after you” The Master continued.

“Father always said that there is some good in every one of them. I have heard him say that

there must have been some good even in the evil Vratra even though he was intent on

annihilating our ancestors” I said. Master smiled and said.

“You and your father think everyone in the world is as good as the two of you. Your father

must be the most peaceful man that I have ever come across. You must be vigilant where

you are going. I have to tell you something else. A negotiator arrived from King Vishtaspa

yesterday asking for help. Some of the Soma that you will be bringing back is for them.

Now go and fetch Ubhaya. I want to speak with him. As usual, two of our master marksmen

will accompany you and Pindaara will look after the cart” He said.

“Yes Master. I think he is in the pharmacy” I left the room after bowing to the Master. As I

negotiated the corridors, I was thinking of what I need to take for the trip tomorrow. When I

opened the door of the pharmacy, Ubhaya was busy grinding something and did not hear me

coming in. He was concentrating hard and appeared to be in peace with himself. He was

darker skinned than I was and appeared to have a permanent smile etched into his face. I still

remember the first time I saw him. He must have been about ten or twelve years old then.

He was brought to our house by the supervisor Dhuramdhara, with his parents. Ubhaya’s

father had come to the gates of Harappa looking for work and Dhuramdhara had taken pity on

the family. I had opened the door at the knock to see Dhuramdhara standing with a middle

aged, very tired looking man standing behind him with head bowed so low that all I could see

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was the top of his bald head. His wife was standing well behind the man with a little boy

holding her hand. Ubhaya was standing behind his mother.

“Namaste Masterv Upaas. I have come to pay respects to your father” Dhurmadhara said.

“Please come in sir. I will tell father that you are here” I replied. He turned to the family

behind him and said;

“Please wait here. I will speak to the Master and come back for you.”

I led Dhuramdhara into the hall and asked him to wait there. I went inside and told father

about Dhuramdhara. He came out to the hall to greet him;

“Namaste Dhurmadhara. How are you and your family? What brings you here?”

“Namaste, Master Kapila. Please accept my respects and my apologies for disturbing you at

home. My family and I are well thanks to God Indra’s blessings. I have brought this man

and his family for your help” he replied.

“Dhuramdhara, you know very well that I have never refused help to anyone. Please tell me

what I can do and who this man is and where is he from? Do you know anything about

him?”

“Everyone in Harappa knows of your generosity. I don’t know much about him, Master. He

is from a village near Saraswata and has lost everything in last year’s floods. The family

have walked here over the last three months. He appears to be an honest, hard working man

and we are short of workers at present” the supervisor continued.

“You know that I trust your judgment. If you are satisfied that he is honest worker and not a

trouble maker, please go ahead and give him a job” father said.

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“Thank you Master. There is one another thing. The family does not have a roof over their

heads” Dhuramdhara continued.

“Call him inside and let me talk to him” father said.

He bowed his head to father and went out to fetch the stranger. He soon came back leading

the three inside the house. That was the first time I had seen Ubhaya. He was shy and still

hiding behind his mother and kept looking down at the floor all the time.

“Master, this is the gentleman I have been telling you about. I am really grateful for helping

him” Dhurmadhara said. The stranger fell prostrate to the ground and touched father’s feet.

“Ayushman bhava. Please rise, stranger. Who are you and what brings you to these parts?”

“May God Indra bless you Master. Let me thank you for your kindness and generosity for

letting me speak to you. I am Krishivala Kutchasa from the village near Saraswatha. I have

lost everything in the recent floods and we escaped with what we had on our backs. I used to

work as a stone cutter in the village. I and my family would be eternally grateful if you

would allow us to settle down in the great city of Harappa” he replied.

“My sympathies for your loss. Dhuramdhara will get you some work with his group, which

looks after the roads in the city. Would you be willing to do that kind of work?” father

asked.

“Certainly Master. I am so deeply indebted to you for this” he replied.

“I will make arrangements for an abode for you and your family. In the mean time, you will

have to stay with the travellers” father said.

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“Your kindness overwhelms me Master. Our family are in your debt for the rest of our lives”

I could see tears welling up in his eyes. He bowed his head deep and touched my father’s

feet again. My father blessed him as he withdrew with the supervisor. That was how the

Kutchasa family came to be in Harappa. I did not see Ubhaya for a few years after that. The

next time I saw him was when he was brought to see my father on a summer evening.

According to Krishivala, Ubhaya was not doing very well in anything he tried. Now he

wanted to try to get a job at the hospital with my Master.

“My Master. I have come back to you to ask for help yet again”

“What can I do for you Krishivala. I see that you are well settled in Harappa. You have your

own land and I hear you are growing Barley. I am pleased for you” Father said.

“It is all because of your blessing Master. I am having difficulty getting a career for my son,

Ubhaya” he called his son to come forward and touch my father’s feet. Ubhaya did as he was

told.

“Ayushman Bhava. May God bless you son” father blessed him. “What would you like to

do?”

Ubhaya just stared at father and did not say anything and started to fiddle with his hands.

Kirishivala tried to prompt him with no use. After a couple of more attempts, he gave up and

said “That has been the problem with him all along. He has no ambition in his life. If you

can get him any job, I’ll be grateful” he sounded rather desperate and disappointed.

“Don’t be so harsh on your son, Krishivala. I am sure he will find his niche and will prosper.

I’ll see what I can do.”

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Krishivala had left with his son looking rather sullen, I thought. To cut a short story short,

father spoke to Master Ashwin and got him a job at the hospital as a helper in the pharmacy.

It was hard work getting him to progress from a helper to an apprentice over the years. He

was now an apprentice physician for the past couple of years.

As I walked into the pharmacy, he looked completely out of place amidst all the jars of roots,

seeds, and dried herbs. Master’s cauldron was brewing in the corner and the potion for fever

was boiling gently in the corner. As I walked in, I stubbed on the copper vessel holding

roots, woke me up from my reverie, and made Ubhaya to look up. I said.

“Master has sent me. He would like to speak to you. He wants me to take you with me to the

hills this time for supplies.”

He smiled and said “I better get prepared then.”

“You speak to the Master before you do anything” I said.

He washed his hands in the corner and walked back to the Master’s room with me. As he

touched the Master’s feet, Master said “Ayushman Bhava. I want you to go with Upaas to

the Shivalik Hills and replenish our stocks. Get prepared to leave in the next couple of days.”

“I will Master. I will need to take permission from my father” he said.

“Of course, you do. Please convey my regards to your father. Remember that you will have

to leave early in the morning soon after the sunrise. Upaas will tell you the essentials that

you need to bring for the trip. It will be cold where you are going and you will be away for at

least a couple of weeks.”

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We took our leave from the Master and went home. Mother spent the next couple of days

preparing food for our journey. I had met up with the two marksmen who were going to

accompany us. I knew one of them, Astravid, the best sharpshooter in our army. We had

spent some time deciding on the weapons we want to take with us. He insisted that we take

our bows and arrows with us. He had spent best part of the day choosing the type of arrows

we had to take and he had chosen a veritable arsenal for himself. I had to keep reminding

him that we are not going to war. We spent one morning training with our bows and arrows

in the camp and had gone into the forest before sunrise one morning to train shooting in the

dark and between trees.

On the day of our departure, we had been asked to be at the Temple before sunrise. I had

been up very early that morning and as I reached the Temple, I could see that Pindaara was

already there with his bullock cart and his favourite bull. Astravid was there with four

horses. Soon Abhaya was there accompanied by his father. He was carrying a satchel over

his shoulders and a sack on his back. I hope that he had brought the skins I had asked him to

bring as it will be cold where we are going.

The Temple looked even more imposing in the early morning predawn light than usual. The

spire loomed out of the darkness as if the phoenix spreading her wings out to protect us. As

we entered through the north gate, the main Temple was on our right and the great Pushkarni

was on the left. We could see that the apprentice priests were already waiting there with all

the equipment needed for the morning prayers just outside the doors. We walked down the

steps of the Pushkarni and washed our hands and feet in cool refreshing water. As we walked

back up, the elephants of the temple were being ushered in. The big bull elephant was all

bedecked and ready for the morning prayers.

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Soon, Sage Shunahotra and the Master Priest Khodandaki entered through the north gate and

went down to the Pushkarni to wash their hands and feet. As they came back up, we were all

standing at the foot of the steps in front of the great door of the Temple waiting. This was

probably the most exciting part of the day for any young priest. The two doors were made of

solid teak wood covered in copper and brass finials and with built in alcoves filled with

hundreds of tiny brass bells. Whenever the doors moved, they produced a lovely musical

sound of chimes. Every one’s attention was focused at one small opening with a large

diamond in the upper half of the great door, which was bordered by a strip of brass. We

could see the sun’s rays slowly moving up the door towards the opening as sun came up over

the eastern horizon. As the rays touched the brass strip around the diamond, the whole place

was lit up and I could see the expression of fear mixed with awe in the faces of all the

novices. Just as the sun’s rays reached the opening, the bells within the Temple started to

peal slowly at first and then with increasing intensity and louder and louder. As the bells

started, two of the priests picked up a large conch each and started to blow them. The birds

were woken by the loud conch and we could see thousands of them flying off the trees and

over the Temple into the sky chirping away incessantly. Soon the priests were reciting the

hymns in praise of God Savitr and inviting him to open the door for us. The great drum in

the anteroom started to come alive. The drumming was slow, rhythmic, and stayed that way

until the sunrays passed the opening. In the back-ground we could just hear the gentle

mechanical noise of the wheels within the doors and the walls of the Temple. Just as the

sunrays went past the opening, the great doors started to open with a creaking sound. By

now, the drum was loud and deep, the bells were rapid and smooth to which the sound of

thousand tiny bells within the doors added music. It was an impressive sight and an awe-

inspiring performance. Anyone experiencing the opening of the great doors of the Temple

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for the first time, it was frightening as well as a stirring experience. I had witnessed this

scene several times in my life, but it was still as impressive as the first time. The

combination of the deep resonance of the drums, sound of the two conchs, the tenor of the

bells along with the rhythmic baritone chanting of the Vedas by the novices was inspiring and

at the same time humbling. The noise of thousands of birds chirping away in the background

gave an ethereal feel to the whole thing.

The legend has it that the Temple was built hundreds of years ago by God Indra himself,

based on the plans by the heavenly architect Vishwakarma. He planned it so well that the

first sunrays went through the openings in the two doors to the sanctum sanctorum, touched

the feet of the God Pashupathi, set off the mechanism in motion to set the bells ringing. The

sunlight falling going through the windows in the antechamber set off the great drums. The

sound of the two conchs got the mechanism working the doors to automatically open

themselves. It worked on a system of pulleys and wheels, which was so intricate that they

made very little noise and have been working without repair for several hundred years now.

The Temple itself was built on an eight pointed star shaped platform with the great door

facing east. We had to climb eight steps before reaching the pedestal of the Great door. The

door was flanked by two massive columns covered in brass and made them look like two

golden columns. There was a tall alcove on the side of the column where stood the two

guardian angels – the two Varutrs. The two statues were full size nearly 6 feet in height and

imposing. The carpenter who had made the idols had an eye for detail. He had captured the

serene peacefulness of the Varutr along with the ferocity of strength to protect. One got the

impression of being safe in their presence. There was a small, yet fast flowing stream of cold

water just in front of the pedestal at the entrance to the door. This cleansed our feet as we

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entered the Temple. As we entered the doors into the anteroom, it was a different world.

Both the walls were plastered and painted with bass relief. The colours of yellow ochre, red,

green, bright blue and red were striking. The left wall depicted the stories of God Indra’s

exploits – the war against Viratra and the battle to free the primal Cow, Kamadhenu. The

right wall depicted the story of Pralaya (the great deluge) and how Swaymbhuva Manu along

with seven Rishi’s (Saptharshi) saved the humanity on the boat with the help of the God

Vishnu in his Matsya form (the fish).

Colourful images of the various Gods and their exploits embellished the ceiling in all the four

corners. In one corner was the Agni, the fire god blazing in bright red and yellow ochre. The

opposite corner was Varuna, the God of Sea with a flowing bright blue mane. The other two

corners showed off the tow great Ashwins who were protecting all of us from above. The

ceiling was quite high, but the images looked as if they were next to your nose. The smell

inside was of the sandal incense mixed with the burnt ghee that the priests used for their

lamps. There were four huge brass lamps in the four corners with flames blazing to show off

the images. The flickering shadows produced by the flames gave an eerie feeling as they

made the horses and elephants on the left wall come alive. The ocean flood myth on the right

wall looked as if it was still flowing. There were large vents immediately below the ceiling,

let just enough light to illuminate the ceiling and with the smoke wafting slowly towards the

vents, the whole scene was surreal.

The middle door was slightly smaller than the front great door and with a slightly larger

opening just below the middle, again bordered by shining brass. Two large wooden columns

covered in bronze flanked the door and in the light of the lamps and the reflected light from

the top vents looked bright red and imposing. There were Bass-reliefs on the bronze columns

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again depicting the exploits of God Indra. There was a large pedestal across the door and one

had to step through yet another stream of running water to get into the main hall. This

cleansed our feet once again before facing the sanctum sanctorum of the Temple.

The main hall was large and immediately imposing. First thing that stuck anyone entering

the main hall was the height of the ceiling. It must have been at least ten yards in height.

The vents at the top of the walls near the ceiling let in enough light to give the place an

ethereal sensation. The sun rays had moved up from Pashupathi’s feet to the knees by time

we got into the hall. We could see the rays of the early morning sun beaming across the floor

over the top of the altar. As the sunrays moved further and hit the imposing statue of

Pashupathi, we were blinded by the magnificence of the statue. It was a seated figure with

legs crossed. He held Rudraksha mala (Rosary string) in his right hand and held his Dhanus

(Spear) in the left hand. It was made of pure gold except for the half closed eyes, which was

made of ivory and black granite. It looked as if the God Pashupathi was looking down at you

wherever you were standing. The eyes conveyed a sense of calm and at the same time

emanated an impression of exuberant energy. One could feel the presence of his immense

force. The hair was tied in a swirl at the top of the head with the end falling gracefully to the

side stopping short of the left ear.

The young priests got themselves busy anointing the statue and decorating with flowers –

brilliant white Jasmine and bright yellow champaka flowers from the garden around the

Temple. As the Vedic chants continued, Sage Shunahotra did the oblations.

Soon all the rituals were complete and Sage Shunahotra turned to me and said,

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“Please come with me Upaas. You will need directions for the Mount Mujavant and the Lake

Sharynavat.”

My Master came with me into a chamber behind the Pashupathi’s idol. The chamber was

very small and very dark. I could hardly see anything. Once inside, he signalled to me to

kneel at the Sage’s feet and close my eyes. As I did so, he put his hand on my head and said;

“Ayushman Bhava. May God of Soma help you in your quest” and recited a Soma hymn I

had not heard before. It was an out of the world experience as I closed my eyes to savour the

moment. As soon as I did so, the temple disappeared and I was taken on an incredible

journey. Thousands of images flashed before my eyes. There were jungle paths, huge

mountains, lakes, rivers and forests. And there was snow and ice, a lot of snow and ice.

There were soldiers and a rishi talking to me and saying something I could not understand.

Then I heard Sage Shunahotra’s voice;

“You can open your eyes now Upaas.”

I opened my eyes to see that I was standing outside the temple at the back. Sage Shunahotra

gave me a small leather satchel full of small pouches and one small mud flask which was

closed with a string around the neck.

“Keep this satchel underneath your clothes and use it for emergencies only” The Sage said

looking into my eyes. I looked completely blank. “You will know what to do with them

when the time comes.”

I was lead back into the chamber where my Master was still waiting for me.

“Now, there is no time to waste. God speed and May God Indra be with you.”

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Sage Shunahotra said raising his right hand up over my head in a blessing. We walked out

into the open to see Pindara waiting with his cart already loaded with our supplies for the trip.

Astravid was standing at the gate with the horses, including my beloved Shankara. We bid

goodbye to everyone and started on the journey in earnest. There was a sense of

apprehension which I could not understand. This was not the first time I had done this trip

and we had had no problems before. The only difference today was that my Master was not

coming with us and I had to negotiate the trip and make sure we achieve our objective.

The two marksmen lead the way towards the North Gate of the city. We had to head north

east and reach the eastern bank of the great river Saraswathi and follow the river up north. If

we made good time, we could reach the travellers Inn well before nightfall. We got into a

pattern on the road. I was in the front with Astravid, followed by Pindara on the cart and

Ubhaya and the other marksman took up the rear. This was the first time since my Master

had asked me to go to the mountains I had time for myself and time to think and reflect. The

thought obviously went straight to my dear Lopa. I had gone to her straight from the hospital

to tell her of my journey. She was obviously disappointed as I was, to miss her for several

days. It felt like it was going to be for a long time. It was painful to say good bye to her. We

held each other for a long time, neither of us wanting to let go. There were lots of tears as I

turned around and left. She had stood at the door of her caravan for a long time as I rode

slowly back towards the city gates.

I was following the path which, if continued would take us to the city of Kalibangan. It was a

well trodden path of many a traveller looking for adventure in the new lands of the east. We

stopped at a rivulet at the bottom of a small hill. This was the only stream which flowed in

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northerly direction to reach the river Saraswathi. The sun had just passed the zenith when we

stopped at the banks of the rivulet for a rest.

Abhaya was obviously not used to riding a horse for long periods and was complaining of

pain in his thigh and back.

“You are obviously not used to riding horses all day” Astravid ventured “Why don’t you ride

on Pindara’s cart?”

“I have driven horses all day before. But this horse is not comfortable. I have been given an

old horse which cannot walk properly.”

“Master Ubhaya. That is not true, your horse is the youngest of the five we have here. Do

you want to swap horses with me?” Astravid suggested.

“No Thank you. I will manage.”

He clearly was not happy. He ate his lunch with a sullen look on his face and did not speak

to anyone. I followed him to the stream to wash my hands and as we were coming back said;

“I think you should take the cart, if I were you Ubhaya. I don’t want you to be ill when we

reach the mountains. It is hard work there.”

“Well. Umm. If you insist” he said.

“I do. It is better that you are fit when we reach the mountains and be able to help me with

the collection of medicinal roots and seeds and plants. The final leg of the journey to the lake

Sharyanavat, is even harder.’

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He hummed and haad for a while. It was finally agreed that he would travel on the cart with

Pindara for part of the journey and would stay on a horse for short periods only. We reached

the Inn well before nightfall. The Inn was half empty and inn keeper was pleased to see us.

We left the next morning before sunrise to reach the Saraswathi by late afternoon and start

the arduous trek northwards. We reached the village of Vapri after three days of hard

trekking. We were half way up the Shiwalik hills and our work of collecting roots, plants,

fruits and seeds began in the adjoining forest. Vapri simply meant ‘Ant hill’ – the place was

littered with numerous ant hills, mainly because of the abundance of plants with juicy roots.

There, we met Rishi Vatula who helped us identify the plants we needed and also helped us

prepare them for storage. On the second day, Rishi Vatula called me into his hut and said;

“I think you have enough supplies to last six months. Sage Shunahotra tells me that you have

to go to Mount Mujavant?”

“Yes sir. We need to replenish the supply of Soma” I was not surprised that Sage Shunahotra

had sent the message of our trip. Their powers of communication over long distances was

legendary. My Master had tried to teach me the technique very little success so far.

“You will have to leave your cart with the supplies here as the cart cannot go to the Lake

Sharyanavat. I am sure Sage Shunahotra has given you the directions to the Lake?”

“Yes sir. I do remember some of it from my previous trips with the Master” I replied.

“Good. In that case you should rest here tonight and set off early in the morning with your

soldiers. You will need enough sustenance for at least three days travel, two days to go up

the mountain and one day to come back down. I will ask the cook to give you enough to last

for four days just in case” the Rishi said.

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“Thank you sir. You have been most kind. May God Indra bless you.”

It was very cold that night. There was a fire in the middle of our hut which kept going out

every time there was a breeze through the large crack in the door. It did not seem to affect

the two soldiers as they slept through the night snoring away loudly. Ubhaya complained

constantly, even though he was the nearest to the fire and the Rishi’s wife had given him

extra blankets.

There was a thick fog covering the mountain when we started in the morning. We could

barely make out the path through the thick forest. My horse, Shankara appeared to be

enjoying himself. He had been tethered for the past three days while we collected all the

medicinal supplies from the forest. He was rather skittish and pulling at the lead rearing to

have a run. I had to use all my powers of persuasion and a supply of sweets to calm him

down. Rushing down the path would have been dangerous. From what we had seen during

the day light, the path up the mountain wound around and appeared to be a narrow ledge

clinging onto the mountain sides. The ground was wet and slippery with well rounded rocks

along the path. The path did not appear to have been used much over the years. There was a

stream flowing down the path in many places which made the rocks even more slippery.

It was not long before the sun came up and started to burn off the fog from the mountain.

Before long the path narrowed further and became steeper. The path was deteriorating

rapidly into a dirt track with lots of loose stones. There were times when Shankara lost his

footing over loose stones and we could see the small stones disappear off the mountain side

into a deep gorge down below. By the time the sun was over our heads, we were beginning

to see first of snow and ice on the ground. The sun had burnt off all the fog from the

mountains around us. We could see that we were climbing one of the taller mountains

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towards the west of the valley. The valley itself was more of a deep gorge and we could not

see the bottom of the valley. The sides of the valley was covered in trees in patches towards

the bottom and the sides became bare rock covered in green moss and splashes of purple

heather higher up. We could see above the valley sides were covered in bluish white snow. I

could not really see the top of any of the mountains around us. There were a range of

mountains on the eastern side of the valley and they looked very steep and rocky. I could not

see any paths or breaks where we could take the horses. These were the images I had seen in

my mind when Sage Shunahotra put his hands over my head in the temple only last week.

There was a lone eagle flying high up, circling around the eastern side of the valley. He had

obviously eyed one of his unfortunate preys, probably a small deer who had lost its footing

and fallen down the side of the mountain. The path wound around the mountain we were

climbing and as we turned the corner moving northwards, the valley became narrower and

the sides became steeper. I could see a clearing just ahead. By this time, Ubhaya’s

protestation of the hardship had reached a state which was irritating even the most sedate

Astravid. He was hungry, cold and sore all over. We decided to stop before he decides to go

back.

“Master Upaas, I can see a stream and shelter in that clearing. It would be an ideal resting

place for us” Astravid must have read my mind.

“Yes. We will stop and have our lunch here. There is still a long way to go. We have to

cross those three mountains before night fall” I said pointing to the three mountains with

jagged peaks ahead of us. “We have to be at the Alinas’ rock before sunrise. If I rmember

the hymn correctly, Savitr (Sun god) will show us the way in the morning. If we miss the

sunrise, we will have to wait another day” I said.

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The clearing was not very big. There was a mountain stream on one side flowing down to the

valley bottom. There were some bushes and a twisted pine tree in the corner. We tethered

our horses to the tree and unpacked our satchels to find sour bread, clarified butter in a rolled

up green leaf, pickles and a ripe Amra. I was surprised to see the Amra at this altitude. We

had not seen any Amra trees on the way or anywhere near the village. Ubhaya promptly fell

asleep in the small crevice in the back of the clearing protected from the cold wind. I walked

across to the edge of the clearing to enjoy the beautiful vista.

I could see the majestic mountain range on the other side of the valley rising from the

darkness of an invisible bottom. They appeared to be straining to meet the sun and the sky.

It was crystal clear blue sky and I could see the peaks of the mountains quite well. The tallest

one of them was toward the north, like a colossal peak zoomed straight up into the air to its

first bastion, the pinnacle of the nort-west buttress. Above the buttress there was a smasll

dip, then a second ridge climbing to another pinnacle, twin to the first, then another ridge that

seemed to lead to the summit itself. The suppit was completely covered with a snow cap.

The sun shining on the tip of the peak made it look like a diamond tipped hat. The mountain

slightly to the north of it was slightly smaller and had multiple small peaks, as if a giant had

taken a bite out of the top with a crooked teeth. The mountain to the south of the tallest one

was much smaller and had a smooth rounded peak and with the bulge in the middle looked

like a pot bellied bald man. The most interesting of them was the one to my right which had

a wavy top and protruding promontory right at the top. It was called the Asura’s nose for

obvious reasons. The river flowing down the side of the Asura’s nose made it look like it

was suffering from a permanent cold. One of those mountains was the mount Mujavant.

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Untill we get to the Alinas’ rock, we will not know which one of them is the mountain we are

looking for.

I looked to my left to see the steep wall of the valley rise up and disappear into nowhere.

Vast slopes of snow and ice reached high up its sides. I could not see the peak of the

mountain, but I knew what it looked like. The cliff joined the buttress low down on its sheer

face. If only Ubhaya knew, he would run back home from here. It was a good thing that we

will not be able to see the path to Alinas’ rock till the last minute.

Legend has it that Alinas, a Gandhari yaksha, sat on that huge rock fo a whole year without

moving in penance and praying. God Savitr had finally come down and blessed him with

divine vision. He showed him the path to the Mount Mujavant and the lake Sharynavat

where Soma grew in abundance. Alinas soon became more powerful than the Meluhhan

sages and started to threaten the surrounding cities and towns. It was Indra who finally

pacified him after a dual. Since then he has been the guardian of these mountains and

particularly the lake Sharyanavat. Without his help it is possible to go to the mount Mujavant

or the lake on top. There was a Gandhari regiment posted in the mountain to help him safe

guard the soma. No one ever saw the Gandharis as their movement was shrouded in mystery

and they were known to have magical powers.

“It is absolutely beautiful here. It is so tranquil here, no wonder the gods want to live here” I

was so engrossed in my own thoughts that I had not heard Astravid walk up behind me.

“Yes, it is very peaceful. That is why the sages come here to meditate” I replied “I think we

better start moving again if we have to reach the plateau before nightfall. You better wake up

our sleeping baby and get going.”

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Ubhaya woke up with some protestations and we set off again up the mountain. I did not

want to be caught up on the side of the mountain when it gets dark. The path nearly

disappeared as we climbed further up. It was more space between boulders spewed

everywhere. Our horses were finding their way gingerly between the rocks and the journey

slowed down further. We were steadily climbing north and I could see the sun going down

towards the peaks of the mountains. It won’t be long before the sun reaches the peak and

drop down plunging the valley into utter darkness. We had already reached the start of the

glacier and there was snow everywhere and the pathe was covered with snow masking the

stones underneath. I tried to push the pace up a bit with words of encouragement as well as

threats. Just as I was losing hope, the path cleared up a little and we broke into a gentle

canter. I could see the strain on the horses. They were breathing faster with nostrils flaring

up with every step. I could feel the effect of altitude as well. I still remembered what had

happened to the soldier who came with us during the last trip with the Master. That was the

first time I had seen the ‘curse of the Himalayas.’ We had been slightly slower in starting

from the village and were rushing up the mountain at a clip, when first he started to cough

and started to complain of sickness. Our Master was in the front and had not seen him.

Within minutes, the soldier had gone blind and panicked with disastrous consequences. He

began coughing violently and started to rant incoherently at the top of his voice. Before

anyone could turn stop him he must have kneed the horse which reared up dropping the

soldier off the side of the mountain several hundred yards down. It took a platoon of

Gandhari soldiers the whole of next day to find his body at the bottom of the gorge. Since

that episode, all of us had to ride in pairs up any mountain. Our Master had spent some time

with the soldiers explaining the symptoms of the sickness and warning signs and what to do

in the event of the sickness striking anyone. The treatment was so simple. All one had to do

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was go down the mountain as quickly as possible. The Gandharis who lived on these

mountains knew the curse very well. I kept looking back at others to make sure no one was

showing any signs of the curse.

As the sun went down, we had reached a wall of rock with a trail scooped out of it by ibex,

through which we got easily enough. As we came out of the trail, we found ourselves in a

vast box with three sides, shut in under the west wall of the mountain towering above us on

the left. It was a dark fearsome place at this hour, full of swirling mist and black rock

underfoot in which were pools of water covered with ice. The place ws littered with

fragments of rock that had only fallen quite recently. As we got off the horses and moved

gingerly around, other small pieces came whistling down, none of them larger than a marble

but heavy and quite lethal. It was quite dark and could not see much of the place. No one

was saying anything as we were all very tired. I had no way of knowing for sure where we

were. If we had reached the Alinas’ rock, there should be a cave nearby. It took me a while

before I could make out the cave we were going to stay that night. Astravid insisted to go

into the cave first to make sure there were no dangerous animals resting in the cave. We rode

into the cave as it was quite large and there was enough place for our horses as well inside.

The temperature had dropped as the sun went down and we were all shivering despite the

effort of climbing. We had our skins and woollens with leather boots and caps. It still was

very cold.

It was just as well that we had collected dried wood on the way up. There was no way of

looking for wood in the darkness and cold. The two soldiers who had accompanied us were

very good with their It was not long before a roaring fire was warming us. Pindara set about

warming a brass vessel full of water. He had brought the vessel tied to the back of his horse.

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He got busy preparing a decoction using the leaves he had in his satchel and jaggery cubes.

We took out food from our satchels and it tasted absolutely delicious with the warm

decoction Pindara had made. We settled well back at the end of the cave which was well

protected from the chilly winds of the mountain. It was decided that we will take in turns to

keep an eye on the fire and make sure it does not go out throughout the night. Astravid had

the early morning watch and it was his duty to wake everyone up an hour before the sunrise.

We were all ready on our horses as the dawn broke over the eastern range of mountains. I

was greatly relived to see the huge Alinas’ rock not very far from the cave opening. From

what I could remember, we had to stand to the left of the rock facing the valley when the sun

came up to see the path. We could make out the valley in front of us and silhouette of the

mountains on the other side. But we could not see any sign of a path anywhere. I could see

the sky change colour from dark velvet to deep orange and yellow before the sun came up

over the lip of the mountain blinding us with brilliance. It took us a few minutes to get

adjusted to the bright sunlight when we saw a narrow winding path on the side of the

mountain which went downwards for a while before climbing back on to the other side of the

valley. The north face of the valley was hidden by a trick of light during most of the day and

it looked as if the path was cut off half way down the western face of the valley. Astravid

lead the way down the side of mountain and we were on the other side of the valley by the

time the sun came up over our heads.

The images Sage Shunahotra had instilled in my mind took me to a large clearing below the

top of the mountain on the western wall of the valley. We had reached the top well before

sun set. We were in an impressive and beautiful place on a rocky plateau. It looked like wild

bushes had taken over the whole area and we could barely see the ground. There was no lake

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and there certainly was no field of Soma plants. I could not remember seeing this at all. I

started to wonder if we had missed our way and ended up in the wrong place. I stopped at the

end of the clearing where the mountain rose steeply up into the sky and I could clearly see the

peak of the mountain now.

There was an ibex standing near a stunted tree looking lost. I got off the horse and walked

towards it. It did not run away and appeared to keep staring at me. I stroked its neck

wondering at the strange behaviour of the animal. I pulled some leaves off the tree and

offered it to the deer. Suddenly there was a deep voice;

“Don’t do that Master Upaas. Please don’t feed those leaves. They are poisonous.”

I turned around to see a scraggy looking man of indeterminate age standing there with a

kamandalu and a wooden shaft in his hand. He had a great flowing white beard and the thick

moustache covered his mouth completely. I could not see his lips move under all that facial

hair. The deep lines on his face made him look like a gnarled old tree. I recognised him

immediately, bowed my head down with folded hands and paid my obeisance to him;

“Namaste, great Alinas. I bring greetings from Sage Shunahotra and my Master Ashwin.”

“How is my friend Ashwin and the Sage? I see your Master has not come with you. Is he

keeping well?” Alinas said.

“Yes sir. Everyone in Harappa are well. We have had some problems and running out of

Soma.” I went on to describe the Magus’ yajna and the ravine. He listened intently and

nodded his head.

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“I gathered something was afoot when there were changes in the Prana. There are forces out

there who will want to take advantage of the situation. I have never known Bharata to be

more vulnerable than now. Harappa holds the frontier for the country and this acute shortage

of soma is not good. We have to be extra vigilant and get the stocks of Soma back in strength

as soon as possible” Alinas was quite intense and his long white beard bobbed up and down

furiously while he talked. By now the others had joined me and all of them bowed their

heads and paid obeisance to the great Yaksha with folded hands.

“I don’t think you can afford to waste any more time now. I will get our Gandharis to help

you collect the soma. There is plenty of prepared Soma extracts which you can take with you

now” he said.

“But great Alinas, the entire soma field appears to be overgrown with weeds now. I cannot

see any soma plants in the field. I cannot even see the lake” I said perplexed.

He smiled and said; “Look behind you now Upaas.”

All of us turned around to see an astonishing sight. We were actually standing on the banks

of the lake Sharyanavat. The field of what looked like weedy bushes had turned into a

beautiful field of soma surfeit with beautiful yellow flowers at the far end of the lake. We

were in a beautiful situation. The whole plateau was covered with a thick carpet of mauve

primulas. There were countless thousands of them, delicate flowers on thick green stems.

Before us was the brilliant green lake, several acres wide and in the shallows and in the

streams that spilled ovber from it the Soma grew in clumps and perfect circles. The lake

water came from the glacier in a small stream which we could not see before. The glacier

rolled down towards us from the east like a tidal wave, stopping short at the far end of the

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lake in a confusion of moraine rocks thrown up by its own movement, like gigantic shingle

thrown up by the sea. There were a few Gandharis busy plucking well chosen succulent stalk

from the soma plants and dropping them into the baskets on their backs. They were tall and

very fair with striking features and no facial hair. Their jet black hair tied in a loop at the top

with long curly locks dropping on their cheeks. It looked as if they had not noticed our

arrival and too busy with what they were doing. The snow on the ground was at least two

feet deep and came up to our knees.

“How did this happen? Is this some kind of magic?” It was the first time Ubhaya had spoken

and we could see that he was quite shaken by the vision “it was a field of weeds just now and

we rode through it. It must be a mirage.”

“Mirages happen in desert Master Ubhaya. Your eyes see what your brain tells you. There is

no magic or sorcery here. This is as real as you and I” Alinas replied.

“Where did the Gandharis come from? I don’t trust them. They are sorcerers. They were

not there before” Ubhaya could not be pacified.

“I assure you Gandharis have been there all the time. It is their duty to remain invisible to the

eyes of strangers. They are the real guardians of the fields of soma. I am only a custodian”

Alinas smiled as he replied “come, I will show you where they prepare the extract.”

Ubhaya was still flustered and was not convinced at Alinas’ reassurances. We followed

Alinas around the banks of the lake towards the far end of the lake against the mountain to

what in the distance appeared to be just a large rock covered in ice. As we watched, he

walked into the stone and disappeared. Only when we came closer we could see what

happened. The large rock we saw was in fact covering an opening behind it and the rock at

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the back appeared to merge so well with that in front, that it looked as one. As we walked

through the opening in the rock, we could see Alinas walking ahead of us into a very large

cavern with high ceiling. There were a number of Gandharis busy with circular stone

presses. The stalk of the soma plant was being stripped off the leaves and fed into the

grinding stone presses. Each of the presses was turned by a large bull. A reddish liquid was

dripping from a brass container at the top of the press into the centre. Dark green syrup

poured out of a spout in the bottom stone. One of the Gandharis was collecting the green

syrup in a brass vessel and spreading it over a very shallow brass cauldron in the far end of

the cavern. There was fire burning underneath with very little smoke.

It was a veritable hub of activity. There was something odd about the whole set up. There

was no noise. Even the stone grinders did not make any noise. It was as if the sound has

been taken out of the cavern and absorbed into the walls.

“This is where the soma extract is prepared. It is not practical to carry the soma plant

everywhere. To get a spoonful of the extract, we have to grind several plants. That would

mean carrying several cartloads of soma plants for just one yajna” Alinas was trying to

explain to Ubhaya and others. “The stalk of the plant has to be exactly right – not too young

and not too old. The grinding stones are made from granite rocks of Mount Mujavant. The

shape and size of the stones is as stipulated in the scriptures. There are special ingredients

added to get that red solution. Those ingredients are secret and known only to a chosen few.

The heat to dry the soma extract has to be just right. If it is not dry enough or if it is burnt,

the extract is spoiled and useless.”

I had seen it all before. It was still fascinating to see the amazing production and the hub of

activity in dead silence. It was impressive as well as slightly frightening. Ubhaya would not

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take his eyes off the Gandharis with suspicion and kept fidgeting all the time. He finally said

to Alinas, “How are we going to carry this down the mountain? There are bandits in the

mountains.”

“I would be surprised if there were any bandits on this mountain Master Ubhaya. You need

protection only from the wild animals on this mountain. I see that you are well armed and

supported by guards for that” he said looking at our bows and quivers on the back of the

horses, “Anyway, each one of you will get two satchels and one of them will have the soma

extract and the other some harmless powder. Only the sages can make out which one is the

true soma. If you get attacked, I suggest you give them the powder. I would be very

surprised if you are attacked on this mountain Master Ubhaya. The whole of this mountain is

guarded by fiercely loyal Gandharis. No one can get on to the path from the village without

them knowing about it. They have been following and protecting you all the way up the

mountain path since you left the village.”

The next couple of hours were spent on loading our horses with satchels of soma extract and

dummy powder. The Gandharis worked silently with a smile on their faces throughout.

They appear to enjoy what they were doing. Once the loading was done, they disappeared as

quietly as they had come into the forest.

“It is getting dark now and you need to be under shelter for the night. The cooks have

prepared a sumptuous meal for you and there is warm shelter at the back of the cavern where

you can sleep tonight” Alinas said.

We were thankful for the warm food and drink made out of soma plant that night which put

all of us in high spirits. It was only Ubhaya who could not be brought out of his sullen mood.

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He still could not trust Gandharis and said to no one in particular in a hushed voice, “It is all

very well eating and drinking. When the darkness falls we will have all of our throats cut. I

know for a fact that they are cannibals. When the darkness falls, they turn from beautiful

people to demons and asuras and eat people.”

Charming fellow, I thought. I wonder what made him hate the Gandharis so much. I tried to

calm him down; “There is nothing to worry about, Ubhaya. Astravid is here with his arms

and we have Alinas himself who has promised to protect us. I have been here before and

spent the night in the same cavern safely with the Master.”

He still was not convinced “Maybe because of our Master they did not eat you.”

I was getting irritated by this time. “Enough of this nonsense. Be thankful that they have

helped us and protected us so far. I don’t want to hear anymore of this nonsense about

demons and asuras. You are letting your imagination run wild.”

That appeared to shut him up. Astravid and Pindara looked at each other and did not say

anything. All of us found a suitable place inside the back of the cavern where it was warm

and comfortable to sleep. The sumptuous meal the Gandharis had served along with the

drink put us to sleep quite quickly. Even Ubhaya who was so frightened was snoring away

soon to the amusement of Pindara.

“He snorts like my bull.”

The morning was hazy with a thick fog covering the mountain and we could not see the path.

We had to wait for a while before the sun cleared the path for us. It was time to say good bye

to Alinas. When we came out of the cavern, there was no sign of any of the Gandharis in the

field.

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Alinas called me over to the side and said, “Upaas, there are elements who will try to stop

you from reaching Harappa. You need to be extra vigilant once you leave Mujavant. The

Gandharis can only protect you while you are on the mountain. I have reasons to believe that

there are moves, as we speak, of attacking Harappa. These same people will try to stop you

to get hold of the soma extract you are carrying.”

He bent down and picked up another satchel from the ground and said, “I want you to tie this

satchel to the side of your horse. This has fresh soma stalks which are probably more

powerful than the extract you have for the Yajna. Under no circumstance should this fall into

the hands of the enemy whoever they are. I don’t need to tell you to keep the news about the

impending attack to yourself. We don’t want to start a panic now.”

Anilas was not smiling when he said that. Ubhaya had been looking at us intently and

wondering what we were talking about. Fortunately for me he could not lip read or read

anyone’s mind. Astravid was busy getting the horses ready for the trip down the mountain.

Pindara was making sure we had some food for the journey down. He always thought about

the stomach first.

I turned around to say thank you and good bye to Alinas. There was no one to be seen. He

had disappeared from the spot where he stood only a moment ago. The field of soma plants

and the lake Sharyanavat had disappeared as well to be replaced by the weed covered field

we had seen at the start the day before. It was as if we had just woken up from a dream. I

looked around me and everyone else appears to have felt the same. There was a startled

expression on everyone’s faces. But it could not have been a dream. The satchels on the

backs of our horses and the special satchel, Alinas had given me was tied around Shankara’s

neck. Pindara’s horse was weighed down by food.

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“What happened?’ Astravid was the first one to wake up from the shock and say something.

I had seen this happen every time I had visited Mujavant. The first time was a shock and

even now it was quite disconcerting to see a whole scene change in front of one’s eyes.

‘Alinas and his Gandharis do their job of protecting this sacred place best by staying

invisible” I said “Let us get going now. We have to reach the village before nightfall. Rishi

Vatula will be waiting for us.”

“The sooner we get off this mountain the better. It gives me the creeps.” Ubhaya continued

his moan. The trek down the mountain was much faster than climbing, but more trickier.

There were several places where our horses nearly lost their footing over loose rocks on the

narrow ledge along the mountain sides. We did not have to stop on the way and reached the

village without any serious incident well before nightfall. Rishi Vatula was glad to see us

return without any casualties. His men helped us unload our horses. Pindara went to check

on his bulls and the cart. I went to the Rishi’s hut to discuss the events of the previous couple

of days.

“We will start early in the morning tomorrow soon after sunrise, Rishi Vatula. I would like

to be back in Harappa within next three days. I have to take a message to Sage Shunahotra as

soon as possible” I said. The Rishi smiled and said,

“The great sage already knows, Upaas. Alinas has sent the message to me and Sage

Shunahotra. It is your duty now to make sure the Soma reaches Harappa safely and quickly.

You will have to be extra vigilant now on your return trip. You have to have faith in yourself

and your team. I cannot help you once you leave the village.”

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“Thank you for your help Rishi Vatula. We will be careful and I will make sure the supplies

reach Harappa safely. But, tell me if you can as to what kind of trouble should we be

expecting? Alinas was not very clear on that” I asked.

“We don’t really know. Since the attempted Gomedha by the Magus, there has been changes

in the Prana that cannot b explained. Our Sages are working on it as we speak and until the

stability is attained, we are vulnerable” the Rishi replied “now you should go and rest. You

need a good night’s sleep if you want to keep your faculties sharp for the journey tomorrow.”

I thanked him again and went back to the hut we were resting in. Ubhaya was already asleep

and the two marksmen were getting ready to sleep. There was no sign of Pindara yet. I

looked at Astravid with a question.

“You know Pindara. I am sure he is raiding the kitchen to get as much food as possible for

the trip back home. I would not worry about him” Astravid replied. It was quite late by the

time Pindara came into the hut and went to sleep.

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The Glorious Suvastu valley

We were woken up the next morning by Pindara rushing into the hut with, “Someone has

been at my cart. There are two baskets missing from the cart.”

“Calm down Pindara. Are you sure? Have you checked the cart properly? It is still dark out

there” I said. It was a superfluous question and said with no conviction. I had known

Pindara since I was a child. He was always thorough in his work and never missed anything.

“Yes Master Upaas. I have checked twice and two baskets are missing which were there last

night when we came back. It has gone missing through the night.’

‘Let us go and check what is missing.’

Everyone had woken up due to the commotion and Astarvid came with us to check the cart

and the horses. It was quite clear that two of the baskets which had Kantalika and some roots

were missing. Luckily we had decided to keep the satchels with soma with us in the hut. We

still could not go back without Kantalika which was crucial for lots of treatments.

“This is going to cause a delay. We have to go back into the forest and collect more of these”

I said.

“Master Upaas, you will have to take the horses from the Gurukul. I will get Suvikranta to

come with you. I have to get the horses ready for the trip” Astravid said.

“That is fine. I will ask Rishi Vatula for horse for us. We have to hurry.”

Rishi Vatula was quite shocked that such a thing had happened in the Gurukul.

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“It has never happened before. I cannot explain this. There appears to be some kind of

barrier on whoever has done this deed. I see the hand of the Magus in this” the Rishi replied

“I am not very happy about this. I will ask Alinas to send some of his Gandharis to

accompany you back home. They will be here by the time you come back from the forest.”

There was a look of concern on his face I had not seen before. On returning to our hut, I was

surprised to see Ubhaya waking up just then. How could he sleep through all that

commotion? I had to bring him up to speed with the information about the robbery and the

need for a trip into the forest. He was not very happy.

“Why do I have to come to the forest again? I have done my bit of digging the roots for you.

I will wait for you here” he said.

“It will take longer for me to collect all the roots and plants that are missing. I am sorry, but

this is unexpected and it will be quicker if you help.”

“It was your responsibility to keep the supplies safe and you did not do the job properly. I

don’t see why I should do all the work” Ubhaya was adamant. I was by now getting

irritated.

“You are being insolent now. Get yourself freshened up and I will expect to see you outside

by the time Suvikranta and I are ready with our horses. I will get you a horse ready as well” I

said. He went out with a sullen look on his face. He was clearly not happy at the run of

events. I will have to have words with him about working practices, if he wants to continue

to be a physician. It is about time that he realises that the work of a physician never ends.

Suvikranta and I brought three horses to the front of our hut fully ready to go to the forest and

Ubhaya was still inside the hut. It was getting exasperating. He appeared to be doing his best

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to delay the trip into the forest. Astravid had insisted that we take our bows and quiver full of

arrows into the forest.

“Ubhaya, it is time for us to go now. Please come out now” I said. Ubhaya came out

reluctantly and we set off into the forest at a gallop. There was no time to lose. We were

now familiar with the forest. Within no time we had our satchels full of the flowers and

leaves that we needed. There was still some of the roots to be dug up from the Kantalika

plant. I saw a large plant just off the path with plenty of roots exposed.

“There is a large plant with a lot of roots just over there. That plant can give us all the roots

we want” I said to Ubhaya and got off my horse letting the reins trail. I took the sickle from

the back of the horse and cleared a path across to the plant. Ubhaya did not appear to move.

I decided to go it alone. It should not take too long to dig out some roots on my own.

Suvikranta had got off his horse as well and standing next to his horse. As he bent down to

pick up the rein of my horse, it happened. I had my head down concentrating on digging out

the side root without damaging the main root. There was a sound of metal rushing through

the air and a thudding noise. I looked up to see that Suvikranta was on the ground and quite

still. Ubhaya had taken off galloping away on his horse in the opposite direction. I rushed up

to my horse and put my hands on the bow when a deep resonant voice said in a heavily

accented sanskrit,

“I would not do that if I were you, Master Upaas. There are twelve arrows pointed at your

heart right now.”

I turned around to see that I was surrounded by twelve horsemen with their bows drawn and

arrows pointing at me. I looked down at Suvikranta who was lying still on the ground.

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“Will you at least let me help my friend?” I said.

“There is no need. He is only unconscious and a small wound on the shoulder. Your friend

who ran away will bring help by the time he regains consciousness” the tall man with a short

cropped beard and no moustache said. He appeared to be the leader of the group. The

horsemen were dressed as Avestan soldiers with shields and insignia of an Avestan regiment.

They were riding tall powerful Elaamite horses with typical Sistani saddles. They were fully

armed with bows and a full quiver of arrows and a long brass headed spear strapped to the

side of their horses. The horses were also carrying leather satchels on their backs. It looked

like an advanced scout party of Avestan army. It suddenly occurred to me that they knew my

name.

“You have me at a disadvantage sir. You seem to know who I am, but I don’t know who you

are” I said looking at their leader. The soldiers still had their arrows pointed at me. I stepped

away from my horse as I spoke. The soldiers brought their bows down and sheathed their

arrows. I did not take my eyes off the leader.

“My apologies. I am forgetting my manners. I am Apam Napat of the Sistan Regiment. I

am named after our benevolent God. We know who you are and why you are here. We are

after the same thing. We know you have just come down the mount Mujavant carrying a

good supply of Haoma or as you call it, the Soma. We tried to negotiate with Alinas for a

supply with no success. We had difficulty finding him or the sacred lake’ he said ‘so, if you

hand over the supply of the Soma extract, we will be on our way.”

“I am afraid I don’t have any Soma with me. We did not get any this time. We could not

find Alinas either” I was trying to think fast. I had hoped the Gandhari soldiers had arrived at

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the Gurukul in case the Avestans tried to attack the Gurukul. I had to keep the soma out of

their hands at all costs.

“Come now, Master Upaas. You don’t expect us to believe that. We know that you came

down the mountain last night carrying satchels full of soma. It must be the sacred mountain,

Mujavant and the lake Sharyanavat must be on top of the mountain somewhere. Tell us

where you have hidden the soma and we will let you go back to Harappa.”

“I tell you we did not bring any soma down the mountain as we could not find Alinas or the

lake Sharyanavat.”

This went on for a while. The leader suddenly decided to stop.

“You leave us no option but to take you with us. I suggest you get on your horse and let us

start back” he said.

I looked down at Suvikranta. He was still very quiet. I could see he was breathing with the

arrow on the shoulder moving with his chest. “At least let me get the arrow out of his

shoulder and apply some poultice” I said.

It did not take me long to get the arrow out of his shoulder, clean the wound and apply a

poultice. Suvikranta appeared to sleep through the entire process. I was happy to see that he

was breathing regularly and the wound did not look too bad. They must have used a poppy

extract tipped arrow without any arsenic. Once I was happy that he was comfortable, I

climbed the horse. It was good that we had left our horses in the Gurukul with Astravid.

Ubhaya would get back to the Gurukul and the soma would be safe.

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The leader, Apam Napat took up the lead behind two of his soldiers with me next to him.

The soldiers were disciplined and did things without being ordered.

“Don’t even think about escaping Master Upaas. My soldiers are expert marksmen. They

can shoot down a fly at thirty paces while riding a horse” Apam said looking at me. They

had taken my bow and the quiver full of arrows along with my spear. “It is going to be cold

on the way. I hope you have your skins and woollens.”

“I think you are making a mistake by taking me with you. I am only a junior physician in the

hospital. I will not be of much use to you” I said.

“Let me be the judge of my mistakes. You are more useful to us than you think. We have a

long way to go, let us not waste any more time.”

I was filled with mixed feelings as we started the journey with the Avestan soldiers. I was

apprehensive about the unknown fate at the end of the journey, I was angry that I got myself

caught, sad that the soldier was injured and distressed at the thought of being away from

Lopa. A thought occurred to me that I may not see her again. It just spurred me on to think

of a way of escaping from this predicament. At the moment, I could not think of any way of

escaping. I was surrounded by expert marksmen who are said to be able to shoot down a fly

at thirty paces riding horseback and I had no reason to doubt Apam’s word. I had seen their

work slightly when they had shot down Suvikranta with such accuracy that it had disabled

him exactly the way they wanted. I was not going to test their skill without a very good

reason. My skill at telepathy was not good enough to contact anyone in Harappa yet. I so

desperately wanted to tell Lopa what had happened and that I miss her. I again looked at the

soldiers around me and my surroundings looking for a way out. I was back to square one. I

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took a deep breath and thought about the hymn Sage Shunahotra had taught me at my

initiation. The gist of it was that, when things look desperate, stop thinking about it and

nothing in life is as bad as it looks at first sight. I better concentrate on my riding as it was

getting trickier. I will not be of any help to anyone if I had an accident.

First thing I noticed was that we were climbing and going north. The path became narrower

and we were again on a ledge with snow and ice and loose rocks. On my right was a

mountain covered in ice and snow and on my left a deep chasm disappearing into a dark

gloom where sunlight could not get in. Often there were rock slides which threw large rocks

down the chasm and they appeared to drop forever without making any noise. The journey

was done in silence apart from an occasional swearing by the soldier, when one of the horses

stumbled and missed the footing on the icy path with loose smooth rocks.

The sun went down the western mountains quite suddenly, plunging the eastern slopes and

our path in darkness. It was pitch black with visibility so poor that we could not see the front

of our horses. The lead soldier raised his right hand and stopped. All of them got off their

horses and withdrew long torches from the side satchels of the horses. The soldier who had

stopped the column took out some powder and set it down on a dry rock and struck a flint

against it as another soldier held a bitumen and oil soaked end of his torch near the powder. I

was impressed at the way they lit all the torches within no time. I must get hold of that

powder somehow. I am sure our scientists with Audiyogica will figure out the content of the

powder. It would be extremely useful for us.

It was not long afterwards the lead soldier again raised his right hand and stopped the

column. We had reached a plateau on top of the mountain we were climbing most of that

day. I knew we had reached the top because I could see millions of stars above me. There

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was a crescent moon climbing out of a mountain ridge on the east and south. I could make

out the bright Venus just above the horizon on the east ahead of the Moon. The red Mars was

directly above me which seemed to sit on top of the Orion belt. The Polaris star was faint in

the distance towards the north and at the level of northern horizon.

There was a cluster of large rocks in a dip away from the lip of the mountain. As we neared

the cluster, I could make out an opening in the cluster of rocks. All the soldiers dismounted

their horses and I was asked to do the same. The column moved in through the opening into

a large cave within the cluster of rocks. The torches lit the inside of the cave to show that

they or someone had been there before. There was some rubble in the middle with half burnt

pieces of dry wood, and a lot of ash. As I looked around in the bright light of dozen torches, I

could make out that the cave had been in use for a while. There were skins and woollens

neatly folded and kept in a corner. There was a small alcove which appeared to have been

used as stores. It had satchels filled with bread, fruits and nuts. There was even a jar with

honey. There was a pile of logs in the other corner. They appeared to have spent some time

making this cave a home.

It was not long before fresh logs were piled on the dead fireplace and the roaring fire was

warming the cave. The red and yellow flames lit up the whole cave with reddish yellow glow

making the whole scene surreal. Two of the men got themselves busy with cooking. They

dug out some meat stored in the icy floor in the back of the cave and roasted it over the fire.

The bread was dry heated over coal and the honey was allowed to melt and drip over the hot

bread. They must have done this scene several times over before and a supper fit for a king

was ready in no time. They even had a jug of wine in one of the leather satchels with a

corked mouth.

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“It is mountain goat meat. I do believe Meluhhans do eat meat. I recommend the mountain

goat meat. It is tough, but very tasty, full of flavour. Our man, Spentas is an excellent cook.

We think his cooking is better than his archery” Apam said looking at me with a twinkle in

his eye. Everyone laughed at the joke. The man at the butt of joke joined in. There appeared

to be a good camaraderie among the soldiers with no class distinctions. I was not bound or

shackled while we were in the cave.

“Yes. We do eat meat. Thank you” I said.

After the food, Apam again looked at me directly in the eyes and said, “I don’t have to tell

you again not to try to escape. There will be two guards through the night and you are in the

middle of nowhere. I have placed the guards more for our protection from wild animals than

to stop you from escaping. Even if you do manage to get out of the cave, it is unlikely that

you will go further than couple of hundred yards. If you somehow manage to keep yourself

from falling off the icy mountain, this mountain is full of mountain lions, jackals and white

bears. The mountain is treacherous at night in more ways than one. Then there are the

notorious the mountain bandits.”

I knew very well the risks of a man on foot on his own at night on a Himalayan mountain. I

will have to wait till we are off the mountains. If they are taking me across to Sistan, we will

have to climb down off the mountain anyway into the Suvastu valley. I was quite familiar

with the Suvastu valley and the five rivers that flow through it. I had been through the valley

several times in the past with the Master, collecting flowers which grow only on the lower

slopes of the Himalayan mountains in the valley.

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I was right about going down into the Suvastu valley. The only problem was that we were

going down, not westwards, but towards the north and west, away from the Bharata borders.

The mountain range at that level was very long and had several twists and turns.

The vista around me as we climbed down the mountain towards the valley floor was

outstanding. We had turned west as we reached the bottom slopes of the valley walls. We

reached the river Asikni (Chenab) by the end of the day. The river at that point was still quite

small, but filled with molten ice from the Himalayas. It had cut a deep gorge through the

reddish mountain rock. The steep sides of the gorge appeared to go on for long distances in

both directions. I was curious to see how they were going to cross this fast flowing river with

no beaches anywhere. We turned south for a while and reached a platform in the rock

downstream with some ropes dangling across the river to the opposite side. There was a

curious contraption fixed to the floor near the edge of the gorge which hung over the edge of

the gorge wall. There was a brass mechanism made up of five pulleys. Heavy hemp rope

passed through the pulleys and disappeared into the distance on the opposite side slightly

downstream. One end of the rope was tied down to a ring cut out of the rocky side of the

gorge. Two men undid the knot from the ring and ten men started to pull at the end of the

rope. The pulleys were moving smoothly with very little noise and soon a huge wooden raft

came into view over the river. When the raft reached almost the edge of the gorge, it stopped

moving sideways and rose up in the air. When it reached the level of the platform, two men

threw anchors across and pulled the raft close to the edge and fastened it to two more rings

cut in the rocky walls of the gorge. All the horses were loaded on to the raft and the men

climbed on. Four of the men got hold of ropes which were dangling from the far edge of the

raft and pulled them taught. As the raft was untied from the gorge it started to swing

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dangerously in mid air. It took brute strength to stop the raft from hitting the rocky sides of

the gorge. Couple of more men joined in and soon the raft was steadied and lowered down to

the river. The current was rapid, but the way the pulley system was designed made moving

across the river quite easy. Once we reached the opposite bank, the mechanism was similar

to the eastern bank and the raft was lifted up to the level of the gorge and fastened. The

horses and the riders walked over to the bank to be met by a few more Avestan soldiers.

The sun was going down by this time and Apam decided to camp for the night. We were still

quite high up in the mountain range and it was still very cold. There was not much snow, but

still plenty of ice on the ground. There was yet another shelter very similar to the one at the

top of the mountain. The men went through the same ritual again to start a fire and soon had

us cosy and warm.

The next morning we travelled west and slightly north, following what appeared to be a

disused path to reach the banks of river Vitasta (Jhelum). We were now in the northern

boderdlands which was sparsely populated, mainly by the roaming Gandhari groups and

nomadic Avestans. We were unlikely to meet any of them as they tend to keep away from

mixing with anyone, particularly strangers. These roaming Gandharis had a reputation of

being sorcerers and often misunderstood. Crossing the Vitasta was much more simpler than

Askini. The river was slightly wider, but had sandy banks with large trees growing out of the

banks of the river. There was a similar, but much simpler system of pulleys and a large raft

which carried us across in no time. The camp this time was around much more pleasant

surroundings and not as cold as before. The soldiers were aware that this would be my

chance of an escape and were much more vigilant than before. There was a guard through

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the night and my ankles were tied to a large tree and the guards took in turn to stay awake

through the night.

We headed south and west in the morning along the floor of the Suvastu valley. The valley

here was lush green, mainly with grass and shrubs, interspersed with tall trees in clumps. The

rolling hills spread as far as the eye could see. The vast spread of land with undulating dwarf

hills made it look like a crumpled up green quilt. The background of tall Himalayan

mountains with snow caps gave the valley an impression of a lovely painting. We made good

ground to reach the banks of Sindhu (Indus) well before nightfall. The river here was in full

flow and quite wide. We crossed the river using three large, rather flat river barges which

were hidden in the thick undergrowth along the banks of the river. The camp was set up on

the west bank of the river. That night we had visitors to the camp. They did not look like

soldiers. As they crossed the fire in the centre of the camp to greet Apam, I could see they

were not Avestans either. They looked rather unkempt with long dark beard and moustache

nearly covering the entire face. Apam spoke to them in hushed tones and he took them to the

edge of the camp. They were huddled together for a while and soon there were a lot of

animated gesticulations and raised voices. We could clearly hear them over the roar of the

nearby Sindhu. I could not understand what they were saying as I could not recognise the

language. It sounded very much like the Dasyu language of Bhattora. How I wished Lopa

was there to translate what they were saying.

The two strangers left soon and disappeared into the forest. Apam returned looking distinctly

unhappy. He signalled to his soldiers and they all went into a huddle at the far side of the

camp away from earshot leaving just one man to guard me. By now, I had already been tied

to the nearest tree and there was no way of escape. Apam was explaining something to the

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soldiers and pointing his finger at me on several occasions. The men kept looking at me now

and then as well. Whatever news the strangers had brought them, was not very good as none

of them looked very happy afterwards.

The next day I was woken up quite early and all the men were ready to ride before the

sunrise. We rode hard for most of the day westwards. We were now climbing the Pariyatra

mountains (Hindu Kush mountains) rather quickly I thought. The change of scenery was

initially very subtle, from lush green valley to dry brown dusty surface. Soon, it was dry, hot

and parched dry land with cracks on the hard surface. There was hardly any greenery to see

anywhere. There were no trees, there was no vegetation and, therefore, no shade; the earth

was red and burning hot and the dust swirled around us. The scenery was much more rugged

and harsh. We were travelling much faster now, as the horses were sure of the ground and

the path allowed for gallop every now and then. Somewhere along the line we must have

crossed the border into Sistan. We were going through mountainous area with large rocky

hills and boulders. The men knew the circuitous path quite well and negotiated them without

any problems. The sun filled the sky like a great brass shield and was beating down on us.

The dust that lifted with every hoof beat was choking our throats. We covered our faces

with cotton wraps.

It suddenly appeared out of nowhere. As we turned yet another corner over a large rock

formation, the huge mud brick fort of Haozdar loomed up. I had heard of it from travellers as

a great city with an impressive fort, big market, rich in culture and an affluent border town. It

was as if phoenix rising out of dry waste land. The fort walls were huge with massive doors

in the front. The guards opened the huge doors of the fort to let us in. It was a depressing

sight. The main street was lined with dilapidated houses, most of which had fallen down

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completely. The pale yellow mud bricks of the walls were crumbling in several places.

There were hardly any traders in the market and the stalls were practically empty. People

were walking around with heads bowed in defeat. There was an air of desolation in the place.

We were heading towards a large official looking building. I was asked to get down from my

horse near the door and the reins were taken by a tall man who looked emaciated. I could see

a sense of desperation in his eyes as he took the reins from my hand. Suddenly there was

commotion in the street. A little boy was being chased by two fully grown men screaming

abuse at him. He tripped on a stone slab right in front of me and fell down. As he fell the

bread he was clutching in his hand was thrown forward and fell right at my feet. The two

men pounced on him and started to beat him. The Avestan soldiers accompanying me did not

appear to notice anything. I picked up the bread and raised my hand shouting in broken

Avestan,

“Stop beating that boy. It is only some bread.”

Apam turned around and shouted at the men who were busy beating the little boy. They did

not stop. He went across and kicked one of the men hard and two of the soldiers stopped the

men and pulled them up to face Apam.

“You must be ashamed of yourselves beating a little boy. Pick someone your own size. If I

see you doing this again, it will be the dungeons for you next time.”

“But he has stolen bread from our stall. It is all very well for you to use your muscle against

us people. You don’t have to worry about food or water. It is time the King did something

for the poor people.”

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“How dare you question the King. Our great King has plans for the whole country. Gods are

displeased because of such behaviour and we are being punished for it. Now be off with you.

Don’t let me see anything like this happen again” Apam reprimanded the elder of the two

men and let them go. The little boy brushed off the dust and grabbed the bread from my hand

and ran away. The look of terror on his face was there for everyone to see. Apam turned to

me and said, “Let us go inside. Our officers will have lots of questions for you.”

It was very dark inside the building, but cool. The contrast between the glare of sunlight

outside to the darkness inside was stark and temporarily blinded us. It took me a moment to

get adjusted to the darkness. I was taken down a long corridor to a room which had even less

light than the corridor. There were two men standing against a small window at the far end

of the room. There was no furniture apart from a wooden stool in the middle of the room. I

was asked to sit on the stool as Apam greeted the two men in the room.

“This is Master Upaas from Harappa who was on an errand to collect soma extract from the

Mount Mujavant. He has not been very forthcoming with whereabouts of the soma or the

lake. He is the son of Master Kapila, who sits in the council of elders in Harappa. He has

direct access to the Council of Elders. I am sure he will be able to give you good

information. I am off to catch up with the King” Apam said and left the room.

The questioning began earnestly and went on for several hours. They were gentle at first and

became more aggressive as the interrogation went on. There was an inherent threat of

physical violence, but never any real violence. They wanted to know first about the

whereabouts of the Mount Mujavant and the Lake Sharynavat. The questioning went into the

details of our army, our defences and our weapons. I held out through the questioning

without giving anything away. I kept reciting the hymn in my mind, taught by Shunahotra to

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give me strength. By the end of the day, the two examiners looked tired and decided to stop

when they realised that questioning me was not getting them anywhere.

“We will come back for you tomorrow with our torturer and you will be sorry that you have

not answered our questions” the elder of the two said to me. He called the soldier who was

guarding outside the door to take me to the cells. I was taken along another long corridor to a

dingy little room with just one barred window overlooking an alleyway. The door was shut

behind me and I could hear the padlock turn in the door. I tried the door to see if there was

any give. The window had brass bars interspersed with leather strips. I tried pulling the

leather strips. The more I pulled, harder it became. After several attempts, I gave it up. I

was tired and hungry and getting increasingly desperate. The situation appeared hopeless. I

was not looking forward to the next day. I did not know how I would cope under torture.

The mind was full of several imponderables. Would I ever go back to Harappa again? Would

the Avestans take over my beloved Bharata? What would happen to my family? Would I see

my Lopa again? I tried Telepathy again without any success. I could remember the Master

telling me, ‘You must clear your mind of all thoughts. Only then can you channel all the

force into it and communicate anyone and anywhere.’ But however hard I tried, I could not

get my mind cleared.

I must have fallen asleep on the ground only to be woken up by sounds of brick falling down

into the cell. I looked at the door first and then the window. It was pitch black outside. I

could see all the leather straps had gone and someone was pulling at the brass bars of the

window. One of the bars was already down and as I looked the second one came loose and

dislodged a couple more bricks which fell outwards into the alleyway. I hoped the guards

had not heard the noise. The wall was obviously in a poor state and crumbling in the hands

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of my benefactor. If I had only pushed instead of pulled, I could have had all the bars

removed! A small head peered through the window when all the bars were removed and

looked at me. It was the same terror filled eyes that I had seen earlier in the day. He

signalled me to follow and disappeared. The window was not set very high on the wall and I

could easily squeeze myself out. I dropped out of the window quietly on to the ground.

There was no sign of the boy anywhere. He had obviously been standing on a pile of rubble

near the outside wall of the cell. As I stood up, I could see him standing with a horse at the

end of alleyway. He ran away again leaving the horse with the reins trailing. I covered my

head and face, picked up the reins of the horse and started to walk slowly in the direction we

had come that afternoon. I was trying to tread softly to make sure my leather boots were not

making any noise. I saw him again standing at the intersection staring at me. The moon was

a small crescent which gave very little light to see where I was going. A small amount of

light flickering from the windows of a couple of houses was not enough to see anything. As I

reached the intersection he ran off again to the right. I was not sure if he wanted me to follow

him or not. I knew if I kept going straight, I would reach the front gates of the fort where the

guards would stop me. I decided to follow the boy. I could just make out his silhouette

moving along the walls of the houses, several of which were crumbling to the ground. He

suddenly turned left and disappeared among the ruins of a house which had almost

completely fallen down. I followed suit gingerly finding my way between rubble and

nudging the horse to follow. Before I knew it, I was outside the walls on a slope which

appeared to disappear in the distance.

I turned to thank the boy, but there was no sign of him. I waited and looked around in the

darkness with no luck. I lead the horse down the slope and soon found myself on a path. I

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had to get off these mountains as quickly as possible. I knew I had to go east to reach our

border town of Roruka (Nausharo) where I could get some help and cross the Sindhu.

Luckily the sky was clear and I could make out the stars. I knew that the Venus was on the

eastern horizon in the early part of the night and I could make out the pole star. However, I

was not sure if it was the early half of the night or latter half. I decided to take a chance and

follow the Venus which by then was quite high up in the sky.

Riding through the night in unfamiliar territory was hairy. It became a whole lot easier once

the sun broke through at dawn. The land I was passing through was rather rugged, hilly and

completely barren. The fact that I was going downhill all the time on the Pariyatra mountains

helped the speed. I was tired and extremely hungry. I had not eaten anything apart from the

loaf of bread that boy had left with the horse, for nearly two days. There did not appear to be

any vegetation to forage for food. I had to reach the mountain town of Roruka to get any

food. It was a small town just within the borders of Bharata at the foot of the mountain pass.

The sun was on the wane by the time I saw the sleepy town. As I approached the gate, I saw

an Avestan flag over the walls. That did not look good to me. The Avestans must have

mobilised and attacked the town while I was in Haozdar. I veered off the path and decided to

find a way into the town away from the soldiers. There are always openings in such

mountain towns apart from the gates and I was right. I thought it best to enter the town when

it was dark rather than risk being caught during broad daylight. I found a cluster of trees and

a pond to the south of the town. I washed myself and drank the water which was slightly

brackish. The horse was munching away quite happily at the sparse yellow grass on the

ground. There was a tall tree between two very large rocks, where I could hide without being

detected even if someone came to the pond.

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It was the sound of cowbells which woke me up. It was getting dark as the sun was nearly

down the western horizon. I slid across the rock to see a cowherd washing his hands and

drinking from the pond. I could make out that he was a Meluhhan cowherd by his dress. I

stood up and said, “Namaste, my friend. How are you?”

He was startled by my voice and jumped up. I must have looked a frightful sight with

dishevelled, dirty and torn clothes and scraggy unkempt beard.

“Who are you? What do you want?” he said firmly holding onto his wooden staff.

“I am Upaas from Harappa. I need some help to get back to Harappa” I said.

“You are a long way from home friend. What are you doing here?”

It took me sometime to explain my presence so far away from home. I ended up with a

question of my own, “Why is there an Avestan flag over the gates of Roruka?”

“A large army of Avestan soldiers came into the town and took it over a few days ago.”

It appeared that a very large Avestan army had come over and took the town by surprise.

There was no battle or resistance from the town. Historically, we had always lived in peace

with our neighbours and there was no need for an army to man this outpost. There had never

been any attacks here in living memory. The only people who ever used this pass were the

merchants from Ariana and Elaam. A small platoon of border guards were posted in the

town, more for technical reasons than for any real protection.

“There are not many Avestan soldiers in the town right now. Our soldiers have been locked

up in the stockade. We will go into the town through the southern gate where there are no

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soldiers. There is no gate as such there and I always use that to go in and out of town” he

said “I am sure we can get you some help in the town.”

We walked into the town along with his cows without anyone stopping us. He took me to his

house where his soft spoken wife fed me with a sumptuous meal and a new set of clothes.

The cowherd went out and came back with someone by the time I finished my meal.

“This is Parthava. He will help you get across the Sindhu in the morning” he said and turning

to the Parthava “and this is Upaas I have been telling you about.”

I stood up and said “Thank you kindly for your help. It is vital that I reach Harappa before

the Avestan army does.” That was how I met Parthava. It was to be a long and fruitful

friendship. He was giant of a man by Meluhhan standards. He was built like a fighter and

appeared to have very keen eyes.

“There is no need for any worry. Their army is quite large and will take some time to cross

the river. If we leave before sunrise with fresh horses, we could reach the crossing point

slightly south of where the army would still be trying to cross before sunset. I know the

fisherman there who will help us cross the river in his boat’ Parthava replied.

“I am deeply indebted to you Parthava. Your help is greatly appreciated.”

“You are welcome. If it helps get rid of the Avestans from our land, I would do anything to

help.” He was beaming from ear to ear at the thought of helping a true blood Harappan.

With that he left, saying that I should be ready to leave before sunrise.

He was good at his words. He was at the cowherd’s house well before sunrise with two fresh

horses. He had managed to equip us with two bows and quivers full of arrows. The

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cowherd’s wife had packed some bread, honey and nuts for the journey. I thanked my hosts

for their generosity and left when it was still dark. We went out the same way we had come

into the town and rode south for a while to meet a path going east. The ride south was bumpy

and at times treacherous as we were going quite sharply down the mountain. Once we

reached the path the journey was a lot faster and we reached the western banks of the great

river before sunset. The difference is scenery was quite striking. The arid and barren

mountainous terrain gave way to lovely lush green meadows, small meandering streams,

inviting ponds and lakes, and flat rolling hills. There was plenty of greenery around with

patches of forest now and then. We did not come across any soldiers anywhere. I asked

Parthava when we had stopped for a rest, “We have not come across any signs of Avestan

soldiers on the path.”

“They would not be using this path. They had chariots and large carts with them full of

supplies. They could not have come down the mountain the way we did. They would have

to follow the path which winds down the mountain and it would have taken them at least two

days just to get off the mountain. I would be surprised if they have reached the river Sindhu

by now.”

“How big is their army?”

“I did not count, but it took a whole morning for the army to pass through our town. They

have these two wheeled chariots with two horses to pull. They look very fast. They had

several large carts filled with supplies, including large amount of wood. It is a slow moving

army. It will take them at least two more weeks before they get anywhere near Harappa.

They have to cross both Sindhu and Vitasta. If they miss the right fork after Sindhu, they will

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have to cross Asikni as well. Crossing the Asikni with this army is going to be hard in the

north where it flows through deep gorges.’

Parthava obviously had not seen the contraption they use for crossing Asikni in the

mountains. I told him about the crossing contraption I had seen.

“Well, if they had sense, they would use the southern route and miss crossing Asikni over the

high mountains altogether. Crossing Vitasta is not that hard even for an army of this size.”

The fisherman at the banks of Sindhu was mooring his boat after the day’s fishing when we

found him. He was a tall lanky individual with a very dry sense of humour. Parhava

introduced me to him and asked to be taken across the river. He smiled and turned around to

me;

“Sure, why not. I sure hope your horses are good swimmers” he said with a twinkle in his

eyes. “The current here can be quite strong. If the horses are not used to some chopping and

turning, they can easily topple the boat.”

“I would not worry about that. Both the horses have been on a boat several times and they

are used to it” Parthava replied.

“Can I ask why are you not using the ferry, up north?” he was looking intently at Parthava.

He looked at me and I nodded my head. He went on to explain who I was and the Avestan

army. At first, he would not believe the story. He could not understand why the Avestans

would attack Bharata.

“But they have always been friendly in the past. I have never heard of Avestans attacking us

in living memory. Why would they do that now?”

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“It is not for us to discuss that. But, as we speak, a large army is marching towards Harappa.

Upaas has to reach Harappa to warn them” Parthava replied.

Parthava had decided the he would accompany me all the way to Harappa. His excuse was

that ‘someone has to keep an eye on your back and stop being captured by Avestans again.’

The fisherman finally agreed to take us across the river. We climbed aboard the large flat

bottomed fishing boat with the horses. Fisherman was an expert with his boat and it did not

take us long to cross the river.

We thanked the fisherman on the eastern bank of the river and headed towards the inn not too

far away from the river. The Avestan army would have to use the same path to Harappa and

the path looked quite clear and quiet. The innkeeper was friendly and he also had not heard

anything about an Avestan attack.

“I had heard some reports of Avestans attacking travellers for stealing. But, I had never

heard of an army attacking our country. That is not good for us.”

“I would not worry about the army. They are not known to attack civilians. That would be

against the rules of warfare. We will be away from here first thing in the morning” I replied.

That seemed to calm him down to a large extent. That night was quite peaceful and it was the

first time I slept with some peace of mind. Riding through the Suvastu valley was a relief

from the barren landscape of Haozdar. There was no dust to contend with and it was warm,

but not burning. We reached the banks of Vitasta in less than two days and crossed the river

using the ferry. We were on the home stretch now with Harappa only a day’s ride away. I

felt a lot lighter and happier just thinking about the last leg of the journey. The thought of

seeing Lopa soon made the journey a lot easier. I would not stop talking about my home

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town, the City of Gold and the people of Harappa. Parthava smiled and said, “you love your

city dearly, don’t you?”

I laughed realising I had been talking continuously about Harappa since we left the inn on the

banks of river Vitasta that morning.

“I am sorry. It must be boring for you to listen about my city for so long.”

“That is fine Upaas. I do understand. You have been through a lot in the last couple of

weeks. Not many people would get kidnapped, imprisoned and escaped, and not talk about

their home. You just escaped from being tortured. I can imagine the tension you were under,

waiting for the impending torture. You keep talking about it. I feel now that I know your

city almost as well as you. I had heard of the City of Gold from travellers before, but this is

the first time I am getting a firsthand account. You please carry on” he replied. That was the

longest dialogue I had heard from Parthava. I had taken him to be the “strong silent” type.

“Thank you Parthava. Like most people, I love my home city and I miss my family and my

people.”

“And your love, Lopa’ he said laughing out loud.

‘I knew I should not have told you about Lopa. I thought you were the strong silent type.

My mistake.”

We were about half a day’s ride from Harappa, when we met the first Meluhhan soldiers.

They turned out to be a platoon of soldiers sent by Sage Shunahotra to escort us to the city.

We had seen the dust of the platoon quite far away from a height and had come off the path

and waited. I was relieved when I saw the insignia and the standard of the Harappan

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regiment. I had had enough of excitement to last for a while. Both of us stepped out from

behind the trees we were hiding onto the path. The Captain of the platoon raised his right

arm high over the head and said,

“Hail, Master Upaas. The Sage Shunahotra sends his compliments and he has sent us to

escort you back to Harappa safely.”

“Hail Captain. We are grateful for your escort. We were doing quite well” I replied.

“Can I speak to you privately Master Upaas” he said. My heart samk at these words,

dreading the worst news,

“Certainly Captain.”

We walked away from the path for a while before the captain stopped and turned around to

face me.

“Master Upaas. I have bad news. A large Avestan Army is headed this way and we expect

them to reach Harappa in less than four weeks. Your services are urgently required.” He did

look concerned. I let out a big sigh of relief. He looked surprised at the response.

“Did Ubhaya make it back? What happened to Suvikranta and Pindara and Astravid?”

“They all returned safely. Suvikranta is recovering well from his wounds. Now, if you will

excuse me, we will have to hurry and get back to Harappa” he replied.

“I have Parthava from Roruka who helped me escape and on my journey back. I have

promised him passage into Harappa and lodgings” I said looking at the captain. He nodded

his head and said,

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“No problem, Master Upaas. That will be done within the limits of the city. We will have to

be careful at this time due to the impending war with the Avestans.”

Both Parthava and I were given fresh horses and the rest of the journey to Harappa was swift

and uneventful. I introduced Parthava to the captain and they seemed to get along quite well.

It turned out that Parthava was a soldier as well for a while in the Meluhhan army and gave it

up to look after an ailing father. I wanted to know what had been happening in Harappa in

my absence. But the captain was not much of a talker and I could not get much information

out of him. We reached the outskirts of Harappa well before nightfall. The West gate came

into view as we climbed over the last hill. I stopped for a moment to savour the sight and

took immense pleasure in showing Parthava the view of the city and explain the features seen

from that distance. The setting sun reflected off the bronze spire of the Temple and the brass

plaques on huge door of the city gate.

“That is an impressive sight. It is even better than the description of the travellers. It is really

a city of gold” Parthava exclaimed.

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The puzzle of missing Soma

When we reached the West gate of the city, there was a lot of activity in and around the city.

There were a large number of soldiers in the field outside the city where the traveller’s camp

used to be. There were a number of war elephants being put through their paces and I could

see our own two wheeled chariots doing laps around the field. It was a hive of activity. I

turned around to the Captain and said with some anxiety,

“What happened to the traveller’s camp?”

I thought he smiled before replying or maybe it was my imagination “Oh! They were moved

to inside the city walls for their own safety and also for the security reasons. They are near

the east of the city just beyond the lower town inside the city walls.”

“Thank you” I said somewhat relieved. I nearly asked him about Lopa, but held my tongue

as it might unseemly under the circumstances. I was desperate to see her and hold her in my

arms.

“I would have asked him about her, if I were you.” Parthava whispered next to me. I was

taken aback. Now, everyone except me has become a mind reader.

We were taken directly to the Great Hall by the Captain. The news of my return had reached

the city well before me. There were people coming out of their houses and some had even

lined up outside in the street waving their hands at me. Several wanted to touch my hand and

pat my back.

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There were a lot of ‘Hail Upaas’, ‘Dheergayushman Bhava’ and ‘well done’. There was a lot

of waving of clenched fists in the air. Some children started running behind the platoon

shouting ‘Upaas’. It was quite a stunning welcome and was quite moved by it all. Parthava

next to me appeared to be enjoying it as if it was his own victory celebrations.

The march finally stopped in front of the Great Hall. I climbed down from the horse and

looked around at my beloved city. What a difference to Haozdar. There is life here, vibrant

and thriving. There is solidity of the Temple and the security of the great sages in the Great

Hall. It is a conglomeration of several races of people and everyone flourishing equally. I

was proud to be a Harappan and thrilled to be a Meluhhan.

I took a deep breath and turned around to say good bye and thanks to the Captain and urged

him to look after Parthava before going into the Great Hall. All of the elders of the city were

there, including Sage Shunahotra, father and my Master Ashwin. I bowed my head to the

three deities on the platform without whose blessing I would not have made it back before

turning to the elders of the city. It was Sage Shunahotra who raised both his hands, palms

facing forward and said first, “Welcome home son. By God’s grace you have come back to

us safe and sound.”

I knelt down and touched his feet. He put his hands on my shoulders, lifting me up and said

“Dheergayushman Bhava. We know you have been trying to contact us through Telepathy.”

I next touched the feet of my Master, who blessed me with “Dheergayushman Bhava.” When

I knelt down to touch my father’s feet, he took me in his arms and said, “Dheergayushman

Bhava. May God Indra bless you with whatever you want in your life. Your mother and

sister Nivya have been worried sick all these days. We knew you were alive by your attempts

at telepathy. But that did not convince them. Lopa had been coming home almost every day

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asking about you.” There was a tear in his eyes which he wiped quickly as it is unseemly to

show such emotion in public by someone holding such a high office.

“Welcome home Upaas. Unfortunately, we will have to go through debriefing like last time.

I am sorry to do this as you rightly want to go to your family and get some rest. But time is

of the essence and we need to get as much information as possible from you.”

It was Master Adhvadipa. The commander whose responsibility it was to safeguard Harappa

and Bharata.

“I fully understand Master Adhvadipa. It is my pleasure to help in whatever way I can.”

We went into the side room and I took him through the events of the previous two weeks in

as much detail as I could. He had lots of questions. He was very interested in the town of

Haozdar and there were lots of questions about the Avestan army. He wanted to know

everything about Parthava. He was particularly interested to find out who introduced him to

me and how was his behaviour during the travels back to Harappa. He was very keen on

interviewing Parthava as he had seen the army marching through Haozdar.

“The council of Elders have decided to consecrate Sage Shunahotra in preparation for the

impending war. That will mean a Rajasuya Yajna, and we have not done one of those for a

long time. The period of tranquillity is coming to an end. He will be the King for the

duration of the war. The rituals will be starting in earnest in a couple of days. Sage

Vishwamitra is on his way to officiate in the ceremony.”

Master Adhvadipa stopped to take a breather. I had nearly finished the huge bowl of fruit

that was on the table. It was an exact repetition of what happened after the trip to Sindhu,

which felt like a long time ago, even though it was only a few weeks ago.

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“It is a pity that there is going to be a war with the Avestans. We have always had good

relationships with them. They treated me very well during the period I was their captive.

Except for the threat of torture, their behaviour was gentlemanly” I replied.

“That is good news for us. King Vishtaspa had sent an emissary to Harappa, who appears to

have gone missing on his way over here. There will be a council of war between Sage

Shunahotra and their King Vishtaspa along with their generals and ours before the war begins

to lay down the rules of the war. Judging by what you have told me, it reassures me that they

will abide by the rules.”

“Did Ubhaya and others come back safely?”

“Yes. They did. Thanks to your efforts, all the medicinal supplies and more importantly the

Soma extract were saved. The satchel full of fresh soma plants you had tied to the neck of

Shankara will come in use for the Rajasuya Yajna. Alinas has been communicating with us

as well as the Rishi Vatula. The only odd thing was that Ubhaya got lost when he escaped

from being captured and did not return till a few days after the return of the others. He also

had some minor injuries to his shoulder where he had been hit by one of the Avestan arrows.

During his debriefing, he told us about the attack by the Avestan soldiers and how he fought

with them before escaping. Thanks to his efforts, Suvikranta is alive” Master replied.

That was news to me. I did not recall Ubhaya doing any fighting. He ran off after the first

arrow was shot at Suvikranta. I decided not to pursue that any further with Master

Adhvadipa. It may cause problems for Ubhaya. I should question Ubhaya to find out why he

had lied to Master Adhvadipa. There were more important and urgent things to do now.

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“What happened to the Magus who tried to do the Gomedha Yajna? Has he been caught?” I

asked instead.

It turned out that the Magus still had not been caught. One of the men who was helping the

Magus was found dying of his burns he sustained during the yajna. He was quite happy to

give a lot of information for our officers. All the Meluhhans who were caught had been

questioned and punished. Except for three of the collaborators, everyone else had been

released back into the community.

Meluhhan spies had infiltrated the King’s court and gathered vital information about the

impending war. The Avestans had a contact within Harappa who was feeding them a lot of

information. This contact was the same person who had given the Magus a pitcher full of

Soma extract. Unfortunately, the Magus’ spell was still protecting the spy from detection.

“It is very important that we have to catch him before the war begins. He may cause

problems for us. With the combined power of Sages Vishwamitra and Shunahotra, it is

possible we may be able to break the protective barrier the Magus has built around him” he

looked worried when he replied “the travellers have been moved inside the City Walls, partly

for their own protection and partly to keep an eye on them. I am sure we will be able to catch

the culprit soon.”

He did not sound very convinced. He had a few more questions about the size and content of

the Avestan army and any weaponry I had seen before finishing. He led me back into the

Great Hall where father was still there waiting for me along with brother Vidhayaka. Brother

came up as soon as he saw me and gave me a bear hug, “Welcome back home Upaas. We

have all been worried sick during your absence. Mother has been praying to all the Gods she

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knows of and has performed penance almost every day. I have brought your Shankara around

for you.”

“Thank you, brother Vidhayaka and father for everyone’s concern. I have made it back

because of all the affection and prayers of my family and friends. How is mother and

Nivya?” I asked.

“Both are fine. Nivya had been pestering the army almost every day. The officers must be

fed up of seeing both Nivya and Lopa everyday” brother Vidhayaka said with a smile.

As we walked out of the Great Hall, father turned around to me and said,

“I think you should pay a brief visit to Lopa before you get home. She has been desperate

ever since she found out that you had been kidnapped. I think you have found a gem in her

Upaas.”

“Yes father and Thank you again father. I will not be long. I want to see mother and Nivya.

I have missed them badly.”

Shankara was waiting for me outside the Great Hall and neighed with front legs up in the air

as soon as he saw me. He rubbed his nose against my face as I stroked his neck. I bid good

bye to brother and father, promised to return home quickly and rode off towards the lower

town. I had only gone a few Yards when I saw a rider galloping furiously towards me. It did

not take me long to see that it was Lopa. She jumped off the horse almost at the same time as

I did and came running to me. It was an emotional and tender reunion. She had a flood of

tears in her eyes as I hugged and kissed her. We sat on a little platform by the side of the

road and chatted for a while. She wanted to know every little detail of what had happened

the previous two weeks. I filled her with my exploits of the previous two weeks and I could

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see the fear in her eyes when I talked about the time in Avestan prison and potential of

torture. I did not leave anything out as I was not going to keep any secretes from her at all

costs. She held my hands throughout and looked into my eyes as I spoke. It was only a few

days ago when I was afraid that I would never see her again. Here I am, sitting holding her

and talking to her. It was getting quite dark by now and Pradipaka had already lit most of the

street lights.

I walked her back to her caravan and bid goodbye promising to return next day. I was aware

that sister Nivya and mother would be desperate to see me as well. I rode back home and as I

jumped off Shankara, Nivya ran out of the house and hugged me. There were floods of tears

in her eyes as well as mothers. Mother had lost a lot of weight, obviously with all the

penance she had observed over the past couple of weeks. We spent a long time, well into

early hours of the morning talking about the two weeks absence. There was a lot to catch up.

Mother kept insisting that I should not go for supply collection again as it is “too dangerous”

and “you should not tempt providence too many times”.

I was quite tired and at the same, extremely content after a long time and slept like a log. It

was a nice feeling to see that so many people cared about me. I had promised my Master

Ashwin that I will go to his house to see Maa Ashwin before going to hospital in the morning

as she had been pining for her “precious son” as well. The same reception awaited me at the

Master’s house. Maa applied a red tilak on my forehead and blessed me and thanked the

gods for helping me. It was quite late in the morning by the time I reached the hospital.

Shveti, who was already there tending to the patients who were admitted in the ward, ran

across to give me a hug as soon as she saw me.

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“Welcome back, Upaas. We missed you. We had almost given up hope when information

came that you were kidnapped. Thank goodness that you are safe. You have to tell us

everything” there were tears in her eyes as she enthused.

“Thank you Shveti. It is nice to see you too. I have missed everyone. Nothing can happen to

me with so many people behind me and praying for me” I said smiling. There was so much

genuine affection all around me.

“How is everyone here?”

“We are all doing well. We lost one of the two injured patients from the ravine. The other

one is still recovering well. The work has been relatively quiet now” she replied.

“What about Ubhaya? I heard he was injured. Did Pindara bring all the supplies safely? Was

Master happy with amount of medicinal supplies and Soma?”

“Yes. Pindara brought everything back and he carried Suvikranta in the cart as well.

Suvikranta is recovering well. He needed suturing of the wound and he should be able to go

home soon. Ubhaya came back a couple of days after Pindara. He had a graze on the back of

his shoulder. Unusual wound. It looked more like a cut than an injury. Master had a look

and dressed it himself. He came to work for one day and has not come back since then. He

sent a message through his father saying he wanted time to recover. Master agreed and so he

has not come back to work after that. Master was quite happy with the supplies, Upaas. Stop

worrying. Everyone are impressed with what you have achieved” she replied “Master has got

rid of the dummy extracts. And by the way, your friend Shushun has been around a few times

asking about you.”

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“Thank you Shveti. You are always a comfort. I better go and check the supplies. I will go

and see Shushun later.”

I walked across to the pharmacy and pulled out my palm leaf to check the roots, flowers,

stalks, fruits and seeds. The only thing I had not recorded was the missing Kantalika plants

which was collected at the time of my kidnapping. The soma plants would have been moved

across to the Temple as it was not of much use to us. Everything tallied except when I came

to the satchels of soma extract which was kept in a separate alcove within the pharmacy. I

did not like what I saw. All the five satchels appeared to be three quarters full. I distinctly

remember filling all of them to the brim and we even had problem closing a couple of them.

They were stitched with hemp rope and sealed with my seal. None of the seals appeared to

have been broken. I could not understand. I could allow for some reduction in volume

because of settling of powder, but not nearly quarter of a bag. I brought Shveti inside to ask

her to check. There was a sharp intake of breath as soon as she saw the satchels.

“No. That is not what we saw last week when Pindara brought them inside. They were all

full with no sagging of the satchels. We checked the seals and none of them were broken”

she said “it looks like someone has pilfered some of the soma extracts. That is not good

news. No one has access to the pharmacy apart from us physicians and nurses. I have been

here through day every day in the ward and anyone wanting to get into the pharmacy would

have to pass me or one of the other physicians.”

“Who else had been working here over the last two weeks since the supplies came?”

“Let me see. Ubhaya worked here on the day he came back to work, the Master relieved me

for visiting my dentist last week. Apart from that, no one else” Shveti replied.

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“I will have to let the Master know and may be ask Ubhaya to see if he saw anything

suspicious while he was working in the ward here” I said and made my way to see the

Master. He was busy with a new physician recruit. As soon as he saw me, he introduced the

new recruit.

“Ah. Upaas, good you came here. I was about to bring Vyadi, who has just joined us. He

has joined us to learn medicine and he is from Sindhu’ and turning to the young lad who was

standing across the room looking petrified, said “This is Upaas. He is our senior-most

physician assistants and he is going to be a Master soon.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you Vyadi. I am sure you will enjoy learning medicine under one of

the greatest Masters of Medicine in Bharata, if not the whole world” I said “now, if you will

excuse us, I have something important to discuss with the Master.”

He looked at the Master, who nodded his head at the request. “Please wait outside for a few

minutes, I will call you back soon and we will continue our tour.”

As soon as Vyadi left, the Master turned around to me and said, “What is wrong Upaas?”

“There is a problem, Master and I cannot explain it.. I have just checked the pharmacy and

the supplies Pindara brought with Shveti.”

“What has happened?”

“I think we have a thief. Someone has been pilfering the soma extract.”

“Are you sure? That is not a good news particularly now. That would mean only one thing.

The Avestans have got hold of Soma. And you know what that means” the Master replied.

“I am aware of the problem if Avestans get hold of a supply of Soma, Master.”

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“Let us go and check this out for ourselves.”

The Master sent Vyadi away for the day asking him to return the following day and we

moved along to the pharmacy where Shveti was turning the satchels around to examine them

from all angles. She stood up as we entered the pharmacy and said,

“I don’t understand Master. I had checked the bags myself on the day they were brought in

by Pindara. They were filled to the brim with Upaas’ seal on them. Now, they are only three

quarter full. All the seals are intact and I have examined them from all angles and there is no

sign of any damage anywhere.”

“Are you absolutely certain?”

He knelt down to check the seal and the bags himself. He spent some time examining the

satchels. He examined all the satchels and he stopped at one of them.

“Hmm. Let us take this one out and have a look in daylight” he said. We had not examined

the satchels in sunlight. We took the satchel out into the courtyard and the Master again

examined the satchel carefully. He ran his fingers along the seal and the hand over the

satchel watching the hemp cloth all the time. Then he smiled, “I know how they have done

it. They have used the funnel technique.”

Both of us looked at one another. We had never heard of this “funnel technique”.

“It is an old Egyptian tool for checking the contents of a sack without damaging the sack. It

is nothing but a funnel with a bevelled end at the spout. The sharp spout is pushed into the

sack to drain however much of material from inside. The spout pushes the fibres of the sack

aside without damaging the fibres. If you look carefully half way down the side of the

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satchel, you can see the line of fibres of the satchels is slightly wavy as compared to the rest

of the satchel. This is where the soma extract has been taken out. Now, we will have to find

out who has done it. My suspicion would be the same person who has been giving

information to the Avestans all along and who has been protected by the magus’ spell. There

are very few people who have access to the pharmacy. Since the arrival of the supplies

nearly two weeks ago, one of us have been in the ward through the day – me, Shveti or

Ubhaya. Anyone trying to access the pharmacy will have to go past us and we would have

noticed. The other option would be to break into the hospital at night. There has not been

any reports of break-in in the last couple of weeks. I suggest you speak to Ubhaya and see if

you get any information. Has any one noticed any suspicious characters or behaviour around

the hospital in the last couple of weeks?

Shveti replied in the negative. I decided to go and meet Ubhaya at home and find out. It was

odd that he had not made any contacts since my return. I thought I might as well go and find

Ubhaya now, as I had promised to take Lopa out to our favourite place in the afternoon. He

lived at the edge of lower town with his family since he moved into Harappa so many years

ago. I decided to take Shankara across so that I can take Lopa out straight afterwards.

As I got off the horse, I noticed that the front door was ajar. My heart skipped a beat. Has

somebody got to him and harmed him? I went up to the door quickly and knocked on the

door “Ubhaya, it is me Upaas. How are you?”

There was no response from inside. I pushed the front door, which opened with a slight

creak. It was very quiet and dark inside.

“Hello. Is there anyone inside?”

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There was still no response. It was deathly quiet inside. I really started to get worried that

something bad has happened to the family.

“Come on Ubhaya, stop playing now. This is getting serious. Where are you?” I said raising

my voice. I wandered around all the rooms in the house. Still nothing. Then it suddenly

occurred to me that the house was empty – in the sense, there was nothing inside. The house

had been emptied completely. They appeared to have left in a hurry. There was still some

food left in the kitchen and the stove had half burnt wood. There were a couple of vessels

lying on the floor and the wood in the store was only half used. The vessel and the stove

were cold. They must have left t least over a day ago. There was no sign of any struggle

anywhere. Hence, they must have left out of their own free will.

I could not understand. He had an excellent job and would have become a Master within the

next three to four years. His family were well settled in Harappa and had made it their home

since leaving Saraswata so many years ago, as destitutes. There was something not quite

right here. I better let my Master know as soon as possible. I went through the house again

and galloped off towards the hospital to see the Master. I pulled up short very quickly. I had

forgotten Lopa! I was in a quandary now; Should I go to the Traveller’s camp and meet Lopa

or go and see the Master? I decided to see the Master and send words to Lopa that I would be

delayed. I was sure she would understand. As soon as I reached the hospital, I called out one

of the helper boys and sent a message to Lopa about my delay. I rushed off to see the Master

in his room. He was as usual busy experimenting with some portions when I knocked on his

door.

“Come in” he said.

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“We may have a problem Master” I said as I entered the room “I cannot find Ubhaya. The

family appear to have left in a hurry.”

“Are you sure? The family have not gone to visit someone else?”

“The house is empty Master. All the belongings are gone. The food on the table was left half

eaten. The kitchen and the stores have been emptied. As far as I could make out, there was

no sign of any struggle. I spoke to the neighbours and they told me that the family left fully

laden.”

“That is odd. He has left without telling anyone. I will have to speak to Sage Shunahotra.

This might have a bearing on what has happened and also the impending war with the

Avestans” my Master was looking very thoughtful “I want you to keep this to yourself for

now Upaas. We do not have much time. Our information is that the Avestan army would

reach Harappa within next two weeks. There is a lot to do and this is something we did not

anticipate. I think you need some rest and relaxation because we want you fit and well during

the next few weeks.”

I took that as a cue and left as quickly as I could towards Lopa’s caravan. It was late

afternoon by the time I reached their caravan site inside the walls of the city. I saw her

standing at the door of her caravan when I turned the corner and my heart skipped a beat. It

started to beat faster than the hooves of my horse, Shankara. She ran down the steps of the

caravan as I jumped off the horse. I could not stop smiling as I hugged her.

“Let us go to our favourite place” she said. The Amra tree on the banks of the lake had

become her favourite place as well now. “I have been there several times, but it is not the

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same without you. I have packed something for us. We can have dinner under the stars

tonight if you like.”

“I would love that very much”I said.

She went back into the caravan and came out with a wicker basket covered in cotton cloth.

The aroma from the basket was beautiful and I was suddenly hungry. I tied the basket to the

back of Shankara and we set off in the direction of the lake. The sun was just above the

horizon by the time we reached the lake. It would set soon and the scene over the lake would

be outstanding. The sun had already changed colour and looked like a very large orange ball

sitting on the lake. The shadows of the trees on the lake nearly reached half way across. The

birds were coming back home and I could hear the chicks making a racket waiting to be fed.

The whole scene was out of this world.

There was a gentle breeze which produced small rolling waves in the water. It was nice and

cool. I spread a sheet over the rocky platform we normally sit.

“Lopa, you have a seat and I will get some water from the lake.”

She sat down and opened the basket and had a sumptuous dinner spread out on the sheet by

the time I got back with a pitcher full of water. It was probably the best dinner I have had for

a long time. Sitting next to the most beautiful girl in the world, under the stars, in my

favourite place was beyond my wildest imaginations.

Lopa turned to me and said “I want you to have this amulet and keep it with you all the time.

It is made of Balasurya (Lapis lazuli). It will protect you at all times from evil.”

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I took the amulet she gave me and held it up to the sun. It was brilliant dark blue with gold

spots giving it a speckled appearance. There was something inscribed on the back of the

amulet, in a language I had not seen before. There was a hole bored through the top of the

amulet with a cotton string through it.

“Thank you. It is gorgeous. What does it say?”

“It is written in Dasyu language. Our friend Battora gave me the amulet and I had the

jeweller carve out your name on it. It has magical properties and will protect you from all

evil.”

“I will get your name inscribed on the other side and wear it all the time around my neck.

Thank you again” and kissed her as she put the amulet around my neck.

The evening went very quickly, too quickly for my liking and the sun was rapidly going

down by the time we finished. We sat there holding each other’s hands for a long time

talking about everything and nothing. We could see several shooting stars.

“Make a wish” Lopa said.

“Why?”

“When you see a shooting star, if you make a wish, it will come true” she replied.

I closed my eyes for a minute and smiled.

“Why are you smiling?”

“I just wished that this moment should go on forever” I replied “now, it is your turn. You

wish for something” it did not feel clichéd when I said it.

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As the next shooting star disappeared in the distance, she closed her eyes for a minute. She

was looking very serious. After what felt to be a long time, she opened her eyes and looked

at me. She did not say anything.

“Yes. What did you wish for?”

“I am not going to tell you. Mother says that the wish will not come true if it is spoken.”

We looked at the planets and the stars we could recognise and tried naming them. I was quite

impressed by her knowledge of astronomy. It was quite late and dark when we decided to get

back home. I was very reluctant to end the evening. We rode back slowly and talked all the

way back home. She was so bubbly and full of enthusiasm even so late in the evening. As I

was saying good bye at the door of her caravan, she took my hand, looked into my eyes and

said,

“Upaas. Will you give me something if I ask?”

“Of course I will. You know that. You only have to ask. Anything under the sun is yours.”

“I want you to promise me that you will not take any risks during the war.”

“I promise. I have everything to live for now and I have no intention of spoiling it” I said

smiling.

“I was not joking” she had become very serious.

“No. I did not mean it to be a joke. Seriously, we may not be in the battle field at all. As

physicians most of our time will be spent in the medical site. We only have to go into the

battle field at the end of the day to pick up any injured soldiers. The rules of battle are very

strict in that sense. No soldier would attack a medical person. Please don’t worry.”

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“You better be heading back home. I am sure mother and Nivya would be worried about you

by now” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

“I will see you tomorrow. I want to take you to the hospital and meet my colleagues. You

will love Ma Ashwin. She is like my second mother.”

“I will look forward to that. Bye for now.”

I kissed her good bye and left a very happy man.

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The War Council.

It was a very quiet King’s court house in Mundigak, Arachosia. King Vishtaspa had called

for an emergency meeting again. Two in two months was unprecedented. It was the sign of

difficult and extraordinary times. Normally there are only two meetings a year, once before

the harvest and one soon after the harvest. The council leaders of all the seven districts were

there along with their ministers as well as their senior magi. They had been asked to bring

their army generals to the meeting. Unlike the last meeting only a month ago, the court house

was deathly quiet.

Isvant and Hutana had waited outside in the dark alleyway next to the court house until the

last minute before entering. They wanted to keep their presence as low key as possible.

They had been instructed by the King’s messenger that it was imperative that the leaders of

Sistan have to attend. They had been guaranteed full protection by the King’s soldiers in

Mundigak. Isvant was not taking any chances. He had not brought his general, but also a

platoon of handpicked guards with him. Not that it would have made much of a difference

against the might of Avestan elite guards. If he was going to die, he wanted to die fighting.

His worry was that he would have no protection once inside the King’s court house. No

soldiers other than the King’s elite guard were allowed to enter the King’s court. They had

slid in through the side door and sat in one corner of the great hall of the court, trying to

merge into the shadows. But their entrance did not go unnoticed. It was the group from

Bactria who had noticed them first and made snide remarks about their state.

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“Now that you have brought us to the verge of war, you have the temerity to show your faces

in this court” the Magus of Bactria shouted “you ran away last time like thieves. How dare

you come back?”

This was picked up by everyone else and there was free for all at the poor Sistanis. Hutana,

who was never keen on any form of physical action, was terrified. He was afraid for his life.

“Where are the soldiers who are supposed to protect us in the King’s court?” he wondered

looking around desperately searching for a friendly soldier.

The whole congregation was baying for their blood. Everyone had heard of Matriya, the

renegade Magus’ attempt at the great Gomedha Yajna and its utter failure by now. It was

strongly rumoured that the Meluhhans were gathering a massive army and marching towards

the city of Mundigak to destroy their beloved Ariana. It was all because of a minor renegade

Sistani Magus.

The Areians were throwing imaginary spears at the poor Sistani group and were moving

purposely towards their corner when the bugle sounded the arrival of the King Vishtaspa.

There was a huge audible sigh of relief from Isvant and Hutana at that welcome sound. They

immediately stood up and took their headgear off and bowed their bare heads to the king as

he walked along the central aisle of the court house hall. The act was of open complete

submission to the king and drew a gasp from some of the on-lookers. Both Isvant and

Hutana had decided that, the only way, not only to save their skins but also their state was by

complete submission to the King. That would mean that the state is now owned by the King

to do whatever he pleased with it. It also meant that the King was duty bound to protect the

state and its citizens wherever they are.

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The King stopped at the Sistani group and looked at them without saying anything for a

minute. There was deathly silence in the hall and no one dared speak. The King’s temper

was well known and this was a situation where he would be excused to thrash out at anyone

or anything. He took a deep breath and started to walk again only to stop after a couple of

more steps. He turned around and went back to the Sistani group. The Sistani heads were

nearly touching the floor and Hutana could feel his knees wobble. He was afraid that the

knees would give and he would collapse in front of the King. And that would be the end of

it. He would be taken out and beheaded like a common criminal.

The King again stood in front of the group for what to everyone appeared to be a very long

time and stepped forward to Isvant, the leader of the Sistan. He put his hands on Isvant’s

shoulders and said,

“Rise, Master Isvant. It is not entirely your fault that one of your renegade Magi has caused

untold damage to us. The desperation of the situation must have driven him to do what he

did. You have done the right thing by submitting yourselves to the Royal custody. It is now

our duty to make sure we get out of this situation and protect our civilians, our country and

our way of life.”

“Thank you, your Majesty. We tried our best to stop him. But Matriya was deep inside

Meluhha and we were helpless against his powers” Isvant replied with a tremble in his voice.

Hutana and the rest of the group still had their heads bowed down to the floor. “Our Magus,

Hutana, here tried to nullify the powers of Matriya without much success. The renegade has

spent a lot of time in the Himalayas with a Yogi and become quite powerful.”

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“But not powerful enough to succeed in the Yajna?” The King continued “what do you say

Hutana?”

Hutana slowly lifted his head and body up and looked at the King before speaking “Yes, your

Majesty. Matriya has become very powerful. The only reason he failed was because he did

not have enough Soma plant to complete the Yajna. If he had enough, he could have built a

powerful barricade around the site and completed the Yajna without any interruption.”

“And why did he not have enough Soma? It is foolish to start something of that magnitude

without full preparation. We will have to consider our next step and your information may be

useful for us.”

The King was merely making a statement and not asking any questions. He suddenly turned

around and walked quickly to the top of the hall to the throne. As soon as he sat down,

everyone in the hall raised their hands and said “Hail our saviour. Hail Ariana, Hail King

Vishtaspa.”

The King raised his hands and stood up asking everyone to be seated.

“We have reached a situation where our hands are tied and we are being pushed into the brink

of war. The actions of the renegade Magi, is bound to upset the Meluhhans. Our emissary to

Harppa has disappeared, probably a victim of mountain bandits. There are rumours that they

are already marching towards Mundigak with a large army. However, we have not had any

confirmation of any such activities from our messengers so far. I say no news is good news.

One thing is for certain, Matriya has shown that Meluhha can be penetrated deep into their

territory. He has shown that there are disaffected people in Meluhha who may be of use to

us. I am asking the elders of our districts their opinion on what we should do next. As the

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problem seems to have started with the Sistanis, I invite their leaders to put forward their

suggestion first.”

This was a turn up for the books. Isvant did not expect this reception. Once he had

submitted Sistan to the King’s rule, he did not think there would be any role for him or his

council. He looked at Hutana and his ministers before getting up to speak. He could feel

everyone’s eyes boring into him.

“It is very kind of your Majesty to consider our humble opinion. We feel that we should pre-

empt any action from Meluhhans and march on Meluhha immediately’

This drew a gasp from the men from Carmania who were always averse towards violence.

He could see several heads nod in agreement. There did not appear to be any expression on

the King’s face.

“Why does Master Isvant think that is such a good idea? Are our armies prepared for such a

war? Remember we have to travel a long distance and cross mountains and rivers.”

Isvant became slightly bolder now. He had been doing nothing but think of war and the

Sistani council had discussed several strategies at length. He also knew that all the districts

have been preparing for war for several months now. They had discussed the crossing of the

mountains and the rivers and also the target. They had decided Harappa as the most likely

target as it had the major stock of Soma in Meluhha.

“Begging your pardon your Majesty, all the districts of Ariana have been preparing for a war

for some time now. We will never be prepared enough for any war as your majesty well

knows. As you so rightly said, Matriya has shown that Meluhha is not impregnable. He has

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managed to get help from Meluhhans themselves. We strongly believe that he had a spy

within Harappa who was close to their council of elders.”

Isvant could sense the feeling of the congregation mellow slightly towards them at this

information.

“Thank you Master Isvant, for that candid opinion. We will definitely consider your

information in our planning. Now, what do others think we should be doing?”

No one was prepared to come forward in the beginning and as the leader of Carmania stood

up, everyone wanted to say something. The King raised his hands again to shut them up.

The leader of Carmania continued;

“Thank you, your Majesty. We think it would be a mistake to march on Meluhha.

Meluhhans are not war like people and they would understand that it was a renegade Magus

who had done the dastardly deed. We face a severe economic situation and our population is

suffering badly due to prolonged drought over the years. We cannot afford a war at this

stage. Are we strong enough to face the powerful Sages of Meluhha? They are known to

have magical powers. Our scriptures tell us that our messiah will come and save us from

death and destruction. Our council thinks that we should wait for this messiah to deliver us

from disaster.” He looked at everyone in the hall and sat down.

There was a chorus of dissent at this suggestion and everyone started to talk together again.

The King signalled his Herald who was standing behind the throne. The Herald lifted his

bugle and gave one short burst. That shut everyone up and the King stood up.

“I think we have heard enough and I can see which way this congregation is going towards.

With due respect to the elders of Carmania, we have been waiting for this Messiah now for

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hundreds of years and he has not come. There is no reason to believe that he will come now.

Our destiny is in our hands now. We have decided to form a council of war which will

include representatives and generals from each of the districts. This council will decide on

the future steps. My minister has the list with him and I would invite the council to meet

immediately in our council chambers to discuss future plans.”

With that he stood up and walked towards the door in the back of the hall, which lead to the

council chambers. His ministers and the senior Magi accompanied him. One of the ministers

waited on the platform till the entourage had gone and read out fourteen names – two

members from each of the districts. As the names were read out, the leaders along with their

generals and Magi walked towards the council chamber.

The chamber at the back of the King’s court was a much smaller affair than the great hall. It

was square shaped with high walls and small windows nearly at the height of the ceiling. The

windows let very little light. As the sun was setting, multiple little shafts of light shone on

the wall to the left of the door. They formed a square pattern which clashed with woven

pattern of ochre and red painting on the wall. The shafts looked like beams of polished dust

floating towards the wall. There was a musty smell from the floor that had been cleaned with

soapy water just before the meeting and the dried out walls. There was a long table in the

middle and twenty chairs around. There was tall chair at the top of the table which was

slightly higher than the rest of them. The king was seated at the top chair and the council was

seated by the two ushers who had appeared out of nowhere. The everpresent body gusrds

stood behind the King. They were all served with a drink made of locally grown

Pomegranate fruit. Once every one was seated and had their drinks in their hand, the King

stood up and addressed them.

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“We have to make important and urgent decisions today and now. The time for squabbling

between the districts should stop immediately. If we don’t have cooperation among ourselves

in this hour of need, it is unlikely we will be successful. Make no mistake about the power of

the Sages or the strength of the Meluhhans. Our forward scouts are searching for the sacred

mountain and the lake to see if we can get access to some Soma plants or even some Soma

extracts. I have received some good news today. Our forward scouts have captured a

Harappan physician. He is the son of one of the senior members of the council of elders of

Harappa. He will be very useful as a bargaining tool if necessary. He is being brought to our

border town of Haozdar where we can pick him up on our way.”

There was immediate reaction to that news. There was a lot of whispering and discussions

around the table. The King raised his hands again to quieten them down before continuing.

“We have to decide today the strength and content of the force we have to take and the route.

I will need help from all the respected generals in planning of the battle itself. I have decided

that we will need at least ten thousand strength for this campaign. What is the view of the

generals?”

He was looking at the general from Areia who was the senior most general. He had seen

several campaigns in the past with King Vishtaspa’s father and was highly respected because

of his knowledge, skill and the fact that all his campaigns were successful.

General Parviz stood up slowly and cleared his throat first before speaking. He never did

anything in a hurry. For him, everything had to be done in a certain way and speaking to the

King while sitting down was definitely not one of them.

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“I thank your highness to give me this opportunity to serve you. I have to agree with Master

Isvant from Sistan in this. All the districts have their armies at the ready now. We have been

preparing for something like this for several months now. Our armies are as ready as they

can be now. As you have rightly pointed out, our only hope for the future of our homeland is

to look at Meluhha. The renegade Magi has ruined our chances of negotiation with them. We

have lost our emissary. The Meluhhans are known to be peace loving people. But at the

same time they have a powerful army and even more powerful sages. It does not behove for

our King go to the Meluhhans with a begging bowl for the sacred Soma. Without the Soma,

our future is bleak. Hence, I support the idea that we should march on Meluhha.”

There was silence as the General bowed his head to the King and sat down. It was finally

agreed that the only way forward was to march on Meluhha as soon as possible. The armies

of Arachosia would start the march the next day and join the Sistani army at Haozdar on the

way to Roruka. The Areians who were already on their way should reach Haozdar in couple

of weeks. The Carmanians were camped outside Zabol in Sistan at that moment and would

join the Sistanis on their way to Haozdar. All the four regiments will camp at Haozdar before

marching on Sindhu together. The Sogdianians and Bactrians would reach the head of River

Parushni and sail down to meet the rest of the army north of Harappa. Gedrosians would

follow the western bank of Sindhu and join the main army south of Harappa. All the leaders

were reminded not to engage in any actions against any of the Meluhhans and to avoid all

contact at all costs. There was a lot of discussion about the size of the regiments from each

district. Carmanians obviously did not want to put the same size as the others saying the war

did not really affect them as much. When it was pointed out that Carmania was the biggest

district and had the largest army and also that without the Ariana as a whole they would

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struggle to exist, they changed their mind. They could not decide where the battle field

should be. The consensus was the western banks of river Parushni. Deciding among

themselves is one thing and convincing Harappans is yet another thing. They knew there will

be prolonged discussions at the pre-war council before a site is decided. The meeting went

on into the night and it was early hours of the morning before the King called an end to the

meeting.

“I bid you farewell now till we meet again on the road to Roruka. May God Vratra bless you

all and give us victory in our battle. We march at daylight day after tomorrow.”

Master Isvant and Hutana were probably the most relieved of all the people coming out of the

war council. No one spoke as they quietly made their way toward the stable where their

horses were kept. It was not until they were well on their way out of the city towards Zabol,

before Hutana broke the silence with;

“What does it mean for us in Sistan?”

“One thing is for certain. The headaches of our state has been taken over by the King now.

All those people who were bitterly complaining in the council can now take up their

complaints to the King. The war has probably come at the right time, It will be a distraction

to the people of Sistan. As some of the army has to pass through Sistan, it may even generate

some income for the people of Sistan. It has been in a way, a good day for Sistan. We may

have lost control of Sistan for now, but it will improve the lot of our people” Isvant replied

with a mixture of sadness and relief.

Two days later the Arachosian regiment assembled in the outskirts of the city of Mundigak

and waited for their King. The size was quite impressive. There were nearly two thousand

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soldiers in all and with porters, engineers, cooks, physicians and nurses, the number had

swelled to nearly three thousand. They had the largest number of chariots of all the districts.

The chariots were both two wheeled and four wheeled. They were harnessed to the fast and

powerful Elaamite horses. The chariot riders had been doing the last minute preparations

with the chariots. As the sun peeped through the eastern horizon, the bugle sounded the

arrival of the King. The King was riding a majestic white Elaamite horse which had been

adorned with a leather saddle, silk tassels, gold braids and a dark brown leather blinkers. He

sat bolt upright on the horse and the regal appearance was enhanced by the silk and gold

brocade coat and a bright white head gear slightly slanted to the right and peaked with a

clutch of eagle feathers. The Avestan standard of a winged disc was riding just behind him.

The ever present Herald was also riding behind and to the right of him. The elite body

guards; all dressed in black with their faces covered except for the eyes, were also riding at a

discrete distance on either side of him. When he reached the end of the field, he stopped and

turned around to face the gathered army.

The sergeants of the different platoons had all their soldiers standing in perfect line facing the

King. As soon as the King turned around to face the soldiers, there was a “Hail King

Vishtaspa, Hail Ariana, Hail our Saviour” filled the air with raised fists and waving flags.

The King made a rousing speech to encourage the soldiers and the Magi prayed for their safe

return. Soon, the army was on the march on the road towards Haozdar lined with family and

friends who had come to say good bye to their loved ones. None of them knew if they would

see any of their loved ones again. They were a very proud people and very few of them

showed any emotions. They watched silently waving their good byes as the army marched to

the sound of the slow rhythmic beating kettle drums. The King lead the army from front

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followed by the cavalry. The foot soldiers were behind the cavalry and the chariots bringing

up the rear. The supply wagons had already left the city the day before and were well on

their way to Haozdar by now.

It was not long before they caught up with the regiment from Areia. The numbers swelled up

to over four thousand with the new arrivals. The journey to Haozdar was pretty uneventful

and reached the northern gate of the city in just over three weeks. The Sistan regiment along

with the regiment from Carmania had already reached Haozdar and were camped outside the

fortress on the road to Roruka – the windy city. The smoke from their tents could just be

seen at a distance. The commander of the garrison was waiting outside the huge gates of the

mud brick fortress to welcome the army. The welcome was rather subdued considering the

circumstances. There was a guard of honour from the garrison with the usual band and flag

waving with “Hail King Vishtaspa” and “Hail our saviour.”

The garrison commander stepped forward to welcome the King. As the King got off his

horse, the commander knelt in front of the king, bowed his head and offered the ceremonial

sword as a mark of respect. The King took the sword and pulled it out of the scabbard and

put it back after a brief inspection in the sun.

“Thank you for your welcome commander. We are very anxious to hear about the Harappan

prisoner you have. I would very much like to see him and speak to him. I would also like to

meet the brave soldiers who captured him” the King said.

The commander stood up slowly and looked extremely uncomfortable. He kept wiping

imaginary sweat off his brow.

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“Thank you, your highness. You are very kind. Let me introduce you to the captain who

brought the prisoner to Haozdar, your Highness” he turned around and signalled Apam to

step forward. “This is Captain Apam, your highness. He will tell you about the prisoner.”

“Why are you being so modest Commander? I commend you on your bravery and success.

Tell me how you captured him?”

Apam looked even more uncomfortable. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead and he

stuttered and stumbled as he spoke.

“Your Highness. It is a great honour to meet you at last. We did capture the Physician while

searching for Mount Mujavant and brought him safely to Haozdar. We did our best your

Majesty. But ....” his voice trailed off into a mumble and he bent his head down.

“Speak up man. What is the matter with you? You are an Avestan soldier. Not a weak

farmer. Stop grovelling” the King’s voice rose as he continued. He was losing his temper

rapidly. The commander of Haozdar garrison intervened looking rather sheepishly;

“Unfortunately your Highness, Someone helped the physician escape from the stockade.”

The King did not say anything for a minute. He took a deep breath and stepped back a couple

of steps. He looked around at the army that was patiently waiting behind him and looked at

the Commander and Apam again. There was a deep sigh before he spoke to no one in

particular.

“And you expect a Messiah to come and deliver you from strife and sorrow? I am surrounded

by useless people and incompetence. You cannot even guard an unarmed physician for a day

and you have begun a march over mountains and rivers to challenge a powerful kingdom. A

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kingdom supported by a powerful army and even more powerful sages with magic and

sorcery at their fingertips” he was literally fuming as he turned around to the army and

continued “You might as well pack your things and go back home to your wives and

children. This is a futile attempt. Does our scriptures not tell us that God will only help

those who help themselves? I have an army of over ten thousand soldiers marching towards

the greatest battle we have seen. This does not inspire confidence. I want the Avestans to

show what they are made of – strong and powerful. We are the most powerful people in the

world.”

There was an immediate response from the army who began chanting “Hail, Hail” and the

drums joined in trying to inspire the rest.

He tuned to the commander and said more quietly;

“You have to find who was responsible for this Harappan’s security and make an example of

what happens to those who fail. You have to punish him for treason.”

He turned quickly around and went towards the royal tent that was set up just outside the

walls of the fort. The commander knew what it meant and looked very uncomfortable. He

followed the King to the Royal tent and asked for an audience with the King. As he entered

the tent he could see the King was pacing up and down restless. He did not stop at the sight

of the Commander.

“I beg your pardon for this intrusion, your majesty. I have a problem.”

“What. More problems? What is it this time commander?” the King asked.

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“The man you have commanded to be punished is none other than the brother of Master

Isvant, the leader of Sistani council. He is very popular in Sistan and considered next in line

after Master Isvant to lead the district of Sistan. I am not sure how the army of Sistan, who

are camped not too far from here, will react to the execution of their favourite son.’ The

commander looked extremely uncomfortable and could not stop fidgeting. The sweat was

pouring down his face and dripping on to his jacket. What he was doing now, could be

considered treason as well and his head could be on the block.

“I respect your judgement Commander. But we have to make an example and make sure the

soldiers know the command structure. We cannot let failure go unpunished. Please carry out

my orders. If you cannot, my soldiers will. I want the Sistani Regiment to witness the

execution as well to reinforce the effect.”

The commander looked visibly sick. It did not go as well as he had expected. In fact he had

made the situation worse. Executing Apam in front of the Sistani soldiers will just enrage

them even more. He felt happy that he was not going with them in this nightmare campaign.

The commander made his excuses and promised the King to carry out the orders and

withdrew from the tent. His captain was waiting outside the tent as he came out with a

question mark on his face. He knew the verdict as soon as he saw the commander’s face.

Both of them went back into the city looking rather dejected. Both of them had known Apam

for a while now and the thought of his execution did not fill them with hope.

The execution of Apam and two of his soldiers, who were responsible for the security of

Upaas, was quite swift and orderly without any melodrama. All the soldiers of the three

regiments were called to assemble at the fortress wall to witness the execution. Strangely the

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commander did not have much problem controlling any one. He had deployed enough

soldiers to cope with a minor battle as a safety precaution. In the end all the soldiers watched

the execution in mute silence, including the Sistani soldiers. The reputation of the King as a

fair but, ruthless leader might have had something to do with lack of resistance or protest.

When the Avestan army set off again east from Haozdar, on the road to Roruka, it was

without any pomp and fanfare. They now numbered over ten thousand including the support

wagons and workers, engineers, carpenters and cooks. They reached the windy border town

within a couple of days. There was no resistance in the town of Roruka. They did not seem

to be expecting any kind of trouble. There were hardly any soldiers posted there. It was

hardly surprising as there had not been any military activity in the region in living memory.

The generals were more worried about passing through the mountain pass, as there were

numerous places for ambush by bandits. A highly trained group of archers could hold down

a regiment for days without losing a single life. The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief when

they reached relative safety of Roruka. The town was too small to hold the army and they

decided to camp outside the walls. The place was true to its name, extremely windy. They

had to wait for a few days for the regiment from Gedrosia to catch up. The captains had been

instructed to use the time for more training. General Parviz was not taking any chances. He

had posted guards not only at the periphery of the camp, but also lookouts in strategic

positions outside the camp to alert any unusual activities.

It was on the third day at the camp when the lookout on the south side of the camp spotted a

group of riders in the distance. There were four of them. They were riding tall Elaamite

horses. All of them were covered from head to toe except for eyes. Apart from a bow and a

quiver of arrows tied to the horse, no other arms were visible. They were immediately

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surrounded and asked to surrender. All of them dismounted and the guards immediately lead

the horses away and took all the arms they were carrying. The man in front who appeared to

be the tallest and the leader of the group, spoke up;

“We come as friends and mean no harm to the magnificent Avestan army from Ariana. We

would like an audience with the great King Vishtaspa.”

There were at least a dozen arrows pointed at his heart when he spoke.

“Who are you to seek an Audience with our King? I cannot disturb the King for any

stranger.” the captain of the guards replied.

The man thought for a minute and said, “Let me speak to your General Parviz at least.”

That took the captain by surprise. This stranger seem to know too much. May be he is a

meluhhan spy. He was about order the four of them to be tied and put in the stockade when

General Parviz rode out with his aides.

“What is happening here captain? Is there a problem?”

He had been doing his evening round of the camp when he had noticed activity at the

periphery and ridden out to investigate. It was the tall man who replied.

“Greetings to the famous General Parviz. You do not know me, but your fame precedes you

sir. I am Matriya from Sistan. I would like an audience with the King as I have some very

important information which will be useful in his campaign.”

He had taken the cloth off his face to reveal a scraggy weathered face with a long greying

beard and a sharp nose. Matriya had grown old in those few weeks in wilderness. As soon as

the name was mentioned there was a sharp intake of breath from the two aides who

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accompanied the General. There was no sign of recognition or any emotion on the General’s

face.

“I cannot promise you anything, but let me hear what you have to say and I will see what I

can do.”

The General was a seasoned campaigner and he knew exactly who Matriya was. But he

needed more details before he could take him in front of the King. The four of them were

taken to the General’s tent inside the camp under guard. The two of the other three had

uncovered their faces, but the fourth one still had his face covered with a mask. The General

insisted the stranger remove his mask. Everyone could see sheer panic in the stranger’s face.

Matriya replied.

“I am sorry General. It is important that he keeps his face covered for now. He is here to

help us in the campaign and that is all we need to know at present. All I can tell you is that

he is a highly placed official in Meluhha and he will be exteremely useful for your campaign.

But he wishes to remain anonymous until the campaign is completed and Ariana is

victorious.”

“As you wish. Of course I will have to speak to the King and see if it is possible for an

audience. This is highly irregular.” General Parviz was not happy. He was a stickler for

regulations. Taking a stranger with his face covered in the presence of the King was

definitely not in any rule book. He was away for a long time while the four languished under

the watchful eyes of heavily armed guards. Matriya smiled at this. These puny soldiers

cannot stop the great Magus from escaping if he wanted to. Eventually couple of soldiers

came back and searched them again. This time they took away the little sachets of powders

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Matriya had hidden in the folds of his clothes before taking him into the Royal tent. The

King had agreed to see the Magus alone. Matriya had never seen the King and he was

suitably impressed at what he saw. The King was sitting on a makeshift throne inside the

tent. He had to take his caps off and were made to bow their heads all the way down to the

floor.

“Rise, Magus. We have heard a lot about you and your exploits. We did not expect to see

you after what happened to your attempt at a Meluhhan Yajna.”

“We are extremely grateful to the great King Vishtaspa for granting us this audience. It was

unfortunate that I did not have enough of Soma with me to complete the Yajna. Otherwise,

my countrymen need not have had to resort to war to obtain what is truly theirs. We have

been hiding in the ruined city of Sudra (Mehragrah) since our escape. I have with me, a

Harappan gentleman, who is highly placed in Harappa. He has information which is

invaluable in your campaign. For obvious reasons he would like to remain anonymous for

the time being.”

The King listened intently to Matriya. Both the King and the General had numerous

questions about the mysterious man in mask. They had sent for a scribe who took copious

notes. It was late at night before Matriya excused. The four of them were sent to a tent

prepared for them with guards around it. Both the General and the King, agreed that Matriya

and his men would accompany the army to the battle. The mysterious man in mask would

come in useful throughout the war.

It was not long before the regiment from Gedrosia caught up with the rest of the army. There

was news from the north and the regiments from Bactria and Sogdiana were making good

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progress on the river and there were no hiccups so far. They should be nearing Harappa

within next four weeks. The road from Roruka down towards the great river Sindhu was a

piece of cake compared what they had just been through. It was also much cooler with

greenery everywhere, plenty of fresh water, fruits and game.

The army camped on the west bank of Sindhu exactly six weeks after they had set off from

Mundigak. King Vishtaspa had called his Generals for a meeting to decide on the next

segment of the journey. The presence of the Magus Matriya and the man in the mask created

a lot of discussions and even some dissent among the soldiers. The story of the Magus and

his failed Yajna was widely known and some of the men felt that the war was started because

of the Magus and actively resented his presence. Matriya and his men knew this as did the

General. They were kept separate from the soldiers and travelled close with the Royal

caravan well protected by any attacks by the dissenters.

After a lot of discussions, it was decided that the quickest way up north towards Harappa

would be partly on the river and partly on land. It would mean building boats and carrying

them on carts to avoid cities and villages. The engineers and carpenters would be busy along

the way over the next few weeks.

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The Rajasuya;

Harappa was undergoing a transformation rapidly. There was a lot of activity in the city in

preparation for the Rajasuya to anoint sage Shunahotra as a King for the forthcoming conflict

with the Avestans. I was kept busy with getting the hospital ready for the expected casualties

during the battle. My Master had brought out some old plans used a long time ago for a

battle with the Dasyu rebels. We had to update the plans significantly. Master had to cope

with injuries caused by sorcery by the Dasyu’s and the size of the army was much smaller.

At the last count from our messengers, the Avestans had gathered regiments from all the

seven districts of Ariana and the estimate was about fifteen thousand soldiers, including four

hundred cavalry and two hundred chariots. The numbers were phenomenal and no one in

living memory had seen such a large army.

Father was coming home late every night and I could see that he was getting increasingly

worried every day. He came back one night about two weeks after my return particularly late

and he looked very worried. Once he had had finished his meal and while he was resting, he

called all of us to gather around.

“Vidhayaka and Upaas, this battle is going to be hard fought with a lot of casualties. We

need to plan for all eventualities. As you know, there is a block on all travel. We should have

sent your mother and sister off to Sindhu before the start. It is too late for that. We may have

problems brewing elsewhere as well. The messenger who had gone to King Sudas for help

has just returned with bad news. There is unlikely to be help from King Sudas. He is

sending his minister to discuss something with the Elders of council of lour city. We have to

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face the fact that we may lose the battle and if that happens, I want you to go to my brother,

Gopayana’s house in Udaypuri. You will be safe there. It is unlikely that the Avestans are

after expansion and go down south. Our information is that they are only after Soma as their

supply of Soma has dried up due to severe drought in several parts of Ariana. Their sacred

lakes of Kasaoya and Frazdanu have almost completely dried up with no Soma crop.” There

was silence at this.

Mother broke the silence with “Please don’t worry. We have prayed to God Indra and he will

protect us. Nothing is going to happen to us and our city of Harappa.”

Mother’s reassuring voice helped soothe the tense atmosphere somewhat. Vidhayaka spoke

up;

“Father, our armies are no pushover. We have the advantage of being on the right side. Our

sage Shunahotra is powerful and some of our Masters also have command of powerful magic.

We have the famed Gandhari regiment and our elephants can put the fear of God into any

soldier in a battle.”

“Yes Father. I do think we have prepared well for this battle. The Avestans will be sorry

they attacked us.” I piped up. Father smiled at us.

“I hope you are all right. Anyway, there is going to be a meeting in few days time when the

minister from King Sudas reaches Harappa to decide the next steps. The preparations for the

Rajasuya is well advanced. Sage Vishwamitra himself is coming from Sindhu to officiate the

ceremony. We are hoping Sage Vasishta from Indraprastha will attend as well. We have not

received any confirmation yet.” father said and turned to me and said “Your friend, Shushun,

turns out to be none other than the second son of King Awan of Elaam. The prince is

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travelling incognito to learn of other cultures of the world. He has a lot of experience with

battles with Sumerians. Sage has asked him to attend the meeting as well.”

It was as if a bolt of thunder had hit me. It was not a complete shock to me as I always had

my doubts about the Elaamite. He had a royal bearing and he had a phenomenal amount of

knowledge to hand. He was too sophisticated to be a simple merchant selling oil from Elaam.

“The rituals for the Rajasuya will begin in a couple of days time on the day of full moon.

The army has been put on extra alert” father continued.

In the past such rituals have been attacked by rebel Dasyu’s who believed that their power

increases every time they destroy a Vedic altar. Since sage Shunahotra defeated the rebels so

many years ago, these attacks had almost completely ceased. But, to stop a Rajasuya would

be a feather in the cap of any Dasyu rebel. A Rjasuya is only second to Ashwamedha in as

far as spiritual power is concerned. The place chosen for the ritual was a beautiful valley not

far from Harappa. A small stream flowed through the edge of the valley before joining

Parushni and the valley was full of beautiful Neem, Ashoka, Kavudi (Cork tree), Arjun, Vata

(Banyan) Deodar, Sal and several Ashwattha (Peepal) trees. The leaves of Kavudi trees had

turned bright yellow due to the heat of summer. The monkeys were feasting on the figs of

Udumbura (Cluster Fig or Gular) trees and creating a racket. The shrubs of Ashwagandha and

numerous Tulsi plants gave off a mixed aroma which filled the air with a beautiful scent. The

smell of betel wafted down from the tops of the tall Kadira trees every now and then. The

shade produced by the Aswattha trees over the banks of the stream cooled the water even in

hot searing summers.

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The workers from the Temple had spent a lot of time clearing a large area for the altars and

for the congregation to sit. The ground had been watered and pounded to a smooth surface.

The cow pat solution had been sprinkled to waterproof the ground and sterilise it. The odour

of the solution had been masked by sprinkling Tulsi leaf juice on to the dried ground.

Grtsamada was there every day supervising the positioning and building of the altars to the

exact specifications given in the Vedic scriptures. The great Master Medhatithi (Rigvedic

mathematician) had come all the way from Sindhu to assist in the supervision of altars. He

was the Master of Mathematics in Sindhu and well known for his grasp of numbers and

mathematical skills.

They had marked out the crucial Prushtya line (East-West axis) using new bricks covered in

lime. They had to wait for the nightfall to see the stars to align the centre point of the

Mahavedi (the stage for the Yajna) where they would build the fire altar for the ritual. Once

the centre point was decided and marked, they had to measure the eastern and western

boundary of the Mahavedi as well as the northern and southern boundaries based on the

height of the Yajamana or the performer of Yajna. In this case it would be sage Shunahotra.

The fire altar for cooking was built in the southern half of the quadrangle where all the

cooking for the ritual is done. The ritual would itself take five days to complete with the final

day culminating in a sacrifice. The shape of the altars was crucial. For the Rajasuya to be

successful the first layer had to be in the shape of a falcon about to spread its wings and the

central altar had to be a perfect rhomboid shape and rise up to five layers of bricks. They had

to build altogether four fire altars around the central fire altar. He was very particular about

the details and the engineers had a tough time keeping up with his exactitude. Each layer of

bricks had to have exact numbers and the pattern had to follow the rules. Grtsamada was an

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exponent in the Vedic scriptures and what he did not know about them was not worth

knowing. We were all keenly waiting for completion of the book he was composing.

The apprentices from the temple were busy preparing the instruments and articles required

for the Rajasuya. They had made five large ladles from Ramontchi tree (Indian plum) for

pouring the oblations into the fire. Several Aranis (flints) were made ready and two kept near

each of the fire altars. The fresh Soma that I had brought was being used to prepare fresh

extracts and juice for the occasion. Special stones for grinding the Soma stalks were taken to

the site on bullock carts a week earlier and the sheep skin for filtering the Soma juice was

thinned out repeatedly between polished wooden rolls. Ten cows were kept at the site

marked specially for fresh milk for the Soma preparation. Some of the Soma plants had been

left to dry for the Soma ritual which was one of the main parts of the Yajna. Sandal wood

sticks had been brought in for the altar and several large bronze cauldrons of Ghee (clarified

butter) were prepared ready. Vessels were specially prepared using Ashwattha wood for

serving the offerings after the ritual every day. Large pestles were made using strong Kadira

wood for pounding grain to make rice cakes which are used as both offerings and oblations

during the ritual.

Guests were expected from all the cities of Bharata. Elders of the councils of all the cities

were expected to attend. There were questions as to whether the Elders from the city of

Sankodara would make it as the land bridge between the city and the mainland had been

washed away by recent floods. There was an unusual bout of rain just before the summer

started which had caused significant damage to the cities of the south. The guests were being

housed in the rooms within the Temple and some guesthouses within the city. The engineers

were busy making sure the water supply and drainage was working well. Father had been

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checking the water level in the Tank every day. The damage caused by the earthquake was

only minor and had been well repaired. The kitchens of the temple were busier than ever.

There was an atmosphere of celebrations mixed with apprehension everywhere. Very few

people spoke about the battle or the war. I think it was a way of hiding once own worries and

anxiety.

Grtsamada and Medatithi had spent the whole night at the valley to make sure all the

preparations were up to scratch. Sage Vishwamitra had arrived couple of days in advance

and went to the valley with sage Shunahotra to check the preparations. Both of them were

very impressed with the effort of Grtsamada and Medatithi. They had spent some time

measuring the altar. They had looked at the Altar from different angles and stayed on that

night till late to see if it was in line with the Saptharshi stars (Ursa Major). They had then

inspected the cauldrons with Soma and Ghee. The wooden cauldrons used for storing Soma

juice were new and had been checked over by the sages Vishwamitra and Shunahotra as well.

“You have excelled yourself Grtsamada. This looks perfect. You have put in a lot of effort.

I am particularly impressed with the central altar in the Mahavedi. It is exactly to the

measurements of the Vedic scriptures.” sage Vishwamitra said with a smile on his face.

“Thank you great Sage. Your teachings have made me what I am today. I had the help of our

excellent Master from Sindhu, Master Medatithi.”

“Please continue your good work” sage Vishwamitra said and left to inspect the security of

the valley with sage Shunahotra. Master Advadipa had been there ever since the spot for the

Rajasuya was decided. He had personally lead the platoon searching around the valley to see

potential hiding spots for the rebels. He had positioned his best soldiers within the valley

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dressed as simple devotees in case there was a breach in external security. Master

Kodhandaki was in charge of the security of the periphery of the valley. He had supervised

positioning of the guards around the periphery of the valley. The elite Black Platoon of the

Gandhari regiment was in charge of the security. It had the feared Subahu as the commander

in charge. Subahu had trained under Master Kothandaki and excelled himself in the last great

war with Dasyu’s. Master Kodhandaki was also present at that time finalising the security

arrangements. He was not impressed by the presence of the two sages.

“We have the situation well under control oh Great sages. Not an ant can enter or leave the

valley without being seen by one of our soldiers. You can be rest assured that you and the

whole congregation will not be disturbed during the Rajasuya. Our elite guards will dispose

of any enemies before they can get anywhere near the edge of the valley” he said sounding

rather petulant.

“I am sure you have the valley well secured Master Kodhandaki. We never had any doubts.

I have brought sage Vishwamitra to show your efforts.” sage Shunahotra replied.

Master Kodhandaki took the two sages and master Adhvadipa around the periphery of the

valley. Both of them were very impressed by what they saw. As Master Kodhandaki had

said, not an ant would get through this screen without being noticed. They were at the valley

for a long time and measured all the altars again before being satisfied. They waited till it

was dark to make sure the Prushtya line and central altar was in alignment with the stars.

Finally when they were fully satisfied, sage Vishwamitra turned to sage Shunahotra and said,

“I think we better get back to the city to welcome sage Vasishta. He should be arriving soon

at the city. We don’t want to keep him waiting.”

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Even though he was smiling, there was a hint of sarcasm which did not go unnoticed by

Grtsamada and Medatithi. Both of them were mature enough not to say anything at that and

said their goodbyes and went back to work.

The regiment from Sindhu had arrived with sage Vishwamitra and stationed on the western

side of the valley along with the Harappan regiment. Gandhara regiment was due to arrive

before the Yajna started, but were held up because of landslides in Suvastu valley. The

Bharata regiment from Indraprastha and regiment from Manusa (Kalibhangan) were expected

to arrive any day now.

Satakratu had come from Sindhu for the Rajasuya. Mother and Nivya were up very early on

the first day of the Yajna. They had picked up Lopa on their way. They were at the valley

with Satakratu long before sunrise to help the apprentices of the temple in preparations.

Father and I along with brother Vidhayaka had stayed at the valley the night before as we had

to be at the Altar in time to start the rituals. It was a family occasion as well as a communal

one. I went for a little swim with Vidhayaka in the stream in the middle of night as it was

very sultry summer’s day before having a bath in the stream with everyone. It was a sight to

see – over a hundred men in the stream chatting away under the star lit sky and pouring water

over each other. The valley was lit up with torches all around. It was an eerie vision with

hundreds of people walking around in brilliant white dhotis.

The ritual had to start before sunrise with the ritual cleansing of the entire site with sprinkling

of cow’s urine before devotees entered the valley. The Rajasuya like any other Yajnas

needed four priests. Sage Vishwamitra was designated as the Bramhan, sage Vasishta the

initiator of invocations who invites the gods to the Yajna, Grtsamada the Priest in charge of

the physical structures of the Yajna and Master Skanda in charge of the hymns and chants.

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Sage Shunahotra was obviously the Yajaman who would be at the head of the altar. Deer

skin mats were spread around the central altar for the priests to sit. Sage Shunahotra was

sitting at the south of the altar and the other three priests were sitting on the other three sides.

The apprentices were sitting in rows of three on three sides of the main altar shaped like a

raising falcon.

Sage Vasishta was prompt with his invocations and invited God Agni first of all with lighting

of the sandal wood sticks in the altar with arani’s. The invocation was beautiful and yet

authoritative. The hymns were chanted by sage Vasishta and it had to be, as proscribed in the

Vedic scriptures. The timing was so perfect that the sun came up as he started invoking

Savitar, the Sun God. It was as if the Sun was answering his invocation. Once the Sun God

was propitiated, he moved on to the Soma and other Gods in turn.

The devotees that were present were given some Soma Juice to drink along with rice cakes in

the afternoon as well as in the evening. The ritual continued unabated for five days. All of

the men stayed in the valley throughout the Yajna. Women went back to the city at night and

returned in the mornings. Prince Shushun spent the entire five days with me and observed

the rites very closely. He was impressed by the similarities between his culture and ours.

When the sage Vasishta invoked Varuna, God of wind, he turned to me and said,

“Did you know we have a most beautiful temple for God Varuna in Susa. It has one

thousand pillars. It sits on the banks of river Karun.”

He was obviously very proud of his city and the temples in his country. Now that his identity

had been revealed as a Prince, he commanded a greater respect from the other travellers than

before.

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The Gandhari regiment reached Harappa on the third day of the ritual and camped near the

mouth of the valley towards the north. The Yajna site was now surrounded on all four sides

by our army and numbered over fifteen thousand. The elephants from the Manusa regiment

which were posted on the eastern side of the valley often made a racket with their trumpeting.

On the fifth day of the ritual, sage Shunahotra was anointed as the King of Harappa and taken

into the city with pomp and circumstance. The new King Sage Shunahotra held his first court

on the same day. Visiting dignitaries from various cities in Bharata had sent gifts to the new

King. Shushun presented a large gold necklace and a head band among other gifts to sage

Shunahotra and an offer of friendship from King Awan of Elaam.

The meeting in the Great Hall a couple of days later was attended by all the elders of the

council and Sage Vishwamitra and Vasishta. Prince Shushun was invited as an adviser.

King Sudas’s minister had arrived the night before along with a large retinue of military

advisers. I was asked to attend by Master Advadipa to advice the Council of Elders on what I

had seen of Ariana and its army.

Messengers had returned with the news that the Avestan army had gathered outside our city

of Roruka. It now numbers over ten thousand. When the regiments from the northern

districts of Bactria and Sogdiana join them, it would make them up to over fifteen thousand

soldiers.

The Hall was quiet as sage Shunahotra did the offerings to the residing deity, God Indra. He

stood in front of the gathering on the platform and started the meeting with;

“On a personal note, I would like to thank everyone here for their help over the last few days

during the Rajasuya Yajna. We have to decide on the future course of action. As you have

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already seen our armies are ready and waiting. We are as we stand, more than a match for

them. I would like to invite Prince Shushun to tell us his view of the situation.”

Sushun looked at me before getting up to reply.

“I am honoured and extremely grateful for the gesture made by the King of Harappa. It is

true that our country of Elaam had been involved in conflicts with Sumerian army of very

large numbers. My father King Awan marched with an army of twenty thousand to face a

very large army occupying our land. The battle was fought in a valley and we gained an

upper hand despite being outnumbered as we engineered the battle to take place in the place

of our choice. My suggestion would be to march out of Harappa and stage a confrontation in

a place of your choosing. I am sure your commanders such as Master Advadipa would be

able to identify a such a place.”

I could see several heads nodding at the suggestion. Master Advadipa stood up to speak.

“I agree entirely with the honoured prince. We have identified places south of the city where

the valley broadens out a little and is shallow enough to give an impression of flat land. If we

position our armies on the higher ground, our archers will have the advantage over them. Our

elephants would find it easier to charge and the upward slope would be disadvantageous to

the Avestans.”

“Thank you Master Advadipa. As ever you have thought of everything.” Sage Shunahotra

replied. We could see Master Kodhandaki was itching to get up and speak. “Yes Master

Kodhandaki. You have something to say?”

Master Kodhandaki stood up slowly and looked around before speaking.

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“I have information from my Gandhari regiment up in the north that the Avestan regiments

from Sogdiana and Bactria have been spotted over the rivers Sindhu and Parushni in the

Suvastu valley. We still have our reservists of the Gandhara regiment along with those

guarding Mount Mujavant. If we can divert and use them, we can stop these two regiments

joining hands with the main body of the Avestan army.” I thought he was smirking as he

finished speaking and sat down. Sage Shunahotra smiled gravely and said,

“That is a very good idea if it can be done. Tell me Master Kodhandaki, what is the

approximate strength of the forces you have on Mount Mujavant and the reservists. Are they

strong enough for the job?” sage Shunahotra was genuinely concerned about the safety of the

soldiers.

He stood up again to speak. “My information is that between the two of them, we should

have a strength of just over a regiment. Moreover, we will have the advantage of surprise as

well as the fact that our Gandhari’s know the land like the back of their hands. They are no

match. I am quite confident that we can stop them.”

This produced a lot of discussion among several people within the Great Hall. One or two of

them thought the Gandharis have always been overconfident and thought too much of

themselves. I had seen the Gandhari soldiers in action. If anyone can do it, the Gandharis

can. They had not only the close knowledge of land, but also by all accounts, they were no

less in sorcery than the Dasyus. They were feared by most people for their ferocious strength

and tenacity in action. Sage Shunahotra knew this as well as Master Advadipa. The Sage

stood up and raised his hands and the entire hall became quiet immediately. He turned to

Kodhandaki and said;

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“Master Kodhandaki. I want you to find out a little more about the possible strength of your

regiment that can be gathered immediately for action. If we think there are sufficient

numbers and strength, then we should implement your plan” he then turned to me and

continued, “you have had some firsthand experience of their army, Upaas. What can you tell

us about them?”

I was nervous and hesitant to speak. I looked at my father as I stood up. He nodded in

encouragement. “From what I could see and hear, they appeared to be a very disciplined

army. The command structure was strong in some aspects and appeared to be casual in

others. The security of the place I was held left a lot to be desired, luckily for me. The town

of Haozdar looks desolate and the population are in dire straits. There did not appear to be a

lot of affection for their soldiers.” I went on to describe the scene of the little boy stealing a

loaf of bread and the reaction of soldiers. I could feel a sense of shock around the hall at the

story of little boy being beaten up for a loaf of bread.

There were further discussions about the details of the expedition and the size and content of

the forces for a long time. It was quite late in the evening when the meeting was adjourned

by the new King of Harappa. It was decided that the army would march south to face the

Avestans in the valley chosen by Master Advadipa. It would take three days march to reach

the spot and the commanders wanted at least a few days in the field for training and planning

strategies. That meant the army had to set off from Harappa within the next couple of days.

I rode straight to Lopa’s caravan from the Great Hall. I wanted to spend as much time with

her as possible before setting off with the army. I did not know how long the war will last or

the outcome. As we were riding towards our favourite spot near the lake and the amra tree,

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Lopa was very quiet. This was disconcerting to me. Normally she would be chirping away

at anything and everything. Everything used to excite her. Today, she was very quiet.

“You are very quiet Lopa.”

“I am worried about this war. I am not very happy about you going with the army.”

“Please Lopa, try to understand. I have to accompany the army. I will be leading the

Medical core in the war. My role will be in the back ground and unlikely to see any action.

We will be there only to treat the wounded. No one would hurt a physician in a war. I will

be fine.”

“But Upaas, the experience with the battles in the past have been different. The last battle my

father was involved in, the entire medical camp was wiped out by the Dasyu army. I am

really worried.”

“I have heard of that. But those are Dasyu rebels and they did not follow any protocols of

war. I have seen the Avestan soldiers. They are much more disciplined and civilised. I am

sure they will not behave the same way. I would not worry about it.” I said smiling. Now

that Lopa had mentioned it, it started to nag me a bit.

“I still worry about you being in the war zone. You have the amulet I gave you?”

“It never leaves me” I said fingering the amulet she had given me which had been around my

neck from the day she had put it there.

It took me a lot of persuading to let her accept that I had to go and it was not dangerous. We

spent a long time at the lake eating the Amra fruits and talking. It was with a heavy heart that

we returned back to the city. It was a long and emotional good bye. The kiss lingered for

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longer than usual. We just did not want to let go of each other. I could hear her father

moving around inside the caravan. I left Lopa with tears rolling down on her face and tears

welling up in my eyes.

We spent the next couple of days checking and rechecking our medical stocks, bandages,

splints and cast material. Master was like a mother hen. I had never seen him so agitated

before. He was there checking everything twice and making sure that we won’t be lacking

anything on the field. It was a three day ride back to the city if we had forgotten anything.

Ma Ashwin was also there a lot trying to make sure that we won’t be short of food. She had

prepared dry foods and packed them so that they won’t get spoiled.

“Ma. You have given us enough food to cater for the entire army.” I said jokingly “There

will be army cooks who will be looking after our food all the time.”

“I know what kind of food the army cooks make. They are not very nourishing. You need

these. Don’t argue.” Ma chided.

I was up and ready at the hospital well before sunrise on the day of departure. I had seen the

army assemble outside the southern gates on the field next to the river. They had been

gathering over the previous weeks and there was a field set aside in the nearby forest for

intense training. I had to attend for training as well. I spent most of time with my trusty bow.

The captain who was supervising was quite impressed with my technique.

“You do have a very good understanding of archery for a non-combatant” he said “I like the

way you load the arrows. Very smooth and swift action.”

I almost blushed at this. I was quite proud of my archery and I thought my skills had come in

useful recently particularly against the rebel raiders on the way to Sindhu.

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Mother and Nivya had been up most of the night preparing for my departure. Brother

Vidhayaka had already left the day before with the other engineers to get ready for the arrival

of the army with lots of materials on carts. There was special prayers that morning and the

altar that was built in the courtyard would burn until our return. Brother Vidhayaka had built

a shelter on top to stop rains dousing the fire. The monsoons are not too far away now. Both

Mother and Nivya were at the door. Lopa had come with her father to say good bye. There

were lots of tears and hugs all around. Mother applied red tilak on my forehead and Nivya

and Lopa tied a red and yellow thread around my wrist. Both of them hugged me and were

still crying when I set off leading my fully loaded Shankara. Brother Satakratu was checking

my two bows and loaded quiver of arrows tied to the saddle for the hundredth time.

As I reached the hospital gates, everyone, including Master were waiting ready for departure.

I was really proud to be asked to take the lead of the camp. Pindara was again the driver of

the cart. There was “Hail Upaas” from everyone, including the Master. I could not help but

break out into a broad grin at that and jumped off Shankara and touched Master’s feet and

hugged everyone.

“We have a surprise for you” Master said as I turned around.

Shushun walked out from behind the heavily laden cart leading his tall white steed with a

broad grin on his face.

“He would not take no for an answer” Master continued.

“I could not let you go there with no one to show you how to treat wounded soldiers

properly.” He shook hands first and gave me a great big bear hug.

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“You don’t know what you are getting into” I said “but, I am extremely grateful for your

help.”

“Well there is someone else here as well you would like” he replied. It was Parthava this

time who lead a fully laden horse around from the other side of the cart. He looked as serious

as ever.

“You reprobate. What are you doing here?” I said running towards him and hugging him.

“Someone has to keep an eye on your back and make sure you don’t get kidnapped again” he

said, I thought with a trace of a smile on his lips.

“With so many of you around me and the entire army in front of us, nothing is going to

happen to me. Thank you my friends for this gesture. I don’t know how I will repay you.”

“I think it is time you started. The army has started the march already and your caravan

would be bringing up the rear. You don’t want to be lagging behind too far” Master

reminded us.

The caravan really had one big cart with Pindara driving and two smaller carts which carried

supplies such as splints. We were twelve people including six nurses. As we reached the

southern gate, sun was just coming up and the last of the army, mainly the elephants and

some cavalry were leaving. We caught up with them very quickly and stayed just behind the

last column of soldiers. We were travelling south most of the time and crossed the river

Parushni at its narrowest part where it went through a steep gorge. Our engineers had done

an excellent job with the wooden bridge. They had strengthened the bridge with new trusses

with heavy oak logs. The bridge swayed dangerously as the elephants sauntered across. It

was a hair rising spectacle watching the bridge swing side to side in step with the elephants. I

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was sure it was going to break and fall down into the dark depths of the gorge. Everyone

breathed a sigh of relief when the last of the elephants had crossed the bridge and were back

on a more solid terra firma.

The Meluhhan army had camped on a small hillock covered with tall trees with large crowns.

There was no sign of anything special about the large thicket of trees until we actually were

inside the border. The army had camped on the slope away from the direction of wind and

the smoke from the fires could not be seen from the other side of the hillock. It was dusk as

we reached the camp and not much time to do anything apart from report to the general

Nahusha and rest.

“Welcome to the camp, Upaas. Hope you had a comfortable journey” He said as we walked

towards the southern edge of the camp. “The Avestan army is only a few days away from

here. I am sure they know by now that we are camped here. So far our forward scouts still

have not encountered any of their scouts.”

The general was a tall man with long strides and I had literally to keep up with him. Both

Shushun and Parthava who were with me did not appear to have any problem keeping up

with him. The whole place was a hive of activity. I could see soldiers practicing with their

swords and maces. It was fascinating to watch the sword practice. They were so accurate

that not one of them got injured. On the left some of the soldiers were practicing with their

spears. The cavalry were taking the horses through their paces and practicing firing arrows at

targets while on the run. I was quite amazed at the accuracy of their shots fired at full gallop.

Right at the edge of the treeline, the archers were practising firing at moving targets. It was a

contraption built using strings and pulleys hung between trees and different targets moved at

different speeds and showed different amount of faces to the archer. On the right of the path,

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I could see the Gandhari regiment preparing their own brand of fighting a war. There was a

group of archers who were firing what looked like normal arrows, but which burst into flames

as they hit the target. They were firing arrows which broke up into several smaller arrows as

they neared the target. At the far end, there was a group of people who did not look like any

soldiers I had seen before. They were mixing powders and portions into several cauldrons on

fire. Then smell coming from some of them was overpowering, but did not appear to affect

them. Couple of the cauldrons were bubbling yellow and purple vapours. As we were

looking, one of the men took a small satchel, opened it and threw it over his shoulder. There

was a loud bang and bright splash which nearly blinded us. As we opened our eyes he had

disappeared. I was startled when someone tapped on my shoulder from behind. It was the

same man.

“How did you get behind me so quickly?”

He just smiled and walked away.

“I would not ask any questions Upaas and you will not get any lies” The General replied

instead. I could see both Shushun and Parthava were suitably impressed. Parthava, who had

difficulty keeping quiet at best of times, could not say a word till we reached the end of the

treeline. I noticed that the ground had become drier and sandy and the trees were sparse.

Our feet were sinking into the dry sand as we turned right near the edge of the copse. It was

not long before we reached a clearing in the thicket where several tents had been set up.

Thed largest one was at the far end and had flaps in the hessian clothing as doors. Brother

Vidhayaka was inside the largest tent bent over a desk and stood up as we entered.

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“Sorry. I was using this as our field office till you show up. It is nice to see you Upaas.

Hope you had a pleasant journey. Good evening to you General” turning back to me he

continued ‘this is your field hospital. We have set up more tents around as accommodation

for all of you.”

“This area is isolated from the battle field by the knoll on the west side. There is a passage

for the stretcher bearers and the wounded to access help. This area will have round the clock

protection with guards patrolling all the time” the General said to us. “I will send some

soldiers to help you unload your carts and set up your equipment in the morning.”

He took us outside to show the passage towards the proposed battle field. It was a small

gully in the side of the hillock which wound around in a sharp curve westwards opening out

into a large field. We could see the land slope down to the river very gently. The slope was

very deceptive and made it look completely flat. I could make out the river at a distance as a

dark ribbon flowing gently. The full moon shone down onto the river and its reflection

clouded the features of the river surface. It was a enthralling view and we had to force

ourselves away from the spot. By the time we walked back to the hospital site, all of our

group had gathered and chosen the tents they were going to sleep in. I decided to sleep under

the stars in front of the tent. As I was lying there watching the sky, the memory of Lopa

lying next to me counting and naming the stars came flooding back to me. I could hear her

beautiful voice reeling out the star names one after another. I could sense her smell and her

presence as if she was there next to me. The vision of her galloping toward me on her horse

brought smile to my face. The last night with her at the lake under the Amra tree played

round and round in my mind. I could see her standing at the door of caravan tears rolling

down on her cheek. My eyes filled up and a tear rolled down my face.

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“Love is painful” It was the dulcet tones of Shushun “but it is the best feeling in the world. It

causes pain and cures all ailments. I don’t know of any other medicine which can cure all the

diseases.”

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Long enough to see both the smiles and tears” he replied.

“Well, my friend I think it is time to sleep now. We have a few long days ahead of us now.”

“Yes we do. I bid you good night Upaas.” And he left.

What a strange conversation, I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

First day was a very busy with half a dozen soldiers helping out, we managed to unload the

carts and get all the supplies into our hospital. The beds were set up and the stretchers were

made ready. The second afternoon the three of us went down to see the battle field area. The

scene from the entrance to the little gully was impressive. It did not look like a battle field. It

was so peaceful and calm. There was a gentle breeze blowing down from the south bringing

warm air. The trees on the copse behind us and on the far bank of the river Parushni swayed

gently with the breeze. There were birds twittering away without a care in the world. A large

flock of them suddenly took off from the tree tops on the far bank, giving an impression of a

phoenix rising. Something must have disturbed hem. The field was quite large, ran north to

south, slightly narrower at the north end than the south. River Parushni formed the eastern

margin and the copse on the little hillock the western margin. On the far side of the river, the

banks rose steeply with very large trees hanging their branches down onto the river surface.

The river itself was not flowing fast at this stage of its journey down to meet the great river

Sindhu. To the north and east, one could see the distant mountains with snow cap. The river

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curved into the valley from the north and east on its way down south-westerly direction.

There was a barely noticeable slope down to the river from north and west to the south and

east. Our General had chosen the place extremely wisely. The land sloped down towards

what would be the position of the Avestans. The river was wide and strewn with large

boulders at that point. That created some eddies and hazardous to cross. Hence navigation in

times of retreat would be impossible. The western bank was rocky and covered with shale.

Infantry landing there would have their shoes shredded before they could reach the field. The

enemy would have to land further south and march north into the field.

There was good news next morning. The Gandhari reserves had stopped the Avestan

regiments from up north on the Parushni river. The two regiments who were navigating

down the river were attacked by the Gandhari warriors with a barrage of fire arrows. Several

of the boats were burnt down and a number of Avestan soldiers were captured. Rest of the

Soldeirs had taken flight and retreated back up the river.

The main body of the Avestan army reached the battle field two days later. The loss of two

regiments from the north was a big blow. I had hoped that the King would reconsider the

plans of attacking us and retreat. Obviously the Avestan’s had a lot more faith in their

ability. Despite the fact that the army was now significantly smaller than ours, they decided

to march ahead towards Harappa. Their army reached the battle field sometime during the

night. Their engineers had spent the whole night busy with the setting up of the camp. We

could hear distant sounds of hammers and saw through the night. There was the customary

Map 2: Map showing movement of

Avestan and Meluhhan troops

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‘pre-battle meeting’ between sage Shunahotra and King Vishtaspa and the opposing generals

in the middle of the battle field a couple of days after the Avestans reached. It was customary

for the opposing generals to meet before any battle to discuss the laws and regulations of the

battle. It is generally agreed that the civilised armies would abide by the rules set up at these

meetings. The start and finish times of the battle and the signal for the start and finish of the

day was agreed. I was more interested in the regulations for the medical core. Both sides

agreed that the none of the medical personnel would be attacked on either side. Medics

would be allowed to remove wounded soldiers from the battle field without fear of injury.

Shushun appeared to know a lot about battle formations, strategies and counter strategies. He

spent a quite a bit of time explaining to me the different battle formations used and their pros

and cons. By the end of that day, I had heard of formations with names like the Wedge,

Lotus, the Falcon, Phalanx and the double wedge. He had predicted that Sage Shunahotra,

being the “home country” would use the Falcon formation on the first day and he was right.

It was fascinating to watch how the Falcon was formed. The beak was the infantry, the head

was made up of elephants, body was full of archers and the wings by the fast cavalry men

swooping down from the sides. When I saw the huge formation, I could not see how the

enemy had any chance against the might of this Meluhhan army. As predicted by Shushun,

the Avestans had countered with a Lotus formation. They had the chariots forming the centre

with the petals anternating between infantry, cavalry and the archers. The idea was for the

infantry to spread out as they approached the enemy to let the chariots race up against the

beak of the Falcon. As the battle started, we watched from a vantage point high above, close

to the copse edge.

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The Avestan soldiers wore colourful uniforms. The infantry had brown trousers tied at the

ankles, cream coloured loose tops tied at the waist with red turbans. The Cavalry were the

most impressive with red trousers and violet tops and red turbans with a tail which was

waving in the breeze when they were galloping across. The chariots were mostly two

wheeled and extremely fast. The two wooden wheels with spokes, had pointed brass studs on

the side which made them look lethal. The infantry in front were carrying the standard of

Ariana – a winged disc. They carried tall brass tipped spears with an Avestan flag near the

tip. It was an impressive site to see them march. The flags over the chariots also had the

emblem of a winged disc. There were drummers at side of each phalanx which was four deep

with very large kettle drums. The infantry marched to the beat of the loud drum. The speed

of the march was decided by the captain and relayed by the drums. The sound of drums was

ominous and got the heart thumping. The standard bearer was also in charge of the Conch

shell.

By contrast, the meluhhan soldiers were all dressed in white dhotis tied up at the back and

white tops. The hair was tied to the right side and there was no headgear for the soldiers.

The captains and Generals wore a turban rolled up over the head and a tail which dropped

down on to the right. The turban was also white. Meluhhan standard was carried by a

standard bearer separately for the infantry, cavalry and the elephants regiment. It was a white

flag with a fire breathing Falcon in gold. The shields of the soldiers carried the same

emblem, as did the chariots.

I watched the two armies march towards each other as the standard bearer blew on the conch.

It was an impressive sight to see the two mighty armies come head to head and start the

verbal and psychological war before the physical part of the battle started. Both sides were

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hurling abuses at each other and the music from both armies tried to drown out the others.

The Meluhhans kettle drums was made of leather sheets stretched tightly across where as the

Avestans was made of thin wooden slats. The sound from both of them along with the

conchs, bugles and the thumping feet was deafening and I must admit frightening.

The Avestan infantry marched aggressively towards the Meluhhans and as they neared the

beak of the falcon, they suddenly separated sideways leaving an open path for the chariots to

rush forward. The chariots would have probably succeeded but for the fact that they were

slowed down by the slope of the ground. This just tipped the balance slightly and at the end

of the day, when the final conch was blown, the battle was evenly poised. There were a

large number of casualties on both sides. First of the wounded started to roll into the field

hospital by lunch time and we were kept busy for the rest of the day till well after dusk. .

It was late on the first night of the battle when I saw it first. We had retired into our tents

tired after a day of fixing broken bones and patching up gaping wounds. The three of us were

sitting in front of the hospital tent warming ourselves around a fire, when I heard it. It was

slow at first, a deep rumbling kind of sound. Whoever it was, he knew his rhythm. It became

louder, but kept the same pace. All three of us had stopped talking and staring at the

direction of the sound. It was Shushun who broke the silence with,

“Oh dear. That is not good.”

“Why? What is happening?”

“Come, you have to see this.” he took off towards the passage to the battle field and stopped

at the end “Whatever happens and whatever you see there, you are not going to make any

noise or think of interfering. Remember it is none of our business. Promise.”

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By now, the drums had become louder, but the rhythm stayed the same. It was quite dark

out in the field as we came out of the gully passage. We could see the fires of the Avestan

camp. The Meluhhan soldiers were patrolling the periphery of the field. We had to first get

past our guards and avoid the Avestan guards somehow. Shushun appeared to know exactly

where he was going. He ducked behind the rocks on the edge of the copse going south all the

time along the edge of the trees in the darkness. The trick was crossing the field to the

western bank of the river where the music appeared to be coming from. Fortunately the

monsoon clouds were beginning to gather and we waited until a particularly large cloud

covered the moon and made a dash for the other side of the field towards the river. Parthava

was bringing up the rear and kept saying;

“We will be caught and beheaded by the Avestan soldiers.”

“Stop being so pessimistic Parthava. Think of it as another adventure with me” I replied

smiling. When we reached a cluster of large boulders overlooking the river a rather

disturbing sight faced us. It was probably the only flat part of the beach on the western bank.

There was a row of fires near the edge. I could see several men carrying burning torches

going round the row of fires chanting something softly. At a distance to the left there were

several women sitting down facing the fire away from us. As we watched hidden behind a

large rock, the men stopped and knelt down on the far side of the rows of fire and doused

their torches in the river. Despite the several big roaring fires, the whole place became very

dark. There was no breeze and the fires were spouting high into the sky with dancing tongues

almost touching the low clouds. I could make out the men sitting down in a row on the far

side of the fires now. The women suddenly stood up and started to walk towards the row of

fires, slightly swaying side to side as they walked along in a line. The drummer increased the

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speed slightly and a new sound joined. Someone was playing a wind instrument – a rather

soulful extremely low pitched melody. The woman who was leading the line of women

started to sing. Initially she was so soft that we could not hear it, but as she neared the row of

fires, she became louder and louder. She started off with a monosyllabic sound, an almost a

wail, before breaking into a song. As soon as she started to sing, a string instrument joined

in. It was slow and gut wrenching music. The music made the hairs on the back of my neck

stand on end and I could feel goose pimples all over me. I could only make out a few words

as the Avestan she was using was more Median than Avestan.

“It was a long time since I heard that language. It is from the western most part of the

country, the district of Carmania. This is their funeral service” Shushun whispered.

“What is she saying?” Parthava wanted to know. He had tears in his eyes even though he had

not understood a single word.

“Let me see. She is saying that he was like the birds on the trees which brought love to her

life and disappeared with sunrise, he was like the foot prints on the sand which disappeared

when the tide came in, he was like the snow on the mountains which melted at the sight of

sun. They are fabulous musicians and write soulful songs. She is obviously mourning her

paramour who has died in the battle today.”

As we watched, the women went around the row of fire once and did something strange.

Each of them stood in front of one of the fires and took off all their clothes and dropped them

on the fire. They just stood in front of the fire with arms raised in front of them. One of the

men stood up and sprinkled something over their heads one at a time chanting something.

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We could not hear the chant as the women were still singing. I could sense Parthava next to

me getting agitated and he was about to stand up when Shushun pulled him down.

“Don’t tell me they are going to do what I think they are going to do?” he was clearly

agitated as he whispered.

“It is none of our business. Just watch and don’t make any noise unless you want all of us

killed.”

Luckily they did not jump into the fire as I and Parthava had expected. They just walked into

the river one by one and kept going. Just when I thought they were not going to stop and I

was getting ready to run into the river, Shushun again held me down.

“The two of you are going to get us all killed. Keep still.”

They had stopped just as I thought they were going to be drowned and turned around. They

had gone to the depth of up to the necks. I could not understand how the current did not take

them off their feet and whisked them downstream. All that time, they were still singing. On

return, they sat down in a row opposite the row of fires. The man at the head of the line stood

up and threw some powder into the fires. There was lightning flash and a bright yellow

tongue fire shot high up in the sky and came down as quickly and went out. It temporarily

blinded all of us. He repeated the same at all the fires. When the last of the fires went out, it

was pitch black. The blinding flash had made the whole place extremely dark. I could not

even see our two friends who were lying down next to me. It was deathly quiet for a moment

before the chanting began again. This time it was a low pitched and slow chanting with just

the drums keeping up the beat. It was the men who were singing the praises of the fallen

soldiers in chaste Avestan. It was very difficult for me to follow, but Shushun appeared to

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understand every word. One torch was lit and we could see the men walking slowly and

chanting towards the Avestan camp. The women followed behind. They were now wrapped

fully in a white cloth. The voices trailed off as the procession disappeared into the night. It

was a highly moving experience for all of us. I felt drained emotionally and more tired now

than after full day’s work at the field hospital. We walked back in silence again dodging the

guards all the time. It was one of the very few occasions that Parthava was quiet. Not for

long though. As soon as we reached the camp, he had thousands of questions to Shushun.

The two of them sat outside near the camp fire talking till the early hours of the morning.

Next day brought more of the same. The general was trying the new lotus formation with the

long range archers in the middle and the elephants and the infantry forming the alternate

petals. The information from the spies was that the Avestan general, Parviz was going to try

his famous double wedge formation. The Lotus would be the ideal counter attack. There

were a lot of sword and arrow injuries along with burns from the fire arrows to deal with.

The casualties were the same on both sides again. This went on for the next six days with

neither side showing any signs of winning or giving up. The casualties were mounting up

every day. We have had to transport some of the more seriously wounded soldiers back to

the city on bullock carts once they were stabilised. The field hospital became busier every

day. Shushun was a great help. When you see him with rolled up sleeves of his long jacket

working away on wounded soldiers, it was easy to forget that he was a full-fledged prince of

a large country. He was particularly useful while treating chemical burn injuries caused by

magical arrows. Parthava kept us going with supplies at a pace no one thought possible. He

never seemed to get tired. All of us were shattered by the end of every day. The three of us

became a lot closer to each other than before.

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On the seventh day, sage Shunahotra took charge of the battle. He went back to the first

day’s formation of an Eagle. The beak this time was made up of cavalry, the head with

elephants, the body with infantry and the wings made up of archers finishing off with cavalry

archers right at the edge of the wings. He was in the front with the General on his white steed

looking regal and rather fierce. I knew he was going to use his yogic powers to unleash

powerful arrows which could destroy a whole platoon with a single arrow.

As soon as the conch blew the start of the day’s proceedings, he let loose a barrage of arrows

at the tip of the double wedge King Vishtaspa had prepared. It was soon obvious that the

Avestan army was no match for his powers. The combined onslaught of the Sage’s power

and thundering elephants put paid to the bravery of the Avestan soldiers. They were

deserting by the hundreds. This time, the casualty was very high with bodies everywhere.

As the dusk approached and the end was sounded, there was an eerie silence in the battle

field. The soldiers withdrew and I went in with the medical team to pick up the wounded

survivors from the field.

It was utter carnage. There were broken bodies everywhere. I could see severed limbs

strewn across the field and the ground was soaked in blood. As we stepped gingerly to avoid

stepping on dead bodies, our feet sank into the soggy field. The burning torches in our hands

threw flickering shadows over piles of dead soldiers and horses. The stench of burning flesh

from the fire arrows was overpowering. The dhoti’s covering our faces did not stop the

stench from reaching our nostrils.

I felt sick. Was this carnage necessary? What did it achieve? All these dead soldiers would

have had someone waiting at home for them to return. A wife, a sister or mother in a distant

land, just like my Lopa or Nivya or my mother would be heartbroken when they find out that

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their loved one is never going to come back. The sheer waste of precious human life appalled

me.

It took us till very late at night to gather all the wounded soldiers back to our field hospital.

We spent rest of the night patching them up. We had to send quite a few of the soldiers back

to the city as the field hospital became full half way through the night.

As the cockerel announced the day break, both I and Shushun went out to the end of the gully

to look at the battle field before retiring. Parthava joined us just as the sun came up peeping

over the distant hills in the east. The Parushni was still in darkness and we could not see

much of the battle field. As the sun came out of the hills, the battle field was swathed in

bright yellow light. The workers had cleared the mess from the previous day. It won’t be

long before the days battle formation starts.

I sighed deeply and said “I don’t know about you Shushun, but I hate war. I think all this

death and destruction is completely unnecessary.”

“You are right. Unfortunately human being is such that, this will never end until the day

when the humanity will destroy itself. The great sage Utnaphistim from Sumeria has

predicted that the humanity will find a way of destroying itself sometime in the future. He

also said that a messiah will come and resurrect the world and there will be peace after that.”

We were about turn around and leave when Parthava shouted “What is that out there?”

We could see half a dozen riders in the distance from the direction of Avestan camp coming

towards us.

“We better warn the General. They are Avestan soldiers” he continued.

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“They are indeed Avestan soldiers with a flag of truce” Shushun replied “they are carrying

the white standard with a dove insignia, which is a flag of truce.”

“Does that mean they are surrendering?” I asked.

“No. They are asking for negotiations or settlement of war” Shushun replied “It looks like

either they are on the verge of losing or they are expecting reinforcements and playing for a

delay.”

“How do you know all this?” Parthava asked. He appears to have forgotten that Shushun was

a prince of a country which had fought several wars with Sumerians.

“Well. I have been involved in one or two skirmishes with the Sumerians in my life time.”

He replied with a smile on his face. It was amazing to see that he did not show any signs of

tiredness despite working continuously through the night without any rest or sleep “I am sure

we will find out soon enough.”

I was fast asleep the minute my head hit the pillow only to be woken up by Parthava shaking

my shoulders vigorously.

“Leave me alone. I have just gone to sleep.”

“No Upaas. It is nearly noon. You have been asleep for several hours now.”

I was wide awake now.

“What? Why was I not woken up before?”

“There was no battle today and the nurses are managing the wounded quite well without your

help. I was asked to bring you along to the Royal tent. Sage Shunahotra wants you there.”

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I washed and changed quickly before running across the copse to the Royal tent. The large

tent was full of people. I could see the Sage sitting at the top end with his crown and royal

robe. The General and the most of the council of elders along with sage Vishwamitra were

standing on either side. To my right were several Avestans I did not recognise. I bowed at

my waist and spoke without lifting my head.

“My humble apologies sage Shunahotra. I was busy all night with several wounded and did

not get to sleep till this morning.”

“Please don’t apologise Upaas. We are grateful for all the work you and your team have

done in saving our soldiers lives and limbs.” He said “Let me introduce you to King

Vishtaspa, the lord of Ariana.”

I turned to the tall gentleman with a turban and feather over his head and a royal robe draped

around his shoulder and sitting in a chair across from sage Shunahotra and said.

“My greetings your Highness. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“I have heard a lot about you Master Upaas. You successfully escaped from our soldiers and

stirred up a hornet’s nest.” King Vishtaspa replied.

“We are negotiating a truce and end to this unnecessary bloodshed Upaas. Part of the terms is

the seriously wounded Avestan soldiers. There are a number of them with serious injuries

who will not survive the long journey back to Ariana. I have agreed to help them and get

their soldiers treated in Harappa. The King has graciously offered the assistance of their

physicians who will stay back to help you with the additional work your team will have to do.

I need your opinion.”

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I had to think fast. I have to be very careful what I say and agree to. In one hand, it would be

a boon to get the help of the Avestans and I could learn a lot from their treatment methods.

On the other hand, there will always be a question of loyalty. What if one of them turns out to

be a spy?

“I am grateful for the offer, Sage. I am sure we could use their physicians help and there is a

lot we can learn from them” I replied. Just then there was a commotion outside the tent and

the guard came in and announced “The prisoners are here, your Highness.”

Two people with their hands tied behind their back were brought into the tent. The one in

front was a tall man dressed all in black. He had long angular face with a pointed nose and a

greying beard. His eyes were jet black and appeared to be staring at a distance all the time.

The second one behind was much shorter and slightly stout. He was wearing a dhoti like the

Harappans and his face was covered in a mask with two holes for eyes. He had his head bent

down and walked slowly dragging his feet. King Vishtaspa stood up and said to the Sage.

“Here are the two prisoners you wanted in exchange your Majesty. I hope you will treat them

according to the laws of your land.” he turned to the soldier and said with some anger “How

dare he keep his face covered in front of the King? Take that mask off this instant.”

The mask was ripped off by the soldier with alacrity. There was a gasp from the sage as well

as those on either side of him. Unfortunately his back was to me and I could not see him. I

was shocked to hear the next words from the Sage.

“Ubhaya! How could you do this? After all the city of Harappa did to you and your family?

Your father brought you at a time when you were completely destitute. You family were

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given a place to stay, a job and you were well looked after. Is this the way you repay your

hosts?”

I was completely shocked at this revelation. Ubhaya just stood there without replying, staring

at the floor. When the Sage repeated his question and demanded a reply, he just snorted and

spat on the floor. The general withdrew his sword and took a step forward.

“Why, you ingrate.”

The sage stopped him from hacking Ubhaya down.

“Take him away before one of us decide to finish what the General was about to do.”

The soldiers dragged Ubhaya out of the tent. He was mumbling something under his breath.

I was seething with anger. If I had a sword, he would have been cut down. This ungrateful

coward had caused so many deaths and so many soldiers have been maimed because of an

unnecessary war.

He then turned to Matriya, the Magus and said, “As for you Matriya, there is no one in this

earth who would forgive you for what you have done. There is only one punishment. I am

sure after you have been tried in front of the Great Council, a just punishment will be meted

out.”

The Magus was dragged out of the tent by the soldiers and marched into the stockade no

doubt. It was much later that I learnt the terms of settlement. Briefly, the Avestans had

suffered sever losses. There was no reinforcement coming to help them. Further battle

would have annihilated the rest of the army. They would withdraw into their country and

repay for reparations in the form of precious stones, copper and olive oil. Sage had agreed to

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supply the Avestans a limited amount of Soma, just enough for their Yasna on a regular basis

until their own crop recovered. It was a face saving deal for the King Vishtaspa.

As we made our way back to the city the following day, I was full of doubts and questions.

Why did Ubhaya do what he did? He came into Harappa a destitute. His family was given a

home and a livelihood. He was given a chance to become a physician, one of the most

rewarding occupation anywhere. He not only betrayed the trust the city put in him, but also

tried to destroy the hand that fed him. Was the Magus justified in doing what he did? Did the

end justify the means? He was prepared to sacrifice thousands of people to achieve notoriety

and an acceptance from his peers. Was the deaths of all those young men necessary? Why

did King Vishtaspa not negotiate before the war? With the loss of two regiments even before

the battle started, he should have known thata there was no chance of a victory.

“It is no use wondering about what has happened Upaas.” It was Shushun breaking my chain

of thought. “I know what is going through your mind. There is the wise sage in Sumeria I

was telling you about. I have been meaning to go and find him. They tell me that he knows

the answers to all the questions. Why don’t you come with me?”

“I have never heard of this sage. Is he better than our great sages like Shunahotra,

Vishwamitra or Vasishta?”

“No. He is not better. He is a wise man and they tell me that he knows the answers to all the

questions including immortality.”

He may well know the answers to my questions, but I certainly did not. It was something I

will have to wait and see.

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Glossary:

Abhiyantha Chief architect , Hariyupia

Adhvadipa Commander of the Army, Hariyupia

Agni Kunda Sacrificial fire altar

Alinas Gandhari Yaksha guarding Lake Sharyanavat

Amra Mango

Arani Flint

Ariana Avestan country

Ashwagandha Fragrant plant

Aswattha Peepal tree

Aswin God of Medicine

Audyogica Master Engineer

Avisthu Lopa's father

Awan King of Elaam

Balasurya Lapis lazuli

Bharata India

Bhattora Dasyu merchant

Bhavadutah Inn keeper on River Sindhu

Bhrighu One of the Spatharshis - Seven Sages

Dhatri Nurse

Elaam (Haltamti) Present day Iran.

Gandhaka Sulphur

General Parviz Head of Avestan Army

Ghee Clarified butter

Great Hall Council Chambers

Grtsamada Sage Shunahotra's son

Gurukul School

Haltamti Elaam - present day Iraq

Haozdar Border town in Afghanistan

Feet Foot

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Hethro Midian priest

Hutana Senior Magus of Sistan

Indraprastha Delhi

Isvant Leader of Sistan council

Kadira Arecanut tree

Kaksha Dholavira

Kamandalu A water carrier made from gourd

Kantalika Belladonna

Kapila Angirasa Upas's father

Kavudi tree Cork tree

King Awan Emperor of Elaam

Kodhandaki Master of Temple, Harappa

Lopa Avisthu's daughter from Saraswatha

Mahavedi The stage for Yajna

Manusa present day Kalibhangan

Maricha A citizen of Harappa

Master Ashwin Master of Medcine, Harappa

Matriya Renegade Magus from Sistan

Medhatithi Rigvedic mathematician

Meluhha Avestan name for Bharata

Meluhhan Citizens of Bharata

Mundigak Capital of Ariana - present day south of Kabul

Nahusha Commander of Defence

Narang Orange in Sanskrit

Neem Medicinal plant

Nivya Upaas's sister

Pariyatra Hindukush mountains

Roruka Nausharo

Pindara Cowherd

Pradiipaka Council light man

Prana Internal Energy

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Prushtya line East-west axis

Pushkarni Temple pond

Ramontchi Indian plum tree

River Asikni River Chenab

River Parushni River Ravi

River Sindhu River Indus

River Vipas River Beas

River Vitasta River Jhelum

Sage Shunahotra Priest King of Hariyupia

Saptharshi The seven sages in Scriptures

Saraswata Lothal

Satakratu Upaas's younger brother

Shamash Sumerian Oil merchant

Sharyanavat Lake where Soma plant

Shushun Elaamite

Shveti Trainee physician at Harappa

Sindhu Mohenjodaro

Sistan

Province of eastern Iran and southrn

Afghanistan

Skanda Master of education, Hariyupia

Sudra Mehrgarh

Sumeria Mesopotamia

Suvastu valley Swat valley

Tulsi Basil

Ubhaya Vethana Junior Physician

Udumbura Fig tree

Upaas Me

Uttarapada Interpreter

Vaishyakarman Master of Agriculture

Vata Banyan tree

Vedas Ancient Hindu Scriptures

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Vidhaayaka Upas's elder brother

Vishtaspa King of Ariana

Vishwamitra Rig-Vedic Sage

Vratra Avestan God

Yajurveda One of the four Vedic scriptures

Yojana Distance travelled by a cart in one day

Zabol Capital of Sistan

Soma/Haoma Sacred plant of Meluhhans and Avestans

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Further Reading:

1.