The Immortals of Meluha
Page 19
‘That is the difference between you and me. For Sati’s sake, I would not mind breaking any law. She is my daughter. My flesh and blood. She has suffered enough already. If I can find some way to make her happy, I will do it. No matter what the consequences!’
Shiva and Nandi tied their horses in the designated area next to the main Raj at platform market. Walking forward, Nandi guided Shiva towards one of his favourite restaurants. The inviting aroma of freshly cooked meat brought forth a long-lost hunger in Nandi that had not been satisfied in the past two days at the royal guest house. The owner however stopped Shiva at the entry.
‘What’s the matter, brother?’ asked Nandi.
‘I am deeply sorry brothers. But I too am undergoing religious vows at this time,’ said the restaurant owner politely, pointing to the beads around his throat. ‘And you know that one of the vows is that I cannot serve meat to fellow religious vow keepers.’
Nandi blurted out in surprise, ‘But who has taken religious...’
He was stopped by Shiva who signalled downwards with his eyes at the bead covered cravat around his throat. Nandi nodded and followed Shiva out of the restaurant.
‘This is the time of the year for religious vows, my Lord,’ explained Nandi. Why don’t you wait on the side? There are some good restaurants on the lane at the right. I will just go and check if we have a restaurant owner who has not taken his vows.’
Shiva nodded his ascent. As Nandi hurried off, Shiva looked around the street. It was a busy market area with restaurants and shops spread evenly. But despite the large number of people and the commerce being conducted, the street was not bursting with noise. None of the shopkeepers came out to scream and advertise their wares. The customers spoke softly and in an unfailingly polite manner, even if they were bargaining.
These well-mannered idiots would not be able to get any business done in our boisterous mountain market!
Shiva, lost in his thoughts about the strange practices of the Meluhans, did not hear the announcement of the town crier till he was almost right behind him.
‘Procession of vikarma women. Please move!’
A surprised Shiva turned around to find a tall Meluhan Kshatriya looking down at him. ‘Would you like to move aside, sir? A procession of vikarma women needs to pass for their prayers.’
The crier’s tone and demeanour was unquestionably courteous. But Shiva was under no illusions. The crier was not asking Shiva to move. He was telling him. Shiva stepped back to let the procession pass as Nandi touched him gendy on his arm.
‘I have found a good restaurant, my Lord,’ said an ecstatic Nandi. ‘One of my favourites. And his kitchen is going to run for at least an hour more. A lot of food to stuff ourselves with!’
Shiva laughed out loud. ‘It’s a wonder that just one restaurant can actually make enough food to satisfy your hunger!’
Nandi laughed along good naturedly as Shiva patted his friend on the back.
As they turned and walked into the lane, Shiva asked, ‘Who are vikarma women?’
‘Vikarma people, my Lord,’ said Nandi sighing deeply, ‘are people who have been punished in this birth for the sins of their previous birth. Hence they have to live this life out with dignity and tolerate their present sufferings with grace. This is the only way they can wipe their karma clean of the sins of their previous births. Vikarma men have their own order of penance and women have a different order.’
‘There was a procession of vikarma women on the road we just left. Is their puja a part of the order?’ asked Shiva.
‘Yes, my Lord. There are many rules that the vikarma women have to follow. They have to pray for forgiveness every month to Lord Agni, the purifying Fire God, through a specifically mandated puja. They are not allowed to marry since they may poison others with their bad fate. They are not allowed to touch any person who is not related to them or is not part of their normal duties. There are many other conditions as well that I am not completely aware of. If you are interested, we could meet up with a Pandit at the Agni temple later and he could tell you all about vikarma people.’
‘No, I am not interested in meeting the Pandit right now,’ said Shiva with a smile. ‘He might just bore me with some very confusing and abstruse philosophies! But tell me one thing. Who decides that the vikarma people had committed sins in their previous birth?’
‘Their own karma, my Lord,’ said Nandi, his eyes pointing at the obvious. ‘For example if a woman gives birth to a still born child, why would she be punished thus unless she had committed some terrible sin in her previous birth. Or if a man suddenly contracts an incurable disease and gets paralysed, why would it happen to him unless the universe was penalising him for the sins of his previous life.’
‘That sounds pretty ridiculous to me. A woman could have given birth to a still born child simply because she did not take proper care while she was pregnant. Or it could just be a disease. How can anyone say that she is being punished for the sins of her previous birth?’
Nandi, shocked by Shiva’s opinion, struggled to find words to respond. He was a Meluhan and deeply believed in the concept of karma being carried over many births. He mumbled sofdy, ‘It’s the law, my Lord...’
‘Well, to be honest, it sounds like a rather unfair law to me.’
Nandi’s crestfallen face showed that he was profoundly disappointed that Shiva did not understand such a fundamental concept about Meluha. But he also kept his counsel for fear of opposing what Shiva said. After all, Shiva was his Lord.
Seeing a dejected Nandi, Shiva patted him gendy on the back. ‘Nandi, that was just my opinion. If the law works for your people, I am sure there must be some logic to it. Your society might be a litde strange at times, but it has some of the most honest and decent people I have ever met.’
As a smile returned almost instantly to Nandi’s face, his whole being was overcome by his immediate problem. His debilitating hunger! He entered the restaurant as a man on a mission, with Shiva chuckling softly behind.
A short distance away on the main road, the procession of vikarma women walked silently on. They were all draped in long angvastrams which were dyed in the holy blue colour. Their heads were bowed low in penitence, their puja thalis or prayer plates full of offerings to Lord Agni. The normally quiet market street became almost deathly silent as the pitiful women lumbered by. At the centre of the procession, unseen by Shiva, with her head bowed low, draped in a blue angvastram that covered her from head to toe, her face a picture of resigned dignity, trudged the forlorn figure of Sati.
‘So where were we, my Lord?’ said Daksha, as Shiva and Nandi setded down in his private office the next morning.
‘We were about to discuss the changes that Lord Ram brought about, your Highness. And how he defeated the rebellion of the renegade Brahmins,’ answered Shiva.
‘That’s right,’ said Daksha. ‘Lord Ram did defeat the renegade Brahmins. But in his view, the core problem went deeper. It wasn’t just an issue of some Brahmins who did not follow the code. The problem was a conflict between a person’s natural karma and what society forced him to do.’
‘I didn’t understand your Highness.’
‘If you think about it, what was the essential problem with the renegade Brahmins? Some of them wanted to be Kshatriyas and rule. Some of them wanted to be Vaishyas, make money and live a life of luxury. However, their birth confined them to being Brahmins.’
Shiva and Nandi tied their horses in the designated area next to the main Raj at platform market. Walking forward, Nandi guided Shiva towards one of his favourite restaurants. The inviting aroma of freshly cooked meat brought forth a long-lost hunger in Nandi that had not been satisfied in the past two days at the royal guest house. The owner however stopped Shiva at the entry.
‘What’s the matter, brother?’ asked Nandi.
‘I am deeply sorry brothers. But I too am undergoing religious vows at this time,’ said the restaurant owner politely, pointing to the beads around his throat. ‘And you know that one of the vows is that I cannot serve meat to fellow religious vow keepers.’
Nandi blurted out in surprise, ‘But who has taken religious...’
He was stopped by Shiva who signalled downwards with his eyes at the bead covered cravat around his throat. Nandi nodded and followed Shiva out of the restaurant.
‘This is the time of the year for religious vows, my Lord,’ explained Nandi. Why don’t you wait on the side? There are some good restaurants on the lane at the right. I will just go and check if we have a restaurant owner who has not taken his vows.’
Shiva nodded his ascent. As Nandi hurried off, Shiva looked around the street. It was a busy market area with restaurants and shops spread evenly. But despite the large number of people and the commerce being conducted, the street was not bursting with noise. None of the shopkeepers came out to scream and advertise their wares. The customers spoke softly and in an unfailingly polite manner, even if they were bargaining.
These well-mannered idiots would not be able to get any business done in our boisterous mountain market!
Shiva, lost in his thoughts about the strange practices of the Meluhans, did not hear the announcement of the town crier till he was almost right behind him.
‘Procession of vikarma women. Please move!’
A surprised Shiva turned around to find a tall Meluhan Kshatriya looking down at him. ‘Would you like to move aside, sir? A procession of vikarma women needs to pass for their prayers.’
The crier’s tone and demeanour was unquestionably courteous. But Shiva was under no illusions. The crier was not asking Shiva to move. He was telling him. Shiva stepped back to let the procession pass as Nandi touched him gendy on his arm.
‘I have found a good restaurant, my Lord,’ said an ecstatic Nandi. ‘One of my favourites. And his kitchen is going to run for at least an hour more. A lot of food to stuff ourselves with!’
Shiva laughed out loud. ‘It’s a wonder that just one restaurant can actually make enough food to satisfy your hunger!’
Nandi laughed along good naturedly as Shiva patted his friend on the back.
As they turned and walked into the lane, Shiva asked, ‘Who are vikarma women?’
‘Vikarma people, my Lord,’ said Nandi sighing deeply, ‘are people who have been punished in this birth for the sins of their previous birth. Hence they have to live this life out with dignity and tolerate their present sufferings with grace. This is the only way they can wipe their karma clean of the sins of their previous births. Vikarma men have their own order of penance and women have a different order.’
‘There was a procession of vikarma women on the road we just left. Is their puja a part of the order?’ asked Shiva.
‘Yes, my Lord. There are many rules that the vikarma women have to follow. They have to pray for forgiveness every month to Lord Agni, the purifying Fire God, through a specifically mandated puja. They are not allowed to marry since they may poison others with their bad fate. They are not allowed to touch any person who is not related to them or is not part of their normal duties. There are many other conditions as well that I am not completely aware of. If you are interested, we could meet up with a Pandit at the Agni temple later and he could tell you all about vikarma people.’
‘No, I am not interested in meeting the Pandit right now,’ said Shiva with a smile. ‘He might just bore me with some very confusing and abstruse philosophies! But tell me one thing. Who decides that the vikarma people had committed sins in their previous birth?’
‘Their own karma, my Lord,’ said Nandi, his eyes pointing at the obvious. ‘For example if a woman gives birth to a still born child, why would she be punished thus unless she had committed some terrible sin in her previous birth. Or if a man suddenly contracts an incurable disease and gets paralysed, why would it happen to him unless the universe was penalising him for the sins of his previous life.’
‘That sounds pretty ridiculous to me. A woman could have given birth to a still born child simply because she did not take proper care while she was pregnant. Or it could just be a disease. How can anyone say that she is being punished for the sins of her previous birth?’
Nandi, shocked by Shiva’s opinion, struggled to find words to respond. He was a Meluhan and deeply believed in the concept of karma being carried over many births. He mumbled sofdy, ‘It’s the law, my Lord...’
‘Well, to be honest, it sounds like a rather unfair law to me.’
Nandi’s crestfallen face showed that he was profoundly disappointed that Shiva did not understand such a fundamental concept about Meluha. But he also kept his counsel for fear of opposing what Shiva said. After all, Shiva was his Lord.
Seeing a dejected Nandi, Shiva patted him gendy on the back. ‘Nandi, that was just my opinion. If the law works for your people, I am sure there must be some logic to it. Your society might be a litde strange at times, but it has some of the most honest and decent people I have ever met.’
As a smile returned almost instantly to Nandi’s face, his whole being was overcome by his immediate problem. His debilitating hunger! He entered the restaurant as a man on a mission, with Shiva chuckling softly behind.
A short distance away on the main road, the procession of vikarma women walked silently on. They were all draped in long angvastrams which were dyed in the holy blue colour. Their heads were bowed low in penitence, their puja thalis or prayer plates full of offerings to Lord Agni. The normally quiet market street became almost deathly silent as the pitiful women lumbered by. At the centre of the procession, unseen by Shiva, with her head bowed low, draped in a blue angvastram that covered her from head to toe, her face a picture of resigned dignity, trudged the forlorn figure of Sati.
‘So where were we, my Lord?’ said Daksha, as Shiva and Nandi setded down in his private office the next morning.
‘We were about to discuss the changes that Lord Ram brought about, your Highness. And how he defeated the rebellion of the renegade Brahmins,’ answered Shiva.
‘That’s right,’ said Daksha. ‘Lord Ram did defeat the renegade Brahmins. But in his view, the core problem went deeper. It wasn’t just an issue of some Brahmins who did not follow the code. The problem was a conflict between a person’s natural karma and what society forced him to do.’
‘I didn’t understand your Highness.’
‘If you think about it, what was the essential problem with the renegade Brahmins? Some of them wanted to be Kshatriyas and rule. Some of them wanted to be Vaishyas, make money and live a life of luxury. However, their birth confined them to being Brahmins.’
