THE CURSE OF BRAHMA
Read THE CURSE OF BRAHMA Online
Authors: Jagmohan Bhanver
THE CURSE OF BRAHMA
Jagmohan Bhanver
has handled national and international roles for top multinational banks, and is rated among the top leadership coaches in the country, mentoring industry leaders across the globe. He is considered one of the most powerful speakers in Asia and addresses half-a-million people every year. He has also been the recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award and the Global Achievers Award, among several other felicitations in education and public service.
He has previously authored three non-fiction bestsellers.
The Curse of Brahma
is his first novel.
He can be found at
www.jagmohanbhanver.com
and tweets at
@JMS007
.
Published by
Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd 2015
7/16, Ansari Road, Daryaganj
New Delhi 110002
Sales Centres:
Allahabad Bengaluru Chennai
Hyderabad Jaipur Kathmandu
Kolkata Mumbai
Copyright © Jagmohan Bhanver 2015
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First impression 2015
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The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Typeset by Saanvi Graphics, Noida
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This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
Dedicated to Komal, the woman who saved me from myself…and from my own version of Tamastamah Prabha
Contents
The Seeds of Confusion Have Begun to Be Sown
Jarasandha Unveils Part of the Plan
Training of the Asura Assassins
Prologue
t was an extraordinarily large room, dimly lit with terracotta oil lamps dangling from the walls at various corners. It could accommodate more than a hundred people without appearing to be cluttered. A dozen couches of varying sizes and shapes were scattered tastefully across the cavernous room. Everything was aesthetically done up yet at the same time, gave the appearance of being ominous and murky. More than a thousand brightly coloured flowers of different species adorned the room, looking incongruous in the shadowy space, and heightened the sinister element of the place. It was as if the flora had been deliberately put there as a façade, to try and mitigate the otherwise malevolent persona of the place.
The three creatures stood in the centre of the room awaiting their Master’s presence. The one on the left was a pisaca, a creature with a snake’s body and octopus tentacles for a head. A spike lay hidden under the tentacles for close encounters with enemies. The monster in the middle was a kalakanja, whose body resembled dried leaves, with scarcely any flesh or blood. He stood three gavutas high (one gavuta being equivalent to six feet). His eyeballs jutted out from his head like crabs, and his mouth, situated on top of his head, was as small as a needle’s eye. The third monster, standing on the extreme right, was a bonara. He was slight in size, barely taller than a midget, but looked the most treacherous. He had only one eye in the centre of his forehead and his entire body was covered in scales. In place of his feet were two long talons sharp enough to slice through an elephant. Three deadly and vile-looking fiends; but right now, all three were shivering with fear.
They had been ordered there by the Dark Lord, the embodiment of evil in all the three worlds. There could only be two reasons for the summons. Either they were to be rewarded for pleasing their Master, or they would encounter a ruthless death for having offended him in some way. All of them knew they hadn’t done anything to please their Lord in the recent past. That signified only the other alternative. It meant Death, and it had them terrified. Not that any of them was afraid of death. They were not even alive, in the real sense of the word. They were creatures from the lowest levels of Pataal Lok, who had already died several times and then been resurrected by their Master to do his evil bidding. But death at the hands of their Master meant they would never be given life again, and would be doomed to remain buried in the lowest pit of hell for eternity. It terrified them.
A door opened and a shrouded figure glided into the room. All the flowers in the room instantly shrivelled and turned to dust. The shrouded figure exuded death, and the smell of pestilence pervaded his being. He stopped a few feet away from his three followers. A hoarse voice from somewhere inside the cloaked figure snapped an order to an unseen guard at the door, who quickly closed the door and fled. A pair of blazing eyes from under the shroud glared piercingly at the three monsters. ‘You have failed me,’ the Dark Lord said softly. The tone was deceptive, and the three monsters knew that their Master was seething inwardly with some unknown fury. They waited for him to speak further. None of them wanted to invite his wrath if they could help it.
‘The mortal woman, Devki still lives,’ the Dark Lord hissed, looking at one of the creatures. ‘L - - Lord,’ the Kalakanja stuttered, his tall and skeletal frame shivering in terror.
‘Silence!’ The shrouded figure glared menacingly at the Kalakanja. ‘I should ideally send all three of you to your eternal graves in Tamastamah Prabha.’ Tamastamah Prabha was the seventh and the lowest level of existence within Pataal Lok, where serpents fed on the dead and those who had been sentenced to eternal death.
He paused to look at the shaken trio of monsters and continued. ‘But you have served me well in the past, and for that I will make an exception this time.’
The look of relief on their faces was palpable, as their Master continued. ‘Go and kill Devki before this month is over, and you will have earned your place forever, in my mind.’ He paused to look penetratingly at them. ‘But fail again and there will be no corner in the three worlds where you will be safe from my wrath.’
Cowering in fear, the three monsters bowed.
‘Go now!’ commanded the Dark Lord in a raucous voice. The command was like a whiplash and his followers made a hasty retreat, each of them vowing to himself that he would be the one to kill Devki. Her death would be her salvation, and theirs too.
