THE CURSE OF BRAHMA (57 page)

Mandki was thrilled to know that Airawat and the king were safe, even though they were in confinement. Airawat had recovered from his wounds but was not allowed outside his room. The king, however, was free to walk around in the palace compound, though he had voluntarily decided not to leave his room after his last interaction with Kansa. Devki would visit Ugrasena in his room, every day. She too had the freedom of moving around within the palace and the outer compound. The assassins were everywhere, out of sight. It was futile to try and escape.

Mandki looked closely at her friend. The stress of being held by her own brother had matured Devki beyond her years. But the hopeless look in her once-mischievous eyes told Mandki that there was something more than that; something so terrible that it had killed all the joy inside Devki. And then it struck her. Devki had spoken about everyone else, including Airawat. But she had carefully refrained from talking about Vasudev, except for one or two occasions when she had to.

‘Devki, where’s Vasudev?’ Mandki asked unable to contain her apprehension.

Devki did not answer. Her eyes were as expressionless as her face. Mandki grew increasingly perturbed as she asked again, ‘Where is Vasudev?’

Devki got up abruptly. She held Mandki’s hand and silently pulled her behind her as they entered the inner chambers of the vast residential area. They reached the bed where a figure lay huddled under a blanket. Mandki gaped in horror as she saw the motionless body of Vasudev. His eyes gazed expressionlessly at her, his mouth twisted in a constant grimace. His once muscular body had atrophied to becoming almost skeletal.

‘He has been completely paralyzed since the day Kansa threw him to the ground,’ Devki said softly. ‘He hasn’t spoken or moved since that day.’

Mandki stared at her friend who had always been transparent with her emotions. But the Devki standing next to her displayed even lesser sensation than the man who had been lying motionless on the bed for the past nine months.

Mandki sobbed unable to restrain her own feelings. ‘Devki, how have you lived with…with all this?’ she said marvelling at the princess’s stoicism.

Devki touched her stomach. ‘This…I live for this!’ she whispered. And Mandki’s attention was drawn for the first time to the signs of life growing rapidly inside Devki’s enormously protruding belly.

Brahma listened carefully to Narada. The news from Mrityulok was not encouraging. In the last few months, there had been grave incidents of unrest and violence in various kingdoms of the mortal world. Most of them had occurred in Bharat, which comprised majority of the civilized portion of Mrityulok. Brahma shuddered as Narada narrated stories of murders, theft, vandalism and all other forms of bestiality.

‘It has started then,’ Brahma muttered to himself.

‘Did you say something, My Lord?’ Narada asked hesitatingly, not sure what his father had said.

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

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

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

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

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

‘What about Kansa?’ Brahma enquired.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Sex…sex what?’ Mandki stammered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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