The prince’s uncle, Acyut, spoke immediately, ‘You must act soon or things will get out of hand. Remember that the vice commander is supporting the king even though the majority of the army is loyal to the commander. However, if the vice commander manages to swing enough officers to his side, we will have a problem. Also, what is your plan to arrange for funds?’
The prince replied, ‘I have entered into a pact with the Dasyu king, Cumuri, whose kingdom lies to our east. He has promised to support me. I do not want to reveal the full details of the pact, but we can live with the conditions he has set. He is readying an army to send to my aid as we speak. He will also send gold and supplies.’
As they were talking, the prince’s head servant, Veśa, walked in and told him that Jaraduṣṭra wanted to see him. The prince asked to be excused and instructed Veśa to bring him in.
As Veśa walked into the main room to do so, he heard Vāyata telling Jaraduṣṭra, ‘Sir, I think we should make an active attempt at stopping the annual sacrifice this year.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I am thinking of using . . .’ He saw Veśa and stopped. They were then escorted to the prince’s room.
Sudās greeted Jaraduṣṭra and Vāyata. ‘Sir, how can I be of assistance to you?’
Jaraduṣṭra, as was his style, came straight to the point. ‘Prince, I know that you are making a bid for the throne. I am not here to judge you on your purpose or actions, but I do want to rest assured that when you become king, there will be a change in our religious practices.’
‘What change are you envisaging?’
‘I am envisaging a moral and ethical revolution in society, which will be possible only if Varuṇa is our chief god and everyone obeys his orders and injunctions.’
‘What else?’
‘Indra should be downgraded from being chief god. There will be no sacrifices, especially animal sacrifices. There will be no drinking of intoxicants such as soma and surā, the two evils. All gambling dens, public houses and brothels in the kingdom should be closed and all courtesans and prostitutes be banished.’
‘Why should I do this? Why should I follow your religion? What is in it for me?’
‘I will try to enlist support for you from some of the Aryan kingdoms to the west and north-west. I understand that many leading citizens of these kingdoms have accepted this purer religion. I will send messengers to them asking them to get the support of their rulers for you.’
‘I do require all the support I can get. I can make no promises to you, but I will think about it.’
Jaraduṣṭra had to be satisfied with that.
Unknown to both of them, Veśa was able to hear the important part of the conversation. He liked what he heard. When Sudās became king, he could become the chief servant of the kingdom. He wished, however, that the prince would speed things up a bit. But there was one concern. The chief servant of the king, Dāsa, who was now the highest-ranking servant in the kingdom, was well known and well liked by the people, including the prince and his household. What if the prince, on becoming king, let Dāsa continue as his chief servant and made Veśa only his assistant? He did not want to wait and speculate.
Atharvan and Bhārgava were talking outside their house when Veśa arrived.
‘Greetings, students. Respects to the great guru Vasiṣṭha and his wife, Arundhatī.’
Bhārgava said, ‘Greetings to you. How can we help?’
‘I wanted to talk to Atharvan.’
‘What is it about?’
‘If Atharvan could step aside for a little while, I would like to talk to him.’
Atharvan stepped aside with Veśa, but Bhārgava strained his ears so he could overhear what was being said.
Veśa said, ‘Atharvan, you know that there is a great rebellion brewing. My master, Prince Sudās, is being projected as the future king.’
‘Yes, I have heard of this. I think it is a good thing. The prince will be able to get the kingdom back into shape.’
‘When Sudās becomes king, I want to continue as his servant and am even hoping to become the chief servant of the kingdom . . .’
Atharvan was puzzled. ‘Does not the king have a chief servant already? Dāsa is acknowledged all over the kingdom as his chief servant. Would he not continue in this position? He is not a partisan. Why would Sudās replace him? It is only logical that you will be installed at a level below him. He is senior to you.’
‘That is what I am afraid of. I do not want this to happen.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘I want some help from you. You have, over the last two years, become an expert in the esoteric sciences, have you not?’
‘I have, and so has Bhārgava.’
Veśa lowered his voice. Now Bhārgava could not hear him any more. When Veśa went away, Bhārgava asked Atharvan, ‘What did he want?’
‘Something we should forget. Something our guru has told us never to do.’
Bhārgava could only guess what it was.
3
Three More Deaths
The officer to whom Kaśyapa and Agastya had reported Atharvan’s death told them that the others who were murdered the previous night included the vice commander of the army, the prince’s uncle, Acyut, and a warrior who was known to have spoken against the king in the assembly.
The officer had grimly joked, ‘The score seems to be two-one; two for the king and one for the prince. Of course, the one for Sudās was a big one—the vice commander.’
Though there had been four deaths that night, his guru had asked Kaśyapa to examine only Atharvan’s death. What about the other three? His guru, like the king’s officer, may have decided that the other three deaths were only manifestations of the ongoing dynastic struggle. That is, while the deaths in themselves were not a good thing, there was not much of a mystery about why they happened or who did it.
Kaśyapa too was quite sure that that was the case. But he wanted to be more than sure. He wanted to assure himself that there was no connection between Atharvan’s death and the other three deaths. If there was a connection, his investigation had to cover all four deaths. That would be a tall task indeed.
So, that day, after coming back from the rivulet where they had found Atharvan’s body, and after completing their morning observances, Kaśyapa and Agastya went to the vice commander’s house. There were a few people whispering outside. One of the king’s officers was standing at the gate to prevent any unauthorized person from walking in. Since the boys were of the priestly class, the guard spoke to them about the purpose of their visit. They gave him some mumbo-jumbo about performing some rites before the investigation started and were let in.
The sight that greeted them made Kaśyapa feel sick. Bodies lay all around. Nothing had been moved since the murder. One of the vice commander’s bodyguards lay dead with an arrow piercing his heart just outside the door of the house. As they entered, they found another body in the corridor with deep spear wounds in the chest. The vice commander himself lay in a pool of now-dried blood in his bedroom. Near him, three others lay dead. A stench arose from the bodies.
Kaśyapa said, ‘He killed three of his assailants. How do you think he managed that?’
Agastya replied, ‘I think he used the mace in his hand to crack open the skulls of his attackers. He also seems to have pulled out his battleaxe to defend himself. See, his wrist is broken—his palm is turned at an awkward angle. They must have managed to twist it to prevent him from using the mace.’
The vice commander’s face looked grave and forbidding even though his head was almost severed from the body.
Agastya said, ‘Imagine the power, strength and alertness of this man. The men, we cannot know how many, had come in while he was probably asleep. Yet he woke up, got his mace and battleaxe out and killed three of his attackers before he was overpowered and slain. There seems to be no sign of fear or pain.’
‘He was a tough man to have killed three of his assailants
before he was overpowered. No wonder he was the vice commander. People say that while Yadu was the brains, the vice commander was the brawn of our army,’ said Kaśyapa.
And then, in a low voice, he continued, ‘It looks like Sudās has started taking action. The vice commander was one of the king’s most loyal supporters. Do you think the commander had anything to do with this killing?’
‘Maybe it was just ordinary thieves who broke in to rob the house and, because they were discovered, had to kill the vice commander to protect themselves?’
‘No. I don’t think so. Which robber would dare to enter the house of someone as powerful as the vice commander?’
‘Yes, that is true. Maybe someone had a private grouse against him.’
‘And he came with so many men? I don’t think so. No, no. I think it is the commander’s doing.’
As they were leaving the house, the guard asked them, ‘Have you finished the rituals so quickly?’
‘No. We forgot to bring some ingredients for the rites. We will get those and come back.’
From there, they went to the house of the prince’s uncle. His body was hanging from the rafters of his roof. There was no stool or any such thing around on which he could have climbed and hanged himself. They wondered if this meant that he had been hanged by someone else, unless the crime scene had been tampered with. Since he was an old man, it would have been fairly easy to lift him and put a rope round his neck after killing him, possibly by strangling, so the wounds could be attributed to the rope.
The third victim, the warrior, had been killed using a spear when he had gone to relieve himself. There were a few toilets near the river, where the water had been diverted to wash the waste clean. He was lying face down in the toilet, with the spear sticking out from his back.
He could not have seen what hit him. A quick, clean and efficient murder.
Kaśyapa asked Agastya, ‘Could there be a connection between these three deaths and that of Atharvan?’
‘I don’t think so. It seems a little far-fetched.’ In Agastya’s mind, it was quite clear that the warrior and the prince’s uncle were killed on the orders of the queen, or possibly the vice commander himself before he himself was killed. The prince’s uncle may have been killed in order to get one of Sudās’s best advisers out of the way. The killing of the warrior might have been meant to serve as a warning to those who dared to oppose the king. However, the irony in this case would have been completely unexpected—while the vice commander was plotting the killing of the warrior and the prince’s uncle, the commander was plotting the vice commander’s own death!
Kaśyapa was inclined to agree with Agastya. The methods used in the three killings suggested that the perpetrators did not care if they were found out. Atharvan had been found dead at an isolated location. They had to conclude that the other three killings were indeed commissioned by stakeholders in the dynastic drama, while Atharvan’s was not. Their guru too must have been quite sure of this. That was why he did not seem very worried about the circumstances of the three deaths.
Yes, Atharvan’s death was different—it was far more complex to make sense of. Why did Atharvan have to die? Had something happened?
Kaśyapa’s thoughts went back to the day that followed Atharvan’s open expression of dissent in the assembly on the first day of the new year. The situation in the kingdom was becoming unstable . . .
4
The Guru Has a Proposal for Peace
People had already started anticipating that Sudās would soon make a bid for the throne. A lot of bloodshed and chaos was likely to erupt in the capital and the surrounding countryside. Many small farmers just outside the city had already started moving to remote villages to stay with friends and relatives. Traders in the capital were moving their goods to safer places. Grain and other food items, especially vegetables, became scarce. Small fights began to break out often between the factions supporting Turvaśa and Sudās.
People seemed to be reminded of what a great sage had once said:
The very anticipation of a rebellion creates situations that make people feel that a change of government is necessary.
The volatile situation in the kingdom worsened as the days went by. Vasiṣṭha became more and more worried. The king was intoxicated most of the time and didn’t seem to care much about his people. Queen Menakā was becoming even more adamant and was digging her heels in for a showdown with the prince. Everyone knew that most of the orders were coming from her. But all her moves seemed to be aimed towards consolidating her position rather than governing the realm.
As opposed to the king, Sudās, at only eighteen years of age, was both far-sighted and intelligent. He was patient even though he was being egged on by his supporters to assume kingship quickly. Sudās wanted to ensure that all the pieces were in place, especially the soldiers from the Dasyu king, before he did anything. He was also concerned about the growing instability in the kingdom, with people expressing concern at the increasing scarcities and the declining state of governance. He wanted to do something about it.
That morning, on the eighth day of the month of Tapa and of the year, Kaśyapa and Agastya got up earlier than usual.
The two of them had house duties that day. Their other fellow students were sleeping on woollen rugs under blankets to keep warm. Kaśyapa shivered. It was midwinter and the woollens he had on were not warm enough. It was still the last part of the night and it would be a while before dawn. A cold breeze entered the house through the door that was now open.
The first chore of the day for the students was chewing on slender neem sticks to clean their teeth. After this, they washed their faces and went outside to the common pit toilets near the river, which were used by the priestly class. Though these pits were washed out into the river each day, the area stank of human waste.
On a normal day, they would then start with their daily domestic sacrifice, with the offering of holy wooden sticks into the sacrificial fire. But that day, since they had house duties, they had to clean the area outside the house before performing rituals.
By the time Kaśyapa and Agastya finished cleaning the house, the other students woke up and were ready to perform sacrifices. Bhārgava and Atharvan were practising their esoteric sciences. They had a sacrificial fire going and had started a ritual. That morning, the leading merchant of the kingdom, Dīrghaśravas, came to their guru for help. His wife had been down with a fever for the last twenty days and her state was getting worse. The best physicians in the kingdom had been unable to do much. He wanted the guru to help him get any hostile influence on her removed, in case that was causing the fever. The guru had asked Bhārgava and Atharvan to do the required sacrifices. It was known that these sacrifices made the ill feel well again.
While the sacrifices were going on, Dīrghaśravas said to Vasiṣṭha, ‘Sir, I thank you for doing this for me. Actually, I have another problem. My gambling den in the northern city is not doing well. My rival merchant has started a den which seems to be more popular. Can you help me in any way?’
The guru looked at the merchant sternly. ‘Neither I nor my students will use the esoteric sciences to harm others. Is that clear? But I can ask the students to perform a ritual that makes you popular instead. But first, let’s get your wife to feel better.’
‘Thank you so much, sir!’
That day, after their morning sacrifices and a breakfast of barley porridge and fruits, Vasiṣṭha asked Kaśyapa and Agastya to accompany him to Prince Sudās’s palace. Vasiṣṭha always took one or two of his senior students with him when he went for important meetings. He wanted to give them exposure and, also, they gave him an extra set of ears and eyes to remember any bits of conversation which he himself may forget at the end of the meeting.
Vasiṣṭha was received warmly by the prince, who also nodded at Kaśyapa and Agastya. Vasiṣṭha spoke first. ‘Prince, the whole kingdom is in a state of anxiety and fear. People do not know what is coming. Many have started leaving
the city and seeking shelter in remote rural areas. Merchants have started moving their goods out for fear of being looted.’
Sudās said, ‘Yes, sir. I too have heard news of panic spreading among the people.’
‘Yes, but this also means that support for you is gathering momentum. A civil war will do no good to you or anybody else. Even if you win, you will end up with a kingdom that is bitterly divided.’
‘I understand that. But what are my options? The king will never abdicate upon my request! Even if he wants to, the queen won’t let him.’
‘I have a proposal that I think will work well for everyone.’
‘Go ahead. I am listening.’
‘My plan is that you be named and installed as the crown prince immediately. The agreement will be such that when the king passes on, you will inherit the kingdom instead of the king’s son, Kutsa, who will thus become disinherited. The queen will be removed from all positions of power—she will not be permitted to attend meetings on the king’s behalf. Instead, you will assume all control of the government, the army and the kingdom as the de facto king.’
‘What about the king’s son?’
‘He will become your ward and will be brought up by your retainers. The queen will be allowed to meet him only periodically and in the presence of your servants.’
‘What will happen when he grows up? Will he not challenge me?’
‘He is very young right now. Your servants can help to bring him up in a fashion that he never thinks of going against you. When he grows up, you can name him the king of some small neighbouring kingdoms under your vassalage. With this arrangement, even though you will not immediately become king, you can assume almost full power over the kingdom as its crown prince. The king is debilitated and old. He is well over forty years and is quite likely to pass on in a few years. You will then rightfully become the king.’
The prince nodded. ‘This sounds like a workable proposal.’
The First Aryan Page 4
