The Rigveda Code

by Rashmi Chendvankar

  This is a work of fiction, inspired by elements of Indian mythology and Ancient Indian history. The geographical references mentioned in the book are however, factual.

  ISBN 978-93-83952-60-1

  First published in 2014

  Re Published in 2015

  Copyright@ 2014-2015 Rashmi Chendvankar

  All rights reserved. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

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  Quest Offices, C38/39, Parinee Crescenzo Building,

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  T: +91 8080226699

  Cover design by Ami Shah.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. THE UNIQUE ‘RAJAYOGA’

  2. THE LOST CHAKRA

  3. THE KINGDOM OF KOSAL

  4. THE GREAT GURU OF ARCHERY

  5. THE BATTLE OF KAAWAR

  6. THE WISE OLD MAN OF BHOGANAGARA

  7. THE VISITORS FROM TAKSHASHILA

  8. THE SECRET REVEALED

  9. LOVE BECKONS…

  10. THE KSHATRIYA CODE

  11. THE CONSPIRACY OF KOSAL

  12. THE SOULMATES

  13. DAWN AND DUSK

  14. THE CAPITAL UNDER ATTACK

  15. THE WISH OF VASUMNA

  16. THE WORDS OF THE LORD

  17. THE SIEGE OF SRAVASTI

  18. THE SHADOWS OF THE GREAT WAR

  19. THE SIEGE OF VAISHALI

  20. THE AUSPICIOUS CHAKRA

  21. THE RULE OF THE GANARAJAS

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  “I am going to write a book... a fiction...” I told my husband as we were having a quiet dinner in a restaurant, more than three years ago... I expected a laugh or a humorous comment. “Great!” Lalit said. His voice was sincere. As usual, he seemed to have more confidence in me than I had in myself...

  Well, that’s how this book took off... Before that, this book was just eight handwritten pages of a story - line which had dawned upon me while travelling in my car back home from office... Then came Trupti - my little sister - who gave me a thumbs up for the first few chapters that I wrote... Trupti is a voracious reader and her acknowledgement was taken seriously. I kept writing (and re-writing) over weekends and Trupti was my sounding - board throughout the journey of writing this book. In fact, a lot of bright ideas, including the concept of the cover page, have come from her... Neha, my other sister (we are three sisters!) read the final cut and gave me a go ahead. She too reads a lot and was my final in-house counsel...

  The customary thank-you seems to be too formal for these folks - they are my family and will always be there for me... But still, I do want to mention my in-laws who stay with me and look after the most important person in my life - my son! They constantly help me to strike a fine balance between my home and my work. My parents too are always around for help... You really can’t go and conceive an entire book if you are mentally bogged down by the pressures of balancing your home and work... So these folks were important for the very thought of writing a book! Special thanks to Ami Shah, who designed the book cover and fabulously put on paper, the image which Trupti and I had imagined.

  I have one more entity to thank - the vast treasure of ancient Indian history and mythology, especially the great epic Mahabharata, which has always attracted me... You guessed it right - this book is from the now famous mytho-historical genre... It picks up threads from the Mahabharata and ties them up with an actual event of Ancient Indian history. Is there a grain of history in the epic story of Mahabharata? Well, the Mahabharata calls itself ‘itihaas’ – history... And one may find grains of a realistic story in this great epic, if one lifts the veil of magic... Historians have attempted to date the great war of Mahabharata... The predicted dates range from 5000 BC to 900 BC.For this book, I have assumed the date to be around 900 BC. I personally think that the culture emerging from the stories of the Mahabharata corresponds to the Iron Age, which roughly corresponds to 900 BC.

  I hope you enjoy reading this story, dear reader! And a final thank-you to you for picking up this book...

  *****

  PROLOGUE

  Rikshavi could not move her legs. She stared down at her feet. They were stuck in a strange sludge. Rikshavi flinched as she saw the colour of the sludge. It was deep red…. A foul stench emanated from the earth. Rikshavi covered her nose with her ‘uttariya’ and forcefully lifted her foot out of the strange sludge. As she cautiously put her other foot forward, she felt that the other edge of her ‘uttariya’ was stuck in something which tugged at her. She looked back. It was a broken wheel of a chariot. Her ‘uttariya’ was stuck in its spokes… Rikshavi pulled it out and moved ahead. Her ‘uttariya’ tore at its edge. Oblivious, Rikshavi limped forward, clinching a carved bronze plate at her bosom. Her feet were hurting and her breath was heavy. But she carried on, as if she was searching for something; or maybe, someone…

  All of a sudden, Rikshavi tripped. She balanced herself and gazed at the object on which she had stumbled. For moments, she froze with horror. It was a severed limb! Rikshavi saw an anklet on it. “May be it is a human hand….” she thought. It was covered with stains of dried blood. The flesh on it had also dried up and showed hints of bone.…

  Rikshavi couldn’t move anymore. She had come far, transcending the ocean of time…… more than three hundred years in history…

  Rikshavi stood still and looked around…. Thousands and thousands of human corpses lay across the vast landscape… Severed limbs were strewn everywhere… Arrows, maces, swords and spears dotted the landscape along with their mortal targets… Broken wheels were stuck in a mush of flesh and blood…. Proud chariots had fallen to dust…. The earth was red, as if blood had oozed out of her surface…. This was the bloodiest face of death that the great land of Bharatkhanda had ever witnessed – It was the face of the Great War of Kurukshetra, which the world would later know as the ‘Mahabharata War’.

  Rikshavi felt nauseous as she stood amidst the gory scene. Her weak legs were giving in…. Her eyelids were heavy…. “Soon, I would be a part of the countless dead lying around here…” she thought. But suddenly, her senses were jolted by a flash of light. She looked towards the horizon…. The sun had almost set…. “Where did the light come from?” she wondered. Her sinking feet compelled her to look around to find some space to collapse. She did not want to fall on corpses….

  The light flashed again. Rikshavi raised her head. The light was emanating from a short distance…. Rikshavi was infused with renewed strength. She stretched her eyes. Right in the middle of the dreaded landscape, stood a chariot which was radiating with divine light…. A distraught charioteer sat in that chariot, looking towards the horizon…. Rikshavi gasped. “It is Him!” she muttered to herself. She fervently limped towards the chariot. “Answer me!” she screamed, as she held out the carved bronze plate which she had been carrying….. The light radiating from the chariot fell on the bronze plate…. The verses carved on the plate dazzled…

  There was no reaction from the charioteer…..

  Rikshavi got up from her bed with a start. The bronze plate was drenched in her sweat. She had slept clinching it to her bosom… The tender morning sunrays streaming from the window blinded Rikshavi for some moments. She realized that after haunting her in her dreams, the Lord
had evaded her question once again….

  “Answer me!” Rikshavi screamed in frustration…..

  CHAPTER 1

  THE UNIQUE ‘RAJAYOGA’

  “Answer me, Vasudev!” King Yudhistir pleaded to Vasudev Krishna.

  900 BC.

  Viraatnagari, the capital of Matsya kingdom

  (present day Jaipur district of Rajasthan, India).

  The Pandavs were camping in the capital of their ally, the Matsya kingdom. Krishna gave a helpless look to the miserable king of Indraprasta, who had been deceitfully deprived of his kingdom. King Yudhistir wanted to know if there was any means left to avert a war. He and his four younger brothers, the ‘Pandavs’, had lost their kingdom to their paternal cousins, the ‘Kauravs’, in a deceitful game of dice. They were offered their kingdom back on a condition - twelve years of exile and one year of anonymity! The Pandavs had meticulously completed the condition – they had spent their last year of anonymity in the Matsya Kingdom, as servants in the royal palace of King Viraat.

  But Prince Duryodhan, the eldest Kaurav, was in no mood to give them their kingdom back. He claimed that the condition of the game had not been accurately fulfilled. The Pandavs were denied the right to their kingdom and were told to go back into another exile of twelve years, followed by another year of anonymity….

  As a last resort, Vasudev Krishna, the maternal cousin and ambassador of the Pandavs, went to the court of Kuru King Dhritarashtra, the father of Prince Duryodhan. He requested the King to grant just five villages to the Pandav brothers. “Not even a needle point of land shall be given!” The vain Prince Duryodhan declared on behalf of his blind, submissive father. This was the failure of the final effort to avert a war…

  “Was there any other alternative, but war?” Krishna reminisced as the other Pandav brothers looked on. The Pandavs hailed from the great warrior race of ‘Kshatriyas’, who would rather die fighting than accept a humiliating retreat….

  “We have the support of formidable kingdoms of the Bharatkhanda!” assured Bheem, the second eldest of the Pandavs. “So does Duryodhan!” Arjun, the third eldest Pandav added. “We have with us, the greatest archer – Arjun and the mightiest warrior, Bheem!” Nakul said, proudly glancing at his legendary brothers. Nakul was the youngest of the Pandavs, along with his twin brother, Sahadev. “This war will drag the entire Bharatkhanda into mass devastation!” King Yudhistir voiced his deepest apprehension.

  “Why don’t you ask Sahadev for his advice?” Krishna finally suggested. Everyone turned to the serene Sahadev. This youngest Pandav was the most learned and wisest of the five brothers. Above all, he was an accomplished astrologer. Sahadev gave a sharp glance to Krishna for dragging him into this discussion. He had long realized that the war could not be averted. But how could he tell this to Yudhishtir? He had hence chosen to stay silent. “Well…” he replied in a sagacious tone, “If you wish to avoid the war, O King, then let us all retire to the forests…. And thereafter, let us tie Krishna’s limbs and throw him in the holy river Ganga – else the hope for our kingdom will never leave us!” Everyone was shocked. Krishna laughed aloud at Sahadev’s sarcasm. Indeed, the war was inevitable….

  “Do you believe that you are capable of tying me?” Krishna playfully nudged Sahadev as they moved out of the meeting chamber. The camaraderie between Krishna and Sahadev was little known. They shared a keen common interest in astrology and bonded like childhood friends…. Astrology was an ancient science which was based on the premise that events in the human world were influenced by the movements of planets and heavenly bodies… Accomplished astrologers like Sahadev were adept in accurately predicting events based on their study of planetary movements….

  “Forgive me for my sarcasm, O wise one!” Sahadev pleaded. Krishna winked. He knew that there was no other way to convey the inevitability of the war. But Krishna’s face gradually turned into a graver hue. “Who am I to give hope to Yudhistir?” he grimly remarked, “You brothers have brought this situation upon yourselves…. You have recklessly gambled away your kingdom… I am merely your advisor… I stand by you because I truly believe that you have been unjustly deprived of your kingdom… I face a miserable risk of being blamed by future generations for supporting you, and consequently supporting the war! But I have simply chosen to stand by my cousins, the Pandavs, on the grounds of justice!”

  Sahadev realized that he had hurt Krishna. “Please accept my heartfelt apologies, Vasudev!” he pleaded again. Krishna smiled and placed his hand on Sahadev’s shoulder. “What does your astrology say about the outcome of the war?” he asked. Sahadev looked crestfallen. “There is no question of our defeat with you on our side!” he confidently said, “But the planetary positions indicate massive devastation of human lives in the coming days…”

  Krishna sighed. He did not require astrological calculations to predict the impending annihilation. Indeed, such devastation was imminent as great warriors from both sides possessed lethal weapons of mass destruction. They stood at the brink of the epochal Great War of Kurukshetra, which the world would come to know as the great “Mahabharata War”

  Both the men fell silent for some time. “Alas! Astrology can only predict certain events… It cannot change destiny!” Sahadev finally exclaimed. “No one can change destiny my friend!” Krishna responded with a sigh. “But you have extraordinary capabilities, Vasudev!” Sahadev said, as he expectantly looked at his Krishna. In reply, Krishna merely gestured him to move towards his chamber.

  “I am incapable of averting this war, Sahadev!” Krishna remarked as they moved into Sahadev’s chambers, “I have exhausted all possible options…. But the larger questions are - Will Bharatkhanda keep facing such annihilation due to warring Kshatriyas? Can we uproot the real cause of war? Can ambition be ever curtailed?”

  Sahadev was stunned as he gazed at the great visionary standing in front of him. Even in the face of impending devastation, this man was thinking ahead… “Is that ever possible Vasudev?” Sahadev softly asked. Krishna handed over a shiny bronze plate to Sahadev. “Read the inscription on this bronze plate, my dear! It is my most prized possession!” he replied with a smile. Sahadev smiled as he read the verse inscribed on the bronze plate. It was a verse from the ‘Rigveda’, the first ever manuscript composed by mankind….. Krishna knew that the learned Pandav was intelligent enough to understand the true message of the verse.

  “If this happens, this will be a turning point in the history of Bharatkhanda!” Sahadev exclaimed as he read the verse. “Yes Sahadev!” Krishna said, as if in a monologue, “Once the war is over, King Yudhistir will face the challenge of settling this war torn land…. This bronze plate will guide him to establish a new order in Bharatkhanda after he restores political stability …”

  “I will leave this bronze plate as my legacy for King Yudhistir!” Krishna declared.

  Sahadev looked at Krishna with wide eyes. “Yudhistir is not destined to carry out this task, Vasudev!” he retorted, “I have seen his horoscope…. He will certainly win the war... He would become an Emperor…. But this task is out of his bounds! This task might rather be ruined in his hands if he undertakes it….”

  Krishna’s face lost colour… He wondered whether his task would be ever fulfilled…

  “Only a person with a unique ‘rajayoga’ can carry out this task!” Sahadev dragged Krishna back into the conversation…

  “What unique ‘rajayoga’ are you talking about?” asked the perplexed Krishna. “A ‘rajayoga’ where a person is destined to rule without any position of power!” Sahadev exclaimed.

  “No man can ever resist the lure of power!” Krishna sighed. Sahadev smiled. “You are right, Vasudev…” he said, “No man can ever possess such a ‘rajayoga’…”

  Krishna knowingly looked back at his friend…

  “Don’t worry, Vasudev…” Sahadev continued… “There is hardly any probability of a major war after this great war of Kurukshetra ends… until and unless, the Kshatriya code is broke
n…”

  “You can always trust humans to break the codes they have set for themselves…” Krishna retorted.

  Sahadev smiled. “Humans also set new codes for themselves, Vasudev! Who else but you can know this!” he said.

  “Codes have to be reset and re-interpreted as human civilization evolves…” Krishna replied, “The question is whether such a code will lead to peace or annihilation…”

  Sahadev gave him a mysterious smile. “Let me show you something…” he said, as he bent over his astrological charts to make some calculations…. “Approximately three hundred years hence, I see a significant change in planetary positions… This indicates a momentous transition in the history of mankind…..”

  *****

  600 BC.

  Approximately three hundred years after the Mahabharat war.

  Vaishali, the capital city of the kingdom of Vrij.

  (present day Bihar, India)

  Little Rikshavi was thrilled at the sight of butterflies hovering around flowers at ‘Pushpa Vatika’, the central garden in the city of Vaishali. Her deep brown eyes twinkled as she gazed at the myriad hues and colours splashed across the vast garden. Variety of flowers and plants bought from across the Bharatkhanda, were planted in Pushpa Vatika. Rikshavi kept running around in mirth across the flower-lined stone paths, oblivious to the guarding eyes of fifty soldiers who followed her moves. After all, she was the princess of the most powerful kingdom of the Bharatkhanda – the kingdom of Vrij.

  Around three hundred years after the Great Mahabharata War, ‘Bharatkhanda’, the Ancient Indian subcontinent, was divided in small kingdoms, majorly extending from the basins of the Indus and Beas rivers upto the fertile plains of the great river Ganga. Prominent among them were Gandhara, Kashi, Kosal, Vatsa, Magadh, Kuru, Malla, Videha, Panchala, Anga, and Vrij.