by Abhishek Roy
On reaching the gate, we got a better view of the entire campus of three buildings. The pagoda roofed structure facing North was the main building. The edifice facing eastward was certainly a part of the museum itself and on the western side was a rather European looking building with a turquoise green cupola.
“We have a personal meeting with Hamasaki-san.” Vivek said to the stern faced guard at the door. He rushed back to his register and looked up at Vivek, “Mr. Bindal?” he asked.
“Hai!” Vivek nodded. He filled up most of the columns of the register.
“Hamasaki-san is waiting for you inside the museum,” the guard pointed at the huge facade of the museum.
“Arigato,” Vivek said formally and led the way. Once inside, we walked towards the museum, crossing the decorated bed of grass at the centre of the promenade and the stagnant pool of water in between it. On the two sides of the grass bed were two smaller beds, one of which had a really old tree growing. Near the tree was a bill board telling us the names of the buildings and sections of the museum. According to the board, the mother building was called Honkan and had the Japanese gallery. The smaller building to the east was but a part of the museum and was called Toyokan. This building, as described by the plaque card, housed various relics from all over Asia. It exhibited artefacts from China, Korea, India, South east and Central Asia and Egypt. Overall, it looked much more modern than the other two buildings in the campus and surely it was, after being refurbished and reopened in 2003.
The European styled edifice was called Hyokeikan which was the special exhibition gallery. All three buildings, especially the Honkan and Hyokeikan looked grand yet mysterious in the dim lighting provided by the street lamps all around. They looked as if they were beckoning us to come and look what they had in their dark bellies. On the other hand, the Toyokan looked much more modern with the glass, steel and concrete facade.
“Do you want to eat something? I am pretty hungry.” Ram pointed towards a small restaurant in the distance, placed in between the Toyokan and the Honkan buildings.
“Yeah. You can go eat the air in there or clean the kitchen for the men who arrive tomorrow. Oh, and you also need to break in right? The restaurant is closed and the door must be locked,” I said, sarcastically.
“Correct! And I was hoping you could help me by hacking,” Ram sniggered.
“Come on you, two! Stop fooling around!” Vivek called to us from the flight of stairs leading up to the entrance of Honkan.
“Yes, sir!” Ram gave a military salute and marched up to the stairs, causing both Vivek and me to laugh at his caricatures.
I followed the two of them in and entered the museum. Surprisingly, the interiors looked much more contemporary and modern than the facade, similar to the British museum. The floor was made of marble. The lighting, accompanied by the architectural design and the decor, gave it a new age look.
As we walked into the foyer, a man walked briskly towards us from the top of a huge flight of stairs a couple of metres away. He was quite young, dressed in the customary black suit and white shirt. He looked too young to be the curator. After all, in Japan, age was respected and it is difficult to rise to high posts at a young age.
“You are here to meet Hamasaki-san?” The young man said in slightly accented English.
“Yes,” said Vivek. “I believe he is expecting us.“
“Come with me.” He turned on his heels and walked briskly towards a door with a sign displaying ‘PRIVATE : STAFF ONLY’. He pushed open a door and held it open for us politely. The three of us were led through a few carpeted corridors. It was after-hours and all the other lights had been switched off. Only the LED lights of the corridor were still on and partially illuminated the cubicles that lined the corridors. Some of them looked like conference rooms because of the figures scribbled on the whiteboard and the oval meeting table. Some were just meant for individual employees as an office.
We arrived at a set of wooden doors. The man knocked on the door.
“Ohairikudasai!” said someone from inside. The man opened the doors to a larger and more spacious office. The floor was made of marble and looked extremely clean. There was a sofa set to the right hand side of the door, with a few newspapers strewn on the table. The walls were lined up by paintings and shelves containing many books and antique objects. There was a big table on the other side of the room. It had a few bunches of paper and a few trinkets that could always be seen on an office desk - picture frames of family and friends, a desktop computer, a pen stand, a laughing Buddha and a large beautiful cube shaped crystal paperweight.
Behind the table was a man in his mid-sixties. He wore a black coat over a white polyester shirt and black trousers - ubiquitous among Japanese corporates. His face was really fresh and the creases on his forehead accentuated the wise look of his visage.
On seeing us, he immediately got up from his swivelling high - back chair and walked towards us. Over the sound of his polished shoes tapping the ground, he called out to us,
“Hello my boys! How are you?”
“Very good Hamasaki-san. How about you?” Vivek shook his hand.
“I am well, Mr. Bindal.” His eyes were sharp and seemed to scan every inch of our body. “I have heard a lot about you from my nephew, Hikaru. He says that you were one of the best young scientists in the Indian Space Research Organisation and guided him in his internship there.“
“Is it? Hikaru is an intelligent boy, his brilliance only matched by his flattery.” the two of them had a laugh.
“I totally agree, Mr. Bindal.” then he turned to us, “Hello my boy. What may your name be?” he raised his hand to shake mine.
“My name is Mathias Thompson. Pleased to meet you.” I took his hand and shook it.
“Same here, son. And you are?” he looked at Ram.
“My name is Ram Shanbhag.”
“How old are you two?” he asked us.
“We are almost eighteen.” Ram answered for us both.
“Young lads! But how did you meet Vivek? He is much elder to you!” the inquisitive man asked us.
“Well...Vivek is my elder cousin,” Ram answered, making it up.
“Very good. Interesting.” It was clear from his face that he found the answer odd but decided not to think about it too much.
“These two boys are really bright, Hamasaki-san. They had come to India from London a few days ago. When they heard that I had to travel to Tokyo for some work, they urged me to take them with me. Tomorrow is their flight back to London. They didn’t want to miss the Tokyo National museum and I had to meet you. So here we are.”
“Superb! Shall we begin?” he proudly pointed towards the interior of the museum and led the way. We tagged along.
After walking to the stairs, we turned right and entered the first room of the museum, numbered 11.
“This room has numerous statues and effigies of Buddha and other Japanese deities,” Hamasaki-san declared. The room we were in was pretty massive and was divided into two parts. The first section which was the smaller section had five sculptures, each kept on granite slabs and enclosed in a cuboid of glass. Two were discernible as Buddha but the other demonic looking effigies were mainly Japanese gods, as told to us by the curator. Then, we proceeded into the bigger part whose flanks were lined up by the same combination of the peaceful Buddha and the demonic Japanese deities. Hamasaki-san guided us and narrated their history to us along the way. Once we had seen the carefully arranged statues of a few Japanese kings and gods standing beneath Buddha, who was seated on a lotus atop a scary lion, we walked to a set of large black doors to the left of the effigies. This room displayed a decorated bowl, a little stone stool and dozens of ornate Japanese chests. We circled the room once, scanning all the artefacts.
“This was just the start,” the old man said. “Now we move into the further depths of the museum. I would prefer to visit the first floor now and come back to the rest of the ground floor. The first floor contains some ve
ry interesting relics and I think it would be better to see them first. Please, follow me.“
And like that, Hamasaki-san took us through the museum, explaining to us the importance of some of the artefacts and causing Ram to listen more and more intently. Finally, after half an hour, when we were about to exit the room of vases and enter a room of pottery shards, Vivek lost his patience.
“Sir,” Vivek looked at his watch. “We are running a little late. Neither do we want to keep you up at night, nor do we want the two of the boys to be groggy tomorrow in the morning. I would really like you to quickly show us the mirrors because Ram here is really interested to see them. We can see the rest if we have the time. Right, boys?” Vivek looked at us for agreement and we nodded.
“The mirrors?” he was certainly taken aback by the sudden request, “So you don’t want to see the Samurai attire, the jewellery and the famous paintings?” he asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Do you, Ram?” Vivek asked him.
“I would really like to see the mirrors first, sir.” Ram answered.
“Well, there are lots of other interesting things to see here but if you insist, I shall take you there right away. But may I ask, why the mirrors?” he turned to Ram.
“I had first seen a picture of a beautifully polished mirror of the Edo period, and one from China. Since then, I had developed a great interest for them and always wanted to see them with my own eyes.”
“Oh, okay, okay.” the curator didn’t look really satisfied but he agreed nonetheless.
“We are going to see some really interesting things in there.” Ram told me in my ear, in hushed tones.
“I feel that too.”
Hamasaki-san quickly took us to the mirrors section, explaining about some of the statues and artefacts we passed on the way. One such artefact greatly interested not only Ram but also Vivek and me.
“What is that strange statue over there?” Ram pointed towards a two feet tall stone effigy of a bulky person.
“We don’t really know the person it was modelled on but the queer thing about it is that it was made in the Jomon Period, between 1000-400 BC.and yet it wears a pair of goggles,” the curator said, smiling enigmatically.
The three of us stared at it for a while. Suddenly, Ram spoke up, satisfied by the statue and probably having solved its mystery in his head.
“It is really strange, indeed,” he told Hamasaki-san but from his voice, it seemed as if it was not strange to him anymore.
“However, around the world, in ancient temples and buildings, there are many statues who seem to wear goggles, boots and gloves.”
“Indeed. So Ram, I see that you are very interested in history and lore. Do like have any preferences?” he tried conversing with Ram.
“Sure I do. I love studying Indian and European history the most.”
“Indian and European, you say. Very good! Do have any preferences in European history?”
“I reckon...Roman, Greek and Nordic.”
“Nordic!” The exclamation in the curator’s voice was genuine. “It is my favourite too!“
“Really? Wow! It is really rich and mysterious at the same time.” Ram said.
“Correct! In fact, I have been doing some research for some time now and have uncovered something that’ll make you realize how little we know of the events which had taken place in the past.”
Hearing this, Ram was intrigued, “Tell me sir, please.” Ram leaned forward.
“Have you heard of the serpent column in Istanbul?” he questioned Ram.
“Of course. Its disappearance is a mystery known worldwide.”
“Yes. You are right. Vivek? Mathias?” He looked at us.
“Ram here knows more history and mythology than any other kid of his age. You cannot expect us to compete with him.” Vivek smiled.
“Hahaha! True. His knowledge is remarkable. Anyway, Ram, would you be so kind as to explain it to them?”
“Sure.” Ram turned towards us. He inhaled deeply and started.
“So guys, the serpentine column is an artefact in Istanbul which probably doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves because it is surrounded by some of the biggest monuments there. However, it has a really enigmatic past. You see, it is supposed to have been made by the Greeks to celebrate their victory over the Persians in the Battle of Platea. It is said to be an important battle which prevented the Persians from attacking Greece again.
“After the battle, the Greeks melted the Persian armours and artillery of bronze and made the serpentine column. They made a golden tripod of serpent heads and the entire sculpture was offered as a sacrificial tripod at Delphi, dedicated to the Greek God Apollo. Later, it was relocated to Constantinople by King Constantine himself, in order to decorate his city. He modified it by resting a golden cauldron on the tripod instead and placed it in the Hippodrome.
“Now legend has it that during the Fourth crusade, the artefact was destroyed while some say that it was a drunk Polish man who broke it one night. Though volumes have been written about it by numerous writers, the disappearance of the cauldron and the two serpent heads remain a mystery. The third serpent head is kept in a museum in Istanbul, its lower jaw missing too.”
“That sounds pretty interesting.” I said.
“Tell me one thing, Ram. Where do you learn all this?” Vivek asked, incredulous.
“I read a lot.” he answered with a self-satisfied smile, the same answer he always gave when asked this question.
Ram turned to the curator again, “But sir, I do not understand the connection between this and what you have discovered in Nordic myth.”
“I understand, Ram. You see, what I have found out is not about the location of the cauldron but something about its origination. By studying various texts, I saw that long back, thousands of years back, the Vikings used to have a golden cauldron with them that was dedicated to their sun goddess- Sol. At one such point in time, the Persians got to hear about this cauldron which was said to be so beautifully carved, that it looked like one from heaven itself. Renowned for their spy network, they stole the cauldron and brought it to Persia. The Persians treasured it for a long time until they lost it to the Greeks in the Battle of Platea.”
“So you say that the cauldron wasn’t really made by the Greeks but it was made long ago by the Vikings?” Ram asked, mesmerised by the talk.
“Absolutely, Ram. The cauldron was actually made by the Vikings because... I’ll come to that in a short while. Please bear with me till then.”
Hamasaki resumed. “So, the Greeks made the Serpent column and rested the cauldron atop the tripod in Delphi. Later, it was relocated by Constantine and the Serpent column was brought to the Hippodrome in Istanbul. What happened after that, as Ram said, remains a mystery. Some say it was the deed of a drunk Polish or it was broken in the Fourth crusade but there lies a connection which no one has uncovered except me.” A proud smile appeared on his face. “What actually happened in the 1600-1700s was that the Persians saw that their treasure was starting to fall apart. Many writers say that the heads simply fell off at that time. Hence, to save their stolen treasure and retrieve it, they stole it again from the Turks. The cauldron remained with them for a long time. You guys must be knowing that the relations, especially the trade relations between the Nazis and the Persians were pretty good and strong.“
Ram nodded, and we listened.
“Great! Now you see, during the great war, the Nazis collected or rather stole huge quantities of various artefacts from all over Europe. Hitler’s soldiers roamed around Europe but also Iran and parts of Asia. Hence, as a token of their goodwill, the Persians gave him the golden cauldron. At the end of the world war, they obviously had to give up most of the loot but they also hid a few in secret places and vaults or threw them away in a cave or a lake. As for the cauldron, they threw it in a lake in Germany. Ram, do you know what I am talking about?” He smiled.
Ram thought hard for two minutes, his fingers on his
lips and his brows furrowed. In the dim lighting, his creases made him look older than his years.
“Hamasaki-san. I seem to have read about a cauldron like what you mentioned going missing recently. I think it had a rather odd sounding name, not German, more like a Chinese or Korean name.” He was anxious for the answer.
“Don’t worry Ram. I will pull you out of your misery. You are right, but I am not surprised anymore. In 2001, a groundbreaking discovery was made in Germany. They found the Chiemsee cauldron.” The instant he spoke the sentence, Ram’s face glimmered in awe.
The curator paused a second or two, relishing Ram’s astonishment.
“Yes! The Chiemsee cauldron is the golden cauldron of the Serpent column! It is called the Chiemsee cauldron since it was found at the bottom of the lake Chiemsee. It was about 50 cm in diameter and 30 cm in height. Moreover, it was made of pure gold. The cauldron was first considered to be a sacred 2000 year old Celtic artefact and was passed from one investor to the other. In fact, one investor had also sold it as the authentic Holy Grail.
“The cauldron was sank into the lake by an agent, just before the war ended. After decades of being submerged under water and then being passed from one wealthy man to another, it was kept safely in a Swiss safe.
“Then came a man who wanted to buy the cauldron for over seven million swiss francs. He tried to convince the people that the cauldron had originated in the 15th century and then tried to make them believe that the gold wasn’t from our planet.
“Both theories aren’t really correct... well, you never know but for now, they don’t seem possible. However, no one, no one except me suspected the truth about the cauldron.” he stopped abruptly and went over to a glossy wooden chair a few feet away. After settling down, he started again.
“I have done extensive research of the cauldron when it was in Swiss possession, studying the engravings and the art on the cauldrons’s body. I have come to a really astonishing conclusion. The cauldron is really over 2000 years old and it actually belonged to the Nordic people up in Europe.”
“Why do you say that the theory about the cauldron being created by the Nazis is wrong?” Ram interrupted.
