The Mists of Brahma

by CHRISTOPHER C. DOYLE

  ‘The children got here before we did,’ Tiwari smiled.

  Agastya and Amyra had come to meet their friends as soon as they heard that they were allowed visitors. Until now, they had been kept in isolation to allow them to recover properly.

  The three men stood at the door and watched the children double up with laughter as one joke after another was cracked.

  ‘So,’ Arjun said, tearing up with mirth, ‘Maya was diagnosed as having low energy, low blood pressure, some kind of chemical imbalance and severe exhaustion, bordering on a breakdown.’ He chuckled. ‘See, I got it down pat. But that’s not the reason they weren’t allowing her visitors. She was just plain grouchy!’

  There was another round of laughter.

  ‘And Arjun had been … well, Arjun had been dead for quite a while, so they wanted to ensure that he was really alive before they allowed anyone near him,’ Maya retorted as the others convulsed with laughter.

  Satyavachana cleared his throat and the laughter subsided.

  ‘Can we come in?’ the Maharishi asked, a twinkle in his eye.

  ‘Come in, come in!’ Maya waved the three men in. ‘Join us!’

  Agastya and Amyra quickly fetched three additional chairs from elsewhere in the cottage and the three men sat down.

  ‘I’m not going to ask how you both are feeling,’ Tiwari smiled, ‘because the answer is pretty obvious.’

  Arjun laughed. ‘I’m fine! Never felt better in my life. Thanks to Dr Maya!’

  Laughter followed again.

  ‘I wanted to know,’ Satyavachana looked at Maya, ‘what happened in the Mists of Brahma. Is this a good time for that story or should I return later?’

  ‘Yes, Maya!’ Agastya and Amyra chimed in.

  ‘We also want to hear what happened,’ Amyra added with a smile, looking at Satyavachana.

  ‘Very well then,’ Satyavachana said, ‘that’s settled. Tell us.’

  Arjun had by now heard the story from Maya a few times, but he too listened with interest.

  With a deep breath, Maya began. She told them about gliding through the glacier, arriving at the Mists, and then willing the Mists to lead her to the time, thousands of years ago, when Kacha, the son of Brihaspati, had been accepted by Shukra as his disciple for one thousand years.

  ‘I had read, in the Mahabharata,’ Maya said, ‘that Kacha had come to Shukra to obtain the knowledge of resurrecting the dead. But when the Asuras learnt that he was the son of Brihaspati, they decided to kill him, to thwart his plans. Thrice they killed him and each time, Shukra resurrected him.’

  ‘So you got the idea that you might be able to learn this art from Shukra.’ Agastya smiled. ‘Clever. But ambitious. How were you going to get this knowledge? Shukra wasn’t going to teach you.’

  ‘ “Audacious” is the word I used,’ Satyavachana said with a smile. ‘Go on, Maya.’

  ‘That’s correct,’ Maya said. ‘That’s exactly what I planned to do. There is a common perception that the Sanjeevani mantra is all that is required to bring someone back from the dead. I had thought that as well. But when I experienced the entire ritual for myself, I realised that while the mantra was essential—even crucial—it was just one component of the ritual. After watching Shukra resurrect Kacha for the first time, I went back and saw what happened on the next two occasions as well, including the time when the Asuras mixed Kacha’s ashes with wine and gave it to Shukra to drink. That was very useful, for that was when Shukra actually taught Kacha the ritual and the mantra and Kacha used the knowledge to bring Shukra back to life after emerging from his body.’

  ‘So, since Shukra was actually teaching Kacha on the last occasion, it was easier for you to follow the instructions,’ Kanakpratap said, finally understanding how Maya had carefully planned out the entire thing.

  ‘Yes, Uncle,’ Maya replied. ‘It was exhausting, but worth it. I was not sure it would work, but then I came back and applied what I had learnt, and well, here we are, with Arjun alive and well!’

  ‘Did Shukra know you were there?’ Tiwari asked.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Maya said. ‘There was a moment, though, on the third occasion, when he was teaching the ritual to Kacha, that I thought he felt something. He stopped midway and looked at where I was standing, but after a pause, he just frowned and continued. I was travelling in my atmic form, as Maharishi Satyavachana had suggested, and I had cloaked my thoughts and concealed my atma. I’ve been practising this for close to a year now, so I managed to not give my presence away. Otherwise I am sure he would have stopped me.’ She shuddered. If Shukra had indeed stopped her, she would have been trapped in the Mists forever.

  ‘There’s some good news for you,’ Tiwari said to Maya. ‘Mahamatra Jignesh has reinstated you in the Gurukul.’

  Agastya and Amyra cheered and Arjun sat up, a broad grin on his face at the news.

  ‘He has?’ Maya’s eyes shone with delight. ‘Oh boy, that’s the best news I’ve heard in a long while!’ She looked at Satyavachana. ‘When do we start our lessons again?’

  ‘As soon as you get out of here!’ Satyavachana laughed at her enthusiasm.

  ‘I think we should all leave now,’ Kanakpratap stood up. ‘These two need to rest!’

  Satyavachana smiled and rose. ‘Rest well, both of you. There is a lot of work to be done. Shukra thinks he has killed the One. But he doesn’t know what Maya has accomplished. When he does, there will be trouble for sure. And we need to be prepared.’

  There was a chorus of goodbyes as the three men, followed by Agastya and Amyra, left the room and made their way out of the hospital.

  Arjun looked at Maya. ‘Well?’ he said. ‘The adventure continues, doesn’t it?’

  ‘It certainly does.’ Maya smiled at him and ruffled his hair. ‘See you later, AJ.’

  Epilogue

  In the Air between Allahabad and Delhi

  Kapoor sat back in his seat and stared out of the window at the clouds that stretched away into the distance, looking like a smooth white floor ready to be walked on. How deceptive that was, he thought. Much like the case involving Trivedi and Upadhyay … no, Srivastava.

  After more than eight months, he had finally been able to turn his attention back to the two unsolved cases that he had vowed to crack. He had sent Ajit and Harish to Allahabad a couple of weeks ago to work with Mirza, interviewing people and ferreting out the information that he needed.

  Yesterday, he had flown to Allahabad himself for a debriefing. He was now on his way back to Delhi.

  He went over the facts in his mind. When they had abandoned the case eight months ago, they had made little headway with information about Vishwaraj, though some interesting facts about Singh and Srivastava had come to light. But not all the new information was edifying. Some of the facts they had uncovered only raised further questions.

  One such piece of information had been troubling Kapoor for a long time now: the testimony of the boatman who had said that Srivastava had a son and no daughter.

  The team had learned that, a short while before leaving for Delhi, Srivastava and his wife had adopted a baby girl. That could be why the boatman didn’t know about her. Maybe Srivastava never spoke to the boatman about his newly adopted daughter. On the other hand, if he had been so garrulous and had liked the boatman so much that he had shared details of his personal life with him, wouldn’t it have been natural to share a major development like the adoption of a child? Or had he kept the fact hidden on purpose?

  Despite this mystery, there had been other significant gains made by the team, especially regarding the murders in the Singh and Srivastava households.

  Kapoor had instructed Ajit and Harish to concentrate on finding out more about these murders. He was sure that there was more to them than met the eye.

  And he had been right.

  Deeper investigations had unearthed more people who knew either one or both families well, and it emerged that Srivastava’s wife and son had been killed at the house of Rudra
pratap Singh, the elder brother of Kanakpratap Singh, alias Virender Singh.

  What was more, all three victims had been murdered on the same day.

  This was no coincidence, Kapoor realised. While police cases had been registered, they had been shelved as unsolved. And, after that, both Singh and Srivastava had disappeared from Allahabad. Most people had thought that they had decided to leave the city to leave their unpleasant memories behind and start life afresh in a new place.

  Little did they know, Kapoor mused, that the two men had actually started new lives, with new names and new identities.

  And there was one more thing.

  Ajit, Harish and Mirza had shown around the police portrait of the suspect from Delhi, who had been seen entering and leaving Srivastava’s house around the time of his murder. Quite a few of the people they interviewed had claimed that a man of a similar description—tall, well built and with an eyepatch over his right eye—had met them as well, posing as a news reporter and asking questions about Srivastava and Singh.

  Kapoor cursed. They had been in the same city as the suspect eight months ago. It was futile to hope that the man would have hung around all this while, waiting for them to return.

  No, the man had clearly been after something. He had probably got it in the meantime and left town.

  But Kapoor had tasted blood. The scent of a trail was clearly discernible now and he had left Allahabad after clear instructions to Ajit and Harish to dig deeper.

  Where there was smoke, there was fire. And there was a great deal of smoke now.

  He was determined to find the fire.

  Author’s Note

  While this is a fantasy and therefore completely fictional, there is much in the book that is based on extant verses in the Mahabharata, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad Gita and the Puranas, as well as some real-world science—you should know me by now! I thought I should help readers understand which parts of the story are products of my imagination, and provide references for the parts which are based on, or sourced from, other texts.

  This may also be the appropriate place to mention that all the laghu mantras (i.e. shortened mantras) in this book are completely fictional and invented by me. What is important, though, is that the words in the laghu mantras are not made up at all. They are real, Sanskrit words and the mantras are not a random jumble of Sanskrit words but have a meaning that is directly connected with the result that the mantra is intended to achieve. For more information on laghu mantras, please log into The Quest Club.

  The list below is organised by order of appearance in the story, as far as possible. All references to the Mahabharata are based on the M.N. Dutt translation. Here we go…

  Vartika: There are very few detailed descriptions of pisachas or any other non-human creatures in the ancient texts. But the Mahabharata has a very clear description of a vartika in the Vana Parva, Chapter 179, Verse 42: ‘And facing the sun, the ugly and dreadful looking vartika, having only one leg, one eye and one wing, was seen to vomit blood.’ Of course, everything else about the pisacha, including the way it walks and shrieks, is fictional.

  Pratismriti mantra: In the Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Chapter 36, Verse 30, Vyasa tells Yudhishthira: ‘Accept from me this knowledge called Pratismriti’. It is this mantra that enables Arjuna to travel for the acquisition of his weapons. In Chapter 37, verses 16–17, Yudhishthira passes on the knowledge of the mantra to Arjuna, who then proceeds to meet Indra: ‘having said this, the lord Dharmaraja (Yudhishthira) imparted to him (Arjuna) the knowledge. The elder brother communicated with due rites the knowledge to his heroic brother whose speech, body and mind were all under complete control. He then commanded him to go.’

  Possession of other humans: In this book, Vishwaraj is shown possessing the bodies of Diya and the Akshapatalika. This is not a fictional concept but something that accomplished yogis can achieve. I based this on the description of one of the ten secondary siddhis in Canto 11, Chapter 15 of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

  For those readers who may wonder if I am dabbling in the supernatural when Suresh voices his theories about the soul being sucked out of Diya (Chapter 5) and the attempt to suck the soul out of the Akshapatalika found in Vishwaraj’s apartment (Chapter 36), allow me to clarify that Suresh’s response is not an unusual one. There are a lot of superstitious people who would think exactly like him, even if they have been trained in science. I have attempted to depict Suresh as a normal human being, vulnerable to his beliefs in the face of a phenomenon that cannot be rationally explained. I am not promoting superstition at all, but only being realistic. And, of course, as we know from the book, no souls were sucked out; both Diya and the Akshapatalika were possessed using a siddhi that is clearly explained in the Srimad Bhagavatam, as mentioned above.

  The Akshapatalikas and the Shastrakars: There will be more details on these at The Quest Club (in coming times) and in future books. Watch this space!

  Karna’s kavach: In Chapter 25, the Mahashastrakar says that the Sangha has rediscovered the secret of Karna’s kavach or body armour. I should clarify that the armour developed by the Shastrakars of the Sangha is not the same as Karna’s armour in one critical respect. What the Mahashastrakar is referring to is not the material that the armour is made of, but the fact that it is a part of the body, just as Karna was born with the armour which literally grew on his body, and which he had to cut away when Indra asked for it (along with his earrings) in the guise of a Brahman. This story is narrated in the Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Chapter 310, Verses 30, 31, 35–38. The material of the armour, however, is a different matter. The Sangha could not possibly have replicated the material that Karna’s armour was made of because his armour was made of amrita. This fact is clearly explained in the Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Chapter 307, Verse 18 and Chapter 310, Verse 10. It is for this reason that the armour made Karna indestructible, such that Lord Krishna says in the Mahabharata that even He, armed with his Sudarshana Chakra, cannot defeat Karna while he is clad in his armour. This assertion is made in the Drona Parva, Chapter 181, Verse 17.

  On a related note, for the curious reader who may question the practicality of the armour emerging from the skin of the Kshatriyas and covering them from head to toe while they are fully clad, I would like to clarify that the armour is a liquid that emerges from the pores of their skins as microdroplets (quite like perspiration) and can, therefore, seep through their clothes. The concept of liquid armour is not far-fetched. It is rooted in scientific fact. There are several materials being experimented with, in laboratories around the world, which are liquid but harden when exposed to the air. There are also materials that can change state (from liquid to solid and back to liquid) under different conditions. I was inspired by the fact that Karna’s armour was made from amrita (which is also a liquid) and used that knowledge, along with recent scientific advances in materials, to create a fictional liquid armour that emerges from the body, seeps through the clothes and then solidifies or hardens to protect the Kshatriyas. More on the armour at The Quest Club.

  Mention of Visvavasu in the Mahabharata: In Chapter 26, Kanakpratap informs Arjun that Visvavasu is thousands of years old and is mentioned in the Mahabharata. While his name comes up in several places in the epic, I am listing only a few where he is specifically referred to as the leader or king of the Gandharvas: Shalya Parva, Chapter 37, Verse 10; Shanti Parva, Chapter 29, Verse 76 (where he is described as the ‘great Gandharva’), Chapter 318, Verses 31, 36, 84; Adi Parva, Chapter 8, Verse 5.

  Yayati and Devyani: In this book I have revealed that Vishwaraj was a descendant of Shukra through his daughter Devyani, who was married to Yayati, thus making Vishwaraj a scion of Yayati. For more information on Yayati and Devyani, please see the Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 75, 78, 81.

  Brahmadanda: This is mentioned (but never described in detail) in the story of Vashishta and Vishwamitra, which is narrated in the Valmiki Ramayana, Bälakända, Chapter 56.

  Bhimbetka: A large complex of natural
ly occurring caves near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. Please log into The Quest Club for a detailed photo tour of the parts open to the public, from my visit to Bhimbetka.

  Mantras used in the Battle of Bhimbetka: These are all real mantras.

  Allahabad: All locations in Allahabad, like the Lete Hanumanji ka mandir and Company Bagh, are real locations.

  Imran Kidwai and his call to Kapoor: For those who have read The Mahabharata Quest series, Imran Kidwai is a familiar name. I want to clarify that I was just having a bit of fun while writing this book and thought I’d mention him in passing. There is no plan to make the two series converge in any way.

  David Tennant and Doctor Who: ‘Doctor Who’ is a popular and long running (more than 50 years old) British serial. David Tennant is a Scottish actor who plays the tenth Doctor.

  Panis in the Rigveda: Mentioned in Chapter 86 and portrayed as cattle thieves, they appear in the following places in the Rigveda: 1.83.4; 1.93.4; 2.24.6; 4.58.4; 6.13.3; 6.20.4; 6.33.2; 6.39.2; 6.44.22; 6.45.31; 6.51.14; 7.9.2; 8.26.10; 9.111.2; 10.67.6; 10.108.2, 4, 6–8, 10–11.

  The description of Kaliyuga in the Mahabharata: In Chapter 88, Shukra muses that events in Kaliyuga are coming true, as foretold. The description of Kaliyuga and the foretelling of events can be found in the Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Chapter 190, Verses 11–87, where the sage Markandeya narrates his view of what Kaliyuga will be like. Do read these verses. Markandeya’s forecast is chillingly accurate.

  Kali: I want to emphasise that the Kali referred to in Chapters 16, 20, 55, 88, 92 and 107 of this bookis not the goddess Kali, but the Kali after whom Kaliyuga is named and who is the personification of Kaliyuga. For more details, please refer to the story of Parikshit (Arjuna’s grandson) and Kali, which is narrated in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1.

  Dandaka: The story of how Dandaka was created (by Shukra) can be found in the Puranic Encyclopaedia, pages 46 and 200. Please refer to the Author’s Note in Son of Bhrigu for more information on Dandaka. The pond is fictional, as is the concept of the trees seeming to be alive.