010

“Makes sense,” said Karnak to himself.

“What do you mean,” asked Suneeti, glancing briefly around the corner to see if the soldiers were gone.

“Gorakhnath and I go back a bit,” said Karnak.

The soldiers disappeared around the corner. Karnak caught Suneeti by the hand and made a dash for the boundary wall. He helped her over it and then climbed over himself. They found themselves in a dirty back-alley. The stench of urine was rank in the air. The stepped through carefully.

“So, where are we going now?” Karnak asked Suneeti.

“I don’t know!” said Suneeti, “You’re the one who can connect, figure something out!”

Karnak grimaced as he jumped over the pot-holes full of murky water. He knew that Mahaguru wasn’t particularly fond of him but this kind of full-scale assault was somewhat surprising. He was a minor irritation in Gorakhnath’s life at best. Why had he suddenly developed this craving to see him dead?

“They’ve cordoned off the city, you say?” he asked Suneeti.

“That’s what I heard. Though it’s still early. They might not have secured all routes out of the city. And we can always move through the woods.”

Karnak considered that for a moment.

“I think that’s a good idea.”

They moved through the city, slowly and stealthily. They avoided the main streets and moved through the galees. The city thinned out as they got closer to the office. Patrol cars were frequenting the highways. Karnak and Suneeti took the narrow road that led into the denser parts of Rathvan.

“Oh shoot!” Karnak exclaimed as they neared what appeared to be a ground chariot in the distance. They could make out several scantily clad men alighting from the vehicle. They appeared eerily white in against the dark backgrounds of the night.

“Who are they?” Suneeti asked him.

“Tantriks,” said Karnak, “Looks like Mahaguru is sending them into the woods. This means we can’t go into the forest.”

“Why?”

“I have the skills to connect. Those tantriks will sense me within minutes. In fact, even now we’re running the risk of being discovered. We must more back.”

The backtracked hurriedly towards the city. They could sense that the patrolling activity had increased.

“What now?” asked Suneeti as they half ran and half walked though the cobbled streets of Rathpur.

“I have another idea,” said Karnak as he paused for a second at a crossing to decide which way to go.

Suddenly, he halted.

“What now?” asked Suneeti, “We must hurry, come on!”

“What I’m about to do, may mean that I cannot come back to his city again. In fact, I might not be able to come back to this planet either.”

“So?”

“You don’t have to come with me,” said Karnak, “Leave me now and go home. Or to Manojav’s place if that is what you have to do. This place is your home. If you come with me, you may not be able to come back.”

Suneeti smiled ruefully.

“You think there is still something left for me here? I have aided an enemy of my so called husband. Do you think Manojav will let me live? Even if he lets me live, it will be a miserable life at best. No, I will come with you. If you do not want me to stay with you, drop me off at the next planet that you visit. I will fend for myself.”

Karnak nodded and began moving again.

“By the way,” shouted Suneeti after him, “How exactly do you plan to get off this planet?”

009

Karnak roamed about the city all day and was completely exhausted by the evening. He found a cheap sarai in the older parts of the city and checked in.

Even though the sun had set, the temperature had not come down. Karnak took a bath in the common bathrooms. The water was chilly but refreshing in the heat. He had food at the sarai’s kitchen and then went back to his tiny room. The heat was killing him and he stripped down to his underclothes before collapsing on the creaky and faintly smelly bed.

The ceiling-fan poured down air that felt like a hot wash of soup. Karnak closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

He dreamt that he was back in the jungle again. The moonlit night was cool and fragrant and he could hear a girl crying somewhere in the woods. He followed the voice and came to find Suneeti, who starting walking away from him as soon as he approached. He followed her deeper into the forest, her perfect figure becoming more enticing and mesmerising by the minute. Karnak felt himself getting aroused until Suneeti stopped and leaned seductively against a tree. He approached her, his heart thumping. As he drew close, Suneeti placed her arms gently on his shoulders.

And shook him violently until he woke up.

Karnak leapt to his feet, standing up instinctively in as summoning stance.

“Relax,” it’s me, Suneeti said, “but we need to move. Get some clothes on.”

She took his clothes from the wall hanger and threw them at him. Karnak clumsily began putting them on, his head becoming sleepy again.

“What is this all about?!” he complained.

But before Suneeti could answer, they heard a loud altercation downstairs. There were loud
knocks on doors and shouting across the building.

“They’re here to get you,” Suneeti said with renewed urgency, “we must leave.”

“Who are they?” Karnak asked, “And how many. I can take them down!”

But Suneeti grabbed his arm and pulled him out with surprising force. They ran down the corridor until they heard a group of men ahead. They double-backed and ran down the fire escape.

“They’re Manojav’s soldiers,” Suneeti told him, “They’re here to arrest you.”

“We don’t need to run,” said Karnak, “I can take them out.”

“No you can’t!” said Suneeti, hurtling down the stairs as fast as she could.

“You don’t understand! I can connect! With the kind of weaponry I can summon, they won’t last a minute.”

“No. You don’t understand! It isn’t just this bunch of soldiers. The entire city has been cordoned off. They’re hunting you down. It’s big. You could probably take these men down but you can’t take down all of them!”

They reached the ground floor and Karnak peeped out the doorway. There were soldiers there but they were moving out, towards the front of the building.

“Wait,” he said in a whisper, trying to catch his breath.

“Why are they after me?!” he asked aftera while.

“You tell me!” said Suneeti, “Mahaguru Gorakhnath was in Manojav’s palace today. I don’t know what he told him, but then I heard orders being issued that you be arrested and brought to the palace. They’ve been trying to track you down all day.”

008

Karnak read the information board in front of the ticket booth. The paint was peeling off, but it was still readable. It cost five mudras to get in. Money was something Karnak was short on but he dug into his wallet for the precious little that he had.

The man at the ticket counter had his lips stained red with gutkha and had a look of a person who had the worst job in the world and thought people should be obliged for it. Karnak took the purple coloured piece of newsprint with barely readable markings on it and proceeded towards the entrance to the Atirath.

Surprise of surprises, they actually had a guide to show them around.

A small crowd had gathered around the man who seemed entirely too cheerful for the occasion. He was speaking in a pretentious sing song voice reciting well rehearsed lines to his disinterested audience. Karnak ignored him and followed the crowd into the ship.

The interior of the ship was decorated in sharp contrast to the outside. The corridors were plush, carpeted and spotlessly clean. The lighting looked expensive and state of the art.

“This Atirath,” said the guide in a high voice, “or may I call it the Atirath, was built about fifty years ago under the direction of King Charuvarman, the father of our esteemed Samraat Mahendravarman. But as you all would know Charuvarman was blessed by Indr himself. It would not have been possible to build a vimana such as this without divine help. Indr, in his avatar of Manojav, himself oversaw the construction of this might vessel. Therefore it was that the tradition of Atirathotsav – an annual festival honouring Indr and this vimana that he gave us – was started by Samraat Mahendravarman when he took over.

“What did he say the name of the avatar was?” Karnak asked the man standing next to him.

“Manojav,” the man muttered and hurried on to follow the crowd that had move forward.

Karnak took in the news, following hurriedly behind the crowd. So Manojav was Indr’s avatar. That explained a couple of things, including his fetish for beautiful, young women.

The guide toured them around the crew quarters all of which were luxuriously furnished and altogether too spacious for a regular space ship. Karnak wondered why that was. Interiors of a vimana were generally cramped and claustrophobic. The less the mass of the ship, the less the energy needed to pilot it. And in a battle, that could be the deciding factor between victory and defeat.

Walking at a pace too fast for anyone’s liking, the guide showed them around the weapon’s controls, astrogation rooms, medical facilities and finally brought them to the garbh-griha – the central command centre where the sarathi would sit and control the entire vessel.

The garbh-griha was really simple in design. In the very centre was a circular platform, which Karnak knew was for the sarathi to sit. Around the platform, there was many grooves in the floor expanding in concentric arcs around the central platform. These, Karnak assumed, were for the holoscreens that would feed the sarathi with every tiny bit of information from sensors hidden throughout the body of the ship. If the ship was a creature, this would be its brain, and the sarathi, its will.

“And this,” said the guide with a flourish, “ends our exciting tour of the Atirath. I will now leave you to take some photographs to take home. Once you’re done you can walk along that corridor and it will lead you straight outside. If you enjoyed your time, and liked my work, I would be honoured to accept whatever token of appreciation you will deem me worthy of.”

“Not bad for five mudras,” Karnak thought as the crowd broke off like an evaporating liquid around the room.

007

Karnak enjoyed cities. He liked the sensory overload that cities offered. He liked his streets to be crowded with traffic, his sidewalks to be full of hawkers selling their myriad good, his restaurants, cafes and dhabas to be full of ceaselessly chattering people. Karnak enjoyed watching people, observing and studying them from a distance. He enjoyed talking to them, catching a glimpse of lives so distant and alien and yet so much like his own. He enjoyed the insight into life that seemingly insignificant people gave. But most of all he enjoyed street food.

The guy was selling chana-jor-garam on a cart by the roadside. The road itself circled around a vast dome like structure that rose high above the ground. From what Karnak reckoned, this was the very centre of the city – the kind of monument that a city was proud of and organized its life around.

“What is this?” Karnak asked the chana-wala after he’d bought a handful from him.

“Are you new in town, saab?” the chana-wala asked.

Karnak nodded.

“This is the Atirath. I’m surprised that you came to Rathpur without knowing about the Atirath. Most people visit the city only to see this monument. It’s not really a monument though. As the name tells you, it’s a ship.”

Karnak raised an eyebrow.

“You mean this is a real ship?” he said.

“Yes,” the chana-wala smiled at his baffled expression. Clearly, that was exactly the effect he’d hoped to achieve. “This rath was gifted to the city by Indra himself. It is one of its kind – the largest and the most powerful rath in the galaxy. But the rath was so difficult to pilot that no one has ever been able to lift it out of the ground.”

“You mean this thing has never been flown?”

“Nope,” said the chana-wala, “Not for the lack of trying though. Our city is known for its vimanas and sarathis, saab. We make the best of them and we fly them the best. The KR squadron of the King’s fleet is the deadliest force in the galaxy.”

Karnak nodded in appreciation and flipped a few chanas into his mouth. He savoured the taste as the hot spicy masala burnt his tongue and made his mouth water. If there was anything he had missed in ashram life, it was spicy food.

“This thing is huge,” he said after a while.

The chana-wala chuckled.

“This is just the top portion of the whole thing. This vimana is shaped like a shankh. What you see is the broad top portion of the shankh. The tapering tip goes in several hundred meters into the ground.”

This time Karnak was genuinely surprised. He had heard about Atiraths at the ashram. People had long proposed building such a machine. Besides the construction costs being exorbitant, the yoga-shakti needed to charioteer the machine would have been phenomenal. It was not wonder that no sarathi had ever managed to fly the thing.

“You can go inside it and take a look,” the chana-wala said, “They give guided tours.”

006

Karnak glanced at the girl who seemed a little surprised at the way things had turned out to be. Clearly, she had not been expecting someone very different from Manojav.

“Devi,” Karnak asked her, “what do you wish me to do now. It appears that Manojav is not the monster you were afraid is going to take you. He appears to be a handsome young man, with enough wealth to keep you happy. He may have other wives, but polygamy is not unusual in Aryavart and sharing your husband is a small price to pay for the prosperity of you town. It is entirely your decision now. I will defend you if you say so. But as Manojav has said, this is a deal and not an extortion. He doesn’t appear to be the kind who will take you by force.”

Suneeti nodded and sighed heavily.

“I think it is best,” she said, “if I take this man as my husband. As you said, it is a small sacrifice to be made given my current predicament. I daresay things have turned out to be better than I’d expected them to be.”

Saying thus, Suneeti departed with Manojav and Karnak walked back to the town of Rathpur.

***

On his way back, Karnak stopped at a small tea shop at the outskirts of the town. The shop owner was a jovial, middle aged man named Lachhi. As Lachhi brought him the steaming cup of tea, he asked who Karnak was and what his purpose in travelling to these regions was.
Karnak introduced himself and then narrate the incident with Manojav and Suneeti, still wondering if he did the right thing in letting Suneeti go with that man. Hearing the tale, Lachhi smiled.

“It becomes so much more difficult to be free when the cage is golden, isn’t it,” he said.

“I think Suneeti will be happy with Manojav,” said Karnak.

“Oh I’m sure she will be. Only it would not be out of choice.”

“How can anyone be happy unless they want to?” asked Karnak.

“Depends on what kind of happiness you’re talking about,” said Lachhi with a smile.

Karnak sipped his tea in silence for a while.

“Tell me,” he asked, “what does Manojav give this town in return for these girls?”

Lachhi smiled.

“It is not to be spoken of,” he said, “ask any question around this town but not this one and you will be treated well.”

He stood up and walked away, pretending to care about his other customers. Karnak wondered what the secret of this town was.

005

Karnak met the girl early next morning in Rathvan. Her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying all night. Karnak felt his heart go out to that woman. Imagine being forsaken by your family and being left to your fate. But then, his own life had not been too different from that. Karnak had no memory of his parents or lineage. His earliest memory went back to being brought up in a dingy little dhaba at the outskirts of Patal’lok. If it was within his power, Karnak would not let this girl fall into the evil hands of that ascetic, whoever it was.

The girl and Karnak sat in silence, not knowing what to say. Presently, they heard the rustle of leaves as someone walked towards them. Karnak stood up and got ready.

The man who approached them was tall, fair and broad shouldered like most aryavartis. He was handsome and wore the traditional attire of an ascetic – an antareey and an uttareey draped over his shoulders. His hair were long and tied up in a bun one his head. He carried no weapons.
Karnak suddenly felt a little taken aback. He had expected a hideous monster who wanted to abduct the young girl by force. This man looked completely harmless. But as Karnak had learnt from experience, appearances could be deceiving.

The man approached them and smiled.

“I see that the young lady has brought a companion along,” he said cheerfully, “Who might you be, young sir, and what purpose do you have in accompanying this young lady? According to my instructions, the girl must come alone, by herself and no one is to accompany her beyond the borders of the forest.”

“I am Karnak,” announced Karnak, “shishya of Acharya Shukr and defender of the defenceless. I’m a traveller in these parts and met this young lady as I was enjoying the beauty of this forest yesterday afternoon. Who might you be and why are you taking by force a girl who does not wish to go with you?”

The man chuckled.

“Are you here to challenge me?” he asked, amused. “My name is Manojav and I’ve been living in this forest for a long, long time now. I have a deal with the city of Rathpur and according to this deal I take one young girl from Rathpur as my consort every year. In return I give them great gifts. This girl here might not have come of her own will but she sure has come according to the wishes of her townsfolk. For it is a deal and not an extortion. The townspeople may chose not to send young girls anymore and I will chose not to give them all those gifts that I do and there will be no violence at all from my side. They have nothing to fear and yet they chose to comply with this arrangement. There is nothing unfair or unlawful with this deal. Pray, step aside and let us follow our glorious tradition.”

Manojav laughed out loud. Karnak glanced at the girl who was standing meekly behind him. Her expression had changed from despair to indecision.

004

This incident happened a little after Karnak was exiled from the ashram. Karnak had travelled to a small town in Aryavart called Rathipur. Rathipur was famous for its Rathis or charioteers. Rathis from Rathipur could charioteer ships that not even the mightiest Acharyas could dare to touch the helms of. It was said that Rathipur was specially blessed by Indr. However, the secret to this special favour was the most strongly guarded secrets of Rathipur.

Karnak was roaming through the forest surrounding Rathipur, enjoying the natural beauty of those regions, when he heard the sound of a woman crying in the distance. Guided by curiosity and a desire to help out, Karnak walked towards the sound only to discover a young girl sitting under a tree and crying by herself. Karnak introduced himself as a travelling ascetic and asked what was wrong and if he could help in any way.

“My name is Suneeti,” the girl said, “and I’ve been given. Today is perhaps the last day of my life and my family has forsaken me. What am I to do, if not cry?”

“Devi,” said Karnak, “while I may be an ascetic, I’ve received education in various forms of warfare. If you would describe your problem to me and if I should find it righteous to protect you, I will do so. Pray, tell me, who or what threatens your life and why has your family forsaken you?”

The girl wiped away her tears with her uttareeya and spoke.

“In these forests that we call the Rathvan, there lives an ascetic named Manojav who is said to be immortal. He has been living here since time immemorial. At least he has been living here since the beginning of recorded history. We do not know whether he is a man or a creature, or merely a machine. He is benevolent and blesses our town with many gifts. However, once a year, the town has to gift him a young girl to assuage his lust. Every year on an appointed day, a young girl is sent into the forest. KR finds her and nobody knows what becomes of her. Some say the girl is raped in a manner unimaginable to cultured folk. Some say he just kills and eats them. Whatever the truth be, my life is over because I am the one who has to go and be his victim tomorrow.”

Karnak was deeply disturbed by this story.

“It is abominable,” he said, “for a town to sacrifice people, that too young helpless girls, no matter how great the rewards be. Has this ascetic, this Manojav threatened to do anything against the town, if the town does not comply?”

“I do not know,” the girl said, “nobody has ever dared to defy him.”

“Do not worry,” Karnak said, “whoever or whatever this ascetic might be, I will protect you. Wipe your tears and go home. I will meet you tomorrow in the forest and will not allow any harm to come to you.”