Chapter 12: Adventure
The tantric at the cursed plateau was a disciple of the pious tantric at Nimtala and he was at first a genius as regards tantric rituals and made rapid progress in acquiring mystic power. He had little interest in women unlike other tantrics but he was crazy about power and wanted to be the lord of this world by the grace of goddess Kali and Lord Shiva and rule over all the people of the world. Soon his greed and ego came on the path of his further progress and he asked his guru about the reason of his failure. The guru explained to him that continued success in tantra depends on elevating the mind and to transcend the mundane desires of money, sex and power and to get the ego dissolved into the feeling of oneness with the rest of the universe. But instead of convincing him these discourses made him dubious about the wisdom of the guru and he left the guru looking for a new wiser guru.
He soon discovered a crazy Kapalic (a vamachari tantric) and left the city with this new guru. Thereafter nobody could tell where he had gone. Now the guru had learnt from Nil that this man had settled at a lonely place on a plateau and must be engaged in some dubious practices with the hope of pleasing the goddess and acquiring enough supernatural power to rule this world. The skulls discovered by Nil and Doma indicated that he might be engaged in human sacrifice.
The guru at Nimtala had once again reminded Shyamal that Nil should move very cautiously and stop the heinous crime of his misguided disciple as early as possible. He had also pointed out that one inexplicable aspect of this misguided tantric's achievements even at the initial stage was that he could disable the powers of even his guru. No force in this world could overpower this lunatic tantric except Nil and Doma both of whom were born with divine attributes. The guru had this conviction by examining the trident mark on Nil’s forehead and learning about Doma from Nil.
After reading the text several times they thought it would not be judicious to relate the tantric's background to Samten. Both agreed that their suspicions about this tantric was not unfounded. Now it was beyond doubt that the tantric had selected a desolate place forbidding entry of local people to perform goddess-worship with human sacrifice. But how could he trap the victims and from where? Moreover it appeared likely to both Nil and Doma that the water crisis was but a creation of the tantric and the story about the curse a simple hype. These new findings added new dimensions to their adventure and made them more enthusiastic to continue the exploration of the tantric's cave immediately.
They reached the shanty by the evening and after tea proceeded for the tunnel they had discovered. Further ahead along the rightward branch, the tunnel became narrow and dark because of the overhanging shrubs and creepers at the top. They dared not keep the torch switched on lest they would alert the tantric’s men. So they moved in the darkness and after some time came to the point where the track was bifurcated. Last time they had explored the left tunnel ending up in the dumping ground of remnants of human sacrifices. Now they took the right tunnel. They had to switch on the torches at times to inspect the way ahead. The tunnel turned very narrow at a place. They switched on the torches and crawled one by one out into a wider space and was elated to find the spot sloping gently on to a clear wide track which was for sure the main track leading to the secret place of worship of the tantric. The stars above indicated that it was an open tunnel likely to be a watercourse modified into a clear path about eight feet wide. They guessed that the cave mouth they had seen on the first day was in fact constructed by the tantric. They would have to examine this whenever they got an opportunity, Nil and Doma agreed.
Now on the open track they looked carefully in all directions and then climbed down to the main track. After they had turned the corner everything became visible as dim rays coming from the far end had illuminated the track. They got close to the wall of the track. The wall on their left was a steep rise and the other to the right inclined outward. As the path ran straight ahead they had the risk of being detected if anybody entered the track from the front side. But they had to take the risk.
Moving further ahead their nostrils were greeted with the fragrance of incense. It indicated that the place of secret worship was not far off. They thought it would be too risky to venture further because the incense indicated that the tantric might be there worshipping the goddess. They got closer to the right wall so that no body could notice them from the direction of the source of light. They soon got closer to the spot where the tunnel had opened into a level piece of land. They cautiously peeped through the crevice of the ragged corner at the mouth of the tunnel and observed the dome like temple and the back of a red clad person. They guessed he was the tantric and he seemed to be engaged in worship of the goddess. They would have to wait at a safe place until the tantric finished his worship. Fortunately they discovered a nook, a depressed ground on the sidewall, overgrown with shrubs. After climbing up to the spot they felt safe as the place was completely engulfed in darkness so that they would be able to observe everyone in the tunnel without themselves being noticed.
An hour passed and Nil was about to doze when they heard the ringing of bells. The worship might be at the fag end, they thought. A few minutes later they heard footsteps close to the mouth of the tunnel and the entire track was illuminated brightly. Then entered the tantric with a lantern in his hand. They now got the full view of the tantric.
He was a tall lean man with large sunken eyes which had morbid brightness and ferocity that would strike any normal mind with horror. His matted hair was neatly tied above his head. He held a trident in his left hand. His face and eyes were expressionless. After a while a group of hefty Nepalese with kurkis in their waist belts and spears in their hands closed the mouth of the tunnel with a heavy rock which they rolled up from the side of the tunnel mouth. The top of the rock rose about six feet and the inner side was smoothly polished. The guards picked up the lantern and the spears. They turned corner and the entire track in front of Nil and Doma plunged into darkness and the starry sky looked ominous. They waited for some time and then came out of the hiding. They would have to go to the other side of the rock and visit the temple and its surroundings. But it was almost impossible to scale the smooth rock and cross over to the other side. They started ruminating to device a way out.
Then they changed their plan and decided to inspect first the entrance of the tunnel at the southern end. They turned around cautiously and moved southward. The track had multiple turns. After a few turns they discovered a closed wooden gate on the right sidewall and noticed through the gaps a flight of stairs climbing steeply upward. This must be the way to the tantric’s residing place up above the plateau. They moved further ahead. There were sewage drains on either side of the track which sloped gently upwards up to some distance and then downward to the south. On their way along the track they noticed many dry courses of small springs on either side and it became clear that this track was a natural sewage for water from the plateau and the rugged hills to the east and the water course had run in two directions from the middle. They soon came to the southern end of the tunnel and found that their guess was correct. The mouth was roofed by concrete with a few walls and beams for about fifteen feet and from outside it looked exactly like the entrance of a cave. Now they once again returned to the northern end of the track and tried to devise some means to cross over to the level ground.
Doma very cautiously moved along the side of the wall grabbing the ferns hanging from the wall and Nil followed her. They eventually managed to reach the end of the track and jumped down on a cemented ground. Now they got the full view of the level piece of land. It was like a ledge jutting from the north-east corner of the plateau. It was a rectangular piece of land about forty by twenty feet. The cemented path about six feet wide ran from the mouth of the tunnel to the temple which was like an inverted U looked from the front side and about eight feet in height at the middle and five feet wide at the bottom. The wooden door of the temple was locked and on the cemented platform in front, there were two wooden a
ltars on either side. They were clean and free from any trace of dried blood. This indicated that they were washed clean after every sacrifice. They rounded the temple along the oblong portico. The temple had tapered down from its roof and the slopes of the hill behind was strewn with remnants of burnt trees overgrown with creepers and shrubs. On the opposite side the rise of the plateau was also scattered with burnt trunks. The hills down the western side were steep and covered with pine saplings.
They reached the eastern end of the ground and guessed that they could reach their approach track by grabbing the burnt trunks of the trees. The moon was now up in the clear sky and everything was clearly visible. They climbed down the slope and soon reached the spot close to the mouth of the tunnel they had come along. So they could reach the temple taking a shorter path and with less effort.
The new moon night was only a few days ahead and they decided to undertake the next venture on that day. They now had an idea about the worship time of the tantric. But he might take a longer time on the new moon night. But they could wait till the worship was complete. They should come early and hide behind the slope behind the temple taking cover of the burnt trunks and shrubs.
Nil consulted Doma how to break off the strong lock at the door of the temple. He at this place cannot get access to acetylene lamps. The huge lock was too strong and could not be opened with iron nails. Any effort to break it with stones would create sharp noise and alert the tantric and his men. So, they would have to visit the temple once again before their final venture and find if the rings holding the lock could be opened. They also thought of the alternative of entering into the temple from the hind side. They had already seen loosely fitted wooden slabs at the back of the temple. Anyway, no further decision could be taken unless they scrutinized the temple once again.
They were now too tired and it was almost dawn. They also felt hungry and took some dried fruits. They fell asleep as soon as they touched bed and woke late in the next morning.
The Curse Of The Goddess Page 12