The Ocean's Own

by Nandini Sengupta

  Bhasma returned to court the day after my coronation. Wild-eyed, his hair matted with dust and his uttaria scarf torn and bloodied, he stormed into the council chamber demanding an audience. I was expecting quite the spectacle from him, so was prepared. While the Council of Twelve Elders demurred, wondering how to handle a prince of the blood who was hell bent on a public showdown, I reacted immediately.

  ‘Bhasma is my blood brother and a prince of this royal house,’ I announced. ‘He deserves to be heard.’

  Bhasma smirked. ‘I doubt if you’ll feel quite so magnanimous once you’ve heard what I have to say,’ he thundered.

  ‘Very well, speak then,’ I replied calmly, reining in my sudden desire to thrash him with my spear-butt. Bhasma was behaving like a brat as he always did when things didn’t go his way. But this wasn’t a weapons-training class and father wasn’t around to tick him off for crossing the line. So I gritted my teeth and prepared myself for his tirade.

  ‘My lords,’ began Bhasma, ‘I have come to contest the coronation of my half-brother, Kacha, because he has usurped the throne through trickery.’ A wave of murmurs went through the hall as the Elders let this audacious claim sink in. Bhasma waited a few moments for effect, and then continued. ‘I was attacked and imprisoned by Kacha’s right-hand man, Harisena. He held me prisoner so I could not come here yesterday to stake my claim to the throne. His men only let me go this morning, knowing that the coronation ceremony would long be over.’

  The hall now erupted in a chaotic din of confused voices. Brahma Deva raised his hand to silence the commotion and spoke to Bhasma, ‘Your highness, these are serious allegations. You must remember, you are calling your emperor and blood brother a liar and a usurper. Do you have any proof of your claim?’

  Bhasma’s veneer of composure shattered, and his words gushed out in a hysterical torrent. ‘Proof? You ask me for proof, you old he-goat? Can you not see the condition I am in? Filthy and bloodied, unwashed, hungry and weaponless? Does this look like a disguise to you? Who do you think would have dared to molest me, a prince of the blood? Harisena is a puppet on a string, but that string is being pulled by none other than my noble half-brother. It was entirely his plan to ask me to accompany him to the Chakrapani temple, to disguise his men as Datta’s ladies-in-waiting, to organize an ambush so I could be kidnapped and held till the coronation ceremony was over and done with. You think I am a fool? You think I don’t understand these games? Kacha has always been jealous of me because father made it very clear that I was as much his favourite as his first-born. My sword arm is no less than his. My mother’s lineage no less than his and my claim to the throne no less than his. So why was I not given a chance to stake my right? Kacha knows this is legitimate and he is scared. Hence, the elaborate ambush and kidnapping. I demand that the council rescind the coronation and have an open debate on who is more deserving of the Aryapatta throne. I demand the council summon Harisena so he can be interrogated. Once he starts singing, my dear brother won’t know where to hide his face.’

  And he continued – eyes wild, face flushed with anger, forehead glistening with sweat, mouth frothing – piling insult after hideous insult on mother, Harisena and I. The council listened on in horror. I stole a glance at Brahma Deva and saw him staring in stupefied silence. It was the most dreadful scene and at that moment I decided it had to end. Right away.

  I raised my hand and the hall fell silent. Even Bhasma’s gibbering faded away and the frenetic whispering suddenly stopped. ‘My brother is levelling some very serious allegations against me, and I feel it is my duty as the newly anointed monarch to clear these doubts before I begin the more serious work of ruling this realm,’ I said, keeping my voice as calm as I possibly could.

  I continued, ‘Bhasma’s claims are so fantastic that had father been with us today he would have laughed at them. He says he was kidnapped and imprisoned by Harisena but as this council knows, Harisena has been dispatched to the border on a secret reconnaissance mission. General Ananta Varman will vouch for that. Unless Harisena knows witch craft, I cannot see how he can be in two places at the same time.’

  I saw some murmurs and a smile or two among the faces in the council chamber. Bhasma had gone unusually white, his long face looking almost bloodless in the half-light of the dimly lit cavernous council chamber. He licked his lips in nervousness and I continued.

  ‘As for the attack, I have already informed this house there was one. But it was not my men who ambushed us. It was the treacherous Nagas. I was unarmed and we were only accompanied by Datta’s ladies-in-waiting so I had to make good our escape. I didn’t realize they would kidnap their own kinsman. But then again, a prince of the blood brings in a good ransom, so maybe that’s why?’

  I waited a moment to take in the effect of my own words. Then I carried on. ‘You may well ask how it is that I know our attackers were Nagas. No, they weren’t wearing their clan colours. But their hissing battle cry gave them away. I heard it. Datta heard it. I am sure Bhasma heard it too, though he may not want to remember such minor details. If I remember correctly, the attack happened at the base of the hillock on which the temple stands. Bhasma says he was imprisoned but if you ask the temple priests they will say there was an attack and they saw some women and a few riders flee. If my men were indeed accompanying us, there would be a fight, would there not? There would surely be bodies? Some mangled horse and human flesh as evidence of the attack? But as this council knows, when it sent a search party looking for Prince Bhasma, they found no such evidence. Queer, is it not?’

  I saw the elders nodding in agreement and looking at each other for affirmation, and I secretly thanked my mother for sending her men across to clear up the evidence the night I returned to the palace. She’d have known that there would be a search party, and the dead bodies bore enough weapon marks to show there had been an even fight. I found out the next morning when she came in to tell me the ambush area had been cleaned up. Without that quick action, I would have been in trouble today.

  I paused for a few moments and began again. ‘My lords, I was chosen by my noble father before this august chamber, as his tatparigrihita heir. I have assumed my responsibilities knowing that is what he would want me to do. I am being unjustly accused by a member of my family, even as the Nagas are attempting to form a confederacy to attack our borders. As we speak, our spies bring news that Naga kings, Achyuta of Ahichhatra, Nagasena of Padmavati and Ganapati Naga of Mathura are forming a confederacy to attack our borders and destabilize this realm. Their kinsmen and allies like Nagadatta, Chandravarman, Balavarman, Rudradeva and Matila are offering moral and tactical support. This, in effect, means most of Aryavarta is rising in rebellion against us. We need to act quickly and decisively right now. Not waste time on the wild ramblings of a jealous prince.’

  Suddenly, everyone started speaking all at once and the council chamber nearly drowned in the resultant hubbub. I could catch snatches of the reactions: ‘His Majesty is right’, ‘The Nagas need to be taught a lesson’, ‘Prince Bhasma is being unreasonable’, ‘We need a united front, not a divided house right now’, ‘His late majesty had chosen Prince Kacha years ago’, ‘Prince Kacha is the rightful heir and has always been’. This was when the weight lifted off my chest. Bhasma had lost his last gambit. All I needed to do now was isolate him from his Naga benefactors in court. And that, given the current political situation, was not going to be difficult at all.

  I raised my hand once again and the voices died out. ‘I hope I have cleared this misunderstanding. But my brother is right. He is a prince of the blood and I cannot allow his manhandling to go unpunished. Given that they are plotting a rebellion right now, and attacked and kidnapped a prince of this noble house, I propose we banish all Naga representatives from the court and the capital with immediate effect.’

  The announcement was met with a chorus of ‘sadhu, sadhu’ as the council showed its near-unanimous agreement. I looked at Bhasma and saw his pallid face harden. He may not be as
clever as Jivita but even he realized he’d lost this round. His hysterical outburst had not only cost him his chance at staking his claim to the throne but it also offered me the golden opportunity to banish his patrons and isolate him. He sat there staring, unblinkingly into my eyes, and I saw such venom there that for a moment I was taken aback. This was no sibling rivalry, I suddenly realized. There was something else here, something more insidious, a poison running in his veins. Bhasma was the enemy within, while the Nagas were the enemy without. To vanquish one, I needed to vanquish the other; sooner or later.

  Two days later, the council passed the war resolution. The cavernous council chamber – its carved pillars and frescoed walls depicting scenes from the Mahabharata and lit up with 500 silver lamps – was chock-a-block that evening. The entire council was in attendance, including the Twelve Elders, the twenty-five generals, the entire royal family as well as fifty select governors from the outlying provinces. Bhasma was there too, looking like death itself, flanked by his mother and brother. The Naga contingent was absent of course – Ananta Varman had wasted no time in carrying out my orders of banishing them from court and the capital. I had also received word that morning from our spy network that the Naga grouping was in an advanced stage of battle preparedness. I needed to mobilize my troops immediately but I needed to put a regent in place first to run the kingdom while I was away.

  The night before, mother, Datta and I had a long conversation and we decided that Brahma Deva was the best man for the job. I would have preferred Harisena but he was too young. Besides, I needed him next to me on the battlefield. Mother suggested I take Bhasma along with me for good measure. ‘What?’ I exclaimed. ‘Take the snake to a snake pit – that’s madness!’

  ‘Actually it’s a masterstroke,’ said Datta, surprising me with how quickly and intuitively she figured out the way mother’s mind worked. ‘If he’s with you, he can’t foment trouble in court.’

  ‘Exactly,’ smiled mother, casting an appreciative look at Datta. ‘Also this way Jivita and Padma will not dare hatch any schemes to destabilize the regime. Bhasma will protect you from intrigues within your own family.’

  I was not terribly eager to take a disloyal and hostile sibling along with me to the battlefield but I had to agree that there was merit in the plan. ‘All I need to do is bully him into coming with me,’ I said with a quiet chuckle. ‘That shouldn’t be too tough.’

  ‘He won’t go without a fight,’ said mother. ‘You have to force his hand.’

  As it turns out, she was right. I looked around the council chamber and rehearsed the speech in my head. It had to come out right, with just the correct mix of determination and bravado, or Bhasma would not budge. I had to make him agree before his mother and brother could change his mind. ‘Years ago, one man dared to dream an impossible dream,’ I began. ‘Armed with nothing more than his vision and an indomitable spirit, he forged a mighty empire and secured our neighbourhood with alliances. As long as he lived, our allies stuck to the letter and spirit of diplomacy but with him now gone, they are baying for blood. The Nagas were never our friends but they were our kinsmen and allies. Now, it seems, they think of us as their enemies. Harisena has sent word that confirms what our network of spies had earlier come to us with: the Nagas are grouping against the empire. I need to march against them immediately to crush this evil intent once and for all. I urge you to pass the war resolution with immediate effect so that we can stamp them out before the enemy has had time to prepare.’

  I stopped, waiting to catch my breath and get an idea of how well my speech went down with the audience. I was greeted with a moment’s silence and then a thunderous applause. It took some time to die down but when it did, Brahma Deva stepped up and asked the question everyone wanted answered. ‘Your Majesty,’ he said. ‘Who will conduct the day-to-day business of governance while you are away?’

  ‘I have thought of that,’ I replied. ‘And I can think of no one better qualified for the job than you, arya.’

  ‘Sadhu, sadhu … well said, Majesty,’ came a chorus of voices.

  ‘There is another small matter,’ I continued. ‘I would like to take my brother Bhasma with me on this expedition. There has been some misunderstanding between us and I believe there’s no better way to re-build our camaraderie than by fighting shoulder-to-shoulder at the front. What say you, brother?’

  The suggestion took everyone by surprise, but Padma was the first to react. ‘My son cannot go with you,’ she said. ‘I am unwell and need him here beside me. With my husband gone, I need my sons to be around me in such trying times.’

  Smart woman, I thought. She knows what this is about and has no desire to allow her son to become a hostage. Also, she’s scared of what might befall him on the battlefield, whether by design or otherwise. ‘I understand and appreciate your sentiments, Madam,’ I said. ‘But this is war. We, princes of the blood, need to secure our borders or there will be no legacy left for us. The Nagas may be your kinsmen but they are now our enemies.’

  Brahma Deva took the cue and stepped up. ‘If Prince Bhasma does not agree to go with His Majesty, that will make him a traitor for siding with the enemy. I suggest you let him go, Your Highness.’

  ‘You’ll still have your younger son here to look after you,’ piped up Lichchavi councilman, Narasimha.

  Padma’s eyes flashed fire. ‘I don’t need a lecture on loyalty from the Lichchavis,’ she hissed. ‘My son is being taken hostage so he can be disposed of in the battlefield.’

  ‘I give you my word, Madam, Bhasma will return to Pataliputra unharmed,’ I said. ‘Unless, of course, he attempts to do something thoughtless. Like running away to join his Naga kinsmen.’

  ‘My brother will never do that,’ Jivita spoke through gritted teeth.

  ‘In that case, it is settled,’ I replied. ‘We march out in a week.’

  5

  March to Mathura

  DESPITE THE ANNOUNCEMENT IN open court and full support of the entire council, we didn’t actually march out in a week. Nor did I intend to, of course. I knew the capital was still crawling with Naga spies and I wanted to send out a strong intent to attack, one that would create some degree of panic in the confederacy. But our real weapon would have to be stealth, and marching out in a blaze of military glory was simply not a part of the plan. I wanted the enemy to expect an attack and still take them by surprise.

  Besides, I was waiting for Harisena to return and I had made it clear to Brahma Deva that I would decide on our next course of action only after getting adequate information about the Naga battle plans. The intervening weeks proved extremely useful. Brahma Deva and I sent out our own spies on secret missions to neighbouring kingdoms to suss out which way they were likely to bend once war broke out. In public, all of them, Byagra included, seemed pliable enough. But my intelligence network brought some interesting news – the Tiger King had secretly been in touch earlier with Bhasma and Jivita when father fell ill, and the coronation drama had been a bit of a bolt from the blue.

  My Lichchavi kinsmen privately reiterated their complete support to both mother as well as I. This was something to be thankful for as I needed them to secure the capital for me while I was away on the Naga mission.

  The wait took Bhasma and Jivita by surprise. They’d expected me to march out immediately as announced and had, without a shred of doubt, sent word to their kinsmen accordingly. But with the Naga contingent banished from the capital and emergency security in place, entering and leaving Pataliputra had become extremely difficult. The city’s gigantic iron-spiked wooden gates now remained shut at all times, and entry and exit was controlled through a small side gate that was heavily manned by imperial guards and allowed only by a signed permission from the city magistrate, Nagar Uparik Devdutt.

  Three weeks later, Harisena returned, laden with information. ‘The confederacy is expecting you to attack Mathura first because it is the biggest and most loot worthy city under Naga control,’ he said. ‘Because of this,
they have heavily fortified the city and are concentrating most of their troops there.’

  ‘In that case, we must attack elsewhere,’ I replied.

  ‘What do you mean, Majesty?’ asked Ananta Varman, the only general included in our mid-night war council.

  ‘Numbers don’t win battles,’ I said. ‘We have to use stealth and surprise to rout our enemies. And the best way to do that is to be at two places at once.’

  Harisena, catching the drift of my plan, smiled. ‘I think I know what you have in mind,’ he said.

  ‘It’s simple, really,’ I replied. ‘The Nagas expect us to attack Mathura. That’s not very far from Pataliputra. And it’s rich – its loot enough to bedazzle most invaders. But we are not looking for loot, are we? We’re looking to prove a point. So we will attack Ahichhatra instead. It’s not that heavily fortified and has a smaller garrison defending it. Which makes it more accessible.’

  ‘You mean we will send war ships? That’s the easiest route – up the Ganga,’ said Ananta Varman, his eyes shining.

  ‘More like shabby merchant vessels carrying a small, handpicked contingent of infantrymen and archers,’ I replied.

  Ananta Varman’s smile widened. ‘We attack them. They are taken by surprise. We take the city. They then ask for reinforcements from Mathura. And then you attack Mathura. Am I correct?’

  I laughed. ‘It’s as if you’ve read my mind. We must divide ourselves into two small divisions, no more than 3000 men in all. The first will attack Ahichhatra. The second will attack Mathura. You, Ananta Varman, will lead the first and I will lead the second,’ I said.

  ‘It’s brilliant,’ said Harisena.

  ‘It will work only if we can leave the capital in complete secrecy. Ananta Varman, you will choose your men and sail away in the dead of night. Don’t sail together. Stagger the flotilla into groups of two or three boats. Under no circumstances should you attract any attention. Disguise your men but pick the best. Everything depends on the first attack going as per plan,’ I said.