‘They can fly?’ Arjun was surprised.
‘Read the Mahabharata,’ Agastya replied through clenched teeth. ‘After killing Parikshit, Takshaka fled through the air. He was seen by the ministers of the king, flying through the air. Mahatal is inhabited by Nagas like Takshaka. Who knows, Takshaka himself may be among the Nagas here.’
As they watched, the cloud disintegrated into individual shapes, which began descending along the boundaries of the Gurukul.
The chants of the mantra, around the Gurukul’s boundaries, were doubled to reinforce their strength. If the Nagas were able to secure entry into the Gurukul, they were all doomed. Satyavachana had spoken truly. They had no means to vanquish the Nagas.
Their only hope, now, was Maya.
Chapter Seventy-eight
The Lost City
In the sky above Western India
Maya hovered in mid-air and stared at the vast, black, expanse that stretched below her as far as the eye could see. Far below her, the light of the stars danced on the waves, the only indication of where she was.
If she had done her homework correctly, then this was approximately the spot where the lost city was discovered in 2003. Based on the news reports and a few articles she had researched, she had identified a large swathe of the ocean, west of Hazira in Gujarat. She was now directly above that very stretch. In order to ensure that she reached the correct location, she had used Google Earth to find out the exact longitudinal and latitudinal details, which she had then memorized. It was these coordinates that had helped her arrive at this spot.
The team which had made the discovery in 2003 had not found anything substantial apart from a range of artefacts recovered from the site, though they had claimed to have found remains of the foundations of the ancient city. According to the reports, the scanning technology used at that time had found that the foundations of the city extended deep below the ocean bed.
Maya had, once again, reviewed the verses from the Mahabharata, which had described how the ocean had claimed this city for its own; how the sea waters had flooded it bit by bit until it was fully submerged beneath the waves.
After all the people had started, the ocean, the home of sharks, and alligators, flooded Dwarka, which still teemed with riches of every kind, with its waters.
Whatever portion of the ground was passed over, the ocean immediately flooded over with his waters.
Seeing this wonderful spectacle, the inhabitants of Dwarka walked faster and faster, saying ‘Wonderful is the course of fate.’
Satyavachana’s words came back to her. ‘Find the lost, ancient, city of Dwarka; the city that was devoured by the ocean when Krishna passed from this world. It was foretold that this would happen.’ He had given her a knowing look. ‘Just like the prophecy which you and your friends will fulfil. What you seek is on an island, hidden from the world, which cannot be too far from Dwarka. Find Dwarka and you will find the solution, albeit temporary, to the siege of the Gurukul.’
Maya had found the city. But her curiosity was aroused. What did the city look like, drowned and ruined? She knew she would never get the opportunity to dive below the waves and see the underwater ruins. For one thing, she didn’t know how to dive; and even if she did, she was quite sure that she would never get permission to explore the lost city of Dwarka. For some strange reason, research and archaeological excavations had never been carried out at the reported site of the underwater ruins. Even the news articles, some of them by international agencies like the BBC, had a sceptical slant, implicitly questioning the authenticity of the find in the absence of any archaeological evidence.
She made up her mind. Surely a few minutes more wouldn’t hurt?
Maya hurtled towards the black waters that lay below her, like a stone dropping from the sky, and cleaved through the water as she headed for the ocean floor. She didn’t feel anything when she hit the water, and the density of the ocean didn’t seem to matter. As she had done several times before, she took a moment to marvel at the atma and the feats it was capable of. Even though she did not possess the sensory organs in this form, having left them behind in her physical body in the Gurukul, she could still see and hear and feel — things that she would have thought impossible in her atmic form; yet it was very different from the physical sensation of sight, hearing and touch.
She saw the ruins come up below her. Stone structures, not more than a foot in height, rising from the seabed and stretching out in all directions as far as she could make out. Were these really the fabled walls of the ancient city?
Recalling the description of the sub bottom profiling images that the research team had reported, which revealed the massive foundations of the city, she decided to burrow under the seabed and see them for herself. She was quite enjoying herself now and appreciating the power that she possessed which gave her the ability to do things that sadhs would only dream about.
Maya shot below the sand strewn ocean floor and was immediately surrounded by a mass of rocks that formed the structure of the seabed. Among the rocks, she could see massive pillars sunk in between — the foundations of buildings that would have stood overhead when the city was still above the waves. A sense of wonder came over her at the amount of effort and the nature of the technology that would have been used to drill the enormous holes in the underlying rocks to hold the massive foundation pillars that she could see.
She stayed for a while, exploring the underside of the city, weaving through the hundreds of pillars that still held their ground, despite the passage of thousands of years, even as the buildings they had supported had crumbled and disappeared with time.
Finally, she wistfully decided to leave. She had a job to do and, while she had enjoyed her exploration, her mission was more important.
As she emerged from the sea, she turned her thoughts to finding the island. It had to be nearby, hidden from the prying eyes of humanity, the refuge of a solitary being.
The one whom she had come to find.
The only one who could save the Gurukul from the Nagas.
Chapter Seventy-nine
Doubts
The Gurukul
Jignesh, Parth, Virendra and Tiwari had worried looks on their faces. Satyavachana had gone with one of the students to circumambulate the perimeter of the Gurukul and ensure that the defences were solid. The Council had a plan to keep the Nagas engaged while they waited for Maya to return with help. In order for their plan to succeed their defences needed to hold.
Jignesh, who was the head of the Mahamati Council while Mahesh was away, had outlined his plan to keep the Nagas at bay while they waited for Maya’s return.
‘They will want to wear us down,’ was his analysis. ‘Grind our determination and resilience into dust, make us easy prey. We need to pre-empt them, keep them engaged.’ And so the plan had been hatched.
And, true to expectations, the Nagas had not been idle. Reports had just come from the river that the Nagas on that front had begun destroying the forest buffer that stood between the Gurukul and the river. The stretch of forest along the riverbank had gone up in flames, forcing the defenders of the boundary to retreat within the Gurukul, effectively allowing the Nagas to advance.
Once the trees were gone, there would be no physical barrier between the Gurukul and the Nagas. What would happen then was anybody’s guess.
‘Their poison,’ Jignesh said, bitterly, ‘has lost none of its potency.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Virendra said. ‘How can their poison affect the trees?’
‘The Nagas do not possess ordinary poison,’ Tiwari explained. ‘We don’t know what it is, since no one alive today has witnessed the effect of the poison of a Naga. But it is unlike the poison of the ordinary snakes that roam Bhu-lok . In the Mahabharata, for example, there is reference to a confrontation between Saptarishi Kasyapa and Takshaka, when the latter is on his way to kill Parikshit, the son of the Pandava Arjuna. Takshaka boasts of his ability to kill any living being and challenges Kasyap
a to revive a banyan tree, which he has reduced to ashes through his poison. They’ve probably done the same thing here to our forest buffer.’
‘Satyavachana would have seen the conflagration,’ Jignesh said grimly, ‘and he must be engaged in countering their attack. That is the only explanation for his absence. He should have been back by now, otherwise.’
‘If that is the case,’ Virendra said, ‘then the riverbank is our weak spot.’
‘Yes,’ Parth agreed. ‘We had placed the maximum reinforcements there, knowing this. The other three sides are reasonably well protected by natural barriers — the Dandaka forest on two sides and the hill on the third.’
‘They would never cut through the Dandaka,’ Jignesh said, forcefully.
‘No, they wouldn’t,’ Parth agreed.
‘Once Satyavachana returns,’ Jignesh said, pacing the chamber, ‘we will launch our counter offensive.’ He looked at Virendra. ‘Are we ready?’
Virendra smiled grimly, a smile devoid of humour. ‘We are ready to attack at a moment’s notice.’
‘Good. We need to be.’ Jignesh lapsed into silence as they waited for the return of the great Maharishi.
In the sky over Dwarka
A pang of self-doubt assailed Maya as she considered her options. She had managed to find the lost city of Dwarka. One doubt had been laid to rest. But others remained. She still didn’t know where the island was. She didn’t know if the mantra to help her find the island would work. And, worst of all, even if the mantra worked, would it have the effect that she desired?
After all, hadn’t Jignesh told her that mantras operated through the use of sound, which was why articulation was so important? But here, as an atma without a body, there was no way she could recite the mantra and produce the sound that was required to activate the power hidden within it. What good would just applying her mind and focusing on the objective of the mantra be, if it couldn’t be heard?
This was the fourth doubt that she had kept at bay until now. Having come so close to attaining her goal, however, she had to confront it.
Why had Satyavachana insisted on this mission being entrusted to her when there was so much that she could not control?
A sense of hopelessness flooded over her. This was just not going to work. Her mission was going to fail.
And the Gurukul was doomed.
Chapter Eighty
The Hidden Island
The Gurukul
‘The news is not good.’ Virendra’s face looked like it had been carved out of granite. His teeth were clenched and his entire body was tense and stiff, like a freshly strung bow.
He gave his report. ‘We launched our guerrilla attack, going at the Nagas through the hillside, hoping to create a diversion. The attack was successful to the extent that we created a bit of chaos in the ranks of the Nagas camped there, and there were no casualties on our side. But the ploy didn’t work. There are just too many of them encircling the camp for any kind of diversionary tactics to be effective. Instead, in retaliation, the Nagas on the riverside have advanced and taken over the Kshatriya practice field. The Nagas have scorched both the forest and the field. Our Kshatriyas and Rishis have had to withdraw; they cannot withstand the heat from the blaze created by the poison of the Nagas. Whatever their cursed poison is, it is too powerful for us to withstand.’
Jignesh nodded. ‘Then let us defend that boundary vigorously and aggressively.’
‘Time is running out,’ Virendra said, sounding despondent. ‘If Maya doesn’t return soon . . .’ He left his sentence incomplete, but everyone knew what was running through his mind.
In the sky over Dwarka
Maya struggled with her dilemma. A part of her desperately wanted to prove herself, while another part had given up and was ready to return to the Gurukul. The familiar doubts rose up again, trying to convince her that she was never meant to be a Rishi, that she didn’t have the powers that were required for a member of the Gana . Hadn’t Jignesh implied as much even if he had not explicitly said so?
On the other hand, her father had entrusted her with the diary. He had not given her any specific instructions on whom to go to for help to decipher the verses in the diary. Surely he would have indicated something to her if that was his intention? Or was he relying on Maya to figure out how to decipher the verses by herself? That didn’t seem logical, unless . . .
A thought struck her.
Why hadn’t it occurred to her before?
A new resolve took hold of her.
She would do it.
Maya fought against the multiple thoughts that were distracting her, diluting her focus, pulling her towards the Gurukul, towards the Nagas, away from Dwarka. She gathered her concentration until she could feel a tight knot form somewhere in her being, and focused on what she had come here to achieve.
Slowly, the mantra that Satyavachana had given her began unfolding in her consciousness.
Maya was surprised at the power of the mantra, which coursed through her entire being, making it pulse with energy as she recited the mantra in her thoughts.
‘Om namo bhagawate garudaya trayambakaya sadhsttvastu swaha. ’
As she repeated the mantra, the power she could sense seemed to grow in strength.
Something tugged at her atma .
What was it? Certainly not a physical force.
There it was again. A perceptible pull.
Maya continued to focus on the mantra and allowed herself to be led away by the unseen, unfelt, force that was exerting a pull on her.
Slowly but surely, it came into view. A dim, hazy shape, like something viewed through a fog, its silhouette barely distinguishable at first, then coming into focus gradually, until it lay before her, its outlines clearly visible and the colours vivid despite the darkness of the night.
It was like being able to see in the dark, as if a powerful light had suddenly been turned on; a light that could not be seen but which illuminated all that lay in the path of its beam.
Maya had found it. The hidden island was hidden no more.
Chapter Eighty-one
Last stand
The Gurukul
A host of pale, anxious faces gazed in the direction of the river Ken. More than half the Gurukul was assembled here — students and Mahamatis — including Jignesh, Parth, Virendra and Tiwari.
Several hours had passed since Maya had left to begin her search for Dwarka.
Glowing orbs of light floated in the air, lighting up the night sky and illuminating the scene on the ground.
The sight was terrifying. Not because the band of trees that stretched beyond the Kshatriya practice field had disappeared, leaving blackened stumps and ashes in its place. Nor because the field itself was scorched and blackened in most places, mute testimony to the rage of the Nagas who had destroyed everything in their path.
But because of the sight of the Nagas themselves. With all physical barriers destroyed, the Nagas were now in plain sight. They were enormous creatures, rising over ten feet in height when fully erect. Most of the time, though, they were bent, hunched up as they moved around, the light from the orbs glinting off their scaled bodies. They wore very little armour, confident in their ability to withstand any kind of attack and any weapon that the humans may wield.
Arjun noticed that they bore some similarities to humans. They had two sets of forelimbs and walked upright on two legs, though with a marked hunch.
Their faces bore human features, with broad noses, prominent chins and cheekbones and a jaw that jutted out slightly, more like those of apes than snakes, though their facial skin was reptilian like the rest of their bodies. Their eyes were yellow slits beneath fearsome eyebrows and some of them had wavy horned structures rising from the back of their heads. None of them appeared to carry any weapons. Perhaps they didn’t need them. Their poison, whatever it was, seemed to be potent enough to destroy anything that stood in their way.
From time to time, the Nagas would set up a roar, and the deni
zens of the Gurukul would see more Nagas pour in from the river and cluster in groups.
All that stopped them from overwhelming the Gurukul was the constant chant of the protective mantra and the continuous shouts of ‘Garudaya Trayambakaya’ that were hurled by the Rishis of the Gurukul at the Nagas. Nothing else stood between the reptilians and the humans.
The power of the attacking mantra that the Rishis were hurling at the Nagas was perceptible. It was keeping them on their toes, constantly churning the hordes gathered there, not allowing them to combine into a formation that would let them attack the Gurukul.
Satyavachana had stayed back at the Assembly Hall, meditating on a mantra, which he claimed would reinforce the efforts of the Gurukul forces in keeping the Nagas at bay.
As Arjun looked on, he saw a slight commotion in the ranks of the Nagas. A section of them seemed to part and a young boy, just a few years older than Arjun, walked through the gap created by the fearsome creatures.
‘Vishwaraj!’ Arjun heard Jignesh mutter, the surprise in his voice apparent.
Arjun’s blood ran cold. His mother had gone to hunt and capture Vishwaraj with the other Mahamatis . What had happened? If they had succeeded in their mission, then Vishwaraj shouldn’t be here.
And if Vishwaraj was here, then . . .
Words failed him as his worst fears appeared to have come true.
But there was no time to ponder on what had befallen Pramila and the Mahamatis .
All hell broke loose.
‘Get Satyavachana!’ Jignesh roared. ‘We need him here, now!’
Arjun sidled up to Tiwari, not understanding the reason for the commotion. ‘What . . . what is happening?’ he asked tremulously, struggling to focus and make sense of it all.
Tiwari’s face was grim. ‘I can’t be sure, but I think — and it seems Jignesh does, too — that Vishwaraj is reciting a counter mantra.’
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