Farooq was deeply religious, having been raised in an orthodox Islamic family, and his father had enrolled him in a madrasa, which had a deep impact on him. He had grown up believing that Allah had a plan for him and today he was firmly convinced that he knew what that plan was. And what a grand one it was!
It had to be more than coincidence that Bin Jabal had shown him ancient texts and a metal disk that bore inscriptions that no one could decipher. But Farooq had cannily got them translated, suspecting that there was something of importance in the texts and the disk. He had been right.
He had shared the discovery with Columbus and the journey had begun; a journey that was going to culminate in the next few days with the discovery of the secret of the Nine. They had come a long way since then. The texts had led them to a hidden location where they had found artefacts that further reinforced their beliefs. They had redoubled their efforts to find the missing links that would lead them to the secret.
But first, he had to figure out the meaning of the verse.
He frowned. What could it mean?
Caved In!
Vijay and Colin tried, once again, pushing with all their strength against the stone slab at the top of the unfinished stairway.
Still nothing.
They walked down the stairs despondently. Four disconsolate faces stared at each other. Were they doomed to remain trapped here in this cavern?
Vijay put his lamp on the floor and sat down. He was tired and the cut on his cheek was throbbing. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands.
Radha noticed his dejection and bent down to put her hand on his shoulder. And froze.
‘What’s it?’ Colin noticed her stiffen suddenly.
‘There’s something on the floor.’ Radha pointed to where Vijay sat. In the interplay of light and shadows, a vague design on the floor of the chamber was visible.
Vijay perked up immediately. They had studied the walls of the cavern but the thought of examining the floor hadn’t crossed their minds. He sprang to his feet and directed the lamplight on the floor, along with Colin.
Etched in the floor was a representation of the gear wheel, with 27 teeth. At the centre of the toothed wheel was a hollow, sheathed in the dark metal that they were so familiar with, by now.
‘The key!’ Colin couldn’t contain his excitement. ‘Do you think there is a mechanism here to open that trapdoor?’
His enthusiasm was dampened somewhat as soon as he spoke these words and the same thought struck the others. The key was stuck in the pedestal that stood in the cavern below them! And even if they could retrieve it, there was no guarantee it would work. After all, the secret doorway in the cavern below had refused to open using the key.
‘Let’s give it a shot.’ Vijay squared his shoulders.
‘I’ll go down and get the key,’ Colin offered and disappeared down the stairway with his lamp.
The others waited. Silence descended on the chamber like a death shroud. They tried to keep their thoughts away from the fate that awaited them, if Colin failed in his attempt to retrieve the key. While there was sufficient ventilation in the cavern and this chamber, they would surely die for want of water and food. None of them wanted to contemplate that awful possibility.
After what seemed like an eternity, Colin’s lamplight appeared again, bobbing up and down as he dashed up the stairs, and he entered the chamber, a broad beam on his face.
‘It wasn’t easy to take out, but it definitely wasn’t stuck like before,’ he explained jubilantly. ‘Perhaps the collapse of the wall loosened the key in some way.’
Now that they had the key, their hopes revived.
Colin inserted the key into the hollow in the floor. The others watched with bated breath. Would it work? Or was the mechanism to open the trapdoor jammed like the one in the cavern below?
He gently turned the key clockwise. There was an audible click, followed by a series of staccato clicks accompanied by a sharp whining sound. Something was happening! The floor of the chamber shuddered gently for a few moments.
Then, everything went quiet.
Their eyes went to the trapdoor in the ceiling of the chamber. It hadn’t moved. Something within Vijay snapped. The tension and frustration that had been building up broke through. With a roar of rage, he charged up the short stairway in the corner and hammered with all his strength at the stone trapdoor, venting his feelings.
To his great surprise, as he pounded at the trapdoor, he felt it give slightly. He stopped his pounding and applied pressure instead.
The stone slab moved upward by a few inches. It was heavy.
He let it drop and faced the group. The mechanism had worked after all.
‘I think the key unlocked the trapdoor. There must have been some sort of mechanism locking it in place which has been released. We can do it.’
Colin joined him immediately and the two men squatted and then rose up together, hitting the stone slab simultaneously. The trapdoor lifted reluctantly and then toppled over with a crash that resounded through the small chamber.
With a whoop, Colin hoisted himself over the top of the opening and held his hand down. ‘Quick, let’s get out of here.’
Together, he and Vijay helped Shukla and then Radha out. Vijay retrieved the key from the floor of the chamber and clambered out after them. They looked around and found themselves in a small cave formed by three 20-foot high boulders leaning against each other.
‘I know where we are,’ Colin recognised the place. ‘On the upper terrace.’
Vijay breathed in the sweet night air and savoured their freedom.
‘Farooq didn’t see the key in the pedestal,’ Radha said thoughtfully.
‘The key probably looked like part of the design on the surface of the pedestal,’ Vijay speculated. ‘It is a good thing he didn’t notice it.’ He motioned to his bag and grinned wickedly. ‘He’ll never know what he missed.’ He turned to Colin. ‘Let’s replace this slab. The trapdoor is destroyed but if we leave this open, the secret cavern of the Nine is still accessible.’
‘Yes, we can’t allow that to be discovered,’ Shukla agreed. ‘Once we inform the Maharaja, the government can take over and restore the library of the Nine or do what they want with it. Until then it should remain a secret.’
Vijay and Colin lifted the stone slab and dropped it back into place, concealing the opening. They then hurried towards the staircase that led to the lower terrace. As they passed the platform they saw, in the dim light of the half moon, the destruction wrought by Farooq’s men on the platform through which they had accessed the cavern.
They followed the path down the hill, silently, to their car. There was no sign of life on the hill. The baba in the temple hadn’t been roused by the explosion.
Vijay got into the driver’s seat.
‘Now, all we have to do is solve the riddle and find the meaning of the verse.’ With these words, he drove down the path that would take them to the road leading to the highway and back to the fort.
22
Day 7
Jaungarh Fort
Greg White stared at the smooth, polished ball of rock that rested on a cushion. Vijay had called him early in the morning and told him briefly about their excursion to Bairat, though he hadn’t disclosed the events of the night or what they had found. White, eager to hear the details and see the discovery, had rushed to the fort as soon as he could leave Bheem Singh’s farmhouse.
They were now assembled in the study and Vijay had shown him the rock ball. He fervently hoped that White might be able to tell them something about it that might help them decipher the cryptic verse they had found at Bairat.
White shook his head slowly. ‘This is an amazing specimen,’ he remarked. ‘It has been polished to a degree that you can see your reflection in it.’ He gazed at his own face reflected in the ball. ‘But I’ve never seen anything like this before or heard of any artefact like this being discovered anywhere in the world.’
Vijay was disappointed. ‘So there’s nothing you can tell us that might help?’
‘I’m afraid not. Sorry.’ He looked at Vijay. ‘So this is what you found at Bairat?’
‘And also a verse.’ Vijay told him about the verse and also narrated their experience of the previous night, their encounter with Farooq, and their ordeal after he had trapped them in the cavern.
White looked solemn when Vijay had finished. ‘You really should have informed Bheem Singh. He could have provided an armed escort for you. This Farooq guy sounds dangerous. This is the third time he’s attacked you violently, apart from playing a role in Vikram’s murder.’
‘Yes, but the violence at the vault wasn’t aimed at us,’ Vijay reminded him. ‘He was after the contents of the locker. Not us. We just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.’
‘Still, there’s no saying what he might do next. We should take Bheem Singh’s help if we want to be safe. I know this personally. Remember, I got mugged, too.’
‘I agree with Greg,’ Shukla joined in. So far, you’ve been lucky; we’ve all been lucky. The next time we cross Farooq’s path, our luck may not hold out. Bheem Singh offered to help and he has the resources and the backing of the government. We should take his help.’
Vijay pondered this for a few moments. Then, he shook his head, his face grim. ‘I know that Farooq is dangerous. But he’s probably nothing more than a treasure hunter who somehow chanced upon the story of the Nine and thinks that their secret is a hoard hidden away. And I know that doesn’t make him less dangerous.’ He looked at Shukla and White in turn. ‘But my uncle wanted this search to remain a secret. That is why he went to such great lengths to devise clues in the emails he sent to me. And Bheem Singh also wants this search to be covert. Taking an armed escort and going around with an entourage will attract attention; including Farooq’s.’
A thought suddenly struck him. How had Farooq known that they were going to Bairat? Were they being shadowed by his men?
But he didn’t voice the thought. Their experience last night had shaken the others. Raising this question now would only set them on edge. Instead, he decided to voice another thought that had been taking shape in his mind for a while.
‘I think, from here on, I’m not going to involve the rest of you, except Colin, in the search. It is too dangerous. I have no right to put your lives in danger. Uncle intended me to solve this puzzle on my own and that’s what I am going to do.’
He hadn’t reckoned on Radha’s reaction. She glared at him, her face hardening, ‘You can’t be serious. You want us to drop out of this search after all we’ve been through? Vijay, don’t forget, no one compelled us to join you. I know you are concerned about our safety. But, if you think you can do this on your own, think again. You’ll need us.’
‘You’ll need me to decipher any other inscriptions that you might find,’ Shukla looked at him with a smile.
‘And I’m not going to miss being a part of the discovery of the century,’ White added. ‘I couldn’t make it to Bairat but the next time, I’m going to be with you.’
Vijay looked at Colin, who shrugged. ‘I didn’t intend leaving all of you out of the thrill of the discovery,’ he remonstrated. ‘It’s just that it might get really dangerous from here on. Farooq’s going to be more desperate than ever. He knows the verse and may get the meaning behind it, but he doesn’t have the ball. Not that he’s ever going to know. And I don’t want to put any of you in any more danger than you’ve been in so far.’
He was thinking to himself that if Farooq was keeping them under surveillance, though he couldn’t fathom how, he would definitely get to know where they were going next.
‘But if you are all determined to accompany me until the end, I’ll welcome your company and help. God knows I’ll need it,’ he concluded. There were cheers from the others.
A soft cough sounded from the doorway to the study. It was the butler.
‘The police are here, sir.’
Two men walked into the room. Vijay, who had been expecting Raunaq Singh, stood up in surprise and advanced to greet them.
‘How can I help you?’ Vijay asked Imran, after the IB officer had given his name and introduced his companion, Deepak, a police artist.
Imran had rehearsed this conversation several times. ‘The Gurgaon police are investigating your kidnapping and we’d like to get a portrait done of the two men whose names have been mentioned as suspects in the FIR.’ He had deliberately chosen his words to give the impression that he worked for the Gurgaon police without actually lying about it. ‘Will you and your friend help us?’
‘Of course.’ Vijay beckoned to Colin, and led Imran and Deepak out of the study to the sitting room on the ground floor. There, they described Farooq and Imtiaz to Deepak, who busied himself sketching the faces of the two men.
When he had finished, Vijay and Colin gazed at the sketches. ‘The portrait of Farooq’s a pretty good likeness, don’t you think?’ Colin glanced at Vijay, who nodded his agreement.
‘But the sketch of Imtiaz isn’t too good.’ Vijay looked at Deepak. ‘I’m sorry, it is probably because we focused our attention more on Farooq than Imtiaz.’
‘That’s okay,’ Imran responded, staring at Farooq’s portrait. ‘This is a great help. At least we can try and get a visual match for one of them. And you said he was the leader of the group, right?’
Both Vijay and Colin nodded.
‘Thank you both. We’ll keep you posted on the investigation.’ Imran smiled, and they were shown out of the fort.
Vijay and Colin returned to the study where Shukla, Radha and White were still trying to work out the meaning of the riddle.
‘What did they want?’ Shukla enquired.
Vijay told them about the portraits, but was more interested in solving the riddle. ‘Have you guys had any luck yet?’
‘Well, we discussed the possibility that this is an allusion to four members of the Nine,’ Radha said. ‘But that doesn’t seem likely; just as the verse on the metal disk didn’t refer to the original Nine.’
‘So you think that, using the same logic, this verse could refer to four edicts of Asoka?’
‘Well, we were just speculating that this verse could refer to four structures. Built by Asoka or constructed during his reign, if the Emperor in the second line is assumed to refer to Asoka.’
‘You mean like a stupa or a pillar or something?’ Vijay responded.
‘Perhaps they are temples of some sort?’ Colin ventured. ‘Temples would be offered to the gods in some sort of consecration ceremony, wouldn’t they?’
White shook his head. ‘Asoka was a Buddhist. I can understand Hindu temples being offered to a god or deity on completion but I haven’t heard of a stupa or chaitya being offered to the gods. That’s not the way of Buddhism.’
‘But it doesn’t say that the offering was made to the gods,’ Colin persisted, taking another line of reasoning. ‘What if they were offered to Buddha himself? Or to the people? Asoka had this thing about his people, didn’t he?’
‘Hang on,’ Radha interjected. ‘Suppose we ignore the second line for now and focus on trying to identify structures that Asoka built, which would fit the description of being four brothers?’
Vijay looked at White. ‘Good idea. Come on Greg. You’re the historian here.’
‘Not many structures built during Asoka’s reign have survived,’ White frowned and continued, ‘Asoka built lots of things—pillars, stupas, monasteries, palaces and, of course, his edicts. None of the palaces have survived. Some of the stupas are still in existence today. It could be any one of them.’
‘The riddle was meant to be interpreted after Asoka’s time,’ Radha said thoughtfully. ‘So if the reference is to four structures, they would have to stand out in some way; unique features or special associations which could be identified by someone who was familiar with Asoka.’
‘And they would have to be structures that would be virtually indest
ructible. At the very least, they should be capable of withstanding the ravages of time and weather,’ Shukla added. ‘We’ve seen that the Nine have been fastidious in their selection of sites and landmarks. They left very little to chance, so it is highly unlikely they would choose to compose a verse like this around structures that might disappear with time.’
‘Suppose,’ Vijay suggested, ‘We follow the edicts once more, as urged by my uncle. The edicts seem to be the only durable things that were created by Ashoka. Are there any edicts that are somehow related to each other? Linked in some way that could lead to them being perceived as “brothers”?’
Colin produced the sheaf of papers that Vijay had distributed earlier when they had deciphered the clues on the disk. He passed them around and the group bent over the papers, studying them, searching for a clue that would help find the meaning of the riddle.
The clock ticked by as the minutes passed in silence, broken only by the rustle of papers.
Suddenly Colin gave a whoop and looked up, beaming. ‘I think I’ve found something. Listen to this.’ He read from the sheet of paper in front of him. ‘The Barabar hill caves were carved out of the Barabar hills in the 3rd century bc, during the reign of Asoka the Great. These caves have one or two chambers and their interior walls are highly polished.’
Vijay involuntarily glanced at the polished rock ball at these words. Coincidence? Or was this a possibility? He rose and walked to the desk and typed out something on his laptop.
Colin continued, grinning and enjoying the attention. ‘These caves were donated by Asoka to the...the,’ he faltered then slowly pronounced the phonetics of the next word. ‘A-j-i-v-i-k-a. Did I get that right?’ He looked around. The others nodded, eager for him to complete.
He returned to the sheet. ‘Asoka donated these caves to the Ajivika sect and the caves were exact copies of the wooden beehive-shaped huts that were used by monks of that time. And here’s the clincher. There were four caves carved out during the reign of Asoka. The oldest cave was carved out in the 12th year of Asoka’s reign.’ He looked around again. ‘Well, what do you think?’
The Mahabharata Secret Page 14