The Secret of the Nagas

by Amish Tripathi

  To the surprise of the Suryavanshis, Panchavati was built on a raised platform, much like the cities of Meluha. Strong walls of cut stone rose high, with turrets at regular intervals to defend against invaders. The area around the walls, extending a long distance, was used by Nagas for agricultural purposes. There was also a comfortable colony of guest houses set up for regular Branga visitors. A second wall surrounded these lands. Beyond this second wall, land was again cleared far and wide, to give a clear line of sight of approaching enemies.

  Panchavati had been established by Bhoomidevi. The mysterious non-Naga lady had instituted the present way of life of the Nagas. Nobody knew the antecedents of Bhoomidevi. And she had strictly forbidden any image of hers from being recorded. Hence the only memories of the founder of the present Naga civilisation were her laws and statements. The city of Panchavati was the epitome of her way of life, combining the best of the Suryavanshis and the Chandravanshis. It loudly proclaimed her aspiration above the city gates. ‘Satyam. Sundaram.’ Truth. Beauty.

  Shiva’s convoy was allowed entry from the outer gates and led straight to the Branga guest quarters. Each member of the convoy was assigned comfortable rooms.

  ‘Why don’t you relax, Shiva,’ said Kali. ‘I will bring the secret out.’

  ‘I want to go into Panchavati now,’ said Shiva.

  ‘Are you sure? Aren’t you tired?’

  ‘Of course I’m tired. But I need to see the secret right now.’

  ‘All right.’

  While Shiva’s company waited outside in the guesthouse, Kali and Ganesh led Shiva and Sati into the city.

  The city was nothing like they had expected. It had been laid out in a neat grid-like pattern, much like Meluhan cities. But the Nagas appeared to have taken the Suryavanshi ideal of justice and equality to its logical extreme. Every single house, including that of the Queen, was of exactly the same design and size. There were no poor or rich amongst the fifty thousand Nagas who lived there.

  ‘Everyone lives the same way in Panchavati?’ Sati asked Ganesh.

  ‘Of course not, Maa. Everyone has a right to decide what they want to do with their lives. But the state provides housing and basic necessities. And in that, there is complete equality.’

  Practically all the inhabitants had lined up outside their houses to see the Neelkanth walk by. They had heard of the mysterious attack on the Neelkanth’s convoy. The people were thanking Bhoomidevi that nothing had happened to their Queen or the Lord of the People.

  Shiva was shocked to see that many people did not have any deformities. He saw many of them cradling Naga babies in their arms.

  ‘What are these non-Nagas doing in Panchavati?’ asked Shiva.

  ‘They are parents of Naga children,’ said Kali.

  ‘And they live here?’

  ‘Some parents abandon their Naga children,’ said Kali. ‘And some feel a strong bond with their progeny. Strong enough to overcome their fear of societal prejudices. We give refuge to such people in Panchavati.’

  ‘Who takes care of Naga babies whose parents abandon them?’ asked Sati.

  ‘Childless Nagas,’ said Kali. ‘Nagas cannot have natural children. So they readily adopt the abandoned children from Meluha and Swadweep and bring them up as their own. With the love and attention that is the birthright of every child.’

  They walked in silence to the city centre. It was here, around the five legendary banyan trees, that all the communal buildings were situated. These edifices, to be used by all the residents of Panchavati, had been built in the grand style of Swadweepan buildings. There was a school, a temple dedicated to Lord Rudra and Lady Mohini, a public bath and a stadium for performances, where the fifty thousand citizens met regularly. Music, dance and drama were coveted lifestyle choices and not paths to knowledge.

  ‘Where is the secret?’ asked Shiva, getting impatient.

  ‘In here, Lord Neelkanth,’ said Ganesh, pointing to the school.

  Shiva frowned. A secret in a school? He expected it to be in the spiritual centre of the city, the temple of Lord Rudra. He walked towards the building. The rest followed.

  The school had been built in traditional style around an open courtyard. A colonnaded corridor ran along the courtyard with doors leading into the classrooms. At the far end was a large open room. The library. Along the side of the library was another large corridor leading to the playground beyond the main building. On the other side of the ground were the other facilities such as halls and practice laboratories.

  ‘Please keep quiet,’ said Kali. ‘The classes are still on. We would like to disturb only one class and not all of them.’

  ‘We will disturb none,’ said Shiva, walking towards the library, where he expected the secret of the Nagas to be. Perhaps a book?

  ‘Lord Neelkanth,’ said Ganesh, halting Shiva mid-stride.

  Shiva stopped. Ganesh pointed to the curtained entrance of a classroom. Shiva frowned. An oddly familiar voice was expounding philosophies. The voice was crystal clear behind the curtain.

  ‘New philosophies today blame desire for everything. Desire is the root cause of all suffering, all destruction, right?’

  ‘Yes, Guruji,’ said a student.

  ‘Please explain,’ said the teacher.

  ‘Because desire creates attachment. Attachment to this world. And, when you don’t get what you want or get what you don’t want, it leads to suffering. This leads to anger. And that to violence and wars. Which finally results in destruction.’

  ‘So if you want to avoid destruction and suffering, you should control your desires, right?’ asked the teacher. ‘Give up maya, the illusion of this world?’

  Shiva, from the other side of the curtain, answered silently. Yes.

  ‘But the Rig Veda, one of our main sources of philosophy,’ continued the teacher, ‘says that in the beginning of time, there was nothing except darkness and a primordial flood. Then out of this darkness, desire was born. Desire was the primal seed, the germ of creation. And from here, we all know that the Prajapati, the Lord of the Creatures, created the Universe and everything in it. So in a sense, desire is the root of creation as well.’

  Shiva was mesmerised by the voice on the other side of the curtain. Good point.

  ‘How can desire be the source of creation as well as destruction?’

  The students were quiet, stumped for answers.

  ‘Think about this in another way. Is it possible to destroy anything that has not been created?’

  ‘No, Guruji.’

  ‘On the other hand, is it safe to assume that anything that has been created, has to be destroyed at some point in time?’

  ‘Yes,’ answered a student.

  ‘That is the purpose of desire. It is for creation and destruction. It is the beginning and the end of a journey. Without desire, there is nothing.’

  Shiva smiled. There must be a Vasudev Pandit in that room!

  The Neelkanth turned to Kali. ‘Let’s go to the library. I want to read the secret. I will meet Panditji later.’

  Kali held Shiva. ‘The secret is not a thing. It is a man.’

  Shiva was taken aback. His eyes wide with surprise.

  Ganesh pointed at the curtained entrance to the classroom. ‘And he waits for you in there.’

  Shiva stared at Ganesh, immobilised. The Lord of the People gently drew the curtain aside. ‘Guruji, please forgive the interruption. Lord Neelkanth is here.’

  Then Ganesh stepped aside.

  Shiva entered and was immediately stunned by what he saw.

  What the hell!

  He turned to Ganesh, bewildered. The Lord of the People smiled softly. The Neelkanth turned back to the teacher.

  ‘I have been waiting for you, my friend,’ said the teacher. He was smiling, his eyes moist. ‘I’d told you. I would go anywhere for you. Even into Patallok if it would help you.’

  Shiva had rerun this line in his mind again and again. Never fully understanding the reference to the land
of the demons. Now it all clicked into place.

  The beard had been shaved off, replaced by a pencil-thin moustache. The broad shoulders and barrel chest, earlier hidden beneath a slight layer of fat, had been honed through regular exercise. The janau, the string signifying Brahmin antecedents, traced a path over newly-developed, rippling muscles. The head remained shaved, but the tuft of hair at the back of his head appeared longer and better oiled. The deep-set eyes had the same serenity that had drawn Shiva to him earlier. It was his long-lost friend. His comrade in arms. His brother.

  ‘Brahaspati!’

  ...to be continued.

  Glossary

  Agni: God of fire

  Agnipariksha: A trial by fire

  Angaharas: Movement of limbs or steps in a dance

  Apsara: Celestial maidens from the court of the Lord of the Heavens, Indra, akin to Zeus/Jupiter

  Arya: Sir

  Ashwamedh yagna: Literally, the horse sacrifice. In ancient times, an ambitious ruler, who wished to expand his territories and display his military prowess, would release a sacrificial horse that would roam freely through the length and breadth of any kingdom in India. If another king stopped/captured the horse, the ruler’s army would declare war against the challenger, defeat the king and annexe that territory. If an opposing king did not stop the horse, the kingdom would become a vassal of the former

  Asura: Demon

  Ayuralay: Hospital

  Ayurvedic: Derived from Ayurved, an ancient Indian form of medicine

  Ayushman bhav: May you live long

  Baba: Father

  Bhang: Traditional intoxicant in India; milk mixed with marijuana

  Bhiksha: Alms or donations

  Bhojan graham: Dining room

  Brahmacharya: A celibate man

  Branga: The ancient name for modern West Bengal, Assam and Bangladesh. Term coined from the conjoint of the two rivers of this land: Brahmaputra and Ganga

  Brangaridai: Literally, the heart of Branga. The capital of the kingdom of Branga

  Chandravanshi: Descendants of the moon

  Chaturanga: Ancient Indian game which was the precursor to the modern game of chess

  Chillum: Clay pipe, usually used to smoke marijuana

  Choti: Braid

  Construction of royal court platform: The description in the book of the court platform is a possible explanation for the mysterious multiple-column buildings made of baked brick discovered at Indus Valley sites, usually next to the public baths, which many historians suppose could have been a granary

  Dada: Elder brother

  Daivi Astra: Daivi = Divine; Astra = Weapon. A term used in ancient Hindu epics to describe weapons of mass destruction

  Dandakaranya: Aranya = forest. Dandak is the ancient name for modern Maharashtra and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. So Dandakaranya means the forests of Dandak

  Deva: God

  Dharma: Dharma literally translates into religion. But in traditional Hindu custom, it means far more than that. The word encompasses holy, right knowledge, right living, tradition, natural order of the universe and duty. Essentially, dharma refers to everything that can be classified as ‘good’ in the universe

  Dharmayudh: The holy war

  Dhobi: Washerman

  Divyadrishti: Divine sight

  Dumru: A small, hand-held percussion instrument

  Guruji: Teacher; ji is a term of respect, added to a name or title

  Gurukul: The family of the Guru or the family of the teacher. In ancient times, also used to denote school

  Har Har Mahadev: This is the rallying cry of all of Lord Shiva’s devotees. I believe it means ‘All of us are Mahadevs’

  Hariyupa: This city is presently known as Harappa. A note on the cities of Meluha (or as we call it in modern times, the Indus Valley Civilisation): historians and researchers have consistently marvelled at the fixation that the Indus Valley civilisation seemed to have on water and hygiene. In fact historian M Jansen used the term ‘wasserluxus’ (obsession with water) to describe their magnificent obsession with the physical and symbolic aspects of water, a term Gregory Possehl builds upon in his brilliant book, The Indus Civilisation — A Contemporary Perspective. In the book The Immortals of Meluha, the obsession with water is shown to arise due to its cleansing of the toxic sweat and urine triggered by consuming the Somras. Historians have also marvelled at the level of sophisticated standardisation in the Indus Valley civilisation. One of the examples of this were the bricks, which, across the entire civilisation, seemed to have similar proportions and specifications

  Holi: Festival of colours

  Indra: The God of the sky and believed to be the King of the Gods

  Jai Guru Vishwamitra: Glory to the teacher Vishwamitra

  Jai Guru Vashishta: Glory to the teacher Vashishta. Only two Suryavanshis had the privilege of having both Guru Vashishta and Guru Vishwamitra as their gurus (teachers) viz. Lord Ram and Lord Lakshman

  Jai Shri Brahma: Glory to Lord Brahma

  Jai Shri Ram: Glory to Lord Ram

  Janau: A ceremonial thread tied from the shoulders, across the torso. It was one of the symbols of knowledge in ancient India. Later, it was corrupted to become a caste symbol to denote those born as Brahmins and not those achieving knowledge through their deeds and learning.

  Ji: A suffix added to a name or title as a form of respect

  Karma: Duty and deeds; also the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous births, considered to affect future fate

  Karmasaathi: Fellow traveller in karma or duty

  Kashi: The ancient name for modern Varanasi. Kashi means the city where the supreme light shines

  Kathak: Type of traditional Indian dance

  Kriyas: Actions

  Kulhads: Mud cups

  Maa: Mother

  Mahadev: Maha = Great and Dev = God. Hence Mahadev means the greatest God or the God of Gods. I believe that there were many ‘destroyers of evil’ but a few of them were so great that they would be called ‘Mahadev’. Amongst the Mahadevs were Lord Rudra and Lord Shiva

  Mahasagar: Great Ocean; Hind Mahasagar is the Indian Ocean

  Mahendra: Ancient Indian name meaning conqueror of the world

  Manu’s story: Those interested in finding out more about the historical validity of the South India origin theory of Manu should read Graham Hancock’s path breaking book, Underworld

  Mausi: Mother’s sister, considered almost equivalent to a mother

  Maya: Illusion

  Mehragarh: Modern archaeologists believe that Mehragarh is the progenitor of the Indus Valley civilisation. Mehragarh represents a sudden burst of civilised living, without too much archaeological evidence of a gradual progression to that level. Hence obviously, those who established Mehragarh were either immigrants or refugees

  Meluha: The land of pure life. This is the land ruled by the Suryavanshi kings. It is the area that we in the modern world call the Indus Valley Civilisation

  Meluhans: People of Meluha

  Mudras: Gestures

  Naga: Serpent people

  Namaste: An ancient Indian greeting. Spoken along with the open palms of both the hands joined together. Conjoin of three words. ‘Namah’, ‘Astu’ and ‘Te’ —meaning ‘I bow to you’. Namaste can be used as both ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’

  Nirvana: Enlightenment; freedom from the cycle of rebirths

  Oxygen/anti-oxidants theory: Modern research backs this theory. Interested readers can read the article ‘Radical Proposal’ by Kathryn Brown in the Scientific American

  Panchavati: The land of the five banyan trees

  Pandit: Priest

  Pariha: The land of fairies. Refers to modern Persia/Iran. I believe Lord Rudra came from this land

  Parmatma: The ultimate soul or the sum of all souls

  Patallok: The underworld, the land of demons

  Pawan Dev: God of the winds, also called Vayu

  Pitratulya: The
term for a man who is ‘like a father’

  Prahar: Four slots of six hours each into which the day was divided by the ancient Hindus; the first prahar began at 12 midnight

  Puja: Prayer

  Puja Thali: Prayer tray

  Raj Dharma: Literally, the royal duties of a king or ruler. In ancient India, this term embodied pious and just administration of the king’s royal duties

  Raj Guru: Royal Sage

  Rajat: Silver

  Rajya Sabha: The Royal Council

  Rakshabandhan: Raksha = Protection; Bandhan = thread/tie. An ancient Indian festival in which each sister ties a sacred thread on her brother’s wrist, seeking his protection

  Ram Chandra: Ram = Face; Chandra = Moon. Hence Ram Chandra is ‘the face of the moon’

  Ram Rajya: The rule of Ram

  Rangbhoomi: Literally, the ground of colour. In ancient times, stadia where sports, performances and public functions would be carried out

  Rangoli: Traditional colourful and geometric designs made with coloured powders or flowers as a sign of welcome

  Rishi: Man of knowledge

  Sankat Mochan: Literally, reliever from troubles. One of the names of Lord Hanuman

  Sanyasi: Sanyasis are people who renounce all their worldly possessions as well as their desires and retreat to remote locations to devote their time to the pursuit of God and spirituality. In ancient India, it was common for people to take sanyas at an old age, once they had completed all their life’s duties

  Sapt-Sindhu: Land of the seven rivers — Indus, Saraswati, Yamuna, Ganga, Sarayu, Brahmaputra and Narmada. This was the ancient name of North India

  Saptrishi: One of the ‘Group of 7 Rishis’

  Saptrishi Uttradhikari: Successors of the Saptrishis

  Shakti Devi: Mother Goddess; also goddess of power and energy

  Shamiana: Canopy

  Shloka: Couplet

  Shudhikaran: The purification ceremony

  Sindhu: The first river

  Somras: Drink of the gods

  Sundarban: Sundar = beautiful; ban = forest. Hence, Sundarban means beautiful forest