They were savage, skilled, hysterical, and most of all…desperate.
‘Do you notice, Dhruv,’ said Manu, ‘that this entire forward assault does not have a single daitya soldier?’
Dhruv chuckled.
‘I expected this, Manu. The scoundrel Nara-Munda will get the brigands slaughtered first, use them to weaken our defenses, and then attack us with his massive daitya contingent to annex the Ark.’
‘Waaaiit…’ commanded Tara.
Nine thousand bows around the entire circumference of the great Ark’s top decks were ready to fire their first volley of arrows.
Another three thousand supremely skilled archers waited, crouching behind the railings of the lower decks.
The growling front row of the bandit warlords’ militias now broke ranks and charged towards the Ark on foot. They had waited for over an hour to incite a response from the defenders of the great vessel. But nothing had moved. Losing patience and in the heat of the gigantic assault, they picked up their twisted blades and their climbing hooks, and dashed towards the wooden colossus on foot.
Several anxious moments passed and the panting attackers came as close as a thousand steps away from the Ark.
It was now that the beautiful Tara submitted a silent prayer to Durga, and roared like a lioness.
‘Nooowwww!’
THWACK!
Half a moment.
THWACK!
Half a moment.
THWACK!
The dazzling speed at which the able archers of the Damini Sena drew their arrows, placed them on their bows and shot them towards the desired targets was incredible. Over twenty thousand arrows were in flight within a matter of a couple of seconds.
The war for the Ark and the Earth had begun.
Banaras, 2017
THE BLACK TEMPLE
‘Where are we headed, Baba? It has been several minutes since we have been walking…’
Damini could not hold herself back. She was both terribly nervous as well as uncontrollably excited. The energy of the mantra-chanting in the Bhairava-mandir was captivating. The hidden doorway, the mysterious alleys, the inexplicable rumbling and the prospect of a divine constellation that appeared once in a thousand years…everything was making her nerves palpitate.
It was now that the grand old man turned. He smiled at Damini, glanced at Vidyut and turned back, walking deeper into the labyrinth of black stone purposefully.
‘Do you know why Bhairava is revered and worshipped, bitiya?’ asked the matthadheesh, his voice echoing in the narrow lanes.
‘Err…not really, Baba…sorry,’ replied Damini, looking at Vidyut, grimacing sweetly and biting her tongue. She was embarrassed at her lack of knowledge about something that the grandmaster might have expected her to know.
Vidyut grinned. He loved her so much!
‘He is worshipped because he is the all-powerful dwaarpaal or gate-keeper of the God of Gods, Lord Shiva Himself,’ explained the matthadheesh.
‘Ji, Baba…’ replied Damini. She had no idea what to make of what Dwarka Shastri had just explained.
‘It is only through him, Damini, that one can get to Neelkantha Shiva.’
It was like lightning that the truth now hit Vidyut. The Bhairava-mandir, the intonation of Rudra-Path, the hidden doorway, the Rohini-Nakshatra, the tunnels made of black rock, the unexplained rumbling…and now Dwarka Shastri hinting at them reaching Lord Shiva through His dwaarpaal.
Why did it not strike me before?
The last Black Temple is not somewhere far. It is here…in Kashi.
It lies buried deep under the Dev-Raakshasa matth itself!
A few more minutes passed and the matth convoy now reached a shadowy end that led to a spiraling, stone-cut stairway. The stairs went further deep into a dark cellar.
Before starting to climb down the steep, twisted staircase, Purohit ji turned to speak to the group that followed Dwarka Shastri and him.
‘What you all are about to witness is something you would have never imagined even in your wildest dreams. Just bear in mind that, no matter how fearsome the sight you are about to behold, you are the chosen few who are getting this sacred opportunity. Once you step down this stairway, your lives, your souls, your journey over births and rebirths…nothing will remain the same.’
Everyone was listening silently. A strange force emanating from deep down the cavern was beginning to overpower their senses. None of them were afraid. They were simply eager to play their respective roles in shaping the future of the human race.
They were ready.
Vidyut, Damini and everyone else in the group was dumbfounded as they surveyed the magnificent Black Temple that enveloped them.
The rough, rock-cut ceiling appeared as if it were built thousands of years ago. The figurines sculpted right into the black stone walls were breathtakingly intricate and beautiful. The sheer size of this magnificent shrine was awe inspiring. It was hard for Balvanta, Naina, Sonu, Govardhan and the other priests to believe that such a massive Black Temple lay buried right under the precinct of the Dev-Raakshasa matth. They had lived in the monastery for years and yet none of them had any knowledge about the existence of this splendid temple.
Dwarka Shastri permitted Vidyut some time to study the gigantic basement shrine, even as he instructed the sadhus accompanying them to begin the sacred rituals. A glorious statue of Lord Shiva stood in the center of the temple. The priests lit a ceremonial fire at the foot of Shiva and commenced the Rudra-Path once again. Upon the direction from his father, Sonu lit the scores of wicker-torches that lined the temple walls one after the other. Slowly, the entire precinct began to glow in the orange light of the flames.
‘What I am about to share with you now will be very hard for you to believe, Vidyut. But keep the faith, my son. Every word I tell you is the truth.’
‘Yes, Baba. This sanctum is anyway inexplicably holy, as if it has been touched by the Lord Himself. I have been fortunate to have visited almost all the holy temples of Lord Shiva across India. I have had the darshana of Lord Rudra across all the twelve jyotirlinga shrines. I have been to several blessed temples of Kashi also over the last few days. But never have I felt divinity as strongly as I feel here. There is something very different, very overwhelming here, Baba.’
The grand old man smiled.
‘Not something, Vidyut.
Someone.’
The Marshes Surrounding the Great Ark, Aryavarta, 1698 BCE
ANTIM YUDDHA – PART II
The beast stood a mile away from the great Ark, observing the progress of the assault. Nara-Munda was stunned to see the rain of arrows that was wreaking havoc on his forward legions. He had expected fierce resistance alright, but never in the innumerable battles that he had participated in had he witnessed such a severe, lethal deployment of archers.
He was not overly worried, however, given that the entire first wave comprised warriors from the bandit tribes. He could not care less about the loss of life they were suffering. For him they were nothing more than a human shield, meant only to press forward the attack. He was not planning to take any of them on the Ark anyway. Whoever survived from the brigand troops was to be executed before the Ark was washed aloft by the gigantic waves of pralay.
‘This cannot go on, my lord,’ said Doonda, the daitya senapati. ‘The Ark-men seem to have an infinite supply of arrows. Clearly, they have been preparing for this war more rigorously than we had imagined.’
‘Hmmm…’ growled Nara-Munda, as he observed hundreds of bandit fighters falling prey in an instant to the next barrage of sharp metal.
‘Soon the bandits will all be dead, O mighty chieftain. Our daityas will be in the direct line of fire thereafter.’
‘Or maybe not…’ said Nara-Munda, as he turned and smiled crookedly at Doonda, baring his blood-stained fangs.
The daitya senapati knew instantly that the giant fiend had come up with some cruel, ingenious plan.
‘They are getting slaughtere
d, Manu!’ cried Somdutt with glee, unable to hide his excitement at the early success of the Damini Sena archers. They were watching the proceedings from a high deck of the great vessel.
‘We are cutting them down by the thousands. Not one enemy soldier has been able to plant a hook onto the Ark,’ added Prachanda.
Even a battle veteran like him had not seen arrows deployed at this unimaginable scale. Not an inch of the marshes surrounding the Ark was left untargeted. The arrows shot from the bows of the Damini-Sena competed in numbers with the scathing raindrops.
Manu kept silent. Deep inside he was delighted to see the dominance of the Ark archers over the savage enemy. But this was all too easy. And that thought was troubling the young priest-king. Nara-Munda was not one to let this onslaught continue.
‘They are retreating!’ exclaimed one of the Ark soldiers, pointing towards the battle lines.
All the spectators on the great boat pinned themselves against the wooden railing of the observation deck to get a clear sight of the battlefield. The soldier was right. Having lost thousands over a matter of hours, the attackers were falling back.
‘Relieve the Damini-Sena and get Dhruv’s bowmen to take position,’ Satyavrata Manu shouted his orders. ‘Ask the kitchens to serve the valiant ladies a hot meal. Several of them have splayed their fingers while pulling the bowstring for hours together. Their hands are bleeding profusely. Get them to the vaidya immediately! The night guard should remain sharp and alert. This war is just getting started. Tomorrow the daityas will attack with double the fury and definitely new tactics.’
Manu could not even imagine what the daityas were going to come up with the next day.
Even now he underestimated the brutality of Nara-Munda.
‘In the pitch darkness of the stormy night, the daityas are taking away the dead and the wounded,’ said Tara, as they sat over the day’s progress.
Everyone in the room was deeply satisfied with the proceedings of the first few hours of battle. Countless bandit warriors lay dead, pierced by the deadly arrows of the Damini-Sena. The casualties were so heavy that some in the room hoped the war was already over. Who would come back the next morning to face this blizzard of pointed copper once again?
‘The daityas do not care one bit about the brigands, Tara,’ responded Dhruv.
‘Then why are they taking the dead and the injured away? I presumed it was to perform the last rites of the demised and to treat the wounded…’
‘They are not taking away men, Tara. They are taking away meat. The massive daitya army will feed on the dead.’
Tara felt she would throw up. Even the thought of what Dhruv had just explained made her nauseous.
‘Tomorrow they will not be so vulnerable. Having seen our firepower today, they will spend the night preparing a defense system. It could be stronger, thicker armor for their men…’ said Manu, thinking aloud.
‘That seems unlikely, Manu. Even if they begin to organize such armor, given their mammoth numbers that exercise would take weeks, if not months,’ replied Dhruv. ‘They do not have that kind of time. The deluge will strike any day now.’
‘You are right, brother. But they will come back with something…God knows what.’
Banaras, 2017
THE SERPENT KING
‘Pundit Bhairava Shastri, the founder and builder of the Dev-Raakshasa matth, was a visionary. He could predict that the last Black Temple would be hunted for more than any other. He also knew that the Order would go to any extent to acquire the secret of the Black Temple during or immediately after the Rohini Nakshatra of this year of the Shak-Samvata or Hindu calendar.’
The matthadheesh was taking Vidyut and Damini around the underground Black Temple.
‘For several years Kedarnath was the temple that hid the secret. But the Order was close on our heels and soon discovered that the holy shrine in the hills of Rudraprayag held what they had been seeking for centuries. The sinister brotherhood had then entrusted a Mumbai based gang-lord named Aslam Biker to keep an eye on Kedarnath.’
‘Aslam Biker? God! He is quite a notorious criminal, running drug cartels and illegal arms trade. Who would have imagined that even he would be associated to the New World Order?’ exclaimed Damini. She was a journalist. She knew all about Aslam Biker.
‘Yes, the same dreaded gangster. He is in Varanasi these days, by the way. Anyhow, we moved the secret from Kedarnath back in June 2013, under the cover of the devastating floods that had hit the mountain-state. The head-priest of the mandir, Mahant Bhavaanishankar, worked closely with Naina, and the divine secret was shifted to the Dev-Raakshasa matth, here in Banaras. This underground temple was built in the year 1253 AD to serve as Kaliyuga’s last Black Temple. Today it will fulfill its destiny along with you, Vidyut.’
‘NAAAAGG...’
Damini was struck with mortal fear as she felt she heard the temple’s black caves hiss.
‘Did you hear that, Vidyut?’ she asked, as she grabbed the devta’s sleeve, almost choking with fear.
‘Yes, I did, Damini,’ he replied. He was equally stunned.
They had now reached the opening of a broad, long tunnel that led to an even darker section of the Black Temple. Vidyut could feel a magnetic pull emanating from deep down the tunnel. He felt like every cell in his body was rejoicing, tearing to reach whatever lay hidden at the end of this black, mysterious corridor.
‘NAAAAAAAGGG...’
Once again, the hollow cavern was filled with a chilling hiss. This time it was even louder. An unknown force was announcing the presence of something exceptionally powerful.
‘You wait here with Balvanta and Naina, bitiya,’ Dwarka Shastri instructed Damini, stroking her head lovingly in a blessing. ‘As Vidyut’s eternal spiritual companion, your presence here at the Black Temple is vital. But for now, it is best you wait in front of the Shiva statue. Here on it is a journey that the devta needs to traverse alone.’
‘Ji, Baba...’ replied Damini, even as Naina put a reassuring arm around her.
‘You might think it is hypnosis. What you are about to see could well be a very profound hypnotic conjuration. The ancient sage you are about to meet is one of the most accomplished yogis in the world. His power of the mind and the spirit over the body is nearly supernatural. They say he is thousands of years old and has never left the planet since the time of the Matsya avatar almost four thousand years ago,’ explained Dwarka Shastri, as they made their way towards the celestial guest that awaited them.
In the darkness Vidyut first noticed the green shimmer some distance away. He was experiencing an inexplicable feeling of fear combined with devotion. As if he knew the visitor from another place, another time.
Slowly, the scores of king cobras slithering across the floor and ceiling caught the devta’s eye. Vidyut stopped in his stride, as he looked at his Baba in shock.
‘These are cobras, Baba...we must not risk it,’ he said, cringing at the sight of the gleaming black reptiles.
‘They will not harm us, Vidyut. They accompany our divine guest. I have been coming here every night for a week now, beta. Trust me.’
They proceeded slowly and finally reached the stone-cut enclosure that housed their unusual guest.
He appeared to be human, but of extraordinary size. He sat crouched in the center of the stone cave, which glowed in a soothing green from the brilliant texture of the visitor’s skin. In the darkness of the Black Temple, Vidyut noticed something bizarre.
The crouching man’s face was bent between his knees. It was covered with long white tresses of hair, and his body was covered with scales! Splendid serpent-scales that dazzled in glittering shades of blue and green. Even though the sight was starkly unnatural, Vidyut was not afraid. Something inside him was urging him to fall at the feet of this astonishing visitor. The entire Black Temple seemed to have come alive under the overpowering, magical, cosmic spell of this serpent-man!
The grand old matthadheesh now folded his hands and spoke with
unhidden devoutness.
‘Darshan dein, Sarpa-Raaj!’
‘Show yourself and bless us, O Serpent-King!’
The gigantic man stirred. The radiance of his skin seemed to turn even more brilliant. What happened next was something that made Vidyut dizzy with disbelief.
The celestial visitor seemed to grow in size, the glow emitting from his body now almost blinding in its luminosity. The devta could not believe his eyes as in the blur of the brilliant blue-green light he felt he saw the giant serpent-man’s head splitting into several heads.
Not heads, in fact.
Hoods.
The primordial serpent now appeared over twenty feet in height, as its glorious ten-hooded reptilian head erupted into the darkness of the cave-temple in a dazzling glimmer.
For Vidyut it was all a dream.
What Dwarka Shastri said next, that echoed like they were coming from a far distance, were words that the devta had never thought he or any human would ever hear.
‘Swaagatam, Naag-Raj!’
‘Welcome, O Emperor of Snakes!’
‘Swaagatam, Shesh-Naag!’
‘Welcome, Shesh-Naag!’
The Marshes Surrounding the Great Ark, Aryavarta, 1698 BCE
‘BEFORE THEY BEGIN TO CLIMB THE ARK, WE MUST CLIMB DOWN’
Even though it was supposedly the hours well after dawn, black clouds continued to cover the Sun completely. Just like each day of the several months that had passed since Harappa fell, Aryavarta was enveloped in darkness. Streaks of the sky visible beyond the cloud cover appeared blood red…as if preparing for what was about to unfold on the earth below. Merciless rain continued to pour, only with much greater force. Such incessant cloudburst was an evident harbinger of the chilling reality.
The colossal flood waves were now just days away.
Pralay was coming to swallow the marshes.
Kashi: Secret of the Black Temple (Harappa Series) Page 17