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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 1 - The Adventures of Kochadaiiyaan
Episode 3 - The Warriors
Shama, The BabyDoll
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...3&d=1440515008
One word that frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is Love. - Sophocles
Alea Shama was the daughter of the Head Priest, a family who were positioned on top of the social pyramid. She was very fond of her kid sister Adithi. The town they lived in the eastern islands was peaceful, but when Alea turned 10 all the harmony in her life was shattered. Communal Civil War broke and the citizens became barbarian-like and started attacking each other in the name of social standards. Shama's family was ruined and her house was burnt with the family members inside.
The Peace Maker heard the news of the Civil War and rushed to the Island, but it was already too late. All alone he fought his way to save & help any survivors, when he came across a burning house and from inside he heard a child crying. He broke the door and tackled his way through the alighted living room and found 2 young girls hugging each other. Shama, cuddling her kid sister, saw the Man in Blue as a saviour and reached out her hand to him. At the moment when the Savior lent his hand to grab the kids, the floor inbetween them broke down, creating a pit of fierce fire below. Miraculously, a wooden board still stuck through the gap. The Peace Maker walked carefully over the board and reached the other side to grab the kids. He first took in the taller one who was nearer to him. Shama clutched her fingers of the younger sister and did not let go Adithi. Being in a uncomfortable position, the Man in Blue tried to pull the little one along with him. When both the girls were closer, Shama slowly crawled on to his back and hung around his shoulders, while their Savior struggled to take the tiny hands of the little one. Due to over weight the board started to give away. No time to loose, the Stranger quickened his movement and leaped forward, and by that action, he lost the grip over the little one's hands. Shama saw Adithi falling into the fire pit. From his shoulders, she leaped to try and grab her falling sister. Only there fingers could caress and Shama suceeded solely in retriving the wodden doll held by Adithi. The Man watched the little girl fall and the younger one's struggle to save her go in vain. In no time Adithi was ablaze, screaming & kicking before their eyes. The vision would haunt them forever. Holding the saved girl and not knowing how to remove her pain, the man reached to safer grounds.
For the next 2 years, the little girl grew on the laps of her adopted Father Figure. He used to narate her stories of Myths & Magic. Slowly her greiveness over Adithi & her family started to fade. At times, her Master would give her various tiny items - strands of animal hair or skin, white powder, ashes, dry leaves, etc., - those which she could not even identify. He would place them inside her palm and murmur something. A couple of years later she saw her Father taking measurement of her wrist by coupling it inside his thumb and index finger ring. When she was 16, her Father presented her with a Golden Bangle studded with various precious stones. It was the most beautiful ornament she had seen. She believed that inside the bangle her Master had stuffed all the items she held for him. She wore the Bangle with immense joy and kissed the Cheek of Saint. With a smile he instructed her not to remove it at any time and its purpose will be served at the right moment. He further added that he thrusts his trust entirely on her. That moved Shama and broke her into tears, but the Smile of the Sage soothed her.
When she was adoted by Anagha's crew, Alea would clung her sister Adithi's wooden doll around her hip and used to hop around the Anagha's deck. The doll would dance along with her. The quite reserved Alwars adored her and gave her the name BabyDoll. Whenever Alea went to the land with her Master, she collected 63 flowers and would place them in front of each Alwar's cabin door. The next day she will be rewarded with tiny suprise gift from the Alwars which became her favourite playmates. She slept listening to the songs sung by the Alwars praising the Father of Fathers.
At her 18th year, she placed the flowers at the cabin doors, but the next day she could find her gifts. Depressed she mounted the deck and before her was a tiny wooden box. She opened it with great pleasure. Inside it held a pair of Sai. On the double Sai, the Alwars had imprinted their signatures. The handle was strong and it has an impressive grip. She considered it to be the best gift she had ever received and each dawn following that day, she practiced with the Sai Weapon mixed with Yoga & Dance. The wooden doll of Adhiti still hung around her hips.
Slowly the permanent crew of Anagha started to grow and the team Warriors was formed. She nursed Yudhi with care, invited Vrikoda with her enchanting smile, played with Dev Brothers & befriended lonely Deva.
Shama got involved with the Warriors, serving the Man who rescued her from the Flames of Pain with his Petals of Love.
... to be continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 2 - The End of Adventures
Episode 1 - The Devine Dancer
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...9&d=1441101418
During the Age of Gods, the Father performed a sort of dance to establish both Power & Peace over the Worlds. The Devine Dancer potrayed five principal manifestations of eternal energy - Srishti (creation & evolution), Sthiti (preservation & support), Samhara (destruction & evolution), Tirobhava (illusion) and Anugraha (release & emancipation). Any body is made of 6 eternal elements - Earth (attractive forces : hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, bone, organs), Water (relative motion : bile, blood, sweat, fat, tears, urine), Fire (heat and its energy : physical warmth, ageing, digestion), Air (repulsive forces - breathing and the circulation of air within the body), Space (apertures : ears, nostrils, mouth, anus). With these 5 elements, a 6th is formed known as the Consciousness (feelings : pleasure, pain and neither-pleasure-nor-pain).
The symbolism of the dance is to control the elemental forces within the body and to utilise its Power at will to estalish Peace.
The dancing form is encircled by flames representing consciousness. It manifests the endless cycle of birth and death of the Universe. The fire ring around called Prahabhamandala, represents the universe with all its illusion, suffering and pain. The Devine Dancer's rapid movements projects a form to be with 4 hands symbolising the directions - North, South, East & West. Each hand reflects a distinctive gesture called Mudra which dictates the use of elemental forces through hand gestures.
The upper right hand holds a Damaru, hourglass shaped drum symbolizing - the Drum for Sound of the origins of creation and the Hourglass shape the marks the passage in time. The upper left hand holds a bowl of leaping Flame signifing destruction - the dissolution of form. These 2 upper hands represents opposition - Balance & Counterbalance of Creation and stands for Fire of Life. The lower right hand projects the Abhaya Mudra (meaning fearlessness). It assures protection from both evil (inner & external). The lower left hand points towards the left foot, which is elegantly raised, and seems parallel to the posture of the hand itself, the raised foot signifies upliftment and liberation. The arm is held across the chest as an elephant trunk, the pose called Gahahasta. It symbolises to lead the path through the jungle of ignorance. Snakes (sometimes few many) coil the arms, legs and hair indicating egotism. A cobra around the waist represents the Kundalini Shakthi - the female energy residing within every body.
The unkempt long hair stands for rejection of social desires and a symbol for ascetic. A cluster of spiky Kondrai (Cassia fistula) leaves crown the Kondai (topknot) registering the symbol of Royalty. On the Devine Dancer's head is a skull, symbolizing the Dancer's conquest over death. Water leaks from his hairdo, the flow represents the passing of wisdom between generations. Attached to the topknot is a cresent moon denoting the change in time. The Dancer wears a stud in the right ears and a gold earing on the left, indicating Masculinity or femininity within any body. A snake is colied around his neck like a scarf circled three times representing the past, the present & the future and symbolising the change. All the while, special beads called the Rudraksha sways around the Father's chest, each bead standing for purity and the Mala (rosary) for concentration.
At times a Trident appears in the Dance denoting Knowledge, Desire & Implementation. A kind of small eye-like opening is seen around the center forehead representing omniscience, insight and enlightenment. The firm standing position using the right leg, represents the victory over ignorance. The overall temper is paradoxical in nature meaning the inner tranquility countered by vigorous outside activity. The stoic face represents neutrality, thus being in balance.
Ithi Ravana krutham, Shiva thandava stotram, Sampoornam.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 2 - The End of Adventures
Episode 2 - After the Dance
AND you say that a man cannot, of himself, understand what is good and evil; that it is all environment, that the environment swamps the man - Leo Tolstoy (After the Dance)
Being an half-human himself, Kochadaiiyaan was born with the traits of his Father. It took him several attempts to master the Devine Dance and with an early self-realisation, he perfectly used his Power to establish Peace. He performed several such Dances to defeat the demons within as well as in the World he was put to be born. Kochadaiiyaan performed a special move called Lasya with the Veheul at the Rock of the vigins, which were softer and the most fierce one over Bakasura where he brought in all the elements under his control and exercised it on the Gaurdian General.
The Mudra plays an important role in controling and chanelling the elements. The technic of using the 5 fingers in certain unison allows the Son to exercise the properties of the elemental forces held within and make them work at his will - the thumb controls fire, the index finger gushes air, the middle finger orders the sky, the ring finger forces the earth and the small finger flows water. When Kochadaiiyaan pulled his little finger towards the sky, the thumb towards the ground and with the other hand pressed his palm while being on Bakasura, the heat he called upon from the sky flowed like water over the earth and the with the force of the wind melted the ground taking in Bakasura along with it.
The Dance holds a Devine force. It has an equal and opposite reaction on the performer, usually weakening the body of the performer. In return, the rage opens doors for the evil within to pop out devasting the soul itself. A Dance can be started with a good will, but could end up destructive. When Kochadaiiyaan uses such methods he slays the demons, but he becomes the immediate danger to the surrounding as his rage could destroy anything around him because the elemental forces were still active and were at his order. In such cases, Kochadaiiyaan had to be subdued and the key is the Light from the Moon.
Shama pocesses a special item gifted by her Master himself. When Kochadaiiyaan took in Shama, he made her hold several tiny items which were actually earthly elements - feathers, gems, white & black ashes, tiny peables, small threads - designed to control him during such suituations. Burying these items inside, he made a Bangle and gifted it to Shama on her 16th Birthday. With the Control which the Bangle possess, Shama took away the Raging Kochadaiiyaan to the Dungeons of Anagha. On the way through the deck and down the stairs of the ship, the crew were scared to see their Captain in such a condition. Some even hid behind the barrels. The Alwars, some roaming, did not even mind the Angry Sage passing by but continued what they were doing asthough nothing had happened.
At the Dungeons of Anagha, the cabin opposite to the Treasure Room was equiped to subdue the Saint. It had a platform to chain Kochadaiiyaan, exactly opposite to a porthole, through which the moon light made a forced entery. To guide the moonlight, Shama placed Chakora, the compass, at the feet of Kochadaiiyaan once she had cuffed him with 6 unbreakable chains. Then she placed Europa, the telescope, near his head focusing its lens at the porthole to allow it to absorb and project the Light. She removed Hippios, the trident, which was hanging to his loose hair and placed in on his chest as an implement against the uninvited evils. She took Arha, the blade, and hung it above the body of Kochadaiiyaan as a protection from the evils that would soar out of her Master. She then placed Inesh, the bow, at his side to help his calm down his physical pain under its curves. She left the 7th item untouched for 2 reasons - she was scared of it & she did not have any instructions from her master on how to use it.
All the while Kochadaiiyaan was murmering incompreshensible phrases in multiple voices. Sometimes he tried to attack Shama, but the chains allowed only his face to come closer to her. He tried to bite her. Shama would be composed and recited the Father Names thought to her by the Alwars while completing the tasks. She walked out of the Dungeon Room and closed the door. Through the peep hole she would stand and watch her master suffer the whole night long.
It took a whole night to quieten Kochadaiiyaan. His cries and screams were heard all over Anagha. His nails scratching the wooden platform was creepy. Early next morning Shama would enter back, and liberate Kochadaiiyaan from the chains and usually Kochadaiiyaan would be unconsious. She silently walks out leaving the door open. Later that afternoon, Kochadaiiyaan would climb back and take a place directly under the Sun, as though the Sun provided him the needed energy. Kochadaiiyaan would look older and fragile. It would seem like he found it difficult to carry his own weight. No one distrubed him, and the Warriors take position to Gaurd their Master.
... to be continued ...
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4 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 2 - The End of Adventures
Episode 3 - The Last Dance
Shama announced to the Warrior about seeing The Five-Headed Cobra, a similar one as tattoed on the back of The Master. The cobra has many symbolisms, the main one was the Resting Energy. The 5 heads represents - total restfulness, wanting nothing, doing nothing, being nothing and being open. The hood of cobra indicates 'the alertness without any effort'. When Kochadaiiyaan battles within himself at the Dungeons of Anagha, Shama would watch several images around the struggling Saint. Most of the time animals that encircle and attack her Master and she usually shares the dreadful night behind the Dungeon Door with the Warriors. The previous night she saw The Five-Headed Cobra crowning over the top of Kochadaiiyaan's head. The peaceful Human Energy of the sage is fully out.
Being a Demi God is a boon or curse ? wondered Kochadaiiyaan when Shama walked towards him. He was standing at the bow of the ship looking towards the Central Kingdom. Above the Forest Lands, lightenings were partying silently. He looked beyond Shama, and the rest of the Warriors were sitting on the deck of Anagha. Kochadaiiyaan informed Shama about the restlessness he felt the previous night at the Dungeon. He announced to her that 'the time has arrived', after finishing the 10 tasks thrusted upon him by his Father. He is gradually getting back being only Human and the first symptom is that he had started to forget. Everything seemed much more like a dream now-a-days. He told her about the place where he would start this Phase of Life to fulfil the last tasks. Shama weeped. Kochadaiiyaan did not take his eyes from the Dancing Lightening around the skies above the Central Kingdom.
The Hunter from the Sea reached the top of the mount Vanayil accompanied by His Warriors. Mostly everyone from the Kingdom were waiting for his arrival. The evening event was to thank the Legend for his service to the people by the people themselves. At the enterance of the Fort of Kathipara, the Saint looked around him. He watched the kids, the women and men. He graced their happiness. He understood their worries. He was aware of their sickness. Before them, on Vanavil, he performed the Last Dance around the closed gates of Hell, to heal people from all their physical and mental suffering.
Kochadaiiyaan danced the Last Dance to embrace Humanity. The Saint pointed out his supremacy by taking the Oordhava pose - lifting his feet high up.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...2&d=1441117414
The Master then showed the two different things (real & irreal) through Kartarimukha Mudra, which provoked Lightening to act as the seperating line - seperating the index and the middle finger in opposite direction.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...1&d=1441117405
For the sickness, the Sage organised his fingers to project the Apaan Mudra - the middle finger and third finger touch the tip of thumb while the other two fingers (index and little) are extended. He proceeded to form Varuna Mudra to call in the holy waters from the sky to cure the diseases - the tip of the little finger touches the tip of the thumb, with the other three fingers extended.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...3&d=1441117425
The Son of the Father showed his anger over the suffering of the world through Alapadma Mudra (Udru-thakopa) - stimulating all five fingers and therefore activating all five elements in the body.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...0&d=1441117394
And then it rained.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJfVh2t4iOM
The Last Dance came to an end with the Fall of Kochadaiiyaan. Hippios, the trident, escaped from the grip of his tightly spun hair and fell beside him. He did not move. After a while he started to crawl. He used his knees to try and get up. His weak legs started supporting his body. He stood hunch backed, but the Baby Smile was still sparkling around his lips. The Warriors appraoched the Saint and carried their Master by collecting the Fallen Trident. The rain cleansed the people who felt a new born energy of Hope.
And as Kochadaiiyaan was loosing his form, at the exact time, King Sama Suyodhana & Queen Radha had dectuplets. The childbirth took a miraculous 24 hours and the King named the final one as Dashakantha upon hearing his cry announing the End.
... to be continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - A Rajini Rewritten Trilogy
Season Two Starts Shortly
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...9&d=1445082898
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1 Attachment(s)
Forth Coming Attractions (Fake Preview)
sarvAyoni - The Secrets from the Past
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...0&d=1445083438
Take the journey with Baba - an athetist who never beleives in myth or magic, a truck driver who smuggles spirits, a petty theif who leaves neither woman or wealth unturned. Take the journey with Baba, who gets a key to save or destroy humanity. Put before the Door of Tests, Baba meets the Choice - fight against or go with the Gods - Ride with the Creator or shoulder His creations.
What will you choose ?
From the beds of Rameshwaram, through the forest of Karnataka, into the Plains of Pradesh, crawling over the sands of Rajasthan, cutting through the jungles of Assam, reaching the Peaks beyond Nepal, arrive at a place which never existed ... until now.
sarvAyoni - Father of all Forms of Life
Genre : Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Epic & Rajinikanth.
Also featuring Shama as The Florist & Chandramukhi as The Dancing Witch.
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2 Attachment(s)
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Season Two
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...8&d=1445942863
The story so far ...
Part 1 - Vettaiyan Katha
Dashakantha, a timid kid of King Sama Suyodhana & Queen Radha, grows to become a violent Ruler, Vettaiyan - The Hunter of the Land. He unleashed choas over the region from mountains to river beds, controlling and claiming anything that met his eyes. Not only to his people, he did cruel things to his own family of 9 brothers and imprisoned his father. He is assited by think tanks - The Politician (Narendhira Verman), The Architech (Vitara) & The Vaithiyar (Kreesnama Muni) - and by 2 brave servicemen - The Poet & The General. His faithful Dogs from Hell gaurded him round the clock. With such varied and undisputable forces with him, Vettaiyan not only had the authority over his throne, but also got what he wished for from all the 4 other Kingdoms either by rage or by force or by both, except Chandramukhi.
Chandramukhi, born to a famous Kingdom's Dancer, is a pretty young spy, recruited to assit and protect Vettaiyan. The King loved Chandramukhi and couldn't tolerate her to be seen with someone else. On an auspicious day, Vettaiyan burns Chandramukhi alive inside his Kingdom's Court, blinded with flames of love, he failed to see what was coming - an eternal battle of souls of Vettaiyan and Chandramukhi, a war that is raged even today.
Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Several years before the birth of Vettaiyan, there lived a noble man whom the 5 Kingdoms (Kottaipattinam, Kalingapuri, Katrupuzha, Karimedai & Kamenin) considered as the Hunter from the Sea. Kochadaiiyaan, an half human, wandered the sea on his ship Anagha with the crew of Alwars, slaying the evils from the water and protecting the lands from demons. He is assisted by six valliant warriors - Shama (The BabyDoll), Yudhi (The Axeman), Vrikoda (The Wrestler), Deva (The Whip), Pandu (The Knife-Thrower) & Jishan (The Archer). Kochadaiiyaan pocessed the gifts from his Father - Mala (108 Beads), Europa (Telescope), Hippios (Trident), Chakora (Compass) - each obtained by fulfilling the tasks thrusted onto him. Upon completing the Tenth Task, he looses his devine power and turns to a normal man to complete his eleventh duty as a Human.
The last survivors of Yethi cargo ship crawled over the sands of the Rocky Island. The twelve sailors sat before the The Sitting Sage whose words magically ryming with the mystical winds ...
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2 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 3 - The Sitting Sage & the Twelve Disciples
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...9&d=1445960731
Episode 1 - Yaaghavi
'Kochadaiiyaan was beheaded', announced the Sitting Sage, and without a flicker of pause added 'for the crime of treason'. The sailors looked at each other as though wondering how someone like Kochadaiiyaan be accused for such a violation. The Sitting Sage continued :
For several years Kocahdaiiyaan lived like a regular man. His warriros, each took a job around him gaurding their Master even in his Human form. Life as a Man was difficult. The Warriors soon felt that it was easier to face the evils than walk amoung their own men for whom they had fought for.
Yudhi worked for a lumberjack, but this time in sales & marketing who failed to achieve the sales target, taking in all the abuses from his employer. But he did break the logs for his clients using his head to help him empty his anger.
Deva took charge of fabricating ropes for the ships. Each time he hops around with his wooden legs, kids imitate him provoking the onlookers to laugh. He patiently made the ropes by putting extra force to the thread by twisting them hard.
Pandu & Vrikoda worked together for a blacksmith, who always complained to hit the iron harder. When the blacksmith was not around, Vrikoda used his fist to beat the hot iron rod and Pandu shined his new knife waiting for the day to put it for a good use.
Jishan opened up a Target Shooting play-store. The challenge to the clients is to shoot moving targets, mostly tiny paper-board birds and animals. Once a group of teens, who had hit 9 out of 10 targets challenged Jishan. Jishan took the challenge, and seeing that its a Rich Man's kid failed to score more than his challenger. The teens walked away laughing, while Jishan stood showing his back to the target board watching them. Only his hands at the back holding the bow and arrow moved, and the dummy targets started to fall one by one.
Shama became a florist, working for a filth mouthed aged lady who grumble and growled for anything done by her new employee. And Shama faced a little problem - she could not support the yellow & red flowers. It reminded her of the flames that killed her Baby Sister. Shama weeped to the Baby Doll during the night.
Their Master, so much attached to the sea, took up transporting cargos between two close lands, on Anagha. He took only the contracts that could be accomplished during the day light. In his leisure time, he used to sit on the platform around the tree at the centre of the town talking to the market folks. The trade was going smoothly, as the merchants were thanking his Father for the economical growth. 'People were forgeting Kochadaiiyaan, slowly'.
It's here, under the soft breeze of the tree, Kochadaiiyaan saw the 'Milk Maid' Yaaghavi for the first time.
Yaaghavi comes from a dairy family, and brings fresh dairy products to the market. She is a well behaved young woman, respecting everyone. He felt a tiny ball of warmth running around inside his body each time he saw Yaaghavi in different time of the day and in different field of work. He thought she was unaware, until during the Festival of Lights, Yaaghavi walked holding small oil lamps in her hands. Surrounded by few other girls, Yaaghavi's eyes were searching, looking out for something and finally rested on Kochadaiiyaan. He saw it too, and from then till the end of the Festive night, they exchanged glances, their eyes singing the poetry of their hearts.
The day was long. Yaaghavi's father was sick at the market. She had instructed her workers to take her father home, and that she would return after finishing buisness. It was very late in the evening, and the light was slowly eaten by its own shadow. Stranded in the market place, Yaaghavi was thinking about her journey through the forest alone, when Kochadaiiyaan came to her aid by accepting to accompany her. The warriors looked at the couple, and deceided to stay back. The journey through the forest was the quickest for both. Even though they tried to be as slow as possible, they reached their destination in silence. At the gates of the Yaaghavi's Farmhouse, Yaaghavi thanked Kochadaiiyaan but waited without moving. Kochadaiiyaan pleasantly wished Yaaghavi, and was motionless too.
The favorable breeze was seperating them, which they both felt as a hinderence. And without eachother's permission they closed the gap between them - Yaaghavi raised herself by standing on her toes and Kochadaiiyaan humbly bent down to reach Yaaghavi.
Under the tender moonlight, Kochadaiiyaan kissed Yaaghavi.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...0&d=1445960783
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 3 - The Sitting Sage & the Twelve Disciples
Episode 2 - The Execution
http://www.123coimbatore.com/slide-t...de-show-photos
Almost a decade had passed, informed the Sitting Sage to his disciples, and the couple Yaaghavi and Kochadaiiyaan were loved and worshiped by the people. The pair did not hesitate to help any one in need and their priority was 'Food for all' and 'Drive away Sickness'. Kochadaiiyaan used to travel to the mountains and would return a couple of days later. He brought with him sacks of medicinal herbs, collected and handed over to him by the Alwars. The Alwars went up the mountains and stayed there upon the instruction from their Master. Yaaghavi added the elemental herbs to dairy products and the younger generation grew up healthy.
The then Prince Rishikodagan, who once seeked the help of Kochadaiiyaan to solve the Mystry of Wreaking Ships, had taken over the Kingdom of Kottaipattinam. He was aware of Kochadaiiyaan seeking shelter in his kingdom at a far end in a small town. Rishikodagan was keenly watching Kochadaiiyaan's rise amoung the people. His jealously was triggered by the pungent evil that was fast spreading over the lands of the 5 kingdom - a central wicked force was getting stronger. As a business minded King, Rishikodagan was more into trades and did nothing towards the welfare of the people. Kottaipattinam flourished in wealth but the consequence was paid by the health of its citizens. Moreover, the Peace that once reigned amoung the Kingdoms, the main initiative of Kochadaiiyaan, was no more in place. The clash between the Kings grew, the trade treaties put in place by Kochadaiiyaan were breached. The news that Kochadaiiyaan was to visit the valliant Central Kingdom, brought fear inside Rishikodagan. Thinking that Kochadaiiyaan was plotting against Kottaipattinam and is planing to over throw Rishikodagan, the envious mind of Rishikodagan conspired against Kochadaiiyaan.
King Sama Suyodhana had sent out a request to Kochadaiiyaan through his messenger seeking aid over the danger prevailing in and around the Dealy Caves of Malliga Mountains. Reluctantly, Kochadaiiyan reached the Port of the Central Kingdom with his Warriors. After a brief discussion with the King, Kochadaiiyaan walked past the Port's corridors. At a spot, hiding behind a tree, Kochadaiiyaan noticed a timid & fragile boy. Their eyes stuck on each other and after a brief moment Kochadaiiyaan smiled at the kid and walked away.
Upon his return, Rishikodagan personally invited Kochadaiiyaan and his family to his palace. While dining, Rishikodagan requested Kochadaiyaan to accept a task on the name of the Kingdom's Security. He wanted him to collect and deliver war horses from a Far Far Land. He persuaded that only Kochadaiiyaan & his crew over board of the Great Anagha could safely carry such a valuble shipment. After a bit of thought, Kochadaiiyaan agreed. Later that evening, through an annonymous courier Rishikodagan, informed the King of Kalingapuri, Raja Mahendran, about the secret shipment.
The night while returning with the war horses, Kochadaiiyaan found his crew falling sick. Upon investigation he found out that their food stocks were poisoned by masked intruders from a nearby land. To find cure for the sick and save them from dying, Kochadaiiyaan anchored at Kalingapuri harbour. Stroming in as a gaint whirlpool, Kochadaiiyaan questioned the King for his cowardly act.
http://www.andhrawishesh.com/images/...-Stills-25.jpg
But Raja Mahendran's ears were deaf to the claims and pleas of the Hunter from the Sea. In return to cure for the sick crew, the King did not request, but ordered Kochadaiiyaan to leave all the war horses and return to his home land. Also, the cured crew will stay and become a part of Kalingapuri's army.
With no other choice, Kochadaiiyaan returned to Kottaipattinam after assuring his crew that he will come to reclaim them all. Upon reaching Kottaipattinam, Kochadaiiyaan prepared himself to go for war against Kalingapuri, the HuMan in him taking him over completely. But he was stopped by Rishikodagan. The King mocked Kochadaiiyan asking him who really was the King of Kottaipattinam. In a flash of a lightening, Kochadaiiyaan realised the depth of all that had occured - His marriage with Yaagavi and the twelfth task at the Central Lands - Kochadaiiyaan had concluded all the tasks, those which were thrusted upon him by his Father. He smiled. He turned and looked at his Warriors. His gaze translated his whole life into a flip book. Shama fell to her knees.
Rishikodagan accused Kochadaiiyan for working with Raja Mahendran by placing the missing horses and soldiers as proofs. He claimed that Kochadaiiyaan had gifted the 'costly' assets of Kottaipattinam to show his loyalty towards his employer.
When asked to defend himself, Kochadaiiyaan adressed to the court : Theliuraiyum Mudivuraiyum Thelindha Neerudaiaga therintha piragu Munurai etharku.
The Jury found Kochadaiiyaan guilty.
Yaaghavi pleaded before the people, but as weak as they were they could only support the fainting wife of Kochadaiiyaan from falling to the ground.
The Warriors, silently carried away the motionless body of their Master towards the mountain.
... To be Continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 3 - The Sitting Sage & the Twelve Disciples
Episode 3 - On Route to Reality
These are called the 'Archipels of Alwars', declared the Sitting Sage. They were designed by the Alwars to shelter the sailors lost in the sea. Each tiny land that looked magically floating out of nowhere on the sea were not mirages but the hope for the sinking ships. These islands were created with abundant food resources and all around were tree species used to build rescue boats. The plants generate double the oxygen to give enough strength for the weak surviors to regain quickly. Each Alwar sacrificed themselves to build such sandy lands upon the instruction from their Master.
And the Warriors were never seen again. Yaaghavi was expelled from the kingdom. There was a small resistence around her, until the night the gaurds marched in and chopped the right thumb of the supporters as a warning. Yaaghavi was lastly seen climbing the mountains.
The eldest of the sailor asked the Sitting Sage who really was Kochadaiiyaan. The Sitting Sage explained :
Heroes are not all-powerful and immortal beings. Instead they represent the best of what it means to be human, demonstrating great strength, courage, wisdom, cleverness and devotion. They are the ones who triumph over obstacles. The Sun being symbol of Birth, the Sunlight becomes the source of Life, just like how the light falls on the buds and turn them into flowers. Then He sung to them the 'Ballad of Birth' :
O kinsfolk, the world begun as a seed,
With all what all we need,
Our dream, our deepest heed,
Where greed & rage grows like a weed.
Yet in this seed is found as well,
That HE met his gay Lady ringing the bell.
On the leaves fair and green,
Grew a new seed bright and clean.
Beats a noble heart in this seed,
Born by the reunion of good deed,
To begin a whole new creed,
To bring an end to the bleed.
A day of miracle emerged,
When the brave and the honor merged.
Here amoung the other Worlds,
The seed is part Heaven and part Earth.
Two Gods indulged in an illegal act after slaying a demon - one taking the role of the slayer and the other turning into a pretty lady. They comitted a second crime by trespassing into the Human World to hide the birth occured through their reunion. When the Demon soul that they slayed laughed at the Justice of Gods, the two Gods were answerable to the Court of Devine. It was pronounced that the descendant, now found in the Human World, will become a mortal and that his death would be seen by the other worlds. Further the Doors of the Worlds were permanantly closed, bringing an end to the Golden Age, making Kochadaiiyaan the Last Demigod to walk on Earth. His Parents thrusted twelve tasks on their Son, mainly to send back the evils and demons still circling in the Human World.
In the depths of the Bright Lands, found amoung the nature, was a new born lying over a Bed of Beli leaves, encircled around a Blue satin cloth. Concealed within was a Dragger, so cold. The local hunters found the infant but there was a Predator of the Nature, a Capitoline Wolf, standing gaurd. Looking at its size and furious eyes, the hunters camped nearby until dusk when they carried the baby away. Their greed made them sell the new born to a childless merchant. Thus, Kochadaiiyaan grew amoung the other children being the most intelligent. When he was fourteen, he realised through a dream who he actually was and left to the Bright Lands. Upon his return he was no more a student, but the Teacher of all Teachers.
The Sitting Sage then clamly answered to the younger one's question on who he himself is :
I goes by many names,
I have seen all that had left,
I have witnessed all that is roaming,
I have visioned all that was coming,
I am the Light in the Dark,
I am the Darkness within the Light,
And you can call me Time.
For the anxiety of the sailors, as to what would happen next, the Sitting Sage summerised :
Many escaped from the Sea & Lands when HE slayed their sources. They all hid in various places. They were all chased, cornered and killed with HIS Dragger. The souls sent to the Right Worlds, where they should belong. But there rose a new, an hybrid of pure evil in the human form, which is not the manifestation HE should have known, neither it was HIS task. Instead HE was put to leave behind HIS proper seed. And in the battle of three, only one will stand.
He explained to them that their presence here was triggered, so that the twelve became the Witness of Time. Saying so he gently asked the sailors to continue their journey. The sailors prepared to leave and after moving few steps futher towards the beach, they all stoped and realised that they did not thank the Sitting Sage. When they turned they found the nature had taken HIS place.
It took them 3 days to build a boat. Each one had a different thought running in their mind recollecting what the Sitting Sage had told them. They set sail towards the Horizon. There was silence through the journey as though everything seemed a massive dream and then one of them whispered in the wind :
And in the battle of three, only one will stand.
Chapter 3 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...3&d=1446047701
... to be continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
http://www.filmibeat.com/fanimg/koch...ages-24281.jpg
Episode 1 - The Jewel of Kali
The shadow moving slowly under the moolight was chilling. There was a particularity in its form that looked crookedly bent. Barely audible squawky noise came out from the object the creepy silhouette was pulling. The mysterious form stopped to look-up at the only light illuminating a sort, resembling a dormer. Stopping below, the twisted figure dug out what looked like a closed cylindrical wooden container from the cart it was pulling. The crippled hands with long thin fingers and unkempt nails carried the vessel and climbed up the stairs. Its heavy breathing pierced the passing breeze. On top and from around the corner of the landing, someone else was hiding and jumped over the visitor, which took him by suprise and he let out a loud cry.
Hanchabadra was taken aback and wailed. It made the kids gathered around laugh out loud. Nodding his head in displeasure, Hanchabadra lifted the pail, and signaled with his thin long finger, indicating none would receive the candy dipped in honey. The kids put-up an apologetic face, when Sengodagan rushed past the kids and pulled Hanchabadra by his cloak. The Candy Man followed Sengodagan like a puppy which made the kids to chortle.
Sitting around a shy camp-fire, the kids were contendly brushing the hard boiled candy. Hanchabadra, sitting next to Sengodagan, was counting the tiny pearls attatched on Sengodagan's tunic. A little girl from the group, pleaded Sengodagan to narrate them a story, to which Hanchabadra clapped hysterically in accord. Sengodagan calmed the kids and pointed his finger towards the nearby Lighthouse. The kids noticed that, the phare was emitting a severe kind of brightness that blinded their eyes. Sengodagan explained to them that the source of it's brightness was from a tiny rhinestone and continued to narrate to them one of their escapades.
Very long ago, started Sengodagan plesantly, lived a jewelsmith with his pretty daughter, Kali. While working in the mines, he came across a special stone, tiny in size, but was releasing light through its octahedral shape. The face of the jewelsmith glowed with the light from the diamond. He carefully crafted a Mukhutti for Kali, studded with the magical rock. The nose ring gave some kind of divine shine on Kali, that the people believed that she is a Goddess in human form.
One day, continued Sengodagan with anxiety, while the jewelsmith was working at a mine sight with other miners, they were attacked by demon like humans riding on buffaloes. They attacked every person on the site and dragged their bodies inside the forest. That night, when Kali came to know about the massacre, she entered the forest and slayed every rotten minded culprits, guilty of the crime against her people. Lucent beam from Kali's jewel spun between the tree gaps. And at the end, when none stood before her, Kali continued to perform the Dance of Agni, producing a fire in her furious twrils that set the Great Forest ablaze.
Far Far away, spoke Sengodagan assuringly, a group of settlers were lost and seeing the flames they walked towards that direction. When they reached their destination, the fire had changed its form, from flames to smoke. Before them, was a vast fertile land, and the settler established thier homes on the ash-grounds, and named the new found land, Karimedu, the Kingdom on which they all were sitted currently.
But wait, carried on Sengodagan. When Kali performed the Dance of Agni, her nose ring fell to the ground. Rain that followed washed away the precious jewel and made it stuck in an unknown place for years, until we found its where-abouts - Sengodagan looked proudly at Hanchabadra who smiled with pride. Following the map that had lead them past rivers, valleys & hills, they reached a cliff, over which an abondaned settlement was sitting. After a hard cliff climbing, they were suprised to reach a wave-cut platform inbetween the cliff. They mounted on to the platform and found a deep hole in the middle. And above the dark hollow, at the center, a tiny stone hung around in the magical air. On the 2 sides of the empty well, there were stairs with eighteen steps, climbing which one reached to the level of the hanging stone.
But, recounted Sengodagan enthusiastically, the stairway just allowed to reach the physical height but there was only emptiness between the top step and the dangling diamond. It was highly impossible to reach it, even by a massive jump, which is sure to land anyone see the end of the vaccant well. Standing on top, Sengodagan on one set of stairs and his friend on the other, they looked around. Hanchabadra stood on the floor. On the walls surrounding the landing, were several heads of animal's and bird's faces carved. But only two were locked with a Nath, a sort of circular nose ring. Sure that its a sort of a key, Hanchabadra was instructed to pull them towards the ground. When Hanchabadra pulled the ring under the trunk of the elephant face, a platform glided out from the stairway and it extended before Sengodagan, stopping under the pendant. And the ring under the beak of an eagle did a similar operation on the other stairway, and the second moving platform joined with the first one, making a sort of bridge across the endless well, their meeting point just under the hanging stone.
And the problem was my lads, explained Sengodagan to the open-mouthed kids, the platforms won't stay in place. Once stepped on the platform, it started to retreat by rebuilding the gap, and by each step the distance between the gem and the platform increased while the raised floor glided back into its casket behind the stairway. The weight over it triggered a mechanism that made it disappear making it impossible to reach the target by walking on it. Not knowing what to do, he looked at his friend who was preparing to run towards the center. He, also, started to run against the disappearing platform and when he reached the end of it, he used it as a pressure mount and rocketed himself towards the suspended diamond. The action had triggered another system and the platform was sucked by the stairs quickly and completely, leaving him suspended in the air, and in no time his fall would occur. Not minding the fall he held his right hand stretched to reach the Jewel of Kali.
Being close to the artifact, Sengodagan piqued the interest of his audience, he swung his palm and readied himself to cup his fingers to catch the hanging wonder. But he was short by a millimeter and could hold nothing but only the empty air. His fall started driving him quickly into the dark abyss below. On the other end, his friend had leaped and made a his body twist in the air with both his hands placed on his chest to gain the needed momentum, and when he reached the stone, he stretched his left hand and grabed the hanging stone inside his clutch, and the next moment triggered his fall too. As soon as the Jewel of Kali was removed, the inner wall of the hollow pit spitted several ropes around and formed a kind of a netted bed on which they both landed.
Even after Sengodagan had completed narrating the origin of the stone on the Lighthouse, the kids faces were still excited and lightened up. Their shine increased when they heard the screech from the door infront of them. From the interior of the cabin, the friend of Sengodagan, dressed all in blue, with dazziling crystal-stars stitched on to the chevalier vest and with hands stretched out as though hugging all the kids at once, emerged a smiling young man, Rana - The Treasure Hunter.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...0&d=1446131509
... to be continued ...
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3 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Trail of Time
"Who are you" - asked Rana
"I am Kacha, the son of Vrikoda" - replied the young man who brought the strong box.
Rana examined the safe box before him. It was rectagular, with carvings on it which seemed like faces attached together. He resumed more than 60 different faces, but asserted to himself to ask Hanchabadra to count them later. A serpent's coil interlocked the faces. He took the case and looked for a opening, searching for a sort of press or push button system, but found nothing. While he rotated the carton, the cravings made more sense - they were all seeming to be arranged in series and attached to a single Head on which a Trident was clipped. He followed the snake-line and his fingers reached the centre, where the Head with the Trident was present. In which ever way he circled, all the faces ended at the Master's. Curious he held it a bit futher to find the serpent's head. He smiled when he found it hidden behind the Trident.
"Press the head" - said Kacha softly.
Rana lifted his head from the box, looked at him, and then pressed the Head with the Trident. Nothing happened.
"The snake's" - Kacha said gently.
When Rana pressed the head of the snake, he heard a small click. He placed the box back on the table and followed the crack. The Head with the Trident seemed to be cut from the other heads and now could be flipped open. Rana collected the 4 objects from the Devine Box - 3 leather skin & a papyrus. He placed them carefully on the table. He closed the box, and pushed the snake head again, just to be sure if it opened. And it did. He smiled, again.
The leather skins were of 3 different shapes & sizes. The papyrus was bigger than the rest. He spread all the 4 peices on the desk. Before them were 3 sorts of maps and on the papyrus were writings.
Rana looked at the first Map :
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...1&d=1446220126
He then examined the second one :
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...2&d=1446220136
He analysed the final map :
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...3&d=1446220145
He re-arranged the maps by placing the smaller one in the middle. Then he went through the papyrus :
Begin where it shows the end,
Follow the end to see the bend.
Not far, but too far to walk
Comes a place where you can dock.
On the drunkman's route,
Be sure nothing sticks to the boot.
Walk on the oxbow,
And into the other don't go.
Listen to me well and good,
you have come so far as it could.
If you are brave and ready to hook,
Fight the snails which can't look.
The energy sits not so tall,
Don't look atall but just on the wall.
But should look down if you are wise,
To be aware of the sixsixsix.
Pass the path of the moving rope,
where there is no light of hope.
Below is nothing to note,
But look twice before you boat.
Farther than it looks,
Sits the lake of Ghosts.
Not a sacrifice of blood,
Prove your worth to cross the flood.
On the sands you stand,
Taking the pebbles in your hand.
None of the sand is a friend,
Your fate the peables can mend.
Hatchet in hand bows, the fists take a vow.
Right, turns the bow, left for the dove.
The kneeled watch eachother,
Now, look below to enter another.
If you have come for gold,
The reward will be cold.
Rests inside is a great soul,
And what you seek is in the bowl.
Rana exclaimed "We need to consult the Wise Brothers".
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
The Wise Brothers
'It all makes sense now', Youngman talked to himself, after examining the items brought by Rana & team. From the back of the tiny room, Hanchabadra exclaimed 'sixty-four'.
While crossing the streams & jungles to reach the Cabin of Wise Borthers, Sengodagan went into a non-stop talking mode. Siting beside Rana over a horse-drawn caravan pulled by couple of dark stallions and bright mares, he registered to Rana that none of the items made any sense. River Gihan was found nowhere, as he knew all the corner of the five Kingdom. Moreover, the map is crooked and looking at the indication of the landscape, a gulf of a sort, he was sure the mentioned place do not exsit, atleast during their time. He was curious about the Chamber of Seven Fathers, but sure that it had something to do with Rana's Father. And he expressed his horror over the tiny map with unicode arrows that were pointed at every direction. Rana patiently listened to Sengodagan and from behind, inside the caravan, Hanchabadra cried out in a rejected tone 'sixty-eight'. A moment later Rana spoke to himself -'Silence is fortune. The talkative parrot is shut up in a cage, while birds without speech fly freely about'. Listening to what Rana uttered, and not willing to join Kacha and Hanchabadra inside the caravan, Sengodagan made sure that the rest of their journey was travelled peacefully.
Rana, Sengodagan & Kacha were standing around a table at the centre of the room watching the Wise Brothers through the dimly lit lamp. The Wise Brothers were not actually blood brothers, and they go by funny names - Tallman, Youngman & Shortman. The Shortman was the tallest while the Youngman was the oldest and the Tallman was the shortest amoung them. No one knew their real names, neither how they got along together. Different in looks & age, these three often argued with each other. None accepted what the other said, but still they stuck together for all these years.
Praise the Master, said Shortman
Praise the Gods, said Youngman
Paise me, said Tallman
River Gihan, started the Wise Brothers taking turns, to explain the origins and the whereabouts explained on the Map. River Gihan flowed over the lands several centuries ago. The very first settlements were on the fertile lands along River Gihan. The source of the River was from the Great Gardens, the Garden of Gods. Nature's phase changed leading the greenry around the stream submerge within the sand-bed of the River, creating an immense desert. Evoloution happened when the sea met the land, creating cliffs & mountains. And during all the Nature's Alteration, River Gihan flowed peacefully.
'If you can't see it, it doesn't mean non-existent.', declared Tallman. Hanchabadra shouted 'seventy four'.
The history of River Gihan can be divided into a series of aeons. Flowing over the land, River Gihan expanded, as well as gained great momentum during centurial time scales. Its force washed away the dense growth, and later started to consume the earth itself. The decayed vegetation formed a sort of chemical that mixed with the water and helped it to slice through the solid ground. At a point in time, River Gihan crossed its path over a massive cavern, collapsing it, and thus completely entering the ground under. This phenomena provoked a dryness around, later occupied by desert. The swift climatic changes provoked another phase of Life around the dry bed of the River and presently the Kingdom is just above the swiftly flowing River Gihan.
"Begin where it shows the end", read out the Wise Brothers together - the exact location where the River ended its journey over the land, to take its new flow under the ground. Its opening is found at the Northern Cliff, under the first gulf which was formed, the Gulf of Bhairavi.
Shortman looked at Rana and spoke to him - "Your Father is a Noble Man. Eventhough you do not know much about him, he has given you an opurtunity to explore it yourself. The rest of the guide are for you to realise. Go North, you won't miss the Pit of Bharavi, follow its enterance to reach the Chamber of Seven Fathers."
Hanchabadra concluded "Seventy", indicating his accuracy on finding seventy different faces on the Devine Box from the Master. Rana turned and looking at Hanchabadra, nodded his head in agreement.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
The Pit of Bairavi
The Treasure Hunter finished arranging the things needed for the expedition. Sengodagan looked unconvinced, Kacha maintained his silence and Hanchabadra was force feeding the horses. The Wise Brothers, each carrying tiny luggage bags approached the mobile home. They were still arguing over the size of their baggage even after reaching the caravan. Rana waited out and when they finished, Shortman informed Rana that he would be needing them too. 'Just like your Father was assisted by the Warriors, you need Six to enter the Master's Sanctury', and the announcement made Sengodagan facepalm so hard. Rana explained to them the unknown dangers and the diffiuclties during the route under ground, but the Wise Brothers stood firm with their decisions.
The journey towards the North took several days, but was plesant as the wheather was cooperative. The group camped during the nights and Hanchabadra collected twigs to make fire, the Wise Brothers cooked three different dishes each day, Sengodagan ate and slept, while Rana chatted with Kacha about the Devine Box.
"I have not seen my father", informed Kacha to Rana. His mother, Valanthara, was 8 months pregnant when the Fall of Kochadaiiyaan caught the Kingdoms as a wildfire. That rainy night, Vrikoda visited his wife. He spent the night designing a mid-ground cellar inside the house and finished by placing a structured hole, the size of a coin, at the cellar's eastern corner. He then placed the chest he had brought with him in the centre of the vault. Before leaving, he instructed his wife to find and handover the Devine Box to Rana when the light falls on the casket. Vrikoda did not return after that night. The trunk lied in the dark for several years, and just a week before Kacha met Rana, a beam of Sunlight lightened the Face of the Master carved on the Devine Box.
The Super Seven entered into the thick sands at the North shore of Karimedai. The monstrous dark sea hit the rocks creating furious splashes. Sengodagan and Hanchabadra unloaded the caravan while Rana and Kacha discussed with the Wise Brothers facing the sea. Sengodagan walked behind them and without any one's permission shooted his question on the location of the 'pit', stressing hard on his last word. The discussing team turned and looked at him. He shrugged his shoulder. The team resumed their discussion. After a while, Shortman looked at Sengodagan and replied that the route to the 'pit', stressing the word similarly, will releive by itself. Sengodagan putting a long face, gazed at Rana who started to walk towards the waves with Kacha.
When it was about to fall dark, the moment the Sun & Moon were present together over the yellow sky, the tides occured. It looked asthough the blue carpet of the gushing water was pulled back by a tremendrous force. A moment before there was sea, then, replaced by flat surface of land. Such rise and fall of the sea level is provoked by Nature, through the combined effects of gravitational forces exerted by the Moon, Sun, and rotation of the Earth. Before them was a vast piece of new born land and the Super Seven marched over the sands into the unexplored land.
To everyone's suprise, somewhere in the middle of the dry sea-bed, sitting before them was a huge opening to a spacious sea-cave, formed by the wave action of the sea itself. Excited, the explorators entered into the Pit of Bairavi, while the tides slowly started to rise behind them.
... to be continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Finding the Bend
The light from the Moon gracefully shined into the Pit, making the floor of the empty well visible. At the mouth of the pit, the Wise Brothers were indulged in a deep conversation to decide the depth of the hollow. The rest four rested beside the sledge they were pulling. Sengodagan thoughtfully reached Rana and looking at the Wise Brothers, murmured that it would have been wise to have brought along a couple mercenaries, and they would come in handy if one of the Brothers fell. Rana looked at him, his eyes sharper than a razor-sharp blade. 'Whether its the brother or a friend, missing one is always a troublesome'. Saying so, he walked away towards the pit, leaving Sengodagan in the darkness.
Rana quickly attached a rope-ladder on the solid rock formation and threw its other end into the well. He then took out a sort of a clip with a long rope tail and fixed it between the rock and the ladder. Rana tossed the loose cord hanging from the clip into the pit. The cord spinned down, swung for a while and then rested beside the rope-ladder. And Rana did all this ignoring completely the argument between the Wise Brothers above his head. Once the route down was in place, Rana announced to the group that there was no time to waste and prepared himslef to descent.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...4&d=1446733896
From behind, Sengodagan gently gestured Rana to move and climbed down the rope-ladder and droped into the Pit to make sure its out of danger. As a acknowledgement to the 'danger-free' hand signal from Sengodagan, who had reached the floor of the pit, Rana sent the Wise brothers & Hanchabadra one after the other down the ladder. Kancha, in the mean time, made hitch knots over the baggages, fastening them to the rope. He then fixed a pulley on a rigid rock, and allowed the load to reach Sengodagan, who collected them by the time Hanchabadra came to his assitance. Leaving the sledges and just carrying the the rest of the ropes and the accessories, Kancha went before Rana. Rana looked the Shining Moon and with a smile descended into the pit. On reaching the bottom, Rana pulled the cord of the clip fixed to the top of the rope ladder. The ladder and the cord gained a free fall as the clip jumped upwards detaching the ladder from the lock of the rock above. Hanchabadra quickly collected the fallen items and packed them into the gear bags.
The bed of the Pit was still wet. Youngone diagonised that the tides have not only pulled the sea water, but the water from the pit too. He looked around in exclamation to find the outlets through which the water gets pumped in and out during the tides. Rana disturbed the analyst, stating that they don't have much time to take a tour but act fastly to quit the pit before getting drowned. At the very moment, the Super Seven realised that the tides have increased their pace as water started to leak around the wall of the well. Also, they felt a gush of air riding down the opening vent above - waves were fast approaching.
"Follow the end to see the bend" - but it was an oval pit, there was bend everywhere and they were already at its end - thought Rana. He quickly surveyed his surrounding with his eyes, not knowing exactly what he was looking for. A Rock, a color different from the other, caught his eyes and a beam of white light was sitting over it. Rana approached the rock to note that it looked like a lever, curving itself towards the ground. He pulled the bent up and a small shaft opened adjacent to him. With a glad face, he ordered the Super Six to get inside the tunnel quickly.
The leakage through the wall grew intense. The gushing air from above started to emitte noise too, the sound of the fast approaching waves. Desperately the team entered into the 'half-man-sized' escape shaft. After a few meters crawling, the vent had lead them out over a flat rock. Rana was the last to join the others, and once he laid his foot over the landing on the other side, the shaft closed, covering itslef with a cut-rock sliding down. The team heard parrallel thuds.
It was dark on this side, compared to the Moon Lit Pit. And relatively clam too. No noise, except dripping water sound admist the clatter of something flowing. Rana lit up a fire torch. Right from the moment the desent began, until crossing to the other side of the Pit of Bairavi, Rana did not speak with Sengodagan. When others took deep breathes and started to settle down, Rana approached Sengodagan and explained to him that the shaft worked on some kind of mass pressure plate system. When initial weight from one end, reaches its opposite side, ie. the start point of the small tunnel, crossing the huge side wall of the Pit, ends at the rock platform, a virtual counter is incremented. When the counter reached 7, the shaft door shuts automatically, meaning no one else could make it in or out, but get trapped inside the tunnel or drowned in the Pit. Rana infered that only seven members were authorised to pass through, and without waiting for a reply from Sengodagan, he walked away to check on others, leaving Sangodagan with his guilt.
The Pit of Bairavi, started to fill-up with sea water. The group waited a bit until the water hammer subdued. There was an chilling quiteness after that. Collecting their back-bags, they started to advance holding fire torches to show them the way. Just after a few strides, the rock platform ended, and got replaced by a floor of water. The Treasure Hunter had discovered the Mother River from the Great Gardens, now flowing as an underground stream - River Gihan.
... to be continued ...
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2 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
On an Infinite River
"Purity" cried Tallman.
"Raindrops" yelled Shortman at Tallman's face, kneeling down.
Looking at the excited Wise Brothers, Rana thought what were those dripping drops of waters continuously falling down from everywhere. "Raindrops on Roses", anounced Youngman to his audience. "Just as a soul's purpose is to join its creator, so is the motive of these Raindrops to combine with their Mother, the Source. They get into a cycle of vaporation and condensation, until they are able to come down as drops. In a more scientific approach, its the basic principle of reservoir theory. The rain sinks into the soil and through numerous crevices take the path between the rocks to reach their destination. In this process, only few drops manage to reach their Mata, the rest get into the cycle yet another time, and thus, it rains again."
Hanchabadra caught a falling drop and spoke softly to the dew sitting fat on his wrinkled palm, "Raindrops on Roses". He moved carefully over the platform to reach River Gihan. He then allowed the water droplet to fall and reunite with its Mother. The tiny splash made the others to turn around and the light from their fire torch captured the horrible form of Hanchabadra.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...7&d=1447076478
[Quasimodo, played by Lon Chaney in the silent movie 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923)]
Several years before, when Rana and Sengodagan were in their teens, they came across a thick dark blancket rolled and lying beside a rock along the pathway. Curious the friends approached the rug and were taken aback when it moved. Sengodagan threw a stone at it, and the sheet left out a painful cry. Rana, stopping Sengodagan from further actions, walked towards the crippled blanket and opened it, which exposed a completely deformed and wounded man. They took him to their caravan and treated him. When Hanchabadra regained, he started to assist his new friends in their Treasure Hunts. Sometimes, he used to tell them that he was the chief in the army and fought with the enemies single handedly, and the wounds were the marks of bavery. The other day, he informed that he served as a gauridan of a village and had to fight with a Bengal Tiger, the size of an elepahnt, with only his fists, and the injuries were signs of courage. Recently, he revealed that he worked in a temple during after dark. One night, when he carried on cleaning, he heard someone weeping, a sound that felt honey to his ears. Going in search of the source of the voice, he found a pretty girl lost inside the dim lighted temple - the security have shut the doors from outside with him and her inside. As no one wished to see him in the daylight, he worked only during the night inside closed doors. So, he was scared to expose himself to the pretty girl. Instead he called out to her, guiding her with his voice, the way towards the locked main door. He assured her that early next day, the priest would open the doors and she was safe there until then. To impress the girl, he climbed the pillars to reach the ceilings, so that he could light up the temple lamps. While hanging onto the iron rods, holding a bag of oil, he tripped and fell down splashing the oil all over. The accident not only made noise, but also spread fire at faster rate. He had ran towards the girl to save her from the flames. The temple fire got vigourous as he carried the girl upto the bell tower. He started to ring the bell to caution fire. When the villagers came to know about the incident, they threw stones at him and drove him out of the village. And from then he never spoke about his past, neither about the pretty girl he saw in the temple.
Not far, but too far to walk, Comes a place where you can dock.
"We have to move on", ordered Rana, at the same time signaling Hanchabadra to get the needed travel materials out of the gearbags. Hanchabadra digged into the bags and took out 4 cylindrical items and placed them over the platform. Rana, picked one of the thick round circular canvas, and walked towards River Gihan. He then pulled the two ends of the canvas which formed a boro, the right side of the boat. He then enlarged the canvas by pulling its longitudinal frames, which opened the port, the left side of the boat. He placed the canvas boat on the platform and started to work on making it rigid. The parts and the frames - keel, stem, stern post, gunwale, frames - were made of rock elm, a strong wood strip that was light in weight and allowed to be bended. The canvas was coated with a waterproof dressing. He attached the oars made of pitch pine. When the boat was extended, the other parts worked automatically, which were binded together with iron threads, notably the thwarts-the seat. The whilst of the longitudinal frames, which looked broad and flat, were jointed together at the top, enabling elasticity for the boat, making its mount and descend easily done without folding it each time. Rana pushed the portable subterranean canvas waterboat into River Gihan which fell without much of a splash and stayed afloat.
The Treasure Hunter called them 'Knot So Fast' and when the 4 rowboats were ready, he asked the team to pairup and enter the vessel - Tallman embarked first with Kacha, followed by Shortman who got on with Sengodagan. Hanchabadra loaded his boat with the baggages and Rana mounted with Youngman, tailing his crew. Each took turns to row while the other held the fire torch following the flow of River Gihan. Rana had installed a pole on Hanchabadra's boat and fixed the fire torch within.
The group worked their way slowly over the River Gihan admiring the speleothems (deposits formed within underground caverns). Youngman's voice echoed, 'Rocks of Calcite'. The stalactite (the icicle-shaped formation hanging from the ceiling), and the stalagmite (upward-growing mound on the ground and walls), were mineral deposits and limestone drips brought in by the Raindrops. "They grew" and he exclaimed, "Look there, the stalactite and the stalagmite have finally met." He pointed to a coloumn just further to them and when they corssed the Pillar of Calcite, everyone touched to feel its cold and hard surface. The mineral deposites around them glittered in various colours reflecting the light from the fire torch. The crew then rowed under a curved formation of a limestone, its mouth just big enough to allow them to enter.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...8&d=1447076494
On the drunkman's route, Be sure nothing sticks to the boot.
The tranquility in their journey took a turn, when the River suddenly got into an agitated flow. The meander, the bends in its sinuous watercourse, was sloppy and the stream took a vigorous run. The roof was lower along certain turns, that the crew had to be vigilant and duck their heads down to avoind clash with the stalactites. There was no need of rowing as the boats were travelling on a considerable speed. While getting past the final bend, the huge curve wobbled the boats, and Youngman lost his control. His body was oscilalting his legs, while he gripped the sides of the boat with both his hands to avoid falling. It was all happening so quickly that Rana could only watch. Youngman's dancing legs, at a point, hit a hard on a speleothem, breaking it from its support. He let out a loud cry of pain when the broken piece pierced into his flesh. The rest of the journey, Youngman travelled with the sharp head sticking to his boot, turning the canvas boat red from inside.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Hanging On The Rocks
Hari did not have memory, but only knowledge. He almost had forgotten that he was an orphan and never had bothered to look for his parents. He was never put in an orphanage, but dwelled on the streets eating on the remains of apples and oranges, when Eradosth, the Librarian, took Hari in for assistance at the Great Library, and it was here Hari re-discovered himself. He slept and ate reading books. He quickly became the roaming index of the Great Library. When Hari was an young man, the invasions started. He tried his best to save as many literary works, and the other which he couldn't, he made sure to memorise them all. The invaders made sure that the head of the Scholars failed to sit on their bodies. Looking at young Hari, they spared him not knowing he was already the Scholar of Scholars. Before taking over the new Kingdom, the attackers burnt the Great Library and along with it, a whole dynasty turned to ashes. But every detail now sits inside the head of Hari. He speaks not as a reply but what he utters becomes the reponse. Hari stayed young in his head, suspended in time like a stuck clock and was addressed as Youngman amoung the Wise Brothers.
Walk on the oxbow, And into the other don't go.
Calmness regained. The crew were floating on placid waters. They arrived before an elevation standing on top of another platform where they docked. It was the land formed from the deposits of the oxbow lake, a body of water that forms when a wide meander is cut off from its main stream which takes a distinctive curved shape. Rana and Sengodagan carried and placed Youngman on the floor. The tiny spear had entirely damaged his foot. Rana touched it gently. There was no reaction from Youngman as his lower body had been completely been paralised. The pain will return, and Rana pitied Youngman. Hunchabadra, the Medicine Man, came with the kit that he had been looking for inside the bags. The other Wise Brothers were murmuring to themselves. Using the medical items, Rana removed the pike and exposed the hole it had made. He stuffed medicine and bandaged the wound, all the while Youngman did not move, his eyes looked sunk and lost deep inside the caves.
Rana climbed the elevation first, and droped the ropes to which the boats were attached and to be pulled up. He then made a sort of a baby cradle with a blanket and attached its corners knots with ropes. When the craddle reached the bottom, Sengodagan made Youngman sit comfortablly inside it. Rana pulled up the craddle, and somewhere in the middle of the craddle's journey, Youngman left out a loud cry of agony. Rana found Youngman unconsious when he lifted him out of the cloth transport. Looking at the current state of affairs, Rana decided to camp there for a while.
Rana and Sengodagan, took a brief walk around. Not knowing which way to go, and as Youngman is unconsious and the rest Wise Brothers have not stopped chanting, its upto them to look for a route. Further down, there was another oxbow lake. Rana consulted the map. The second oxbow was opposite to where they were standing, meaning, that was supposed to be the way they had come in. Rana turned around and looked around him. He immediately took out the second map, the tiny one with arrows. He analysed the ceiling. It matched the markings. He inferred to Sengodagan that they cannot go vers the other oxbow lake, neither travel through beneath, but try to reach River Gihan which should take its bend further south of where they were camped, and they had to pass via the rocks above - If you are brave and ready to hook !
Rana started to work on building the equipements needed for rock climbing. He made several security belts with ropes, different in size and utility, notably to go around the waist and over the shoulders. He handed over the harnesses to Kacha and asked him to dress up the two Wise Brothers. Hanchabadra was curios to know what was beneath those rocks, lifting his eyes towards the dark abyss, for which Sengodagan placed a roll of rope on his shoulders. Hanchabadra grinned. Rana instructed Sengodagan to check on the wodden quickdraws and asked him to start preparing the ropes. Rana then took out four small light chimneys which were held inside a semi-circular wood strap. The chimney were not touching the wooden band. A small recevoir of oil with a thread was under the chimney. The recevoir was connected to small drum with a tube and the tiny barrel where the oil is stocked had a pump system. The drum can be placed around the hip, and when the chimney goes dim due to insufficient oil, the lubricant could be pumped inside without replacing it from the forehed to which it was attached. The forhead lamp gave Rana and Sengodagan clear vision which nailing the rocks to attatch the chords.
Suited up, Rana asked Kacha to stay at the camp, while he and Sengodagan prepared the rope route. Hanchabadra slowly lossened the rope from its roll while the duo climbed clinging to the gaps on the wall and started to make their way towards the other side. Rana fixed the quickdraws to the nails hammered to the rocks. He consulted the map to take a note of the indications as to where the hooks have to be placed. He used the forms of the rocks to identify the positions as mentioned in the map. Inbetween, Sengodagan placed a pulleys. At a point during their travel across the rocks, they were completely upside down and Sengodagan asked Rana if he would catch him when he fell, to which Rana smiled. They completely disappeared from into the darkness, only a tiny glow, the light emitted from the forehead lamps was seen by Kacha. The rock climbers finally reached the otherside.
Rana shouted to make sure Kacha could hear him. He got a "loud & clear" voice signal from Kacha. First, they received the bags, they came dancing while riding over the rope pulley. Following the kit, the two Wise Brothers made to way to join Rana and Sengodagan. Hanchabadra prepared the craddle, and Kacha hooked it to the rope. Youngman reached the otherside, still unconcious. Hanchadra flighted off and Kacha prepared for his journey.
While the members crossed and the goods delivered, the nails on the rocks started to get fragile. The rocking movemnt had made the hole around the rivet largen weakening they hold. Rana signaled the fragility to Kacha, who became aware of the risk. He slowly advanced making sure his next pull was solid. Somewhere in the middle, Kacha felt a jerk as though the ropes were giving away, and a moment later, the nails from the far end started to pull off taking the chords with them. And during the descend, they took Kacha along towards the abyss below. As the other half of the fixation were holding, Kacha was left hanging few meters below. From the centre of nowhere, he assured the crew by crying out that he was fine. Rana looked into the depth. He found Kacha still oscillating and the light from his forehead lamp shined against the rocks. There was something weird about it, thought Rana. He looked closely and was taken aback when he noticed that the rocks around Kacha were moving.
... to be continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Slow and Deadly
Ali, addressed as Tiger amoung his pirates crew, grew up listening to the story about an Hunter from the Sea. Born to a poor farmer family, teen Ali was motivated in all wrong ways to quickly get attracted to 'Take & Give' policy of Haider, the most terrorising marauder. Ali abondoned his family to follow Haider in his plunders and Ali's tall physique mixed with braveness made him a trusted Henchman of Haider. Along the course, Ali sensed the diverse agony in his mentor's actions. Slowly Ali was exposed to Haider's cruelties. Ali raised his voice against Haider, the Deadly Pirate Captain of the Five Seas. His uprising against the Pirates Politics converted him to a Sea Outlaw, a judgement straight from the Pirates Base. Thus, Ali formed his own crew and became a fugitive, running away from the Black Flag as well as the sentery ships. He traveled a lot, looted shipments and distributed them amoung the needy, and in return gained immense knowledge over various cultural and historical details shared to him by the tribes and villagers. He naturally learnt life while hiding and surviving, when Haider attacked the settlement Ali was sheltering. Ali managed to escape, and from top of the sail, watched the houses and huts burning. Suddenly, heavy shots from Haider's ship landed on Ali's vessel. He witnessed the gore of his own crew suffering before him. Ali was the only survior and when he reached the Land of Priests, he fell on his feet over the sand and cried. The Priests named him Shortman, seeing a tall stranger weeping on his knees. He spent several years under their guidence, before becoming a nomad, and he met Youngman. The alighted crew men lines swinging still haunted Ali.
Shortman saw Kacha swinging desperately across the dark rock wall, the swinging head light reminding him the flames that killed his crew. He noticed the moving rocks too. He stopped chanting and whipered, 'Snails'. Youngman opened his eyes. Tallman cried out load "Snails that can't see". - Fight the snails which can't look.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...5&d=1448364488
Knight vs Snail from Manuscript - Li livres dou tresor (Treasure Books) by Brunetto Latini (1264)
[“Like a snail that melteth away into slime, they shall be taken away; like a dead-born child, they shall not see the sun.” - Psalm 58.
Medieval Knights fighting snails in the 13th and 14th century English texts has always been a mystery. "Sometimes the knight is mounted, sometimes not. Sometimes the snail is monstrous, sometimes tiny. Sometimes the snail is all the way across the page, sometimes right under the knight’s foot. Usually, the knight is drawn so that he looks worried, stunned, or shocked by his tiny foe. But the ubiquity of these depictions doesn’t make them any less strange" - The British Library.]
Rana turned towards the Wise Brothers, not knowing what they were shouting at, he took the fire torch from Hanchabradra, sprayed a the tin of kerosene over the moving rocks and threw the fire torch over it. What became visible in the fire sent chillness across his spine, and Kacha was hanging not having a clue what was surrounding him.
It was not the rock which was moving, but the dark skinned snails crawling over one another trying to reach an object that their four sensory antennas have received. The snail group started somewhere in the middle of the rock wall and were crawling towards Kacha with their toothless mouths open in the mid air. Rana alerted Kacha to increase his momentum. He guided him to carefully calculate the radius of his swing considering where he places his foot and the distance to reach the platform upon which the rest of them were standing. He warned him that his footfall may become slipery when they land over the Slime of the Snails. Rana remided Kacha to keep a check on the grip while wall running. The hungry snails battling each other slowly creeped towards the top.
Kacha obeyed Rana's instruction. He followed Rana's signal and started to ossilate to gain momentum which would able him run close towards the platform. During his 3rd sway, he was already in line with the top of the platform, but the seperating distance was unfriendly. Eventhough his reflex made him leap jump twice, the thrid time he failed to hang in the air, but landed his legs over the army of snails. He felt his leg placed on something soft and sliperry that made him loose his balance which started his free fall.
Managing to hold on to the rope, he glided until he griped the tail end of the cord. His hands started to ache, his body unable to climb up. His current position allowed him to see closely his nemesis, and he shouted in horror. The boneless slugs were different in size, ranging from rat sized to some even bigger than cat. Suprisingly they had 4 antenas moving in each directions and they stood rigid when they sensed an alien Kacha. The top of the tentecles had a white dots, replacing the organ of sight. None had a shell and their mouth was wide and looked elastic. At the exact moment, a bigger snail just swallowed a smaller one in front of it, to make way and reach Kacha. Its speed was chilling and wuite faster than the snail that Kacha had played with during his childhood. With enough courage, he started to swing from his 'deadly snailed' position, and after few attempts he finally saw Rana stading at the edge of the platform.
Rana saw it as the perfect oppurtunity to grab Kacha. He noticed Kacha loosing his strength and would take a fall at any moment. When Kacha was at an angle direct to the platform, Rana cried out to Kacha to part with the rope. Kacha let go the chord and the force of the oscillation flew him towards the platform, but not enough to make him land over. Rana looked at Sengodagan and they both nodded. Rana sprinted quickly across the short platform to gain accelaration, closely followed by Sengodagan. When Rana reached the end of the platform, he placed his left leg at its extremity and reached out for Kacha, at the same time stretching his right hand towards the rear. Sengodagan, from his back, quickly caught his hand and breaked to a stop, when Kacha managed to grab Rana's left hand.
The hold of Kacha pulled Rana which made him bend towards the pit. His leg started to give away from the edge, when Sengodagan tried hard to pull him back. When all three were dragging eachother avoiding the fall, something heavy caught Sengodagan's legs whose force was tranmited over the human chain and their bodies stood still - with Kacha hanging over the platform, Sengodagan's firm grip, Rana balancing the weight with his legs - demonstrating the conservation of momentum and energy via Hanchabadra holding Sengodagan's legs.
All four were suspended in their position for a brief moment, while Tallman and Shortman huged lying Youngman providing protection as it was the same moment when the Army of Slugs mounted over the platform.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Creatures of Underground
With one strong action, Rana pulled Kacha over to the platform. Immediately, Rana liberated himself from the grip of Sengodagan and searched for the others around him. Sengodagan stood motionless, Hanchabadra started to crawl in search of an inexistant safe spot and Kacha played dead over the floor. The snails crawled slowly but sharply with thier mouths wide open. The gushing noise of emptiness was frightening under the soundless atmosphere. The Wise brothers were quickly surrounded by the slugs marching on the tracks of their own slime.
Lacking weapons, Rana broke the sharp cones hanging from the ceiling and launched himself against the attacking sluggards. Sengodagan followed Rana, and Hanchabadra reached the wall near him and broke a tiny sharp rock, and used it to menance the slugs surrounding him with his new found weapon. Rana took out couple of snails and kicked the smaller ones back into the pit. It needed an immense force to detach them from the floor. His sharp weapon sliced the tentacles that made them cock into a sphere which replied well to the strike with the foot. But the countless snails approaching steadily exhausted the fighting crew..
All of a sudden, the attacking army stood unmoving. They started to retreat towards the walls and the well below. Their locomotion increased over their own pathway of saliva. Taking everyone by suprise, a tall snail with bird limbs and a slugish body covered by a shell emerged from the dark hallow. It looked like a half bird-half snail, with the lower and back parts resembling a bird (legs, rump and tail); the upper, bottom and front parts held the characteristics of a snail (shell, mouth, gland and muscular base). Its long neck supported the radula mouth which was constantly grinding. Looking to the either side, the monster climbed over the platform. It neither had antenas nor any hint of eyes, a face smooth like a marble with a sticky texture. It was drolling slime and when Rana moved a step back, it quickly fixed its body towards his direction, its sensory body working to the fullest. With a wide opened mouth, it leaped over Rana, taking him under its clawless feet in with one forceful gesture. Clutching its prey safely, it looked around as a warning to anyone's approach. It then lifted its head, widened the gap between its fat lips and dived deeply to grab the head of Rana with its sinewy mouth.
Sengodagan is the Prince of Kottaipattinam. During his childhood, he ran into conflicts with his father, King Rishikodagan. Unable to control his own son, Rishikodagan sent away Sengodagan to other lands claiming it to be for educational purpose. When Sengodagan was learning under the Vathiyar Paramaguru near the river side at Karimedu, he raised an alarm, signaling something mysterious afloating in the water. Vathiyar leaped into the water without any further delay and rescued an young boy from the fast flowing stream. For several days, the child displayed symptoms of shock as though violence had collided with his infancy. The kid refused to speak or cooperate but looked lost in the void. Vathiyar noted the disturbed sleep of the little one, a cause explained only when caught inside a turbulent mind. Sengodagan accompanied his new friend, sharing anything that he thought was worth, and felt sad for his speechless mate. Once when the group of kids played around the jungle, they were surrounded by hyneas. During their escape, Sengodagan fell to the ground hurting his knees making himself unable to move any further. None of the students returned even after noticing fallen Sengodagan, except his comrade from the river. The warrior child took a broken branch and stood gaurd over Sengodagan from the menancing predators. The cunning beasts did not advance but circled the duo, waiting for an opputunity to pounce on them. They teased the valliant kid with the stick, but he was way too smart and quick for them that several blows landed on the attaking hyneas. Somewhere during the defensive stance, elders rushed it and chased the animals back into the jungle. After dressing up the wound, Sengodagan hopped towards his saviour stranger. He thanked him whole heartedly by placing his hand over his rescuer's shoulders. He then asked him his name. 'Rana', came the reply. From then on, Rana and Sengodagan stood together during different times, every time, that when Sengodagan grew up, he completely abandoned his kingdom and accompanied Rana to embrace friendship.
At the Gulf of Bairavi, Sengodagan was a spectateur of the passing event - the moment the monster climbed up until the moment it held Rana captive under its feet. He also noticed that a rogue snail had split away from the retreating army and was dragging Youngman by his wounded foot. Shortman and Tallman looked scared. It was an easy decision to make for Sengodagan, as he knew well that Rana can escape any suituation, Sengodagan quickly rushed to escape Youngman from the pulling slug.
Rana struggled by holding the creature's leg, which was sticky wet. The snail came down at him with its open mouth, at the same time Rana firmed his grip over the stone weapon he held in his left hand and brought it up with full force aiming at the snail's head.
On the other side, Sengodagan struck the rogue snail several times, which finally let go Youngman. Sengodagan assisted Youngman sit up, and for the first time since he was wounded during the boat ride, Youngman yelled 'No'.
Rana understood the warning from Youngman, and somewhere in the midway while lifting his stone dragger, he fliped his weapon in the air. The sharp item vigourously spinned twice before Rana caught it, this time the blunt side facing the head of the Snail. The charge of the blunt cone made a hude impact on its target and shocked the snail. It moved its head quickly and came down again at Rana. Rana reverted its attack with four more quick blows to its boneless skull. Repeatedly beaten made the monster snail to loose its balance and it fell beside Rana. It did not move, but was still breathing heavily. Rana, getting to his feet, dragged the birdy-snail by its leg and threw it back from where it came. The retreating army of snails were moving far away into the darkness trying to camouflage as rocks again.
'Mother Pearl', lectured Youngman. "Life above begins from below. The Mother Pearl is the parent of many species. Deep inside, evolution gave it wings to fly out. From flesh to feathers, that is what is Nature. Here at this very dark place, many types breath & breed, some known to man, several don't give a chance. No light, no sight, hail Mother Nature. Visionless with nerves of sense. A world where worms and prawns sing together.
Your Father is a wise man, Rana. He allowed you to find your path. Snails are gentle beings, but they do represent negativity - Refusal to think, just like a curling snail inside its own shell. The slothful nature symbolises the Slow Death."
Youngman then prophesied, "You, Rana, have fought your own slow death. This closes down the options leading you into a path where your Death will be Quick."
Saying so Youngman lied back in the arms of Sengodagan. No one spoke after that. Packing up, they started to move deep into the cave like structure watching for danger markers with their hand held fire torch lights. The group moved in a creepy silence into the unknown.
... to be continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Route to Lingaa
Rana and team entered into a dark cave, the only exit was its enterance. The floor seperated into 3 levels few feet higher than one another. The two bottom levels formed a lake from the rain drops, their calcite deposit borbers running like serpents that discouraged the overflow of water. Shortman explained that its a sort of a natural dam, that slowed the flow of River Gihan. The hightest floor on which they were standing was quite wide and empty. The air was mixed with dense humidity that the darkness was quite pungent. Rana lifted his torch light and walked around the open space. The visibility through the light from the torch was strikingly low. While surveying the area, Rana noticed a shadow forming on the wall. He slowly brought the light nearer and moved it up and down timidly. Before him, on the ground, was the source of the shadown, a cylindrical stone placed over another stone plate. It was tiny, but when the light moved over it, the sleeping energy projected its massiveness in its shadow casted on the wall. When examining its shadow on the cave walls, Rana noticed tiny colourful marking around - The energy sits not so tall, Don't look atall but just on the wall.
Rana approached the shadow on the wall. A sort of cave painting started to emerge around the focal light from the fire torch.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...3&d=1449423526
Cave painting at Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh.
"The cavemen", announced Shortman, "the ancient dwellers of the underground".
Rana quickly moved away from the painting without examining it. He seems to be in a hurry to find a way out of the end which looked dead. Wounded crew men, Kacha & Youngman were his concern. He took out the papyrus to extract any hidden clue from it. Hanchabadra approached him from behind to shed light abling Rana to read.
"six six six", chuckled Hanchbadra with a creepy voice, signaling his scary tone with hands raised above his head. His shadow resembled a crippled demon on the wall.
Rana immediately searched over the floor - But should look down if you are wise. He noticed only the hard stone floor. He retraced his path upto to the assembled stones that casted a cylindrical shadow over the wall, and re-examined the cave painting around the contour. It resembled a ceremony of some sort, maybe a festival or marriage, where men and women were depicted carrying loads over their head following few warriors on horses. Tracing the marching soldiers, which were cutting towards the floor rather than going straight, Rana reached the last image near the ground where a small opening exposed itself between the wall line and the floor. The opening was tiny, at the sametime would not be visible until very close near to it, the dark room masked its dark opening.
Tallman approached and examined the small crater. It looked sealed after been exploded. Without a word, he started to work with the items - colourless powders & colorful crystals - those which he removed carefully from the pouches hung around his hip.
Ari was a blast engineer who worked in a stone quarry. He was quite short for a normal man, but it gave him enough opputunity to enter into trenches or hang on stone walls or even quickly climb small hills. He was an expert in using chemicals to blast the stones. According to the necessity, he fabricated silence to heavy sound bombs that could cut, slice, break or shatter the block of stones over the ledges. And Ari was an alcoholic. Raised by middle class parents, and married to a beautiful lady, Ari was still unhappy. Silent Ari's heart pounded like the stone quarry blasts when he learnt something he should not have given his ears to. He waited for the day, plotted his plan and prepared his ground of revenge, when his nemesis, the leader of the people, came to visit the quarry. But to his suprise, his nemesis was not alone, he was with everyone near and dear to Ari, accompanied by other villagers. And it was too late, the bombs of Ari triggered, killing everyone present in and around the stone quarry. Ari ran the distance his legs could carry him. He drank until alcohol pissed out of his nose. One morning he woke up is a cabin of sort. He walked out and was greeted by two striking different men. One was aged, and the other was quite tall. They asked him his name, he replied, 'Tallman'. The one who was actually tall asked him how so he got such a name, mockingly looking at his size. Ari explained that he used to climb hills quite quickly and in no time would reach the top. From the bottom of the hill, his friends looked at him with raised neck, thus adressing him as 'Tallman'.
Rana watched Tallman at work. Hanchabadra seemed quite contended in assisting Tallman. Several intersecting lines made of diffrent products and powders were arranged by Tallman around the hole. At times he tapped the wall as well as the ground to increase or dcrease the quantity of chemicals he was placing. Finally, Tallman stood up satisfied with his arrangement. He nodded to Hanchabadra, who happily ignited a corner of the chemical line and hurriedly moved away. The flame took its form following the chemical tracks, enthusiatically changing colors and when it reached the center, a massive smoke raised, followed by a minute explosion. When the smoke cleared, a bigger vent replaced the small hole which was wide enough for a person to enter. From inside, depriving the calmness, hissing noises strted be become clearly audible.
"666, is neither demonic or evil, just a distort", said Tallman. "In the account of tempatation of the first male and female, the Serpent was introduced which came down the apple tree, as described - Hiss Hiss Hiss. This Hiss of the reptile, was then misconstrued as Six-the number dedicating it to the Devil."
Hanchabadra moved a step back asking "Are there snakes down there?"
Before the Wise Brother could answer, Sengodagan replied quickly "Only way to find out ..." and slided inside the hole before Rana could stop him. The light from his torch disappeared as he went further inside and the crew above could only watch the darkness eating away the gleam. Apart from the hissing noise, the place entered into an unusual serenity with everyone breathing heavily. Hanchabadra looked at Rana who was still peeping inside the hole. After a while, they all heard Sengodagan screaming hysterically - To be aware of the sixsixsix.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
The Chant of Hisses
Before jumping into the carter, Rana utilised the next few seconds to quickly establish a back up plan. He nailed a sharp iron rod into the stone floor. As though reading his mind, Hanchabadra readily handed him the rope which Rana made a nail knot firmly. He launched the other end of the chord into the opening. Without hesitation, Rana dropped into the dark mouth. Hanchabadra watched him, and when Rana disappeared, he followed suit. The Wise Brothers heard Hanchabadra's cry dissolving into the dark. Kacha, holding his right hand shoulders, walked near the hole and joined the peeping Brothers.
Rana reached the bottom of the pit. He immediately moved away giving space to plummeting Hanchabadra. He quickly searched for a light source to find the position of Sengodagan. Sengodagan was motionless in a corner holding his fire torch, just behind Rana. When Rana took a step, he started to notice what had shocked Sengodaga. Goosebumped, Rana stood still trembling. At the same moment, Hanchabadra hit the floor beside him. Grining over his awkward fall, he looked at Rana, but soon realised something more uncomfortable about his drop. His hands placed on the ground were in meeting with a sticky substance. He brought his hand to his face and through the light from Rana's troch over head, he examined the thick paste that was stuck to his palm. At the same time, he had a wild feeling of a crawl over his other hand which was still placed on the ground. Before he could react, Rana bent down slowly, ordering him not to make a move and without hurrying brought the fire torch to light the surrounding around Hanchabadra. The crew members above heard another yelp.
Hundreds of worms were sinusoidally crawling over one another. The worms were so dense that the floor was hardly visible. Before Hanchabadra could come out of the shock of his landing, he watched a sort of tiny pink creature trying to spit something, and from the end, which looked as a tail, sprouted out through its skin another worm like flesh, but this one had a jaw which it opened to relieve its tiny sharp teeth. And it was then Hanchabadra yelped.
[Author's Note : (excuses for the interruption) Placing the image of the genus Glycera, commonly known as Bloodworms inside 'spoiler', as it gives me shivers whenever I watch it - I have a phobia towards such species, thought someone else (like me) would not wish to see such images, that I even avoided posting several pictures I consulted for this episode, which include snakes & snails. But thought this picture would help to understand the suituation our heroes are in - being surrounded by 'them' in a dark place ...]
Rana stretched his hand to help Hanchabadra to his feet. Not minding the sticky paste, Rana pulled Hanchabadra and caught hold of him by his cloak. They slowly moved towards Sengodagan. Shocked, Sengodagan did not utter a word. Around them were several worms of different size and types. Some were moving peristaltically, while few others were advancing through side-to-side motion. The floor looked like a huge mat of worms, each about fifty centimeters long. Their skin were transparent and they were of many colors mostly pink & black. Rana noticed several blue ones too. The problem was that almost every single species were throwing their mouth inside out. An empty noise escaped from this action. The place sounded like a Chant of Hisses.
Before Rana, the longest worm moved towards an unknown destination. It looked like a cut rope. And then it struck Rana - Pass the path of the moving rope.
Rana told his companions that the opposite, its the only way out and they have to cross this Nest of Worm to reach there. The faces of his comrades showed disagreement. Rana burnt a worm to see the effect, the wounded species rolled, but the rest did not panic. Rana thought - never exposed to light or heat, these worms have not yet accuried their proper reflex. He slowly stared to move forward, and as he walked the worms around him became aggressive and tried to attack his leather shoes. Several stuck to it , but Rana continued until he reached the mouth of the tunnel through which he had dropped down. Using it as a megaphone, Rana narrated the suituation below to the crew above. One by one, holding the rope, slipped through the tunnel and landed on the worm-free floor, on the ground cleared by Rana. The Seven looked at the darkness before them, not sure if an exit was really there - Where there is no light of hope.
Youngman noticed holes in the floor. "Ottoia", exclaimed Youngman, "thought they were extinct. They are trying to reach, the Ottoia eating the rocks and through the holes the worms escape."
He went on to lecture about worms identifying several with thier names and explaining their habits. He seemed to be happy around the worm.
"Even being carnivorous", continued Youngman, "these worms are harmless to humans. But the bites could be painful, and care not to allow them enter the skin. The larvaes are more dangerous, as the water drank with eggs inside could make a worm grow and exit through the eyes."
Youngman thought for a brief moment and added, "There should be a water source somewhere, to hatch their larvae. - Below is nothing to note, But look twice before you boat. - It points to note the floor, and indicates that Gihan flows below on which we can boat".
Tallman accompanied by Hanchabadra moved around in search of anything that seemed to be opened and then sealed, while Rana and Sengodagan tried to keep the worms away from them. At the very far end, a portion of the rock wall was not of the same color as the rest. Tallman took less time, this time to blast the wall. The wall gave away to a wide hole, opened about three feet from the ground. Shortman spoke to himself "Not to allow the worms to escape". Through the hole, the crew jumped down and landed onto another flat ground. The path took them straight and abruptly ended before a lake.
Farther than it looks, Sits the lake of Ghosts.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
The Revelation of Rana
"But sail upon the wind of lamentation, my friends, and about your head row with your hand's rapid stroke in conveyance of the dead, that stroke which always causes the sacred slack-sailed, black-clothed ship of Kharon to pass over Akheron to the unseen land here Apollon does not walk, the sunless land that receives all men." - Seven against Thebes - the third play in the Greek tragedy trilogy Oedipodea by Aeschylus (467 BC).
"Take hold of the tail of the cow, place a foot in the boats" - Garuda Purana Chapter 8 Verse 76
Only two boats out of four were in good condition - one was punctured and will not reach the other side, the other was completely broken 'on the drunkman's route' - Rana infered after calculating the distance to be travelled across the ink-black lake. The lake looked errie but harmless, and there was no garuntee on what would emerge out. At the very moment, he saw a prawn jumping out and getting back inside. In its brief float, Rana noted the absence of its eyes. As he was thinking how to make the travel possible with two boats and seven men, he noted the Wise Brothers standing near the lake.
Vaitharana, whispered Youngman
Styx, called out Tallman
A Lake ? exclaimed Shortman
Youngman said, "The man went with only one penny piece, to pay the boatman."
Hearing to what Youngman announced, the crew got around him. Youngman took a brief moment as though searching for words, then he continued :
"Nature is divided by time - the seed, the plant, the tree & the wood - boyhood, youth, manhood & old age. During the passage in time, the previous form is forgotten but not obsolete. What I am going to say is about a passed time."
He paused, and then continued, "Several myths prevail over this Lake, which was beleived to be a river - the river goddess taking side of the Gods, got perished under by their own wish. Here, in the underground, she lay still as the Lake of Woe. But the origin begins from the city of Ys, a pretty city under the sea protected by a dam whose key was held by the choosen One. It took a pretiness to break the One, when she seduced him and took the key to open the flood gates. Her action of liberation drowned the whole city Ys, creating the world of the underground. On these waters the souls come to cleanse and travel on a boat paying the gondolier. The ones who made the passage did get hold to a cow's tail, that appeared before those souls who had worhiped the cow during their living days. Catching the tail, they reached the other side, while the rest drowned in the lake. But that's of a time that has passed, an invalid in the present. Known will understand but the others will follow chaos born out of nothingness."
Closing his eyes, Youngman took a deep breathe, and continued, "Vaitharana, the river of the material world, is a symbol denoting the one that is too loathsome to cross due to the accumulated filth in the mind - 'tharana’ means crossing & 'vai' means ‘no’. Enlightened will pass, others drown in thier own thoughts."
Youngman paused, as though wondering how much more to talk. Then he looked at Rana and spoke, "Rana, you are the choosen One, like the gate keeper of Ys. The Son choosen by the Father and today you play the Ferryman on the Lake of Ghosts to get yourself prepared to fight the hellhounds. They live no more in this underworld, but walk amoung us, serving the master they have choosen. Here before the Lake of Woe, you accept to be the one who fought for bodyrights."
"If you have the key, what will you liberate, Rana ?
But be careful not to drown us all, like the Beauty from Ys !"
"Being a bodyrights fighter, are there any salves you have forgotten ?
Remember, no salve can cross, but only freeman !"
"What were you choosen for ? Is it in search of the Hellhounds that once served the Ferryman himself !
They are absent here because they are present somewhere else."
Youngman stood looking directly at the eyes of Rana. Rana did not flicker, but started to sweat. His childhood images started to flash before him. It all started to slowly visualise - His father pleeding to free the men, His father being accused, His father handing the sword to his brother, his father beheaded - but then, the drakness completely took over him that he was unable to see anymore. His visions were disturbed by Youngman's voice :
"This lake is filled with Limnades, the water nymphs. Naiads have the power of foresight, but they cannot be disturbed. They move like the shadow of the fishes, but they are watching. You have to attract them through a peculiar unison. A leg on each boat - two paths to one destiny. Two boats - mind and body - balance. Be your own judge. But those who fall will never return from the fathomless lake. Now, take us to the other side, O Ferryman, and on the way, the Wisdom will be yours, Rana."
Not a sacrifice of blood, Prove your worth to cross the flood.
Rana's head pounded. The past meeting the present, the myth joining the reality - makes no sense. Rana stopped to think, and started to realise.
... to be continued ...
-
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Dreams of Reality
Rana launched the two portable boats into the lake. He arranged them side-by-side. To avoid making several journeys up and down the lake transporting his crew and luggage, Rana considered Youngman's proposition. He decided to row them in pair - Trip 1 : Tallman / Hanchabadra; Trip 2 : shortman / Kacha ; Final Trip : Youngman / Sengodagan. He careful paired them after mentally calculating the balance factor.
After loading the boats with few bags, Rana helped Trip 1 passengers to settle down in their respective boats. The travellers held their boats with one hand and lended their other hand to Rana, to help he mount over the rocking boats. Rana stood over the two boats with one leg on each plank ensuring his footing. He stumbled to steady himself, but quickly regained his stance. Gaining equilibrium, he took the oar coupling it with his two hands and placed them between his legs. Using the row as a walking beam, he pivoted the boats, as a handcar, with his push-down pull-up actions. The journey across the Lake of Woe started off timidly.
The boats were moving steadily, with loss of wind and current there was no leeway. The boats constantly stuck to each other while cutting through the surface water. Rana looked around him. Before him two cloaked voyagers were sitted, he could not make out who is who, as both the sitting forms resembled a lot. He searched the waters for Limnades, but found none. The lake was still and looked lonely as though no life dwelled within. He looked straight to see how far was the otherside, all the while not stopping his rythemic rowing.
Sengodagan approached Youngman with curiosity and questioned him over his prophecy.
Youngman hesitated, but opened up, "The one who Choses the right Choice will become the Choosen One. The quick death has another sense too, Rana's death will be in the hands of a Known who cannot see him suffer. On the other hand, my youngman, its up to you too, when the time arrives, the time for you to choose. Pray not to be the Chosen One. even if the Choice is Right."
And that left Sengodagan more sceptical.
The boats reached the otherside. Rana slowed them by ending the oar accelaration. The boats floated and came to a stop bumping into the rock bed on the bank. The shock pushed Rana backwards, but Tallman caught him and helped him steady again. Rana did not move from the boat, but he watched as far as the darkness allowed him to see to check for uninvited visitors. The passengers slowly walked out and Hanchabadra unloaded the boats. Confident that the shore was safe, Rana slowly reversed the boats, balancing them by swaying his body. He constantly pushed the water in circular motion to make a complete turn. He was back on the lake, on route to another side.
At the middle of lake, Rana felt giddy. Everything went dark around him, eventhough the fire torch pinned to the boats were glowing briskly. As quick as the darkness entered, it exited and was replaced by brightness. The luster seemed to be justlike another darkness, as Rana could not see anything in the colorless surrounding. Suddenly, the effulgence was sucked back into the lake, and Rana found himself on two boats, the path on the water illuminated by the troch lights. Clearing his head with a shake, Rana continued forward.
When he reached the start point, Rana carefully parked the boats, this time without any shakes or shocks. He plunged the oar onto a rock to keep the boats steady applying the weight of the body to force a balance. He instructed Sengodagan to load the bags one on each boat at a time. Once the luggages were stacked, Shortman boarded the boat while Rana made a lateral movement over one boat to stabilise the other. Once settled, Kacha boarded the other boat. Making a turn, Rana headed to the other side for the second time.
On the way, Rana again looked around him. Before him, the cloaked figures looked the same, he felt asthough he was repeating the first trip. Every other detail looked identic to the precedent voyage across the Lake of Woe.
Droping Shortman and Kacha, the Ferryman continued to pickup his final passengers.
At the center of the lake, Rana felt light-headed. In the radiance that emerged, Rana started to see images. They all looked random and Rana was unable to identify any of them. He heard cries. He observed humans ablaze. The water below him was boiling, but he was no more standing on the boats. When he looked up, a splatter of red liquid came towards him, but turned to ashes before hitting his face. Rana re-opened his eyes, he sensed following footsteps over dried red substance on the floor. Rana felt his fast beating heart. Suddenly, all the reflections disappeared when the lake swallowed the luminescence. Rana found himself on boats, again. He was drenched in sweat. Breathing heavily, Rana advanced.
Picking up Youngman and Sengodagan, Rana continued the final trip. Rana looked around him. Nothing seemed to have changed this time either. He looked in front of him, cloaked Youngman turned, but he had no face, smoke had replaced it. Rana looked at Sengodagan who was looking at Youngman. His head looked like a ram. Rana noticed blood spilling from the ram's mouth which was grinning constantly. Rana looked at the water, it did not make any wrinkles even when the boats were swiftly moving over it. Rana wanted to end the nightmare, and gripped the oar, but the row was too soft. When he took a look at it, he found that he was holding a white python's tail. He let out a cry and dropped the snake in the water. The serpent swam towards the bank, no wrinkles formed by its swiming action. Confused, Rana looked ahead. On the otherside, the remaining four from his team were present, but they were on horse backs. Before Rana could wonder where the horses came from, he realised a flight above his head, and when he looked above he noticed a blind owl flying past him. Rana brought his palms to his face. They were dripping blood. His nails were bleeding, but he felt no pain. Frightened, Rana yelled at the Four Horsemen. He lost his balance and dropped into the lake.
... to be continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Passing through the Future
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt
http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com...terhouse50.jpg
Hylas and the Nymphes, 1896, Oil on Canvas by John William Waterhouse
Displayed at Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom
Hylas is abducted by the Naiads - Ref : Book 3 of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene - Canto XII, Stanza 7 :
Or that same daintie lad, which was so deare
To great Alcides, that when as he dyde
He wailed womanlike with many a teare,
And every wood, and every valley wyde
He fild with Hylas name; the Nymphes eke "Hylas" cryde.
Rana was suprised to see the water so blue that looked dark from above. It was clear and the visibility was soothing to the eyes. But Rana was in need of oxygen. Few bubbles escaped from his nostrils while he checked around him - the above was nowhere as was the below, he found himself hanging somewhere in the middle of a floating universe with no beginning and no end. He saw dark forms approaching him. 'Shadow of the Fishes', he thought, but by the time he would know what they were, his lungs were filled with water. Rana panicked. His rapid movements took care of spending the rest of the air left within him. Then it was a total Relaxation for Rana, his body gave up, only his hair was in motion.
Rana opened his eyes. He was in a sitting position and to his suprise his clothes were dry. He found himself beside a pond with girls who were head-up in the small body of water. Couple of the dames were giggling at him. Rana slowly approached the water. The beauties went silent while looking with wide eyes at approaching Rana. Rana sat beside the pond. The prettiest amoung the pretty glided towards him and touched Rana. Her feel was so soft. She blinked at him, then slowly raised her hand and pointed out a way Behind Rana's Head.
Rana got up and realised that he was inside a sphere of water. The liquid body formed a wall around him, but not a single drop fell to the ground from their constant gushing movements. The land inside the water-world was dry with ample of nature's growth. Rana got up and walked towards the direction shown by the Limnade. After a few strides, he stopped and looked at the Nymphes. They were all still watching him whispering something to each other. One managed to wink at Rana.
Rana reached the center with a small garden arch made of white stone. Over the arch a grapevine had fully climbed from which only one grape was hanging. It was dark red in color and at the same was emitting spectrum. Rana noticed to his left a sitting fox in king's robe and a crown. On his right was another fox, a clone of the other, but weak and wounded with torn flesh and skin. Rana turned to look at the Niads in the pond. The pretiest gestured him with her hand to consume the fruit. Rana without hesitation plucked the berry and put it in his mouth. It tasted soar & bitter to which Rana's face reacted by moving its muscle vigorously and forcibly shutting the eye lids. When the juice entered his throat it tasted sweet, and Rana regained Pleasure.
When Rana re-opened his eyes, the water wall had magically transformed into a white screen over which random images were flashing. The sound was noisy that Rana shut his ears with both his hands. In the silence that his cover could not gain, Rana heard his mother calling out for him. Rana slowly brought his head up, the images before him were calmer but still meaningless but the noises around became more isolating.
Rana heard foot steps and the image before him on the fluid wall seemed to be appraoching too. The visuals were subjective as though his eyes were projecting them. The space looked like a tomb and Rana could figure something sitted beside it. Immediately Rana heard heavy breathing, he turned and the visual before him was of someone bleeding, lying on someone else lap. Rana concentrated on the wounded person and exclaimed, "Vadhana !". She was lying over her own blood. Before Rana could recover from the shock, he felt something fastly approaching cutting through the air that distracted him and he moved, by the time the projection on the transparent wall was of a dragger covered in blood, too close that it could hurt. The images started to flicker and the focus came back to a view of a blue sky, a single hawk was circling over. The picture moved downwards and flashed what looked like a war zone. Soldiers were running. It was raining liquid and then fire. Suddenly the warriors were ablaze. Rana saw teeth of beasts. They were chasing someone. Rana experienced through the images flashes of his brother. Sena acted inhumane. There was a red eye dangling around his neck. At the the time Rana saw what Sena was confronting, the motion rapidly moved to a closed corridor. Rana again heard foot steps.
The screen was blue. The pants were dancing in the wind. His Father was on top of the host holding a white flag. Rana smiled and looked at the white flag closely. All of a sudden the flag became white coat of an angry speaker and slowly Rana witnessed a magnified face. It was yelling at him "You come to my Hunting Grounds and stop me from Hunting". Rana looked frightened, his mouth escaped the scare, "King Dashakantha". Vettaiyan angrily approached with fiery eyes and his euphemistic phrase 'laka laka laka'.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...4&d=1450995898
The sound again became more noisy. Many other images circled around Rana, from which he could make anything either. When he could not take it anymore, the yelling Rana, then, fainted.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
A walk on the Sands
Rana heard Sengodagan, "You have made it". Rana thanked him.
But Sengodagan looked confused and asked Rana, "What ?"
Rana got up. He explained to Sengodagan that he thanked him for his kind words. Sengodagan's reply shocked Rana. He informed him that its not the gratitude but the time it was delivered. Sengodagan conintued to mockingly describe the suituation that Rana felicitated him for something he had said hours back when they laned safely on the otherside. Rana did not reply, he stood bewildered about fact that he was fast asleep. For hours.
Youngman gently pulled Sengodagan to his side and whispered to him, "Rana is a witness of Parrallel Time. On one boat he was rowing the present, and on the other, the alternate in time. This passage has given him wisdom that he alone could explore. Its the same Rana who droped us here was experiencing the alternate time events at the very same time. His memory is dilute now, he is in a present that should not be disturbed. Wait until he acts."
Sengodagan turned and looked at Rana. Being quite normal, Rana was looking at the maps and giving instructions to Hanchabadra. Kacha was beside them while the other Brothers were arguing softly.
Following the map with his index finger, Rana analysed the spot they were standing - somewhere near the Low Bedding. Rana infered that from few more turns, they should
reach the enterance of the Main Chamber. He quickly looked at the zoomed map of the Chamber of the Seven Fathers and carefully took note of the floating blocks. He concluded that one on the east, the right side of the map, should lead them to the enterance.
The crew followed Rana and after crossing high and low rock beds, they landed before the floor of crushed rocks of pebbles and silt. Further down the sand floor was the first hanging rock, the right side, and to reach it they have to cross the sand path before them.
On the sands you stand, Taking the pebbles in your hand.
None of the sand is a friend, Your fate the pebbles can mend.
"Gihan mingles with the silt here", explained Shortman, elaborating his experience as a sailor. "For a distance now, She has been flowing under our feet, and here She tries to rise up. This floor should be Her mouth, that explains the silt.There", he pointed at the Hanging Rocks, "the blocks are not suspended in mid air but they are floating over Her."Pointing to the floor, he continued, "These sands are too wet to support our weight. Once disturbed, like water taking its shape of the container, the sands will swallow the passer by. Eventhough it will take time to completely be submerged in the quicksands, but the distance is too far to cover."
Shortman gave a teasing look at others. He friendly tapped Hanchabadra on his back. "I don't know what you have heard about quicksands, but rest assured they are all not true.", lectured Shortman. "The more you struggle in it, the faster you will sink. If you just relax, your body will float because your physique is less dense than the quicksands. To cross, make a floor of peebles on which you can walk."
Rana and Sengodagan prepared for their journey over the quicksand. Sendogadan tied the ends of two long rope around his hip and Hanchabadra held the other ends. They both strapped their feet together, and Kacha helped them attach their hips with another cord. Carrying a bag of hand picked pebbles on their head, Rana & Sengodagan walked on the sands.
"Remember, don't struggle, let the sands guide you", reminded Shortman.
Sengodagan followed Rana by placing his hands over Rana's shoulders, his grip was firm while Rana held his hands high above. Few strides after, they could feel the floor getting lighter and gradually they both were sinking into the semi-wet quicksand. They did not panic, even if their sweating forehead temples marked their fear. After a brief moment, the sand stopped absorbing them further. The friends were buried chest deep and stayed suspended there. Their breathing returned to normal and they could slightly move their body, but could not advance further as thier feet had nothing solid to hold on to.
Rana took the a large pebble from the bag on his head. He threw it a foot away over the soft sand. The pebble disappeared inside the grainy particles. Rana tried to move his leg and find the pebble that he had just threw. His leg landed on something which gave him a footing. He turned and smiled at Sengodagan. He threw another one, and managed to place his leg over it. Sengodagan pushed Rana by his shoulder and the grip of Rana's foot advanced them both, but only a few inches. From now they have to calculate their strides and peebles on head as if they run into more strides or less pebbles, they will be struck. But Hanchabadra could pull them back, meaning that they have to start over again. Attached to each other which permitted them to share their force and estimating their walk on the sands, the duo advanced slowly and when they reached the other sides, they tied the two ropes to a firm rock and Hanchabadra did something similar on the other side, so that the rest of crew can take hold of them and pass the quick sand.
The Team landed safely on the right side and stood over the Hanging Rock. From their Rana used cords and rope swing techniques to reach a larger patform and helped Sengodagan to construct a temporary rope bridge between the Hanging Rocks. Following the indications in the map and by passing from one rock to another using rope bridges, the Treasure Hunter and Team reached the enterance to the Chamber of the Seven Fathers.
... to be Continued
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Chamber of the Seven Fathers - The Golden Heart
The enterance to the Chamber of the Seven Fathers was huge. A single massive rock had been drilled into an entry and its sides decorated with carvings of several nobles in different positions over a pointed arch. Rana guessed that there should be 63 carved figurines in total. The entry lead to a grand hall with flat and polished floor. The supporting pillars were from the original standing rock and on each there were holders to hang torch lights.
The crew entered the Chamber and slowly hanged several torch light to the pillars and the illumination brought out the wonder inside the Chamber. The architecture was fabulous and the second thing they took note was in its neatness. The hall size was huge with many chests lined up by the walls. The pillars and walls of the grand room were painted with with geometric patterns which included calligraphic, vegetal, figural and non-figural representations. The Brothers started to discuss about the patterns - the simple forms of circles, squares and four-sided polygons combined, duplicated, interlaced and arranged in intricate combinations, thus becoming one of the most distinguishing features of art.
Tallman shouted, "Growth", looking at the numerous lines.
Shortman followed suit, ""Cycle", while commenting on the infinite meeting points.
Youngman concluded by announcing, "Freedom", admiring the abstract forms taking the shape of butterflies .
Sengodagan and Hanchabadra opened the chests to see what they contained. Rana wondered, "Another dead end". He walked around the room looking for anything that could get them out, when he noticed Kacha standing alone before a structure.
The center of the Chamber held seven human sized statues made of stone. It was arranged in such a way that six were surrounding a principle idiol. The sculpture in the middle was in a sitting position. The rest of the figures were standing - two on either side and four allingned directly with the main idol - and they all stood facing random directions. Rana walked and stood before the muscular statue alongside with Kacha. The detailing in the statue was amazing. The muscles and the facial expressions looked real. It then stuck to Rana. He whispered "Vrikoda". Kacha was looking at his father for the first time. Without saying another word, Rana moved away, to leave Kacha alone with his father. When he reached the statue to the right, Hanchabadra came running towards him with gold jewels, ornamanets and gems dancing in his hands. He put a huge grin on his face when he looked at Rana. But suddenly a deep sorrow took over his face. Rana turned to look where Hanchabadra was looking. Hanchabadra was directly looking at the beautifully carved stone behind Rana.
Hanchabadra dropped all the gold to the ground and steped before the statue. Its face was so pretty. He feel to his knees and cried. The pretty visage resembled a lot the loveliness he witnessed at the temple during the tragic night. He was not chased out of the town because of the fire he had created, but because of the death of the girl he failed to save. The flames were faster than him while climbing the stairs clutching the girl in his arms and before he could reach the tower bell the smoke had killed the adorable beauty. He never shared his pain with anyone and now he just swayed timidly to his sides and whispered out his agony :
When everything you touch turns to gold,
You'll no longer fear when your heart's turned to gold.
Rana had never seen his little friend in such a condition. Even when Hanchabadra was stoned by the kids, he threw back the peanuts that he had stocked in his pockets. Such a pure heart, with a grin replacing his pain always and he never cried. Seeing him in tears now moved Rana. He softly placed his hand over his shoulders. Hanchabadra put his cheek on Rana's hand and Rana felt the wetness. Rana looked around him, his hands still placed on Hanchabadra, and the Golden Heart guided him to see the secret behind these statues. Rana found himself looking at the center idol, memories came gushing down as tears. He said softly, "Father".
After a while when Kacha & Hanchabadra calmed down, Rana assmebled his team. He instructed each one to take a place behind respective statues. Standing in the middle, taking the position of his Father, Rana verified :
Kacha stood further behind Rana, with his father Vrikoda.
Hanchabadra took the place to Rana's left gracing Shama.
Youngman, with his wounded leg, hopped behind Rana to join Deva whose statue was carved with precision of his wooded leg.
Tallman moved futher forward to Rana, to join in size with Axeman.
Shortman joined infront of Rana, to accompany traveller Pandu.
Sengodagan positioned himself to Rana's right, with the sharp shooter Jishan
They all were looking for a key to move the statues and each one found a squared plate behind their respective idols pressing which certain parts of the statues were moveable. Rana gave instructions to allign the statues.
Hatchet in hand bows, the fists take a vow.
Right, turns the bow, left for the dove.
The kneeled watch eachother,
Now, look below to enter another.
Each member alligned their statues to face the Master in the Middle.
Kacha adjusted the right hand of his father to be straight, as though taking a vow.
Hanchabadra made Shama to kneel by her right leg and shifted her face left.
Youngman altered Deva to a sitting stance and aligned the statue to face forward so that he looked directly at Pandu.
Tallman joined the hands of Axeman to make a respectful bow.
Shortman made Pandu face Deva, a symmetrical arrangement.
And finally Sengodagan moved Jishan to kneel and look right.
Once the Warriors were in position, similar to their stance while protecting their Master during his vunerable state, the floor slided under Rana's feet, which had several spiral stone steps running down just below the Master's Statue.
... to be continued ...
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Master's Sanctuary
"Mother", exclaimed Rana, experiencing for the first time the vision from Lake of Woes.
The spiral stairs led them into a dark corridor. In the light from his torch, Rana led his team through the passageway. The Brothers gazed at the six rectagular tombs, three on each side, placed verticially on the wall - they were passing between a wall crypt. On each tomb was carved the human size of the Warriors, their hands were placed folded over their chest. The special weapon they had carried was fixed to the side of the respective Warroir statue. The crew stopped at each tomb to examine it. When Hanchabadra tried to touch the sharp blades clinging to the side of Warrior Pandu, Tallman who was beside Hanchabadra stopped him and gave him a nod of disagreement, "Respect the Dead Golden Heart". Hanchabadra grinned. The cloister ended abrupty at a huge block of stone, a door of a sort. Carved over it, at the centre, inside a small rectangular frame read :
If you have come for gold, the reward will be cold.
Rests inside is a great soul and what you seek is in the bowl.
Rana moved the light from the torch over the edges and noticed the line-crack. He placed his hand over the patterned block on which the note was written and he pressed it with his palms. The block started to detatch and move inside the stone door creating a rectangular shaped cavity on the surface. At around half way, the block resisted, followed by mechanical noises replacing the screeching sound. The stone door started to move by gliding itself to its right side. The opening led Rana into the Master's Santuary.
Behind them, other noises echoed simultaneously, signaling sealing of doors. "There goes the gold", said Sengodagan.
One by one everyone walked inside the Master's Santuary. Once everyone were inside, the stone door which gave them entry, slided and sat back to its initial position. Wherever they were, all entries seemed to have shut off.
It was then Rana saw a form without skin and flesh in sitting position beside a stone structure, it's cranium leaning over the short wall. Rana noted the two bangles around the right arm whose palm was placed firmly on the ground. Identifying the bangles, Rana exclaimed "Mother".
He approached the fragile remains and being careful not to disturb its state, Rana kneeled down and looked at the bangles. When Rana was young, with the motion of his fingers he used to play with the two bangles worn by his mother. He admired the clink and tried to produce several musical notes that pleased his kid ears. His mother would wake him up by tapping her hand gently over his chest. He laid their awake without opening his eyes just to hear the devine music from the bangles. Rana hopped to the Rythms of the Bangles while walking with his mother. Seeing his childhood playmate motionless before him brought tears in his eyes.
Rana gazed at his mother whose whereabouts were never known after the demise of his Father. After her husband was beheaded, the King's men tortured the villager who gave asile to Yaghavi and that night she climbed the mountains and walked to the tomb where her other half was been laid. The Alwars, the architects behind the pathways, the chamber & the sanctury had to shut the place down with Yaghavi inside and tears in their eyes.
Sengodagan walked behind him and soothed him with his touch. Rana, took a while, got back to his feet. He looked at Sengodagan. His friend noticed the tears vapoursing in the Flaming Eyes of Rana. Rana's eyes were no more calm, anger had taken them completely.
The hall was much smaller than the cavaedium above. The Tomb of the Master lied in the middle and to either side there was a stone chest. By the circular wall, several handworks were lined up neatly. The Brothers were taking note of them - from clay tablets to papyrus to bound cloths - all looked like registers. On the wall, several scenes depicting men working were carved inside a squared frames.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...9&d=1453123540
Ancient Egypt Noblemen (the ranking government officials). Cravings found inside The Tombs of the Noblemen, Egypt.
Youngman took a clay tablet and inspected it. "The Registers maintained by the Alwars. Recordings of details during the time they served their Master. On the wall are the Alwars themselves, describing the sequentialy how this place was built. Beauty is that there were no traps. We have just crossed the Nature to get to the Master's Sanctury", saying so Youngman started going through the piles of records, while the other two Borthers stared their discussion over the depictions on the wall.
Rana gazed at the altar tomb on which his mother was leaning to. He examined the lid. His Father's figure was craved out of a marble stone and placed on the cover. The slab was not fixed to the burial vault. Rana carefully pushed the lid and opened the tomb. The well preserved body of his Father laid inside. The head was disjointed from the neck and a trident was fixed to his bundled hair. His body was wrapped in a blue satin cloth. Rana looked at his Father's face and memories came gushing down as tears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Py1qH0XLuk
... to be Continued ...
-
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Sanctuary of Truth
Everyone stood around the altar tomb, the Brothers admired the sleeping Master, the Mala - 108 beads stringed together - hung around the Sage's neck as a Serpent of Wisdom.
Over the satin cloth, a Bow with a single arrow was placed along with a bladed weapon in a leather hip belt. Rana took out the scabbard and removed the longsword that it held.
"Fallen Sword of the Rogue Angel, Vajrastra - The Sword of Thunder" confirmed Youngman after refering to the texts inscribed on the mud plate he was holding in his hand. He continued, "This one was recovered from the Rogue Angel when the Hunter from the Sea slayed them to save Chakora, the mystical moon light drinking bird".
Rana placed Vajrastra in its leather case and attached the belt around his hip. He took out the arrow and inspected it before inserting it to his girdle. He then lifted the Bow.
"Inesh", exclaimed Youngman in wonder, "the Bow that pireced the Sky, a Symbol of Authority and Power, one of the valliant weapon of your Father".
Rana took a deep look at Inesh and then, wore it across his shoulders.
"Now they have fallen into the right hands, ofcoarse, ofcoarse for good deeds", Youngman completed his sentence with a flicker of doubt while watching Rana.
'Take Not What You Want' was written over the chest placed to the right side of the tomb.
'Just What You Need' was carved on the other chest to the left.
Rana activated the first chest with his palm as the key. Suprisingly his hand print was accepted and the vault opened up into horizontal compartments of 3 decks, upon which the items were neatly arranged.
"Alwars were astrologers & palm readers", commented Tallman, "that's why Rana was chosen to come here at a specific age. His palm lines are the key to open The Treasure Boxes of Arha."
Pouches, colourful sand, beads, hair, smoking pipe and many 'such' things that did have any materialistic value were present in the first trunk. Inside the other there were teeth, roots, stones, claws, a mask and few 'other' objects that did have any particular usage.
"These are not just treasures, but items when used in proper combination can salve the elements. As carved on the boxes - Take Not What You Want Just What You Need - at no point these items should leave the Santuary. Their powers are beyond human control. I am aware of none present to juggle with these mystical items. The Alwars with the guidence from their Master had well hidden these objects those which were handled by their Master himself."
At a quite moment, Youngman approached Rana and initiated a conversation. "The one who killed your Father is not the murderer, Rana, you have to remember that. Fate can fool you. For that, even the wise would fall". Youngman noticed the anger in Rana who had started to breath heavily. For the first time Youngman seemed angered too. Vexed, he whispered grinding his teeth, "Think about Sengodagan. Think about Vadhana. Reality is not the Truth Rana, it can be the reflection of opposite of Truth".
Rana took time to reply. He just gazed at Youngman's sunken eyes. He spoke calm and poignant, "You speak of choices always. You lecture about Nature. Tell me my Wise Brother what will you choose to live, eating or breathing ?"
Rana's words startled Youngman. The youngman before Youngman was of another form completely absorbed by Revenge. Any explanation would irritate him. "Rana has to explore himself much deeper than who he actually is", thought Youngman. Also, he mind picked his choice.
Youngman put his hand on Rana's shoulders to calm him when he saw Sengodagan approaching. Youngman continued, "As I was saying, you must leave now".
Rana was shocked to hear Youngman - not the change of subject but by its content. Rana expressed his incomprehension. Youngman replied, "We have come to the place where we three brothers take rest now. The Truth is here". Moving his hands as though showing them around, Youngman talked merrily, "This is the Master's Gift for us. The previous night of your visit, twelve older men, much aged than us three, came and asked us to accompany you in this quest. But staying here is merely our choice". Youngman looked at Rana, he stood guilty. Sengodagan argued but the Brothers were stubborn on their unanimous decision. When Kacha and Hanchabadra learnt about the Brother's preferance, they did not agree either. The journey has bonded them into Single Men. Winning the debate, the Brothers moved away to look into the registers, leaving the rest four in silence.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 2 - Gulf of Bairavi
Hari, Ari & Ali
Looking at the four prepared for their exit journey, the Wise Brothers approached them.
Shortman went directly to the wall behind the altar tomb. He found an hidden hatch and used it to move a flat stone which until then stood as a wall. The opening gave a passage outside the Master's Santuary. Hanchabadra could not look at Tallman that he had his head hung down. Tallman lifted his head with his fingers. Hanchabadra grinned. Sengodagan tried to persuade Youngman to come with them. His eye were floating in tears. The Wise Brothers have provoked the affection inside Sengodagan, but they just stood there smiling at the four youngsters. Rana nodded his head once at each Brother respectively and turned to take a look at his Father's altar for the last time. Then, the four walked out.
After making few steps, the stone door behind them shut itself. A huge rolling stone came from the side and halted itself before the backdoor of the Master's Santuary.
With just ropes and minimal kits, Rana and his remaining team members marched a bit further. Rana was constantly looking above him.
Sengodagan asked Rana, "There is no map or indications to follow. We don't even know which side of the Earth we are currently at. How are we going to make it out from here ?" Without removing his eyes which were fixed above over the ceiling, Rana pulled the arrow from his girdle and handed it over to Sengodagan.
Carving on the heavy arrow read "Follow the Blind Owl".
They heard flapping-wing. An owl flew past them, its flight slow but steady, a vision similar to the one Rana had experienced. The crew followed the owl. The ground was quite flat but punctuated with sharp rocks. They tried to keep up with the bird. The owl hopped over a huge rock and sat there without moving. Rana and team settled underneath the rock and took turns to keep an eye on the bird while the others could rest. Few hours later, the bird started its flight again and the team ran following it. After couple of such halts, they all reached huge circular space, similar to the floor of the Pit of Bairavi and through the mouth of the sea-cave the owl flew out of the underground. After several days, Rana and his friends were under sunlight, breathing fresh air.
Rana said hurriedly, "We don't have time. The sea tide could hit back anytime".
He took the arrow and tied a rope to its pilot hole. He quickly asked the others to tie the remaining ropes to the respective tail-ends to form a lengthy chord. Placing the arrow between Inesh, Rana spoke out his Fore-Father name, lifted Inesh over his sholders and shot the arrow. The arrow travelled a long distance cutting through the air and pierced itself into a rock around the lip of the crater. Rana reached the wall and pulled the rope to check its rigidity. Assured by the toughness, he asked his friends to climb out the well. Following one another, they climbed out of the ditch, by clutching to the rope and dancing over its wall.
At mid-way, Rana heard a long distant water gushing. 'They are running out of time', he thought, "if they don't make it to the shore in time, they are to drown". Speeding up the ascend, they finally landed over the sand bed. Rana quickly exited the sea-cave and at a far distance saw the waves galloping towards them like a thousand stallions. The white foams attached to the waves like the mane. Rana and team dropped their baggages and started to run over the sand towards the shore. Kacha was finding it difficult to accelerate due to his wounded shoulder. Rana helped him to move quickly through the semi-wet floor. Sengodagan pulling Hanchabadra by his collars ran as fast as he could. Hanchabadra was grinning at the same time checked behind him at the fast approaching waves. Just a few feet from the shore, the waves hit them mercilessly.
Kacha and Hanchabadra were drying their clothes under the sun. Seeing Rana sitted facing the waves, Segodagan approached him and sat beside him. Rana gave a friendly smile at Sengodagan. To make things light, Sengodagan tried to chase the thoughts out of Rana's head by asking a question in his style, "Where the hell did that owl come from". The tone made Rana to laugh.
Rana explained to Sengodagan that owls and bats did live in the underground caves. They were scared of the outer world. These species were intelligent to sense the activity of the tides. During low tides, they fly out of the cave to have their meal and return before the enterance was closed by water. During high tide they lunch on whatever they find inside the underground.
They were sitted on the beach located at the very far end of Karimedu. The Gulf of Bharavi could be anywhere. Sengodagan informed Rana that he knew this place. It was an unforgetable spot, as he had passed his wonderful moment with someone special at a nearby deserted island. Rana exactly knew who it was, but hid his knowledge by asking who that special person was. Sengodagan assured him that Rana would be the first person to know, but only when the time is ripe. Rana smiled.
Silence settled between the friends. Rana started to talk about the Wise Brothers, "Do you know the Brothers real names ?" Listening to the reply from Sengodagan, Rana gave him the names of the Wise Brothers - Hariharan, Ali al-Ridha, Ariandre.
"Ailing from three unalike beliefs, being non-identical, be it in form, size, colour or age, all three stuck to each other. They did not see their dissimilarities, but appreciated their differences. A lesson the five kingdoms should not only know, but understand. I will miss them". Sengodagan turned to the otherside. Rana respecting Sengodagan's tears, stopped talking about the Wise Brothers.
"Can you do me a favour", asked Rana after a brief pause. Sengodagan readily accepted, "I will do anything to wash away what my father had done. Raja Mahendran had tired to kill you Father, when he failed he blamed it on my father. Your people are my people Rana, and I am not talking as a Prince, but as your friend".
Rana smiled. He thanked him and told him his plan.
... to be continued ...
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5 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 3 - To Slay a Traitor
Rana's Tricks - Kalingapuri
Veera Mahendran, the Prince of Kalingapuri, was hunting with few friends in the woods of Katrupuzha when suddenly masked men attacked the group. The personel security of the Prince failed to defend their Kings's son, when one by one were chopped down by the group of killers. Isolated within minutes, Veera Mahendran fell to the ground and his defensive sword released from his grip and rested on the ground beside him. The helpless Prince crawled backwards to save himself from his marching nemesis. He came to a halt by a tree. The leader of the assassin group wearing a mask with only eyes visible approached Veera Mahendran clutching his dragger. The Prince saw death in the aggressor's eyes.
From nowhere, a warrior landed behind the murderer. He was dressed in golden armour and his landing made the assassin to turn around. The other henchmen surrounded the warrior. The brave fighter put a smile on his face while looking at the small army of masked men. He then pushed his scabbard attached to his right side. A sword magically sprouted out. It travelled a brief moment in the air just before his face. All the while the young warrior did not take his eyes of his enemies. He moved his left hand above his head, and at a right time stopped the flight of his sword by catching its grip in mid air with his left hand.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...2&d=1454079742
The warrior struck with thunder blows making the attacking enemies fall to the ground. One by one they got up and started to run. The assassin leader stood motionless before the warrior. After staring him for a while, he made a gesture with his finger that the warrior has been marked by his clan and jogged away. In all this chaos, Veera Mahendran noted a weird form which was neither running nor hopping. He wondered how that person was recruited as an assassin.
"Who are you?", asked the Prince
"A traveller.", replied the stranger.
What's your name ?
Rana.
What do you do for living ?
Anything that keeps me alive.
Will you work for me ?
It's not 'for whom' I am interested in, it's 'as what'.
Veera Mahendran was very much impressed with Rana. He caught him by his shoulders and gave him a friendly shake. "Come Rana, we have a lot to discuss", he said excitedly. Rana followed Veera Mahendran with a smile.
Raja Mahendran, the King of Kalingapuri welcomed Rana with open arms. He was glad that Rana saved his son Veera Mahendran from the cowardly attack. Expressing that there was nothing on the earth that equals the deed of Rana, as well as all the assistance Rana's Father had rendered, the King proposed the rank of Captain in the army to Rana with immense joy. Rana accepted the King's offer as an honour.
The fight to extend the Kingdom's territories gained new heights. Each Kingdom wanted to enlarge their states by annexing the independant villages & tribals around thier respective kingdom. Mostly such acts invited rebels. Some even had armies half big as the King's. Rana efficiently captured many territories for Kalingapuri. With Inesh & Vajrastra, he slayed many innocents in the name of war. Rana was aware of his massacres, but he did not have any other choice to gain the confidence of Raja Mahendran. He had to play it along as he cannot take Kalingapuri head-on and save his people treated as salves in the Kingdom. The day Rana was working out for finally dawned.
Raja Mahendran was proud to invite his valiant warrior on his victorious march. He expressed that Kalingapuri has beaten their arch rivals Kottaipattinam, and reigns as the second largest kingdom on Earth. He promoted Rana as the Army General of Kalingapuri for his excellent and loyal services to the kingdom. Overwhelmed, Raja Mahendran decided to offer Rana whatever he wished for.
Rana expressed his desire to his King, "Kottaipattinam", listening to which Raja Mahendran walked away without saying a word.
Prince Veera Mahendran and Rana walked along the corridor of the Palace.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...3&d=1454080686
"Don't mistake my father Rana, he has confidence in you but is pondering whether Kalingapuri is ready. He thinks the damage would be unbearable even if they won the war", explained the Prince.
"Annexing Kottaipattinam and making Kallingapuri as the number one Kingdom is all that I seek", replied Rana humbly.
The Prince smiled with pride and said, "We have to find a way to convince my father, Rana".
They took an accensor and descended to the dungeons of the palace.
"No more secrets Rana", he said and quickly added, "my Army General". Rana smiled.
"These are the salves of Kallingapuri", announced Veera Mahendran.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...5&d=1454080832
Rana listened to the Prince, and after a brief thought said, "They are an army". The prince could not follow. Rana explained to him that the number of salves matched a marching army. If they put them before the warriors of Kalingapuri, the salves will take the first fall. By then, the Kottaipatinam warriors will be tired and few in numbers compared to their initial march. Then, they would strike mercilessly.
Impressed the Prince looked at Rana, but he had a flicker of doubt, but before he could pronounce it, Rana replied to him, "They are already old and weak, they are not fit to be even salves. Kallingapuri needs them no more. We will replace them with young slaves when we win this war."
That night, while Veera Mahendran spoke with his father in private, Rana meet with the slaves.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...7&d=1454082065
Rana led the army of Kalingapuri along side with Prince Veera Mahendran. Armoured as Kallingapuri Warriors, the salves were marched forward. Sengodagan, the Prince of Kottaipatinam, rode on a chariot towards the Army of Kalingapuri. Rana assured the Prince that everything was going as per the plan, and Sengodagan will taste the sharpness of his blade. Saying so Rana rode his charriot and met Sengodagan in the middle of the battle field. Sengodagan saw Rana as his kid-friend.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...6&d=1454081117
To Veera Mahendran's surprise, Rana and Sengodagan exchanged friendly gestures. Rana cried out loud at the warrior salves to join Kottaipattinam army. He turned back and warned Prince Veera Mahendran to retreat as the army of Kottaipattinam is now multiple times bigger than Kalingapuri army with the inclusion of the salves. Rana informed him the plan was never to attack Kottaipattinam but to liberate the citizens of his nation ensalved in Kalingapuri for which his Father had to take the blame.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...6&d=1454118075
Veera Mahendran noted the form neither running nor hopping advancing towards Rana from his back. 'Tricked. How could I have allowed Rana to trick me", thought the Prince.
Feeling rejected, Prince Veera Mahendran retreated.
... to be continued ...
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5 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 3 - To Slay a Traitor
Rana's Tricks - Kottaipattinam
Hanchabadra jumped on Rana from behind. Kacha stood beside Sengodagan smiling. Rana pulled Hanchabadra and brought him to the front. Rana enquired how he was keeping up. Hanchabadra grinned. Rana was glad to meet up with his friends after years. They all have co-operated well with him. Sengodagan held the cloak of Hanchabadra and draged him. He fought back and escaped the clutches of his holder and walked before his 3 friends imitating Rana. The friends laughed and followed their leader Hanchabadra.
King Rishikodagan watched his son Sengodagan and Rana walking inside the administrative hall towards him.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...8&d=1454115578
He saw flashes of Kochadaiiyaan in Rana.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...4&d=1454117866
Rana introduced himself to the King as Kochadaiiyaan Ranadheeran insisting on his Father's name. Rishikodagan expressed his happiness in recieving Rana and feliciated him for his bravery and wisdom. Rana found no repent in Rishikodagan.
.
When the sun took a nap, a masked man entered the chamber of Rishikodagan. He watched the sleeping king. He pulled out a dragger and prepared himself to punture the King's heart when suddenly the doors opened and Sengodagan came running towards the assassin. The killer managed to escape by jumping out of the window.
That evening the friends met at the palace bar. Sengodagan was late. He arrived just after Rana. "Sengodagan will be an able King", mocked Kacha over his late arrival. Hanchabadra was counting the peanuts and pocketed every seventh grain into his mouth.
Sengodagan seemed disturbed. "My father is completely a changed man now, Rana", announced Sengodagan after a while. "Sometimes the leader is forced to take decision to establish the rule of equality, be it while pronouncing punishments. Now that the citizens of Kottaipattinam have joined their family, this nation will be known for its care it takes over its citizen. Rana, you will be remembered forever."
After a deep thought, Sengodagan continued, "But Rana, my friends, I sense an immediate danger to the Kingdom. I had visited my father's room to talk with him about my marriage plans, instead I found a murderer trying to stab my Father". The friends looked at each other. Sengodagan asked his friend, "Rana, I count on you to capture the killer." Rana gave him his word that until he is alive no one else can kill the King. Rana's reply calmed Sengodagan and brought him back to the festive mood. He proposed a toast over their reunion.
"Tomorrow will be an important day for me Rana, so it will be for you", declared Sengodagan. The lamp lit only the left side of Rana's face. He sat amoung his friends without uttering a single word.
The next day, Sengodagan introduced to his people of Kottaipatinam their new Army General Rana. Rana met up with his uncle and reunited with his sister, Yamuna. Still no one knew the where abouts of Sena, Rana's brother. His uncle was glad that the people held captive for years were finally liberated. He shed tears of joy on the restoration of Kochadaiiyaan's glory. He asserted that everything ended with the Return of Rana. Rana replied in disagreement,"Everything has just begun."
An eagle was circling over the blue sky, similar to the vision Rana had in the Lake of Woes. Before him was Rishikodagan, the murderer of his Father. The king was admiring the view from the top of the Lighthouse of Kottaipatinam which was under construction. Suddenly the wooden plank gave away, the King started his free fall. Someone had delibrately meddled with the security ropes attached to the logs. At the moment, the King's son, Sengodagan, jumped to get hold of his falling father. Rana leaped and got hold of his friend's hand and coupled his legs around one of the support log. His grip halted the fall of the Prince and the King. The three were suspended in air until Rana dropped the hanging rope, so that they could climb back up.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...0&d=1454116836
Rana accepted the proposition of Sengodagan to marry his Sister. But the King was not happy. Eventhough he authorised the marriage, he expelled the Prince out of the Kingdom for marrying a girl who was not from the lineage of Kings. The decision was bitter. After the royal wedding, Sengodagan left the Kingdom holding the hand of his beloved, Yamuna. Rana felt proud of his friend. He requested Kacha and Hanchabadra to accompany the newly wed and take care of their lodging and other primary needs.
That night, the masked man struck again, but his attempt to assasinate the King was once more unsucessful. This time it was a complete failure as he gets captured by Vadhana, the prncess of Kottaipatinam. King Rishikodagan removed the Mask of the Assassin to expose his cowardly face. To their suprise, the face behind the mask belonged to Rana. When questioned on his motive, Rana spoke those words that shocked the King :
"Theliuraiyum Mudivuraiyum Thelindha Neerudaiaga therintha piragu Munurai etharku, Unnaku". King Rishikodagan remembered the last words of Kochadaiiyaan.
The gaurds pulled Rana to the prison, when he turned and assured King Rishikogan that no one can save the King from him.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...5&d=1454117946
Thappa mudiyathu Rishikodagharey, yen idam irunthu Nee thappave mudiyathu.
... to be continued ...
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4 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 3 - To Slay a Traitor
Rana's Tricks - Truth Be Told
Vadhana had met Rana only once. He had left the capital city when she was too young to remember, but Vadhana could not forget that night when she fell into the arm's of Rana years after.
It was her birthday and her friends wished to make it adventurous for her. Its hard for a Princess to walk out of the Palace, unless its for greeting the people during a national event. That night, couple of her friends seduced the gaurds and in the shadows of the night Vadhana escaped the fort for the first time. In the cold night air, disguised as a local, she settled with her friends in a bar - the evening had just begun. She had sent a message to her brother, Sengodagan, but was not sure whether he received it.
Anarchists were always a problem and they crawl under the shades of the state. Five men sat opposite to the girls. The rich dames found the men funny and amused with them. While no one else was noticing, one of the stranger mixed two drops of green liquid in Vadhana's cocktail. Finishing her glass, Vadhana snake walked towards the dance floor followed by couple of strangers. Her friends were so drunk that they didn't notice Vadhana been carried away by the anarchists.
Two held her hands, and other two gripped her legs. Vadhana was smiling, her vision thick as a mist. The leader looked at his camarades holding the legs. After giving an incomprehensable look, they seperated her legs with a tiny grin on their faces. The leader bend down and while lying over Vadhana, he whispered in her ears, "Our Son will be a King".
Suddenly, Vadhana saw the man who was singing in her ears flying in the air. She laughed. Couple others flew across her. She found her hand free, and raised to count the men suspended in the air above her. When she finished counting upto five, she saw Rana - a face that she could never forget, a gesture which only one on this earth possessed, the person blessed with quickness. She called out his name and he turned - Rana, her Archangel. The love she had locked inside her for years finally poured out that night.
She tried to get to her feet, but lost balance when Rana held her with his firm hands. He carried her. Vadhana looked behind them at the men suspended in the air. Seeing them falling down only now made her giggle. Rana looked at her smiling face, his hands completely engulfing her hip and thighs. Vadhana placed her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
Medhuvaga thaan, Medhuvaga Thaan Ennai Erkiraai, Palivaangavaa !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_TgjGfICtw
The next day she woke up in her bed at the Palace. She heard voices outside. Her father was angry. The bruises on her had given away her the details of the previous night. It seemed her father was questioning her friends. From that day Vadhana was under a Palace arrest. More over, her father, Rishikodagan, the King of Kottaipattinam, placed spies to keep an eye on her round the clock, one of the agent was his own minster of internal affairs.
The night Rana was arrested, the King was a bit drunk when the minister told him about the Princess acquaintance with Rana. Angry, Rishikodagan ordered the gaurds to summon his daughter before him. While Vadhana was on route towards the King's Chamber she noticed a shadow, a masked man was fighting his way towards her father's room.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...4&d=1455315918
She tried to stop him, just to be suprised that the man behind the mask was none other than Rana.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...7&d=1455316641
After the arrest of Rana, Vadhana sat beside a pond inside the Palace Garden.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...8&d=1455316831
She could not accept Rana as the murderer. Rana was true with her and loyal to her brother. With lot of questions, she went to meet Rana in the Prison cell.
"Your brother knew only half of my plan, Vadhana." said Rana. "He helped me bust into Kallingapuri and liberate our brothers and sisters. I returned to Kottaipattinam to avenge your father. Planned to kill him at the lighthouse and frame it as an accident. Sengodagan will become the King, and I will rest as his faithful Serviceman", Rana paused and then continued, "but was suprised to see Sengodagan completely dancing to the charm of his father. Thus I had to seperate him from the kingdom and make him return once the Old King is no more."
Rana walked around his prison cell and took Vadhana by suprise, "But you never told me that you are a warrior ? What, a Ninja?" Rana laughed. "I am the one who feels deceived", declared Rana.
Vadhana wanted explanations to which Rana narrated the deception tale of his Father :
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...9&d=1455317068
... Kochadaiiyaan brought happiness, justice, hope, laughter & friendship to all the dwellers of various kingdoms. In return, the uncrowned King demanded only peace between the Empires and harmony amoung the people. Thus, Kochadaiiyaan got the title amoung his worshipers - The Hunter from the Sea ...
... to be continued ...
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5 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 3 - To Slay a Traitor
Rana's Tricks - War for Justice
Vadhana was not convinced with Rana's explanations.
Rana calmly informed her by choosing his words carefully, "Your father worried only about the Kingdom. He was never present neither for his family or his own people".
Hearing Rana, Vadhana stromed out of the prison cell.
Rishikodagan taking the the predictions of his astrologer over his lifeline, accepted to get Vadhana married to Prince Veera Mahendran.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...0&d=1455318125
Vadhana was shocked about her father's decision. "Myself marrying the Prince of an enemy state", thought Vadhana. She started to realise the truth in Rana's words. More shocking was the news that on the day of her marriage, Rana was to be assassinated, a death without facing the trail at the people's court of justice. She took her stand.
Raja Mahendran of Kalingapuri found the marriage more as a deal than an historical event. He was happy about uniting the two kingdoms under the rule of his son, Veera Mahendran. Grand Marriage was arranged on the battle field of Kottaipattinam to accomodate the maximum number of well wishers in and around the Kingdom. Unstatisfied, the citizens of Kottaipattinam assisted their Princess's marriage.
Raja Mahendran was vigilant while entering the enemy territory. Placing military support at a safe distance from Kottaipattinam, he marched into the ceremony along with his son on horse back, accompanied by a small Kalingapuri army.
From nowhere, Rana suddenly marched into the ceremony on a charriot. The people welcomed him with a loud cry of joy. Raja Mahendran mocked Rana as to whether Rana planned to fight his glorious army with the lame people of Kottaipattinam, while Rishikodagan wondered how Rana escaped the prison cells.
Rana challenged Raja Mahendran with Inesh, the bow, in his hand and Vajastra, the long sword, by his side.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...1&d=1455318543
"Parthaya Engal Nattin Radha Gaja Dhuraga Pathadhigalai"
The war was fought and Rana's army chased away the invaders. But the Kalingapuri backup army arrived. Rana formed the war strategic stance with his faithful warriors and fought back the enemies.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...2&d=1455318983
He chased Raja Mahendran across the battle field and placed the sharp blades of Vajastra around the rival King's neck.
"Wait. Wait. Please Wait", pleaded Raja Mahendran. "We had just executed the orders of Vettaiyan. This reuniting the kingdom through marriage is the master plan of the King of the Central Kingdom. The astrologer, a liar, was in his payroll. I just followed his rules to keep Kalingapuri in serenity. Emperor Dashakantha had been using Rishikodagan as he was using me."
Raja Mahendran begged for his life by offering Rana his cooperation, "Spare me Rana, I won't plead innocent, but will help you take down your Father's real killer.
Rana stood hesitant. Seeing the oppurtunity favouring his side Raja Mahendran spoke his last words, "Please forgive me, Rana".
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...3&d=1455319782
"Ask that to my Father", saying so Rana sliced the throat of King Raja Mahendran in the middle of the battle field.
Watching his army falling apart and witnessing his father slayed in front of his eyes, Prince Veera Mahendran took a last look at his friend who had turned foe before retreating back to Kalingapuri.
King Rishikodagan was judged as a traitor. He fought back Rana but the vengenceful Vajastra seperated the King's head from his body.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...4&d=1455320135
Standing beside the King's corpse, Rana started to realise the blindness evoked by the urgence for vengence. Raja Mahendran's last words rang in his ears. Without his permission, the words of Youngman scrolled before him. Both had meant that the one who killed his Father was not the murderer. Rana's head spinned. Rishikodagan was after all a greedy King, used as a pond to kill his Father by Vettiayan. But why ?
His hand weighed, he dropped Vajastra to the floor.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...5&d=1455320429
He could not take anything anymore, when he heard the gait of a horse.
Rana and Vadhana turned to the foot steps behind them. A lone rider approached them. He got down from the horse and stood before Rana.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...6&d=1455320445
Rana exclaimed, "Sena".
... to be continued ...
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2 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 4 - Sons of Kochadaiiyaan
Rana
Episode 3 - To slay a Traitor (extended)
Somewhere near the Jungle ...
A rider rode over the path outside the territories. When he took the bend at the end, he saw The Woodcutter working on a tree. The wounded soldier got down his horse and limped towards The Woodcutter. He gave him the news. The Woodcutter's agony was not visible when he thanked the news bringer by patting on his shoulders. He slowly walked towards the cottage.
When he opened the inn's door, he found his wife cooking. She turned around with a smile and expressed her suprise that he was early home. The Woodcutter took his time to cross the small hall and stopped before his wife. He put his face close to hers. The burning twigs under the mud stove sent few sparks while the flames were swallowing them. The Woodcutter suddenly got hold of a bunch of her hair and pulled her closer to his face. He put his teary eyes directly over hers. The fire from the oven casted their red shadow over his face.
"I tursted him. I helped him. But what he has done is unforgivable", he said softly but angrily, his voice heard inbetween his crushing teeth.
He pushed her towards the nearby wall. The helpless lady, who was six months pregnant, glided down the wall and fell to the ground, her eyes wide and watery. She was shivering. The Woodcutter starred at her for a while and then walked slowly across the room. When he reached a closet, he opened it and removed a sharp object. He examined the blade by running his fingers over it.
Tugging the Dragger around his hip belt, Sengodagan stromed out without uttering another word.
... to be Continued ...
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5 Attachment(s)
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1 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 5 - Seeds of Kochadaiiyaan
Sena
(Rated-R)
அக்கினி குஞ்சொன்று கண்டேன், அதை, அங்கொரு காட்டிலொர் பொந்திடை வைத்தேன் !
வெந்து தணிந்தது காடு தழல் வீரத்தில் குஞ்சென்றும் மூப்பென்றும் உண்டோ ?
- மகாகவி சுப்ரமணிய பாரதியார்
Agni kunjondru kaNdaen, adhai, Angoru kaattilOr pondhidai vaithaen !
Vendhu thaNindhadhu kaadu, thazhal, Veerathil kunjendrum mooppendrum uNdO ?
- Chinnaswami Subramania Bharathi
Episode 1 - Past is Passed
The little feet made their mark on the ground covered with snow. Each step landed softly than the showering snow flakes. The girl, hopping around in her frock, turned back to see the distance from her chaser. She smiled. Her cheeks were red, but she seemed not to mind the cold. Her hair was contrast to the cotton color rain that tried to paint the darkeness with white. The hair flowed loose and moved to the rythms of the running child.
The man chasing her finally caught up with her. He grabbed her shoulders to make her turn and face him. She was gigling. He kneeled before her and admired her pearl-eye stained with little green sphere. He looked at her matching white clothes which camouflaged with the snowing surrounding. Her tiny lips had become redder in the cold, more bright than the single red rose he held in his hands. She pushed him away, and the flower fell to the floor marking a bright red over the flawless white.
Sena looked at the fallen flower. He bent down and picked it up. A drangonfly popped out from nowhere which made him lift his head. His eyes followed the flying insect. Where ever the moth flew, the snow on the ground truned into grass ; the mountains and valleys shed their white clothes and started to dress up in green. Sena heard birds chirping. The dragonfly reached the little girl and converted into an orange butterfly when it kissed the cheeks of the smiling infant, but the colour of her dress remained unchanged. Sena walked over the green floor following his daughter.
A white mare galloped past the running father and daughter over the sunny meadow. The horse circled them couple of time and reared up before them. Neck bent high towards the blue sky, the beautiful animal neighed. Sena stopped and looked up at the sky with the horse. Grey clouds started to swallow the shiny blue space. Couple of lightnings appeared but no thunder followed them. It started to drizzle. The drops fell over his daughter who was nodding her head imitating her new playmate, a white cow, which was before her. The bell around the cow's neck clinged each time the motherly beast reacted to the cold rain drops falling on her back. Sena quickly ran towards them.
Sena caught his daughter by her hand, and softly pulled her towards him. The sunny day was quickly turning grey. He hugged her. Her warm and her heavy breath on his neck soothed him. Her heartbeat over his chest softened him and he closed his eyes for a breif moment. Tears dropped from his eyes when he reopened them.
"Are you ready, my father", she asked him.
Thunder resounded across the skies.
'Not yet, Lalli, not now', replied Sena by moving his head in displeasure. At the same time, he brought the Dragger he was holding firmly in his hands and pierced it deep into her chest, puncturing the heart.
Lalli left out a painful cry. Her white robe turned red. The swaying green grass was replaced by the floods of blood. Sena looked at Lalli's green eyes, they had become hallow. All of a sudden she started to disappear in the wind. The rain had stopped. The fast flowing breeze washed away her body. The daughter which Sena still held flew away like ashes. Sena yelled. He cried looking at the skies. The trees around were ablaze. Ashes spun around in the air. The ground cracked and motlen lava was flowing between them. Sena started to sweat. His nose was bleeding. The cliff before him looked like a clumpsy wall of a cave. Sena looked around him. He knew this place, and he had chosen to come there.
Within a the blink of an eye, an ugly form with no teeth or hair flew past him shouting in rage. Sena rapidly climbed the slippery walls and moved around it. A flutter the creature was before him and the next moment it was gone. The demon faced tiny bodied creature, flying around Sena, reappeared behind him, titling it's neck around his neck. Sena did not move, but just rotated his eyes to the either side. The Dragger in his hand was getting warmer. Sena knew that his nemesis was close. He caught the vision of the arogant witch hiding behind him. With one swift jest, he turned around and pierced her heart with his Dagger.
A hollow sound escaped from the witch's mouth. Sena held to his dagger firmly and with Arha he ripped of the head of wicked woman. The head flew away from the body, hit the floor, rolled and settled on the ground before Sena. Sena turned. With a snap of his finger he made fire and alighted the body. He turned again, moved forward and looked at fallen head of Sasuke, one of the last witches who practised mind compulsion.
The enterance door to the village was half opened. The tribal town was engulfed in darkness even during the plain daytime. Few fragile citizens were sitted scattered behind the barrier. The kids were not playing around, but lying on the ground, some were talking to the emptiness. The dwellers seemed to be caught in a collective unhappiness. Breeze passing through the wicket gate pushed the dry leaves. Opening the wooden barrier wide, a man walked through carrying a head in one hand and a mast on the other. He walked towards the village center around which many townmen and women were lying over each other and weeping silently. With one forceful motion, he buried the pole at the center of a town which stood errect. He fixed the head that he was carrying over it. Then he set fire to the pole.
As the head was burning, light flashed into the village timidly eating away the darkness. The people slowly started to release themselves from the clutches of their own evil mind, a spell casted upon them by Sasuke, the burning witch. The townfolks woke up to the Face of Hope, Sena - The Hunter of the Wicked.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...7&d=1455546778
... To be Continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 5 - Seeds of Kochadaiiyaan
Sena
(Rated-R)
Chapter 2 - Child Wood
They reached the village below the Big Mountain. Yaghavi was still weeping, while Sena got back his respiratory rhythm. He had ran behind his brother, who took flight after witnessing the decapitation of their Father. Sena called out at Rana during the entire chase, but his brother briskly moved ahead. Sena saw Rana falling into the river, an accident or done with purpose Sena would never know. When he returned back to the towncenter, his Father's corpse was already taken away and he accompanied his mother to the village which gave them asile. On route, Sena walked close beside his mother holding her hands firmly. Yaghavi carrassed her son with gallons of tears weighing in her eyes. Sena did not let go off her, even when they had reached the cottage beside the hill.
That night Sena slept, still, holding his mother's hand. He moved restlessly in his sleep and was calmed down by his mother's smooth hands that tapped him softly on his chest. Sena was having nightmares. In his sleep, he visioned soldiers marching around and picking up people at random. They pulled their right hand and choped off it's thumb finger. Sena was scared even in his dormant state. The sound from his mother's bangles were like the Whisphers of the Angels, the angelic rythm calmed him by driving away the horrors. Eventhough Sena was more attached with his Father, when it comes to her bangles he never missed to experience its charm it brought over him. At a moment, he let go his mother's hand and hugged the sword His Father had given to him, as though it would magically give him courage to face the Demons in his Dreams.
The next morning Sena woke up in an empty cottage. He walked out of the hut calling out for his mother. Outside, he was shocked to see the villager sitting in groups and moarning. Sena's head started to spin. In the spiral sight, he noticed that almost everyone had lost a thumb. One of the wounded lady pointed him towards the mountain, with her thumbless hand. His mother should have gone towards the mountain, thought Sena. He waited. He did not eat or drink. He waited for the return of his mother. At sunset, an elderly man walked slowly towards him. With wet eyes he carried Sena and placed him outside the village. Sena did not understand what was happening. The man then closed the wooden gates of the village. Sena neither uttered a single word nor took his eyes off the mountain. Next morning the villagers marked the absence of Sena by the gate, they looked at the skies apologetically, some even fell to their knees and cried.
Sitting on the pavement at the towncenter of Kottaipattinam, the child watched the regular life around the market and thought how his Father's death was easily forgotten. He had spectated the tragedy of his family at the very same place the previous morning ; he had helplessly watched his brother taken away by the streams the same afternoon ; his mother had vanished in a blink during the night ; and his uncle had taken away his sister, their wherabouts he had no clue of. Sitting on the pavement at the towncenter of Kottaipattinam, Sena realised that he had became an orphan in less that twenty-four hours.
A festival like decorations and preparations were underway briskly around the Plaza. The hordings read "Welcome Youngest Emperor". Sena stared at the banner.
Just then, a huge man with a weird mask marched along the market place, followed by five others. Sena could not make out much from their armours & masks, but they all looked terrifying. He heard couple of men saying that the man on the horse was an Army Chief of the Guest and he was inspecting the security in and around the gathering place before the event scheduled for that evening. Sena gazed at the Chief of the Army. He looked demonic, just like the one's from his nightmares.
Sena noticed movements around the stocked barrels. His head suddenly started to pound. He heard loud noises. His ears started to bleed that he shut them with his hands. Sena's vision sharpened when he closed his ears as though the time had slowed down around him. He saw the entire path of a falling apple ; the fluttering wings of a buzzing bee ; the twigs emiting sparks from an oven ; the red metal resisting the smith's hammar hits ; and then, his attention was turned towards the four men hiding behind the barrels.
Sena immediately stood up and yelled, particularly at no one. At the same moment, several barrels exploded around the market. In the debris that were about to hit Sena, he saw a man dressed in white running towards him. He leaped over Sena engulfing him completely under his arms before they both fell to the ground. The Man in White laid over Sena protecting him for the explosion. When Sena opened his eyes, he was lying on the floor alone. He looked around him, the Army chief was surrounded by his body gaurds. There were fire, blood and flesh scattered around the Plaza. His saviour was nowhere to be seen, but Sena observed four men escaping taking the path to the woods. Without a second thought, Sena, attaching his Father's sword with a rope to his back, chased them.
Sena opened his eyes and found himself lying beside a camp fire. He could not move, as his hands and legs were tied. Four men sat before him. One of them held to his Father's sword. Sena yelled angrily. The man threw the sword to the ground and walked up to Sena. He untied him and asked him to retrive the sword back. When Sena made his first step, a fist landed on his face. Sena was back on the ground. The other three sitting opposite to him laughed. Sena got up and tried to advance but his neck met with a knifehand strike that brought him to his knees. Kowtowed not in respect but in pain, Sena coughing blood lifted his head and looked at the tree above him. He stared at the branches for a while noting the movement of the leaves even when there was no breeze. He looked back at his Father's sword and moved towrds it hunched down. He was greeted from the back with a kick, the force made him slide over the dry leaves. He was just in a bit of reaching sword, when the same feet that had pushed him violently, executed an axe kick that made Sena motionless beside his sword. A tiny moment later, his hand moved slowly. It crawled over the dusty leaves with its fingers and reached the handle of the sword. Holding it, the hand became motionless.
A thud beside Sena shook him awake. Lying on the ground unable to move, his vision was slanted. He saw the action inbetween his blinks. A man had jumped from the tree right above Sena. He was dressed in white and resembled a lot his saviour at the market explosion. With swift moves the man killed all the four Sena's kinappers. He, then, approached the wounded kid. Sena could not see his face, but just looked at his belt, there was something different about it. Slowly Sena felt the man walking away, the dry leaves echoed his strides. Then it was all dark, again.
An young man stood and watched beyond the Garden from his chamber's window. There were eight tombs placed at the far end of the park and a ninth one was being attended to by few masons. He suddenly tilted his head and looked at the casement of the adjesant building. A shadows moved away behind the white curtains. Smiling he turned and checked the package he had just received. The soldier accompaning the deliverer had informed the young man that his trip to Kottaipattinam was cancelled due to security reasons. Not upset by news, the young man opened the present brought to him by a limping tribal craftsman. The packet smelled Jasmine. Inside were a dozen of candles, their body fine and smooth. He examined each stick and picked the only one which was a bit taller than the others, the difference unnoticeable if not looked for. He took another candle in his right hand and walked to his desk. He lit the candle that he carried on his right and rolled the taller one over the flame. The melting wax covered the room with sweet and plesant Jasmine odor. He closed his eyes and took in the fragrance. When he reopened his eyes, the message was before him on the candle he had been holding vertically over the light :
Secured the baby spark,
Concealed it in the bark.
- The Poet
The Youngest Emperor smiled. He liked the humour of his friend. The lines in front of him were the twisty translation of his favourite Poet called Chithan. The King of Kings, then, supervised the melting of the message that it became a lump of wax on his table. He quickly wrote a reply. Fun days have begun, he thought.
The Poet entered his tree house. He checked his white robe standing before the mirror. The brawl at the forest did not stain or dirty his clothes. A smooth swipe, he self-aggrandized. After the take down, he had again settled on top of the same tree above the 'baby spark' until Sena was taken away by rightful hands. Feeling at ease at one of his royal residence in a secret place in the woods of Kottaipattinam, The Poet noted that the pigeon had arrived while throwing logs at the timidly burning fireplace.
"Welcome Youngest Emperor", whispered The Poet before removing the tiny paper scroll from the bird's left leg.
The second, the spark caught, Be Aware the Child could burn my Wood.
The message brought a smiled his face. He adored how his kingly friend positions his words. "Second" was not a measure of time, but as in number. So, Rana, the brother of Sena, is being monitored too. The Poet also noted the strange chemical smell from the thin paper which held the message. He walked to the fire place and threw the scroll into the flames. The paper burned immediately and before turning into ashes, it produced an image over the birsk flame, the face of his friend, the Youngest Emperor of the World - Vettaiyan.
... to be continued ...
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Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 5 - Seeds of Kochadaiiyaan
Sena
(Rated-R)
Episode 3 - The Last of the Secret Agents
The Confidential Ceremony
After 20 years of vigorous training, Sena was assigned to his first mission.
Mentor Manickam was the leader of the top secret Guild called the Pachonthi. Justifying the classified soceity's name, the students were trained to sharpen their vigilance just like the the Eyes of the Chameleon and blend in with the nature using the process of a chameleon camouflaging. The Guild did not have a flag to boost, only a seal with an individual design of a furcifer, the highly visually oriented multi colored lizard, stamped into it. The Students of the Guild were picked from the streets, those children left an orphan. These kids stay inside the camp until they were ready to be deployed as agents. The foremost lesson taught to them was to respect time.
The Mentor addressed the lads sitted before him,"A passed second in time cannot be recovered". He paused briefly making eye contact with each pupil before continuing, "Don't forget that it could prove to be crucial for you all." He looked at the blinking infants and told them, "As, this second, the very second that is about to pass, can work favouring you by becoming the last hope of the victim or go against you by turning down your last breathe". The recruits received guidence to develop an automatic ticking clock within themselves and were made to respond to a fixed time-table governing their daily routines. Manickam spoke with authority in his voice, "You can carry only what you need, not all that you can. Be aware that any object in your pocession can be gone in a second. If its the time telling device, then you will be lost in time. Its very important you treat yourself as the clock, anyway you have two hands". The mentor's finishing sentence brought smile in his follower's face. Apart from the principle lectures, the pupils were skilled up in handling various weapons and coached on linguistics.
Sena was aware of the ritual, a kind of convocation ceremony of the Guild. When the apprentices were helping him dress up, he was feeling proud to have become the Panchonthi, a daring agent of the Guild, after all the years of toil.
When Sena was fourteen, he was listening to a nameless tutori about lonliness. The teacher was saying,"Solitude is a weapon to destroy disappointment." Sena was listening with half an ear. "... alone is to long for companionship, lonely is in the company of yourself". Sena yawned. He looked around himself and noticed that few masked men silently surrounded the group, but the speaker carried on with the lecture, " ... in that lonliness you discover yourself. Your vision straigtens blending with your conscience and a supremo will emerge within you, the Self". Saying so, she just passed a signal with her eyes and suddenly the masked men threw a sack covering the face of the kids and dragged them away.
Sena found himself inside closed walls and very high ceiling. There were cracks around the ceiling through which cold breeze was blowing in total silence. Some time after, rays of light started to enter through the holes of the roof. As the day sinked, the light and warmth were replaced by darkness and chill air. Sena was alone. He started his mental clock. That afternoon, he found something pouring out of the cracks. When it slided to his reach, he found that it was porridge dripping from the hole. Next morning, a corner of the wall would move forward. It was a toilet, and would retreat thrity minutes later. Three months passed. Sena sustained and the only noise he heard was the creeching noise of the wall. The occassional rain bathed him, but he was still wearing the same clothes. Sena stopped shouting. His nightmares slowly stared to retreat. Six months later, Sena found his fingers bleeding, he had bitten and chewed his finger nails, but he felt no pain - his body didn't cry, his mind didn't bother. He even started loosing the sense of smell. Sena was immersed in an aloofness and felt lonely. He experienced a presence, from time to time he reacted to heat around his glabella . Food did not attract him, but he drank a lot of water. Nine months later, Sena found himself to be much calmer. He sat in the middle of the room gazing at nothing, in that confined darkness he witnessed the Self. Twenty four months later, Sena heard much louder noises around him. He closed his ears. He was being pulled. He found himself sitted in plain daylight. Under the long grown hair, Sena looked at the person beside him. The barber looking at the sunken eyes of Sena, moved back dropping the straight edge razor.
Dressed up for the confidential ceremony, Sena reached the event ground wearing a pale-red linen under garments - the shirt and pants, padded with light red arming coat covered over by a bright red surcoat with a white belt fastened around his waist. A polished light weight body armor was seated over his coat. He wore a red velvet cap which covered his flowing hair dressed into a pony tail. With his decorated closed shoes, Sena walked elegantly over the sands towards the podium.
The shore was empty but crowded with huge isolated rocks and crawling crabs. It was the first time in eight years Sena was at the seaside. He was standing in a row with other students. A lean man who was missing an eye was lecturing them with a trainer bow in his hand. He then asked his pupils to pick up the bow and arrow lying before them. "Remember", he said, "the enviornment in your friend, use it wisely". After a brief moment he ordered them to begin. The assignement was to shoot only the eye of the crab with an arrow without killing it. The students shot arrows at the creeping species, every shot that landed, either killed the target or ripped of its rostrum. Sena did not fire a single arrow, yet. He stood motionless, but observing. He closely monitored the movements around a rock. He slowly moved backwards at the same time placing an arrow between the string and the limb of his trainer bow. He positioned himself after taking three backstep and pulled the string. An off beat later, he tightened his draw much harder and then released the arrow. The dart went past without touching a single crab and ended its journey by hitting the rock. The hard encounter broke it into two pieces, the head part being heavier fell to the ground, while the other which was sharp edged spun in the air and then fell down to enter the first eye of a nearby crab and halted after piercing through the second eyes. The blind crab ran towards the waves and disappeared into the water. The one-eyed man's hands greeted the shoulders of Sena.
It was late in the evening and the shadow from the camp fire glowing briskly for the ceremony was dancing on the spectator's face, the five nameless teachers. There was silence, even the footsteps of Sena was not heard. Sena kneeled down before his Mentor. Manickam pressed a rolled cloth bit on both shoulders of Sena before offereing it to him, which he received with both this hands without getting up.
During his early days, Sena worked hard without asking questions. His prime interest to stay in that unknown place was because they provided him food and shelter, but the tragedy brought him new courage to overcome the tests. When he was in his early twenties, he was sure that he was ready to accept missions, but had to wait for long to be enrolled as a Pachonthi. In this everlasting wait many question sprouted out in him, one major querry was who was funding the Guild. He was interested to know his employer. One night, by using his noiseless skillset, Sena entered into the record room and searched for answers. There were no finacial ledgers, only files about the recruits and their skills written marked with dates. Sena found his own file curious. When everyone else had a brief background listed, Sena's file was empty - just his name written with an erasable ink on the cover of the file. Also, his file was seperate from the others and shared a tiny space with another empty dossier titled The Poet. Sena exited the record room, and just before entering into his tent, he looked at the trees at the far end. He starred at the long distance before retiring inside his shelter. The same night Mentor Manickam received a message that Sena was ready, a note signed The Poet.
Still kneeling, Sena moved three steps backwards from his mentor and then stood up with the piece of cloth lying flat over his palms. Couple of young lads joined Sena from either side. They took the tissue and unrolled it. They started to spin the cord of red silk, embellished with golden embroidery of furcifers running in circles, around Sena's belt. The new silk glittered aroung his white belt. Watching the silk cloth for the first time, Sena remembered the belt he had noticed on the Stranger in White who had saved him in the forest the day after his Father's death, but the man's belt was black though.
After being baptised by the Mentor, the agents are allowed to pick up a name and from that moment they will be addressed only by that identity. The spy received the first mission during the event in a scroll handed over to him by a nameless teacher. The mission details were hand written on the paper and stamped with the Guild's colourful emblem. The agent then burns the paper in the camp fire. Taking the oath of secrecy and being aware of the Guild's Motto 'Never get Caught, Else you won't live to Talk", the Pachonthi walks out of the Guild permanantly. He will not step in again and the future contracts and reporting will be done through a coded messaging system, included as a part of the training program. Any resource, be it money, human or weapons will be arranged according to the requirments under a brief delay - Planning was the key.
At the ceremony, Sena completed all the formalities including picking a pseudonym and before disappearing into the drakness, he had already designed the strategy to complete his first mission.
... to be continued ...
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2 Attachment(s)
Chaturmukha - Part 2 - Trimurti Katha
Chapter 5 - Seeds of Kochadaiiyaan
Sena
Episode 3 - The Last of the Secret Agents
Assignment One - The Sabotage (Part 1 of 3)
Two months to go ...
Sena reached a fertile land beneath the mountains of Katrupuzha. He traveled as a businessman and bought an agricultural land employing ten workers to manage growing oil-seed plants, pressing and marketing local oils. He obtained the right for a name suffix, Lord (the owner of a trade property) from the local administration. Next he bought two trained horses and went into the wild to capture two more. While taming the four of them in the field, he worked on building a chariot from the purchased bronze. He gave red colour to the cart and painted 'Agni' inside a flaming font on the cross bar. After few weeks of hard work, he tested the chariot driven by the four horses.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...5&d=1456519895
Two weeks to go ...
The organisers of the Chariot Race at Puy hippodrome in Karimedai received an application for participating in their forthcoming special event called "Sport of Kings". The request was made by a Lord named Baasha from Katrupuzha. Two days later Sena received an invitation to join the Race with the scheduled date and time. It was enclosed with the list of final contestants. Sena went through the list which ordered seventeen names. He glided his finger past his pseudonym placed at the ninth position in the list. The eleventh name was what he was looking for. He also noted the tenth, twelfth and thirteenth participant names.
Shamu was the Prince of Shambhala, a small independant city well hidden behind the montains of Karimedu. The warriors of Shambhala were tough and practiced a sort of cunning fight strategies to eleminate their enemies - the moutains helped them to hide and fire. The King of Karimedai and Ruler of Shambala were allies. They wished to extend their alliance into relationship. Gauthama, the King of Karimedai wished to marry his grand-daughter Kanakavalli to Shamu. But he had to abide the tradition of the Kingdom - the victorious from the prestigious chariot race "Sport of Kings" would marry the Royal Princess of Gauthama Dynasty. Anyone from any other kingdom can participate in this Wedding Race, but the applicant must be atleast a Lord in the soceity, with a wealthy financial backup.
Sena's employer did not like the alliance between the two rulers. If the marriage happened, then Karimedu annexed with Shambala would become a greater threat. The marriage should be stopped without bloodshed, meaning the ruler and their siblings should live. The sabottage was Sena's first mission which had put him in front of Puy's huge gates.
Two days to go ...
'Sport of Kings' was a flat horse chariot racing, where horses gallop directly between two points around a oval track.
http://www.mayyam.com/talk/attachmen...4&d=1456518931
(Hippodrome of Constantinople (324 AD), Sultan Ahmet Square in the Turkish city of Istanbul)
The charioteers of the quadrigae (race carts drawn by four horses) were called Riders and could represent as a team of maximum four members. Shamu was a born champion. Eventhough his expertise is well known amoung the Kingdoms, he usually teams up with three of his fatihful warriors to support him in the race events. As 'Sport of Kings' was a special event for the Prince, the relay Riders were well briefed to make sure Shamu won. Sena registered as a solo, and there were three other teams participating in the race.
The teams were identified with colors - Yellow Team called 'Oli' (light) led by Shamu ; Green, Blue & White were other teams respectively. Sena rode on his "Agni" (fire), the red chariot.
Two hours to go ...
Security was high inside and around the hippodrome. Huge crowd gathered infront of the stadium, and the routine checks were delaying their entries. Most of the people were supporters of the famous 'Oli' team and were quite excited to see their hero marrying Princess Kanakavalli.
A dirty and aged man pushed past the crowd. He was filthy mouthed while pushing and pulling people out of his way with his left hand. On his right he held a small basket. He reached the gaurds and immedately grinned at the officers. He removed the cover from the basket which exposed roasted peanuts. He pleaded them to allow him inside so that he could make some quick money. The young soldier pushed him away stating that the entry was strictly for VIP inivitations or with a permit ticket. At that time, the chief of security passed by. The peanut vendor placed his basket on the ground and cried catching the feet of the chief. The army commander slapped him in his back and pushed him away, but at the same time instructed the gaurds to allow the poor man enterance.
The chariots were safely kept inside a highly secured garage at the northern part of the hippodrome. There were only two ways to access it - from the backside or from the hippodrome's Calling Room. The Calling Room was beside the starting point and had a staircase leading to the garage. Before the event, the participants walk on the race course to bow before the VIPs as well as to greet the crowd. Then, they go through the Calling Room to reach the garage and get prepared to meet at the starting point. At any time, the participants were only allowed to enter the garage throguh the backdoor accompanied by two appointed security gaurds. While inside the garage, anyone nearing other chariots or horses without the owner's concern would be disqualified from the race.
The backside of the garage was heavily gaurded. Being inside the hippodrome, the Calling Room was supervised with minimum security. The peanut vendor walked quickly under the wooden stands and seats. He made a full circle crawling under the benches to get to the Calling Room. He slowly crept past the limited crowd who have gained enterance to the stadium while the disinterested and fatigued gaurds failed to notice an aged man picking up the lock on the Calling Room's wooden door. The peanut vendor made a silent entry into the room and relocked the door behind him.
A while later, a Rider approached the back enterance of the garage with two well dressed gaurds by his side. He was permitted inside with a salute - Baasha was the first charioteer to be punctual for the opening ceremony of 'Sport of Kings'.
... to be continued ...