THE CURSE OF BRAHMA (5 page)

Sini’s face was red with rage as he roared, ‘Archers, let loose your arrows. Shoot without taking rest.’ His archers had been waiting for the signal, and filled with the fury of watching their comrades being killed ruthlessly, shot their arrows in the air. The sky was covered with thousands of arrows, and the sound of the same arrows as they descended towards the earth was deafening. They rained down with the force of a thousand thunderbolts and created havoc in the ranks of Somdatta’s army. Horses and men perished in the blink of an eye as long, deadly arrowheads pierced their armour and skin as if it were paper. Elephants were a different matter. Their thick pachyderm skin saved them from death, but arrows stuck in their eyes and heads made them go mad with painful rage. They ran amok and trampled their own soldiers under their huge feet.

Somdatta looked on in impotent rage as he witnessed his own elephants kill his soldiers and destroy the formation he had so skillfully executed just a few minutes back. He made his decision. ‘Kill all the wounded elephants,’ he shouted to the mahouts (the elephant drivers). In seconds, the riders of the wounded elephants drove the tip of their sharp rods into the relatively softer part of the elephants’ neck. All mahouts were supposed to carry these iron rods, with the sharp tips laced with deadly Naga poison, in case of just such an eventuality. The wounded elephants tripped and fell, dead before they even hit the ground. Soldiers in the vicinity moved away quickly to save themselves from being trapped under the huge beasts. More than half of Somdatta’s war elephants lay dead and a significant part of his Matsya Vyuha was in disarray. Somdatta signalled to Damodara, who quickly got busy trying to get the troops back into formation. Meanwhile, Somdatta ordered his archers to let loose their arrows, and the sky was once again filled with the deadly missiles, this time headed in the direction of the Bateshwar forces. The damage on Sini’s side was also considerable as the arrows rained down on his troops. However, it was minimized as there were no war elephants to aggravate the chaos.

Sini rallied his troops as they now engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. Damodara led the attack this time and Sini’s soldiers fell in front of him like flies before a giant. Somdatta had sent Damodara up front with the sole purpose of taking hold of Sini Yadav and killing him. He knew once Sini was dead, the rest of the Bateshwar army would succumb in no time. Damodara slowly began making his way to where Sini stood commanding his troops. Meanwhile, Somdatta stayed back with the larger part of his army, keeping them in place. He knew they couldn’t afford to lose their formation once again in this battle.

Sini saw Damodara advancing towards him. He was nowhere as large as Damodara, but there were very few men who were as good at sword fighting as Sini. Vasudev was one of those, but he wasn’t here right now. He would have to fight Damodara himself. If he could kill Somdatta’s right-hand man, it would be a big dent in Somdatta’s armour. Sini Yadav rode ahead on his horse. Damodara saw him coming and smiled malevolently at him from a distance. He didn’t want to fight Sini while he was on a horse, but he didn’t have time to get a horse for himself. He waited for him to come close, and as Sini attacked Damodara with his sword, the latter ducked deftly, in a swift motion that belied his gigantic size. Before Sini could attack again, Damodara gave one mighty blow to the horse’s head. The blow would have broken the back of a large man, but the horse only stumbled for an instant. This was, however, enough for Damodara as he used the moment to pull Sini off the horse and throw him to the ground. He walked slowly towards where Sini was sitting on the ground, shaking his head to regain his equilibrium. Damodara took out his sword, and gave Sini an evil smile. ‘Welcome your death, senapati!’ he mumbled softly. Sini held his sword up with one hand, trying to get up with the other. As per the rules of war, Damodara could attack him only when he was standing. Damodara eyed him carefully, waiting for the moment Sini would rise, so that he could finish him off with one swift stroke of his sword. Sini stumbled to gain his balance, just as Damodara rushed towards him with his sword held high.

At exactly that moment, the earth appeared to shake violently and sure enough, there was the deafening roar of what seemed like hundreds of elephants and horses galloping at breakneck speed. Over this disturbance, there was another sound, growing more clamourous by the moment. Both Damodara and Sini strained their ears to make out what the commotion was. And suddenly the din was audible. It seemed as if thousands of men were shouting, ‘Bateshwar ki Jai…Rajkumar Vasudev ki Jai’ (Praised be Bateshwar…Praised be Prince Vasudev). Sini Yadav smiled in relief in the same moment as realization dawned on Damodara. Damodara looked in Somdatta’s direction for guidance, but he was preoccupied looking the other way, towards the rear side of his Matsya Vyuha, where there was major disorder. Damodara knew he had to make this decision alone. He turned to face Sini again, and charged at him. Sini had anticipated this move and he adroitly slipped down to his right knee, as Damodara’s sword swooshed over his head.

Before Damodara could make another attack with his sword, Sini had sunk the tip of his blade right up to the hilt, in Damodara’s abdomen. Damodara’s eyes glassed over, and he toppled, crashing to the ground, even before he knew what had happened.

‘You were a worthy enemy,’ Sini sighed, as he looked at Damodara’s lifeless body.

Though he was no stranger to death, and he would gladly fight anyone who threatened his nation, Sini always felt bad whenever a worthy opponent died at his hands. He quickly hopped back onto his horse to get a better view of what was happening at the far side of the battleground. He could see Somdatta waving frantically at his troops to break formation and turn around.

Sini knew the reason for Somdatta’s confusion. Vasudev had attacked Somdatta’s Matsya Vyuha from the rear. He had led the charge with the entire lot of war elephants at the disposal of Bateshwar. This was one of the main reasons he had asked Sini not to take the elephants with his troops. The chaos at the rear end of Somdatta’s Matsya Vyuha was now evident. Vasudev’s war elephants had completely decimated the tail end of the fish formation and a majority of Somdatta’s infantry stationed at the back was crushed to pulp. The elephants rode over them and carried their onslaught right to the centre of the vyuha, trampling every infantry unit in their path. Meanwhile, soldiers perched on the elephants showered spears on Somdata’s cowering archers. Vasudev’s cavalry followed right behind the war elephants, finding it easy to find their footing as the elephants had literally cleared a path for them. His soldiers made short work of the remaining Bahlika foot soldiers. In a few minutes, the face of the battle had changed. Vasudev’s well-timed attack from the rear end of Somdatta’s forces had not only taken them by surprise and shattered the enemy’s strategic formation, it had dealt such a crushing blow to the morale of the Bahlika army that the soldiers were finding it impossible to recover from the offense. Sini Yadav seized the opportunity to intensify the attack. Somdatta’s forces were caught between Sini’s troops in the front and Vasudev’s fresh forces from the rear. It would have been a complete massacre if Vasudev had not blown his conch to halt the battle.

Sini’s soldiers captured Somdatta’s personal bodyguards, who were all killed right away. Somdatta was bound and brought to Sini, who placed the tip of his blade under Somdatta’s chin and pressed it lightly, causing blood to trickle down his neck. ‘I should kill you right away, you scoundrel,’ he hissed. Somdatta ignored him as he looked around, as if searching for someone. ‘Damodara,’ he whispered. ‘Where is Damodara?’ he asked.

‘Damodara is dead, you rascal,’ Sini snapped at him. ‘Dead…so that you could satisfy your ego,’ he continued with contempt in his eyes, as he spat in Somdatta’s direction.

‘Sini!’ Vasudev exclaimed in shock. He had just made his way to where they held Somdatta, and witnessed Sini spitting on the enemy’s face, while the latter was held in chains.

‘Vasudev,’ Sini hugged his closest friend with love. ‘Your strategy paid off. They were completely taken by surprise,’ he grinned at Vasudev.

Vasudev, hugged his friend back, but Sini noticed he was not smiling. ‘What’s the matter, Vasudev? You don’t look happy at our enemy’s defeat,’ Sini said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.

Vasudev looked at his friend with a wan smile. ‘No one is happier than me that we have won, Sini. But at what cost?’ He gestured towards the hundreds of soldiers lying dead on both sides of the battlefield. ‘And is it right that you spit at a man bound in chains, in front of his own countrymen?’ He looked at Sini with narrowed eyes.

Sini bent his head in shame. He knew he was wrong to spit at Somdatta while he was chained and helpless, but he couldn’t control himself at the sight of the man who had been responsible for all this destruction. However, Vasudev was right. The ethics of war did not include insulting a man when he was already down and defeated.

‘What do you want me to do prince?’ he asked Vasudev with apology evident in his voice.

Vasudev glanced in Somdatta’s direction. ‘Ask your men to unchain him. And let his soldiers be free to return home. Tend to the injured on both sides of the battlefield, and then let us go home…to Bateshwar.’

Sini Yadav bowed to Vasudev and gave the command to unchain Somdatta. An unarmed Somdatta moved towards Vasudev. ‘You have won my respect Vasudev, but not my friendship. I have lost too much today to ever be your friend, but I can promise that the next time we meet on the battlefield, I will not underestimate you. And I will have my revenge. But for now, you can tell Ugrasena and your father that you have won Devki from me.’

Vasudev clenched his jaw at Somdatta’s last words, but he maintained his calm. ‘Devki was never yours to give to me, Somdatta.’ Then he smiled at his enemy, and there was steel in his gaze. ‘But I look forward to meeting you again, in happier circumstances. You will get the invitation of my marriage with Devki.’

Somdatta looked at Vasudev with hatred in his eyes. But he refrained from saying anything. Sini shouted commands to prepare to return after tending to the wounded on both sides.

Vasudev mounted his horse and galloped back towards Bateshwar, followed by a team of trusted bodyguards. A chorus of ‘Bateshwar ki Jai…Rajkumar Vasudev ki Jai’ accompanied his departure from the battlefield.

ansa moved in his sleep. The nightmare was disturbing and it had been recurring for the past few days. Images of death…his death came to him in flashes. A little boy was running in the royal gardens, butter smeared across his face. He had the most innocent smile Kansa had ever seen. He moved surreptitiously towards the child so he wouldn’t disturb the infant’s unbridled frolicking in the mud. He bent down to see what the child was doing. He saw the infant shaping something out of the mildly wet mud; it looked like he was making a toy dagger. Kansa smiled indulgently at the toddler. At the age of three, he was already showing signs of being a true kshatriya (warrior). After all, he was the son of his beloved sister Devki and his valiant friend Vasudev. He had to be a warrior among warriors. The child had by now completed fashioning the dagger out of the wet mud and was waving it in an arc, as if parrying with an unseen foe. Kansa playfully tried to pull the toy dagger from the child’s hands, but he resisted with a smile. Kansa laughed at this. The baby laughed too. But it seemed to Kansa that the child was not laughing with him; he was laughing
at
him. Suddenly, the child thrust the toy dagger in Kansa’s direction and at that moment the toy weapon became real—a metal dagger with a lethally sharp end, pointed in his direction. Kansa barely escaped from getting hurt. Instinctively Kansa pulled out his own sword and just as he was about to plunge it into the child, Devki appeared out of thin air. She screamed, ‘No, Kansa, he is my son…your nephew! You can’t hurt him!’ Kansa was shocked at what he had almost done. He turned back to apologize to the child, but he was gone. In his place stood a fifteen-year-old youth with the same innocent smile the child had had. The young boy was holding the infant’s dagger by the handle, but the tip of the dagger now rested in Kansa’s abdomen, and Kansa could see more than feel the life blood pouring out of his body and on to the ground, making the mud even wetter. He looked at the boy, unable to understand. The boy laughed, and again it seemed as if he was laughing at Kansa. Devki came close to the boy and hugged him. Why was she hugging him? His beloved sister, hugging his murderer! And then Kansa heard the words that chilled his heart and made his blood freeze. ‘Thank you my son!’ Devki had just thanked the boy who had killed her brother.