THE CURSE OF BRAHMA (7 page)

Vasudev was brought back to the present by something Kansa had said. He looked blankly at his friend. Kansa realized Vasudev hadn’t heard him. ‘I know you love my sister more than anyone else, Vasudev. But I don’t want her feeling second to Rohini. It is therefore important that we know how Rohini feels about your marriage with Devki.’

Though Kansa had reiterated the question, Vasudev looked at Ugrasena while answering. He knew the old king was anxious to know whether his niece, whom he loved like his own daughter, would find peace and love at Bateshwar. And though he loved Devki with all his heart and soul, at this moment he felt an unbridled sense of pride and respect for his first wife. ‘Rohini sends this for Devki, respected king.’

Ugrasena extended his hand to take a carefully wrapped package from Vasudev. The parcel was covered in the most exquisite silk he had ever seen. But what lay cocooned inside the silk was even more exquisite. A necklace made of rubies and diamonds, each of them the size of a large grape gleamed with the brightness of the sun. Accompanying it were ten bracelets, made of the finest diamonds that competed to outshine the brilliance of the necklace itself. ‘What...what is this?’ he asked marvelling at the beauty of the jewellery.

‘These are my late mother’s jewels, handed down to her by her mother. They have been in our family for the past seven generations, and are given to the custodian of the royal family. Only the queen of Bateshwar may wear them, or in her absence, the bahu of the family,’ Vasudev paused as his voice cracked with emotion. ‘Rohini felt that only Devki could be the rightful custodian of these jewels, and she wanted Devki to know that she understands this and will always love her as her own sister.’

Tears flowed down Ugrasena’s face and even the usually stoic Kansa was struck by emotion at the large-heartedness of Vasudev’s first wife. ‘Say no more my son!’ Ugrasena got up to hug Vasudev. ‘Rohini’s gesture has more than answered my question. Prepare for your marriage to Devki in three months’ time.’

Kansa shook his future brother-in-law’s hands. ‘Welcome to the family, brother.’

Exactly at that moment, the skies thundered. The rumbling was accompanied by what seemed like a hoarse and rasping scream from the depths of hell. But it was inaudible to everyone except Kansa. He heard it and shivered with fear for the first time in his life. The rasping scream was the same as the raucous voice he had heard in his head, a day ago.

‘In the name of Vishnu, how many times do I need to tell you, you are my son!’ Ugrasena shouted uncharacteristically at his beloved son. Kansa bowed his head, plagued by ambivalent feelings. His love and duty towards his father made him hesitant to probe further on this topic. Ugrasena had been devastated when Kansa had put forth the question, ‘Who is my real father?’ And for a fleeting moment, Kansa had thought of abandoning this quest that was hurting his father so much. However, he was driven by an inexplicably uncontrollable force, to persist in his quest for the answer. The Dark Lord’s words had been haunting him for the past few nights and try as he might, he couldn’t be his usual self.

‘Father, there is something that you haven’t told me. I have felt it all these years…in the whispers of Mother’s closest attendants…whispers that stop as soon as they see me.’ Ugrasena helplessly watched his son’s tortured expression, and tried to imagine what the young prince would be going through in his mind.

‘Mother never loved me the way she loved her other nine children. I learnt to live without her love because I knew you loved me more than any of my brothers and sisters. But sometimes I would catch her staring at me with such hate that the force of her loathing would make me want to die,’ Kansa paused, his voice too broken to continue. Ugrasena waited with bated breath, hoping Kansa would not ask him what he knew now was inevitable. But he knew that Kansa was on the brink of asking the very question that he had been dreading all these years.

‘And I always wondered what I had done to be the cause of such abhorrence from my own mother…’ Kansa paused in mid sentence, making a superhuman effort to rein in his emotions. After what seemed like an eternity, Kansa seemed to calm down. He looked at Ugrasena, ‘Why did Mother hate me, Father?’

The pain and anger, lying buried in Kansa’s soul for the past twenty-nine years of his life seemed to have erupted all of a sudden and it did not brook any easy answers. Ugrasena looked at Kansa closely, and for the first time he felt a sense of fear as he stared into the eyes of his son. He had always thought Kansa had soft, melting eyes, much like his mother. Today, those very eyes looked hard as steel. In that moment, Ugrasena realized with a shock that Kansa could probably hate with the same intensity with which he was capable of loving.

‘It’s a long story,’ Ugrasena said softly, and motioned to Kansa to take a seat close to him. Then he held his son’s hands as he prepared to tell him a story he had thought was buried in his heart forever.

‘Your mother was born to King Satyaketu of Vidarbha. They called her Shooraseni and she was supposed to have been the most beautiful princess in all of Bharat. Her beauty was so alluring that kings of different nations in Bharat and other lands in Mrityulok all desired to marry her. Even though her family and ours wanted her to be married to me, we knew some of the other kings might oppose, much as Somdatta did in the case of your sister. But I had the support of Vasudev’s father, Surasena, and the other kings knew that if they had to battle the combined force of Madhuvan, Bateshwar and Vidarbha, they may not win. Finally, I married Shooraseni and brought her to Madhuvan. After marriage, I liked to call your mother Padmavati, the name given to her by my father.’

Kansa listened to Ugrasena’s every word, hoping that somewhere in those words, he may get to know the reason why his mother hated him so much. Ugrasena sipped some water before continuing.

‘Padmavati and I were very happy together. She loved me more than I had thought was possible and I realized that her external beauty was nothing compared to her inner loveliness. She was flawless. And she was devoted to me as few queens could ever be to their husbands. One day, we received a message from Padmavati’s father. The king of Vidarbha was ill and wanted to see his daughter. I had to go out for a few days to quell some disturbance that was taking place in one of our outer provinces, and I suggested that Padmavati go and visit her father during that time. I told her I would join her there in a few weeks. Padmavati left for Vidarbha and I set out with a battalion towards the province where the unrest was happening.’

Kansa looked at his father with concern. Ugrasena’s voice was sounding increasingly strained and Kansa guessed that whatever Ugrasena had kept from him all these years was close to being revealed. A part of him wanted to ask Ugrasena to stop, but the other craved to know the truth. It drove him just as a moth feels drawn towards the flame, pulled by an uncontrollable force. Ugrasena continued with his story.

‘After Padmavati had been at Vidarbha for a month, her father began to get a little better, though his condition was still critical. Padmavati had not left his bedside for the entire time he had been bed-ridden. She was exhausted. Now that he was feeling slightly better, the old king asked her to take a break from nursing him and get some rest. I had sent a messenger to Vidarbha to let Padmavati know that I would be reaching in a couple of days’ time to join her. Seeing her father’s condition slightly improved, and on being goaded by him to take a break, she took few of her lady attendants to go to Puspavan. Puspavan was a beautiful mountain close to the king’s palace and it was believed that the Brahma kamal flower could be found there if you were fortunate enough to locate it. Your mother wanted to get the Brahma kamal for her father.’