Nara Narayana ( Part 6 )

Kush still remembered how Vajra taught him to separate and delineate the deeper aspects of culture in order for them to counter and balance each other out. He may have just given him the broad outlines, but those were precisely the masterstrokes Kush eventually used to conquer the Central Plateau. Only after he had done so did he feel qualified to fulfil his rivalry with the god that lived on Earth.

And yet, despite having the world under his feet, he was still unable to win against Vajra's foresight. Sometimes he wanted to curse out loud, calling him a big turtle. If the dryland king didn't come all this way to take shelter in the ocean, would he, the emperor of Dhatri, be so helpless? Then again, if their positions would've been reversed, he knew for sure Vajra would've already mapped out a route to bring his own ships here. The mainland had sea routes in the east. He would've long since trained a navy. It was his nature to be prepared for everything. The moment Dhatri's men tried to build ships here and create a makeshift navy, they already lost half the war. Kush didn't even put people losing divine powers in his eye. He didn't have them and he never found them useful in war in the first place. He also had a feeling that Vajra didn't deliberately suck the divine powers out of men. It felt like they naturally left, like streams drying out when they are made to persistently flow on land when they are meant to seek the ocean. Going against the natural order would only result in such an eventuality.

When he brought his armies here, Kush was prepared for this and a lot more. He too was going against natural order seeking rivalry against a man who was his benefactor. There were hundreds of reasons why he shouldn't be doing this, but that was precisely why he did it.

In the end, Kush wanted to know whether man can go against natural order. If he gave it everything he got…the power he gained from twenty years of conquests, from thousands of battles worth of experience, from will power honed painstakingly by living continuously at the edge of death, from a choice made when he was nine that he never looked back on, from a dream of being better than the peer that he respected…If he really tried hard enough, as a man, then is it possible to break through the shackles heaven has set on us?

Ever since he was a child, Kush knew he would lose this battle. But he wanted to fight. He wanted to lose. Because he had for once found something that was greater than himself, and it was his honor to lose to it.

To submit and to know that this submission is the most valued thing in your life.

Because it was right…

That evening on the sixth month of the war, Dhatri raised the white flag after the evening horn when both armies retreated. The morning after, the kings of Rtadhara and Abhaya together received the emperor of the mainland with great pomp and splendor. Elephants, horses and even camels formed neat rows on the circular bay while dancers leaped in energetic spirals to the loud beats of drums.

Amidst all that noise, Kush hugged Vajra tightly and unabashedly broke down crying.

His friend looked unperturbed, still maintaining the same gentle pose. But Kush knew it was because he was trying to hide the emperor's shameful act from his subjects by not acting surprised.

"There, there," He patted Kush's back. "You've become so thin. Didn't your men find the traders I've been sending out from the island in secret?"

"So that was you!" Kush hiccupped. "My men didn't trust the traders. They thought the goods might be poisoned."

"Pity. I knew you wouldn't eat well. You never liked the cuisine of the arid lands. That's why I sent them."

"If you cared so much about me, you should've surrendered instead. What would I do to you? Eat you alive? You could've lived happily in Rtadhara and do whatever you wanted! I would've never touched you after…"

"After proving your point?"

Kush nodded stubbornly. "Precisely."

"Ha ha ha! And the point being?"

Kush stopped in his tracks awkwardly. He thought back to all the things he realized when he lost to Vajra. He clarified.

"It's not that you are better than me. It's just that there are still things I can learn from you…so I don't mind losing to you."

"Very well then," Vajra smiled and looked at Kush's hip. A little head popped out from behind and looked at the man who was said to be god, its eyes wide and unblinking. The child almost looked greedy with the amount of curiosity in his eyes, wanting to absorb everything.

"And this is…" Vajra asked.

"This is my son Mecakita, after the dark blue color of the night. He's ten."

"Goodness, he looks just you back then."

"And your son looks like you do now," Kush pointed at Yuvaraja Narakesha who was standing solemnly beside Vajra.

"Ha ha ha! Grass, you developed a sense of humor after you became emperor. Careful now, Narakesha will ascend the throne in three months. If you piss him off, he might seek reparations for defeating you in the war."

Kush didn't seem to mind. "I always had a sense of humor. Remember who fell for all my pranks without fail back at the palace when we were kids?"

"No that wasn't humor. That was pure evil."

"Ha ha. Those were good times…If you are going to pass on the throne, will it be Varuna or Martanda who will ascend?"

"Varuna. The next cycle will begin for our Aditya clan. It is going to be very auspicious. Although, it is unsure when the passage to Devlok will open next, because I'll have to leave the mortal body for that to happen."

Vajra once explained the inner workings of the members of Aditya clan and the corresponding deities in heaven that transfer part or whole of themselves down to earth to occupy the mortal flesh. They will need a gateway to enter the mortal realm and it can only be opened from the mortal world. It was Martanda's job to reopen the gateway at the end of every cycle. If man doesn't rise to the occasion to become god, divinity will forever be separated from the mortal realm. Like all kids, Kush didn't put much stock in these things back then. But as emperor, he couldn't help but wonder if he's doing the right thing. Alas…the Aditya clan has already fallen to such a state.

But whether or not Kush believed in the gods, he believed in his friend more. If it really was not okay to let the empire of the Adityas dissipate and disappear like this in history, Vajra would not have brought it here, into the very ocean. His minister told him that the Adityas once ruled over the entire mainland, but the corruption that took root under their noses led them farther and father away into the arid deserts of the west. Now, the stream of Rta they birthed has merged with the ocean.

Kush knew it wasn't his fault. Vajra detested associating with the dryland kings whose greed for Abhaya has led to their demise. Rtadhara's dissociation with dryland nations started at his father's time. Perhaps Vajradhaara would not have acted any differently either if he was alive. Still, it felt like people of Aryavrata have collectively driven away the gods that have come to look after them.

"A virtuous king will birth a spring of Rta on his own. Rta is natural order. Those subjects will never lose touch with the divine, who follow a virtuous king," Vajra smiled and spoke, as though he could read Kush's thoughts.

Kush was taken by surprise. He grumbled, "You give me too much homework."

Laughing, Vajra said, "How are teacher Ashangi and Lord Bhargava?"

"Don't talk about mum and dad! Those two love birds have lost themselves to the divine art of dance. The last I heard was from some priests of Manas who spotted them at some ancient shrines on the mountain. They haven't stopped dancing for nearly a year. Incorrigible!"

As the two friends bantered and walked hand in hand into the glorious land where Rta flows, the flames of war that have taken over the mainland for over thirty years have finally been extinguished.

An era of peace and prosperity took over. For generations, men have sung songs of the god and man who were the best of friends and rivals too. They called them Nara and Narayana. But who was Nara, who was Narayana…?

Some meanings were meant to be lost in time. And they did.

The end.

ENDNOTES

1 Devdasi – Devdasis are temple prostitutes. In the Vedic times, the courtesan culture was mainly developed within the temple and sex was openly discussed. Prostitution was ideally not permitted anywhere else so that man's need for sensual pleasure will not devolve into debauchery.