The Story of a Princess - 21

"I don't believe it. Jatayu could not have murdered a man. We know him!"

"How much of him do you really know, Sita? We hardly spent one evening with him."

"I know, Ram. But don't you ever get a feeling that you can trust a person even though you don't know everything about them?!"

"I felt that way about Jatayu, bhaiya."

"So did I, Ram."

"The two of you should remember that you are royals. You have a duty towards your people. You cannot afford to make judgements based on 'feelings'. Besides,Jatayu has confessed. After he left us the night before last, he went to Seth Garib Das ji's residence. He found him in his study going through some papers. They had an argument and in his rage he loaded his bow and killed the man."

"But don't you see! He is not telling us everything. Why did he go to Garib Das's place, what argument did they have? Jatayu is a pretty level-headed person. It would take a lot for him to kill a human being in rage. You have fought with him. Tell me that is not true," I argued.

"I think we should talk to him bhaiya. Just the three of us, his friends. Without any security officials."

"If it will satisfy you, fine. Let's go down to the prison cells"

Jatayu had been classified as a dangerous criminal. The officials would have been foolish to assign him a lesser category, given his talent and the brutality of Seth Garib Das's murder. A total of 80 needles had been recovered from the dead man's body, none from his heart or another organ. His death must have been slow and painful. 

When we arrived at Jatayu's cell, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor. He had removed his feathers and his face paint. I noticed for the first time a long scar running along his left cheek. The face paint had been doing a really good job of covering it up.

"Welcome, my friends. I am sorry I cannot offer you a seat here."

"Why?" Lakshman burst out. 

" Why did I kill Garib Das?"

"Why did you confess to a crime you didn't commit?"

Jatayu stared at him.

"You didn't kill him! You couldn't have."

From the corner of my eye I saw Ram shift, impatient and uncomfortable with the open display of emotions.

Jatayu looked at Lakshman. There was a deep sadness in his eyes as he spoke the next words.

"I did kill Garib Das, my prince. And I am not sorry for it. I am honored that you would have so much faith in me and I am sorry for breaking your simple faith, but I am not sorry for killing that beast. Garib Das indeed!"

"Why?" I asked.

"I did not lie. I did kill that man."

"Why did you kill him?!"

Jatayu suddenly looked at us meditatively. 

"Why do you want to know, mitr? It will not do any good. I am still going to be beheaded for murder."

"Tell us, please!" Ram said. Besides him, Lakshman looked distraught. This was the first time he was experiencing a hero's fall from the high pedestal he had placed him on. 

Jatayu glanced at Lakshman, took a deep breath and began.

"I was born in the forests surrounding Ayodhya. I have already told you what an  idyllic life we lived. The forest took care of all our needs. We never had to worry about tomorrow. There was no need to save, as there was food all the year round. There was no money, and no greed. In summers we roamed around uncovered. In winters we arranged leaves and skins to protect ourselves. Clothing was about functionality and beauty, never about modesty. We didn't even know that such a thing as rape or murder or theft existed. We loved one another, so there was no question of violating the sanctity of another person by rape or murder. We didn't know the concept of ownership, so there was no theft."

"All that changed one summer."

"A group of riders was hunting in the forest that day. The sun was high and they had finished all the water they were carrying. They saw some of my tribesmen at the stream where we had made our fire. They looked so hungry that my tribes-people offered them some meat. We were as fascinated by them as they were by us. We had never seen such pretty skins before, with all the colors of the forest, and they had never seen a people who walked about in the jungle naked."

"After satisfying our hunger, we started singing and dancing. The newcomers joined us. It was a full moon night. The revelry lasted for many hours. One by one, we dropped off to sleep."

"We woke up to sounds of screaming. The moon was still up. By its light I saw some of the riders on top of some of my tribes-women. At first we didn't understand what was happening. Then we realised that the women were trying to push the men off, they were begging them to stop, they were screaming that the men were hurting them, they were trying to tell the men that they didn't love them and didn't want to have sex with them."

"It didn't look like the men were trying to stop themselves. On the other hand, they slapped the women, punched them, covered their mouths so that they couldn't scream. And carried on. And on. And on."

"Finally we realized that we must forcibly stop what was happening. So we pulled the newcomers off the women. Then we tried to explain to them that the women didn't want them. I think that even if they had been able to understand our language, they wouldn't have kept off the women. How do I know this?"

"I know this because the newcomers then pulled out their blades and hacked all who were unlucky enough to be standing near them. We were unarmed as we were not expecting to be attacked by any wild animals. They don't come while the fire is burning. By the time I reached my weapons, most of my tribe was destroyed."

"They defeated the rest of us easily. We were not trying to kill them, you know, even after what they had done. None of us had ever killed a human being before."

"They tied the men up. Then, right in front of us, they finished what they had started."

"When morning came, they tied us all behind their horses and led us away."

"They took us to a big town. As we walked through the streets, naked and tied, a big crowd followed us. They were discussing something heatedly with our captors. We were thankful that these good people were trying to rescue us."

"And they succeeded. One by one they rescued us and took us away with them. Little did we know that we were being sold off. We, who didn't even know the concept of owning a thing, an animal, a piece of land, were now the property of another."

"Our new masters had to literally whip us into obedience. Some of us died during the torture, some got so dejected that they quit food and water and died. I though, persevered. Hate was a very new emotion for me, but it kept me alive. Hate for the outsiders who destroyed my home, my people, who inflicted unspeakable torture on my tribes-women. 

"For it was our women who were the worst affected. We men were merely put to work in the fields, but the women were used in the bedrooms. Day and night we would hear their screams and find ourselves helpless to respond. Gradually the screams faded, as did the life of those beautiful flowers. Oh yes, I knew hate. And the face of that hate was the man known as Seth Garib Das, the leader of our tormentors."

"Eventually I managed to escape. Garib Das was a frequent visitor to that town, so it was no trouble finding him. The trick was to get close enough to him. I only succeeded the night before last."

"He was alone in the house. The rest of the family was out enjoying the festival."

"He didn't recognize me at first. Imagine, the man who destroyed my life, my home, my family, didn't even know who I was!"

"In his own language, I told him who I was and why I was there. It was gratifying to see the pool of stinking liquid that formed around his feet as I reminded him of what he had done."

"Just as he opened his mouth to speak, I shot him. I shot him right between his legs. As he screamed, I shot him again and again till I ran out of needles."

Jatayu paused and looked at us. "So now you know why I killed a man, Lakshman. I hope you can forgive me."