The Story of a Princess - 1.7

"What are you searching for, King Raavan?"

"What everyone is searching for -  a teacher"

"But teachers are for children. You are a grown up. Why do you need a teacher, King Raavan?"

"Haha! One should never stop learning, princess Sita, even after one grows up, otherwise your mind stagnates and you stop growing. You will be a queen one day and probably your father will teach you the art of managing a kingdom. But my father was a simple sage. I acquired my kingdom after a revolt against the previous king and I am here to learn how to be a king, from your father, if he would accept me as a pupil." Saying this, king Raavan turned towards father.

"Of course, king Raavan. I would be honoured to share what little knowledge I have, with you."

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"Don't you ever sleep, king Raavan?"

"Haha! I find that my brain works best at night. My mother even calls me Nishachar, being of the night. Anyhow, I thought I'd go through some of the nyaya and neeti books you were so generous to give me access to,  from your library."

Father nodded.  I wiggled on his shoulder into a more comfortable position.

"By the way, king Janak, how are you awake so late?"

"Sita had a nightmare. I was just putting her back to sleep when I saw the lamps burning in the library and decided to investigate. I thought I had left one burning in my carelessness. One has to be careful around books. One spill and a lifetime's collection goes up in ashes, right?"

"True. And these are such precious books. I am sure some of them are the only remaining records of their times."

"Yes. I have commissioned people to make copies of some of the rarer works. But the real need is to make sure that the next generation understands the true value of these gems and makes efforts to protect them. So I am glad that you are taking an interest in these books."

"If I may be so bold, king Janak, might I make a request?"

"Of course!"

"Could I take copies of some of these books with me to Lanka?"

"Sure! Nothing could be better for the protection of this knowledge than spreading it."

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King Raavan accompanied father wherever he went. Father probably thought that he might as well teach two pupils instead of one, so he made me come with them as well. This meant that my regular classes with Shreeman were put on hold. But I did not let go of my archery practice. l would always carry my small bow and arrows around. Whenever father took a break, I would set up a suitable target and start shooting. Father started calling me his puny bodyguard!

Once we were visiting a village where people were facing a water scarcity issue. Father was talking to villagers and trying to find the source of the scarcity. But all that they were able to tell us was that the gods were unhappy with the village and had dried up the small stream of water that was the lifeline of the village.

"But why do you think the gods are unhappy?"

They wouldn't answer initially. Then we discovered that a very powerful man of the village had insulted and tormented a hermit who lived in the nearby forest. He had ultimately succeeded in driving the hermit out of his hermitage. The man had then occupied the part of the forest where the hermit had lived previously.

"The hermit must have cursed the village."

"But why would the hermit curse the entire village for one person's mistake?"

Silence, again. Then one young girl, barely my age, spoke out,"King Janak, the hermit wasn't just insulted. He was tortured. For one entire night we heard his screams coming from the forest, but none of us dared go and help him. None of us dared go against Manikdas."

"Hush, girl! Watch your tongue!"

"Let her speak! What's your name, girl?"

"My name is Urmila, dear king."

"Come with me, Urmila. And you, are you the village headman? Please come with us.”

The village headman confirmed what Urmila had told us. The entire village was terrified of Manikdas and so no one had helped the old hermit. No, they didn't know where the hermit had gone to. No, they hadn't seen the direction he had taken. No, the hermit had probably left in the early hours and so no one had seen him leave.

"This doesn't look good to me, king Janak."

"Neither to me, king Raavan."

"Should we make a visit to our friend Maniklal?"

"Yes, we should. Urmila, do you know where the hermit lived? Can you take us there?"

"Yes, dear king."

Father instructed his guard to split in half. One part was to protect the village and to make sure that no one entered or left. The other half was to come with us.

Urmila led us into the forest following a small trail. After a while, the trail disappeared but she still kept going resolutely. Presently we came into a small clearing. A house stood in the center of this clearing.

"This is where the hermit had his hut. Maniklal burnt down the hut and constructed this house instead."

"When did all this happen?"

"About a year ago."

Father ordered the soldiers to hide in the forest and surround the house. Anyone trying to enter or leave was to be arrested.

"Mount your bow, Sita. Let's go."

"King Janak, has princess Sita ever been in combat?"

"Well, she'll have to start someday, won't she?"

I was wondering the same thing. I couldn't bear the thought of killing an animal or a bird, not even for food. How was I going to shoot at a human being?

"Aim for the heart or the throat. That way death will be quick."

Who said that?

"Don't look around. You can't see me right now. Oh, and nobody else has heard me. So if you don't want these people to think you have had a nervous breakdown right before battle, act normal, okay?"

Okay. That's weird.

Father was knocking at the door. No response. He pushed and the door opened. We went inside.

The house was dark. The only light came from the now open door. The windows were all latched and curtained.

"Probably to muffle sounds," King Raavan said.

Father nodded. One soldier lighted a lamp and we moved ahead.

My focus had now shifted from worrying about how I was going to shoot a human, to how I was going to shoot at all. The light was too poor.

More lamps were lighted and soldiers fanned out into other rooms. They were all empty.

"Close the front door. Tell the soldiers outside to hide and wait for Manikdas to come back. I want absolute quiet. Nobody moves till the mouse is trapped," father instructed the troop leader.

We took the central room. This had several doors leading into the surrounding rooms where other soldiers were stationed. Finally, we snuffed the lamps.

It was tough, sitting in one position till your legs cramped, holding the bow ready all the while. How would I know when to shoot, and who to shoot at?

Finally there was the sound of a door opening. I looked in the direction where I thought the main door was. It was still shut. There were footsteps and somebody lighted a lamp. And then they screamed. There was the sound of a scuffle and a cry of pain. We had reached the room by now and I saw a middle aged man waving a heavy metal rod at two soldiers. 

The soldiers had pulled out their swords and were fighting to disarm the man. But the man looked to be a good fighter. He was parrying them easily with the rod. Suddenly he managed to hit one soldier on the head and the soldier crumpled to the ground.

"His skull is cracked. He won't make it." It sounded like the voice in my head.

I was appalled. If I didn't shoot now, would the other soldier also die? I raised my bow, trying to get a shot. With a small prayer, I released the arrow.

It hit him in his right shoulder. I saw the shock on his face as the rod fell down from his hand and hit the ground. He bent down to pick it up with his left hand, but this was all the time the second soldier needed. He hit him with the hilt of his sword. The man staggered back. The soldier put his sword edge on his neck. The battle was over.

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"I was just trying to get the secret of the village stream from him. I didn't want to kill him, I swear!"

Manikdas told us the whole story. He had realised that the hermit somehow controlled the water stream that flowed into the village. Every time there was a problem, the hermit would disappear for a few days. Nobody knew where he went, but the problem would be resolved.

"Why did you want to learn the secret so desperately?"

The man was quiet.

"He wanted to control the stream for his own benefit. He wanted to control the villagers by controlling their water supply. Didn't you?" King Raavan asked.

"Yes. No! It would have benefitted the entire village!"

"Stop your lies. I know your type. So did the hermit tell you his secret?"

Manikdas shook his head.

"Soldiers, take this man away." Father ordered.

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"He must have killed the hermit in his zeal to learn the secret of the stream. But with the hermit gone, there was no one to keep the water flowing."

"Do you think the hermit kept the village supplied with water using his tapa-powers?"

"Let's search for an easier explanation first. Because if it was the rishi's divine powers that controlled the stream, then it means that the stream is dead forever."

We were walking through the forest. Father had decided to go deeper into the forest to investigate. We had encountered the almost-dry stream bed and were following it upstream.

Urmila and I were walking together behind father and King Raavan. We were both feeling a little shy and were stealing glances at each other. After an hour or so, I decided to do something about the silence.

"How old are you?" I ventured.

"8 years. And you?"

"Me too. Was the hermit your friend?"

"Kind of. Baba was my teacher, friend and father, all in one. I don't have a father, you see. So he sort of adopted me."

"Oh! I am sorry. It must be hard for you." I couldn't even imagine losing my father or Shreeman.

"So that's how you know the forest so well. You must have visited him frequently."

"Yes. I used to go to his hut everyday. I would pick wild flowers on the way so that he could perform his prayers. Sometimes I would clean his cottage too. He didn't know how to clean up very well."

"Yes. Sometimes grownups can't manage the simplest things that we children can. For example, father always has to take my help when he adds numbers!"

"Same with Baba!"

We both laughed and bumped into king Raavan who, for some reason, has stopped and was now smelling the air.

"A bit too moist here, don't you think, king Janak?"

"You are right. But the stream disappeared a kilometre before this place. Has it rained in this part?"

"No. The leaves are dry. What do you say to camping here tonight? This place seems to be linked to the village stream."

Father and king Raavan set up the temporary rooms for us while I assisted Urmila in collecting dry sticks for fire. This proved to be quite difficult as the ground was wet and any sticks that had fallen were also moist. It seemed that we had wandered quite far in our search. When we turned around, we couldn't find our way to the camp. The day was ending fast and we were getting scared.

Wandering around we came upon an old, dilapidated temple. We decided to climb to the roof to check where we were. In any case, a temple was safer than the forest at night.

The temple was a single deity sanctuary. The deity stood in the darkness of the inner sanctorum and stared at us with shining eyes. We did a hurried namaskar and sought the stairs that would lead us to the top.

"Didi, look! Some dry wood. We could light this and perhaps the good kings will be able to see the smoke and will come find us."

"That's a good idea. But how do you light a fire, without fire."

"We just rub these two pieces of wood together till smoke comes out. It takes some time."

We both stared intently at the pieces of wood that Urmila was rubbing against each other.

"See! Now we put some dry leaves on this. Yes! We have a fire!"

I was thrilled to see fire coming out of nothing. Urmila was really very smart. We both lighted a stick each and climbed to the roof with some additional wood. There we sat by the fire, I with the bow armed, and peered into the forest. Urmila was right. After a little while, father came searching for us.

"Well, looks like you found the wood."

"We lost our way first, then we found the temple and the temple had dry wood. Then Urmila had the idea to light the fire on the roof so you could find us."

"That was really brilliant, Urmila. Our camp is not far from here. We could go back there. Or we could sleep here."

"King Raavan would worry."

"That's true. Let's head back then."

King Raavan was waiting anxiously for us. His face lighted up when he saw us coming.

"So the bravehearts are back! Did you get the wood?"

We held up the sticks proudly.

"How did you find them though, king Janak?"

"They had lighted a small fire on a temple roof. I just followed the smoke."

"Brilliant, little ones! I also found something, king Janak. The ground all around is wet because an underground stream flows here."

"How did you find that out?"

"Well, I didn't 'find' out, I remembered another such place from my childhood."

"That is great. That stream must surface somewhere and become the village stream. That is the only possible explanation."

Behind father, I yawned.

"But it is too dark to explore now. Shall we resume in the morning?"

"I think so, king Raavan."

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The next morning, try as we might, we couldn't find any sign of the underground stream. The sun was high above us when we broke for lunch. We could see yesterday's ruined temple barely hidden by a few trees. We decided to eat in the temple, in the cool shade.

"I hope the temple has a well. We are running out of water," Father said.

So we ate inside the temple. The cool stone floor was soothing after the day's heat.

Urmila and I were so hungry that we finished our portion quickly, surprising father. Then we ran out to the temple courtyard to play. Urmila was teaching me a one-legged hopping game. You drew some boxes on the ground, inside a big rectangle. Then you picked up a stone and threw it in one particular box. Then you hopped on one foot to reach the stone and bring it back. The game was complex and there were many conditions that would result into your losing your turn.

We were so engrossed in the game that we didn't notice when father came out into the courtyard.

"What sort of a temple does not have a well?!"

"A temple that is supplied by an underground stream, I am convinced of it."

"But king Raavan, I do not see any source where the water is spouting into the temple."

King Raavan closed his eyes. "Let's imagine a time when the temple wasn't abandoned. Let's say there is one priest who takes care of the temple. Now where would he live? His dwelling would have to be within the temple premises."

"This looks like a room. The roof is gone but three walls are left," Father said.

"He would have to cook, unless he survived on fruits."

"There is a blackened chulha on this side."

"Now he must have needed to bathe the deity."

"There was a bucket inside the temple."

"Now, I have never seen a priest exiting via the main entrance of the temple carrying a bucket for water. There must be a back door."

"Yes. This way."

"Do you see any path going away from that door?"

"Yes."

"I am betting that that path goes directly to the Udgam of the stream."

"Let's go check it out."

So we all moved along the path, Urmila and I hopping ahead.

And we slipped. I fell on my back, my head missing a stone by barely an inch. Urmila's fall was stopped by a tree.

"The ground is too wet." king Raavan said.

"King Raavan, I think we have found the stream Udgam. The priest must have dug somewhere here and used these stones to make the channel to guide the water out to the stream. Since this is a temporary arrangement, the hermit had to come here regularly to maintain it."

"He gave his life to protect this place."

"He must have been a brave man."

Urmila started crying. I hugged her. She clutched me and hid her face in my shoulder. I didn't know the hermit, but seeing Urmila breaking down like that, I also started sniffling. Soon, we were both bawling like babies.

Father and King Raavan went a few steps away. From the corner of my eye, I saw king Raavan speaking and father nodding.

When we had cooled down a bit, and the bawling had turned to sniffs, they came back. Father knelt down in front of Urmila and said,"Dear child, who has been taking care of you since the hermit disappeared?"

"Maasi-ma"

"What about your mother?"

"Maasi-ma is my mother."

Father looked confused. But he persisted.

"So if your Maasi-ma allows it, would you like to come live with Sita didi and me?"

Urmila looked surprised. I jumped.

"Of course, she would! You would, wouldn't you, Urmi? We could have so much fun! I could teach you to shoot and you could teach me to make fire!"

"What about Maasi-ma?"

"We'll bring Maasi-ma along as well!" I loved the idea.

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And that's how sweet Urmi and I became sisters.