Rajiv Menon -- ThunderGod (15 page)

'Falcons, by the end of these five days, each of you will be carried in glory, on the shoulders of these very people who ignore you now. I, Indra, son of Daeyus, swear this. Now let's put on a show they will not forget in a hurry!'

'Yeah!' they cried in unison and pumped their fists in the air.

Their modest support cheered them lustily. The Falcons now settled down to do their warm-ups and awaited the arrival of the other dals.

The Wolves walked in, brightly attired in green and yellow, amidst rapturous applause. Nala, a young man with a growing reputation as a peerless archer, led them. They acknowledged their considerable support and settled down.

Now the crowd erupted in jubilation--the Lions had entered the arena. In their flamboyant colours of red and gold, led by the magnificent Atreya, the defending champions announced their arrival with a breathtaking display of acrobatics.

The applause took a few minutes to die down. When it did, Vasu stood up to address the gathering from the steps of the Sabha.

'Devas! It gives me great honour to present to you the Spardha. To the participants, I say do your dals proud and always remember that this is a contest. The very opponents you face in competition today you will fight alongside in battle tomorrow. So fight with honour and follow the rules. Good luck and may Surya shower his blessings on you all.'

The announcer then took over and informed the crowd that they would start with the equestrian events, which would take place in a large meadow on the outskirts of the settlement.

***

Aryavarta resembled a ghost town as nearly every able-bodied man, woman and child left to watch the equestrian trials. In his father's home, Pusan woke up from the effects of the painkilling potion given to him. His family had left him in the care of an attendant and gone to watch the Spardha.

Pusan was thankful for the peace and quiet. He had gotten weary of the anxious faces hovering around him all the time. He cursed out aloud at his fate. He had failed in his task to kill the lion and now he owed his life to Mitra, someone he despised almost as much as he did Indra. Just then the attendant entered with news of a visitor.

'Master Makara is here, my lord.'

Pusan was surprised to hear that his old tutor had come to see him. Makara rarely left his home outside the settlement. In his own words, there was no place in Aryavarta for true men of god. He asked the attendant to usher him in with the utmost respect.

During the reign of Daeyus, Makara had been one of the rising stars of the Deva priesthood. He was being groomed by Susena as his successor. Unfortunately for Makara, on the death of his mentor, Mitra took over the duties of priesthood and the Deva clergy suddenly found themselves totally redundant.

Makara's pride did not allow him to eke out a living performing household rituals like the other Deva priests. Instead he retreated into the shadows, away from public life. He then waited and watched for an opportunity to restore the Deva priesthood to its former glory.

In order to make ends meet he was forced to work as a tutor for the children of the wealthy and influential families of Aryavarta. At long last the opportunity he craved presented itself--he was made tutor to Pusan, son of Vasu.

Now years later he entered the bedchamber of his ward. Pusan watched his old tutor as he made his way into the room. He was surprised to see how kind the years had been to Makara. His shaven head and eyebrows along with his kohl-lined dark eyes gave him an ageless androgynous look. Tall and thin, he dressed and carried himself just like his mentor, Susena. Garbed in the white and gold robes of the old high priest, he cut a fine figure as he sat at Pusan's bedside and greeted him.

'I am glad to see that you are well, boy. The rumourmongers of this town had written you off a while ago.'

'I wish those rumours were true, Master. I have no desire to live. I have failed my father.'

Pusan got no sympathy from Makara.

'Stop your whining, boy! I told you a long time ago to give up trying to please your father. He has no time to laud your achievements. He is too busy being a slave. He was a slave to Daeyus, now he is a slave to Mitra and he will die a slave to Indra.'

Pusan did not say anything, he just lay there with downcast eyes. Makara looked at him, his eyes flashing fire.

'But you, my boy, have a choice. Do not be a slave like your father. Wrest the leadership of this tribe from that demon Indra who will only lead the Devas to destruction. Banish the dark sorcerer Mitra from Aryavarta. Then you and I can usher in an era of prosperity such the tribe has never seen or will ever see again.'

Makara watched Pusan carefully, he knew the young warrior better than anybody else. Pusan had first come to him a troubled boy of six. It had not taken Makara long to realise that the boy craved his father's attention, which was at that time divided between Indra and the affairs of the tribe. Makara nurtured the jealousy Pusan felt for Indra, adding fuel to its fire till it grew into a full-blown hatred. Through the formative years he had been the young warrior's only true friend, philosopher and guide. Now Pusan was a puppet in his hands. He looked at Makara blankly.

'What must I do now, Master?'

Makara softened his tone.

'First you must ensure that Indra does not become the champion of this Spardha.'

***

The Falcons watched Nala and the Wolves run a perfect course. The obstacle course for the equestrian trials had been cleverly laid out. It included several wooden fences of varying heights and the final hurdle was a burning cart that the contestants had to leap over. Nala was the last of the Wolves trio on show. He expertly guided his horse over the burning cart. The Wolves' supporters roared in triumph.

It was now the turn of the Falcons. Mitra chose Soma, Vayu and Indra to run the course. The cart was set ablaze. Soma started and went through the course quickly, timing each of his jumps to perfection. He finished the last one beautifully, calming his mare and gently coaxing her to leap over the burning cart. He was faster than all the previous riders. Even some of the rival supporters cheered this display of brilliant horsemanship. Vayu followed and soon ran into trouble; his horse was a little bit of a nervous starter and he lost some time before he managed to finish the last hurdle.

Indra took the course next and moved smoothly over the first few obstacles. He finished the last water jump with feet to spare and made his way towards the final obstacle. The fire on the cart was about to die down so one of the referees threw some clarified butter into it. The flames flared up brightly. Indra's horse, a feisty young stallion, saw this and reared up. Conscious about making up the time Vayu had lost, Indra whispered encouragement to his steed and forced it forward. They raced towards the burning cart.

Just as he made the leap, Indra realised something was wrong. The stallion had panicked and jumped too early. Its front legs crashed into the burning cart and Indra was thrown over its head and through the blaze. He hit the ground hard, rolled over and got to his feet. He ran to check on his horse, his concern for the animal making him forget his own injuries.

The poor creature lay on its side and looked at him wild-eyed in terror. Its front legs had shattered on impact with the cart. Indra tried hard to hold back his tears as he drew his sword and thrust it through the heart of the mortally-wounded animal.

The Lions, who were up next, went on to finish second behind the Wolves in the event, much to the joy of their supporters.

The final events of the day were the duels. Contestants from the various dals would charge each other on horseback, armed with blunt lances and shields. The objective was to unseat one's opponent from his horse.

The Falcons gave a good account of themselves in this event: Agni and Varuna won all their duels. They were neck and neck with the Lions when Mitra did something unexpected--he did not let Indra participate in the duel but left it to Soma to fight Atreya. The diminutive Falcon was no match for Atreya's superior strength and he was knocked down from his horse. The Lions won the event.

An excited Sachi rushed home to give Pusan the news. He was elated to know that the Lions were leading the competition. As Sachi washed and dressed his wound, Pusan asked about Indra. When he heard about his mishap, he laughed.

'And that fool wants to be chief of the Devas.'

Sachi was quick to retort.

'He is going to be the chief, brother. But before that he is going to be the next champion.'

Pusan scoffed at her remark.

'You are as big a fool as he, my dear sister. Our parents have filled your head with this stupid idea that he is going to be the king and you his queen. That is never going to happen.'

Sachi was shocked at her brother's insolence.

'How can you say that? He is the son of Raja Daeyus and his legal heir. Would you go against your father and Mitra?'

Angry, Pusan tried to sit up, but was still too weak.

'I will follow the laws of our tribe--only a pure blooded clansman can lead the Devas. Not some bastard who might be the spawn of a demon. Our father is blinded by his loyalty to Raja Daeyus. As for Mitra, he has no right to an opinion in this matter--he is not of our tribe.'

Sachi could not believe what she was hearing. She tightened the bandage in anger, causing her brother to wince in pain.

'I think your injury has affected your brain, my dear brother, you sound like a madman. Do not forget that if it were not for Mitra, you would have been forced to spend the rest of your life as a cripple,' she said and left the room.

Mitra had just finished an inspection of their supply of arrows for the archery trials the next day. He asked the weapon smith to deliver the arrows to his home and was stepping out of the smithy when he met an anxious Sachi. She had with her a jar of salve.

'My lord, I know you will not let us meet, so would you please give this to him? He hurt himself at the trial this morning.'

Mitra smiled.

'His burns have been treated, my child.'

He saw her crestfallen expression and hurriedly added.

'Don't worry, when you are married you can have the sole responsibility of taking care of him. Surya knows, with the amount of trouble he gets into, you will be kept very busy. Now let him be for the next few days, he must keep his mind on the Spardha.'

'Spardha! All you people care about is the Spardha. I think it is time to put a stop to these barbaric customs,' Sachi said and walked off in a huff.

Mitra watched her leave, amusement writ large on his face. She was a feisty one; Indra would have his hands full with her. He chuckled at the thought as he made his way back home.

***

In his hut, Indra lay on his reed mat, unable to sleep. The loss of his horse had affected him far more than he had let on. He knew he alone was to blame for what had happened. He should have ensured that the horse had been trained to face a fire jump. Only Mitra had seen how badly shaken he was, and wisely decided not to put him in the jousting contest. In his state of mind, it was possible that he might have lost to Atreya, thus giving his opponent the psychological advantage in the battle for the individual championship. He closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep. Tomorrow would be a decisive day for the Falcons.

The second day of the Spardha started with the archery trials. Targets of varying sizes--from that of an apple to the size of a horse's head--had been set up all around the course. This was an eagerly-awaited contest: the cavalry archers were an important, perhaps the most important part of the Deva war machine. The Devas prided themselves on their skill as archers. So the crowds had arrived early in order to get vantage positions, with the latecomers even risking seats that would put them directly in the path of arrows if they missed their targets. But it was a measure of the trust the Devas had in the skill of their archers.

The contest began with all the dals nominating three archers each. Each archer was given ten arrows, and would have to shoot down ten targets while riding his steed at full gallop. Indra was pleasantly surprised when Mitra loaned him his mare to use for the trial. She had carried Indra on her back as a child and he knew her well. The Falcons were among the first to take the field. Varuna, Agni and Indra rode with the reins gripped between their teeth as they shot arrow after arrow at their respective targets.

Indra was the last to finish and he chose the most difficult target to end his routine. The crowd watched with bated breath as he discharged his last arrow at an apple, placed fifty paces away. The arrow sliced through the fruit and divided it into two near-perfect halves. The audience rose as a man to applaud the feat. All three archers had got a perfect score--something that had never happened in the entire history of the Spardha.