Rajiv Menon -- ThunderGod (46 page)

'My lord, we must kill their leader, that is the only way to stop these creatures.'

'Lead me to him,' Indra screamed over the din of battle.

Varuna and the other Falcons formed a protective ring around their king as they hacked and cleaved their way through the creatures and made their way forward as they followed the Gond warrior.

Ugra thrust his spear into the neck of one of the beasts that accosted him; its armour was weak around that area. The spear bit deep into its flesh. Ugra twisted it viciously and wrenched it free, and the creature fell to the ground. Drenched in its warm blood, Ugra smashed its head with an axe that he carried in his left hand. He roared in triumph, and the Devas, Adityas and Yavanas now took his cue and began attacking the vulnerable necks and bellies of the creatures.

Now the battle was more or less evenly matched. Indra and his small band made their way towards the valley under the clouds. A high wall that had several ridges running horizontally across it blocked the gorge formed between the two mountains like a huge dam. Ugra called out to him frantically.

'The waters lie trapped beyond this wall. We must break it.'

The creatures had by now noticed Indra and his men and turned their attention on them. Varuna and the others were now hard-pressed by the attack as they put themselves between Indra and the beasts. Indra, Kadaag in hand, made his way towards the wall and struck it with a mighty blow. The wall twitched and then began to move along its horizontal ridges. Indra realised to his amazement that the wall was made up of the coils of a giant serpent. Then the head of the reptile appeared--it was bigger than an elephant. Indra ran to the mountain on his right and began to frantically scale it.

The soma that coursed through his body gave him tremendous strength and agility as he leapt from rock to rock up the steep slope. In a few minutes he found himself at the top. The giant snake turned its head towards him. Indra held the black sword in a two-handed grip and leapt at it. He swung the blade with all his might and struck the creature on the side of its head. The snake did not even flinch and the black blade shattered like glass on impact. Indra fell back, staring at the hilt of his broken sword in disbelief.

As he got to his feet the serpent opened its mouth and bared its great fangs at him. They were more than the length of his body. Two drops of venom fell from their needle-sharp tips to the earth around him. It scorched the snow off the mountaintop, turning the grey rock below dark as coal.

Suddenly Indra felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach. It was unlike anything he had felt before. When the serpent struck, it was only his superb reflexes that saved the Deva king. Indra threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the lethal blow. The mountain shook from the impact of it and caused him to lose his footing and topple over the far side. He rolled down the steep incline away from his men and the battle.

On the plateau, the battle raged on. The men, oblivious to the fate of their king, continued to fight gamely on amidst the carnage being inflicted around them. Slowly the shadows began to lengthen on the roof of the world. As darkness fell, the creatures disengaged themselves from battle and melted into the landscape.

Exhausted, Varuna leant on his sword and looked around him. All his comrades, except for Indra, were accounted for. A little further away, Ugra stood, his left arm a bloody stump. One of the creatures had chewed it off at the elbow and eaten it. The dark warrior had bound the injured limb with his loincloth and continued to fight naked.

In spite of all his misgivings, Varuna could not but admire the man's bravery and fortitude. He asked Ugra if he had seen any sign of Indra, but the Gond shook his head dismally.

***

When Indra came to his senses, he was in a clearing surrounded by pine trees. He sat up and found himself staring at the hood of a king cobra. He screamed in terror. The snake crawled away to a little rock on which sat a man. His matted dreadlocks were piled high on top of his head; his ash-covered body, lean with sinewy muscle, looked like it had been carved out of black granite. He wore a loincloth of tiger skin and held a trident in his hand. The snake went to him and hissed.

The man smiled.

'Raksha's poison has scarred his mind. She has left him with an intense phobia of serpents.'

He stood up and went to Indra.

'You have finally known fear, oh brave warrior. Perhaps you are now ready to be a god.'

Indra was still shaking with fright and barely heard the man's words. The man took the Deva king by the shoulder in a firm grip and raised him to his feet. He then took Indra's face in his hands and drew it near. Indra felt an intense beam of heat emerge from the man's forehead and enter his. Then it was gone. The man gently rubbed Indra's temples and let go.

Indra felt all his fearfulness leave him. He looked at the man in front of him, confused. The man led him to the rock and made him sit beside him. His tone was comforting as he addressed Indra.

'Do not judge yourself too harshly. No man or god has ever faced Vrtra and lived to tell the tale.'

'Who is this Vrtra? And how did a lowly being such as a serpent accumulate so much power as to trap the waters and the clouds?'

There was a hiss of annoyance from the king cobra at his words. The man playfully admonished the snake.

'Don't take it personally, Vasuki.'

He turned back and looked into Indra's eyes as he spoke.

'Vrtra is much more than just a serpent. He is the king of the Danavas, or Dragons, an ancient race of beings that ruled the earth before the time of man. Their greed for power was such that they slaughtered and devoured everything and almost ended all other forms of life on earth. It was then that the sky gods decided to punish them. They rained down fiery missiles that scorched the land, made the waters of the oceans rise and destroyed the Danavas. Only a small number survived and found shelter in the mighty Himalayas. Amongst them was their queen Danu. She was farsighted enough to realise that in order for her race to regain their former glory, physical strength alone would not be enough. She assumed the form of a beautiful woman and seduced a powerful being. Vrtra was born of this union. He inherited great wisdom and intellect from his father and the physical prowess of his mother's race. In his mountain stronghold Vrtra waited, steadily increasing the Danava numbers while he weakened the humans by taking away their most vital resource, water. If he is not stopped now, he and the Danavas will sweep down from the Himalayas and take over the earth once more.'

Indra listened in shocked silence as he realised the enormity of the task at hand.

'How can I slay such a being?'

'Do not worry, help is at hand.'

Indra heard footsteps behind him and turned to see the man he knew as Travistr. He gave Indra a curt nod and bowed solemnly to the other man. His expression was grave.

'I am ready, Master.'

Indra looked at the two men in front of him. He did not understand what was happening.

'I know this man. Without his help I would never have gotten this far. How does he fit in with all this?'

The Master got to his feet and picked up his trident.

'Travistr is the cause of the problem that is Vrtra. You, Indra, are its solution. He has guided you before and he will guide you from here on. Farewell. May good fortune smile upon you.'

Indra looked at Travistr confusedly. Although the weapons master was doing a good job of concealing his emotions, Indra could sense that he was going through some kind of turmoil. Travistr turned to him and read the question in his eyes.

'I am Vrtra's father.'

Indra was stunned at this revelation. He turned to where the ash-covered man had stood a moment before, but he was gone.

'Come, we must hurry. Your forces will not last another day against the Danavas,' Travistr said as he led Indra down the mountainside. It was dark and the two men used the moonlight filtering through the pines to guide them. They soon came upon a clearing similar to the one they had just left. In the far corner of it, Indra saw a man sitting in a deep meditative trance. Travistr went to him, folded his hands in greeting and bowed low.

'Greetings, sage Dadichi.'

The seer opened his eyes and looked at the duo. His body had been ravaged by time and the severity of his penance. Indra wondered how such a man could be of service to them. Dadichi studied Indra carefully.

'Is this the one who will slay Vrtra?'

Travistr nodded gravely. It was clear he took no pleasure in this task. Dadichi looked at Indra with a smile that the Deva king could not quite fathom. He then shut his eyes and from his throat a deep chant began to resonate. Travistr took a few paces back and made a sign to Indra to do the same. Even as Indra complied, he saw Dadichi's soul leave his body in a blaze of blue light and speed away towards the heavens. As Indra looked on, stunned, Dadichi's earthly body burst into flames till all that was left of his mortal remains were his vertebra and a few bones.

With great reverence and care, Travistr gathered the remains of the sage and began fashioning a weapon from them. He worked tirelessly through the night, and as the first rays of the sun lit up the clearing, he stood up and handed Indra a weapon fashioned from the adamantine vertebrae of the sage Dadichi. It was unlike any the king had seen before. The weapon was pointed at both ends and shaped like a lightning bolt. Its double-edge, fashioned from the joints of the backbone, was jagged and razor sharp. It was smoothened along the centre to create a grip.

As the lord of the Devas held the weapon, he felt all his strength and resolve return to him. He held it up high, and a clap of thunder sounded from the skies. Travistr watched him solemnly.

'That, my lord, is the Vajra. It is a weapon befitting a god. This will be the source and symbol of your power. The nations of the world will tremble and your enemies will flee at its very sight.'

'Will it be enough to kill Vrtra?'

Travistr nodded solemnly and handed him a quiver full of arrows, the arrowheads of which had been fashioned from the bones of the sage.

'It is the only weapon that can stop Vrtra. These arrows will take care of his army. Now go, for time is of essence.'

Travistr turned and made his way down the hillside; his shoulders were slumped and his gait resembled that of an old man. Indra's heart went out to him who Fate had ordained to devise the weapon to kill his only son.

***

The sun was well up in the sky by the time Indra made his way to the top of the hill to confront the great serpent. As he looked down at the plateau, he was dismayed to see that the dragons of Vrtra had decimated his army. Yadu and his Yavanas, who had been in the frontline of their assault, had been annihilated. The Yavana lord lay dead on the battleground, his body ripped to pieces by the monstrous beasts. The Devas and Adityas had fared only marginally better. A small band of survivors led by Varuna were bunched together, fighting for their lives against the furious Danava assault that continued unabated from the ground and sky.

An enraged Indra roared out his challenge to Vrtra and the great snake responded. Indra saw the giant head emerge out of the water and the lidless black eyes focused on him. In his head he heard the deep sonorous voice of the Danava king.

'You cheated death once--that will not happen a second time. The bones of you and your men will lie bleached on this plateau, your names forgotten by time.'

Indra raised the Vajra and held it aloft in his right hand. The clouds above them began to move and swirl about as they gathered together directly above him. Suddenly a gigantic clap of thunder resounded through the mountains. Below them, the battle stopped as Deva and Danava looked up to witness the epic duel. Vrtra looked up in alarm. Something was wrong: he had no control over the clouds any more.

From amidst the thick mass of clouds, a bolt of lightning emerged and headed directly towards Indra. As the bolt approached, it forked into two and struck the two points of the Vajra. Indra screamed as he felt a surge of elemental energy course through his body. He bent his back and hurled the weapon at Vrtra.

The Vajra struck the gargantuan head of the serpent and split its skull into two. A cry of anguish went up among the Danavas as the great sinuous body of their king fell to the ground, lifeless. As the coils of the great snake loosened, the waters threatened to burst forth and sweep the Devas to destruction. Varuna used his power and held back the waters. He asked his men to form a tight line behind him. As he gently let go, the waters gushed down to the plains in seven great streams.

Indra used his new arrows to pick off the remaining dragons from the sky. As they crashed to the earth they were mercilessly hacked to pieces by the Devas and Adityas. It wasn't long before the last of the mighty Danavas fell to the ground, dead. The race that aspired to rule the world was now confined to be a minuscule part of its history.