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Akampana: A smuggler; one of Raavan’s closest aides Arishtanemi: Military chief of the Malayaputras; right-hand man of Vishwamitra Annapoorna Devi: A brilliant musician who lived in Agastyakootam, the capital of the Malayaputras. Ashwapati: King of the northwestern kingdom of Kekaya; father of Kaikeyi and a loyal ally of Dashrath Bharat: Ram’s half-brother; son of Dashrath and Kaikeyi Dashrath: Chakravarti king of Kosala and emperor of the Sapt Sindhu; father of Ram, Bharat, Lakshman and Shatrughan Hanuman: A Naga and a member of the Vayuputra tribe Indrajit: Son of Raavan and Mandodari Janak:
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But her face was still and serene. Like it had always been. Like it always would be.
An answer that travelled across the wide chasm of time. A chasm that can only be crossed by the relief that is death.
Vayur anilam amritam; Athedam bhasmantam shariram. This temporary body may burn to ashes; But the breath of life belongs elsewhere. May it find its way back to the Immortal Breath.
Pariha, a land beyond the western borders of India. The homeland of the previous Mahadev, Lord Rudra.
Hanuman was a Vayuputra, the tribe left behind by the previous Mahadev, Lord Rudra, the Destroyer-of-Evil. The Malayaputras were the tribe left behind by the previous Vishnu, the Propagator-of-Good, Lord Parshu Ram. These two tribes worked in partnership with each other, even if differences cropped up on rare occasions, for they represented the Gods that had once walked this earth.
Ashok Vatika. A stunning and massive garden citadel,
The old Sanskrit word for grief was shok. Hence, ashok meant no grief.
Some are cursed by fate to experience misery that becomes the foundation of their very being. They are inured to the vicissitudes of life. Nothing can hurt them any more, for they have already been hurt beyond endurance. Fresh drops of grief cause no ripples in their ocean of anguish.
Tapti was one of the only two major rivers in India that flowed from east to west along its entire course; the other one being the holy Narmada River. Indians, who saw a divine plan in everything, deeply loved this river, which moved in the same direction as the sun. Hence the name: Tap means heat, especially that of ascetism and meditation.
Tacticians focus on tomorrow, intent on winning the immediate battle. Strategists obsess about the day after tomorrow. They must win the war.
Some people say that focus requires a mind with a fearsome intellect. They are wrong. What it needs most, in fact, is a calmly breathing heart. For a fearsome intellect without the curb of a calm heart is like an unguided missile. It can blow up and destroy anyone, even itself.
Innocence and truthfulness were so rare among adults. Life had a way of torturing those characteristics out of people, leaving resentment or cynicism in their place. Some adults gave their bitterness another word – maturity. A gracious word to hide their selfishness and cowardice. It was a delight to see this rare combination of fierce courage, quiet truthfulness and pure innocence
Long ago, in the gurukul, Vashishtha had taught Ram the three drivers of decision-making: Desire, Emotions and Intelligence. They arrange themselves in a hierarchy, with Desire at the bottom and Intelligence at the top. Desire and Emotions can be allowed to drive decisions at times. But Desire must never be allowed to override Emotions in decision-making. And Emotions must never overpower Intelligence. When we allow our behaviour and decisions to be primarily driven by Intelligence, then we have the opportunity to live wisely.
‘that grief and suffering can serve as engines that move life forward. Happiness is overrated. Hatred, of course, is destructive.’
‘Great does not mean good, Sita. Great only means the person makes a real impact on the world. Ordinary people do not impact the world, they are only impacted by it. Now, with great people, the impact can be good or bad. But know this: Happy people can never be great.’
People assume that depressed people look like they are in depression. That they cry all the time. Or mope. No. Most people who are depressed, smile. In fact, they smile more than necessary. Because they hide their grief from the world.’
Happiness as an accidental by-product is acceptable, but it is not the purpose of their lives. Happy people, on the other hand, are satisfied people. Satisfied with what they have. Their smiles are genuine, the kind of smile that reaches the eyes. Their hearts are light. They are warm to everyone around them. And they want others, especially the ones they love, to be joyful, to accept what life has blessed or cursed them with, and be satisfied with it. Basically, their mantra is: Be happy by managing your mind rather than changing the world. Great people, on the other hand, want to change the
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‘Happiness is like a drug. The ultimate drug. It makes you accept life as it is. Just inject the drug into your mind, be blissed out and don’t achieve anything, don’t change anything. Just be a joyful idiot.’
‘But grief, on the other hand, drives you insane. You are not satisfied with anything. Anything. How do you banish that grief from your life? How? By changing the world, or so you think … For no matter how much you change the world, you will not find happiness. Why? Because the only way to be happy is by being drugged; by managing your own mind, rather than changing the world. That is why the only people who bring about change are the ones who are not happy, the ones who are grief-stricken.’
It is said that the fate of truly great people is to suffer, but they confuse correlation with causality. It is actually the other way around. Because they suffer, they become great.’
winning wars is different from winning peace. You need anger to win a war. Anger in the moment. And that is why the Mahadevs have always been those with immense anger. But to win peace… that requires something different.
But war can only take away an injustice. It cannot create justice. War can only take away Evil. It cannot create Good. To create Justice and Good, you need peace. And to win peace, you need a leader who will stay the course, no matter what comes along – grief, suffering – to sway him from his path.’
the ancestors had designed pilgrimages to be difficult. The journey must be a penance. It must prepare you for the destination.
“They buried us, but they did not know that we were seeds”?’
Kalagni was the mythical end-of-time fire; the conflagration that marked the end of an age. And the beginning of a new one. It was the fire of Lord Rudra that signalled the end of time for those who stood against the mighty Mahadev.
Shabari was not a name but a title for the head of the Shabarimala temple. Her formal title was Tantri Shabari. As is the Indian way, a deep symbolism was woven into it. The word Tantri in old Sanskrit was gender-agnostic and could be used for a male or a female. The root of the word was string or cord. The name Shabarimala translated as the Hill of Shabari in the local language. But in old Sanskrit, mala meant garland. Thus, the Shabarimala, garland of Shabari, was held together by a tantri, the string.
Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa.’ We find refuge at the feet of Lord Ayyappa.
Paripalaya durbalam …’ Shabari nodded. An old Sanskrit phrase. Protect the weak.
“Death may be the greatest of all human blessings”.’
‘One should not pray for one’s own death. For it should happen when it’s meant to happen. But one should contemplate it, plan for it, even design it … to the extent possible. For is there anything more beautiful in this entire benighted earth than a good death?’
‘Wars are not won by great warriors only, noble Vishnu,’ said Shabari. ‘They are also won by brilliant engineers who can forge into reality that which most ordinary people consider impossible.’
The debt owed to the one who saves your life is the greatest debt of all. It must be repaid.
Humour among warriors, in the face of death, is a sure sign of courage. And manhood.
The first two rules on guard duty. Do not cluster. Do not gossip. You make yourself an easy target. And you are distracted.
rishi and rishika
‘Dhanushkodi Setu, the world will call it,’ said Lakshman. In the local language, dhanush was the bow, and kodi was the string of the bow.
Most of the Eastern Sea has a thin layer of fresh water on top of the sea water. The depth of this fresh water varies, at different times of the year, from a few inches to substantially more. It is also not uniform across the entire stretch of the Eastern Sea.’
Egypt is called the Gift of the Nile River System. Mesopotamia exists because of the Tigris–Euphrates river system. They are lucky lands since they have a large river system. That’s what makes civilisation possible. Some really, really fortunate lands have two, or maybe even three large river systems. Our Mother India has seven!’
‘The Indus river system, the Saraswati river system, the Ganga–Brahmaputra river system, the Narmada river system, the Mahanadi river system, the Godavari–Krishna river system, the Kaveri river system.
what is this magical wood that sinks?’ ‘The wood of the ebony tree,’ said Shatrughan. ‘It’s called kupilu in old Sanskrit.’
Nalatardak,’
Nala Setu, after the one who will build it!’
Meluha.’ Raavan smiled. ‘The Land of Pure Life … A nice name.’
it isn’t as if great men never fall. Everyone falls some time or the other. Great are those who rise after they fall, dust themselves off and get right back into the battle of life.’
‘One who doesn’t feel love cannot know how love feels. One who doesn’t know love will feel no need for vengeance.
In war, one hopes for the best and prepares for the worst.
‘Jai Rishi Chyawan,’
It was well-known that this Malayaputra medicine had been formulated by the great Rishi Chyawan in ancient times. In his honour, the medicine was sometimes called Chyawanprash, the medicine of Chyawan.
‘Akhand saubhagyavati bhav,’ said Raavan, blessing Sita with the traditional invocation. May her husband always be alive and by her side.
