‘The Somras created the Nagas?’ asked Shiva.
‘Yes. This was discovered only a few centuries ago by the Nagas. I learnt it from them.’
‘We didn’t discover it,’ said Kali. ‘The Vayuputra council told us.’
‘The Vayuputra council?’ asked Shiva.
‘Yes,’ continued Kali. ‘The previous Mahadev, Lord Rudra, left behind a tribe called the Vayuputras. They live beyond the western borders, in a land called Pariha, the land of fairies.’
‘I know that,’ said Shiva, recalling one of his conversations with a Vasudev Pandit. ‘But I hadn’t heard of the council.’
‘Well, somebody needs to administer the tribe. And the Vayuputras are ruled by their council, which is headed by their chief, who is respected as a god. He is called Mithra. He is advised by the council of six wise people collectively called the Amartya Shpand. The council controls the twin mission of the Vayuputras. Firstly, to help the next Vishnu, whenever he appears. And secondly, have one of the Vayuputras trained and ready to become the next Mahadev, when the time comes.’
Shiva raised his eyebrows.
‘You obviously broke that rule, Shiva,’ said Kali. ‘I’m sure the Vayuputra council must have been quite shocked when you appeared out of the blue. Because, quite clearly, they did not create you.’
‘You mean this is a controlled process?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Kali. ‘But your friends will know a lot more.’
‘The Vasudevs?’
‘Yes.’
Shiva frowned, reached for Sati’s hand, and then asked Kali, ‘So how did you find out about the Somras creating the Nagas? Did the Vayuputras approach you or did you find them?’
‘I did not find them. The Naga King Vasuki was approached by them a few centuries ago. They suddenly appeared out of nowhere, lugging huge hordes of gold, and offered to pay us an annual compensation. King Vasuki, very rightly, refused to accept the compensation without an explanation.’
‘And?’
‘And he was told that the Nagas were born with deformities as a result of the Somras. The Somras randomly has this impact on a few babies when in the womb, if the parents have been consuming it for a long period.’
‘Not all babies?’
‘No. A vast majority of babies are born without deformities. But a few unfortunate ones, like me, are born Naga.’
‘Why?’
‘I call it dumb luck,’ said Kali. ‘But King Vasuki believed that the deformities caused by the Somras were the Almighty’s way of punishing those souls who had committed sins in their previous births. Therefore, he accepted the pathetic explanation of the Vayuputra council along with their compensation.’
‘Mausi rejected the terms of the agreement with the Vayuputras the moment she ascended the throne,’ said Ganesh, referring to his aunt, Kali.
‘Why? I’m sure the gold could have been put to good use by your people,’ exclaimed Shiva.
Kali laughed coldly. ‘That gold was a mere palliative. Not for us, but for the Vayuputras. Its only purpose was to make them feel less guilty for the carnage being wrought upon us by the “great invention” that they protected.’
Shiva nodded, understanding her anger. He turned to Brahaspati. ‘But how exactly is the Somras responsible for this?’
Brahaspati explained, ‘We used to believe the Somras blessed one with a long life by removing poisonous oxidants from one’s body. But that is not the only way it works.’
Shiva and Sati leaned closer.
‘It also operates at a more fundamental level. Our body is made up of millions of tiny living units called cells. These are the building blocks of life.’
‘Yes, I’ve heard of this from one of your scientists in Meluha,’ said Shiva.
‘Then you’d know that these cells are the tiniest living beings. They combine to form organs, limbs, and in fact, the entire body.’
‘Right.’
‘These cells have the ability to divide and grow. And each division is like a fresh birth; one old unhealthy cell magically transforms into two new healthy cells. As long as they keep dividing, they remain healthy. So your journey begins in your mother’s womb as a single cell. That cell keeps dividing and growing till it eventually forms your entire body.’
‘Yes,’ said Sati, who had learnt all of this in the Meluha gurukul.
‘Obviously,’ said Brahaspati, ‘this division and growth has to end sometime. Otherwise one’s body would keep growing continuously with pretty disastrous consequences. So the Almighty put a limit on the number of times a cell can divide. After that, the cell simply stops dividing further and thus, in effect, becomes old and unhealthy.’
‘And do these old cells make one’s body age and thus eventually die?’ asked Shiva.
‘Yes, every cell reaches its limit on the number of divisions at some point or the other. As more and more cells in the body hit that limit, one grows old, and finally dies.’
‘Does the Somras remove this limit on division?’
‘Yes. Therefore, your cells keep dividing while remaining healthy. In most people, this continued division is regulated. But in a few, some cells lose control over their division process and keep growing at an exponential pace.’
‘This is cancer, isn’t it?’ asked Sati.
‘Yes,’ said Brahaspati. ‘This cancer can sometimes lead to a painful death. But there are times when these cells continue to grow and appear as deformities – like extra arms or a very long nose.’
‘How polite and scientific!’ said a livid Kali. ‘But one cannot even begin to imagine the physical pain and torture that we undergo as children when these “outgrowths” occur.’
Sati stretched out and held her sister’s hand.
‘Nagas are born with small outgrowths, which don’t seem like much initially, but are actually harbingers of years of torture,’ continued Kali. ‘It almost feels like a demon has taken over your body. And he’s bursting out from within, slowly, over many years, causing soul-crushing pain that becomes your constant companion. Our bodies get twisted beyond recognition so that by adolescence, when further growth finally stops, we are stuck with what Brahaspati politely calls “deformities”. I call it the wages of sins that we didn’t even commit. We pay for the sins others commit by consuming the Somras.’
Shiva looked at the Naga queen with a sad smile. Kali’s anger was justified.
‘And the Nagas have suffered this for centuries?’ asked Shiva.
‘Yes,’ said Brahaspati. ‘As the number of people consuming the Somras grew, so did the number of Nagas. One will find that most of the Nagas are from Meluha. For that is where the Somras is used most extensively.’
‘And what is the Vayuputra council’s view on this?’
‘I’m not sure. But from whatever little I know, the Vayuputra council apparently believes that the Somras continues to create good in most areas where it is used. The suffering of the Nagas is collateral damage and has to be tolerated for the larger good.’
‘Bullshit!’ snorted Kali.
Shiva could appreciate Kali’s rage but he was also aware of the enormous benefits of Somras over several millennia. On balance, was it still Good?
He turned to Brahaspati. ‘Are there any other reasons for believing that Somras is Evil?’
‘Consider this: we Meluhans choose to believe that the Saraswati is dying because of some devious Chandravanshi conspiracy. This is not true. We are actually killing our mother river all by ourselves. We use massive amounts of Saraswati waters to manufacture the Somras. It helps stabilise the mixture during processing. It is also used to churn the crushed branches of the Sanjeevani tree. I have conducted many experiments to see if water from any other source can be used. But it just doesn’t do the trick.’
‘Does it really require that much water?’
‘Yes, Shiva. When Somras was being made for just a few thousand, the amount of Saraswati water used didn’t matter. But when we started mass producing Somras for e
ight million people, the dynamics changed. The waters started getting depleted slowly by the giant manufacturing facility at Mount Mandar. The Saraswati has already stopped reaching the Western Sea. It now ends its journey in an inland delta, south of Rajasthan. The desertification of the land to the south of this delta is already complete. It’s a matter of time before the entire river is completely destroyed. Can you imagine the impact on Meluha? On India?’
‘Saraswati is the mother of our entire Sapt Sindhu civilisation,’ said Sati, speaking of the land of the seven rivers.
‘Yes. Even our preeminent scripture, the Rig Veda, sings paeans to the Saraswati. It is not only the cradle, but also the lifeblood of our civilisation. What will happen to our future generations without this great river? The Vedic way of life itself is at risk. What we are doing is taking away the lifeblood of our future progeny so that our present generation can revel in the luxury of living for two hundred years or more. Would it be so terrible if we lived for only a hundred years instead?’
Shiva nodded. He could see the terrible side-effects and the ecological destruction caused by the Somras. But he still couldn’t see it as Evil. An Evil which left only one option: a Dharmayudh, a holy war, to destroy it.
‘What else?’ asked Shiva.
‘The destruction of the Saraswati seems a small price to pay when compared to another, even more insidious impact of the Somras.’
‘Which is?’
‘The plague of Branga.’
‘The plague of Branga?’ asked a surprised Shiva. ‘What does that have to do with the Somras?’
Branga had been suffering continuous plagues for many years, which had killed innumerable people, especially children. The primary relief thus far had been the medicine procured from the Nagas. Or else exotic medicines extracted after killing the sacred peacock, leading to the Brangas being ostracised even in peace-loving cities like Kashi.
‘Everything!’ said Brahaspati. ‘The Somras is not only difficult to manufacture, but it also generates large amounts of toxic waste. A problem we have never truly tackled. It cannot be disposed of on land, because it can poison entire districts through ground water contamination. It cannot be discharged into the sea. The Somras waste reacts with salt water to disintegrate in a dangerously rapid and explosive manner.’
A thought entered Shiva’s mind. Did Brahaspati accompany me to Karachapa the first time to pick up sea water? Was that used to destroy Mount Mandar?
Brahaspati continued. ‘What seemed to work was fresh river water. When used to wash the Somras waste, over a period of several years, fresh water appeared to reduce its toxic strength. This was proven with some experiments at Mount Mandar. It seemed to work especially well with cold water. Ice was even better. Obviously, we could not use the rivers of India to wash the Somras waste in large quantities. We could have ended up poisoning our own people. Therefore, many decades ago, a plan was hatched to use the high mountain rivers in Tibet. They flow through uninhabited lands and their waters are almost ice-cold. They would therefore work perfectly to clean out the Somras waste. There is a river high up in the Himalayas, called Tsangpo, where Meluha decided to set up a giant waste treatment facility.’
‘Are you telling me that the Meluhans have come to my land before?’
‘Yes. In secret.’
‘But how can such large consignments be hidden?’
‘You’ve seen the quantity of Somras powder required to feed an entire city for a year. Ten small pouches are all it takes. It is converted into the Somras drink at designated temples across Meluha when mixed with water and other ingredients.’
‘So even the waste amount is not huge?’
‘No, it isn’t. It’s a small quantity, making it easy to transport. But even that small quantity packs in a huge amount of poison.’
‘Hmmm... So this waste facility was set up in Tibet?’
‘Yes, it was established in a completely desolate area along the Tsangpo. The river flowed east, so it would go to relatively unpopulated lands away from India. Therefore, our land would not suffer from the harmful effects of the Somras.’
Shiva frowned. ‘But what about the lands farther ahead that the Tsangpo flowed into? The eastern lands that lie beyond Swadweep? What about the Tibetan land around Tsangpo itself? Wouldn’t they have suffered due to the toxic waste?’
‘They may have,’ said Brahaspati. ‘But that was considered acceptable collateral damage. The Meluhans kept track of the people living along the Tsangpo. There were no outbreaks of disease, no sudden deformities. The icy river waters seemed to be working at keeping the toxins inactive. The Vayuputra council was given these reports. Apparently, the council also sent scientists into the sparsely populated lands of Burma, which is to the east of Swadweep. It was believed the Tsangpo flowed into those lands and became the main Burmese river, the Irrawaddy. Once again, there was no evidence of a sudden rise in diseases. Hence it was concluded that we had found a way to rid ourselves of the Somras waste without harming anyone. When it was discovered that Tsangpo means “purifier” in the local Tibetan tongue, it was considered a sign, a divine message. A solution had been found. This came down to the scientists of Mount Mandar as received wisdom as well.’
‘What does this have to do with the Brangas?’
‘Well, you see, the upper regions of the Brahmaputra have never been mapped properly. It was simply assumed that the river comes from the east; because it flows west into Branga. The Nagas, with the help of Parshuram, finally mapped the upper course of the Brahmaputra. It falls at almost calamitous speeds from the giant heights of the Himalayas into the plains of Branga through gorges that are sheer walls almost two thousand metres high.’
‘Two thousand metres!’ gasped Shiva.
‘You can well imagine that it is almost impossible to navigate a river course such as the Brahmaputra’s. But Parshuram succeeded and led the Nagas along that path. Parshuram, of course, did not realise the significance of the discovery of the river’s course. Queen Kali and Lord Ganesh did.’
‘Did you go up the Brahmaputra as well?’ asked Shiva. ‘Where does the river come from? Is it connected to the Tsangpo in any way?’
Brahaspati smiled sadly. ‘It is the Tsangpo.’
‘What?’
‘The Tsangpo flows east only for the duration of its course in Tibet. At the eastern extremities of the Himalayas, it takes a sharp turn, almost reversing its flow. It then starts moving south-west and crashes through massive gorges before emerging near Branga as the Brahmaputra.’
‘By the Holy Lake,’ said Shiva. ‘The Brangas are being poisoned by the Somras waste.’
‘Exactly. The cold waters of the Tsangpo dilute the poisonous impact to a degree. However, as the river enters India in the form of the Brahmaputra, the rising temperature reactivates the dormant toxin in the water. Though the Branga children also suffer from the same body-wracking pain as the Nagas, they are free from deformities. Sadly, Branga also has a high incidence of cancer. Being highly populous, the number of deaths is simply unacceptable.’
Shiva began to connect the dots. ‘Divodas told me the Branga plague peaks during the summer every year. That is the time when ice melts faster in the Himalayas, making the poison flow out in larger quantities.’
‘Yes,’ said Brahaspati. ‘That is exactly what happens.’
‘Obviously, since both the Nagas and Brangas are being poisoned by the same malevolence, our medicines work on the Brangas as well,’ Kali spoke up. ‘So we send them our medicines to help ameliorate their suffering a little. Even though we told King Chandraketu how his kingdom was being poisoned, some Brangas prefer to believe that the plague strikes every year because of a curse that the Nagas have cast upon them. If only we were that powerful! But it appears that at least Chandraketu believes us. This is why he sends us men and gold regularly, to stealthily attack Somras manufacturing facilities, the root of all our problems.’
‘Evil should never be fought with subterfuge, Kali,’ sai
d Shiva. ‘It must be attacked openly.’
Kali was about to retort but Shiva had turned back to Brahaspati.
‘Why didn’t you say something? Raise the issue in Meluha or with the Vayuputras?’
‘I did,’ said Brahaspati. ‘I took up the matter with Emperor Daksha. But he doesn’t really understand scientific things or involve himself with technical details. He turned to the one intellectual he trusts, the venerable royal priest, Raj guru Bhrigu. Lord Bhrigu seemed genuinely interested and took me to the Vayuputra council so I could present my case before them, but they were not at all supportive. This was where the issue was effectively killed. Nobody was willing to believe me about the source of the Brahmaputra. They also laughed when they heard that I was ostensibly listening to the Nagas. According to them, the Nagas were now ruled by an extremist harridan whose frustration with her own karma made everyone else the object of her ire.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment!’ said Kali.
Shiva smiled at Kali before turning back to Brahaspati. ‘But how did the Vayuputras rationalise what’s happening in Branga?’
‘According to them,’ said Brahaspati, ‘the Brangas were a rich but uncivilised lot, with strange eating habits and disgusting customs. So the plague could have been caused by their bad practices and karma rather than the Somras. Remember, there is little sympathy for the Brangas amongst the Vayuputras because it is well known that they drink the blood of peacocks, a bird that is held holy by any follower of Lord Rudra.’
‘And you gave up?’ retorted Shiva. ‘Shouldn’t you have pressed on? Emperor Daksha is weak and can be easily influenced. He could have brought about changes in Meluha. The Vayuputra council does not govern your country.’
‘Well, there was a good reason for me to not persist with the argument.’
‘What reason?’
‘Tara, the woman I intended to marry, suddenly went missing,’ continued Brahaspati. ‘The last time I saw her, she was in Pariha. On returning to Meluha I received a letter from her telling me that she was disappointed with my tirades against the Somras. I asked Lord Bhrigu to check with his friends in Pariha. I was told that she had just disappeared.’