the immortal of maluha
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‘And presumably <strong>the</strong>y don’t, your Highness?’<br />
‘No <strong>the</strong>y don’t.’<br />
‘Why?’<br />
‘One simple word, my Lord,’ replied Daksha. ‘Jealousy. They hate our superior ways. Our<br />
efficient family system is an eyesore to <strong>the</strong>m. The fact that we take care <strong>of</strong> everyone in our<br />
country makes <strong>the</strong>m unhappy because <strong>the</strong>y can’t take care <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>mselves. They lead sorry<br />
lives. And ra<strong>the</strong>r than improving <strong>the</strong>mselves, <strong>the</strong>y want to pull us down to <strong>the</strong>ir level.’<br />
‘I can understand. My tribe used to face a lot <strong>of</strong> jealousy in Mount Kailash since we had<br />
control over <strong>the</strong> shore <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Mansarovar Lake and hence <strong>the</strong> best land in <strong>the</strong> region. But<br />
sometimes I wonder if we could have avoided bloodshed if we had shared our good fortune<br />
more willingly.’<br />
‘But we do share our good fortune with those who wish it, my Lord. And yet, jealousy blinds<br />
our enemies. The Chandravanshis realised that it was <strong>the</strong> Somras that guaranteed our<br />
superiority. Funnily enough, even <strong>the</strong>y have <strong>the</strong> knowledge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Somras. But <strong>the</strong>y have not<br />
learnt to mass produce it like we do and hence haven’t reaped all <strong>the</strong> benefits <strong>of</strong> it.’<br />
‘Sorry to interrupt, your Highness, but where is <strong>the</strong> Somras produced?’<br />
‘It is produced at a secret location called Mount Mandar. The Somras powder is<br />
manufactured <strong>the</strong>re and <strong>the</strong>n distributed throughout <strong>the</strong> empire. At designated temples across<br />
Meluha, trained Brahmins mix it with water and o<strong>the</strong>r ingredients to administer it to <strong>the</strong><br />
population.’<br />
‘Alright,’ said Shiva.<br />
The Chandravanshis could not become as powerful as us since <strong>the</strong>y never had enough<br />
Somras. Eaten up by <strong>the</strong>ir jealousy, <strong>the</strong>y devised a devious way to destroy <strong>the</strong> Somras and<br />
hence us. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> key ingredients in <strong>the</strong> Somras is <strong>the</strong> waters <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Saraswati. Water from<br />
any o<strong>the</strong>r source does not work’ ‘Really? Why?’<br />
We don’t know my Lord. The scientists can’t explain it. But only <strong>the</strong> waters <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Saraswati<br />
will do. That is why, <strong>the</strong> Chandravanshis tried to kill <strong>the</strong> Saraswati to harm us.’<br />
‘Kill <strong>the</strong> river?’ asked Shiva incredulously.<br />
‘Yes my Lord!’ said Daksha, as his childlike eyes flared up at <strong>the</strong> Chandravanshi perfidy.<br />
‘The Saraswati comes from <strong>the</strong> confluence <strong>of</strong> two mighty rivers up north — <strong>the</strong> Sutlej and <strong>the</strong><br />
Yamuna. In <strong>the</strong> olden days, <strong>the</strong> course <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sutlej and Yamuna used to be neutral territory.<br />
Both <strong>the</strong> Chandravanshis and we visited <strong>the</strong> land to draw waters for <strong>the</strong> Somras.’<br />
‘But how did <strong>the</strong>y try to kill <strong>the</strong> Saraswati your Highness?’<br />
‘They diverted <strong>the</strong> course <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Yamuna so that instead <strong>of</strong> flowing south, it started flowing<br />
east to meet <strong>the</strong>ir main river, Ganga.’<br />
‘You can do that?’ asked Shiva in amazement. ‘Change <strong>the</strong> course <strong>of</strong> a river!’<br />
‘Yes, <strong>of</strong> course you can,’ answered Parvateshwar.<br />
‘We were livid,’ interjected Daksha. ‘But we still gave <strong>the</strong>m a chance to make amends for<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir duplicity’<br />
‘And?’<br />
‘What can you expect from <strong>the</strong> Chandravanshis, my Lord?’ said Daksha in disgust. They<br />
denied any knowledge <strong>of</strong> this. They claimed that <strong>the</strong> river made such a dramatic change in its<br />
course all by itself, due to some minor earthquake. And even worse, <strong>the</strong>y claimed that since <strong>the</strong><br />
river had changed course <strong>of</strong> its own accord, we Meluhans would simply have to accept what<br />
was essentially God’s will!’