A Severed Head and Puny Chains

1 years ago

proteeti

@sambhavami

After finding him on the beach, Yashoda had dragged Krishna to the guest quarters. She had washed his face with cool water and massaged oil into his scalp. She fed him rotis ladled with the butter she had churned out herself earlier in the day. Once the moon had travelled halfway through the sky, messengers had come bearing summons from Vasudeva and from Balarama, inviting Krishna to dinner. Yashoda had watched with secret elation as Krishna had turned them all down, in favour of her makeshift arrangements. They had then sat in the balcony overlooking the sparkling ocean, quietly watching the waves ebb and rise.

Eventually, Krishna had fallen asleep on her bed. Yashoda had sat on the couch nearby, staring at his sleeping form. She could not fall asleep as Krishna's previous laments swelled in her mind. While she didn't dare to sit at his head, lest she woke him from a much-needed bout of rest, she did notice how exhausted he looked even in slumber, his eyeballs racing around underneath his closed eyelids. As he tossed and turned in darkness, Yashoda carefully adjusted the throw blanket around him, occasionally running her fingers through his disheveled curls.

Near midnight, Krishna woke up with a jolt. Yashoda, who had dozed off on the couch, sat up straight. Krishna had woken up sweaty, clearly from a nightmare. She settled beside him, gently caressing his hair while clasping his palms tightly in hers. "What's the time?" He asked groggily, "I will return to my chambers. I've bothered you enough."

Yashoda sighed, recognizing the finality of his tone. Once Krishna made up his mind, no one could convince him otherwise. She watched as he gathered his sword and uttariya and marched out of the room. She sighed. How different was this Krishna from the young boy that had been snatched from her! Her Krishna had never bothered with propriety or even basic societal rules. He was his own master, the one who lit up every room he was in! This Krishna, she found, was more cautious, more compliant, a man grieving and broken.

---

Krishna walked aimlessly through the palace corridors, careful not to wake up the sleeping guards at first. Then, he turned back in disdain. The guards that were in charge of protecting his family at night, were themselves asleep. Was it not his lax attitude towards his servants was the sole reason that demon Shambara was able to enter his private chambers and take his firstborn? Snatching the baby right from the arms of his exhausted wife, who had lain asleep, completely defenceless that fateful afternoon! Krishna felt a rare surge of anger rise through his body. He struck his sheathed sword loudly against a sizable drum that lay at the far end of the corridor. Immediately, all guards jolted awake from their slumber and assumed their positions clumsily.

"What do I pay you fools for?" He said, in a low, but carrying voice that reverberated through the long hall. It was that voice that sent chills down the spine of all listening, "If I ever see any one of you sleeping while on duty, ever again, I swear on everything that's precious to me, you will not live to see another sunrise." He finished, turning to look each of the guards in the eye.

As his reverberating words drew to a close, a quiet jingle reached his ears. He turned to see Rukmini standing silently under the doorway of her chamber. Her eyes were red and swollen, but she was not crying. Lowering her gaze after a moment, she disappeared into the dark room just as she had appeared. Krishna mentally cursed himself for waking her up alongside the guards. Turning to glare at the guards one last time, he hurried into Rukmini's chambers.

"I apologize, Vaidarbhi! I did not mean to wake you up." Krishna pleaded into the darkness, while his eyes adjusted, "Will someone please light a lamp," He called out. A couple of maidservants scurried in to light the lamps around the room. As light poured into the room, Krishna found Rukmini seated in silence, near the empty crib. Krishna felt like someone had torn his heart out. Rukmini's face was expressionless, but as she looked up slowly to look at her husband, her doe-like eyes betrayed her grief-stricken anger.

Krishna sat down on the floor, cautiously putting an arm around Rukmini. To his surprise, unlike several other times, she did not protest. Krishna whispered, "I tried my best, Vaidarbhi. The parliament refused to release any more funds for the search." Krishna could feel his wife's shoulder tense up. He continued quietly, "But I have every one of my personal spies looking for that demon Shambara. Believe me, he will not escape me once I find him! I will avenge our Pradyumna." Rukmini shirked off his hand as she went to stand by the balcony.

Krishna sighed. Rukmini was his chief wife, but she was also the youngest. This was part of the reason why Krishna had always felt a greater sense of responsibility towards her. Jambavati and Satyabhama were both far more independent and had huge, happy families surrounding them. It was only Rukmini who had left behind everything that she knew and loved without a single thought, trusting nothing but hearsay. Krishna had always harboured a pang of guilt for snatching her away from her father and brothers. The thought that he had let her down once again, and made her lose another precious piece of her heart, would haunt his nightmares. He understood her anger but also longed to be understood. Doesn't she understand his grief? He also lost his one and only child!

He laid his head upon her shoulder as he embraced her, enclosing her palms in his. She did not resist. The moon shined cruelly down upon them, as the uncaring ocean kept thrashing in the backdrop of the golden city that turned sans mercy.

---

At dawn, as Krishna walked along the beach to his usual spot to perform his morning worship, an informer stopped him in his tracks, sweaty from a long run. Krishna's sighed in annoyance but signalled at him to speak nevertheless. "My Lord," panted the informant, "I have news. The demon Shambara has been slain!"

Krishna could not hide his surprise as he turned to face the messenger, "What?!" He exclaimed, "By whom?"

"A young boy, barely a teen! He lives with an older lady by the beach on the mainland up north."

"How did a young boy manage to kill such a valiant demon? Are you sure he killed the Shambara and is not trying to trick us for a reward or something?"

"No sir! He has situated himself in front of the parliament from the middle of the night, holding the severed head of Shambara! He says he will leave only after he is allowed to submit the demon's head at the feet of her grace the princess Rukmini! Several guards have tried to remove him, but he seems to be able to hold his own in battle against all of them! They say his mother is Mayavati, the black magician, maybe she helped him kill the demon!"

"Why was I not informed of this before?" Krishna asked, his eyebrows now contorted in a mixture of curiosity and irritation, "How is it that a teenager is able to locate and kill a demon faster than seven hundred highly-trained royal informants?" Krishna shook his head even as he started to walk back towards the city, barking orders at the attendants in his path, "Inform brother Rama to come down to the parliament house at once and call for Narada. I hope you will find him at least before the pralaya swallows us all!" He stopped abruptly in his tracks, "And make sure devi Rukmini is not disturbed by this news. I shall let her know myself when the time is right."

---

Reaching the parliament building Krishna found the rest of the members standing around in the street. As he approached, the crowd parted to make way for him. Before him, Krishna found a dark-skinned young boy who stood blocking the door to the parliament. It was unusual, since not many adults in the kingdom could hold their own in front of the entirety of their government, much less a teen. His plain, torn clothes were bloodstained, and a tall bow hung from his shoulders. In his hands were an unsheathed sword and a severed bloodied head. His eyes were bright, and his stance defiant. For a split second, Krishna saw himself from almost a yuga before, standing defiant before the tyrant king Kamsa, holding a bloodied elephant tusk upon his shoulders, his right foot upon the neck of a dead royal wrestler.

Krishna's trance was broken by a familiar hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Balarama standing beside him, holding his famous mace. With a slight indication, Krishna stopped Balarama from advancing. He unsheathed his own sword and spoke directly to the boy standing before them, "I do not wish to fight you, boy! If you want peace, then on the count of three we shall both drop our weapons." The boy nodded cautiously.

The moment the boy dropped his sword, a group of guards captured him at Krishna's command. "That is not fair, I helped you!" The boy screamed, pointing at Krishna's sword, still secure in his hand, struggling against his captors.

"Life rarely is," sighed Krishna and indicated to the guards to carry the boy into the parliament house. Once all members were inside, the door of the parliament was sealed shut, and at Krishna's indication, the guards released the boy. Krishna sat down beside Balarama with his sword still unsheathed. The boy stood quietly, understanding his predicament.

"Who are you, and how dare you create this ruckus in the middle of the town square?" Roared Kritavarma. The boy seemed to recoil for a moment, but he did not move from his place.

"I'm nobody. I came to help out the royal family of Dwarika since they seem to be unable to help themselves!" The boy replied, still defiant in his tone. Balarama, leapt from his seat in anger, but Krishna pulled him back.

"What gave you that impression?" Krishna asked with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"A demon defiled the sanctity of your private chambers and insulted both you and the mother Rukmini by taking and murdering your child. Yet, I didn't find the entire Yadava army marching down our village seeking revenge. I felt like the women of our land deserved better, so I went and did what had to be done!" Krishna was taken slightly by surprise. Just the previous day, he had stood in this very room, arguing the same points in vain, and yet this young man had the courage to go out and just do what needed to be done!

Meanwhile, the entire group of parliamentarians had broken into chaotic conversation, their recommendations ranging from steep prizes to death penalties. "QUIET!" The room fell silent as Balarama's powerful voice reverberated against the marble walls. "What do you want from us?" He asked the boy.

"As I've been saying for the past six hours, I want to meet mother Rukmini and present her with this severed head of the demon that took her child from her!" The boy declared.

Krishna took a long breath, to quiet his screaming heart. Then he spoke to the boy directly, "I agree with you that a grave injustice has been done to devi Vaidarbhi. I thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of my family for avenging our Pradyumna, the light of our lives. However, I must beseech you to consider if this gory display is the best thing to gift a grieving woman who has just lost her one and only child anew today, his passing marked in stone with your appearance."

The boy lowered his head, seemingly reconsidering his position for the first time. The entire sabha had also fallen silent, with each and every member pondering, maybe for the first time, the human response to the tragedy.

Suddenly the quiet of the room was broken by the clanking of castanets as Rishi Narada entered the parliament sabha. Krishna nodded slightly as the junior ministers quickly jumped to their feet, making way for the jovial ascetic. Once seated, Narada spoke, "Hello Krishna! Your attendants were kind enough to pick me up without any prior message, from an acquaintance's ashram in Prabhasa, and drag my old body down here atop a horse!"

Krishna smirked at the veiled complaint, "Let's not get into all that now, Devarshi." He continued pleasantly, "Currently, the matter of most urgency is this extremely confident young man."

The boy broke into a big smile on cue, right as he was mentioned. Krishna raised an eyebrow at Balarama, who shrugged back in response, "Well, don't pretend you wouldn't do the same!" He whispered to his younger brother.

Narada laughed at the brothers' quiet exchange. Shaking his head, he turned to address the congregation, "Gentlemen! This young man right here is none other than Manmatha! I have named him thus myself. His parents had both perished at his birth, and the kind lady Mayavati has nurtured and educated him since. Deeply devoted to both Lord Krishna and his consort devi Rukmini, he might have committed a few blunders in his haste to seek revenge on behalf of his idols. This brings me to my primary concern. A divine ordinance has been received by several esteemed rishis, including myself. The demon Shambara must perish at the hands of Pradyumna, the son of Prince Krishna and devi Rukmini. This was the same ordinance that Shambara attempted to defy when he kidnapped the newborn prince. Now, as it stands this ordinance has been proven wrong by young Manmatha."

Balarama drew a sharp breath, "So, now the credibility of all rishis is compromised!" Narada nodded seriously.

"So what now?" Asked Satrajit, as other ministers shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Challenging tradition had never been welcome in this community or their contemporaries. To allow the news of this broken ordinance to travel across kingdoms could spell international disaster. Other ministers and princes also joined Satrajit in requesting a solution from the famed rishi in attendance.

Narada smiled, "Simple. This is a closed chamber, I am an ordained priest. Let the Prince and Princess adopt this lad at this moment, within the confines of this sabha, and let him be known hereafter as the lost Prince Pradyumna that has returned home by God's grace."

"Are you kidding me?!" Krishna spoke before anyone could react, "I haven't even had a single day to process the fact that my child is dead, my wife has no clue whatsoever of this whole mess here, and you seriously expect us to just replace our firstborn?!"

Narada spoke calmly, "Think it over, my prince." 

Krishna smiled briefly as the rishi invoked his favourite nickname for Krishna. Even in Gokula, when he had lived a simple cowherd, Narada had always addressed him as 'his prince', much to the confusion of his peers. It had started as a way for Narada to acknowledge the secret of his birth, while not making a secret of the soft spot he had always harboured for the young Krishna. Now, while he was ticked off by the rishi's unconventional solution, Krishna did comprehend its necessity.

Narada implored, "You are smart enough to know why I propose this. Your life is much too important to be tied to simple familial emotions. Shirk off these feeble chains, my prince, and do what is right!" Narada leaned closer, hovering over Krishna as he continued in a hushed tone, "An entire generation looks to you, my prince. You will succeed at your final mission only with true friends at your side because you and I both know family doesn't work out. Look around you, which of these uncles and cousins, your blood relatives, are truly on your side? You know which ones will stab you in the back, and the ones that are circling you and your wives like hyenas. Trust me, you do not need young Manmatha as your enemy. He can defeat even Lord Kartikeya in battle, and as it stands now he will gladly give his life if you so command. Think twice before you reject him!"

Out of the corner of his eyes, Krishna looked at the young boy who still stood holding the severed head of the demon. He was clearly rattled by the abrupt turn of events. Krishna spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, "I shall accept only if devi Rukmini also chooses to accept young Manmatha as her firstborn and the heir to the throne."