The Oath of the Vayuputras: Shiva Trilogy 3

Chapter 34

With the Help of Umbergaon

Shiva was ready to leave. His bags had been sent to his ship. He had ordered all his aides out of his chamber. He’d wanted a few minutes alone with Sati.

‘Bye,’ whispered Shiva.

She smiled and embraced him. ‘Nothing will happen to me, my good man! You will not get rid of me so easily.’

Shiva laughed softly, for Sati had used his own line on him. ‘I know. It was just an overreaction to a stupid nightmare.’

Shiva pulled Sati’s face up and kissed her affectionately. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’



A couple of weeks later Shiva and Gopal stood on a beach in a hidden lagoon, a short distance to the north of the Narmada delta. The small convoy of military ships had sneaked into the lagoon the previous night. Shiva and Gopal had disembarked into rowboats, along with a skeletal crew, and stolen onto the beach. Early next morning, the merchant ship that would take them to Pariha arrived in the lagoon.

‘Hmmm... good workmanship,’ said an admiring Shiva.

It was, without doubt, a bulky ship, obviously designed to carry large cargo. However, any sailor could judge that with its double masts, high stern and low bow, this craft was also built for speed. In addition, the ship had been rigged with two banks of oars, to allow for ‘human propulsion’ if required.

‘We won’t really need the rowers,’ said Gopal. ‘Our vessel will have the Northeasterly winds in its sails.’

‘Where is this beauty from?’ asked Shiva.

‘A small shipping village called Umbergaon.’

‘Umbergaon? Where is it?’

‘It’s to the south of the Narmada River delta.’

‘That’s not a part of any empire, Swadweep or Meluha.’

‘You guessed right, my friend. That makes it a perfect place to build ships that one doesn’t want tracked. The local ruler, Jadav Rana, is a pragmatic man. The Nagas have helped him many times. He values their friendship. And, most importantly, his people are expert ship builders. This ship will get us to Pariha as fast as is humanly possible.’

‘Interesting. We should be grateful for their invaluable help.’

‘No,’ said Gopal, smiling. ‘It is Pariha that should be grateful to Umbergaon, for the Umbergaonis have ensured that the gift of the Neelkanth shall reach Pariha.’

‘I’m no gift,’ said a discomfited Shiva.

‘Yes, you are. For you will help the Vayuputras achieve their purpose. You will help them fulfil their vow to Lord Rudra: to not let Evil win.’

Shiva remained silent, as always, embarrassed.

‘And I’m sure,’ continued a prescient Gopal, ‘that one day, Pariha too shall send a gift in return to Umbergaon.’



‘How’re you feeling now, my friend?’ asked Gopal, as soon as he entered Shiva’s cabin.

The vessel bearing the two men had been sailing in the open seas for a little more than a week. They were far beyond the coastline and unlikely to run into any Meluhan military ships. They’d run into choppy waters though, in the last few days. The sailors, used to the ways of the sea, were not really troubled by it. Neither was Gopal, who had travelled on these great expanses of water many times. But Shiva had undertaken a sea voyage just once, from the Narmada delta to Lothal, where the ship had stayed close to the coast. It was, therefore, no surprise that the rough sea had given the Neelkanth a severe bout of seasickness.

Shiva looked up from his bed and cursed, his eyes half shut. ‘I have no stomach left! It has all been churned out! A plague on these wretched waters!’

Gopal laughed softly, ‘It’s time for your medicines, Neelkanth.’

‘What’s the point, Panditji? Nothing stays inside!’

‘For whatever little time the medicine remains, it will serve a purpose. Take it.’

Gopal gently poured a herbal infusion into a wooden spoon. Balancing it delicately, the Chief Vasudev offered it to Shiva, who swallowed it quickly and fell back on the bed.

‘Holy Lake, help me,’ whispered Shiva, ‘let this medicine stay within me for a few minutes at least.’

But the prayer probably didn’t reach Mansarovar Lake in time. Shiva lurched to his side and retched into the large pot that had been placed on the ground. A sailor standing by the bed rushed forward quickly and handed a wet towel to Shiva, who wiped his face slowly.

Shiva shook his head and looked up at the ceiling of his cabin in disgust. ‘Crap!’



Bhrigu and Parvateshwar rode on horseback at the head of a massive army that had marched out of Devagiri. They were on their way to the Beas River, from which point, ships would sail them down to Karachapa.

‘I was thinking that the powerful fleet in Karachapa is not the only advantage derived from our decision to shift our war command,’ said Bhrigu.

Parvateshwar frowned. ‘What other benefit does it serve, My Lord?’

‘Well, there’s also the fact that you will not have to suffer idiotic orders from your emperor. You will be free to conduct the war the way you deem fit.’

It was obvious that Bhrigu held Daksha in contempt, and did not think much of his harebrained schemes. But Parvateshwar was too disciplined a Meluhan to speak openly against his emperor. He was stoic in his silence.

Bhrigu smiled. ‘You really are a rare man, General, a man of the old code. Lord Ram would have been proud of you.’



Aided by the Northeasterly winds pushing hard into its sails, the merchant ship was cutting through the waters with rapid speed. Having tossed and turned for a few days, Shiva had finally adapted to the sea. The Neelkanth was able, therefore, to enjoy the stiff morning breeze on the main deck at the bow, with Gopal for company.

‘We are now crossing over from our Western Sea, through a very narrow strait,’ said Gopal. ‘It’s just a little over fifty kilometres across.’

‘What’s on the other side?’ asked Shiva.

‘The Jam Zrayangh.’

‘Sounds scary. What in Lord Ram’s name does that mean?’

Gopal laughed. ‘Something absolutely benign. Zrayangh simply means sea in the local language.’

‘And what does Jam mean?’

‘Jam means “to come to”.’

‘To come to?’

‘Yes.’

‘So this is the “sea that you come to”?’

‘Yes, a simple name. This is the sea you must come to if you want to go to Elam or Mesopotamia or any of the lands farther west. But most importantly, this is the sea you must approach if you need to go to Pariha.’

‘I’ve heard of Mesopotamia. It has strong trade relations with Meluha, right?’

‘Yes. It’s a very powerful and rich empire, established between two great rivers in the region, the Tigris and the Euphrates.’

‘Is the empire bigger than Meluha and Swadweep?’

‘No,’ smiled Gopal. ‘It’s not even bigger than Meluha alone. But they believe human civilisation began in their region.’

‘Really? I thought we Indians believed that human civilisation began here.’

‘True.’

‘So, who’s right?’

Gopal shrugged. ‘I don’t know. This goes back many thousands of years. But frankly, does it matter who got civilised first so long as all of us eventually became civilised?’

Shiva smiled. ‘True. And where is Elam?’

‘Elam is a much smaller kingdom to the south-east of Mesopotamia.’

‘South-east?’ asked Shiva. ‘So, Elam is closer to Pariha?’

‘Yes. And Elam acts as a buffer state between Pariha and Mesopotamia, which is why the Parihans have occasionally helped the Elamites unofficially.’

‘But I thought Pariha never got involved in local politics.’

‘They try to avoid it. And most people in the region have not even heard of the Vayuputras. But they were concerned that an expanding Mesopotamia would encroach into their land.’

‘Expanding Mesopotamia?’

‘A gifted gardener had once conquered the whole of Mesopotamia.’

‘A gardener? How did a gardener become a warrior? Did he train in secret?’

Gopal smiled. ‘From what I’ve heard of the story, he wasn’t trained.’

Shiva’s eyes widened with amazement. ‘He must have been very gifted.’

‘Oh, he was talented. But not in gardening!’

Shiva laughed. ‘What was his name?’

‘Nobody knows his original name. But he called himself Sargon.’

‘And he conquered the whole of Mesopotamia?’

‘Yes, and surprisingly quickly at that. But it did not satiate his ambition. He went on to conquer neighbouring kingdoms as well, including Elam.’

‘That would have brought him to the borders of Pariha.’

‘Not exactly, my friend. But uncomfortably close.’

‘Why didn’t he move farther east?’

‘I don’t know. Neither he nor his successors did, though. But the Vayuputras were troubled enough to offer anonymous assistance to Elam. The Elamites were able to rebel because of this support, and the conquest of the Mesopotamians did not last for too long.’

‘King Sargon seems like a very interesting man.’

‘He was. He challenged the entire world, and even fate itself. He was so feisty that he dared to name his empire after the water-carrier who was his adopted father.’

‘His father was a water-carrier?’

‘Yes, named Akki. So they called themselves the Empire of the Akkadians.’

‘And does this empire still exist?’

‘No.’

‘That’s sad. I would have loved to meet these remarkable Akkadians.’

‘The people of Elam would have thought very differently, Lord Neelkanth.’



‘The soldiers are bored and restless,’ said Ganesh. ‘They have been mobilised, but there has been no action, no battle.’

Kartik and Ganesh had just entered Sati’s chamber and were happy to find Kali with their mother.

‘I was discussing just that, with didi,’ said Kali. ‘The men are spending their time gambling and drinking to keep themselves occupied. Training is suffering because they don’t see the point of it when there is hardly any chance of combat in the near future.’

‘This is the time when stupid incidents occur which can blow up into serious problems,’ said Sati.

‘Let’s keep them busy,’ suggested Kartik. ‘Let’s organise some animal hunts in the forests around the city. We know that the Meluhan army has still not moved out of Karachapa, so there is no risk in letting our soldiers out in large groups. Hunting will give them some sense of action.’

‘Good idea,’ agreed Kali. ‘We can also use the excess meat to organise feasts for the citizens of Lothal. It will help assuage some of their irritation with having to host such a large army.’

‘The excitement and the blood-rush will also prevent boredom from creeping into our troops,’ said Ganesh.

‘I agree,’ said Sati. ‘I’ll issue the orders immediately.’



It was nearly a month and a half since they had started their journey from the secret lagoon off the Narmada delta. Shiva’s ship came to anchor off a desolate coast on the Jam Sea. There didn’t seem to be any habitation of any kind at all; in fact it appeared as though this land had never been disturbed by humans. Shiva was not surprised. Just like the Vasudevs, the Vayuputras were secretive about their existence. He did not expect a welcoming port of landing. But he did expect some secret symbol, something like the emblematic Vasudev flame on the banks of the Chambal near Ujjain.

Then he thought he detected something. The coast was lined by a thick row of tall bushes, maybe three or four metres high. From the distance of the anchored ship, it seemed like these bushes had reddish-orange fruit hanging in abundance. The shrubs were covered with small dark-green leaves, except at the top, where it was bright red. These bright red leaves combined with the reddish-orange fruit to give the impression that the bush was on fire.

A burning bush...

Shiva immediately turned and began climbing the main mast, all the way up to the crow’s nest. Once there, the symbol became obvious. The bushes, when combined with the white sand and brownish rocks, came together to form a symbol that Shiva recognised only too well: Fravashi, the holy flame, the feminine spirit.

Shiva came down to find Gopal standing below.

‘Did you find something, my friend?’ asked Gopal.

‘I saw the holy flame; the pure being. I saw the Fravashi.’

Gopal was astonished at first, but not for long. ‘Of course! Lord Manobhu... He would have told you about Fravashi.’

‘Yes.’

‘It’s a symbol of the faith of Lord Rudra’s people. The Fravashi represents pure spirits, the angels. They exist in large numbers, their scriptures say in the tens of thousands. They send forth human souls into this world and support them in the eternal battle between Good and Evil. They are also believed to have assisted God in creating the universe.’

Shiva nodded. ‘The Vasudevs believe in the Fravashi as well, I assume.’

‘We respect the Fravashi. But it is a Parihan symbol.’

‘Then why do you have a Fravashi at the entrance to your land?’

Gopal frowned. ‘A Fravashi symbol? Where?’

‘At the clearing on the Chambal, from where we communicated with you through clapping signals.’

‘Oh!’ smiled Gopal, as understanding dawned upon him. ‘My friend, we have a symbolic fire as well. But we don’t call it Fravashi. We call it Agni, the God of Fire.’

‘But the symbol is almost exactly like the Fravashi.’

‘Yes, it is. I’m aware that the Parihans give enormous importance to fire rituals. So do we Indians. The first hymn of the first Chapter in the Rig Veda is dedicated to the Fire God, Agni. The importance of the element of fire is, I believe, common across all religions of the world.’

‘Fire is the beginning of human civilisation.’

‘It is the beginning of all life, my friend. It is the source of all energy. For one way of looking at the stars is to see them as great balls of fire.’

Shiva smiled.

A sailor walked up to the two men. ‘My Lords, the rowboat has been lowered. We are ready.’



The rowboat was a hundred metres from the coast when a tall man appeared from behind the bushes. He wore a long, brownish-black cloak and held what looked like a staff. Or, it could have been a spear. Shiva couldn’t be sure. He reached for his sword.

Gopal reached out to stay Shiva’s hand. ‘It’s all right, my friend.’

Shiva spoke without taking his eyes off the stranger. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, he is a Parihan. He has come to guide us.’

Shiva relaxed his grip on the sword, but kept his hand close to the hilt.

He saw the stranger reach into the bushes and tug at what looked like ropes. Shiva immediately caught his breath and reached for his sword once again.

To his surprise though, four horses emerged from behind the thick row of bushes. Three of them were not carrying anything, clearly ready for their new mounts. The fourth was loaded with a massive sack. Perhaps, it was carrying provisions. Shiva moved his hand away from his sword and let it relax.

The stranger was a friend.