Ashwatthama's Redemption : The Rise of Dandak by Gunjan Porwal

Author:Gunjan Porwal [Gunjan Porwal]
Language: eng
Format: epub

The Bow of Lord Rama

All of them took a deep breath. They had come a long way. They wandered about, hoping to find the bow, but the peak had nothing to offer, except snow.

‘All right! We are at the top of the peak now. But, apparently there is no bow,’ Rana said, his voice shaking.

‘I don’t know. It should have been here. Let us search again,’ Vikram replied, visibly nervous.

Had they climbed the wrong mountain?

They started examining the rocks for any sign or clue. Rana and Urmila started clearing the snow, expecting to find the bow buried somewhere. However, even after a thorough search of the area, they could find nothing.

Vikram shook with cold and fear.

What if the legend was a myth? What if there really was no bow? And he had led them to the top of the world, in extreme weather, with no hope, whatsoever, of their return.

It was nearing dusk. Soon, the sun would seek refuge behind the mountains, leaving them in absolute darkness.

‘Is anything else written in the scroll, any other clue?’ Ashwatthama frowned.

‘I could not find anything else,’ Vikram replied, taking out the scroll, and looking at it again. He held it tight to prevent it from flying away in the strong, icy wind.

All of them gathered around Vikram. The familiar words were read out again:

Where the earth touches the sky,

In the dark of the day;

Shall the divine bow be found,

When the part of Trinity shall say.

Kept in the shadows by the twin,

Found with words of total faith.

‘I have read it a million times, but could not find any deeper meaning,’ Vikram rued. ‘We discussed this before in Hastinapur too, remember?’

‘It says, kept in the shadows . I am presuming it is buried in snow. But, we have already searched several times over. How deep do we dig?’ Rana wondered aloud.

They looked at the snow around them. Vikram was disturbed and his face bore a grim expression. Not finding the bow meant they would have to return the following morning. They couldn’t extend the stay because of lack of sufficient resources. Returning empty-handed was equal to embracing defeat.

Darkness descended. They decided to camp on the plateau itself, because climbing down in the dark was dangerous. They drank some more of the decoction. It sent a surge of warmth in their bodies. Urmila lit the fuel-powered, high-altitude torches and placed them at strategic corners. The light was enough for them to see each other. They were all shivering, unsure whether they would survive the night.

Slowly, the glorious moon illuminated the night sky. The stars shone bright. Urmila gazed at the sky. She had never seen so many stars.

Dispirited, they all sat in silence, mulling over the prospect of defeat. Ashwatthama looked around. He was surrounded by darkness. Except a peak at a distance, nothing else was visible. The other peak was shining in the moonlight. It seemed not more than a mile away from where they had camped. He kept staring at the other peak.

‘Show me the scroll again,’ Ashwatthama held out his hand.

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