all this in her transactions with society wants in return?’
‘Respect,’ answered Shiva.
‘Exactly!’ beamed the Pandit. ‘And what do you think you do when you try to protect such a
person?’ ‘Disrespect her.’
‘Absolutely! I know it comes naturally to you to want to protect any good person who
appears in need. But control that feeling in relation to Sati. Respect her. And she will feel
irresistibly drawn towards you. She gets many things from the people who love her. What she
doesn’t get is what she craves the most — respect.’
Shiva looked at the Pandit with a grateful smile. He had found his answer.
Respect.
After two weeks, the Neelkanth’s convoy reached the city of Karachapa at the confluence of
the Indus into the Western Sea. It was a glittering city which had long grown beyond the one
platform it was built on. The Dwitiya or second platform, had been erected fifty years ago on
an even grander scale than the first. The Dwitiya platform was where the Karachapa elite lived.
The Governor, a diminutive Vaishya called Jhooleshwar, had heard of and followed the new
tradition of receiving the Neelkanth outside the city.
Karachapa, with its hundred thousand citizens, was at its heart a frontier trading city.
Therefore it was an act of foresight by Lord Brahmanayak, Emperor Daksha’s father, to have
appointed a Vaishya as its governor over a hundred years ago. Jhooleshwar had ruled the city
extraordinarily well, gilding its fate in gold and was considered its wisest and most efficient
governor ever. Karachapa had long overtaken Lothal on the eastern part of the empire to
become Meluha’s premier city of commerce. While foreigners such as Mesopotamians and
Egyptians were allowed into this liberal city, they were not allowed to travel further into Meluha
without express royal permission.
Jhooleshwar escorted the Neelkanth on an excursion to the Western Sea on his very first
day in Karachapa. Shiva had never seen the sea and was fascinated by the near infinite
expanse of water. He spent many hours at the port where Jhooleshwar proudly expounded on
the various types of ships and vessels manufactured at the shipyard attached to the Karachapa
port. Brahaspati accompanied them to the port to check on the imports due for him from the
Mesopotamian merchants.
At the evening state dinner organised for Shiva, Jhooleshwar proudly announced that a
jagna, a ceremonial fire sacrifice, was being organised the next day in honour of the
Neelkanth, under the auspices of Lord Varun and the legendary Ashwini Kumar twins. The
Ashwini Kumar twins were celebrated ancient seafarers who had navigated ocean routes from
Meluha to Mesopotamia and beyond. Their maps, guidance and stories were a source of
inspiration and learning for this city of seamen.
After dinner, Shiva visited the chambers where Sati and Krittika were housed.
‘I was wondering,’ said Shiva, still careful with Sati since she had gone back to being formal
with him, ‘will you be coming to the yagna tomorrow?’
‘I am very sorry, Lord Neelkanth,’ said Sati courteously. ‘But it may not be possible for me to
attend the ceremony. I am not allowed to attend such yagnas.’