Possibly in the hope of a grand unveiling of the secret, in the presence of Shiva himself.
‘My Lord.’
Shiva turned towards Parvateshwar. ‘Yes,’ he said in a, barely audible whisper.
‘I will lead the army out since the ceremonial march is over,’ said Parvateshwar. ‘They will
be stationed outside the city in the camp for the earlier contingent. I will be back at your service
within two hours.’
Shiva nodded faintly.
It had been a few hours since their arrival in Ayodhya. Shiva had not spoken a word. He
stood quietly at the window of his chamber, staring out at the city as the afternoon sun bore
down in its dazzling glory. Sati sat silently to his side, holding his hand, drawing all the energy
that she had and passing it to him. He continued to stare out, towards a grand structure right in
the heart of the city. The structure, from this distance, appeared to be built of white marble. For
an unfathomable reason, looking at it seemed to soothe Shiva’s soul. It was built upon the
highest point in the city, on a gently sloping hill, clearly visible from every part of Ayodhya. Shiva
thought it odd. Why was that building so important that it occupied the highest point in the city,
instead of the royal palace?
A loud insistent knocking disturbed his thoughts.
‘Who is it?’ growled Parvateshwar, rising from his chair at the back of the chamber.
‘My Lord,’ answered Nandi. ‘It is the Princess Anandmayi.’
Parvateshwar groaned softly before turning towards Shiva. The Neelkanth nodded.
‘Let her in, Nandi,’ ordered Parvateshwar.
Anandmayi entered, her smiling demeanour startling Parvateshwar who frowned in
suspicious surprise. ‘How may I help you, your Highness?’
‘I have told you so many times how you can help me, Parvateshwar,’ teased Anandmayi.
‘Perhaps if you listened to the answer rather than repeating the question again and again, we
may actually get somewhere.’
Parvateshwar ’s reaction was a combination of embarrassment and anger. Shiva smiled
weakly, for the first time in three weeks. For some reason, the fact that Anandmayi seemed to
have returned to her original self made Shiva happy.
Anandmayi turned towards Shiva with a low bow. ‘The truth has just come to me, my Lord. I
am sorry about my sullenness earlier. But I was deeply troubled at the time. Your being on the
side of the Suryavanshis can have only one of two explanations. Either we are evil. Or you are
not who we think you are and the legend is false. Accepting either of these explanations would
destroy my soul.’
Shiva looked at Anandmayi attentively.
‘But I realised only now,’ continued Anandmayi. The legend is not false. And we are
obviously not evil. It is just that you are too naive. You have been misled by the evil
Suryavanshis. I will set it right. I will show you the goodness of our path.’
‘We are not evil,’ glowered Parvateshwar.
‘Parvateshwar,’ sighed Anandmayi. ‘I have told you before. That lovely mouth of yours has
much better uses than talking. You shouldn’t waste your breath unnecessarily.’