‘When in Lord Agni’s name will we fight back? We should attack their country!’ snarled a
visibly angry Nandi.
‘I swear by Lord Indra, if I ever find one of these Chandravanshi terrorists, I will cut his body
into minute pieces and feed it to the dogs,’ growled Jattaa, clenching his fists tight.
‘Jattaa! We are followers of the Suryavanshis. We cannot even think of barbaric warfare
such as that!’ said Nandi.
‘Do the terrorists follow the rules of war when they attack us? Don’t they kill unarmed men?’
‘That does not mean that we can act the same way, Captain. We are Meluhans!’ said Nandi
shaking his head.
Jattaa did not counter Nandi. He was distracted by Shiva still waiting at a distance. ‘Is he
with you?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘He doesn’t wear a caste amulet. Is he a new immigrant?’
‘Yes.’ replied Nandi, getting uncomfortable answering questions about Shiva.
‘And you’re going to Devagiri?’ asked an increasingly suspicious Jattaa, looking harder
towards Shiva’s throat. ‘I’ve heard some rumours coming from Srinagar...’
Nandi interrupted Jattaa suddenly. ‘Thank you for your help, Captain Jattaa.’
Before Jattaa could act on his suspicions, Nandi quickly climbed the platform, mounted his
horse and rode towards Shiva. Reaching quickly, he said, ‘We should leave, my Lord.’
Shiva wasn’t listening. He was perplexed once again as he saw the proud Captain Jattaa on
his knees. Jattaa was looking directly at Shiva with his hands folded in a respectful namaste.
He appeared to be mumbling something very quickly. Shiva couldn’t be sure from that distance,
but it seemed that the Captain was crying. He shook his head and whispered, ‘Why?’
‘We should go, my Lord,’ repeated Nandi, a litde louder.
Shiva turned to him, nodded and kicked his horse into action.
Shiva looked to his left as he rode on the straight road, observing Nandi goading his valiant
horse along. He turned around and was not surprised to see his three bodyguard soldiers riding
at exactly the same distance as before. Not too close, and yet, not too far. He glanced back at
Nandi, suspicious that the jewellery Nandi wore was not merely ornamental. He wore two
amulets on his thick right arm. The first one had some symbolic lines which Shiva could not
fathom. The second one appeared to have an animal etching. Probably a bull. One of his gold
chains had a pendant shaped like a perfectly circular sun with rays streaming outwards. The
other pendant was a brown, elliptical seed-like object with small serrations all over it.
‘Can you tell me the significance of your jewellery or is that also a state secret?’ teased
Shiva.
‘Of course I can, my Lord,’ replied Nandi earnestly. He pointed at the first amulet that had
been tied around his massive arm with a silky gold thread. This is the amulet which represents
my caste. The lines drawn on it are a symbol of the shoulders of the Parmatma, the almighty.
This means that I am a Kshatriya.’
‘I am sure there are clearly codified guidelines for representing the other castes as well.’
‘Right you are, my Lord. You are exceptionally intelligent.’