And the sun above it was the existing Suryavanshi symbol.To signify that this was a pact blessed by the gods, Lord Bharat got a mandate for the
pronunciation of this symbol as the holy word Aum.’
‘And then what happened?’
‘As expected, the pact died with the good king. Once the influence of Lord Bharat was gone,
the Chandravanshis were up to their old ways and the war began once again. The symbol was
forgotten. And the word Aum reverted to its original form of a word without a written
representation.’
‘But the symbol on the bracelet of this hooded man was not coloured. It was all black. And
the parts of the symbol didn’t look like lines to me. They looked like a drawing of three
serpents.’
‘Naga!’ exclaimed a shocked Nandi, before mumbling a soft prayer and touching his Rudra
pendant for protection.
‘Now who the bloody hell are the Nagas?’ asked Shiva.
‘They are cursed people, my Lord,’ gasped Nandi. ‘They are born with hideous deformities
because of the sins of their previous births. Deformities like extra hands or horribly misshapen
faces. But they have tremendous strength and skills. The Naga name alone strikes terror in any
citizen’s heart. They are not even allowed to live in the Sapt Sindhu.’
‘The Sapt Sindhu?’
‘Our land, my Lord, the land of the seven rivers. The land of the Indus, Saraswati, Yamuna,
Ganga, Sarayu, Brahmaputra and Narmada. This is where Lord Manu mandated that all of us,
Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis, live.’
Shiva nodded as Nandi continued. ‘The city of the Nagas exists to the south of the Narmada,
beyond the border of our lands. In fact, it is bad luck to even speak of them, my Lord!’
‘But why would a Naga attack me? Or any Meluhan for that matter?’
Cursing under his breath, Nandi said, ‘Because of the Chandravanshis! What levels have
these two-faced people sunk to? Using the demon Nagas in their attacks! In their hatred for us,