and the commerce being conducted, the street was not bursting with noise. None of the
shopkeepers came out to scream and advertise their wares. The customers spoke softly and in
an unfailingly polite manner, even if they were bargaining.
These well-mannered idiots would not be able to get any business done in our boisterous
mountain market!
Shiva, lost in his thoughts about the strange practices of the Meluhans, did not hear the
announcement of the town crier till he was almost right behind him.
‘Procession of vikarma women. Please move!’
A surprised Shiva turned around to find a tall Meluhan Kshatriya looking down at him. ‘Would
you like to move aside, sir? A procession of vikarma women needs to pass for their prayers.’
The crier ’s tone and demeanour was unquestionably courteous. But Shiva was under no
illusions. The crier was not asking Shiva to move. He was telling him. Shiva stepped back to let
the procession pass as Nandi touched him gendy on his arm.
‘I have found a good restaurant, my Lord,’ said an ecstatic Nandi. ‘One of my favourites.
And his kitchen is going to run for at least an hour more. A lot of food to stuff ourselves with!’
Shiva laughed out loud. ‘It’s a wonder that just one restaurant can actually make enough
food to satisfy your hunger!’
Nandi laughed along good naturedly as Shiva patted his friend on the back.
As they turned and walked into the lane, Shiva asked, ‘Who are vikarma women?’
‘Vikarma people, my Lord,’ said Nandi sighing deeply, ‘are people who have been punished
in this birth for the sins of their previous birth. Hence they have to live this life out with dignity
and tolerate their present sufferings with grace. This is the only way they can wipe their karma
clean of the sins of their previous births. Vikarma men have their own order of penance and
women have a different order.’
‘There was a procession of vikarma women on the road we just left. Is their puja a part of
the order?’ asked Shiva.
‘Yes, my Lord. There are many rules that the vikarma women have to follow. They have to
pray for forgiveness every month to Lord Agni, the purifying Fire God, through a specifically
mandated puja. They are not allowed to marry since they may poison others with their bad fate.
They are not allowed to touch any person who is not related to them or is not part of their
normal duties. There are many other conditions as well that I am not completely aware of. If
you are interested, we could meet up with a Pandit at the Agni temple later and he could tell
you all about vikarma people.’
‘No, I am not interested in meeting the Pandit right now,’ said Shiva with a smile. ‘He might
just bore me with some very confusing and abstruse philosophies! But tell me one thing. Who
decides that the vikarma people had committed sins in their previous birth?’
‘Their own karma, my Lord,’ said Nandi, his eyes pointing at the obvious. ‘For example if a
woman gives birth to a still born child, why would she be punished thus unless she had
committed some terrible sin in her previous birth. Or if a man suddenly contracts an incurable
disease and gets paralysed, why would it happen to him unless the universe was penalising him
for the sins of his previous life.’
‘That sounds pretty ridiculous to me. A woman could have given birth to a still born child
simply because she did not take proper care while she was pregnant. Or it could just be a
disease. How can anyone say that she is being punished for the sins of her previous birth?’
Nandi, shocked by Shiva’s opinion, struggled to find words to respond. He was a Meluhan
singke
(singke)
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