and deeply believed in the concept of karma being carried over many births. He mumbled
sofdy, ‘It’s the law, my Lord...’
‘Well, to be honest, it sounds like a rather unfair law to me.’
Nandi’s crestfallen face showed that he was profoundly disappointed that Shiva did not
understand such a fundamental concept about Meluha. But he also kept his counsel for fear of
opposing what Shiva said. After all, Shiva was his Lord.
Seeing a dejected Nandi, Shiva patted him gendy on the back. ‘Nandi, that was just my
opinion. If the law works for your people, I am sure there must be some logic to it. Your society
might be a litde strange at times, but it has some of the most honest and decent people I have
ever met.’
As a smile returned almost instantly to Nandi’s face, his whole being was overcome by his
immediate problem. His debilitating hunger! He entered the restaurant as a man on a mission,
with Shiva chuckling softly behind.
A short distance away on the main road, the procession of vikarma women walked silently
on. They were all draped in long angvastrams which were dyed in the holy blue colour. Their
heads were bowed low in penitence, their puja thalis or prayer plates full of offerings to Lord
Agni. The normally quiet market street became almost deathly silent as the pitiful women
lumbered by. At the centre of the procession, unseen by Shiva, with her head bowed low,
draped in a blue angvastram that covered her from head to toe, her face a picture of resigned
dignity, trudged the forlorn figure of Sati.
‘So where were we, my Lord?’ said Daksha, as Shiva and Nandi setded down in his private
office the next morning.
‘We were about to discuss the changes that Lord Ram brought about, your Highness. And
how he defeated the rebellion of the renegade Brahmins,’ answered Shiva.
‘That’s right,’ said Daksha. ‘Lord Ram did defeat the renegade Brahmins. But in his view, the
core problem went deeper. It wasn’t just an issue of some Brahmins who did not follow the
code. The problem was a conflict between a person’s natural karma and what society forced
him to do.’
‘I didn’t understand your Highness.’
‘If you think about it, what was the essential problem with the renegade Brahmins? Some of
them wanted to be Kshatriyas and rule. Some of them wanted to be Vaishyas, make money
and live a life of luxury. However, their birth confined them to being Brahmins.’
‘But I thought that Lord Brahma had decreed that people became Brahmins through a
competitive examination process,’ said Shiva.
‘That is true my Lord. But over time this process of selection lost its fairness. Children of
Bralimins became Brahmins. Children of Kshatriyas became Kshatriyas and so on. The formal
system of selection soon ceased to exist. A father would ensure that his children got all the
resources and support needed to grow up and become a member of his own caste. So the
caste system became rigid.’
‘So did that also mean that there could have been a person talented enough to be a Brahmin
but if he was born to Shudra parents, he would not get the opportunity to become a Brahmin?’