‘And presumably they don’t, your Highness?’
‘No they don’t.’
‘Why?’
‘One simple word, my Lord,’ replied Daksha. ‘Jealousy. They hate our superior ways. Our
efficient family system is an eyesore to them. The fact that we take care of everyone in our
country makes them unhappy because they can’t take care of themselves. They lead sorry
lives. And rather than improving themselves, they want to pull us down to their level.’
‘I can understand. My tribe used to face a lot of jealousy in Mount Kailash since we had
control over the shore of the Mansarovar Lake and hence the best land in the region. But
sometimes I wonder if we could have avoided bloodshed if we had shared our good fortune
more willingly.’
‘But we do share our good fortune with those who wish it, my Lord. And yet, jealousy blinds
our enemies. The Chandravanshis realised that it was the Somras that guaranteed our
superiority. Funnily enough, even they have the knowledge of the Somras. But they have not
learnt to mass produce it like we do and hence haven’t reaped all the benefits of it.’
‘Sorry to interrupt, your Highness, but where is the Somras produced?’
‘It is produced at a secret location called Mount Mandar. The Somras powder is
manufactured there and then distributed throughout the empire. At designated temples across
Meluha, trained Brahmins mix it with water and other ingredients to administer it to the
population.’
‘Alright,’ said Shiva.
The Chandravanshis could not become as powerful as us since they never had enough
Somras. Eaten up by their jealousy, they devised a devious way to destroy the Somras and
hence us. One of the key ingredients in the Somras is the waters of the Saraswati. Water from
any other source does not work’ ‘Really? Why?’
We don’t know my Lord. The scientists can’t explain it. But only the waters of the Saraswati
will do. That is why, the Chandravanshis tried to kill the Saraswati to harm us.’
‘Kill the river?’ asked Shiva incredulously.
‘Yes my Lord!’ said Daksha, as his childlike eyes flared up at the Chandravanshi perfidy.
‘The Saraswati comes from the confluence of two mighty rivers up north — the Sutlej and the
Yamuna. In the olden days, the course of the Sutlej and Yamuna used to be neutral territory.
Both the Chandravanshis and we visited the land to draw waters for the Somras.’
‘But how did they try to kill the Saraswati your Highness?’
‘They diverted the course of the Yamuna so that instead of flowing south, it started flowing
east to meet their main river, Ganga.’
‘You can do that?’ asked Shiva in amazement. ‘Change the course of a river!’
‘Yes, of course you can,’ answered Parvateshwar.
‘We were livid,’ interjected Daksha. ‘But we still gave them a chance to make amends for
their duplicity’
‘And?’
‘What can you expect from the Chandravanshis, my Lord?’ said Daksha in disgust. They
denied any knowledge of this. They claimed that the river made such a dramatic change in its
course all by itself, due to some minor earthquake. And even worse, they claimed that since the
river had changed course of its own accord, we Meluhans would simply have to accept what
was essentially God’s will!’
singke
(singke)
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