war. I had heard of a diplomatic mission from Mesopotamia coming in two days ago. Then why
not have this with Swadweep as well?’
‘You don’t know them, my Lord. They are untrustworthy people. No follower of the
Suryavanshi way will dirty his soul by even speaking to a Chandravanshi willingly’
Shiva frowned but didn’t say anything.
‘You don’t know the levels they have sunk to my Lord. Over the previous few years they
have even started using the cursed Nagas in their terrorist attacks on us!’ said Kanakhala, with
a disgusted look.
‘Terrorist attacks?’
‘Yes, my Lord,’ said Daksha. Their defeat kept them quiet for many decades. And because
of our overwhelming victory in the previous war, they believe that they cannot overpower us in
an open confrontation. So they have resorted to a form of assault that only repulsive people like
them could turn to. Terrorist attacks.’
‘I didn’t understand. What exactly do they do?’
‘They send small bands of assassins who launch surprise attacks on non-military but public
places. Their idea is to attack non-combatants — the Brahmins, Vaishyas or Shudras. They try
to devastate places like temples, public baths — areas where there may not be soldiers to fight
back — but whose destruction will wreck the empire’s morale and spread terror.’
‘That’s disgusting! Even the Pakratis in my land, a bunch of complete barbarians, would not
do that,’ said Shiva.
‘Yes,’ said Parvateshwar. ‘These Chandravanshis don’t fight like men. They fight like
cowards!’
‘Then why don’t you attack their country? Finish this once and for all.’
‘We would like to my Lord,’ said Daksha. ‘But I am not sure we can defeat them.’
Shiva observed Parvateshwar seething silendy at the insult to his army, before turning
towards Daksha. ‘Why, your Highness? You have a well trained and efficient force. I am sure
your army can defeat them.’
‘Two reasons, my Lord. Firsdy, we are outnumbered. We were outnumbered even a
hundred years back. But not by a very significant margin. But today, we estimate that they have
a population of more than eighty million compared to our eight million. They can throw a much
larger army at us — their sheer numbers will cancel out our technological superiority.’
‘But why should your population be less? You have people who live beyond the age of two
hundred years! Your population should be higher.’
‘Sociological causes, my Lord,’ said Daksha. ‘Our country is rich. Children are a matter of
choice, more than a duty. Parents would adopt children from the Maika system in small
numbers, may be one or two, so that they could devote more attention on their upbringing.
Fewer and fewer mothers are giving birth at Maika as well. In Swadweep, for the poor, children
are bonded labour to supplement a family’s income. The more children they have, the less poor
the family. So that country as a whole has a far larger population.’
‘And the second reason for avoiding war?’
The second reason is something that is under our control. We fight with “rules of war”. With
norms and ethics. The Chandravanshis do nothing like that. And I fear that this is a weakness in
us that our ruthless enemies can exploit.’
‘Rules of war?’ asked Shiva.
‘Yes. For example, we will not attack an unarmed man. A superior armed person like a
singke
(singke)
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