Kaustubh: When Rama’s Arrows Misfired !

IT WAS A WILD, RAGING BATTLE SCENE, SPEARS WERE FLINGING FROM ONE END TO ANOTHER AND CHARRIOTS WERE FLYING THE SKY ENGULFING THE FIELDS INTO A STORM OF DUST. 

SOLDIERS BLEEDING WITH THEIR WAILING SHRIEKS IS ALL THAT YOU HEARD.

THERE WAS THIS ONE MAN WHO WAS DOMINATIING THE ENTIRE BATTLE FIELD . HE LEAPED, RAN AND SHOT ARROWS. OF COURSE IT WAS THE ALL POWERFUL RAMA, THE GREAT!

N THE MELLE OF THE BATTELFIELD AND IN THE HOUR OF THE EARLY DUSK WITH THE DARK CLOUDS ALL OVER THE SAD GREY SKY,  AN ARROW SWIFTLY MADE ITS MARK AND PIERCED THROUGH THE RIGHT SHOULDER OF RAMA. 

HE WAS IN PAIN, DEEP PAIN. HE SWUNG HIS SHOULDER IN DEEP GREIVANCE. 

HE KNEELED DOWN AS IF A HUNGRY LION HAD BEENCORNERED. SEETHING WITH ANGER OF RETALIATION AN EMOTION VERY UNFAMILIAR TO RAMA, HE DREW AN ARROW FROM HIS QUIVER, THE MOST POWERFUL ASTRA THAT HIS GURU HAD HANDED HIM AS A FINAL PARTING LESSON, AND CAUTIONED TO NEVER EVER USE. HE PULLED THE STRING OF HIS BOW WITH FORCE SO LARGE AND FIRED. THE SKYS THUNDERD, THE BIRDS, ANIMALS MOANED AND ONE AND ALL ON THE FIELD DROPPED ALL THEIR ARMS TERRIFIED AND DISMAYED WITH WHAT THEY WERE TO WITNESS.

RAMA THE HERO OF SATYUGA WAS THE EMBODIMENT OF ALL NOBLE QUALITIES; KINDNESS, GOODNESS AND PURITY, HAD IN THAT MOMENT UNRAVELLED THE AGE THAT WAS TO COME; ANGER, MALICE, GREED – THE AGE OF KALIYUGA.

RAMA KNEW THAT THE ARROW THAT HE HAD FIRED HAD MISSED ITS MARK. THE ARROW SOARED AND DID NOT TAKE THE NAME OF STOPPING. THE ARROW RIPPED ACROSS ALL THE LAYERS OF THE UNIVERSE AND TOOK SIGHT OF THE BLACK HOLE. IT CRACKED IT OPEN AS IF IT WERE AN EGG. THE BIG BANG THAT ENSUED GAVE BIRTH TO A NEW ERA. THE ERA OF COMPETITION, POSSESSION, MATERIALISM. THE KALIYUGA THE DARK AGES SUCKED INTO IT THE ERA OF TRUTH, SATYUGA .

THE ARROW WAS LIKE A PARENT OF THE KALIYUGA .

RAMA HAD A GLANCE OF THE SKY FOR A SECOND AND KNEW SOMETHING WAS HORRIBLY WRONG . THE AIR HAD A PUNGENT AND SUFFOCATING SMELL TO IT AND THE PITCH BLACK SKY WHIRLED OVER THEIR HEADS. 

HE KNEW HE SET THE DICE. HE HAD GIVEN WAY TO THE NEW AGE. HE HAD TO FINISH THIS WAR AND WRAP THE SATYUGA TO LET THE NEW ERA SETTLE IN . 

RAMA BLEW THE CONCH AND SIGNALLED TO ACCEPT DEFEAT.

A MORAL DEFEAT.

HE HAD NOT ONLY LOST A WAR, HE HAD LOST AN ENTIRE ERA !