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5 Pataliputra, Acharya Brihaspati’s Ashram

The shimmering rays of the morning sun lit up the horizon, signalling the end of darkness and yet another night. A new day dawned over the city of Pataliputra. By the banks of the river Ganga, the vast ashram of Acharya Brihaspati had witnessed the first stirrings of action. At the crack of dawn, the young disciples, mainly boys in their early and late teenage years, had finished their sandhya ritual by the river bank. Post the morning ritual, the disciples busied themselves with the preparations for the Sudarshana Yagya. It had been only a few days since the strange events. Even though the ashram had limped back to its settled routine since that day, Acharya, disturbed by the recent events, decided to conduct this homa, a ritual sacrifice to please the Gods. Acharya and Guruma had woken up, as always, in the third prahara of the night and finished their morning ablutions, rituals, and prayers. While every day some yagya and pooja was always performed, this Sudarshana homa was at a larger, grander scale and a departure from the usual. It was a propitiation to the Lord Sudarshana of Vishnu’s chakra to pray for the safety and protection of one and all.

A few disciples readied the homakunda, the sacrificial altar, decorating it with intricate designs and rangolis. Among these was Shyamal. As one of the most senior disciples and also the oldest, he stood near the homakunda, supervising the activities and directing the boys. Others had gone to collect the samagri, ingredients required—logs of wood, darba grass and sandalwood to be laid them in the precinct and jars of ghee to be poured in the agni. And some disciples were in the common kitchen area, helping with the preparation of sweetmeats and delicacies as offerings.

As Shyamal stood, overseeing the younger boys who were laying down sandalwood near the homakunda in the inner circle, Devi Rajyasri, clad in a simple antariya and cholukayet looking incandescent, walked up to him. “Pranaam, Arya! I am looking for Gurudev and Guruma. A little girl whom I met near the atithigriha told me that you might know.”

At the sound of her soft, lilting voice, Shyamal found himself skipping a heartbeat. Better sense prevailed and he managed to respond, without looking at her, in a clipped tone. “Suprabhatam, devi! Gurudev is in the temple for the pooja before the yagya. Guruma, if not at the temple, will be in the inner precincts of the ashram, conducting yoga Abhyasa for the younger disciples. Is there anything I can help you with?”

After blurting out the answer, an undisguised flicker of irritation flashed across his face. Shyamal was irritated with himself. The presence of the beautiful courtesan, Devi Rajyasri, who had stayed on as a guest in the atithigriha, had been bothering him. Not that he would admit it to himself or anyone else. Thoroughly charmed by her grace and beauty, she intruded into his thoughts when he least expected it. All against the vows of brahmacharya that he had sworn by.

Moreover, Shyamal was not stupid enough to think that his infatuation, if it could be called that, was in any way reciprocated. Another thing bothering him was that she didn’t affect the other fellow young men. While the presence of the comely courtesan had raised some curiosity and hushed whispers at first, as the days passed by, all discussions naturally came to a standstill, perhaps because Rajyasri spent most of her time in her well-appointed chamber in the atithigriha. This morning marked a distinct departure from the other days.

Rajyasri now looked lost as she heard Shyamal’s answer. She was not sure as to whether and to what extent she could trust this brahmachari. He was too quiet, reflective, and diffident. After contemplating Shyamal for a while, taking into account that he had been privy to all information, she made up her mind to tell him what was bothering her. “Arya, the thing is, I received a message from the Dandaposika late in the day yesterday. He had indicated that he would be here before the third prahara of the day to meet Acharya.”