The White light Calling - 10
Note: The next two episodes are dedicated for those who love historic novels.
Episode: 10
She was perspiring. Her silk ‘sarai’(pants) stuck to her body like a second skin.
'Oh! Why do I have to wear only silk? Why can’t I wear cotton like the maids?' She thought irritatingly.
She pushed back the sticky strands of hair that kept falling down on her forehead. Her long braid trailed her crawling form into the tunnel. This thing is endless, she thought.
Suddenly she felt the warmth in darkness. She crept closer and stretched her hand before her. She could touch the cool stone. “Good ! since I am already here, let me better get out before I bathe in my own sweat”, she moved her hand along the stone wall and found the knob. She twisted and pushed it.
It gave out a grating noise before giving away an inch of leverage to the outside world.
“Good heavens, why am I even coming in this path?” She heaved a long breath. She then pushed harder and the opening expanded. She pushed and pushed until it moved out of the space and she could see the dim lighting of the oil lamps lit along the corridor.
She smelt the ‘agil’ (herb added to incense) and the fragrance of the incense still mixed in the breeze.
“Mmm..” she breathed in the fragrance and jumped out of the small hole. Now she had completely come out of the secret tunnel which was behind the statue that partly covered it. From outside it was just another stone wall. She looked at the statue.
It was a statue of Ravana standing with hands scooped in ‘namaskar’ and head bowed. But he still stood in a majestic manner. The expression of intense happiness on seeing the lord in front of him was captured beautifully in the face.
“ Oh Ravana! You kidnapped sita once, and now you are helping me kidnap myself”. She giggled and patted on the statue saying “good boy”. She quickly readied herself and started to walk on the corridor.
In a few feet distance she could see the open corridor and the ‘Nellaiappar ’ (lord’s temple) temple*** ‘gopuram’(tower). She was right now standing in the corridor which was called ‘sangili mandapam’ (chain hall) that connected the separate temples of the lord and the goddess.
This mandapam was newer than the temple itself, which has inscriptions dating back to 500 AD. She smiled at the ingenuity of the mind which constructed this particular hall. Everyone thought it was to facilitate the public to reach both the temples easily. But only few elites (like her) knew the other important reason behind it.
The ‘Nellaiappar’ Temple gopuram was a gigantic black silhouette in the washed out gray denim background of the sky. The moon was shining its silver rays over the temple complex which left an eery glow all over the open corridors. The creeping shadows of the ‘yaazhi’ (a mythical animal)and other statues looked demonic at this time. All the life size status looked like they were just waiting to gobble you up and it seemed like their eyes followed you and looked straight at you.
Even the usual pigeons who wander about in the tall pillared halls were not there tonight. The whole temple complex looked totally deserted at this particular night. But she was not scared. She never was. She walked with her face tilted up, a genuine posture of a royal blood or that of a confident woman. And conveniently she was both.
The small bag which had all that she needed was straddled at her back and her braid as usual swayed like a pendulum on her back in perfect rhythm of her walk. She liked it that way. When her mother and aunt always scolded her to wear it in a bun like all the other royal women, she preferred to braid it and leave it long. The swaying motion calmed her mind.
Yeah she was a rebel. She was the spoilt child in her household. Oh! She cannot call her house as normal house hold. It is a royal household.
“Yeah! Some royalty!” She muttered under breath.
“Who cares for royal titles when you cannot just freely walk under the sun or ride into the breeze or even swim in the silver cold water of 'ThamiraBharani' river. I should have been born as a maid or even a milk woman.I would have lived happily” she thought to herself. Her gold anklets chimed subtly as she walked but it echoed along the wide and long corridor and sounded like a hundred bells ringing together.
“Oops.. I forgot this little thing”, she cursed herself and sat down in a corner to remove them.
“Thud..thud..thud..”
Somebody came running.
“Did you hear it? Did you hear it?”
“Oh yes. I heard it loud and clear.” Venu sasthrigal was wiping his forehead which was sweating profusely.
“What or who could be it?”Maniappar had his wide eyes open wider and his hands gripped the huge ornate box that perched on the top of his head very tight.
“Do you even suspect who that could be Sir? Of course it’s the ambal herself. She is coming. Oh my god, we shouldn’t be here anymore Sir.”
Venu sasthrigal the temple pujari looked pale. He was still shivering all over. Treasurer Maniappar was another case. His majestic posture had turned into one of a mouse. His eyes darted in all directions.
“I know sasthrigal, but what if it was someone else? What if it was just a man?”
“Oh please don’t talk rubbish. What man would wear an anklet? And who would dare to come into the lord’s abode at this time of the hour? I knew this would happen. You should have made it faster when you counted that ‘ponmudi ‘(a cloth bag of gold coins).”
“Oy.. what is this? Why are you blaming me? It’s my duty to check all the credits that have come to the temple this month and checking the lord and goddess jewels.”
“Oh really? you did your duty? Then you should have stopped just at that. Why did you take all that diamond and ruby necklaces and the crowns and that big emerald 'haaram' and and ..all other precious jewels and swap them with duplicates. I think ‘amma’(goddess) is going to punish you for that.”
“Stop it man. We haven’t yet closed the ‘madai palli’ (temple kitchen) entrance. Somebody must have come in that way.”
“Oh you didn’t listen to it properly did you? It was the sound of anklets. Not just any anklets but golden anklets. Only they would sound like that. And I can only think of three women who wear golden anklets. Two belong to the royal family who wouldn’t come at this wee hour and certainly wouldn’t come alone. The other one is ‘Ganthi mathi’ amman herself whose jewels you are stealing right now. To think that I was with you all along, I can’t imagine what wrong is going to happen to me and my family.”
“So you really think it is the amman?” Maniappar looked stricken now. At first he thought that it was somebody who came in and listened or watched what they did and now knows everything, thanks to the big mouth pujari. That will do a great deal of damage tomorrow.
This stupid sasthrigal is such an idiot; he has been reciting everything like he does in the shrine. It was a mistake that he took him into confidence. But his thoughts took another route when sasthrigal convinced him that it was not somebody but ‘saami’ (God). His fear of punishment changed to fear for life. Could it be real? He had heard of similar stories about people like him punished by the lord himself, but he thought all that were exaggerated tales just to scare off people like him. But now…
His silk ‘angi’( ceremonial long shawl) felt like a snake throttling him. His jewels weighed him down and he started to sweat.
“Sasthri. Is there a way to go out without passing through the corridor?”
“No way, we have to go through it to reach ‘gandhimathi amman temple’. The madai palli entrance which I have kept open for us is there only.
“Ok..lets walk then” maniappar made himself brave, for the treasure he is carrying weighs far more than his dear life. He took a step forward..
“Aha..ha..aha..” a shrill laughter of a woman echoed through the walls and ceiling and reached their ears in thousand decibel range. They both stood rooted to the ground, spine chilled to the core.
