LOVE AND SACRIFICE
Dark was the night and weird the atmosphere. It rained from time to time. Gusts of wind shook the trees. Between thunderclaps and the moaning of jackals could be heard the eerie laughter of spirits. Flashes of lightning revealed fearsome faces.
But King Vikram did not swerve a bit. He climbed the ancient tree and hrought the corpse down. However, as soon as he began crossing the deso- late cremation ground with the corpse lying on his shoulder, the vampire that possessed the corpse spoke: “0 King, normally you should be enjoy- ing a good sleep at this hour of the night. Instead of doing that, what makes you go through this strange ritual? I’m rather ashamed of you, O King! You seem to have given a promise to someone and you have made a promise to another to counter the earlier promise. I’ve a fine ex- ample of this in Princess Kamayani. Let me tell you her story. Listen to me, carefully.” And the vampire began his narration.
There was once a demi-god called Ratnachooda, who wished to come down from the heavens and go round the world. One moonlit night, he de- scended and was floating along the skies when he happened to see Prin- cess Kamayani merry-making in the royal garden along with her friends. He was captivated by her beauty. He felt that even in heavens, he had not come upon a beauty like her. He de- sired to speak to the girl. He landed on the ground without attracting her at tention and then walked to where she stood, surrounded by her compan ions. “O lovely young woman! May I know who you are?”
Kamayani was taken aback. How come the royal garden permitted a stranger to enter? That too a man! Anyway it would be rude if she did not at least reply him. “I’m the prin cess of Kanchanapura, Kamayani,” she said. She was at the same time curious to know who the intruder was. “But who are you? Don’t you know that the royal garden is out of bounds for strangers, that too men? How did you gain entry? And why have you come?”
“I’m a gandharva from the heav ens,” he replied, without taking his eyes off the princess. “I wanted to go round the earth and was travelling in the skies when I saw you and was struck by your beauty. So, I came down, wishing to talk to you.”
Kamayani was shocked. “You can’t remain here for a moment longer! She cautioned him. “Please go away Otherwise you’ll be in danger!”
“Danger to me?” Ratnachooda laughed aloud. “O princess! You’ve no idea of my powers. Just look around!” In no time, the princess’s companions and the garden keepers, who were standing at a distance, all fell down unconscious.
Kamayani was shocked beyond belief. “Ah! Ha!” she said stupefied. Ratnachooda took advantage of her predicament and said: “Princess, I wish to marry you. Would you agree to be my wife?”
The princess stared at the gandharva. Her face dropped. “If you wish to marry me, you’ll have to un dertake a difficult job.”
“What sort of job is that?” asked the gandharva. “Why do you say it will be difficult for me?”
“Our neighbouring kingdom is Veernagar, and King Mrityunjaya there is desirous of marrying me. But I don’t like him at all. Therefore, he’s planning to attack Kanchanapura with his strong army. Our army is not strong enough to resist an attack and win the battle. You should try to defeat him. If you do that, I’ll be willing to marry you.”
“Is that all?” remarked Ratna- chooda casually. “I shall go back to the king of gandharvas, seek his per- mission and come back in a trice.” He then ascended to the heavens and called on King Chitrachooda, who was aware that his daughter, Lathangi, was yearning to marry Ratnachooda.
“Don’t you know that we people of the Gandharvaloka do not generally marry anybody on the earth?” he re- buked Ratnachooda. “You must respect our tradition. Moreover, my daughter loves you very much. You marry her and both of you can lead a happy life. I shall arrange for your wedding.”
Ratnachooda was angry. “That’s impossible!” he protested. “I shall not marry anybody other than Kamayani.”
King Chitrachooda, too, was an- gry now. “If that is the case, then you won’t have a place in Gandharvaloka. You may go to the earth and remain there. Not only that, whatever powers you possess as a gandharva would be ineffective the moment you step on the earth. You may take it as a curse!”
Ratnachooda was not willing to accept his king’s advice. He did not heed his warning. He once again de- scended on the earth. Meanwhile Princess Kamayani had informed her father about her meeting with Ratnachooda and his desire to marry her. Ratnachooda waited for the prin- cess in the garden and told her all that had happened between him and his king.
“If you’ve been shod of your pow- ers, then how do you propose to face the might of King Mrityunjaya?” asked Kamayani.
“My powers might have been taken away,” said Ratnachooda, who then bared his chest and added, “nobody has taken away my physical prowess.
I can fight that king single-handed and vanquish him in straight fight.”
A few days later, Ratnachooda took over the command of the Kan- chanapura army. He led the army to Veernagar and surrounded the fort. King Mrityunjaya came out with his own mighty army and fought the soldiers of Kanchanapura. He saw Ratnachooda in front of him, and threw his spear at him with great force. It headed straight at Ratnachooda and it looked certain to hit and pierce his neck. Suddenly an arrow hit the spear and deflected it from its course. The spear hit only
Ratnachooda’s shoulder. He turned round to look at the soldier who had cleverly saved him. The face was familiar, but he could not place him at that moment. The battle continued. Ratnachooda now fought with greater strength and vigour. He sent showers of arrows all
around. It looked as though the en emy force would be easily vanquished. Just then an arrow pierced Mrityunjaya and he fell down giving out a loud shriek. On seeing their king dead, the soldiers of Veernagar beat a hasty retreat.
Ratnachooda was victorious. He had kept his promise to Kamayani. Before he went and met her, he wanted to look up the soldier who had saved his life. He searched for him every where, but could not find him. He recollected the familiar face. At last he went into the tent where the soldiers injured in the battle were being attended to. There he saw him. In fact, his headgear had fallen off to reveal more of his face. That was none other Lathangi, daughter of Chitrachooda, King of the Gandharvas. Her intense love for Ratnachooda had prompted her to come down to the earth and join the battle on the side of Ratnachooda. Lathangi, who was lying uncon- scious, now opened her eyes and looked at Ratnachooda. Tears welled in his eyes. “Lathangi, you left gandharvaloka and came down here to save me even after I had insisted that I would marry only Kamayani. You’ve sacrificed your life for my sake!” “Without you, what’s gandhar- valoka for me?” said Lathangi. “It would be nothing but hell! I thought this earthly world would be better, as I could still see you. Moreover, I feared that you would be in danger if you were to face Mrityunjaya in battle, without your special powers. That’s why I decided to come to your help. I’ve achieved my life’s ambition. Now I can peacefully die.”
Ratnachooda sought out Kama- yani, who took him to her father. The King of Kanchanapura praised him for his valour and for saving the kingdom.
“Bravo!” said Kamayani, when they were left alone. “It is as good as our wedding has already taken place. However, after our marriage takes place, you may have to undertake some more difficult jobs!”
Ratnachooda did not like the way Kamayani was posing problems for him to solve. “More jobs? What’re they?” he asked with a sneer.
“I shall tell you,” said the princess. “You’ll wage more such wars against other kingdoms and you’ll become a king of kings having sway over sev- eral kingdoms. Then people will call me a queen of queens!”
Ratnachooda did not allow her to continue in that vein. He shouted at her. “No, I’m not going to fight any more battles for your sake! And I also don’t want to marry you!” He just ran away like a tiger that had been re- leased from its cage.
The vampire concluded his narra- tion there, and turned to King Vikramaditya. “O King! Don’t you think Ratnachooda’s behaviour was strange? He was intent on marrying Kamayani. And for that, he forsake his comforts in heaven, sacrificed his special powers, and rejected the hand of a gandharva princess so that he could come down to earth. And he fought a battle at the instance of Kamayani. He won the battle for her, and was ready to marry her. But at the last moment, he threw away every thing. Was he out of his mind? Well, I need not warn you what’ll happen if you don’t give me satisfactory an swers. Your head will be blown to pieces!” King Vikramaditya broke his silence. “There was nothing strange in the behaviour of Ratnachooda. In fact, he was wise in taking such a decision, He sacrificed a lot of things for the sake of Princess Kamayani. He de- cided to leave the comfortable life in Gandharvaloka; he was willing to shed his special powers of a gandharva so that he could marry someone on the earth. He forsake the gandharva prin- cess who had yearned for his hand, And he came down to the earth and fought a battle to please Kamayani.
He defeated Mrityunjaya who was threatening to attack her kingdom.
But all that was not enough to please her. She wanted him to go and fight other kingdoms and annex them so that she could be a queen of queens. What was the guarantee that she would stop there? She might think of more ventures to satisfy her greed. On the other hand, Lathangi, though disap pointed when Ratnachooda insisted
on marrying Kamayani, was ready to sacrifice her life for the sake of Ratnachooda, who realised that Kamayani could never be satisfied and he would never be happy with her. He did a wise thing in running away from Kanchanapura.”
The vampire realised that he had once again been outsmarted by the king. He flew back to the ancient tree, carrying the corpse with him. And Vikramaditya drew his sword and went after the vampire,
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