The Krishna Key (10 page)

‘But myths around great floods have been around for aeons,’ argued Chhedi. ‘There are over five hundred legends centred on floods around the world. Ancient civilisations—including those of China, Babylonia, Wales, Russia, India, America, Hawaii, Scandinavia, Sumatra, Peru, and Polynesia—all have their own versions of a giant flood. And that’s not surprising, since most of these myths coincided with the end of the last ice age.’

‘True. But the most famous story among them is that of Noah, who built the magnificent ark in order to save all living creatures from extinction,’ said Saini. ‘It’s from the book of
Genesis
in the Bible. Almost all flood tales are frequently linked by common elements that parallel the Biblical account—the preevent warning, the construction of a ship or barge, the saving of animals, and the releasing of birds to check if the flood had receded. The incredible pattern shared by flood myths from around the world is an indication that they were all referring to a historical event that had been passed down by word of mouth over several generations and over several lands.’

‘You’re not going to tell me that Noah’s ark was built in India!’ said Chhedi jokingly.

‘Actually, yes,’ said Saini. ‘The story of Noah is almost identical to a Sumerian legend called
The Epic of Gilgamesh
and I’ve already told you that the Sumerians were simply Vedic inhabitants who had migrated westwards after the drying up of the Sarasvati.’

‘So Noah was from India?’ asked Chhedi incredulously.

‘Not Noah, but the historical event upon which the story of Noah’s ark was based. Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk—modern-day Iraq—who fortified the walls of his kingdom,’ explained Saini. ‘In the epic we have Gilgamesh te at St Stephen’s College in New Delhi. that b scriptureslling a ferryman that the walls of Uruk had actually been built by
seven sages.
The concept of the seven sages—or the
saptarishi
—is as old as Vedic civilisation itself! The Gilgamesh story was essentially a recounting of the flood that engulfed
Dwarka that future waves of Vedic inhabitants carried with them into new lands such as Sumeria. Just take the name Noah and flip the two vowels in the middle. What do you get?
Naoh
—the Hindi word for boat! Even the very concept of man’s creation is from India. The English word
man
is derived from the Sanskrit root
manus
—which is also the root of the Indian name
Manu,
the mythological progenitor of the Hindus.’

Chhedi and Priya were stumped. Saini seized the moment. ‘For a moment, if we take the biblical Noah story literally, it’s evident that the ark built by Noah would have had to be pretty large, right? In fact the Bible specifies the dimensions of the ark. It had a length of three hundred cubits, breadth of fifty cubits and height of thirty cubits. That’s huge! It would have been taller than a three-storey building and would have had a deck area the size of thirty-six tennis courts. Which shipyard of that time would have been able to construct such a vessel?’ asked Saini.

Priya caught on immediately. ‘There was only one ancient port that could have dealt with that size—Lothal!’ she said, warming rapidly to Saini’s revelations.

‘Precisely! Lothal’s dockyard is the world’s earliest known. It was the only shipyard that was capable of producing a ship of that magnitude in ancient times. In fact the word “navigation” is derived from the Sanskrit word
“navgati”
—the science of sailing,’ said Saini. ‘Lothal was the point from where massive ships would have plied the trade route into the Persian Gulf. The other possibility was Dholavira. Both Lothal and Dholavira were extremely close to Dwarka—in fact all three cities had close links.’

‘In what way were they connected?’ asked Chhedi.

‘Dholavira was originally discovered in the 1960s by Jagat Pati Joshi and was excavated in the 1990s under the direction of R. S. Bisht,’ said Saini. ‘Bisht discovered that the city’s length and width were precisely in a ratio of 5:4. The main castle’s proportions also followed the city’s ratio of 5:4. Both ratios adding up to the sacred number nine.’

‘But what does that have to do with Lothal?’ asked Priya irritably.

‘Here’s where it gets really interesting,’ said Saini, rubbing his hands in childlike excitement. ‘Dholavira’s unit of measurement is exactly equal to 108 Lothal angulas. See the Vedic mathematical connection once again?’

‘Be that as it may,’ said Priya, attempting to regain her cool, ‘how does one explain the swastika—that you say is a representation of the abode of Shiv—being found on Krishna’s seals?’

Chhedi, who had only been asking questions till then, spoke up. ‘I have a theory,’ he said.

Saini looked up at his school friend, slightly surprised. ‘Yes?’ he asked.

‘If one were to view Krishna as being a historical personality rather than a mythological one, Krishna would have been like you or me—a bundle of bones, muscles, flesh, tissue and blood, right?’,’ replied Sir Khan Singh sai asked Chhedi.

Saini nodded.

‘In this context, the
Bhagwad Gita
does not make sense,’ said Chhedi. ‘The sermon delivered by Krishna
to Arjuna is one in which Krishna specifically tells Arjuna that he is eternal, permanent and indestructible.’

‘What’s the point that you are trying to make, Dumpy?’ asked Saini.

‘The point that I am making, Roger, is this: isn’t it possible that when Krishna was killed by an arrow lodged in his left foot, what was witnessed was not a killing but a process of ancient DNA extraction?’ asked Chhedi. ‘And if this DNA had to be preserved, wouldn’t the logical place to preserve it be under a sheet of ice that never thawed? Say a location like Mount Kailash?’

Inspector Radhika Singh looked at the monitor closely. She tightened her grip on her prayer beads. It was time to move in.

Having acquired the Pashupat from Shiv, Arjuna started climbing the Himalayas. Soon, he saw a gleaming chariot. The charioteer told Arjuna that Indra
—
Arjuna’s father
—
had sent for him. Indra needed his help in fighting the Asuras. Arjuna fought along with Indra and they were victorious. Indra asked his son to enjoy the pleasures of paradise for some time, which Arjuna did. He was soon approached by one of the apsaras
—
Urvashi
—
who asked him to be her lover. Arjuna
knew that Urvashi had been the wife of one of his ancestors and said, ‘I look upon you as a mother figure. How can you expect me to make love to you?’ Furious at the rejection, Urvashi cursed Arjuna that he would lose his manhood. Arjuna beseeched his father Indra for help. Indra was able to dilute the curse so that Arjuna would lose his manhood only for a year and that, too, at a time of his own choosing.

Saini looked at the note that Chhedi had passed him once again. Determined to decipher the blurred scrawl, Saini screwed up his eyes until he could discern the words: ‘
Be careful. Police in next room listening.’
Saini sat up in his chair with a start. They needed to get out immediately.

‘Put your hands up,’ shouted Radhika Singh as she flung open the door to Chhedi’s office. Saini and Priya froze in their chairs. Chhedi, looking rather sheepish, mumbled softly, ‘I’m so sorry, Roger. I had no bloody option but to cooperate with her. I did try to warn you, though.’ Saini nodded grimly at his friend. If he had been put in a similar situation, he might also have done the very same thing.

Saini and Priya raised their hands as Rathore briskly walked over to them and cuffed their raised arms. ‘Isn’t this a wonderful reunion?’ asked Radhika Singh sarcastically. ‘I’ve so looked forward to the moment we would meet again.’

Her face suddenly lost its smirk when she felt the steely tip of a scalpel against her throat. Taarak had taken the elevator to the sixth floor and quietly walked over to Chhedi’s office. He had softly tiptoed up
behind Radhika while Rathore was busy handcuffing Saini and Priya. Once behind her, he had grabbed Radhika by her waist with one hand while holding a scalpel to her throat with the other.

‘I shall cut this throat if you do not throw down your guns at this very instant,’ he said decisively to Radhika and Rathore.,’ replied Sir Khan said is Saini and Radhika

‘Okay, easy does it,’ urged Rathore as he took out his gun from his holster and gently dropped it to the floor. Radhika, who was still holding her gun, was paralysed with shock. She couldn’t believe that the plan to recapture Saini and Priya was being foiled yet again.

‘I said, drop it!’ commanded Taarak in her ear. This time the order seemed to register and Radhika obeyed. No one in the room was more surprised than Saini. What the hell was his driver doing? Why was he getting himself involved like this?

‘Now, uncuff her!’ yelled Taarak at Rathore, pressing the scalpel a little harder against Radhika’s neck so that a tiny droplet of blood emerged from the skin. Taarak was gesturing towards Priya.

Rathore walked over to Priya and unlocked the cuffs. Priya got up from her chair, walked over to Rathore’s discarded gun that was lying on the floor and picked it up. Pointing it at Rathore, she said ‘One move from you, and I’ll fire this gun, you hear?’

Rathore nodded numbly. The policemen who were seated in the secretary’s room watched the proceedings mutely through the open door as they acknowledged to themselves that there was very little
they could do, given that weapons were directly aimed at both their bosses.

Keeping the gun pointed at Rathore, Priya shuffled over to the desk on which Chhedi’s seal lay. She picked it up and placed it in her pocket.

‘What are you doing, Priya?’ whispered Saini in panic. ‘We may be fugitives but we’re not criminals. Don’t do anything that may jeopardise your life.’

‘Oh, shut up and spare me the lecture!’ snarled Priya, her suddenly fiery eyes drilling into Saini’s. ‘I’m not your delicate doctoral student anymore, Professor Ravi Mohan Saini! I’m fed up of your persistent whining. It’s better that you accompany the police to the lockup. That’s the only place where you’ll be safe!’

Saini was stupefied. The transformation in Priya was incredible. Gone were the gentle smile and delicate dimples. Instead, her face was flushed and there was a permanent scowl in place of the laidback smile. Having placed the seal in her pocket, she turned to Saini again. ‘Now I have all four seals. Thank you for your location analysis, it will be most helpful, Professor,’ she smirked. ‘But I’m relieved that I don’t have to listen to your boring lectures anymore.’

She walked over to Radhika Singh who was still frozen in a single spot with Taarak’s scalpel at her throat.

‘You can remove the steel from her throat, my child,’ said Priya to Taarak. ‘I shall now take care of her.’

‘Yes, Mataji,’ said Taarak respectfully, letting go of Radhika.

Priya pointed the gun directly at Radhika’s head and said, ‘You are my passport out of this office. Instruct your men, who are swarming all over the place, that I am to be given unhindered passage. One single suspicious move by anyone and your brains will lie splattered on the floor.’ Radhika nodded mutely, too dazed to register this new turn of events.

‘It’s time for us to take your leave,’ said Priya, mockingly, to the others in the room. ‘Turn around,’ she instructed Radhika. As Radhika did so, Priya put her left arm around Radhika’s waist with her right hand pressing the gun to Radhika’s ribs.,’ replied Sir Khanina on the

‘You shall walk with me to the car. If I reach safely and leave, you have your life as a bonus. If I don’t, you’re dead meat,’ she whispered as she nudged Radhika forward towards the open office door.

‘Walk behind me,’ she instructed Taarak. ‘Keep a lookout that no one tries to assault me from the back.’

‘Your wish is my command, Mataji,’ said Taarak obediently, as they began walking towards the car with Radhika Singh as their captive. Vignettes of his life with Mataji coursed through Taarak’s head as he walked behind her.

While Arjuna was with his father, the Pandavas decided to travel the length and breadth of the
country. They bathed in holy rivers, visited ancient pilgrimage sites, meditated with rishis and discussed philosophy with sages. It was a time of learning and introspection. As their grand tour came to an end, Bhima summoned his son Ghatotkacha. His son arrived along with several Rakshasa friends and they helped the Pandavas scale the Himalayan heights where Arjuna awaited them. After a joyous reunion, Arjuna showed them the miraculous weapons that had been bestowed upon him. As overed them, the earth and the heavens began to shake. Arjuna realised that he was blessed with remarkably potent arms and that he could not afford to treat them casually.