RaaRaa-32 – Kukurmari

[Before reading this part in RaaRaa series, please have a look at the previous one 
https://ashishkumarnayakodisha.blogspot.com/2019/10/raaraa-31-astra.html]

Some thousands of years back...

In the Kingdom of Masaka...

King Bijaa was the ruler...

As mentioned in the last blog, King Bijaa had war with enemy King Kutrak two times and Kutrak was defeated in the 2nd war.

There was a rule: If there were any soldier from the rival side was dead on the other side of the war zone then  both the opponents should return back the bodies of the dead soldiers with proper respect to the respective Kings.

After the 1st war, King Bijaa was disheartened to see that King Kutrak sent his army to the civilian area and massacred the locals. But sill, he followed the rules. He ordered the chief of army to load the dead bodies of the enemy soldiers in ten chariots. The chief followed the order and arranged ten chariots. The bodies were loaded, ten charioteers ran the chariots and ten soldiers went with them to unload the bodies at the enemy side.

But King Kutrak was not like King Bijaa. After Bijaa's soldiers unloaded the dead bodies, Kutrak immediately arrested the ten charioteers and ten soldiers. He ordered his soldiers to kill all the twenty men. All were killed, their bodies and the bodies of the soldiers killed in the war, were made into small small pieces and sent back to Bijaa on the same chariots!

When Bijaa saw the chariots, he and his soldiers were very upset and angry as well.
Bijaa's son Bihaa was also watching all these happenings. 

As mentioned in the last part of RaaRaa series that some soldiers started giving training to the civilians on war skills, son Bihaa was one among the soldiers to impart the training.

In the 2nd war, Kutrak was defeated by King Bijaa. As per the rules, Bijaa had to return the bodies of the enemy soldiers to Kutrak who died on his side. Again the same process. Bijaa ordered the chief of the army to load the dead bodies of the enemy soldiers in ten chariots. The chief followed the order and arranged ten chariots. The bodies were loaded. 
But his son Bihaa interfered there. Bihaa suggested that the ten charioteers and the ten soldiers should not be going like the last time. Instead, the chariots should be unmanned and run by the trained horses and ten trained dogs would go to unload the dead bodies. Bijaa agreed to Bihaa.
Wthen the chariots reached Kutrak's side, Kutrak thought "Oh! Bijaa is too smart and did not send the charioteers and soldiers this time. But, I will teach him a lesson this time too"! He acted the same way as he did last time. He ordered his soldiers to kill the dogs and make them into small small pieces and to do the same with the dead soldiers of Bijaa and then pack/send them back in the same chariots!

When the chariots reached Bijaa's side, he and his army were surprised to see the dogs along with the soldiers were mutilated! There was something else as well. On each chariot, there was a poster mentioning as "Kill you all like dogs".

Bijaa never saw such cruel enemy in his life. 
Son Bihaa came to his father Bijaa and told "Father, Please dont lose your heart. I will lead the fight next time and I will completely change the climax".

[Flashback: King Kutrak was a ruler of a far away land. He invaded the neighboring Kingdom and ruled there.
Masaka had two sects of people. Due to some conflicts, they were not in good terms. Bihaa's 1st job was to make them united. He explained the people about the enemy and succeeded in making a bond among the two groups. People of one sect of Masaka also resided in the neighboring Kingdom.  In the meantime, Bihaa persuaded that group of Masaka to talk to their counterparts in the neighboring Kingdom and get them ready to fight for him in the war against Kutrak.]

Six months passed. Masaka Kingdom was under the leadership of King Bihaa this time. As planned, everything looked peaceful until the day Bihaa suddenly raised a war against King Kutrak and his army. Bihaa led his army to the neighboring Kingdom and fought furiously against King Kutrak. The people of the neighboring Kingdom also joined the war with Bihaa against Kutrak. Kutrak was miserably defeated and most of his soldiers were killed. Kutrak immediately declared surrender and prayed to Bihaa to leave him and the other soldiers.
Bihaa told "Do you remember what you wrote on the chariots? *Kill you all like dogs* Isn't it?!!!". 
Kutrak told that they would never repeat that mistake and prayed for life.
Bihaa told "Yes, You will never do that mistake only if you are not alive".

King Bihaa followed the rules of King Kutrak this time, i.e. He broke the protocols/rules of war and ordered to kill Kutrak and all the surrendered soldiers. Bihaa's army chief came to him and suggested not to do like that. But Bihaa was firm on his decision and told "If you love our nation Masaka, then follow my order". Then as per the order, surrendered King Kutrak and his soldiers faced the same fate as they did with the dead bodies of Masakan army men and also with the dogs!!! No enemy left to fight back!

Before returning back to Masaka, King Bihaa declared the name of the place in neighboring Kingdom to be renamed as "Kukurmari" and it happened so.
On the way back home, the chief of army asked King Bihaa "Maharaja, Was the name Kukurmari in the memory of the dogs killed by the enemy? Should not the name be "Kutrakmari" as Kutrak was killed there?".
King Bihaa did not reply anything and just gave a smile.
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Thousands of years passed now. People still get confused with such name as Kukurmari because the blades of cyclone have shredded the leaves of history into pieces.

***This is a fictional story.***

Cheers
Ashish Kumar Nayak
Ashish Sarangi

RaaRaa-31 – Astra

Some thousands of years back...

In the Kingdom of Masaka...

King Bijaa was the ruler...

The time of festivities... People were happy enjoying the annual festival.

Suddenly the minister came and informed the King that there is an unprecedented by a King Kutrak of the Kingdom Kutraka.
King thought that it would not be wise to inform the people about this as they were enjoying the festival.
So, the King marched with his troops fought against the enemy, but the citizens did not have any idea about this.

But the King Kutrak was very cunning. He sent some of his soldiers to the civilian area through a different route.

Bijaa fought with Kutrak and defeated him and rushed to the people.
When he reached the villages, many people were killed. The situation was very worst. The King immediately arranged for the medical treatment and rehabilitation of the people.

After one week, when the situation became normal, King Bijaa visited the places where the civilians were killed.

He asked the people among the pujari/priest class, "What happened?". They told that there were hundreds of soldiers with weapons and we were not able to fight with them with mere sticks.

He then asked the people who belonged to arts/accountancy/business class. They also had the same answers like the pujari families.

He then asked asked the people who belonged to the farmer class. They told that they took up the farming instruments and fought against the enemy soldiers and killed many of them.

IT WAS A LEARNING POINT for the King Bijaa...

He called for his advisers and discussed with them about the instruments used by different class of people.

The warriors families have the war weapons.

The farmers have the farming instruments which can be used as weapons if required. He sent some soldiers to train the farmers to fight more effectively when required.

But... What does the pujaris and the arts/business class people have to use as weapons???

Someone told that the pujaris use a metallic pot to store water for puja and the lamp/deepa is also made of metal.
After a lot of discussion, they found a way.

A long pipe was attached to the pot with a sharp end. On the opposite side, a handle was attached. At the bottom, it some spikes were attached.

Next was the metallic deepa/lamp.

The front was made pointed like an arrow. Some spikes were attached to the base. A handle was attached.

The pot and lamp were designed in such a way that it could be used as weapon.
It was given to the pujaris and some soldiers stayed with them and trained them how to use it as a weapon in case of sudden attack by enemy.

Next discussion was about the people who belonged to arts/business class. They used lekhani or the pen made of metal.

The backside of the pen was made like a cup. In the middle of the cup, there was a small piece of iron with the screw-like design. In the middle of the cup-like structure, there was a small hole.
Another big rod was taken with a hole inside it and screw-like design so that the pen can be fixed with it easily. After the it was fixed, a small piece of iron was inserted in the small hole which would make the instrument more stronger.

It was given to the arts/business calls people and some soldiers stayed with them and trained them how to use it as a weapon in case of sudden attack by enemy.

After few years...
Enemy King Kutrak again attacked Masaka Kingdom again. He followed his old process of sending soldiers to civilian area by engaging the King Bijaa in fight.
King Bijaa was smiling...

That was the time when different groups of people used the instruments for making a livelihood as the ASTRA to fight a war.

King Bijaa, his soldiers and his citizens fought bravely and defeated Kutrak and his army and Masaka Kingdom was safe.

Cheers
Ashish Kumar Nayak
Ashish Sarangi

Ichhasakti - Then and Now

Some thousands of years back...

In the Kingdom of "Sakti", there was a king named "Icchasakti"...

He was pro-people. He did a lot of work for the betterment of citizens.

The main problem in his Kingdom was heavy rains and flooding and sometimes there was no rain causing the drought. So he thought about seriously and came up with a plan. He called his ministers and explained them. Then the ministers started working on it.

The geography of the Kingdom consisted of hilly areas and coastal plains.

Miles long water reservoirs were made in multiple places in the Kingdom. Two reservoirs of the hilly areas were connected with each other through pipelines. As you can see in the below drawing, the pipelines were connected by two pipelines in such a way that the extra water in one reservoir will be discharged to the other reservoir.
The reservoirs of the coastal plains were also connected with each other in the similar fashion.

But the main/central reservoir of the hilly area was connected with the central reservoir of coastal plains with only one pipeline because water would flow from hilly to plain land.

And this solved the water problem when there was huge rains in the hilly areas and no rains in the coastal plains.

Then, stone pillars were erected and slabs were placed on it. As in the below drawing, the whole construction was in the form of a slope connecting the central reservoir of the coastal plains and the central reservoir of the hilly area. The necessary structure was made over the central reservoir of coastal plains to lift the water and pour on the slope. A conveyor belt was attached. There were multiple buckets attached to the conveyor belt. A shaft and two handles were made on two sides of it to rotate the conveyor belt. When the handles were rotated, the buckets attached to the belt used to lift water from the reservoir and pour on the slabs and the water would flow to the central reservoir in the hilly area.

And this solved the water problem when there was huge rains in the coastal plains and no rains in the hilly areas.

But, when there was huge rains throughout the Kingdom, the above solution was of no use. Still, people were happy that at least there was a solution when there was no rains.
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Thousands of years passed. There Kingdom is not there. Some of the family members of the King Icchasakti became the landlords. A girl named "Sakti" was the successor of the King. She had the similar qualities like the King Ichhasakti.
Due to sea water, there was massive coastal erosion and people used to vacate their villages and move to a new place.
Sakti saw from her childhood that there were three types trees which could control the erosion of the coast.
When she became the head of the landlords, she called for a meeting of all landlords and explained them what to do for solving the issue.
Then the plantation drive started near the coast.
As in the drawing below, Mangrove trees were planted near the place where the sea water touched the coast. The mangrove trees would hold the soil tightly and reduce the force of the sea waves.
Next to it towards the mainland, casuarina trees were planted, which would hold the soil tightly.
Next to it towards the mainland, cashew trees were planted, which would hold the soil tightly and also increase the production of cashew by giving a livelihood to the people.

And this move reduced the coastal erosion.

When Sakti was 100 years old, her grandchildren became politicians and some of them were ministers as well.
One day, Sakti told her minister grandson to take her to sea beach as she wanted to see the plantation she initiated when she was young. Grandson took her to the beach. Sakti was disheartened to see that most of the trees were cut and the sea water started eating the landmass. She asked "Boy, What is this? Who did all this? As a minister, why are you not protecting the trees? Can you imagine how many people will have to leave their houses because of the coastal erosion?". Grandson tried to avoid the questions. But, when Sakti insisted, he replied "We are here do politics, not social service. If we will solve all the issues, then we will not have anything to promise in the next election".

Sakti remained silent.
A thought came to her mind. *There was the King Icchasakti. The name literally means "Will power". But that will-power is now completely lost among the current generation in her family.*

***This is a story of fiction.***

Cheers
Ashish Kumar Nayak

RaaRaa-30 – The Illusion – Part3 [Propagator]

Some thousand years ago….

In the state of Masaka…

Basaka, the king, was an ardent follower of Lord Raaga. Lord Raaga was the main deity of the entire state. Hundreds of temples were there but the most important and the oldest one was in Maput. Every sunday, he went to Maput, the port city where the main temple of Lord Raaga was situated, to pay the homage to Lord. He was quite happy with all the daily rituals conducted by the priests in the temple. So he never tried to interfere in the rituals. Also, every month, he conducted a mass meeting of the priests and the devotees just to check the system. All seems to be well in the temple and also in the entire state. In fact, everyday hundreds of pilgrims came to the temple to pay their homage to Lord Raaga.

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Ajaketu1 was one of the renowned philosopher who hailed from the southern part of that landmass. He was tall and applied vermillion on his forehead. That made him unique in his appearance. He came to Maput and really impressed to see the dedication of the priests who were doing rituals daily without a break. But he was surprised to see the tantric rituals. He asked some priests to stop those rituals but they refused to change the system. So Ajaketu1 went to king Basaka. He started some discussions with the king. King called the chief priest and asked him to have a meeting with Ajaketu1. Meeting was not fruitful for the chief priest, as the king approves the changes made by Ajaketu1. Chief priest returned to Maput and conveyed the decision made by the king. Ajaketu1 also came to Maput with his smiling face. The priests were full of anger but they didn’t have any choice. King ordered that during his next visit to Maput, he wanted to have the changes made by Ajaketu1.

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On the saturday, chief priest decided to have a final word with all other priests. So he told them all to have a meeting in his home after the sunset. All priests gathered in his home. They all discussed among themselves and decided to change the rituals as the king wanted to do so. The meeting lasted for 2 hours. Suddenly someone knocked the door of chief priest. He himself went to open the door. And he was surprised to see the person. He allowed him in his home. All priests stood in respect and surprised. They never expected their king, Basaka, to come as a civilian. They all sat. Basaka explained them that he was also not in the support of changing the rituals but since Ajaketu1 was a great scholar he had to agree with him at that day. So all priests asked him about the next thing as they all didn’t want to change the rituals. King gave them an idea and it was decided by all to work on that.

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Chief priest went to Ajaketu1 and offered him to have dinner in his home. Ajaketu1 nodded and came to his home. After having dinner, he went to his place again. He slept. Suddenly all priests gathered in front of his place and tied Ajaketu1 on the bed. Ajaketu1 was still sleeping as heavy dose of sleeping pills was given to him in the dinner. They all put the bed along with Ajaketu1 on the chariot and ordered charioteer to take him out of the boundary of Masaka. Two minor priests also went with charioteer. They took him to the place which was decided by chief priest. They opened all the ropes and returned back. Next day was sunday. Basaka went to temple and ordered his personals to bring Ajaketu1 in royal possession. His personals came back and told him that they were not able to find Ajaketu1 in his place. king waited for couple of hours and after that ordered chief priest to have rituals in regular manner. Meanwhile, Ajaketu1 found himself in a very strange place and after that decided not to go Maput again.

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After 15 years….

Mahapuka, a 45 year old man, arrived in the city of Maput. He was a self proclaimed intellectual and won the hearts of many persons in Maput. Basaka, who was now in his mid 60s, came to know about him. He called Mahapuka and they met. King was highly impressed with his personality. He asked Mahapuka about his purpose of visit. Mahapuka replied politely that there was no specific purpose but he wanted to establish himself in Maput and spent his rest of life in the service of Lord Raaga. Again Basaka impressed. He allotted him land in told him to stay there. Mahapuka praised Lord Raaga in each and every possible manner. He wrote several texts and hymns praising Lord Raaga.

Within two months Basaka died and his son Kusaka, the new king, continued to promote Mahapuka. Mahapuka took advantage of this situation and propagate a new theory. He introduced some new concepts in the rituals of Lord Raaga. Kusaka approved them and slowly and slowly those new rituals became more prominent as compared to their traditional tantric rituals.

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After another 15 years….

Mahapuka established the largest monastery in Maput and now had thousands of followers in the entire state. One evening, he went to meditation and after meditation had blood vomiting. He was very critical. He understood that his time now arrived. Lot of persons came to visit him and so also the king, Kusaka. Kusaka  and Mahapuka were alone in that room and then Kusaka asked him about his last wish. In front of king, Mahapuka revealed his true identity. He was the younger brother of Ajaketu1 and his real name was Ajaketu2. King was surprised and shocked. Ajaketu2 told him to pardon him as he wanted to take revenge from them and he was trained to do all kinds of things by Ajaketu1 himself. He also told Kusaka not to destroy the monastery and not to change the rituals of Lord Raaga. Kusaka was furious but as promised to fulfill his last wishes, Kusaka decided not to change anything. Ajaketu2 also wished to rename the monastery as Ajaketu1 monastery. And after that he died.

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And the rest was history….

Thanks

Ashish Sarangi

Ashish Kumar Nayak

Disclaimer: This is purely a fictional work by the authors and there is no relation with any mythological and historical work.