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.
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