Kundavi slept badly that
night. The Chozha prince’s sad, yet handsome face kept her awake. She
finally fell asleep after midnight, but she was soon woken up by nightmares.
In one of those, the
prince had been buried neck deep in sand. A mad elephant was running towards
him. In another minute, its large feet would stomp on his head. Kundavi rushed
over to get in its way. The elephant just picked her up, put her on its back
and resumed its run. When Kundavi looked at the prince, his face had a
contemptuous smirk. Kundavi, woke up trembling and realized it was just a
dream.
When she was able to
fall asleep again, the dream was no more pleasant. There was a row of stakes.
The prince was brought there to be impaled. Kundavi rushed towards the scene,
and prayed to Durga, the Goddess. The stakes caught fire. Delighted, Kundavi
turned towards the prince, just to realize the twelve soldiers around him were
going to pierce him with their spears. Kundavi screamed, woke up and realized
that she had fallen off the bed.
She gave up any attempt
to sleep at that point. Her reason told her that her father’s justice system
did not allow barbaric punishments like impalement and having elephants trample
people to death. The daybreak finally arrived.
She wanted to talk to
her father again about the prince. But she could not catch him alone. He took
his leave from her and started walking. She could not contain herself. She
called out, “Father, please remember what I said”.
Her father turned
around. “What? Oh, you mean that thing you said about handing him a stiff
punishment! I will keep that in mind”. Then he left without looking back.
Kundavi was overcome
with helpless anger and sorrow. She threw herself on the bed and sobbed. The
prince would now suffer a stiff punishment, thanks to her. If he ever came to
know her role in his misfortune, he would surely hate her! She agonized over
such thoughts and decided that she had to do something.
She summoned the palace
administrator. “Udayavarma, please have someone watch the trial of the Chozha
prince and let me know the verdict. As soon as it happens”. The administrator
sent someone to the court.
Kundavi did not follow
her routine that day. She did not go to the gardens to pick flowers. She did
not go to the temples. She gritted her teeth and waited for a message from the
court.
Finally, the messenger
arrived. His summary was along these lines: The emperor was magnanimous, and
offered to forgive the prince and crown him as the king of the Chozha kingdom
if he agreed to pay tribute. The prince did not just turn down the offer, but
also challenged the emperor to a duel. The emperor was then forced to sentence
the prince. The usual punishment for such crimes would be death. Considering
the prince’s age, he was banished from the kingdom. The prince would be
deported to a remote island, and would be sentenced to death if he ever dared
to return to the Chozha country. The prince was taken to Mamallapuram after the
sentence was pronounced.
Kundavi was relieved
that the prince was not sentenced to death. Still, the sad realization was that
he would soon be sent away, and she might never see him again.
She wanted to see him
again. Soon after she had that thought, it seemed to grow to possess her mind,
body and soul. She thought more, and grew hopeful of convincing him to change
his mind, and accept being a vassal under her father. She wanted to meet her
father. But she was informed that he rode away as soon as he pronounced his
verdict.
Kundavi thought for a
while and summoned the administrator again. “Udayavarma, I need to go to
Mamallapuram. I think I left my mother’s necklace in the Mamallapuram palace.
I need to go to find it”.
Udayavarmar hesitated a
bit and asked if it could wait for the emperor’s return, and soon was taken
aback by her fury. He was surprised at her decision to travel alone at such short notice. It was not common for the officials to question her
decisions, so he suppressed his surprise, and made the arrangements. Soon, Kundavi was on her
palanquin, and on the road with her entourage. She kept urging the carriers to
go faster, displaying uncharacteristic haste.
Upon reaching
Mamallapuram, she was told that the ship bearing Vikraman had just set
sail. What she saw on reaching the port was heartbreaking. A vessel with
the lion flag had pulled away and was cruising along the shore. The
Chozha prince was standing on the deck, bound by ropes, with his palms together
in respect. His eyes were on the shore.
Kundavi followed his
gaze to see whom he was paying his respects to. A majestic looking Shaivite
sage with long braided hair was standing there, with his right hand raised,
blessing Vikraman. Kundavi looked at Vikraman. For a fleeting moment, his gaze
seemed to meet hers. Just as she was wondering if she was imagining it, he
turned again to face the sage.
She remembered hearing
that Vikraman’s revolt was instigated by a sage. It must be the same man! Could
she catch him, somehow? She asked her entourage to hurry towards him. The sage
somehow had disappeared among the workers working at the dock. Eventually,
Kundavi gave up the search. Meanwhile, the ship had sailed a long way.
Parthban Kanavu: The Tamil version of the novel is in the public domain. Copyright for the translation is reserved by the translator..
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