The
ship left Mamallapuram with Vikraman on board. It gained speed and turned
eastward. The temple towers and greenery of Mamallapuram disappeared from sight.
The water wasn’t frothy like it was near the shore. The surface of the water
was clear blue. It was heaving restlessly and hissing. The hiss sounded like a
non-stop sigh. Vikraman thought the silence of the deep sea and the noisy
surface resembled his own state of mind. Deep inside, he felt calm, but his
surface mind was a whirl of thoughts.
He remembered King Parthiban’s dreams of reclaiming the glory of the Chozha clan. He also remembered his dreams of sailing to faraway kingdoms. He realized that those dreams were coming true in a strange fashion. He had dreamt of sailing with his forces to conquer faraway lands with his head held high. Instead, he was being deported, and was sailing under the Lion flag, with his arms bound.
While he was thinking about it, the captain of the ship approached him with a few men and freed him from the chains. When Vikraman asked why he was being freed, he was told it was on the emperor’s orders.
“Where are you taking me?”
“We were asked to take you to an island that is twelve days away”, came the reply.
Vikraman asked, “Who lives on that island?”
The captain responded, “We don’t know. You can move around freely on the ship. Don’t attempt to escape though. We will have to chain you again”.
Vikraman went around the ship. He tried to initiate conversation with the sailors. It did not work. They all turned mute in his presence. He returned to the deck and started looking at the sky. His thoughts went to his mother. ‘What would she be thinking about right now? Would she be disappointed at my efforts turning futile? Would she be missing me? Would she be proud of how I handled myself with the emperor? Would the sage have gone to counsel her?’
His thoughts turned to the sage. ‘He somehow materialized on the shipping docks to bless me as the ship was pulling away. He really seems to care about me”.
Then he thought of the young woman. ‘She was on the streets of Kanchi one day, and Mamallapuram the next. How did she get there? And why? What large eyes she had! Why were those eyes in tears? Was it pity? Why would she have pity on a stranger? If it was not pity, why did she have such tenderness in her eyes?”
Vikraman was immersed in such thoughts. He did not notice the dusk fall. He was surprised to see the reflection of stars in the sea. He was ashamed of losing himself in thoughts about an unknown woman.
His thoughts then wandered to Ponnan and Valli. ‘They really are devoted to me! Would they be talking about me? Or perhaps about Valli’s grandfather? How brave was that old man! Why couldn’t all men of the country be like him?’.
It was about an hour and half after the sunset. The moon rose on the eastern horizon. The moon was three-fourth full. It seemed as if a golden bowl was rising out of the sea waters. Perhaps such a bowl held the nectar that emerged when they churned the milky ocean in heaven! That night, the nectar seemed to come out of that bowl and spread serenity all around the earth.
Vikraman saw this mesmerizing sight, and thought again of the young woman’s face. ‘The woman’s face had the same golden hue’, he thought. ‘She was indeed beautiful. More beautiful than the figures you see in art and sculpture. Who might she be?’
----------------------
Twelve days went by in this vein. Vikraman’s days flew by in thoughts about the young woman.
The sunrise on the thirteenth day brought a surprise. The sun, instead of emerging from the ocean, emerged behind a dense growth of trees. While Vikraman was admiring this sight, the captain approached him, and said, 'Prince, I have been ordered to leave you near this island. You can swim, I presume?'
“How far from the shore will you leave me?”
“Not far. We will give you a log of wood for support”
“What if I said I won’t get off the ship?”
“In that case, we have been ordered to tie you to the log and let you float ashore”
“I will go on my own, then”.
When the ship got close enough, the sailors dropped a pice of wood into the ocean and helped Vikraman climb down into the water. Vikraman alternated between swimming and floating on the log towards the shore. As he got close to the shore, he realized that what had looked like a row of ants on the shore was indeed a crowd.
Vikraman’s mind started racing - ‘Who are those people?. Why are they on the seashore at this time? What might their language be like?’
Parthban Kanavu: The Tamil version of the novel is in the public domain. Copyright for the translation is reserved by the translator..
No comments:
Post a Comment