‘Welcome to the Hotel California,’ said Garg with deliberate cruelty. ‘You can check out any time you like but you can never leave.’
‘Why would you want to kill us?’ asked Radhika. ‘Professor Saini has already discovered the location of Krishna’s most prized possession. Why eliminate the very people who could lead you to it?’
‘I cannot afford to have both of you alive,’ said Garg to Radhika. ‘You threatened to expose me if I didn’t do what you wanted. It’s my turn to make sure that you can never open your mouths ever again. As for the stone, forget it. A legacy of Krishna—who was a manifestation of Vishnu—would never be left in a palace named after Shiv. Quit wasting everyone’s time.’
‘Shiv is merely a form of Vish and Vish is merely a form of Shiv. Shiv resides in the heart of Vish and Vish resides in that of Shiv. At least do your homework before you jump to conclusions!’ retorted Saini.
‘So Vish and Shiv are the same?’ asked Radhika purposely, hoping that any extended discussion would buy them time.
‘To understand what Shiv and Vish are, we need to go back to the creation of the universe,’ replied Saini. ‘Modern science says that at the beginning of time there was a great explosion—the Big Bang. Around 13.7 billion years ago, all energy was concentrated at a single point—physicists call this point a singularity—and this single point has been in a state of expansion ever since. It is from this single event that all the energy of the universe—and consequently all matter—came into existence.’
‘Why are we wasting time?’ asked Taarak impatiently. ‘Let’s get this over with and not lose more time in pointless conversation!’ But Saini and Radhika’s strategy had succeeded in getting Mataji hooked. She gestured Taarak to keep his impatience in check.
‘Now, consider the Big Bang in conjunction with Albert Einstein’s theory that E=mc2,’ continued Saini, ignoring Taarak’s outburst. ‘Simply put, energy and matter are interchangeable. In fact, subsequent exploration into atomic structure has taught scientists that matter is actually an illusion and that atoms are composed of nothingness—energy fields that merely create the illusion of matter. In simple terms, all matter that makes up the universe is actually energy. Einstein’s equation also tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can merely be converted from one form to another, or transferred from one place to another.’
‘Then how can we credit the Big Bang for having created all the energy of the universe—if energy cannot be created or destroyed? There seems to be an apparent contradiction between the Big Bang and Einstein’s theories,’ said Radhika.
‘Precisely,’ said Saini. ‘But b,’ replied Sir Khan research saiy observing distant stars, astronomers have found that their light patterns stay constant, but move further down the light spectrum over time. This means that the stars under observation are moving further and further away over time, thus clearly proving that our universe is continuously expanding outwards, and consequently the Big Bang theory.’
‘So the fact that the universe expanded and is continuing to expand is proven?’ asked Radhika.
‘Yes,’ said Saini. ‘But the question that no physicist has been able to answer is this: from what source did we derive the energy that was within the singularity that exploded? The problem with the Big Bang model is that it explains the expansion of a single point into the universe as we know it, but doesn’t explain where the energy required for the Big Bang originally came from. This is where the Upanishads provide a wonderful framework.’
‘What do the Upanishads say?’ asked Radhika.
The answer came from Priya who had been listening to the conversation between Radhika and Saini. ‘According to Hindu scriptures, the universe never came into existence at any given point of time. It always existed, but remained in a state of perpetual flux,’ said Priya. ‘What we call the universe is simply the present universe. Each universe starts with a Big Bang, and expands to a point, before it starts shrinking. The universe eventually collapses back into the singularity from which it had emerged and a new expanding universe begins once again. This is the reason that 108 is considered sacred. One—represents the singularity from which the universe emerges, zero—the egg or anda of the present universe, and eight—infinity or the maximum extent of expansion in the eight directions from which contraction must happen.’
Saini nodded, agreeing with his former student. ‘This theoretical framework within the Upanishads conforms perfectly with Einstein’s theory that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Most importantly, it solves the perennial question: what was there before the singularity?’
Garg and Taarak looked at each other helplessly. The devious Saini and resourceful Radhika had succeeded in pulling Priya into this useless conversation.
‘How does this relate to Vish and Shiv?’ asked Radhika.
‘What is the Sanskrit word for universe?’ countered Saini. ‘In ancient Hindu texts, the universe is called Brahamanda. The word Brahamanda is derived from two words—Brahama and Anda. Brahama means expanding and anda means egg. It’s a fitting description of the expanding egg-shaped universe as described by the Big Bang theory. Vish simply represents expansion of energy into matter and Shiv represents contraction of matter back to energy—the energy of the universe remaining constant and unchanged.’
‘So the ancient seers of India explained the Big Bang ages before the theory was proposed to the modern world by Edwin Hubble?’ asked Radhika.
‘Yes,’ replied Saini. ‘With a few modifications, Hindu scriptures are in perfect conformity with the Big Bang and Einstein’s equation.’
‘I hate to interrupt this fascinating conversation,’ said Garg caustically, ‘bu,’ replied Sir Khan irbt I have back-to-back appointments on my day-planner today. I must get going.’ He waved his gun in the direction of Radhika and Saini. ‘Sit down on the floor,’ he instructed. Overcoming her aversion to the excrement-covered floor, Radhika sat down cautiously. Saini followed.
‘Tie them up and then gag them,’ instructed Garg. Taarak stepped forward and deftly bound their hands and legs with duct tape. He proceeded to gag them with more tape.
‘Excellent!’ commented Garg. ‘You have trained him well,’ said Garg to Priya as he noticed the ease with which Taarak carried out his task. ‘C’mon let’s get out of here and leave these two sweethearts to do whatever it is that they want to do,’ he said, walking towards the arched door, followed by Taarak and Priya. Saini and Radhika struggled against their restraints in panic. Rising Yamuna levels often flooded these rooms during certain hours and there was very little possibility of them being found alive if they were locked up in these long-forgotten chambers.
‘Isn’t this a touching sight?’ asked Garg, with a parting leer. ‘The monument of love now has a new pair of lovebirds. Till death do us part…’
The arched doorway opened and for a brief moment the room was bathed in sunlight. Garg, Priya and Taarak stepped out. The massive teak door was slowly pulled shut and Saini and Radhika heard a rusty padlock being cajoled into position. In a moment the squeaking stopped and then there was complete darkness. A few minutes later, Saini felt his trousers drenched. He looked down and strained his eyes against the darkness. It was the waters of the Yamuna. The river was in spate that fateful day.
Parikshit was soon old enough to handle the administration of the kingdom. The Pandava brothers, along with Draupadi renounced their kingdom and headed for the mountains. They started climbing Mount Mandara with a mongrel tailing them. The first to stumble and fall was Draupadi. Even though she was duty-bound to love all five husbands equally, she had preferred Arjuna, manipulated Bhima and lusted after Karana. Next, Sahadeva fell. His intellect had made him arrogant. A short while later, Nakula fell. His good looks had made him uncaring towards the feelings of others. A few steps later, Arjuna fell. Even though he had been a great archer, he had remained envious of other archers, including Karana. Finally, Bhima fell. He had been a glutton all his life and had eaten withou
t feeding others. Yudhistira and the dog were the only ones who reached the gates of heaven. The gods welcomed Yudhistira but on the condition that he leave the dog outside. Yudhistira declared that he would renounce heaven rather than give up the dog who had earned as much right to be there. The gods smiled and told Yudhistira that the threatened exclusion of the dog had been yet another test. They welcomed him in, and showered him with petals.
‘We’ve left them to die inside but we still don’t know the location of the Syamantaka stone,’ said Priya as they walked away from the riverbank. ‘We could spend years searching the Taj Mahal and never discover it. Do you think that we should go back and take Saini’s help?’
‘He’s bluffing,’ said Garg. ‘He knows only as much as we do. He knows that the Syamantaka is somewhere here within the Taj complex but has no clue of the exact location.’ The trio hurried towards the steps leading from the riverbank up to the Taj Mahal.
‘Stay,’ replied Sir Khan ois Saini and Radhika where you are, put your weapons down and your hands up in the air,’ shouted Rathore through a megaphone as he ran down the steps from the opposite direction. On his right and left were over a dozen khaki-clad policemen holding rifles. Garg raised his handgun to take a shot at Rathore but before he could squeeze the trigger he screamed in agony as his right hand was shattered by a bullet. He fell to the ground sobbing in pain. Priya and Taarak knew that the game was up. They put down their weapons slowly and raised their hands in surrender. Within minutes, all three were in a police van headed to the District Jail of Agra.
Rathore ran towards the sealed rooms along the banks of the Yamuna. ‘Check all the doors to see which one has been recently opened,’ he yelled to the men who were now wading knee-deep in river water to reach the sealed doors of the sandstone structure that constituted the foundation of the marble Taj.
‘Sir, this door has been opened and locked again. The lock is brand-new,’ shouted one of the men.
‘Break the lock open!’ commanded Rathore.
The lock was broken and the heavy door was pushed open. Given the fact that there was over three feet of water held back by the door, it went rushing into the room as soon as the door was ajar. As light flooded into the room, Rathore saw the figures of Saini and Radhika standing in a corner, huddled together. He had reached them well in time. The water would have drowned them if they had remained locked in for a few hours more.
‘Thank heavens you decided to phone me and leave the call connected,’ said Rathore to Saini as he breathlessly cut open the restraints that bound and gagged Saini and Radhika.
‘This is the second time that you’ve saved my life,’ said Saini gratefully to Rathore.
‘Let’s hope that I never have to do it again… I hope that the duty sergeant locks up those three and forgets the key,’ said Rathore with feeling, as he led Saini and Radhika out of the waterlogged room and into sunshine.
The police team quickly arranged blankets and tea for them and they gratefully sat down on the steps leading to the Taj, sipping the comforting tea.
‘We still don’t have the Syamantaka,’ said Rathore dejectedly.
‘I know the answer,’ said Saini simply.
Radhika and Rathore stared wide-eyed at Saini in disbelief. ‘You know where it lies? Then why are we wasting time here? Let’s get to it!’ said Rathore.
Saini smiled at them. ‘Much has been written about the ornamental cenotaph and the real grave chamber several feet below it,’ said Saini. ‘There has also been much speculation about the twenty-two rooms that can be accessed from the banks of the Yamuna. The fact, though, is that alladiation, the
REFERENCES & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In my quest to produce a work of fiction that was based upon sound research, I depended on several sources. Some of these ran contrary to the fictional premise that I wrote about but they were still invaluable in developing the construct. Listed below are the books, papers, journals, websites, blogs, and audio/video resources that I used to write my novel. Material was not necessarily used from all of these sources but many of them opened the doors to further research and hence I have attempted to keep this list as complete as possible.
Books
Ancient Atomic Bombs; Jason Colavito; eBook, 2011. Download link: http://www.jasoncolavito.com/uploads/3/7/5/9/3759274/colavito_-_ancient_atom_bombs.pdf
Archaeology of Bet Dwarka Island; A. S. Gaur Sundaresh & K. H. Vora; Aryan Books International, 2005
Arise Arjuna: Hinduism and the Modern World; David Frawley; Voice of India Publishing, 2010
Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India; E. Jaiwant Paul; Roli Books, 2005
Autobiography of a Yogi; Paramahansa Yogananda; Yogoda Satsang Society of India, 2010
Bhagvad-Gita, As It Is (Second Edition); A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada; Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1986
Dawn & Devolution of the Indus Civilization; R. Rao; Aditya Prakashan, 1991
Dwarka—Krishna’s Dhaam by the Sea; Subhadra Sen Gupta; Rupa & Co, 2002
Encyclopaedia of Vedic Mathematics; Shukla; Cyber Tech Publications, 2011
Ethnography of Ancient India; Robert Shafkr; Otto Harris Sowitz, 1954
From the River of Heaven: Vedic Knowledge for the Modern Age; David Frawley; Motilal Bansarsidas, 2002.
Hand Book on Rajputs; A. H. Bingley; Asian Educational Services, 2006
Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies; Chitralekha Singh & Prem Nath; Crest Publishing House, 2002
Hinduism: The Eter to track down the bear’s cave and retrieve the stone.came Rnal Tradition (Sanatana Dharma), 2nd revised edition; Voice of India Publishing, 2008
How I Became a Hindu: My Discovery of Vedic Dharma; David Frawley; Voice of India Publishing, 2000
Indian Theism from the Vedic to the Muhammadan Period; Nicol Macnicol; Hardpress Publishing, 2012
Indus Script Cipher: Hieroglyphs of Indian Linguistic Area; S. Kalyanaraman; Sarasvati Research Center, 2010
Jaya—An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata; Devdutt Pattanaik; Penguin Books, 2010
Kalki Purana; B. K. Chaturvedi; Diamond Pocket Books, 2010
Krishna—A Joyous Celebration of the Divine; Chandrika; Vakils, Feffer & Simons, 2011
Krishna—A Sourcebook; Edwin F. Bryant; Oxford University Press, 2007
Krishna—The God who Lived as Man; Bhawana Somaaya; Pustak Mahal, 2009
Krishna—The Man & His Philosophy; Osho; Jaico Publishing House, 1991
Krishna: A Journey Through The Lands & Legends of Krishna; Dev Prasad; Jaico Books, 2010
Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasadeva—Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana); translated by Anand Aadhar; Third Revised Edition, 2010
Lord Krishna—His Lilas & Teachings; Sri Swami Sivananda; Divine Life Society Publications, 1996
Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India (Third Edition); David Frawley; Voice of India Publishing, 2002
Myth=Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology; Dr Devduttt Pattanaik; Penguin Books, 2006
On the Shri Jantra & Khat Kon Chakra (Six-Angled Wheel) or Double Equilateral Triangle; E.C. Ravenshaw; The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume XIII, 1849
Sacred Sacrifice: Ritual Paradigms in Vedic Religion and Early Christianity; Rick Franklin; WIPF, 2005
Science and Spirituality from a Hindu Perspective; V. V. Raman; Zygon, March 2002.
Science of the Sacred: Ancient Perspectives for Modern Science; Compiled by David Osborn; Lulu Press, 2009
Search for the Historical Krishna; Rajaram N S; Prism Publications, 2006
Sri Krishna—The Darling of Humanity; A.S.P. Ayyar; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 2001
Taj Mahal, The True Story; P. N. Oak; A. Ghosh, 1989
Taj Mahal: Analysis of a Great Deception; Dr V. S. Godbole; Itihas Patrika Prakashan, 2007
. The Atlantis Dialogue: Plato’s Original Story of the Lost City and Continent by Plato; edited by Aaron Shepard, translated by B. Jowett; Shepard Publications, 2001
The Cycle of Time; Simone Boger; eBook. Download link: http://www.cycleoftime.com/thebook.php
The Gates of Somnat Temple; The Asiatic Journal & Monthly Miscellany, Vol I, Third Series,’ replied Sir Khanca. b, May-Oct, 1843
The Indus Valley Civilization—A Contemporary Perspective; Gregory L. Possehl; Vistaar Publications, 2009
The Lost City of Dvarka; S R Rao; Aditya Prakashan, 1999
The Lost River: On The Trail of the Sarasvati; Michel Danino; Penguin Books, 2010
The Mahabharata Retold; C. Rajagopalachari; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 2005
The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate; Edwin Bryant; Oxford University Press, 2004
The Wonder that was India; Thomas R. Trautmann; Picador, 2004
Underwater Archaeology of Dwarka and Somnath; A. S. Gaur Sundaresh & K. H. Vora; Aryan Books International, 2008
Unsealing the Indus Script—Anatomy of its Decipherment; Malati j. Shendge; Atlantic Publishers, 2010
Vedic Civilization; R. K. Pruthi; Discovery Publishing House, 2004
Vedic River Saraswati & Hindu Civilization; S. Kalyanaraman, Aryan Books International, 2008
Vishnu—An Introduction; Devdutt Pattanaik; Vakils, Feffer & Simons, 2007
Papers & Articles
108: Significance of the Number; Stephen Knapp; Download link: http://www.stephen-knapp.com/articles_to_read.htm
A Search for the Historical Krishna; N. S. Rajaram. Download link: http://www.mirroroftomorrow.org/blog/_archives/2009/4/1/4139571.html
An Ecological View of Ancient India; David Frawley. Download link: http://www.vedanet.com/our-online-articles-topmenu-2/20-ancient-india-and-historical-issues/44-an-ecological-view-of-ancient-india
Aryan Invasion—History or Politics; N. S. Rajaram; November 2006. Download link: http://www.archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/aryan-invasion-history.html