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sped away from the temple. Shiva kept staring at the disappearing profile of the chariot. Once it was gone, he continued to stare at the dust with intense jealousy. It had been fortunate enough to have touched her.
    I think I’m going to like this country.
    For the first time in the journey, Shiva actually looked forward to reaching the capital city of the Meluhans. He smiled and started towards the rest house.
    Have to get to Devagiri quickly.

CHAPTER 4
    Abode of the Gods
    ‘What! Who attacked you?’ cried a concerned Nandi as he rushed towards Shiva to check his wounds.
    ‘Relax Nandi,’ replied Shiva. ‘You are in worse shape than I am after your adventure in the water. It’s just a few superficial cuts. Nothing serious. The doctors have already dressed the wounds. I am alright.’
    ‘I am sorry, my Lord. It’s entirely my fault. I should never have left you alone. It will never happen again. Please forgive me, my Lord.’
    Pushing Nandi gently back on to the bed, Shiva said, ‘There’s nothing to forgive, my friend. How can this be your fault? Please calm down. Getting overworked will not do your health any good.’
    Once Nandi had calmed down a bit, Shiva continued, ‘In any case, I don’t think they were trying to kill us. It was very strange.’
    ‘Us?’
    ‘Yes, there were two women involved.’
    ‘But who could these attackers be?’ asked Nandi. Then a disturbing thought dawned on Nandi. ‘Did the attackers wear a pendant with a crescent moon on it?’
    Shiva frowned. ‘No. But there was this one strange man. The best swordsmen of them all. He was covered from head to toe in a hooded robe, his face veiled by a mask, the kind I’ve seen you people wear at that colour festival . What is it called?’
    ‘ Holi , my Lord?’
    ‘Yes, the holi kind of mask. In any case, you could only see his eyes and his hands. His only distinguishing feature was a leather bracelet with a strange symbol on it’
    ‘What symbol, my Lord?’
    Picking up a palm-leaf booklet and the thin charcoal writing-stick from the side table, Shiva drew the symbol.

    Nandi frowned. ‘That is an ancient symbol that some people used for the word Aum. But who would want to use this symbol now?’
    ‘Aum?’ asked Shiva.
    ‘My Lord, Aum is the holiest word in our religion. It is considered to be the primeval sound of nature. The hymn of the universe. It was so holy that for many millennia, most people would not insult it by putting it down in written form.’
    ‘Then how did this symbol come about?’
    ‘It was devised by Lord Bharat, a great ruler who had conquered practically all of India many thousands of years ago. He was a rare Chandravanshi who was worth respecting and had even married a Suryavanshi princess with the aim of ending our perpetual war.’
    ‘Who are the Chandravanshis? ’ asked Shiva.
    ‘Think of them as the very antithesis of us, my Lord. They are the followers of the kings who are the descendants of the moon .’
    ‘And they follow the lunar calendar?’
    ‘Yes, my Lord. They are a crooked, untrustworthy and lazy people with no rules, morals or honour. They are cowards and never attack like principled Kshatriyas. Even their kings are corrupt and selfish. The Chandravanshis are a blot on humanity!’
    ‘But what does the Aum symbol have to do with this?’
    ‘Well, King Bharat came up with this symbol of unity between the Suryavanshis and the Chandravanshis. The top half in white represented the Chandravanshis.

    The bottom half in red represented the Suryavanshis.

    The part in orange coming out of the meeting of these two parts represented the common path.

    The crescent moon to the right of the symbol was the existing Chandravanshi symbol.

    And the sun above it was the existing Suryavanshi symbol.

    To signify that this was a pact blessed by the gods, Lord Bharat got a mandate for the pronunciation of this symbol as the holy word Aum.’
    ‘And then what happened?’
    ‘As expected, the pact died