In a faraway place in the remote corner of Kuru Kingdom, Shambhala Village.

“Master!........ Master!”

A middle-aged man was kneeling and pleading in front of a round-bellied man. The round-bellied man had beady eyes, gold earrings were shining on his ears, he wore golden bracelets with some carving on both his wrists; a necklace with a green gemstone hung upon his neck. He was looking passively at the kneeling middle-aged man in front of him.The middle-aged was kowtowing and begging him, 

“Master! Please lend me some more rice. Master! My wife is pregnant and she is about to give birth. Master! Please lend me more rice to nourish her and my newborn child.” 

The middle-aged man kept on begging and kowtowing. Upon seeing this the brows of round-bellied man frowned, there was irritation in his eyes. But the middle-aged lowered his head more and silently kneeled in front of the fat landlord.

Upon seeing this the anger of the fat landlord raised a notch and he furiously bellowed, 

“Stop! This is the third time you are asking me for extra rice. You still hadn’t paid for the previous time and you still have the gall to ask for more. Rice is not something that can be grown up in one fortnight. I still have to sell this rice to the royals in the Hastinapur. Recently, with the birth of the prince, the king is organizing a grand feast in the capital and for that huge amounts of the ration is needed to be supplied. This time I got the opportunity to sell my harvest to the royals when they are paying an exorbitant price to purchase it, and you are asking me to provide you rice and suffer losses. Tell me! How will you compensate my lose, if I gave you the rice.” the fat landlord had a gleam in his eyes as he silently stared at the middle-aged man.

Upon hearing this the middle-aged man went silent. He had no way to repay the debt he had amassed over the years. His father worked for the fat landlord to the bones and still wasn’t able to repay the debt. So, the massive debt was passed on to him. He had been working for the landlord’s family from the day he was able to pick a shovel. He had spent his youth and adulthood working for the landlord and was still far away from repaying the debt. Years ago, when he was about to get married he had to take some more loans. Now, when he was about to become a father, he had to take some more loans as there was no ration at home. It is very hard for him to earn enough food to fill his belly once a day. But, now when his wife is about to give birth, he needs more rice to nourish his wife and newborn child.

Years ago, his grandfather had taken a loan of one gold mudra. One gold mudra, how huge of a sum is it; one gold mudra is equivalent to ten silver mudra, one silver mudra was equal to ten bronze mudras and one bronze mudra was equal to ten pesos. You can buy a sack of rice for one peso, enough to last you for a month. Yet, his grandfather took a loan of a gold mudra. He wasn’t able to put his head around it. But the landlord told him about it, so he believed it to be true. His father always told him that he had a huge debt to pay and even seven generations won’t be able to pay for it. Now, almost three generations have passed and soon his offspring will join this cycle.

As he was lost in his such thoughts, the fat landlord chimed once again, 

“Adhiraman! Tell me! How are you going to pay me!” Upon hearing these words, the middle-aged man named Adhiraman steeled his nerves and replied, “Master! I will work even harder for you. I will plow your fields, herd your sheep, feed your cows, clean their dungs, and do more manual labor for you.” The fat landlord nodded in response and called for a servant. 

Shortly, the servant arrived with a small sack in his hands and passed this sack to Adhiraman. Then, the fat landlord once again reminded him to work harder to pay his ever-increasing debt.

Adhiraman was about to turn around and move out. A crisp and sharp female voice stopped him. 

“Adhiraman! Where is Mandri? Who will do her job?” a fat lady with a round face and sharp eyes trotted her way to the fat landlord and stood beside him.

Upon seeing the lady Adhiraman lowered his head and replied, “Landlady! Mandri is about to give birth today. She will soon come to work.”

The landlady frowned and replied in a cold tone, “Tell her to come tomorrow for work or else there will be no payment for this entire month. Don’t you know how hard it is for us to grow the rice and you want to earn it by lazing around? Who will do the chores and adorn me? Look how ugly I look today when there is nobody to take care of my beauty!”

Adhiraman once again bowed and grabbed the sack and turned around and left the hall. He walked out of the manor of the fat landlord with light steps with worry in his eyes. His wife is about to give birth to his offspring. He expects the newborn to be a boy, as the boy would be able to share some of his burdens when he grows up. It was considered a sin for a girl to be born in a poor family, as girls had poor physiques not suitable for fieldwork; and when the girl grows up, it will be a hassle to marry her with a suitable amount of dowry. 

Shambhala village is very far away from the capital of Kuru, the Hastinapur. Authorities never visit such a remote village as it borders the vast forest which houses many wild beasts, evil creatures like pishachs, pretas, rakshasas, and many other evil entities. Roaming too deep in the forest will surely lead to death. A century ago, a big horned Rakshasa came to dwell in the forest and since then he will frequently visit the village for the offerings and will plunder and massacre the villagers if he is not satisfied with the offerings. This cycle repeats every nine months as the rakshasa will sleep for eight and a half months after his plunder and will eat and kill for the next fifteen days and will return to sleep again. The offerings of the Rakshasa varieties of dishes, various cattle as well as a human offering from the village. Mainly, these offerings were provided to the Rakshasa from the Sudras like them.

His firstborn son was sent to the Rakshasa as an offering when he was just ten years old. Upon recounting this incident, tears rolled his eyes. The human offering was supposed to be made from the house of the fat landlord. But the fat landlord to save his own soon, compelled him to offer his son to the Rakshasa in exchange for half of the half of their debt cleared. He was hesitant to do so, that was his only son; so, he could send his only son to death. But his son smiled and said to him, 

“Father! If I could help you ease our family’s burden by half, then I am more than happy to offer my life for it.” With these words, his son parted from him towards that dark forest of death to never return.

Up till now, he can’t come to terms with himself for the loss of his son. He wiped away the tears streaming on his cheeks and walked to one of the dilapidated shack and knocked gently on it. There was some rustling sound inside, shortly after an old lady with shriveled skin, grey hairs, and a big mole on her right cheek opened the door.

The old midwife spoke with a hoarse voice, “It is still awhile before the delivery. Go and fetch some water and warm it up.” The midwife closed the door and entered the hut again.

Adhiraman picked the bamboo bucket from the corner of the hut and went to only well in the center of the many huts. There were three wells in the village with one being in the mansion of the fat landlord and the other near the inner area of the village where many Brahmanas and Vaishyas lived. It was taboo for the Sudras to fetch water from the inner well. If any Sudra was found fetching water from the inner well he would be stoned to death and the well will be covered with sand and a new well would be dug.

Adhiraman slowly pulled the water from the well and filled his bamboo bucket. There were some green mosses in the water and it was almost green. He cleared the mosses as he carried it to the hut. Then, he placed it on a large black rusted wok and began to heat the water. When the water was warm enough to get purified he cooled it down to Lukewarm and knocked on the hut’s door again.

The midwife opened the door, he gave the warm water in the bamboo bucket to the midwife and began to roam outside on the periphery of the hut with a tensed expression.

His first son was offered to the Rakshasa, his next son died during birth and now he was hoping a miracle to occur as he silently prayed to ‘God Shiva’. 

Soon, cries of pain and repeated crooning of the old midwife to ‘hold on’ could be heard from the hut. The voices lasted for the next half an hour and then soon it died down.

Wailings of a newborn baby could be heard from the hut as the old midwife opened the door and chimed,

“Congratulations! It is a healthy boy.”

The now agitated Adhiraman thanked the midwife and gave her half the sack worth of rice and then rushed inside the shack.

A weakened middle-aged woman with long black hairs, black skin, and blue eyes laid silently on a broken cot. She was gently stroking the head of the newborn boy who silently slept on the cot wrapped in a towel.

Adhiraman walked near the woman and gently picked up the newborn and spoke in a low voice,

“Our newborn child is born with the blessing of God Shiva. So, his name shall be

RUDRA”