Rudra laid unconsciously on the broken cot, his mother hurriedly changed his clothes. Rudra’s body was burning hot. His mother checked his temperature by touching her cheeks with his body. 

“Our Rudra has a very strong fever. God knows what kind of things our son has to go through to end up like this.”

Mandri’s heart pained as she cried on seeing the terrible condition of her son. She picked up some herbs from the neighborhood and began to grind and crush them in a paste using a mortar and pestle made up of rocks. She boiled up some water and began to cleanse the wounds on Rudra’s body by dipping a clean cloth in hot water and wiping the wounds on his body.

After the wounds were cleaned from dirt, she took the ointment prepared a moment ago and began to apply it gently over his wounds. 

‘Aarghhhh..!’

Rudra groaned in pain. Mandri's heart lurched in pain but she continued applying the ointment over his wounds. After the ointment was applied over all of his wounds, she gently began to wipe his forehead with a cloth soaked in cold water. The night before was cold and the water in the earthen pot was cold enough. Mandri continued tending to Rudra to lower his temperature and thus get rid of the fever. They couldn’t afford the fee of the village doctor or Vaidhji as he charged people in pesos.

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While Mandri was tending to Rudra’s wounds, an important was taking place between various influential decision-makers of the Village.

The people in the meeting included the Sarpanch or the village head with five of his panchs and the Guru Bharstacharya from the Village ‘Path Sala’. There were also two more Brahmans alongside the Guru Bharstacharya participating in the meeting.

Guru Bharstacharya was a lean man with a round belly. He had a bald head with a single braid of hair tied in a ponytail. He had black eyes that gleamed with a sharp light. A red color Tilak as the center with white markings elongated from it were marked on his forehead. This gave him a sagely appearance and marked as a testament for his wisdom. There were various Rudraksha beads weaved into a bracelet tied on his forearms and wrists. He wore a janeu thread tied around his left ear all the way to his back and front in a diagonal position.

The other Brahmans looked reverently at Guru Bharstacharya. He was the most elder and wisest among all of them. Guru Bharstacharya was the headteacher of the ‘Path Sala’. He taught JyotishShastra, GanithaShastra, KhagolShastra, and language to the children of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas. Everyone in the village was aware of his hatred for Sudras. Guru Bharstacharya hated Sudras to their very core. He would severely punish any Sudra involved in any affair of the village. All the village’s laws were written by him and were implanted through the Village chief.

The entire village came to know of his hatred for Sudras through a certain event thirty years ago. The village chief silently looked at the Guru Bharstacharya as he recalled the event.

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Thirty years ago,

In a dilapidated hut on the outer edge of the village. A man laid silently on a broken cot. The man was shivering and was coughing violently non-stop as he groaned and moaned in pain.

‘Cough!...Cough!’

‘Water!....Give me some water!’

The man murmured as he let out these words with difficulty. A middle-aged woman hurriedly returned with some water in a broken mug. The man stared silently at the water in the broken mug.

The water was greenish even after boiling and there was a rotting stench bursting from the water. The man stared pitifully at the water and pushed it aside. He began coughing violently as the woman held his head gently in his arms. The man coughed out some blood from his mouth as he spoke hoarsely,

“Water!..........Give me some clean water! I won’t survive for long, at least before my death I would like to drink some clean water.” After uttering these words the middle-aged man closed his eyes.

The middle-aged woman had a very pained expression on her face as she looked at her husband who was on his deathbed. They were a poor family of Sudras, his husband Hariya worked under the landlord as a manual laborer in fields. They had a short-lived son. When their son was only seven years old, it was their turn for the Rakshasa’s offering. Their only son was offered to the Rakshasa for the welfare of the village. Her husband contacted ‘Yakshma’ diseases a few years ago.

This was a deadly disease with no cure and no one in the village was willing to come in contact with the person infected by this deadly disease. Tears fell from Gangi’s eyes as she silently recalled the memory of her only child. They offered their son and their entire life for the sake of the village and what did they get in return? Not even a drop of clean water was available to them for drinking. Gangi firmly made her mind as she had a firm resolve in her eyes.

It was midnight and dim moonlight shone on the streets as no presence could be sensed anywhere. Some nocturnal animals were hooting and making various eerie sounds. The village kotwal was a very lazy man as he rarely went out for a patrol during the night. The door of the hut creaked open as a figure slipped out from it.

Gangi carefully checked her surroundings to ensure nobody was present on the streets. She carefully picked up a bucket as she silently tip-toed towards the inner village. Her footsteps were light and careful. In this cloudy night with an eerie atmosphere, Gangi carefully reached the inner periphery of the village. Her target was the inner well of the village meant for upper Varnas. She just wanted to fulfill the last wish of her husband and bring him clean water to drink before his death.

As she reached near the well she was startled by a dog lying lazily near the stone platform of the well. She carefully approached the well from another direction and tied the rope carefully with her bucket and threw the bucket in the well. The bucket hit the bottom of the well.

Splash!

A loud splashing sound of bucket hitting the water boomed inside the well. Gangi immediately held her breath in fear as she watched the dog with deep trepidation in her eyes. The dog opened its mouth wide open as its sharp teeth gleamed in the moonlight and yawned lazily and closed his mouth again. Gangi sighed in relief as she carefully pulled the bucket up and untied the rope and prepared to depart.

‘Tok!.....Tok!’

Gangi was startled by this sound as she hurriedly hid behind the huge rock platform of the well. She sneakily peeked above the platform and was surprised to see the Village Kotwal patrolling around with a huge stick in his hand. He was hitting the ground with his stick after some duration as he marched near the periphery of the well. Gangi hurriedly ducked down and silently slid toward the dark corner of the well.

The Village Kotwal walked sternly while stomping his feet and hitting the stick on the ground. He neared the well and glanced once at the surroundings of the well. Noticing nothing strange the Village Kotwal marched forward. As the village kotwal retreated Gangi heaved a sigh of relief and waited patiently for the kotwal’s figure to diminish.

Finally, when the figure of kotwal was no longer visible, Gangi came out of the darkness and prepared to depart as soon as possible from this place. At this moment, the clouds shrouded the moon, and darkness ensued hiding everything from visibility. As Gangi trotted forward she stepped on something hairy and slippery. Gangi instantly had a fearful expression, without waiting for something drastic to happen Gangi began to run towards the outer village.

‘Awooo……..Bark! Bark!’

The dog lying near the well began to bark violently as it whimpered in pain. This instantly alerted the nearby dogs as the cacophony of dogs barking ensued chaos in the calm atmosphere of the night.

This violent outburst of dogs alerted the Kotwal as he began to look around for the source of the chaos. Gangi rushed forward without caring for anything in the world. Her primary goal now was to just reach her house and just quench the thirst of her husband. As she ran forward with the entirety of her strength the bucket spilled water as it was shaking violently. She slipped as once near the periphery of the outer village and bucket slipped from her hands as it rolled out. She instantly got up and picked up the bucket to prevent further spilling of water. 

Finally, the hut came in her view as she ran forward and opened the door and poured the water in a mug and brought it near her sleeping husband’s face and affectionately said,

“I brought you some clean water to drink Swami!”