HYDERABAD 1185
Legend has it, outside the city of Golconda lived a tantric devotee named Hira Lal. In youth he was dedicated to the worship of Kali but later worked in a mine to sustain his destitute family. One night before Kali puja, Hira went to bed without food, with only a glass of water to quench his thirst, yet he was grateful and thanked his goddess.
The next day, inside the jaws of a cavernous mine, Hira chipped away as if possessed, eyes unnaturally bright in the struggling flame of a candle. His pick had hit something solid and he was in a frenzy to pry it out. The foreman had blown the whistle twice. The guard on duty shouted, ‘If I have to call once more, I am going to break your knees.’
Hira’s body wanted to obey. He was hungry, tired and depressed. He had been working since sunrise. It was probably only a rock. His wife would chastise him for his late return. ‘Ever an optimist,’ she would say as she ladled cold aloo bhaji onto his plate.
He rubbed his sore elbow and hammered once more. Suddenly the rock surrendered. Rubble crumbled to the ground and from within the dry bits of earth came a promising sparkle. He dropped to his knees. The pick fell away from his hand. He lifted the pile of sediment to his lips and blew gently.
His hopeful breath scattered the dust and uncovered a gem that filled his palms with a bewitching glow. He raised it to the candle. It was a brilliant dark diamond, once midnight indigo, once stormy violet, smooth and larger than his two fists. It glowed like a star from Hell. A strange elation came over Hira. This stone would buy his liberty.
He removed the scarf from his head and tenderly polished the diamond. His wife was ill with blood cough. His children had dropped out of school. This was the touchstone that would transform their lives. He thanked Goddess Kali.
‘Don’t make me come in there!’ shouted the guard.
Hira hid the diamond in his dhuti and walked out. He bowed, praying the guard would not search him.
Baring his fangs, the guard landed a punishing blow to Hira’s ear. ‘What did you find?’
Hira emptied his basket. A few of the gems were worth a trifle but the guard was not impressed.
‘Is this it? You made me wait for this?’ He slapped Hira across the face then cracked his knuckles. ‘Go!’ He spat at Hira’s back as he turned to leave.
Hira could not conceal the excitement coursing through his veins as he darted home. He had heard of miracles but never dared hope for one.
‘So late?’ Rupa greeted him when he reached. ‘The children are asleep.’ She laughed when he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her to the air.
‘My love, you will not believe what I have to show you!’
‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘Did you steal fruit from the overlord’s orchard? Really Hira, it is too dangerous. His wife is a witch, do not anger her. Is it a mango?’
‘No, it is much grander,’ he said. Kneeling before her, he kissed her palms and placed in them the diamond.
‘O Gracious Kali,’ cried Rupa. ‘You work in mysterious ways.’
‘A diamond this size must be worth half the King’s treasury. I won’t have to work another day in my life!’
‘You won’t?’
‘We will live in a house.’
‘We will?’
‘Our children will go to school.’
‘They will?’
‘We will eat mutton.’
‘We will?’
‘Twice a day.’
‘Oh Hira!’
‘We will live as kings!’
Hira Lal and Rupa embraced, laughing and weeping at once.
‘If others come to know, they will kill us,’ said Hira at last. ‘We must take it to the mine overlord right away.’
‘Now?’ said Rupa. ‘In the middle of the night?’
‘We can’t keep it,’ Hira reasoned. ‘Too risky.’
‘Let’s take it to the Maharaja ourselves?’ said Rupa. ‘I don’t trust the overlord or his wife.’
‘He may be rough but he’s a good man,’ said Hira. ‘He won’t deny us our reward. We cannot betray him. It would not be right.’
Rupa sighed.
‘Come with me?’ suggested Hira Lal so she could enjoy the gem a while longer. They wrapped the diamond in a rough spun cloth and made their way to the home of the overlord.
A dog barked as they approached. Hira knocked on the door. A grumble and a scuffle sounded within.
The overlord received them, scratching his hairy chest, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He saw Hira and scowled. ‘You have some nerve disturbing me so late.’
‘Master, look what I found.’ Hira presented him with the parcel. It unravelled to reveal the diamond.
‘Never seen anything like it,’ said the overlord. ‘Kohinoor ka behna!’
Hira cleared his throat. ‘I request the honour of accompanying you to present this to the Raja.’
‘You do, do you?’ said the overlord.
Hira nodded. He had to ensure his due.
‘Come inside,’ said the overlord.
Before Hira could defend himself, the man hurtled a broad-bladed dhup down upon his arm, cleaving it in two. Hira howled in anguish.
Inside, the overlord’s infant began to wail. His wife called out from her room, ‘Who is it, so late?’
The overlord hissed at Hira, ‘Thief, leave before I call the guards and have you thrown in the dungeon!’
Hira rushed to the door.
Rupa screamed. ‘We shall inform the Raja of your brutality.’
Scarce had she finished her words, the bully grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground. ‘I cannot allow news of this treasure to spread,’ he said. ‘I have to kill you both.’
‘O Master, be merciful.’ Hira bent his head to the ground. ‘If you have one grain of goodness in your soul, release her. She will tell no one of the diamond. It was I who found it. Kill me, spare her. We have young children.’
The overlord turned his wanton eyes to Rupa. ‘Alright. You can live. But you have to kill him. I do not want his blood on my karma.’ He thrust the dhup into her hands. It was four feet long and heavy.
Rupa looked at her husband standing miserably before her and collapsed into tears.
‘Do it or I shall have him kill you instead,’ said the overlord.
Rupa wailed in agony.
‘My love,’ said Hira gently. ‘You must kill me. Do it for our children. They need you.’
Rupa crawled to the feet of the overlord, sobbing, ‘Have mercy, Sire.’ The overlord kicked her away.
‘Leave her!’ bellowed Hira Lal.
With what little strength she had, Rupa lifted the dhup and stabbed it into her own heart. Hands over her wound, she sank to the ground.
‘No!’ Hira crumpled in grief by her side.
The overlord pinned him to the wall. ‘Who else knows?’
‘No one,’ said Hira. Enraged, he lunged at the overlord.
The overlord wrenched the weapon out of his wife and struck at him with its cold steel, mercilessly hacking into him.
Hira Lal called out for help, ‘Jaya Mata Kali, Divine Mother, hear my cries. You are the destroyer of time! You are the embodiment of terror! You are the giver of boons! Avenge my wife’s death! Hrim! Srim! Krim!’
A gust of wind threw open the windows, tearing the door off its hinges. Before them appeared Kali, Goddess of Destruction, red eyes, dishevelled hair, breath like roaring waves. She wore a garland of skulls, a skirt of human arms and in her hand was a vengeful khadga.
The overlord who had a minute earlier towered in domination now quaked in fear. ‘Forgive me!’ he begged. ‘Forgive me, Ma Kali!’ He tried to hand her the diamond.
Kali turned to Hira, blood dripping from her lips. What Hira saw in her eyes was Love, a love more tender than he had ever known in his belaboured life. So sweet was her gaze, his pain disappeared. His sadness dissolved and poured out of his soul as tears of joy.
Kali cupped Hira’s face in her palm and stroked his hair. She kissed him on the crown of his head and liberated him with death.
She rose to her full form, seven thousand feet tall. With the fury of the tortured and the betrayed, with the rage of the oppressed and the exiled, with the miseries of monsoons unleashed, she brought her jagged blade down on the overlord’s head, smashing it in. She then hacked his wife to gory pieces and then his suckling child, then his animals: the dogs, goats and ducks. When nothing lived in the vicinity of his homestead, Kali raised the diamond to Heaven and said, ‘This stone which man so adores, whosoever possesses it shall suffer. All that they cherish shall perish.’