Free The Mahabharata Secret by Christopher C Doyle Page B

Singh’s study.
    The study was a square room with large bay windows that overlooked the hillside below. In a corner by the windows, was a large polished desk. On the opposite wall, flanking the doorway, hung two large paintings. One depicted the scene from the Mahabharata , where the grandsire of the dynasty in the epic, Bheeshma Pitamah, lay dying on a bed of arrows. The other was a sketch of the Buddha with the word Karma in bold black letters above the sketch. There were also various Buddhist symbols like the Wheel of Law, the Bodhi tree, the lion and the footprints of the Buddha in bold relief below the sketch.
    The other walls of the study were lined with bookshelves. Diagonally opposite the desk was a small glass-topped table surrounded by a comfortable seating arrangement, with a television on the wall; the place where the group now sat.
    Vijay slowly walked to the desk to pick up his duffel bag. The shocking events of the day had driven away all thoughts of what they had actually found in the locker.
    He sat down and pulled out the metal slab in its bubble wrap packaging.
    ‘The key?’ White enquired, leaning forward with interest.
    ‘No. But I think this is one of the disks that were part of the puzzle.’ He looked at Shukla. ‘You’d mentioned that there were two metal disks.’
    ‘Yes. That’s what Beger wrote in his diary; it was a transcript of one of the texts that belonged to the Nine.’
    Vijay unwrapped the metal disk and placed it on the table for everyone to see. ‘The disk with the verse that Farooq had alluded to.’ He indicated the inscriptions on the metal slab.
    Shukla peered at the disk curiously. He reached out and picked it up, studying it intently.
    ‘The script is Magadhi,’ he said after a few moments. He looked up at Vijay, his eyes bright with excitement. ‘You could be right. This disk could actually date back to the time of Asoka the Great, or even before him. This may just be the only other surviving artefact of those times.’ He stared at the disk as if he couldn’t believe he was holding it. ‘Two thousand years of history in my hands.’
    Colin looked sharply at him. ‘That’s exactly what Vijay’s uncle said in one of his emails. Two thousand years of history which I have safely guarded for the last 25 years, is yours to unlock. Do you think he was referring to this disk?’
    It was Shukla’s turn to look enquiringly at Vijay. ‘Vikram sent you an email referring to this disk?’
    ‘You’d mentioned that Vikram had sent you an email talking about the Nine,’ White interjected.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Vijay confessed. ‘I’ve been holding back something. I wasn’t sure I wanted to share this with everyone yet. Only Colin knew. But I think the time is right to let you all into the secret.’ He quickly told them about the emails, reading out the exact words of each one from a printout he had kept in the study.
    ‘I believe uncle somehow knew that he was in danger. That is why he installed such an advanced security system in the fort. And hid the metal disk away in a locker without telling any one. How he obtained the disk, I can’t guess. But he knew about the Nine and their secret.’ He nodded to White. ‘He told you about it. He may have told someone else and somehow the information filtered through to Farooq or whoever he is working for. I think that, on the night he was murdered, his security system alerted him about the intruders. Rather than protecting himself, his first thought was to ensure that the secret was safe. He sent me the emails, hoping that I would decipher them. That is why, I guess, he wanted me to speak to Greg, as instructed in his final email. He knew that Greg would tell me about uncle’s belief in the existence of the Nine. I am not yet certain what he wanted me to do with this information. But I am sure he knew that someone ruthless, someone unscrupulous, was after it; someone who would stop at nothing.’
    There was silence when he had