Free KRISHNA CORIOLIS#6: Fortress of Dwarka by Ashok K. Banker Page B

counter the effect to ensure that you regain your eyesight soon. Now that you admit your fault, you must also take back your curse. Do not render me incapable of bearing offspring.’  
    Paushya rubbed his face in misery. ‘Great one, would that I could. But as you know, a brahmin’s heart is soft as ghee even though his words may be sharp as razors. A kshatriya is the opposite: our words may be soft as ghee but our hearts are sharp instruments. Even now, my anger has not been quelled completely. I cannot take back my curse. Please, just go.’  
    Uttanka rose and said, ‘I spoken the truth. The food was impure just as I said. Yet I allowed myself to be appeased by you. Earlier, you cursed me saying that I had wrongly accused you and spoiled food that was unspoiled. But my accusation was true and the food was spoiled, therefore your curse is ineffective. Let the matter end here.’  
    So saying, Uttanka left Raja Paushya’s palace, taking the earrings with him.  

15

    Uttanka was eager to return to his guru’s house and complete his mission. He put aside all thoughts of the events preceding and pursuant to his procuring the earrings and kept his mind set on reaching home at the soonest.  
    But after walking a fair way, he saw a peculiar sight. There was a man on the road ahead who kept appearing and disappearing.  
    As Uttanka approached, he was able to make out that the man was a kshapanaka, a mendicant given to wandering naked and begging for alms. But there was something most peculiar about this mendicant. One moment, he could see the kshapanaka quite distinctly, standing on the road, the next moment, the kshapanaka was nowhere to be seen.  
    Uttanka was vexed by this sight, remembering the equally bizarre incident that had occurred when he was en route to Raja Paushya’s palace. ‘I shall ignore this phenomenon completely and concentrate only on reaching home quickly,’ he told himself.  
    He continued walking. But instead of passing by the kshapanaka, somehow the man always stayed several yards ahead of him on the road, continuing to appear and disappear in random flashes.  
    Tense and disturbed by this vision, Uttanka found himself exceedingly thirsty. Due to the altercation with King Paushya, he had been unable eat or drink anything since leaving his guru’s home days earlier and was desperately in need of refreshment.  
    Spying a pool just beside the road, he bent down to drink. As his simple garb contained no compartment, he was compelled to set the earrings down beside him for a moment while he cupped his hands to drink the water.  
    The instant he set them down, the kshapanaka appeared in a flash beside him, snatched up the earrings and disappeared.  
    Uttanka sprang up and chased after the kshapanaka. At first the mendicant continued his vanishing act, but as Uttanka gained on him and began to grasp hold of his limbs and struggle to get the earrings back, the being finally gave up his disguise and assumed his true form.  
    He showed himself to be Takshak, king of snakes, and in his true body, it was impossible for Uttanka to grasp hold of him. Uttanka struggled manfully with him for a while, but Takshak slithered out of Uttanka’s grasp and slipped into a chasm in the ground that had miraculously appeared.  
    Uttanka understood at once that the queen’s warning had come to pass. If he allowed Takshak to escape now, the lord of the Nagas would wriggle all the way home to the realm of snakes and Uttanka would never recover the earrings. His only chance was to plunge in after the Lord of snakes.  
    Determined to fulfill his obligation to his guru, he leaped into the chasm moments before it closed.  

    Uttanka tumbled through empty space for what felt like an endless period of time.  

    Finally, he found himself on solid ground with no recollection of having suffered any impact on landing. He was in a rock tunnel deep underground. Hearing a slithering sound from ahead, he moved in that