THE CURSE OF BRAHMA by Jagmohan Bhanver Read Free Book Online Page A

the necklace itself. ‘What...what is this?’ he asked marvelling at the beauty of the jewellery.
    ‘These are my late mother’s jewels, handed down to her by her mother. They have been in our family for the past seven generations, and are given to the custodian of the royal family. Only the queen of Bateshwar may wear them, or in her absence, the bahu of the family,’ Vasudev paused as his voice cracked with emotion. ‘Rohini felt that only Devki could be the rightful custodian of these jewels, and she wanted Devki to know that she understands this and will always love her as her own sister.’
    Tears flowed down Ugrasena’s face and even the usually stoic Kansa was struck by emotion at the large-heartedness of Vasudev’s first wife. ‘Say no more my son!’ Ugrasena got up to hug Vasudev. ‘Rohini’s gesture has more than answered my question. Prepare for your marriage to Devki in three months’ time.’
    Kansa shook his future brother-in-law’s hands. ‘Welcome to the family, brother.’
    Exactly at that moment, the skies thundered. The rumbling was accompanied by what seemed like a hoarse and rasping scream from the depths of hell. But it was inaudible to everyone except Kansa. He heard it and shivered with fear for the first time in his life. The rasping scream was the same as the raucous voice he had heard in his head, a day ago.

    ‘In the name of Vishnu, how many times do I need to tell you, you are my son!’ Ugrasena shouted uncharacteristically at his beloved son. Kansa bowed his head, plagued by ambivalent feelings. His love and duty towards his father made him hesitant to probe further on this topic. Ugrasena had been devastated when Kansa had put forth the question, ‘Who is my real father?’ And for a fleeting moment, Kansa had thought of abandoning this quest that was hurting his father so much. However, he was driven by an inexplicably uncontrollable force, to persist in his quest for the answer. The Dark Lord’s words had been haunting him for the past few nights and try as he might, he couldn’t be his usual self.
    ‘Father, there is something that you haven’t told me. I have felt it all these years…in the whispers of Mother’s closest attendants…whispers that stop as soon as they see me.’ Ugrasena helplessly watched his son’s tortured expression, and tried to imagine what the young prince would be going through in his mind.
    ‘Mother never loved me the way she loved her other nine children. I learnt to live without her love because I knew you loved me more than any of my brothers and sisters. But sometimes I would catch her staring at me with such hate that the force of her loathing would make me want to die,’ Kansa paused, his voice too broken to continue. Ugrasena waited with bated breath, hoping Kansa would not ask him what he knew now was inevitable. But he knew that Kansa was on the brink of asking the very question that he had been dreading all these years.
    ‘And I always wondered what I had done to be the cause of such abhorrence from my own mother…’ Kansa paused in mid sentence, making a superhuman effort to rein in his emotions. After what seemed like an eternity, Kansa seemed to calm down. He looked at Ugrasena, ‘Why did Mother hate me, Father?’
    The pain and anger, lying buried in Kansa’s soul for the past twenty-nine years of his life seemed to have erupted all of a sudden and it did not brook any easy answers. Ugrasena looked at Kansa closely, and for the first time he felt a sense of fear as he stared into the eyes of his son. He had always thought Kansa had soft, melting eyes, much like his mother. Today, those very eyes looked hard as steel. In that moment, Ugrasena realized with a shock that Kansa could probably hate with the same intensity with which he was capable of loving.
    ‘It’s a long story,’ Ugrasena said softly, and motioned to Kansa to take a seat close to him. Then he held his son’s hands as he prepared to tell him a story he