Prologue

It was 6 September 2012. A boat was ferrying across the Tunga river in Karnataka. Maya Chatterjee drew her arms to her nude breasts in an attempt to avert the salacious scrutiny of Prem Kumar Shastri who was seated at the other end of the boat. Beads of sweat erupted on the contours of her nude body and the breeze did little to stem the tide of sweat. Her head was lowered in embarrassment. Long tresses that cascaded to her navel translated to armour. ‘Armour for a battle against fate in which I need to win,’ Maya resolved.

Around midnight the boat meandered between banks abounding in vegetation. An owl screeched. ‘It is hurt and going to die,’ Shastri said abruptly. ‘There is glory in killing and dying for a cause. Everything is possible on this earth but one has to submit reason to faith.’

‘But you said that these jungles are alien to poachers and tantrics! So who could have hunted the owl?’ Maya quizzed.

‘Tribal bird catchers. They are at home with the venom spewing cobras and are unaware of the secret Kaal Bhairav Temple and the curse surrounding it,’ Shastri promptly interjected.

His elaborate description of the river route and the surrounding forests, at the start of the journey, had apprised Maya of every experience that she might undergo. She was sure that the presence of bird catchers was definitely not a detail which this pot-bellied man with piercing eyes could have omitted.

Before she could voice her apprehension, he steered the boat to the edge of the bank. It halted on the shallow waters and he disembarked with one hand clutching the hull. As the boat steadied he signalled Maya to get out. After she got out unquestioningly, Shastri reached for a coarse bundle of rope under his seat and tied the boat to the nearest sturdy tree.

Pointing his little finger upwards, Shastri darted towards a thicket. ‘I will be back soon,’ he shouted. As his voice receded, Maya furtively glanced around. Silhouettes of plants were visible in the fractured moonlight that filtered through the lush canopies of tropical trees. Unclad and anxious, she realised that she was entirely at the mercy of a man who she could not trust yet she was relying on him for a miracle that would save her husband. The events of the last forty-eight hours started racing back and forth in Maya’s mind and made her delirious. Finally, her mind settled on a fateful moment.

It was the twilight of September 4 when Maya dialled Shastri’s number. He answered on the first ring.

‘Haan ji, behenji, hum aapke seva main tan, man aur dhan se haazir hain. Aap hume seva ka avsar denge to hum aapko nirash nahi karenge, (Sister, I am available at your service with all my body, mind and wealth. If you give me an opportunity to serve you I shall not disappoint you)’ he implored and commanded at the same time.

‘My husband has been falsely implicated in a corruption case. I have heard that you are capable of miracles and so am hoping that you will do something that will clear everything against him,’ Maya pleaded.

After a stifling silence, Shastri answered in a flat voice, ‘My powers are allowing me to see the problem. Your husband has karmic enemies who are trying to defame him. There is only one way to defeat them…but am not sure if it will be acceptable to you.’

‘What is that way? I need to know it right now.’ Maya could now hear the man breathing on the other side and somehow it made her uncomfortable.

‘As I see it you will have to make some penances connected to water and reptiles. You will have to cross the Tunga river and visit a sacred Kaal Bhairav Temple barefoot that is infested by deadly snakes. Only a few know about the existence of this temple and the curse that surrounds it.’

‘And what is that curse?’

‘Well, barring full moon nights, if a man ventures near the temple unaccompanied by a woman, he becomes impotent.’ Maya could hardly breathe as he continued. ‘Also you will have to leave your most valuable piece of jewellery in the middle of the river for the river gods.’

‘I shall abide by whatever you say,’ she answered, wearily.

‘Then I suggest you reach Mattur at the earliest. We need to complete our mission before the weekend for your penances to bear the maximum fruit.’

‘You will be accompanying me?’

Shastri let out a throaty laugh. ‘My powers combined with your efforts will work this miracle. Actually, there are a few other things that I have to tell you but not over the phone.’ He uttered the last sentence in a whisper and rattled on, ‘I will message you my address. But you must promise that you will not speak about this mission to anyone. Speaking about it will jeopardise the outcome.’

‘I understand.’

There was a click at the other end as Shastri disconnected.

Maya was unable to sleep that night. She had never ventured anywhere without her husband. ‘I am sure I shall be able to manage the journey to Mattur but what shall I tell Alok?’ she wondered.

By morning she had thought of a plan.

‘Alok, a school friend of mine is visiting Shimoga with her family. She will be there till this Friday and is insisting that we meet,’ she announced at the breakfast table.

Alok was busy scrutinising some official papers. The strain of the past months was creasing his normally jolly appearance.

‘So, can I go? Sheela is returning to the US soon and we won’t be able to meet for the next ten years,’ she insisted.

‘What are you saying?’ Alok was more attentive now. Maya repeated her request.

‘You can take the car and leave for Shimoga tomorrow morning. I shall request the driver.’

‘I know how difficult it is for you at this stage to place any official request. I shall be fine travelling by bus.’

A strange expression crossed Alok’s features. Maya’s heart was pounding. Given his protective nature, she was sure he was unconvinced.

‘I think you are right. Surely, your friend will receive you in Shimoga.’ He smiled slightly.

‘Alok has been so stressed that he isn’t really his usual self,’

Maya told herself.

*****

Throughout the bus ride, Maya fervently hoped for the success of her mission and clasped her palms in prayer. It was two-thirty in the afternoon when the bus wheeled into Shimoga. Maya hailed an auto to her destination that was eight kilometres away.

A clammy breeze started blowing as it sped along the areca nut tree-lined road to Mattur. Maya clutched her knapsack. The heaviest and costliest piece of her jewellery—a four-inch-wide armlet in solid gold was carefully tucked among the few clothes that she was carrying.

At Mattur, the auto negotiated its way between clusters of small brick houses, straw sheds housing cattle and goats, and statues of gods and goddesses before halting near a flight of steps that led down to a pond. As Maya handed the fare, the driver looked at her with suspicion and some concern.

‘Now there is no turning back,’ Maya assured herself as she started descending the steps. The pond was fringed with trees. On the right edge was a small brick house sheltered by a tree that had a knotty trunk. Painted an ugly blue, the house looked a little eerie.

Maya rapped at the door. A short man with a full head of hair opened it within seconds. She hesitantly stepped inside. A mop of waist-length hair hung on a nail and there were posters of Goddess Kali everywhere. The man motioned her to sit on a low bed and settled himself into a charpoy, gazing at her.

*****

There was a sting on her abdomen. Maya jolted back into the present and realised that it was a wasp. Before she could react to the searing pain, Shastri reappeared from the thicket.

‘One can’t ignore nature’s call,’ he said as he fiddled with his dhoti.

‘When are we reaching our destination?’ Maya asked as they walked alongside the river.

‘In half an hour,’ the tone of the reply was clearly rude. ‘Do I need to throw my armlet in the middle of the river

while we are returning, after performing the penances?’

Shastri nodded.

The forest on the adjoining banks had thickened. Maya’s thoughts returned to her time in Shastri’s house.

*****

Sensing her nervousness, the man introduced himself, ‘God will bless your friend Tanushree for directing you to me. I have been successful in all the cases when people like you have faced disappointments with other tantrics. There is nothing that cannot be achieved through tantra shastra. I don’t want to exaggerate my importance but I have the combined blessings of Maa Kali and Bhairo Baba,’ he continued, adding, ‘Sister, if you have faith, my powers work hundred percent. If you doubt me then you are making things difficult.’

Maya managed a smile. ‘I am confident that you shall restore my husband’s honour and I shall be eternally grateful to you.’

‘Then I am convinced that you will unquestioningly abide by what I have to tell you yet. According to the texts, every woman who offers her most valuable ornament to the river gods after paying homage at the shrine of Kaal Bhairav, receives a perennial shower of blessings. She and her loved ones are forever wrapped in his benediction. But there is one condition. She has to go nude to the shrine.’

Maya could not believe her ears. ‘This is something that I cannot do in a million lifetimes!’ she declared.

‘It is also my duty to tell you that once a woman decides to pay homage at this shrine, she should follow the code and go ahead. Else, she and her family are bound to face adverse consequences.’

‘But you never told me about the code…or the ramifications of not following it,’ Maya pleaded. ‘Besides, our scriptures say that a woman can appear nude only in front of her husband.’

‘I have told you several times before that I shall be able to help you only if you have unflinching trust in me. I can already see that dwindling, so I won’t stop you from returning. But...,’ he contorted his brow.

 ‘But what?’ Maya demanded.

‘I am worried about your husband now as I know how fatal the consequences will be.’

Only the whirring sound of the fan was audible while Shastri disappeared into the other room. When he reappeared, he was holding a fistful of ash.

‘I was trying to see if there is something that I can do for your husband when the Lord unleashes his wrath on him. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to save him.’

Maya was sweating profusely. Kohl started trickling down from her eyes in a straight line, smudging her fair face.

‘It is true that our scriptures say that a woman can appear nude only in front of her husband. But you are doing this only for him,’ Shastri consoled. ‘Besides, I will not look at your body after you disrobe. We shall go to a secluded part of the bank, well past sunset. You can undress there in the cover of bushes.’ Shastri’s voice was beginning to have a strange effect on Maya.

Against her will she muttered, ‘As you say.’

‘I am glad you understood the ramifications of going back.’ Shastri’s voice was triumphant.

Maya had no recollection of the next few hours. She started feeling drowsy and everything seemed like a blur.

‘Did I doze off? I didn’t realise I was so exhausted with the journey.’ She sat up on the low bed to face Shastri.  It was 9 pm and he was squatting on a mat encircled by incense sticks and tiny mounds of ash and herbs, lost in a trance.

Maya noticed that Shastri’s skin was glistening and a woody odour had blended with the puffs of mogra smoke. An empty bottle lying around told her that the tantric had dabbed sandalwood oil on his body.

‘The auspicious time for our mission has started. I can already feel the mystic pull from Bhairavji,’ he muttered in a hoarse voice and stood up.

They walked in silence along the deserted village lanes. Strangely, Maya was now minus the turmoil that she had experienced throughout the evening. After walking for another ten minutes, during which Shastri gave a graphic description of the river route, they reached the riverbank. A frail-looking boat was moored at one corner.

Shastri climbed on the boat and motioned Maya to go behind one of the massive trees and undress. It was too dark to see each other clearly as the clouds were shrouding the almost potent moon and stars. It took some time for Maya to disrobe. She appeared before Shastri concealing her chest and pelvic region with her knapsack.

Shastri noticed that she was now minus her watch, wedge sandals, gold chain, and thin gold bangles. Only her tiny diamond ear studs remained.

*****

The hissing sound of snakes jolted Maya back to the present.

‘On full moon nights, the five-headed serpent that guards Kaal Bhairav’s shrine comes to the river,’ said Shastri. He was steering the boat to the edge as they had reached their destination.

As he started uncoiling the rope to moor the boat, Maya felt a pain coursing through her stomach. Ignoring her discomfort, she followed Shastri among the trees and overgrown grass. An owl let out a blood-curdling screech as they stepped into a clearing.

The Kaal Bhairav Temple was fully visible now. Built of black stone, it had carvings of the deity across its entrance.

Snakes of various sizes were gliding on the grass. Without thinking, Maya dashed behind Shastri inside the temple.

To her surprise, the inside was nothing like a regular temple. There were no bells and the shrine was not visible in the darkness. With her right palm on the wall for support, Maya followed Shastri.

Soon, they started descending some steps. After reaching flat ground, Maya saw that the entire space was illuminated by a couple of rusty oil lanterns. A snake hissed ferociously but they continued and turned to the right. A terrifying yet magnificent-looking statue of Kaal Bhairav was mounted on a shrine canopied by a five-headed serpent.

Shastri squatted before the shrine and uttered some mantras. The serpent stopped hissing. He then opened a bag and took out an array of incense sticks, parched grains, a dead fish, a bottle of liquor and an assortment of powders. After carefully arranging everything and lighting the incense sticks, he looked at Maya and blurted, ‘Sit down and keep repeating after me.’

Maya started trembling as Shastri took out a booklet and straightened the creases on its yellowed pages. He read out a line from the booklet and paused for Maya to repeat. This continued for about forty-five minutes. It was getting claustrophobic as the fumes had no outlet. There was a stench of cheap alcohol and decayed fish all around.

Abruptly, the reading stopped. Shastri got up and started blowing into the powder mounds. Soon, the entire space was shrouded with a grey veil. Maya felt dizzy.

‘Follow me,’ croaked Shastri as he retraced his footsteps through the temple. Clutching at her knapsack she complied.

After a few minutes, just as they were about to step out of the entrance door they heard the deafening sound of a gunshot. Despite her stupor, Maya could decipher the silhouette of a bird dropping from the sky a few yards ahead of the temple’s entrance. Within seconds there was a growing cacophony of savage voices and metal. Her vision started blurring and she lost consciousness.