KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE

                        KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 111

“Can you give me just one reason as to why I should murrrrder my minister for foreign affairs?” the King was his satirical best.

“Not just one reason, your majesty. I can give you ten reasons. And all the reasons hinge upon his activities against the State and Your Majesty!”

The king leaned toward Sivanesan and whispered in his ear, “Of course, I believe you Mr. Sivanesan. But speak up in a loud voice your mind without minding my thundering satirical words.” Then he sat back in his seat and started to thunder, “You are a fine person, Sivanesan. You came here to our country just a week back. And you are a fine one to accuse my time-tested bosom friend, Mr. Veeravelar of treason!”

Despite the King’s reassurance, Sivanesan started to perspire profusely.

This made the king to take one of the broad fans left by his servants and actually fan Sivanesan. “Speak up or you would be killed like a dog on the street!” Once again the King leaned over and whispered in a frightened Sivanesan’s ear, “Don’t take my thundering words seriously. I have said I would induct you in my ministry. So speak up without any fear, Mr. Sivaneasan.”

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 110

                              KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 110

“Yes,” King Karikalan said without much of an exertion, “and we’ll discuss that latter. Now, how are your wife and daughter? How do they like their life on the Linga Hill?”

At this question, Sivanesan’s face lost its colour and composure. “I want to talk to your excellency in private!”

“Is that so?” the king said, “So be it!”

At this, taking the hint, the two personnel who had been fanning the king on either side with a wide fan went out in a hurry after saluting the king.

“Yes?” the king asked even as the gates and windows to his hall were shut from the outside.

Sivanesan waited for the last window to be shut. Then said in a tone of voice that was far from being in his control: in his seated position in front of the king, Sivanesan exploded, “You have to murder your minister for the foreign affairs, your excellency!”

“Whom do you mean, Mr. Veeravelar?” the king, having lost his own composure, thundered.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Sivanesan thundered with equal intensity!

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 109

                        KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 109

Now Sivanesan was going to meet the king Karikalan on his having asked him to meet.

At the royal gates, there was no problem for Sivanesan. The wardens at the gates had been duly informed about Sivanesan’s coming to the palace.

The king was in his unofficial dress. Nonetheless, his royal appearance was always there as like a halo around the heads of saints. There was something about the six-plus stature of Karikalan that oozed aura and people implicitly obeyed him. The king was dressed in white silk dhoti and a long silk towel that had been thrown carelessly around his neck which covered his broad chest. Gracefully long-limbed, the king’s face radiated a royal quality. Without making a thing of it, he looked the visitor at his eyes that seemed to be penetrating Sivanesan. The nose above his big moustache had an aristocratic touch. The king had a generous mouth but his eyes were the highlights of his face. His eyes radiated charm and kingly quality.

The king was an adept at making his visitors impressed without being frightened.

Sivanesan was made to feel at home within seconds of his having ushered into the king’s exclusive hall where he ordinarily gave audience only to his ministers and visitors from abroad.

The king had a reputation in receiving regularly visitors from abroad. Even when Sivanesan was there, a Chinese traveler had been visiting the kingdom and staying at the guest house attached to the grand palace.

“Well, Mr. Sivanesan. I find you in fine mettle. How do you like your week’s stay in our country?”

It had been one week since Sivanesan had come with the small hurricane lamp and saw the king at his court.

“I am thankful beyond words, your majesty. And even I was amazed at the way your Excellency's giving me refuge within half an hour’s interview. That doesn’t mean that I don’t deserve your excellency's help. But the way your majesty decided spoke volumes for your Excellency's acumen and sharp wit and greatness in reading people’s character just by looking at their faces!”

The king laughed and the way he laughed made Sivanesan look sharply at him.

“Of course, Mr.Sivanesan, what you say is true. But I sent my men to your place at Kanchi, all the same, to verify the facts!”

“O I see, then, may I presume that your Excellency is satisfied by the feedback?”

“Immensely, Mr. Sivanesan. I am completely satisfied with your credentials. The fact that I wanted to give you a ministerial berth in my cabinet, made me wanted to be doubly sure of your credentials.”

“A ministerial berth in thy cabinet, your majesty!” Sivanesan could hardly believe his ears.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 108

                      KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 108

When Sivanesan came to the Chola Kingdom and sought refuge from the king, the latter asked why Sivanesan should be granted a refuge.

Then Sivanesan related to the King Karikalan about the hoary past of his family and the Tradition of worshipping the Five Flames for well over a thousand years.

Then the king had asked if he had not been coming from the North and once again Sivanesar explained how some thousand three hundred and odd years back his forefather had come to the South along with his great joint family consisting of a hundred people and settled on the outskirts of Kanchi City.

The king had been greatly impressed and asked if he had completely forgotten the Sanskrit language. Sivanesan said he and his forefathers had never forgotten their mother tongue, though now Tamil had substituted the same in as much as they had started to talk in Tamil even at their houses. That there was a mingling of blood and culture and how they had started to marry into the high-class families of the Dravidiyans and started to worship Linga of the Dravidians. That how the Rig Vedic Rudra came to be mingled with the Linga and Lord Sivaperuman was born. That how huge literature had evolved round Lord Siva and all the related matter.

The king had talked to Sivanesan in pure and chaste Sanskrit and that had really amazed Sivanesan. Both talked to each other about the Ariyans, Vedas and Vedangas, and Sivanesan said how Ramayana and Mahabharata had been accepted by the Tamil speaking community in Kanchi. And how the pundits had taken to learning Sanskrit for its great literature and culture and music. The king wanted to know more and more and at last gave him refuge in his kingdom saying, “There is a white stone hill, by name, Lingaparai. It would perfectly suit your purpose. You and your family could live there, atop the hill once occupied by the Samana Monks and latter by my Raja Guru. But it’s been several years since he attained Maha Samadhi and Lingaparai has remained unoccupied ever since. I send with you my dearest friend, Mr. Veeravelar who is our Minister of foreign affairs. All my knowledge of Sanskrit and its rich culture and literature is due to the pundits brought here from the North by Mr. Veeravelar!”

And then the king had bided Mr. Veeravelar to accompany Mr. Sivanesan and his family to the Lingaparai and see him settle there. The king had also appointed Mr. Sivanesan as the head priest of his own Linga Temple and requested him to see to all the lighting arrangements as in Kanchi Temples.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 107

                             KARIKALAN AND THE TIMEMACHINE—CHAPTER 107

Sivanesan continued to think back on that day when his big house had been set ablaze by the Samana Monks in the dead of the night, even as his black Arabian horse was trotting towards the Palace of the King Karikalan.

On that night, Sivanesan’s grandfather alone was alive when Sivanesan had come from the house of his wife.

Sivanesan had handled his grand father’s body very tenderly. He had brought his ear to the mouth of the old man who had been instructing Sivanesan in the final moments of his life. Even as his life was slowly ebbing away, the old man was telling him that he, Sivanesan had been the last man and heir of that joint family. Sivanesan’s father and paternal uncles and all the members of the family had succumbed to the all-devouring fire. “You must be careful, my boy”, the old man had said in his feeble voice. “You embody the hope of not only the family you know but the forefather who had established the Panjakini (The Five Flames) in our house someone thousand three hundred and odd years back. On your shoulders rests the fate of Panjakini and if you let the Panjakini to be destroyed in this fire, you would have done something most heinous. Take the small Hurrican Lamp and light the wick from the lamp of AHAVANYAM and douse it along with other four lamps and collect the lightless lamps and go somewhere. Just leave here. Don’t look for revenge. The Panjakini (the Five Flames) are most important than the worldly notion of getting back on your detractors. So go anywhere where there are no Samana Monks and establish the Five Flames and continue your life in worshipping them! I bless you and your wife and daughter. Farewell, my boy!” With those words, the grandfather of Sivanesan had died on the lap of Sivanesan.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 106

                                      KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE –CHAPTER 106

The Itihasas like Ramayana and Mahabharata were translated into Tamil by the Sanskrit scholars among the Tamil. They were well received by the common folks. The practice of telling the story of Lord Rama in the Linga Temples during the festival season came into vogue. The Vedas and Vedanga were also translated for the purpose of the Tamil Scholars. Within a hundred years of the first settlement of the forefathers of Sivanesan, these Arians came to be called ‘Brahmins’ as their spiritual culture was yoked to a search of knowledge about the ineffable Brahman. During that period, that is during the first hundred years of their settlement, the Brahmins too had taken much interest in the classical language, Tamil and its beauty. It had great literature also. And the Linga Form came to be associated with the Rudra of the Vedas. Thus was born the culture and cult of Lord Siva. Soon it was only a question of time for the growth of ‘Puranas around the Lord Siva. The Devi worship came to be associated later with Lord Siva and the Devi became Parvati. Already Lord Muruga was a well-known Tamil Deity. The Skandan of the Vedas came to be associated with Lord Muruga. And He became the second son of the Lord Siva and Goddess Parvati, His Spouse. The Ganapathyam lost out to the Cult of Siva and Ganapati became the first son of the Divine Couple. Thus there was much give and take between the two cultures, Tamil and Sanskrit. Much later the Sanskrit Scholar in Grammar, Panini came to be favourably worshiped by the Tamil scholars, while the Tamil Scholar in Grammar, Tholkapiyar was a celebrated one among the Sanskrit speakers. The joint family of the original forefather also had fanned out around Kanchi.

  

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 105

                              KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 105

The man of great might and valour belonged to the family of high tradition. Panjakini or the Five Flames and its worship formed the core of the family’s tradition. Some thousand and three hundred years ago the first ancestor of the family had come from the North India where the Settlements of Ariyas had taken place. The Vedas and Vedangas had been completed. But owing to the fact of the tradition of sacrifice the priestly community started to thrive which had brought into the Hindu way of life the paralyzing superstitions. For each and everything the priestly community prescribed various sacrifices and it was not an ordinary thing to conduct sacrifices even to kings. The Priests demanded hundreds of cows and gold ornaments besides other favours from the kings. And as a result, the Hindus had become frustrated with their religion. It was at this time, the first ancestor of Sivanesan had decided to move over to the South with his great joint family consisting of more than a hundred persons including children. The first ancestor had nine brothers and sisters and their  branches had all been, in accordance with the tradition, living together in a large house in present Punjab.

The great joint family had moved to the southern tip, and settled in Kanchi. They had occupied a great stretch of lands and reclaim the same for the cultivation of rice and other South Indian crops. Kanchi was a great city even the. There was no ill-will toward the new settlers. They had rather been welcomed and assimilated with the local folks. The local folks welcomed the high culture of Sanskirit Literature and the Forefathers of Sivanesan showed real interest and respect, in and for, the well developed Dravidiyan Culture. There was blood relationship and mixing of blood between the sun-like-complexioned forefathers of Sivanesan with the dark-skinned Dravidiyan families. Sivanesan’s forefathers took to the worship of Linga in the Dravidian Temples, And at home the first forefather of Sivanesan built a hall for tending the Panchakini and thus Panjchakini Flames were established in the Hall.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 104

                          KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 104

When the slab stone had slid to one side to reveal beneath it a flight of stone steps, the Super Star’s namesake, Sivanesan was proceeding majestically on his black Arabian horse towards the King Karikalan’s palace. The king had sent word to him to come and meet him. Sivanesan was the only person in his family who had escaped from the arsenic acts done by the Samana Monks who had been for a long time been installed on the Linga Hill and ejected from there in favour of a great Saiva Saint and his disciples. Of course the King had been very kind and considerate to the Samana Monks and offered an alternative place for constructing their mutt along with a huge fund for construction. But the Samana Monks had been offended by the king’s word to vacate the Linga Hill in favour of a new comer and his disciples. So they had moved over to Kanchi Country and started to live in the mutt on the outskirts of Kanchi City along with other monks there. From that day, those monks had started to give offence to all the Brahmanas including the Sivanesan’s family. Most of the Brahmin families had vacated that street and gone to live in the interior of the city. But Sivanesan’s family could not just vacate the ancestral house and go elsewhere. Because they were worshipping, apart from the Linga in the Siva Temples, the Panchakini or the Five Lamps or Flames. The five flames had been established some one thousand and three hundred plus years! So they could not just vacate the place and go elsewhere like their relations.

On the night of arson, Sivanesan had been away at his wife’s house, some fifteen miles from Kanchi city. And when he had returned in the night, from a distance his horse sensed something wrong and started to gallop quickly toward the house.

Sivanesan was quick to enter the burning house and found only his revered grandfather half dead. All the other members of the family had died in the arson. And his grandfather, when realized his grandson had returned home, urged Sivanesan to take the lamps and collect a ray from them into a chimney which could withstand even a hurricane and go someplace where he could re-establish the Five Flames and live a devout life by rendering worship to the holy fire.

As the horse was galloping toward King Karikalan’s palace, Sivanesan continued to ruminate and think upon what happened since then.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 103

                                  KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE 103

They mounted the steps instead of jumping up onto the summit in homage to the Linga Form of Lord Siva. Once atop the summit, they lowered themselves in worshipful reverence to the Lord, Linga, and around Him they started to go in circles. They circled the Lord thrice before stopping to take stock. They looked all around them. There were tenements that had been constructed for the Samana Monks who had been inhabiting the place for long before moving over to Kanchi. They kept looking all around. They could see Sivanesar’s family having taken possession of the place. The washings had still been hanging on the clothesline. The open doorway of the kitchen could be seen with its stock of groceries and rice bags. But there was no sign of Sivanesar’s wife or the daughter. While this surprised them, the main thing that they could not see a single picture of Hindu Gods anywhere much less the Panchakini or the Five Lamps. To reiterate, there was not even a single lamp even in front of the Linga Statue.

“What shall we do?” was the question uppermost in the three monks’ mind.

But they were quite sure there must be the Five Flames somewhere there.

But howsoever diligently they would search they could not see the lamps. But they could see there were many signs of a family living there. For example the water tank… it was a tank cut into the core of the stone surface to harness the rainwater for the purpose of drinking and cooking and washing. There were two such tanks on either side of the Avidai of the Linga Statue.

All of a sudden, the Super Star gave a little cry of surprise and kept seeing at his feet. Beneath the feet had been placed the white marble stone that had been perfectly camouflaged by the stone around it.

The Super Star kept staring at the slab stone made in marble of scintillating white.

The slab stone started to move sideways!

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 102

                           KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 102

The whole Hill was made of pure white stone like the Rockfort Temple in the present Thiruchirappalli. Around the hill stones had been cut on the face of the hill. The Super Star and his companion did not use the stone steps cut around the hill to gain the top of the hill. They simply flew to the top of the hill. On the top of the hill, there was even surface measuring roughly hundred metres in diameter. The pure white stone shone like gold in the evening sun. In the exact centre of this circle was a straight block of stone with fifteen metres in diameter. This block of stone was round in shape. It was clear that the top of the hill was made even around this block of stone which rose to a height of fifteen metres. There were separate flight of stone steps cut around the block of stone. The stone steps lead to the summit where a huge Linga like the size of the Linga in the present Big Temple of Tanjore built by Raja Raja Cholan stood to the height of ten metres. So the above said stone block and this Lingam both made the form of Lingam and Avidai.

Super Star, Manikkam and the grandfather were standing on the landing or the hundred metres of even space. The Linga was situated in the exact centre. The Super Star seemed to be afraid of what was going to happen to him. So when the two others made to mount the small steps cut around the Avidai of the Lingam, he said, “Manikkam sir, you two go upwards. I’ll just sit here and take rest!”

“O common, sir,” Manikkam said, “You can say you are tired in Chennai. Here we can never become tired. We can travel thousands of miles and without becoming tired. Only to the embodied Spirit can become tired. We have shed our bodies in Chennai and here we are pure Spirits. We will not feel hungry or thirsty or tired. You know, sir, it has been three months since my first time travel and on that occasion, I brought my grandfather to Chennai. Though it has been three months he has not eaten anything, drunk a glass of water or slept. At my flat, throughout the night the TV would be on and he will be avidly watching various programmes throughout the nights from his vantage point on the Photo Frame! Now common, sir. Let go up and see the Lingam close up. Around here there are signs of Sivanesar’s family’s use of the place. There are tenements built all around the hundred metre space. But there is not even a lamp here. Common let’s get up to the towering Linga and see if there are any lamps!”

Hearing all this, the Super Star got up and followed the two. But in his heart of hearts, there was some innate feeling that something serious was going to happen to him that would change his life forever!

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 101

                       KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 101

Only using such mental maths, Manikkam had been telling his grandfather and the Super Star that they should hasten as the Time Machine was due to start from the Chola Country sooner than later. But they had met a bottleneck that none of them had foreseen. With the result, the trip back to Chennai was postponed. But it was all for good. It seemed they had got some more things to do in Chola Country. And it was welcome to them in a singular way.

It was for the Super Star Manikkam had originally invented the Time Machine owing to some stimulation coming from some other lifetime and the world. And it was for the Super Star that Manikkam gave himself up to the invention of the Machine. It was for the Super Star that Manikkam, after having invented the Machine, decided to have a first ride alone to have some experience which could turn into firsthand expertise. And it was Manikkam who had been telling the other two that the time for them to go to Kanchi and drop the grandfather there and pick up the spirits of the housefly and the lizard before making the final trip back to Chennai. All this was postponed now for an indefinite time.

Because something was going to happen that would have a final say in the life of the Super Star in his Chennai life.

The three monks, Manikkam, his grandfather and the Super Star, had flown to the Linga Hill and alighted at the foothill.

When they looked up at the Hill, there was surprise writ large in capital lettering on their faces!

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE-- CHAPTER 100

                         KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 100

On being asked for details, the grandfather said, “While you were still inside the Mansion of Kabaligan two persons mounted on steeds were going along this way as they were not in a hurry they walked their horses. They were discussing something at the height of their pitch. I became invisible, once they said, ‘This Sivanesan is a lucky fellow!’ and followed them. As per their conversation, there is a cave temple called Lingparai in the surrounding and this Lingaparai or Linga Hill was once given by the king Karikalan to some Samana monks for staying and practicing their religion. And then, it was needed for the purpose of the Raja Guru of Karikalan. The Raja Guru had come to Karikalan’s court along with a horde of his desciples from the North. Since Karikalan spoke Sanskrit and worshiped Lord Siva in Linga form they became so very close to each other that the King requested the Guru to stay at the Palace. The Guru hated the luxuries of the palace and also he wanted a place for himself and his desciples if he were to stay at Chola Country of Karikalan. Then the king had no other way except to ask the Samana Monks to vacate the Lingaparai or Linga Hill. The Samana Monks were offered by the king an alternative place. But they took offence at it and vacated the Linga Hill and moved further south to Kanchi Country. This Raja Guru was in occupation of the Linga Hill for well over ten years and then he attained Maha Samadhi. Since then the Linga Hill was lying unoccupied by anyone. But now, the newcomer, Sivanesan and his family have been offered the place. That this Sivanesan was a worshipper of Panjchkini or the Five Lamps.”  The grandfather gave a pause. Then he said, “This Sivanesan looks exactly like you. And you want to worship a lighted lamp. But he actually worships five lamps. I hear it was his family tradition. According to the two soldiers, Sivanesan’s family has been worshipping these lamps for more than one thousand years! That the king was impressed so much by his tradition that he immediately assigned the Linga Hill and asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Veeravelar to help Sivanesan’s family to settle down at the Hill!”

There was a heavy silence you could cut with a table knife. And then both Manikkam and the Super Star started to raise a hue and cry all at once. “Grandpa,” said the Super Star, “I touch your holy feet, sir.” And he actually did that before resuming; “so the man does not merely look like me but actually is my forefather?! Well! Well! Well! I will worship you for the rest of my life, grandpa!”

Manikkam also waxed eloquent: “I thought much about it. Of course, I mind-read Mr.Sivaneasan this morning inside the temple, but there wasn’t much to read and know actually. He seemed to me a disciplined man and his mind was in a state of ecstasy inside the temple. But grandfather has done a fantastic job, indeed. So Mr. Sivanesan is your forefather, sir? And what a way to worship the Five Lamps for well over a thousand years without any interruption indeed!”

“All this is an ordinary thing for me. If you guys come to my place I could show girls and women who scintillate like lighted lamps!” boasted the grandfather. And the two youths started to fly away leaving him way behind. So he had to make haste. And once he caught up with the two youths, the three of them, they were still laughing.

Though they had come to Kabaligan’s Mansion through the sky, they had travelled in time. Which meant they arrived at the Mansion without any loss of time! So they had had no chance of looking at the Ling Hill.  Travelling by the Time Machine had its own advantages. Once they travelled from Chennai to Chola Country, they could go anywhere around the world without any time loss! They could go from the Chola Kingdom to any place belonging to the same time. And for this, they would not need the Machine nor any other device. All it would take was to think of the place to go. This is because they are pure spirits here and they could go anywhere within the timeframe just by thinking of the place and forming a wish to go there.

KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE--CHAPTER 99

                               KARIKALAN AND THE TIME MACHINE—CHAPTER 99

“Sir,” the Super Star said, “now only I come to understand that this Kumanan rascal is none other than the fellow who has kidnapped my wife and daughter. Now I can think straight. Somehow this fool has found a way to our Chennai! He is working in some clerical job at Kalpakam Atomic Power Station!”

“Sir!” exclaimed Manikkam, “Use your mind. For this guy to have come to Chennai and being born there and educated and join the Atomic Centre is a bit too far-fetched a theory to confide in anyone. For example, if you said it to my grandfather, now… where the hell has he got to?”

The Super Star made an angry gesture. “I insist on having seen Kumanan there at the Atomic Centre, sir! You are welcome to think whatever you want to, but it is a fact. This kumanan’s handlebar moustache and the headgear and the quaint Tamil and tone of voice he uses here naturally confused me, besides blinding my mind and eyes. Now I am sure, sir, this fellow is there in our Chennai! God, I only saved two girls out of his amorous clutch. For this, he has come up to Chennai and has kidnapped my family! What a way to take vengeance!”

“It is an impossible thing, sir. Come, the time’s up. We have to be at the Lingaparai or the hillock to become aboard the Time Mchine. Something urges me that we have but little time to lose.” Manikkam was emphatic.

The Super Star was led and piloted willy-nilly by Manikkam towards the exit. “See, my grandfather is already near the outside gates. Come, let’s make haste.”

When they came to be with the grandfather, he gave a peculiar look to the Super Star and said, “My boy, I seem to have chanced upon the fact that you are here on purpose!”