Chapter 16 — A call to war
Year 2400, Dwapara yuga
62 years before present day
The town crier stood outside the temple, beating his drums louder and louder until enough people gathered around him. “People! People of this great Karkōttai!” he stopped drumming on a precarious note. “Dark times are upon us!”
Kannanār heard the drums from inside, and walked briskly to the entrance, Mukhilan close behind. They stood at the gates of the temple, where the town crier stood with his arms high in the air, looking at the crowd that slowly grew before him.
“Dark times are upon us!” the crier repeated, waving his stick wildly in the air. “The great dynasties of the righteous Pāndava1 and the unconscionable Kuru are preparing for war this very moment, far away to the north! The evil Duryodhanan, prince of the despicable Kuru clan, has declared war on all that is right and holy!” he waved his stick in the air, and struck his drum once. “The Pāndavas will strike back, but their army is smaller!” he paused for dramatic effect.
He smacked his drum once more. “Our wise and beloved Emperor Thanmayan has pledged his allegiance to the son of Dharma himself, the Pāndava prince Yudhishthiran!” Once more the drum sounded, louder this time. “Our Emperor asks for your help, dear citizens! All able-bodied young men, come join us in this rightful endeavour! Come join our royal armed forces! We shall send an army that shakes the earth with their march! Come stand against this great unholy evil, let it not go unchecked!” he pointed with his stick to the large banyan tree that grew beside the temple. Three men wearing the palace staff uniform sat on a low bench, with dried palm leaves and iron pens at the ready.
“O great sons of Karkottai! O great sons of this blessed land Nākalam! Give us your names! Join our army in this righteous war against evil! Fight alongside the famed warriors of the Pāndava clan! Earn your place in the annals of war!” With a final flourish of drumming, he walked over the tree, and stood with the three officials on the bench. “Come, O sons of the city! Come!”
——
“No!”
“But why, father?” Mukhilan demanded.
“The battlefield is no place for scrawny, young boys such as you!” Kannanār replied, his voice raised. “You would go fight soldiers and warriors? You, who can hardly hold the lamp raised for the ārthi2!”
“Appa, I would be trained! So said the proclaimer!”
“The proclaimer’s mandate is to entice as many men as he can. He would claim anything to that end. Do not fall for his draw.”
“But it is the Emperor’s wish! He thinks it a honourable cause, father. Did you not say he is one of the most learned men in all the land?”
“Learned, yes. But it is a monarch’s duty to honour his alliances. He would have to send his army to the war, whether he wished to or not. We come from a line of priests, and a priest is what you shall become. We are scholars, not brutes.”
“Scholars or not, do we not have a duty to uphold dharma?”
“Dharma? Your dharma is to and provide for this family when I am no more! That is your dharma! You were born a brahmin3 for that very reason—there begins and ends your dharma!”
“How does it matter the manner of my dharma? I want to do that by serving this kingdom, in some useful way.”
“You are not going to war. Do not challenge me on this. I do not want a dead son on the battlefront!”
“I might never even see the front, appa!”
“Then why are you so adamant? Just so you can spend all day doing nothing at some remote outpost?”
“I just want to be a part of something, appa! I do not want to sit in a temple all day, doing the same thing over and over, days on end! I have had enough of serving prasādham4 everyday! It is inane!”
“You think priesthood to be beneath you?” Kannanār’s eyes flared.
“Look at this hut! This is what priesthood has given you? Everyday the rich and the noble come to our temple, bedecked in their silks and jewels, and toss a few coins to us, without as much as a second glance. Is this what you want to do all your life? I do not!”
“Thankless ingrate!” Kannanār grabbed Mukhilan by the shoulders. “At least you have a roof over your witless head!”
“I want to play my part in serving this kingdom, father! I think this to be the right thing to do!”
“Do not talk to me about right and wrong!” Kannanār snapped. Look, look at your mother!”
Meenakshi was sobbing silently, and young Āndāl sat beside, hugging her mother, not able to understand why her father and big brother were arguing.
“What am I to tell her when you are brought back a corpse? And your young sister! How am I to explain that her fool brother is now no more?”
Mukhilan gave up, exasperated. He remained silent, there seemed to be no convincing his father.
——
A low thud awoke Kannanār. He rubbed his eyes, and propped himself up on his elbow. It sounded again. He squinted in the dim light. It was the door. A slim rectangle of grey filtered into the hut. It was still dark outside. Did I not latch it? He got up, and walked to the door. He dropped the latch shut, and pulled again on the door to check. Sighing, he walked back to his straw mat.
The small lamp in the corner was almost spent, indicating it would be dawn soon. Meenakshi and Āndāl were on the cot, sound asleep. He then noticed the mat beside his. Mukhilan’s was empty.
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