Chapter 12: Naraka

As soon as I and others were put into Naraka's care, we were to work on their lands outside Their palace as draught animals. From Vaikasi to Aivani we sowed the kharif crops. Several rows of tortured souls had masts tied behind their heads, and their arms tied draped over said mast. In the front were souls who had been in the fields the longest, in the back those who had been there the shortest. Each mast was tied to an unusual foreign plow on which Naraka themself sat, as the share blade dug into the ground. We sowed the kharif crops in these masas. Those who were too weak to keep up with the experienced souls in the front were dragged forward with the plow, and whipped by Naraka.

 

From Aipassi to Margali we sowed the rabi crops. Between Purattasi and Aipassi we were tied to a rake blade, much larger and heavier than the share, as we harvested the kharif crops. As Naraka again sat on the drought vehicle, he would cut any crops on the side that was missed with his aruval. From Panguni to Ani we harvested the rabi crop. When we were not sowing or harvesting we were weeding the fields by hand chained to wooden posts. We slept in stables made for animals, while bound and tied to each other with thick twine. Naraka's field seemed to expand forever in every direction, longer than even their mighty palace. Escape was a dream that felt impossible to achieve, and without Rashmi I had started to feel as if it might be better to forget her, to forget my grief of my old life.

 

I was mad at the gods, at Nishith for knowing he was dooming me to this, and at the fates for me being born inhuman against my will. I knew if I ever wanted to see Shishin again I would have to travel back through Patala to the land of my village, but All attempts were thwarted by Naraka and his guard. When I pierced the veil in the quiet hours of the night in the stables, I was on another plantation, one of the white man's creation. I couldn't escape punishment by haunting the physical or fleeing the farms in the spiritual world. After a year or so of labor under Narakasura I had all but given up hope, setting myself up for entrapment mentally as well. One night however, as everyone slept, I was visited by a snake. I was startled when the snake spoke to me, but he chewed through my binds and led me out the stables in the dark of night. 

 

Every second we were out of the stables, I was sure we'd be caught by Naraka's night guard, but they never came. The night was still, and the fields were empty. Eventually the snake led us to an old dead tree near the back of the plantation that I had never seen before. She disappeared behind the tree, and reappeared the screech owl. A beautiful woman with white wings and clawed feet. staring down at me from inside the barren ancient banyan. 

 

"I can give you what your heart most desires." She said.

 

"I want to be with my child Shashin again. Can you free me and return me to him?"

 

"That is not what your heart most desires."

 

"You know not what you speak of. Frankly I am tired of being told who and why I am by everyone else."

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"I can give you revenge." She says, vocking her head to one side.

 

"...I'm listening."

 

"This tree is not of this realm. I have come here to offer you my offspring a chance to make those who sent you here feel your wrath. Climb the tree and we can ascend to the higher loka." She rattled.

 

It is without shame, I tell you that I followed my grandmother Nila Litnu. We climbed the tree and from here in Rasatala loka I was taught how to cross the barrier to any part of the world. What I regret however, is that rage hath consumed me so, that over time I had missed Shashin's life. I haunted Nishith night and day. I haunted the members of his family through British occupation through our country's independence all the way into the modern era. When I first accepted the path of the flesh I indulged in the sins I was fated to make to end up here. I had sex with every lilith, I knew no loyalties and was bound to no daily prayers. The gods had already abandoned me, and I could not be more damned. My most spiteful sin, and the one that I must repent for to release my bindings I did hardly months in. When I first pierced the veil to cast my evil eye on my abuser I spied Nishith's wife Koyel 9 months into her pregnancy. When it was time for her to give birth to another child, to have what I never could, from the man who stole everything from me, I took her child.

 

As an asura I found I could do more than hope mortals could hear me on Earth. I could move objects, shake doorframes, affect man. As Koyel was in labor I sent a wind of disease upon her. Her child was to be stillborn just as my Rashmi. I stole the child's unborn spirit from Patala, to care everyday for the unborn spawn of my enemies. I never stopped doing as much either, though I cared less and less for the unborn souls I took. Koyel and Nishith tried again for children 3 times. Each miscarraige further discouraging Koyel. By the third the mugharribun blessed with fertility left his assumed barren wife. He was never faithful to her to begin with, and he found each new concubine he took was similarily unable to carry children to term. While Shonali, and Bhavika knew not the sins of their father, and went on to be good mothers, such sustained purity could not be claimed by their brothers. With each passing year Vivaan and Baneet grew more and more like their father. After one child I assumed I finally found my justice and would be done with them. Once Nishith had passed I assumed I had found peace, and could move on. Each time I believed myself done with revenge however, I found I could not escape thinking of them. I had not cursed them in death to directly become an asura after death like some, but I took to revenge like walking. Nishith's sons used eomen just ad he did, and just like him I assured they were to never have kids carry to term. Everyday I thought I might move on Koyel's first unborn was a reminder of my pain of Rashmi. 

 

What I did not know at the time though, was that Koyel never forgot her first child either. Being that Nishith had taken Aarack's spot on the counsel his children had great social leverage, and Koyel raised her daughters to become priests. Her daughters raised their daughters to become priests, and through the decades they studied the pox upon their family the curse that was me. The sons never had kids, and the daughters never had sons. One day I visited Saanvi, the granddaughter of Shonali, as she was to give birth to another man. In that room in the corner sat Shonali. I noticed her little as I went in to devour the stain on their family line. Shonali had been taught exorcism from Koyel. Koyel who had been obsessed with asuras ever since she lost her third child. Nishith called her mad at first, but he too grew to believe it following his years of misfortune. Many in his family line had tried to rid themselves of the curse of me, but more often than not they simply cleansed me from their home only for me to return again and again. It wasn't until Saanvi's child that Shonali had found a much more suitable solution for her bloodline. 

 

"You may hear the conclusion of my morbid tale, and finally think me truly a monster, but you should know the pain and grief that binds victims to their trauma can redefine one's entire life. It wasn't until Shonali sealed me in upRasatala that I had time to realize how much our inseparable bond caused by loss had harmed me and my immortal soul. My grandchild now lays dying on a hospital bed. I never visited Shishin in his final moments, nor his children. I spent so much time seeking revenge on Nishith's family, that I lost track of my own. I hope more than anything to be able to see my last living relative in their last moments, but to finally be free and cleanse my soul, I need to rid myself of the last bond between our families. You are not an impure soul, and your fate has not yet been decided. Ever since we heard of your arrival we knew only you can deliver this child, another lost undecided soul to Patala. So I ask not sympathy for me, but for the child. I beg of you, deliver her back to her eternal life, just as I had my dearly departed Rashmi. You will not only bring peace to an old woman, but also end a generational curse and free a soul. Are you willing?"

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