The Killer

The story is taken from the Indian Epic 'Mahabharata'.

The vast field had housed thousands of flames. They were burning their dead kin in the fire, those who got killed in the eighteen days’ long war of Kurukshetra. And they were crying and equally cursing the killers of their kin from the bottom of their heart.

The night was deep and heavy. Thick clouds barred the face of the moon and all other visible extra-terrestrial objects. Life, as if had just ceased to exist in this mammoth ground of dead.

A tall and lanky man stood under an enormous peeple tree at a stone throwing distance from the killing field. The colour of his body was indistinguishable from the colour of the night. It looked like he took disguise by blending himself perfectly with the invincible darkness that persisted all around.

He was closely observing the proceedings of the mass crematorium, gradual transformation of the mutilated and lacerated bodies of the war into ashes.

The cremators were uninterruptedly cursing the five Pandava brothers and the Panchal aloud. But it was his name which was being cursed and condemned maximum.

‘Krishna, why, why you got all our men killed like this?’

‘Krishna, your dynasty will face the same fate one day. There will be no men left there to conduct the last rituals at the time of your own death.’

‘Krishna, you will be taken to hell after your death for what you did to us.’

Krishna was listening to every bit of what they were saying about him. His so far unmoved mind was slowly dipping into the crater of confusion.

‘Was it really needed to get so many of those people killed? What will happen to those small children who just lost their fathers? How come, the newly-wed brides will digest the premature loss of their young husbands? Who will carry the consoling warmth to those aged and ailing parents who just sacrificed their sons in the bloody war?’

Krishna had none of their answers. ‘Have I done something grossly wrong? Why my mind has become so bitterly restless?’

But whatever he did was meant to welfare of the common people. He eliminated the evil rulers of the society to bring back the good kings. He was sure that the Pandavas will establish peace and prosperity once again across the nation.

But at what price?

The evil rulers could have been assassinated the way Jarasandha and Keechak had been slain. That would have been interpreted as sheer cowardness in the land of Kshyatriya (warriors). But so what? Lives of many common soldiers and men could have been saved.

Krishna felt a sudden indomitable inertness capturing his mind and paralyzing his senses.

‘What should I do now?’ he asked to himself.

His weary limbs slowly brought him to the middle of the crematorium. The place, by that time was converted into real hell with the pungent smell of burnt flesh prevailing everywhere.

Krishna stood over there and looked around to see the bereaving people. They were mostly old men and women, young women and adolescent children.

He didn’t know what to do and how to respond in the mid of this dreary death land.

The air of the place became thick with smoke and ashes. It was difficult to identify people from the short distance.

They were so much engrossed to bid final good-bye to their dear ones that none of them even tried to raise a eye to identify their most hated man.

Krishna remained bereft of speech for some time. The constant cursing by his name was directly hurting his soul. His logical mind got completely blinded. He never felt so helpless and hopeless in his life before.

He wandered within the thick smoky air to touch upon all the points of flames. Many of those flames were already left out and about to die down with the corpses inside been almost transformed into ashes.  He stood at the flames and begged apology to the departed souls from the core of his heart.

‘I never intended to get you killed. I wanted to give you a much better life under the most supportive and neutral administration. I aimed to give your children the best childhood and your debilitating parents the best support of the old age. Believe me, I am not a killer.’  

  

He waited till the last flame was extinguished.

And then he left the crematorium and moved into the forest. The chirping of birds alerted his senses. He looked at the sky. The darkness was slowly taken over by the glow of light. The clouds were disappearing fast to welcome the morning.

Another new day was about to take off.

Krishna didn’t stop walking till the first ray of sunlight touched his feet. He turned around to surrender himself completely to the sun. He closed his eyes. He exposed his everything, his body mind soul, every particle of his  existence  to the sun……to kill the killer in him.

‘I am not a killer. I didn’t kill all those people. I only mobilized them to sacrifice their lives to get rid of the evils from their societies. Punish me if I am the guilty.’

Krishna slowly spread his arms, took a deep breath and waited to receive the punishment that was allocated for him in his destiny.

Author's Note

If you read Mahabharata, the greatest ever epic written in man-kind you can appreciate the story.

Reviews

[bookworm0812]

I appreciate this in ways that probably are not the ways other people can appreciate it. I haven't read the epic you have talked about, but I have heard of it, and I do know a tiny bit about it, though not enough to contribute a huge amount of appreciation into it. I appreciate this because not only does it show the grief and pain associated with the death of loved ones, especially in a bloody war, and the cursing of a god who was supposed to protect the people who worshiped at his feet, but the sheer vulnerability of a god, which by nature we may not associate together. A god is mighty, and powerful, and most of the time, we do not see them as an entity that can feel pity for his people, and horror over himself and his actions. The portrayal you have in this is blissful entertainment. I adored reading it very, very much.

[Leslie Philibert]

Great, I really like work with a cultural background, well written, intelligent, fine job