“Actually, we haven’t,” he said, and she could tell he was just trying to be ornery.
Chandra’s lips thinned. “You should’ve discussed this with me. I know this place too. The surrounding kingdoms have always paid respects to Lord Brihadeeshwar. Every year a tithe is sent. I haven’t made the journey in the last couple of years, for obvious reasons, but we were once regular visitors. I know this place and their rituals better than anyone in our party. Unless you have gotten one of the locals to talk?”
Veer shook his head, finally letting go of her ankle, gently lowering it to the ground. “The people here are too devoted; they can’t be bought with money. We stopped our inquiries days ago just to keep the captain’s guards off our scent.”
“Are you going to tell me why you haven’t informed me of the plan, or should I assume the worst? God knows it’s not like you didn’t have the opportunity.”
“I know you are a devotee. Didn’t want to place the moral burden of this crime on you. I thought I might spare you,” he said with a speculative look on his face.
For a minute, she didn’t know how to respond to that.
“That is…very thoughtful of you,” she said touched. Then, noting the flicker of his eyes, added dryly, “Of course, I’d have believed it more if it wasn’t so awfully coincidental with your plans. You knew I was going to oppose this plan of yours.”
Veer’s answering smile was quick and startling. Her heart gave an uneven thud in her chest.But he sobered quickly.
“It is partly true, Princess,” he admitted. “But we are nearing the festival soon and we will not get a better opportunity. I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t hinder my plans here.”
“But—”
“Do you think we are doing this just for the fun of it?” said Veer, voicing his frustration for the first time. “Believe me, it has become incredibly hard to approach the idol, let alone finda way to inspect it at leisure. There have been a couple of bandit attacks recently and everyone, including the guards, are on edge.
“Aradatta assigned round-the-clock guards to make sure the idol is never left alone. Why did you think I asked for a job as a blacksmith? It was so I could work on the temple doors and tamper them enough for our ‘bandits’ to enter.”
Chandra was shaking her head before Veer finished. “This is blasphemy. There must be another way.”
“We aren’t stealing it. We will only be borrowing it for a while,” persuaded Veer.
When she continued to stare at him unconvinced, he let out a miffed breath through his nose. “Do you think we haven’t thought about and discarded a thousand ideas? This is the only one most of us felt would give us a shot at success. The ceremony is two days from now. Come up with a viable alternative by then and I shall consider it.”
“I know you feel like there is no other way, Veer. But please, won’t you reconsider it?” pleaded Chandra with a beseeching look.
Veer sat back on his haunches and fixed her with a puzzled, if not a little aggrieved, look. “I don’t get it, Princess. How can younotjustify this action when thousands of lives are at stake? How can you think it’s all right to weigh the balance of Saptavarsha’s safety against something intangible and fleeting like the beliefs of the people?”
“It is more than just beliefs, Veer.” She put a hand on his brawny shoulder. Sometimes she felt like she had her work cut out, to make him understand the significance of certain actions, because of how intricate and convoluted the rituals of faith were. For someone who wasn’t raised in this culture, it could be hard to grasp the import.
“The cleansing ceremony,” she spoke, “where they immerse the idol into the three-river confluence is done torid the statue of bad influences during the solar eclipse. Any interruption in the ceremony would mean the statute will remain unclean and unfit for worship.
“Do you understand what that means? Without the idol, the temple will be shut down. And without the temple, the town will fall to ruin, its people gone. You just mentioned how the people here are loyal. That loyalty comes from faith. You take away their faith and you might as well kill them.”
Chapter 24: The Immersion of the Idol
The day of immersion dawned clear and bright. The sun blazed across the sky, not a cloud hid its magnificence. The banks swelled with people who had come to watch the spectacle. Their many-hued clothes made it look like a brilliant patchwork from up above.
The idol of Lord Brihadeeshwar was borne up on a huge, decorated elephant. A whole entourage of people followed the idol’s progress, the crowd extending all the way from the temple gates. Priests clad in pristine whitepanchepresided over the procession; their upper bodies were bare except for a holy thread tied crosswise across the torso.
White ash marks decorated their foreheads in the vertically bisectedUsymbol of Vishnu, since many believed Lord Brihadeeshwar was his incarnation.
Their combined chant of prayers rose over the crowd. Huge drums made from hollowed wood were slung across the front of the musicians’ bodies, suspended by ropes tied across the shoulders, keeping rhythm with the clap of cymbals and the bleat of oboes that signified the start of the procession.
Flowers were thrown high in the air and across the path of the elephant, competing with the fragrant water perfumed with Lord Brihadeeshwar’s favorite flower,sugandha, sprinkled on the idol from silver flagons.
The sheer number of people, some of whom had come from far away on a holy pilgrimage, brought home to Veer exactly how devoted these people were. He was loath to admit it, but Chandra had a point. Interrupting the ceremony would be a blow to their beliefs. But then, he had little alternate options either.
After asking Chandra about more information on the order of ceremonies, he found out there was one other opportunity he could use. For a small period, after the immersion, the idol was supposedly left alone in the temple, with the doors closed, and no assigned guards. So Veer adjusted the plan so that the heist was to take placeafterthe purification ceremony.
The window of opportunity was much narrower, but Veer wanted to make it work. That way, the temple wouldn’t be in any danger of closing, and he could return the idol once he was finished with it.
Chandra didn’t like this option either. Her opinion had been to seek the temple leaders for help, but she couldn’t really object to the benefits that came from this alteration in plan. More importantly, this way they could still keep the secrecy of Meru’s eruption. Rajgarh, with its many enemies, would otherwise be in danger, if the news leaked prematurely, before they were able to complete the lotus key.
