Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya

(The hunter in the wilderness of sansara)

By Simon Nawagaththegama

Chapter1 :(Part 12)

Ancient stories

The Giant came so close to them that he could hear them. The better he could hear them the less he could understand what was being said. For this reason he stopped listening to them and instead focused on what they were doing and tried to decipher the meanings of their actions.

Fatty picked up the gun. He examined it closely and then walked up to the summit. He made sure it was ready to be fired. He rested the butt-end of the gun on his shoulder and pointed the barrel to the sky. Skinny put his hands over his ears. Fatty fired. There was a deafening sound.

Two processes were set in motion immediately. Fatty handed the gun to Skinny. Skinny took a long time to reload the gun. The Giant observed all these with great interest like a little child mesmerized by a new fangled toy.

In the meantime, Fatty removed the white cloth and tied the drum around his waist. He started walking around the rock, murmuring something, holding four stones in his clenched fist. Upon completing the seventh trip around the rock he buried the stones in its four corners.

Having left the gun leaning against a tree trunk, Skinny took out some things from the sack and started constructing an altar to place flowers. The main and most eye-catching element of the contraption was a large and rich looking coconut flower. Thereafter he took a long yellow thread, folded it seven times, tied seven loose knots in its and placed it on the altar. Fatty came back, stood before the altar and gazing intently on the rock started beating the drum. His chants got louder as he called upon numerous called upon numerous Yaksha and Pretha forces to come to his aid.

The drumming got louder and more incessant by and by. So too did the chanting increase in intensity and volume. As the drumming and chanting reached a crescendo the Giant saw something strange manifesting before his eyes. The Naga King and the Bahiravaya had emerged from the bowels of the rock. They were both swaying as though in a trance. It was the Bahiravaya that danced with greater intensity. The next moment, Fatty, beating the drum with one hand, picked one end of the yellow thread, held it between his teeth and pulled. The Bahiravaya immediately tumbled over the edge of the rock screaming to the heavens. The Naga King went lifeless upon the rock. Fatty continued to beat the drum for a little while longer. Then he launched into a different chant, hooted three times, cast a look of triumph at Skinny and unburdened himself of the drum.

Throughout this entire drama, the girl stood still and silent. Her eyes were transfixed on the drum. Her fingers remained where they were, covering the area between her legs.

After keeping the drum aside, Fatty sat down and started chewing a wad of betel. He began discussing some matter with Skinny. He explained something, pointing to the girl and the stream nearby. Finally he took out a knife from the sack, stuck it in his waist and went away after offering the following forceful instructions:

'Now this treasure is completely protected. Not even the Vesamuniya can enter the domain marked by the four stones. The Naga King who protected the treasure is finished. The Bahiravaya is also finished. Until I return at the breaking of dawn tomorrow, you have to protect his virgin. If you engage in any act of desecration, mark you, I will draw your bowels out with this here knife. Leopards and bear prowl at night. Hold on to this gun. If you want to protect this virgin from such creatures you had better take care of this instrument.'

Then he left.

Skinny leaned against a tree. The gun stood an arm's length away from him.

The girl, who had stood still all this time suddenly began to sway. She fell down suddenly lifeless and on her back. Skinny remained unmoved. He looked at her with disinterest. That which she had kept hidden with her hands was suddenly visible even to the Giant. It lay open to the wide skies. Both Giant and Skinny found themselves drawn to this particular part of her anatomy. They stared.

After looking at her for a long time, Skinny got up, took out a coconut shell from the sack, went to the stream, filled it with water and taking some in his hand sprinkled it over her face. He then sat near her, carefully scrutinizing her naked body. He reached out and began pinching her nipples gently. The girl did not exert any effort to dissuade him. She had by this time once again placed her hands over her pubic area.

Skinny slipped the knots of the vine with which her hands were tied together. She pressed her hands even more firmly on to her body. Skinny slapped her cheek. She went lifeless again. Skinny took her hands and tied them behind her back. He then brought some more water and sprinkled some over her face. When she regained consciousness her thighs were open and everything was in full view of the Giant's transfixed eyes.

The Naga King tasked to protect the treasure was still lifeless on the rock. Having died on account of the spell that Fatty had cast over him, he found resurrection from between Skinny's thighs. The virgin offered no objection. She lay still upon the rock. Skinny went wild, scratching her body like one possessed with uncontrollable urges. That very moment, the snake began a completely new dance with flared hood. The Giant recalled immediately the cave near the pond upon the rock. The memory of the Naga female gliding towards the entrance entered and left, left and entered his consciousness. The Naga King in the throes of passion entered the virgin from between her thighs and disappeared into the darkness within.

The Giant became conscious of a sudden transformation in his being. He began gasping for breath. He stretched out his legs and remained sprawled in the dark shade of the bushes that hid him from sight.

Skinny stood up and looked around him. There was an intense fear written all over his face. He bent down and picked up the girl. The Giant saw the Naga King who had all this time been lifeless and sprawled on the rock, sliding down the rock. The Bahirawaya had once again materialized and was peering over the edge of the rock. His face was lit up by a knowing and sneering smile. He nodded to himself and disappeared into the treasure trove.

Skinny looked at the girl's thighs. A red coloured rivulet sped down her thighs and wetted the sacred premises wherein was hidden the treasure. Skinny cast a fear stricken gaze at her and tried desperately to wipe the blood away. The blood continued to flow. Skinny began raining angry blows upon her body as though in punishment for some terrible transgression on her part. He slapped her cheeks again and again. She did not utter even a whimper of protest. She looked in amazement at the blood flowing down her thighs.

Finally, his anger all gone, Skinny dragged the girl to the stream, washed and bathed her.

Watching him bathe the girl, the Giant was possessed by feelings akin to anger. He adjusted his damp loin cloth and stood up. He went on all fours in the manner of a leopard, crawled through the grass, stretched out his hand and grabbed the gun. He crawled back to his place of hiding and sat there, panting. Skinny dragged the girl out of the water. He wiped her dry with a piece of cloth. The fear remained unabated in his eyes, however. The sacred earth remained stained by the blood that had flowed down her thighs. As dawn began its diurnal encroachment of the jungle, Fatty returned. He had brought with him a sack full of flowers and fruit.

The moment he returned Fatty saw and understood the meaning of the fear that lay trapped within Skinny's eyes. The next moment he cast his glance upon the thighs of the girl. He eyes shone with intense anger. He hand slipped to his waist and the knife. He grabbed it and pounced on Skinny. Skinny, in that very moment, leapt towards the tree. The gun was no longer there. Amazed, he turned to Fatty.

'Where is the gun?' he asked Fatty.

They faced each other their faces contorted with undisguised anger. Skinny asked again:

'Where is the gun?'

Fatty responded with a query of his own:

'Where is the virgin I left in your protection?'

'She was getting cleansed of the impurities inside her body. She is purer than she was before,' Skinny tried to absolve himself of any wrongdoing.

'But it has desecrated the sacred precincts wherein lies the treasure.'

'I have not done anything that a man left alone in the middle of a jungle would not do to a virgin.'

'Yes, everything has happened. The weight of lust that lasted for a few seconds was greater for you than the weight of the vast treasures that is hidden under this rock.'

'The treasure is still under the rock.'

'The human sacrifice that would have given us access to the treasure is no longer pure. So where is the sacrificial virgin? Where are the four pure offerings?'

'Is the daughter of the drummer the only virgin on this earth? The drummer has another virgin.'

'But this sacred ground has now been desecrated. This impurity cannot be cut and the place cleansed, not even with a thousand virgins.'

'So what do you propose to do now?' Skinny asked, trembling with fear.

'I will now cut you to pieces.'

'I will shoot you.'

'You have lost the gun.'

Skinny began prancing around in comical fashion, looking for the gun.

'The Bahiravaya must have taken it.'

'I won't let you live long enough to find the gun for if you do find it you will kill me. I will destroy you before that,' Fatty screamed and pounced after Skinny. Skinny did not attempt to flee. What he did do was to turn and give the girl a thundering slap across her cheek.

'It was you who destroyed the purity of this place,' he screamed. In that instant, Fatty plunged the knife into his body. Skinny pulled the knife out with the greatest difficulty and stuck it into Fatty's body even as he fell lifeless. Fatty too collapsed and died. Before he breathed his last, he said this to the girl: 'Thanks to you, this place was desecrated. Because of the resultant impurity we both fell victim to the Yakkas. They would be pleased now and would consequently forgive us. We are absolved of all sin.'

In this manner did the two men called Fatty and Skinny who had come to rob the treasure that lay in the southern end of the jungle perish and enter their respective afterlives in according to a fate reserved for them on account of the protections and safeguards pertaining to the treasures embedded in those ancient days when it was first buried in that place.