Ancient stories:

Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya
(The hunter in the wilderness of sansara)

Chapter1
(Part 14)

By Simon Navagaththegama
 
Translated by Malinda Seneviratne

The Bahiravaya and the Naga King emerged from the depths of the rock and began dancing around the Giant and the girl. The knots of the protective thread had come undone it seemed, even as the thread lost its power at the moment of desecration.

The giant picked up the gun and the bag of ammunition. He left the axe behind and walked away. In a moment he turned, came back and picked up the drum and slung it from his shoulder. He tied the girl’s wrists together once again. He began walking across the rock, holding one end of the rope in his hand.

After he got into the habit of carrying the gun, by and by he was transformed into a hunter for some inexplicable reason. His first victim was the girl, who a few hours previously had been a virgin. He had heard Skinny refer to her as the drummer’s daughter. It is possible that when they abducted the girl they had also stolen the drum.

From the moment he saw the gun being carried, the Hunter too began carrying it in the same manner. The moment he placed the gun over shoulder, the time of carrying the axe on his shoulder came to an end.

There was a difference too. He could not carry the gun in the same way that he had carried the axe. A hand had to be placed on the gun at all times. It had to be cleaned regularly, emptied of shot and replaced with fresh ammunition.

The axe, on the other hand, was marked by the quality of being polished and emerging as though new each time it was put to use. Thus it had been polished and sharpened, polished and sharpened time and again from the time of the first civilization that lay under the floor of the forest, the seventh and last layer from the surface.

He carried the drum. Since Fatty had it slung over his shoulder, the Hunter carried it in the same manner, as though he was in a relay with that individual. Skinny had been leading the girl by a rope tied to her wrists.

For this reason, the Hunter too tied her wrists together with a rope and led her away, rope in hand. It did not occur to the Hunter that this was unnecessary. She showed no reluctance.

Still, the Hunter chose this course of action, firmly believing that this was the way to walk with a young girl. She hurried along, keeping close to the Hunter, as though afraid that he might abandon her right there in the middle of the jungle.

In the midst of all this the Hunter realised one pertinent fact. He noticed that she did not indicate even the slightest need to cover her nudity as she had done earlier.

The drummer’s daughter walked so close that she almost touched the drum, so close that it almost appeared as though she intended to disappear into the instrument. Bathed in the familiar scent of the drum her senses were numb to the myriad sounds, perfumes or other things that constituted the jungle.

The thick canopy overhead ensured that the jungle remained dark and retained this lightlessness regardless of the time of day. The Hunter walked on through the darkness measuring long and deliberate strides. It was as though he was guided by some invisible force upon which he gazed without blinking his eyes.

In order to keep pace, the drummer’s daughter had to quicken her step now and then. Never before had he taken anything up the hill after having roamed the jungle throughout the night. He had never taken with him a wild dog that had spent the entire night at his feet or on his heels.

Nor had he taken with him a bear cub or leopard cup that had got lost and was in need of assistance. Today he stood as a hunter. For this reason he was carrying a hunter’s implements as well as taking with him a victim, just like any other man who had embarked on a hunt.

When he reached the foot of the mountain he found himself grappling with a question. The drummer’s daughter stood ready to follow him in any direction in which he chose to walk. He knew that she would start climbing the hill the moment he took the first step in that direction. His eyes fell on her thighs.

Fatty had claimed that the area in which the treasure was hidden had been desecrated on her account. On the other hand, was it not true that the Bahiravaya and the Naga King who were resident there without blemish were freed from the fetters of the treasure hunters by this very same desecration?

When did she become a defilement, at what moment and for whom? He remembered the various tasks that he engaged in at this time atop the hill. And yet he could not take his eyes away from the rope in his hand whose other end was entwined around the girl’s wrists.

Hadn’t he always been able to forget the entire jungle and the enormous inheritance that is was and climb the hill without one stray thought about any of these things? Something akin to sadness entered the Hunter’s thoughts. For this reason he left the gun in the same spot he used to keep the axe.

He also left behind the bag of gunpowder. He untied the girl. She indicated some reluctance to be thus freed, pulling her hands back on several occasions. He exerted some effort not to notice the fact that her face betrayed a look of gratitude that a canine would show its owner. He began climbing the hill and didn’t look back.

As he climbed the Hunter told himself that he was walking alone and yet he felt her presence in the very same way he had when she was being led by the rope.