In the depths unfathomable to man, under the earth, a Daitya guru is beyond the understanding of any living being. An army of Daitya is waiting for their promised general.
As the chanting stopped and silence filled the air, the Daitya grew impatient and shouted, "Where is our promised Daitya that can overpower even Indra?"
Shukracharya calmly said, "He is coming, the Rakshasa who can fight toe to toe against Vishnu and Lord Shiv at the same time, the Rakshasa that can split the earth and shake the sky."
Suddenly, the pressure in the air started increasing, and the earth started shaking with the sound of each step. With the ninth step, all the Daitya of the army fell unconscious. There he emerged from the darkness, his eyes shining through the darkness, his horns resembling those of a buffalo capable of intimidating even Indra.
Shukracharya said, amused," I thought you would kill them all when pressure started.".
Mahishasur, with a serious expression, said, "What's the point of that? You're just going to resurrect them."
Mahishasur looked into Shukracharya's eyes and said, "Why did you resurrect me? What is your purpose? Why have you brought me back? What do you want from me?"
"It's strange-- so strange I can't recognize this Rakshasa in front of me..... that power hungry fire in his eyes has gone? How!?", thought Shukracharya.
Shukracharya said, "We are preparing for war, and we lack a worthy leader. I want you to fill that role". While saying that, Shukracharya saw regret appearing in the eyes of Mahishasur, the eyes that once were filled with arrogance and wickedness are now filled with regret and pity, which frustrated Shukracharya a little.
Mahishasur replied, "I refuse...".
Refusal became a blow for Shukracharya. In anger, he shouts, "Rambha's son, who do you think you are talking to? I am the Rakshasa guru Shukracharya; you can't refuse me!"
With a face full of seriousness, Mahishasur said, " I'm the one who hurts, and I'm the one who gets hurt..., so I refuse to be bled again and let others be bled again, it's my actions and it's my fruit".
These words of wisdom were so unexpected that they washed away the fury of the Rakshasa guru, again trying to convince Mahishasur to fight in the upcoming war. Shukracharya said," You were killed mercifully-".
Suddenly Mahishasur interjects, "I have murdered numerous innocents without mercy, I didn't spare kids, I didn't spare the elderly, I don't think I was a worthy of mercy ", with these words tears of regret flowed relentlessly, that power hungry fire is no longer there, only thing that remained in those eyes is the ocean of regret and acknowledgement of gravity of one's action.
Shukracharya said," ...I'm completely taken aback by the sheer ridiculousness of this change!!, What did you go through?... What's your journey?"
After Shukracharya had calmed down, he closed his eyes and, with the wave of his hand, conjured the two chairs.
Shukracharya said," I, as an acharya(teacher), can recognize another acharya, even though it's hard to believe, but I have to accept your insane change. I want to hoard your knowledge, so let's sit and talk."
They sat on the freshly conjured chairs with the companion of silence, both of them didn't want to speak first, with time silence stretched longer then finally Mahishasur resigned and let go off the silence.
Mahishasur said," When the trident of Maa was just inches away from my neck, and my life flashed before my eyes, a realization struck me with the weight of a thousand lives—I had lived a life that no one would remember fondly.
I wasn't admired or loved. I was feared. I had become a symbol of arrogance and ignorance.
Despite having conquered the heavens, there was a hollow ache inside me that never faded. I was never satisfied. Even after countless acts of violence, even after taking the lives of innocents... I still wasn't satisfied. At the time, I believed it was because I wanted more and more power, more glory, more everything. But I was wrong.
It wasn't desire that was consuming me.It was my karma, pressing down on me, heavier with each choice I made.
And in that final moment, as I looked into the eyes of Maa, I saw something I couldn't explain. Her gaze was fierce, yes, filled with divine anger. But buried within that fire was a flicker of sadness. It caught me off guard.
I found myself confused, thinking: Why is she sad? Shouldn't she hate me?
And then, just as suddenly, her expression softened. She didn't speak, but it felt as though her eyes whispered: "I don't."
I couldn't understand it. Why didn't she hate me? I had killed so many, even those close to her. She had every reason to despise me. But she didn't.
After my death, I was brought before the judgment room of Yama. That place wasn't what I expected.
There, I witnessed a rakshasa ascending to heaven.
My mind reeled. How? Why? Rakshasas weren't meant for heaven. Were they?
Before I could speak, a Yamdut turned to me and scoffed.
"No, fool," he said. "Judgment here isn't based on who's favored—it's based solely on karma. That rakshasa name is Niru. He spent his life protecting the weak and standing up for the helpless. That is why he ascends."
Then came my turn.
When my deeds were weighed, when my truth was laid bare, I was cast into the deepest layer of hell.
And that's where I remained... until the moment you resurrected me."
After that, they sat in silence until the fire went out and Shukracharya tossed another skull into the sizzling coal; that skull immediately started burning.
Shukracharya chuckled and said, "These were the weak Rakshasa who died due to starvation... that's the brutality of this place. And this is the only place we could get, we can extinguish these sufferings once we get what we deserve."
Mahishasur asked, "What do we deserve?"
Shukracharya answered, "Heaven."
Mahishasur furrowed his brows and asked, "Why? Why do we deserve heaven?" It seemed like he already knew the answer.
Despite Mahishasur's look, Shukracharya was unfazed and replied, "The Rakshasa are the creatures of unfairness. We were discriminated against by our creator. Did you forget how they always picked the side of Devtas? Did you forget how they enchanted us and snatched away the Amrit just to give it to the Devtas? We never had anyone on our side, nor given anything. This makes us deserving of heaven."
Mahishasur laugh like a maniac and said, "Let me tell you a story. When I was in the hell, the fiery landscape was covering the sight, scream of the one who still hadn't gotten used to the pain...I was there in the herd of sinners observing them, their screams were deafening but still distinguishable, my eyes fell upon the one person who was calm, the calmness that shined like a sun of the morning.", Mahishasur closed his eye as if trying to find a fitting description.
Then Mahishasur continued, "I slowly approached him, and saw an indescribable expression on his face. I said, 'You are the only one calm here, tell me your story.'... He pretended to be deaf, so I asked 'What so shameful did you do, that you have to take the fast of silence even in hell' while laughing. He finally replied, 'I killed my father and thousands of people.' I laughed and said, 'So what? I am sure many of these people also did something this horrible.' he stared directly in my eyes and said, 'Not willingly. I was in an illusion when I killed them.'"
Mahishasur directly looked into the eye of Shukracharya and explained, "Apparently, some Mayavi made him see the flashes of war when he was unconscious. It caused him to kill thousands of civilians while unconscious, but still, he fell into hell."
"Was that unfair?" asked Mahishasur.
Shukracharya fell into the silence. He knew what Mahishasur was implying here, no matter how much unfairness the Rakshasas have endured, they still don't deserve heaven because it is always based on karma, nothing else.
Shukracharya stared back in the eyes of Mahishasur and said, "Even if we don't deserve heaven, these sufferings still need to end. How will you say, 'Rakshasas don't deserve heaven' to those victims of starvation or the ones who were eaten up by another Rakshasa?"
Unfazed, Mahishasur asked, "What do you think will happen when we conquer heaven?" Mahishasur is waiting for the answer from Shukracharya, but it doesn't seem like Shukracharya wants to answer.
Mahishasur said, "Same as what has always been happening, those devtas will take the hospitality of our creator, and that creator will bring up the so-called 'balance of the universe' and will defeat us, just to cast us out to this barren place, which sort of has become our home."
Shukracharya furrowed his brows and *sighed*. He was aware of 'the balance of the universe', and even though he was aware of this cycle, he still didn't do anything to stop it.
Suddenly, Mahishasur stood up and walks towards the one unconscious Rakshasa. Slowly, he pets the huge wound on the wrist of the Rakshasa and heals it. Then Mahishasur touched the forehead of that Rakshasa, and said, "This wound was self-inflicted."
Mahishasur turns to Shukracharya and says, "It's laughable how much the values of life vary here; some died clinging to life... while some discard it like an infectious flash."
Shukracharya stared at the skull fire, pondering, "What else could be done now that the war had to be halted." Then his eyes met the eyes of Mahishasur, who was staring at him with a strange expression on his face.
Mahishasur asked, "You were aware of everything, weren't you? Why didn't you guide your pupils? Why did you let them suffer?"
A strange, eerie feeling filled the air. Shukracharya clung to the silence; he was not going to answer. That eerie feeling persists for hours until Mahishasur resigns and says, "Ok, I will not press you for an answer, but this suffering is not because of the condition of this place but because of the systemic failure of kings and leaders."
Mahishasur walked back and sat on the chair. He said, "You do know that every king of Rakshasa has committed atrocities, even though you were guiding them, why didn't you stop them? I know because you wanted a ruthless warrior to conquer heaven, and each time we got the same result."
Shukracharya asked, "What are you trying to imply here?"
"Rakshasa don't need a ruthless warrior, but they need a caring leader," replied Mahishasur.
Shukracharya asked, "What are the characteristics of a caring leader?"
Mahishasur paused, pondering what a good leader should be, and then replied, "I don't know, I didn't care for companions I didn't look after them. I was only doing what I thought I wanted, everything I did was the sake of me and myself alone, so I can't talk about the caring leader, but I can tell you about the worse leader and that was me."
Both fell into silence as the fire died down, and both were frustrated. Mahishasur was because he could see the wickedness of the Aacharya in front of him. Shukracharya was because of his own Bhram—his delusion.
As the remaining light departed and darkness filled the ground, a familiar sound echoed, "Narayan~Narayan".
– – End of chapter one – –