4

We were amongst a group of people waiting for the boat to arrive at Agnipuzha. And when it finally arrived, the oarsman collected his fares from all of us and we got in. On the spur of the moment, I got a feeling that Keerthana and I were being watched. When I looked at them, they all seemed to be busy talking to each other. Maybe the dress we wore attracted attention.

“Where are you going?” the oarsman asked me.

“To Sahasrapuram,” I replied.

“What for?” an old man asked.

“To visit the Narasimha shrine,” I responded.

After a while, the oarsman said, “A fortnight ago, we decided to prepone the start of this service by an hour and also the last trip of the day by a couple of hours.”

“Oh…..good. Could I ask why?”

Everybody stopped talking and looked at us.

“We were discussing about the lion,” said a woman with concern as Keerthi and I sat perplexed. “It’s all because of the lion.”

“Lion? What lion?” asked Keerthi.

“The man-eater lion.”

“Man-eater lion!?!” We jumped in our seats.

“Two weeks ago, a lion appeared at Sahasrapuram. We don’t know what exactly caused it to traverse to our place. It has already killed five people until now. We’re afraid to venture out of our homes. Nobody dares to go outside their dwellings after 5 pm daily.”

“Goodness me!” cried Keerthi.

“Didn’t you inform the forest officials?” I asked.

“The official in charge of the area got transferred two weeks back. Bad luck, what else? His replacement hasn’t arrived. Since this is a remote area, government officials tend to neglect it.”

“So what’s the way out?”

“There was a hunter in the village. He had gone to another place in search of work. We have arranged to send him the message. We expect him to arrive as soon as he comes to know of this.”

“Oh my gosh! Shyam…..what do we do?”

“Don’t scare them!” said another man to the others. “Don’t worry. It’s okay. You’ve come all the way to visit the shrine. You can stay at Siddarth’s place. He has an arrangement for tourists to stay at his place. You can visit the temple and be back on your way. You’ll be safe. Just don’t go outdoors after twilight.”

I studied Keerthi’s look. Though she was petrified initially, her fear began to vanish from her face and eventually she seemed to have come to grips with…..practicality? I knew that she was bodacious and adventuresome.

“Shall we proceed?” she asked me.

“Sure, sure,” said a woman. “Carry on. No problem.”

“Yeah…..we’ll go forward,” I assured her.

After we arrived on the other shore and stepped on to the land, we were fortunate to have a man, who had been with us on the boat, offer to show us the way to Landlord Siddharth’s home. We were given a five-foot long stick and asked to carry it which would help us on our journey through the forest. The man told his name was Bhargavan. As we started our walk together, he claimed that the distance to Sahasrapuram was five kilometers and that we’d have to cross a rivulet on a raft.

“Are attacks by lions frequent?” asked Keerthi.

“No. Nobody in this village has ever seen a lion before, except the few who’ve had the chance to visit the zoo in the city. Attacks by tigers have happened before. But not by lions, which is why the witch says that it is the work of the devil.”

“The witch?” asked Keerthi and I at the same time.

“Yes, the witch. Two years ago, a woman came to Sahasrapuram, saying that she was an unswerving devotee of Lord Narasimha. Mesmerized by the deity’s powers and grace, she expressed her desire to serve the Lord and to have a darshan of the idol regularly; and asked for permission to stay back at the village. Our village head Devarajan accepted her request and allowed her to reside in a house. Initially she did as she had promised. But some time later, she stopped her visits to the temple. Then leaving everybody dumbfounded, she began to argue that God was unjust in his treatment of people, and preached that only the devil would answer the prayers of all. Since then, she has been trying to convince all that unless the worship of Narasimha is ceased, grave misfortune will fall upon them.

“Owing to her behaviour we begged Devarajan to declare her as an outcast. But his son Taksha persuaded him not to expel her. We don’t know why Taksha was interested in letting her remain there. Nobody has seen him visiting her place either. He says that her presence will bring good luck to the village.

“Following Devarajan’s refusal to oust her, she began conducting rituals invoking the devil. And there’s nothing we can do about this. To make things worse, the man-eating lion has come into the picture. According to her, it has appeared to prove to everybody that reverence of Narasimha is futile. It is the ‘darkness’ that has taken the form of the lion. Her solution to the problem is simple: close the temple and start idolizing the devil.

“On the other hand, many people believe that God is unhappy with us for a reason beyond our comprehension. So, He is punishing us by taking the form of a lion at twilight just like in the Puranas, Lord Narsimha appeared from a pillar at nightfall and disembowelled Hiranyakashipu. I have this ominous feeling that everyone will eventually believe her.

“Never before has this village had to face such a crisis. Our faith in God has been challenged. Lord Narasimha has been protecting us for years. Now our own people have begun to doubt Him.”

He was so overcome with emotion that tears began to flow down his cheeks. I felt really sorry for him. Keerthi scanned the surroundings suspiciously as we trudged along. All sorts of trees and plants covered the ground on both sides of the narrow footpath we were plodding on.