CHAPTER 4 The Divine Voice

The guards stood rooted to their ground in trepidation! Aryaman came near Shailendra who looked at him in wonder. He sat on his knees and made an offer to the youth. “Sit on my shoulders! I will take you to your place of residence. Do not worry! You will reach there safely.”

Seeing the puzzled face of Shailendra, Aryaman smiled and softly patted his own arms in a gesture to the boy to abide by his request.

Shailendra agreed and soon found himself comfortably placed in the broad shoulders of Aryaman. Placing his hands on Shailendra’s thighs, Aryaman stood up and turned to the Panchayat, “Please do not take your powers for granted! You are here to do justice, not injustice! This village would be under my constant vigil! Don’t you dare cause any trouble to him – Shailendra – or else you will have to face my justice!” So saying, he slowly rose in the air in a standing position and flew away. All the villagers watched him disappear with their jaws dropped and without batting an eyelid! They could not figure out if all this had happened in reality!

Aryaman flew in the direction that Shailendra gave him and soon they reached a small baked brick house. “There!” Shailendra pointed out.

Aryaman slowly made it to the ground and knelt allowing Shailendra to get down from his shoulders.

“Hope you enjoyed this trip!”

“Oh, sahib! I am so indebted to you for your help! As for the trip, this is the most amazing in my life!   I never imagined that I could ever travel like this!” Shailendra acknowledged.

Aryaman smiled and returned the compliments, “I admire your fearless approach!”

Shailendra grinned in response. The flying hero enquired about his family and was disgusted to learn that the boy was an orphan. Shailendra used to play musical instruments and perform rituals for a living. He was determined to face all odds that he may have to face following his revolt and stand up against the injustice being meted out to his community. Offering his best wishes, Aryaman decided to take his leave. In a matter of moments, he was up in the sky and gone like the wind!    

As he was flying, he could see a grand temple below where devotees could be seen thronging inside. A few meters away from the temple, a couple of men including a woman were standing stoically looking at the structure.  

The flying hero transformed himself into a crow yet again and flew to the dome of the temple. Sitting on top of it, he spoke so aloud that his voice boomeranged far and wide.

“Listen, O devotees! While it is pleasing to see so many of you remember the Lord and come to seek his darshan it feels equally sad that many who want to see Him do not get an opportunity to do so. Is it not true that people whom you consider to be of lower castes are not allowed to visit His temple? Is it not true that women, too, are restricted from coming here? As a result, these unfortunate souls have to satisfy themselves by only standing a few meters away from the temple.   When in His eyes all of you are equals, who gave you the right to discriminate among yourselves as per caste, creed and religion? How can you accord such inferior treatment to women without whom none of you here inside this temple would have ever been born? If this injustice continues, then be sure that the Lord will move away from you and this temple!”