SAMRADITYA SAGA Part 4 - DISORDER OF ENMITY

A change in destiny

Dhanshri was standing on the deck. The ship was sailing at a steady speed. In a few seconds, Dhanshri realised what she had done.
She started screaming aloud, “Run! Come fast, Dhan has fallen into the sea. Oh no! What has happened?” She started shouting and crying loudly.
Hearing her screams, the guards came running hurriedly. Nandak and Surdev also reached on the spot.
Nandak asked Dhanshri, “What happened? Why are you crying so much?”
“Hurry up, jump into the sea! Dhan has fallen into the sea! Oh no!”
Surdev immediately anchored the ship and ordered the divers, “Dive into the ocean! Find Dhan anyhow!”
The divers jumped into the sea.
Nandak’s trauma had no bounds. He burst into tears. “Now, what’s the point of living? I do not want to live. I too will jump into the sea.”
He stood up and got getting ready to jump into the sea. But Surdev caught him.
Surdev said in a firm voice, “Nandak, if you get impatient like this, then how will it work? When Dhan is not on the ship, at that time, you are in charge of the ship. There are a lot of commodities on the ship. Even mistress is here. Think of all of them and be patient. The divers are looking for him in the sea. If he has fallen in the sea just now, then my divers will surely find him and get him.”
Here, Dhanshri’s drama was on. She was weeping loudly. Falling on the floor, pulling and messing up her hair, tearing her clothes, banging her head, shouting!
Who would console her? There was no other woman on the ship. Men were not supposed to talk to the mistress.
While consoling Nandak, Surdev said to him, “You gather yourself and console the mistress. Nobody else can talk to her except you. See, she’s banging her head on the ground. She will injure herself.”
Nandak looked at Dhanshri. Seeing her plight, Nandak also sighed.
He went to her, held her hands and said, “Enough. Now calm down. The divers are looking for Dhan in the sea. The sun is also rising. It will be easier to look for him. If we are lucky, we will definitely find him alive. Be patient. Be strong.”
While Nandak was explaining to her, she went further with her drama. She pulled her hands away from Nandak and ran to jump into the sea. But the guards caught her. Nandak caught her and made her sit in one corner of the ship.
Dhanshri said, “My entire world has collapsed. I have become an orphan. Who is there for me in this world now? Dhan, what have you done? A strong person like you should not have taken such a cowardly step. Your body was gripped with intense pain and you were bearing it since many days. Just because you could not bear the pain anymore, you jumped into the sea!” Dhanshri shrieked and started crying loudly.
The sun was rising in the east. The divers had still not returned. Except Dhanshri, everyone was hoping that Dhan would surely be found. Dhanshri was sure that they wouldn’t even be able to find one part of Dhan’s body, forget getting him back alive. Because the place where she had pushed him into the water had been left off far behind. And the divers were only looking for him around the ship.
The disappointed divers returned to the ship. Sadly, they said to Surdev, “We could not find Dhan! We could not spot him. We are really sorry!”
Surdev consoled them while patting their back and said, “You all are my brave and loyal divers! Go back into the sea, check the route our ship took and look for him there. It is okay even if we have to spend the entire day here!”
Nandak placed ten gold coins in each diver’s hand.
Surdev got angry and said, “Nandak, what have you done? Are we greedy for money? We too adore our master. That’s why, my divers and I are working hard to look for him.”
The divers placed the gold coins near Nandak and dived immediately into the sea. Surdev showed the divers the route which they had taken. The divers started swimming at a fast pace. In between they would go underwater and soon, they had swum far away. Dhanshri was sitting on her knees on the deck. She had covered her face with one end of her saree. She was tired of all that drama. Nandak and Surdev had climbed on a pillar on the deck and were looking at the sea. They were looking at the divers searching for Dhan in the deep sea. The servants and guards had become blank. Neither did anyone have food nor did they have a sip of water!
The second quarter of the day was over and the third quarter had begun. The divers returned disappointed to the ship and collapsed. Nandak, Surdev, Dhanshri and the guards, all understood that Dhan was not found.
Nandak said to Surdev, “Surdev, if is it possible to halt here tonight, then stop the ship. We’ll move ahead from here tomorrow morning.”
Surdev said, “The sea is calm right now. The wind is also mild. So, there won’t be a problem in halting here tonight!”
Nandak said, “All of you, even the divers have not eaten anything since morning. Cook and eat something! Be strong, strengthen your heart and have something.”
***
Nandak held Dhanshri’s hand and took her to her room. Dhanshri collapsed on the bed. Nandak started strolling in the room. He had become blank. He was quiet for sometime.
Then he asked Dhanshri, “What shall we do now? How will we face Dhan’s parents when we reach home? What will we tell them? When they will know the truth, their breath will stop. Their heart will stop beating. They will die on the spot. Oh God! Forget repaying the favours of my great masters, I could not even protect their one and only son whom they loved more than themselves! What’s the point of living now? Dhanshri, I will drop you at the Tamralipti Port. From there, the soldiers will take you safely to Susharm. Will you go? Though my friend had asked me to drop you to his parents. But that will not be possible under any circumstances. I will not able to step foot in Susharm. I will send you there and then kill myself.”
Dhanshri said quietly, “Nandak, what was to happen, has happened! You are extremely upset and so am I. But now we have to calm down and think what should be done. Firstly, we have to think where will we go from here now? No, under no circumstances can we go to Susharm. Nandak, now we shouldn’t even meet our relatives. We will go to an unknown and far off place. We will buy a house, set up a shop and start our life over there. There is no need to worry about money. This ship will have goods worth more than one Crore. Now everything belongs to us, doesn’t it?”
Nandak was listening to Dhanshri. He lifted his eyes and looked at Dhanshri. She was absolutely fine. Though her eyes were swollen due to crying, there was no pain in those swollen eyes. She was lost in the sky of imagination of a new life. She tied her thick and long hair. She straightened her clothes and got up. She came and stood next to Nandak.
Nandak was gazing at the endless sea. Dhanshri placed her hands on his shoulder. But even then, Nandak did not look at her.
Dhanshri said softly, “Nandak!”
Nandak turned his face and looked at her.
“Nandak! What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.”
“You will have to think and take a decision. We need to make a plan. We will have to decide about the direction in which the ship has to sail.”
“I cannot think of anything. I never thought I would have to face such a horrible situation in my life! Everything happened so quickly that my heart isn’t ready to believe it!”
“I already told you! What was to happen, will happen! Who can stop it? For how much time will you mourn? Yes, if we were sitting at home, we could mourn for many months. Nobody would say anything. But we are in the middle of the sea, our ship is rocking to and fro in the middle of nowhere.”
“I will think and let you know about my decision.”
“But when?”
“Before sleeping at night!”
“But I will get scared alone in this room. I cannot sleep alone! You sleep over here!”
Nandak returned to his room. He shut the door. His head was bursting with a turmoil of thoughts! He had to make a very big decision. In front of him, the son of a maid, money and beautiful woman, both were standing. On one side, there was poverty, nothingness and at the same time loyalty, thankfulness. He had to choose any one. ‘What should I do? From the worldly point of view, I have got physical and material pleasures both at my feet. I can become the husband of a beautiful woman like Dhanshri and also become the owner of more that one crore gold coins within seconds. I can enjoy infinite pleasures in my life. But still, I will not be at peace. In the depths of my heart, this will keep pricking me. ‘I have betrayed a friend. I have cheated my father like master. I have committed treachery. I have snatched crores of rupees of wealth. I will never be able to forget this. These thoughts will make me restless. Perhaps, I will not be able to sleep peacefully at night!
What should I even do? Dhanshri will not leave me! She is too attached to me. Though that attachment is due to physical pleasures. But I am in her heart for sure. I haven’t got married yet! I am getting Dhanshri without having tried. My dead friend’s wife becomes my wife, there is nothing wrong in that. We can go to an unknown land and live there peacefully. Vaishraman will definitely look for us! But he should not find out about our location.
As far as Dhan was concerned, he was neither found dead nor alive. It can be understood if he was not found alive but his dead body was also not found which leaves a doubt in the mind. The divers had gone far and deep to look for him. Still his body was not found. So, is it possible that he is still alive? But how did he survive? It seemed next to impossible for him to have survived. But if by chance, he had survived and reached the shore safely; God forbid if destiny brings us face to face and I meet him, then I will die of shame!
Anyway, these are future thoughts. But what will happen to my poor mother? I am the only son of my mother, and she loves me a lot. She allowed me on this journey only because she had total faith in Dhan. My mother will definitely wait for me. Though Sridevi, Dhan’s mother will not let my mother face any problems. Our food and lodging is anyways provided. But that is in its place, the love of a son is different. Sridevi’s situation too will be merciful when we will not return nor will there be any news about us. At that time Sridevi will also be extremely agitated.
“Oh no! The guards will return to their home. They will give the news to Vaishraman. They will also give Dhanshri and my news! We are stuck!
I will have to be very careful. The guards should not come to know about the city where I decide to stay. Neither should they know where we are staying. Otherwise, we will be in trouble! Dhanshri and I will be screwed! Vaishraman will definitely come. And if he comes looking for us, then we will not even be able to die! Oh God! How many other sins will I have to commit behind one? I think that due to Dhanshri’s urge, and greed of one crore rupees, I am trapping myself in a web of wrong deeds. But now I have no escape because Dhanshri will not leave me under any circumstances. She had already made this plan long time ago and even informed me about it in Tamralipti. I had never even thought that these kind of circumstances would arise that I would have no other option or choice!’
He was thinking of Dhanshri when Dhanshri knocked at the door of his room.
“Nandak, open the door!”
Nandak opened the door.
“What are you doing all alone with the door shut? I am feeling scared alone in my room. You come with me to my room. Staying alone, my mind is spinning in a web of thoughts! You are not thinking of me at all! You are such a cruel person!”
“I was thinking of you only and you knocked. I will obviously have to think about you, right?”
“What did you think about me?”
“To send you to Susharm!”
“And you?”
“I will spend my life anywhere.”
“And what about the wealth on the ship?”
“You take it with you!”
“Have you gone crazy? When Goddess Lakshmi is coming to your doorstep, you are thinking of leaving her? Do not talk such foolish things. Neither do I want to go to Susharm nor will I allow you to go anywhere alone. What will I do in Susharm? I am not attached to anyone there. If I love anyone in this world, then it is only you, Nandak! I am only yours! You are mine! I am not going to leave you and go anywhere!”
“But you do not know, Vaishraman is very influential. He will find us anyhow.”
“We will go to such a village or city where no one can find us. We will make our home where it is impossible for anyone to find us.” 
“Do you know of any such village or city?”
“We will go to Koshambi. Before that, we will sell all the goods at Tamralipti and buy precious gems from the wealth we earn from it.
We will pay the soldiers and then ask them to leave. We will tell them, ‘You all go home. We will wind up our business here and then return.’ Once they leave, we will also leave for Koshambi.”
Dhanshri had made a very clever plan. Nandak agreed with Dhanshri’s plan.
“Alright, your plan is good. Tomorrow itself, we will leave for Tamralipti. Once we reach Tamralipti, we will sell this ship too.”
“Perfect,” Dhanshri held Nandak’s hand and said, “Nandak, you promise me! Now you will not leave me and go anywhere!”
“And you promise me that from now onwards, you will only be mine. Besides me, no one else.”
Dhanshri covered Nandak’s mouth with her hand and said, “Do not say that, Nandak! Trust me! Do not doubt my loyalty. Since the day I met you, I have only loved you. There was nothing like love in my mind for Dhan. I was only attracted to his good-looking body! But in my heart, there was mere hatred towards him!”
Once they reached Tamralipti, Nandak sold all the goods and the ship. He paid the soldiers and all the other workers and made them happy. They left. Then Dhanshri and Nandak left for Koshambi.
On reaching Koshambi, Nandak changed his name. He named himself Samudradutt. He set up his home and shop there and started spending his days peacefully in Koshambi.