Shatru Sesham: Sequel of Baahubali ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Document 7: King Mahadeva's Royal Notes
I assumed Kingship after the death of my father, Somadeva. The kingdom of Mahishmati was at peace after a very long while. Everyone was happy. The Vaithalikkas and other warring factions had been peacefully assimilated within the kingdom. They were given complete internal autonomy over the Gauri Parvat and forest lands. They were allowed to resettle there and make these lands their permanent homes.

But we had to pay a definite price for this peace- our military strength. Since mining for Gauri Kant had ceased, our weapons were no longer as strong as they used to be. They used to break often. If word about this got round to other kingdoms, we would be susceptible to attacks from external enemies.

So it was decided by the cabinet of ministers that we should expand our army strength by recruiting more soldiers and train them vigorously in all the warfare techniques and strategies. By making our man force strong, unbreakable, fit, alert and agile enough to face any contingencies, we sought to cover up the fact that the weapons of Mahishmati were no longer what they used to be.

Though the current batch of weapons were crafted to look like the weapons of the past crafted using the technology of Gauri Kant, they were but cheap imitations of the former. Whatever old weapons we had were carefully preserved and used but still they were not sufficient to equip everyone in the growing work force of Mahishmati's army. All these details were kept as a closely guarded secret.

Kattappa took the exclusive responsibility of training a special contingent of soldiers who were adept in any sort of warfare, fighting under all sorts of conditions, and in the art of infiltration, espionage, disambiguation and disguise. These men were our true strength.

But whatever damage our past generations had done by indiscriminately mining Gauri Kant from the sacred mountain of Gauri Parvat could not be repaired. The expert committee of learned scholars predicted that there would be severe climatic changes in several regions of the kingdom. There could be severe droughts for several years while during other years, there could be floods, storms and severe rains.

There would be a steady rise in the temperatures and several regions along the coastline of the Sea of Ratnasagara could be wiped out. All this could happen immediately or after several years. This was the price all of us would have to collectively pay for the avarice of our ancestors in indiscriminately using and exploiting a resource they should have preserved.

If any more mining on the Gauri Parvat was ever carried out in the future, the entire region of the Sapthagiris and the Gauri Parvat would become highly unstable and there would be a severe volcanic explosion that would result in this entire region being decimated to naught.

To prevent this from ever happening, all the mining tunnels of Gauri Parvat were permanently closed and sealed and the sacred idol of Amma Gauri was installed at the top of the precipice closing the volcanic crater once and for all.

It was inscribed in the 'sasanalu' (divine ordinances) of the temple that the divine idol of Amma Gauri could not be moved or taken from where she was. If ever it was done, it would result in terrible calamities and ten generations of whoever has committed this crime will be destroyed.

If you tell the common people, it is for the sake of the environment, they would not heed it. But if the same injunction is given a religious garb and fear is instilled in them for not following it, they will not disobey it. However despite all these precautions, once in twenty-six years, molten magma overflowed in small quantities from beneath the idol bringing the Gauri Kant along with it.

Ever since my dynasty had come to power, the ritual of Agni Prastham had been discontinued. To divert the wrong kind of attention regarding the Gauri Kant, the old ritual and custom of the Vaithalikkas, the Agni Pratham was restarted. My Queen Komalavalli did this ritual with the fire from the volcanic stones of Gauri Kant after a gap of nearly three hundred years.