Nala had been taken to watch this secret ritual on the last new moon. It was a secret form of worship of the supposed illegitimate brother of the deities, where devotees saw not the dance but the dancer’s shadow, cast on walls, on the floor, and on the ceiling. Nala had gasped when a dancer had formed eight shadows, and all eight forms – tall, slender, large, thin – had danced together in perfect unity. If Parshuram thought she, Nala, capable of performing such a dance, he was more deranged than his reputation made him out to be.

‘Nala!’ Parshuram’s voice boomed. ‘A word of advice. Do not let your mind wander. It is too small to be let out all by itself. Understand? Now, do the pose again.’

Nala hated the standing poses. Her sense of balance was atrocious. The number of times she had fallen in the Tree Pose would have been downright comical had it not been so pitiable.

‘Do you know what the Dwi Pada Sira Asana is?’

Any asana with such long a name could only spell trouble. In that moment Nala wanted nothing so much as to give up her plans of vengeance and retire to the forest. ‘No, Master.’

‘I wonder who pissed in the soup of Meru’s yoga teacher? It is the Sleeping Tortoise.’ Saying which, the Acharya sat, drew his legs behind his neck to cross each other. It did look like a tortoise withdrawing its head into its shell. But all Nala could see was a world of pain.

‘This will draw your limbs closer, aiding you to see the breath you inhale move towards every part of your body.’

I can definitely see my life move out of every part of my body. ‘How long, Acharya?’

‘Long? Did I not say it is a Sleeping Tortoise pose? You will sleep in this pose. Simple.’

Sleep in an asana? Nala could see why they called him the Mad Priest. She almost suspected he had gained the title ‘Bane of Ksharjas’ not for killing them, but for torturing them with yoga.

Seeing misery writ large on Nala’s face, Parshuram stopped. ‘See Nala, I could say your body is as stiff as that of a pig, but that would be offensive to pigs. So let me try this way. Tell me, what do you think is the singular goal of all the yoga disciplines you have learned?’

‘To be flexible?’ Nala ventured.

Parshuram took a deep breath and then exhaled softly to stop himself from beheading his pupil. ‘To learn the magic of the Chakras.’

‘Chakras?’

‘You think you will become a proficient apprentice on the strength of your looks? Activation of the chakras is essential to what we do, and for that you need to open your body and your mind. To be able to summon Dhyāna at will. Body, through the asanas I teach you. Mind, by solving the mandalas I give you.’