‘Ah yes. Such a commotion when the Magadhans were here.’ He looked around the mausoleum of carnage behind Krishna with indifference though he could see Jambavan’s tufted ears twitch angrily. ‘And they call us barbarians.’

‘Who is this fellow?’ Storm pointed a finger towards Jambavan’s gargantuan figure.

‘Mind your manners, Storm,’ said Krishna. ‘Jambavan is my father-in-law.’

II

Timid though Satyaki was, he was also a reliable indicator of what was going through the mind of the average man.

The fact that Jambavan was a Riksha, a race of bear-like humans, was accepted by him after the initial shock faded. It is not as if humans did not know of the Rikshas, but the Rikshas were reclusive and rarely ever left their icy cave-towns. Most cities treated them as a myth, and even the few villages who remembered them, had not seen a Riksha in centuries. But since Satyaki he had seen Jambavan’s daughter, Jambavati, Krishna’s second wife, on countless occasions, he warmed to Jambavan soon enough. The Rikshas were not all that different from Men. The Acharyas of Meru would have even called the Rikshas human, but for the offspring any union between a Man and a Riksha yielded. Though Riksha men could indeed mate with human females, the offspring of these unions were puny and deformed, often sterile, like mules. And Riksha women, when mated with human males, brought forth only stillbirths and monstrosities.

‘How is my daughter?’ Jambavan asked as he led them underground through a staircase.

If being childless was not enough, Satyabhama’s presence amplified Jambavati’s woes manifold. Satyabhama made no secret of her disdain for Jambavati. And the fact that the Mathurans respected Satyabhama more, despite Jambavati being the more senior consort of Krishna, only added to insult to injury.

But Krishna’s partnership with Jambavan rested on a child out of Jambavati, though Krishna found himself less than enthusiastic in the matter. ‘Jambavati lives the life of a Queen. I have set her up in the highest room in the highest tower in Mathura. Kind winds keep the insistent heat at bay,’ he now said with complete truth.

Jambavan had played a central role in Krishna’s rags to riches to Republic story. The Rikshas had always been a scholarly race, and Jambavan was one of the brightest minds amongst the Rikshas. He was however shunned by gurukuls1 and kings simply because he was different. And Yami bless human prejudice, their loss had been Krishna’s gain. He had needed Jambavan’s mind to uncover the secrets of the Syamantaka Jewel and its mystical workings. He had needed someone who was motivated to keep it a secret, for reasons beyond gold.

Such able-minded yet shunned souls made for truly dedicated partners. The alternative would have been to engage an Acharya from Meru, and well, that would have put an end to any notion of secrecy. Not unless he had cut off the tongue of the said Acharya and kidnapped his family. For if the secret of the Syamantaka had leaked then, the Saptarishis would have claimed it, and Krishna would still be toiling as a Private Secretary to a despotic King.