‘Guru Maa Durga has to die to pay for the sins of her devotees. That’s the only way I can kill my empire and keep the faith alive. Faith lives in the legends of Lala Hardaul. Faith will live on through Guru Maa Durga’s lore as well. ’

Harsh turned around, rage and anger evident on his face, and walked off. He left her standing by the bank of the river, her scarf bathed in the colour of blood. Rajjo whispered into the wind. ‘I’ll meet you on the other side.’ But Harsh was long gone. All she had was a dark violent river by her side and the ringing of the temple bells.

11

11

UPASANA had been glued to the TV for the last seventy-two hours. Durga and her legion of followers had become the talk of the town with the media providing an extensive, if not blow-by-blow account of the seige of her ashram in Barsala town in Madhya Pradesh. Social media had exploded with the news. Her Facebook page with millions of followers and the Youtube channels were all talking about her announcement of self-immolation. Her following had doubled after the announcement.

The police and the government had made their stance clear of not allowing the self-immolation bid. But the Godwoman in her last sermon had announced that it was time for her to pay her devotees back for their faith and devotion towards her and the lord. So with all the trust they had put in her, she was going to self-immolate to pay for their sins and dissolve the Durga trust. It would only function as a charitable organization. The businesses and ashrams were going to shut down.

For their deliverance she was going to go up in flames. That was her ultimate goal and aim to serve her devotees. Not only that, she had gone missing as the police wanted to call her in for questioning and preventive detention. Her disciples were not allowing the police to enter the main ashram where she was supposedly hiding for the time being.

The reporter was reporting how more than two hundred people were injured in violent clashes at the self-styled Godwoman Durga Maa’s ashram in Barsala as police lobbed teargas and used batons to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing supporters who vowed to prevent them from entering the premises. Violence mounted as supporters of Durga refused to heed to repeated announcements by the police over loudspeakers to allow them to enter the premises. The Barsala police had set a 2 p.m. deadline on Thursday for Durga’s followers to vacate the ashram. Thousands of followers who were inside the ashram had begun to vacate the premises by late Wednesday morning.