Shiva looked at the Naga queen with a sad smile. Kali’s anger was justified.

‘And the Nagas have suffered this for centuries?’ asked Shiva.

‘Yes,’ said Brahaspati. ‘As the number of people consuming the Somras grew, so did the number of Nagas. One will find that most of the Nagas are from Meluha. For that is where the Somras is used most extensively.’

‘And what is the Vayuputra council’s view on this?’

‘I’m not sure. But from whatever little I know, the Vayuputra council apparently believes that the Somras continues to create good in most areas where it is used. The suffering of the Nagas is collateral damage and has to be tolerated for the larger good.’

‘Bullshit!’ snorted Kali.

Shiva could appreciate Kali’s rage but he was also aware of the enormous benefits of Somras over several millennia. On balance, was it still Good?

He turned to Brahaspati. ‘Are there any other reasons for believing that Somras is Evil?’

‘Consider this: we Meluhans choose to believe that the Saraswati is dying because of some devious Chandravanshi conspiracy. This is not true. We are actually killing our mother river all by ourselves. We use massive amounts of Saraswati waters to manufacture the Somras. It helps stabilise the mixture during processing. It is also used to churn the crushed branches of the Sanjeevani tree. I have conducted many experiments to see if water from any other source can be used. But it just doesn’t do the trick.’

‘Does it really require that much water?’

‘Yes, Shiva. When Somras was being made for just a few thousand, the amount of Saraswati water used didn’t matter. But when we started mass producing Somras for eight million people, the dynamics changed. The waters started getting depleted slowly by the giant manufacturing facility at Mount Mandar. The Saraswati has already stopped reaching the Western Sea. It now ends its journey in an inland delta, south of Rajasthan. The desertification of the land to the south of this delta is already complete. It’s a matter of time before the entire river is completely destroyed. Can you imagine the impact on Meluha? On India?’

‘Saraswati is the mother of our entire Sapt Sindhu civilisation,’ said Sati, speaking of the land of the seven rivers.

‘Yes. Even our preeminent scripture, the Rig Veda, sings paeans to the Saraswati. It is not only the cradle, but also the lifeblood of our civilisation. What will happen to our future generations without this great river? The Vedic way of life itself is at risk. What we are doing is taking away the lifeblood of our future progeny so that our present generation can revel in the luxury of living for two hundred years or more. Would it be so terrible if we lived for only a hundred years instead?’

Shiva nodded. He could see the terrible side-effects and the ecological destruction caused by the Somras. But he still couldn’t see it as Evil. An Evil which left only one option: a Dharmayudh, a holy war, to destroy it.