‘I was discussing just that, with didi,’ said Kali. ‘The men are spending their time gambling and drinking to keep themselves occupied. Training is suffering because they don’t see the point of it when there is hardly any chance of combat in the near future.’

‘This is the time when stupid incidents occur which can blow up into serious problems,’ said Sati.

‘Let’s keep them busy,’ suggested Kartik. ‘Let’s organise some animal hunts in the forests around the city. We know that the Meluhan army has still not moved out of Karachapa, so there is no risk in letting our soldiers out in large groups. Hunting will give them some sense of action.’

‘Good idea,’ agreed Kali. ‘We can also use the excess meat to organise feasts for the citizens of Lothal. It will help assuage some of their irritation with having to host such a large army.’

‘The excitement and the blood-rush will also prevent boredom from creeping into our troops,’ said Ganesh.

‘I agree,’ said Sati. ‘I’ll issue the orders immediately.’

It was nearly a month and a half since they had started their journey from the secret lagoon off the Narmada delta. Shiva’s ship came to anchor off a desolate coast on the Jam Sea. There didn’t seem to be any habitation of any kind at all; in fact it appeared as though this land had never been disturbed by humans. Shiva was not surprised. Just like the Vasudevs, the Vayuputras were secretive about their existence. He did not expect a welcoming port of landing. But he did expect some secret symbol, something like the emblematic Vasudev flame on the banks of the Chambal near Ujjain.

Then he thought he detected something. The coast was lined by a thick row of tall bushes, maybe three or four metres high. From the distance of the anchored ship, it seemed like these bushes had reddish-orange fruit hanging in abundance. The shrubs were covered with small dark-green leaves, except at the top, where it was bright red. These bright red leaves combined with the reddish-orange fruit to give the impression that the bush was on fire.

A burning bush...

Shiva immediately turned and began climbing the main mast, all the way up to the crow’s nest. Once there, the symbol became obvious. The bushes, when combined with the white sand and brownish rocks, came together to form a symbol that Shiva recognised only too well: Fravashi, the holy flame, the feminine spirit.

Shiva came down to find Gopal standing below.

‘Did you find something, my friend?’ asked Gopal.

‘I saw the holy flame; the pure being. I saw the Fravashi.’

Gopal was astonished at first, but not for long. ‘Of course! Lord Manobhu... He would have told you about Fravashi.’

‘Yes.’