Pointing at Shiva, the Mithra continued. ‘Behold this man. He may not be a Vayuputra. But he does bear the blue throat. He may not be a Parihan, but he fights like one, with honour and integrity. We may not have recognised him, but the Vasudevs consider him the Neelkanth. He may not have lived amongst us, but he respects and idolises Lord Rudra as much as we do. Above all, he is fighting for Lord Rudra’s cause.’

The Vayuputras listened with rapt attention.

‘Yes, he is not a Vayuputra, and yet he is one of us. I am supporting him in his battle against Evil. And so shall you.’

Many amongst the Vayuputras were swayed by the Mithra’s words. Those who weren’t, were nevertheless aware that it was within the Mithra’s legal rights to choose whom to support within India. So, while their reasons to do so may have differed, all the Vayuputras fell in line with the Mithra’s decision.

Shiva and Gopal received a large crate the following evening. An entire Parihan cavalry platoon had been arranged to transport this incredibly heavy trunk safely back to the sea. Never having seen the material of the Pashupatiastra, Shiva assumed from the size of the trunk that they were carrying a huge quantity; probably enough to threaten an entire city. He was therefore amazed by Gopal’s clarification that they were carrying only a handful of the Pashupatiastra material.

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yes, Lord Neelkanth,’ said Gopal. ‘Just a handful is enough to destroy entire cities. The trunk has massive insulation, made of lead and wet clay, besides the leaves of imported bilva trees. Together, these will protect us from exposure to the Pashupatiastra radiation.’

‘By the Holy Lake,’ said Shiva. ‘The more I learn about the daivi astras, the more I’m convinced that they are the weapons of the demons.’

‘They are, my friend. That’s why Lord Rudra called them evil and banned their use. That is also why we will not use the Pashupatiastra. We’ll only threaten to use it. But to make it a credible threat to the Meluhans, we will actually have to set up the weapon outside Devagiri.’

‘Do you know how to do that?’

‘No, I don’t. Most of the Vayuputras are not privy to that knowledge either; only a select few are authorised to be in the know. There is a combination of engineering construction, mantras and other preparations that we would have to follow in order to set up this weapon. We would have to do this properly so as to convey a credible threat to Lord Bhrigu, since he does know how the Pashupatiastra is prepared for use. Lord Mithra and his people will commence our training from tomorrow morning.’