Bridge Over the Tungabhadra

“It shall rain tonight …It will be a downpour “exclaimed Ravi, his eyes silently surveying the rising Tungabhadra. The moon peeked out briefly only to disappear in the maze of clouds , the ripples on the bhadra seemed to take an life of their own playing hide seek with one another , the river curved gracefully around the mountains of HariHara  like the snake around lord Shiva’s neck .

Yes Shiva the great destroyer …Hara as he is known, he takes away what is dearest to reveal the true nature of reality…..He had met her due to Shiva.

Ravi varma was the personal bodyguard of raya, he was keeping a watch at Harihara when he saw her, and he had to pinch himself twice to make sure he was not dreaming.  Draped in all six feet of glory of a kancheevaram saree she walked by him, it was difficult to tell if her feet touched the ground or so he felt, it felt like the very essence of the flowers had been distilled to put colour in her cheeks, the bangles on her hand seemed to echo the seven ragas, her eyes limpid pools of water exactly like those of the deity Tungabhadra that stood at the mouth of the river ….Bhadra no wonder he heard her name being called.

Bhadra meant wellbeing in his local tongue, how could one be well after having looked at her, his feet followed her as she gracefully weaved in and out of the crowd. Bhadra was the only daughter of Mahendra the tribal chief of a small hamlet near Harihara.He watched her disappear inside the hamlet.

With a heavy heart he retraced his steps to Harihara , the sun was setting in the western horizon turning the Tungabhadra a Crimson red , how it reminded him of the beautiful vermillion on her forehead and those cheeks ,the glow on them ,How he wished that he could just watch her all day long .

Even the dungeon would remind him of her , How he waited for each sunset so that he could slip from the palace to wander to the Hamlet to catch a glimpse of her , How he finally gathered the courage to talk to her , those words still rang in his ears , it was on the banks of this very Tungabhadra .

The Tungabhadra appeared so beautiful to his eyes that day until everything ended ,hot tears stinged his eyes  , it was just not fair …”why does her voice not die down ,why does it keep playing in my head ,why do I remember that heartless stone  ,why “ he furiously fought back the storm that was welling in his eyes.

It no longer mattered “It shall rain tonight …It will be a downpour “he exclaimed loud enough for the messenger to hear.  Within a few hours the armies of Hyderabad and Bijapur would stand at the mouth of the river.

The way to Hampi the capital of raya lay through HariHara , a smile played on his lips as he mused about the name “Hari Vishnu the Sustainer and Hara the destroyer “.

The moon appeared from behind the clouds , On the other side of the Tungabhadra   Bhadra sat silently on her Horse , behind her stood the armies of bijapur ….a single tear rolled across her cheek “ Can there be a worse fate than this , was fate to be so cruel , better that she had died instead of being alive to see this day“ .

She Knew it was Ravi who would be waiting for her on the other Side …..

Far Away the Bells of harihara clang …….

To be continued.