Sumeru Parvat

Once upon a time in a remote village of time and space, there lived a mountain, a large one. The Sumeru Mountains was very vast and was home to a variety of flora and fauna, and was also home to a tribe known as Sramans. Sramans were entrusted with the responsibility of care, protection, and maintaining the ecological balance of Sumeru Mountain.

There was a mutual love affair between Sumeru Mountain and Sramans tribe. Whenever Sramans faced any problem in their life, they prayed to the mountain god and Sumeru always opened the gates of its riches and fulfilled the desires of its people by eradicating the problems. Sramans thrived on the offerings of the Sumeru Mountain, and it was believed that when a Sraman dies then its soul gets united with the Sumeru. Therefore the Sumeru mountain and Sramans tribe was believed to be one and the same.

Even though the Sramans had no connections with the other civilized modern societies, but the tribe was administered in the most efficacious manner. The rights, duties and responsibilities of each Sramans were well defined. The Sramans were governed by a sacred Trayamak tree at the top-most part of the Sumeru Mountain. The tree was believed to be the central nervous system of the Sumeru and everything that happened in the Sumeru was recorded in the tree and the tree was the cause of all occurrences and mis- occurrences. The Sramans had well defined legislative, administrative, and judicial system, but the Trayamak tree was the final arbiter. The education system of Sramans majorly emphasized on enhancing the intuitive and extrasensory perception of the students to understand the decrees of Sumeru and the Trayamak Tree. It was public knowledge that Sumeru contained extremely precious treasure beneath its surface, but it was law that no one will ever mine the Sumeru, and the Sramans will only be dependent on the forest produce. Sramans were consummate warriors, and were trained for combat from an early age. Especially, the Sramans were trained to channelize the powers of the Sumeru and the forest against any potential enemy.

The Sramans were not allowed to marry or make relations outside the tribe; it was believed that any outside communications might contaminate the virtues of Sraman people. Many people from different parts of the world visited Sumeru, but none were able to make any permanent establishment and couldn’t establish any communication with the Sramans.

The Sramans celebrated their annual festival at the Trayamak tree after the end of the harvesting season every year. The fest started with all the Sramans encircling the Trayamak Tree into deep trance and praying for their health and well-being, Trayamak tree issued directions to the Sramans for the following year, followed by a feast.

At one of those fateful annual celebrations, when all the Sramans prayed in deep trance, the Trayamak tree started to speak. Trayamak tree said that this year will be the most turbulent year in the history of Sramans, the omens shows bloody battle with outsiders. Everyone was fearful after hearing the tree, the feast was also cancelled and everyone sat with the elders to discuss the situation. There are differences of perspectives, but everyone concurred on the authenticity of warning.

Some days passed, and everyone in the tribe got back to their daily routine. One day, at the time of siesta when everyone was taking rest, a young girl was awake and was playing with his brother, she heard the cries of a child from somewhere in the forest. She followed the cries, into the forest and found a baby lying there unattended near the waterfall. She informed the elders in the family and soon the news reached every one of the Sramans. They took the baby to home and provided him with milk and other facilities. The chief called the meeting of the elders to contemplate this strange incident. Everyone concurred that that this baby must have some nexus with the prediction of the Trayamak Tree at the annual fest, and this baby should be returned to his father or mother at the earliest to avoid any mis-happenings. It was assumed that the one who has left this baby must have gone to the forests. A massive search operation was launched by the Sramans, deep in the forest, they found a dead body of a person wearing military armory, the dead body was frisked and a letter was found, but the letter was in a language not known to anyone of the Sramans, but it appeared that it carried something like a royal stamp.

The Chief said that the only way to understand the contents of this letter is by invoking the omniscient wisdom of the Trayamak tree, which can understand anything on the face of the earth and beyond. All the Sramans gathered at the Trayamak Tree that night along with the baby. They kept the Letter at the base of the tree with the baby comfortably. They started the rituals to attain the deep trance necessary to open the receptors of their mind to receive the omniscient wisdom of the Trayamak Tree, everyone encircled the Trayamak tree in a uniform movement, after a while everyone sat down on the grassy ground, the Trayamak Tree started to speak, the voice was audible only in the minds of the Sramans as they had attained the deep trance to open the receptors of their mind.

The letter started “Dear Senapati, The kingdom of Suneha has witnessed unprecedented betrayal, fraud, and deception in the last few hours, as the King was killed by his own brother, Lankesh, who has betrayed him for the lust of Kingship, and the life of our only descendant and successor Kumara Shatrughna is in grave danger. Therefore, in capacity of the Queen and Ruler of the Kingdom of Suneha after the death of the King, I hereby order you to take Kumara Shatrughna to the Sumeru Mountains and give him to the safe custody of Sramans to protect his life. The order shall be executed in the most efficacious and expeditious manner. Maharani Chintamani, Queen of the Kingdom of Suneha, ROYAL STAMP.

The Sramans still in deep trance started seeking directions from the Trayamak Tree for the best course of action to be followed under the circumstances. The Tree spoke, “the Sramans are the carriers of the will of the Sumeru Parvat, and Sumeru mountains lives through the virtues of Sramans, today every Sraman should seek the guidance from its heart and follow its decrees, because Sumeru rests in the hearts of every Sraman, whatever the heart says shall be the decree of Sumeru, and every particle of Sumeru will fight to uphold the decree of the heart”.

The Sramans came back from the trance, and it didn’t took long for everyone to concur that the right course of action would be to provide care and protection to the baby Kumara Shatrughna, at any cost as this will be the dharma and decree of every Sraman’s heart.

Kingdom of Suneha was a powerful kingdom at the north of Sumeru, having influence on the vast expanse of land, and all other smaller kingdoms feared the wrath of Kingdom of Suneha. It was ruled by a great warrior and philosopher King SuryaPradhan, who was a great leader and always ruled for the welfare of the subjects of the Kingdom. The subjects enjoyed great autonomy and freedom, and were loyal to the King. SuryaPradhan had a step-brother Lankesh, who was envious of the King right from his childhood because of the great qualities of SuryaPradhan in being a warrior and a great leader. Lankesh was planning for the coup d'etat for a long time, and when the favorable time came to fulfill his ambitions, Lankesh killed the King SuryaPradhan and took over the reins of Kingdom Of Suneha. All the well-wishers of the king was either killed, or locked in prison, and others who were left, along with Maharani Chintamani are hiding in the jungle and preparing for a revolt. Lankesh wanted to crush any chances of revolt, and wanted to completely eradicate the royal bloodline to deter any heir to stake claim on the throne. Lankesh madly wanted to find Kumara Shatrughna and kill him, but he couldn’t find Kumara in the precincts of the Kingdom. Lankesh activated the spy and intelligence units of the Kingdom in all the nearby areas, and everyone was ordered to find the whereabouts of Kumara Shatrughna.

Three days later, Lankesh received a message from one of the spies that Senapati was sighted with a baby near Sumeru Mountain, and it can be presumed that Senapati is hiding somewhere in forest in the Sumeru under the safe haven provided by the Sramans tribe.

Lankesh ordered the entire Cavalry, infantry, and artillery forces to march towards Sumeru, and he himself was leading from the front. When the forces reached the foothills of Sumeru, the army was ordered by Lankesh to halt and camp there and a team of 10 armed soldiers were formed to go in the territory of Sumeru and find Kumara.

The habitation of Sramans was in the inner sanctum of the Sumeru Mountains, and it was covered by thick forest vegetation from all sides.

After Trekking and travelling for 3 days, the team of soldiers reached the habitation of Sramans, they entered the colony without letting anyone know about it. They saw that everyone is standing in front of one house on the eastern side of the establishment. After close observation the soldiers heard the cries of a baby, and found that the physician of the tribe is administering medicines to the baby. Looking closely they found that the baby is none other than Kumara Shatrughna himself. Soldiers contemplated the situation among them and reached a consensus that they will attack the house and kill the baby at night when everyone will be sleeping.

The soldiers were closely monitoring the situation from their hiding, analyzing each movement of the people. Considering the circumstances, where the bringer of child is already dead, the chief ordered that a group of people shall stand guard at the house where the child has been kept, and shall remain awake whole night. Soldiers came to know about this, but they were complacent and thought that they are trained soldiers of the army of Kingdom of Suneha, and a group of forest dwellers will not be able to withstand them.

Night fell, the soldiers were waiting for the right opportunity to attack but the guards were awake and standing at the different sides of the house. At the late hours after mid-night the soldiers found that the guard standing at one of the gates has dozed off, and the soldiers found the opportunity. Soldiers entered the house and 4 of them decided to wait in the hiding to negotiate any unwanted situation. Just as the soldiers were entering, one of them accidently hit the table kept near the entrance, and the utensils kept on the table fell with a loud noise, which startled each of the guards. Much to the surprise of the soldiers the Sramans were trained warriors and were trained in the ancient form of warfare of the tribe. Sramans were masters in close combat and the fight didn’t last long and the soldiers were soon overpowered by the guards, majority of the soldiers were killed and one of them was held in captivity. The crowd gathered around the house. The soldiers waiting in the hiding analyzed the whole situation and determined that they should go back to the army camp and inform King Lankesh about the whole situation.

The soldier captured by the Sraman guards was taken to the chief, the soldier warned the chief that the army of Kingdom of Suneha is camping at the foothills of Sumeru, and the misadventure of the Sramans will be dealt with in a stern manner. King Lankesh will be offended by the fact that Sramans are harboring his enemy and everyone in the tribe will die a cruel death. The Soldier advised the king to surrender the child before King Lankesh and pray for mercy, the king might spare their lives. The chief was anxious that the prediction of the Trayamak tree is materializing in gigantic proportions where the life of every member of the tribe is at stake.

Everyone gathered at the center of the Sramans colony, the chief informed the people about the situation and the potential dangers in the event of war. Few men advised that we should hand over the baby to the King; some said that we should protect the child until our last breathe and never give up. The chief heard everyone and then started speaking “We the Sramans have lived our lives in the most righteous manner, we have a great accord with the nature in turn we are closer to god, we are indebted by the great gifts that nature and Sumeru has given us, and the only way we can repay the debts is by upholding the pious values of the nature, it has been decreed by Trayamak Tree that we should listen to our heart which is guided by Sumeru, and I believe that the heart of a Sraman is pure, it can be corrupted momentarily, but if we invoke the collective conscience of every Sraman, we will reach at only one consensus and that to fight for an innocent child, and fight for our future generations to provide them the pride to say that their ancestors had fought against all odds to uphold the pious values of Sumeru and the nature, we will fight till our last breathe”

The electricity of the rhetoric of the chief passed through each Sraman, and everyone was thumping with pride, it has been decided that each Sramans will fight till their last breathe to protect and uphold the pious values inherited by each Sraman from their ancestors and Sumeru. The four soldiers who fled the Sramans colony after the attack at night reached the army camp in the late morning and narrated the whole story to King Lankesh; the king was startled to hear the misadventure of those petty forest dwellers and immediately ordered the army to move towards Sraman establishments.

The army of Kingdom of Suneha was large and outnumbered Sramans with a ration of 1:3, in addition there was cavalry, and heavy artillery equipments. On the other side, Sramans were master of their ancient warfare which gives them unmatched ability in close combat; in addition, they had advantage of better understanding of the geography of the region. But the odds were heavily against the Sramans, and the army of the King Lankesh appeared to be unstoppable. Sramans were ordered by the chief to prepare for the war. Men and women were busy in preparing their weapons and building an armored wall across the establishment to stop the enemy forces from entering the colony. The Sramans had never foreseen this kind of war-like situation and they were ill prepared, as they have no weapons to attack the enemy from a distance.

The army of King Lankesh reached and took guard outside the Sramans colony on the next morning. The Senapati announced “This is the Supreme Commander of the Army of Kingdom of Suneha, you Sramans have no chance in front of our mighty army and the best advice for you would be to lay down your weapons and surrender the child Kumara Shatrughna to our great king, and we promise you that we will go back to our city without resorting to any bloodshed”. The chief replied “Sumeru has always given asylum and safe haven to anyone who seeks earnestly, and today each Sraman is ready to fight till death to stop you from murdering an innocent child, we are ready to die but only after quenching the thirst of our weapons with your blood” The king ordered the infantry to enter the colony and kill Kumara Shatrughna and anyone who comes between them. The big fight ensued, the heavy army entered the colony, and blood was spilling everywhere. Sramans had an upper hand with their extraordinary ability in close combat, and their ancient form of combat proved to be disastrous for the enemy. Soon dead bodies of the enemy started falling everywhere and the army retreated.

The Senapati went to the King and informed him of the whole situation, the Senapati advised the King that it is hard to win against Sramans in close combat, and therefore they have to employ the artillery to hit Sramans from a distance.

The artillery started firing fireballs on the Sramans Colony and stampede in the colony ensued. Many of the houses were on fire. The men and women gathered around the chief to seek his directions as the fire balls may soon set fire on the whole colony. The chief said that we have to leave the colony and take everyone to the Trayamak tree, where we will decide our next course of action. Everyone obliged, they took the child and their weapons and retreated to the higher mountain side towards the Trayamak Tree. In about 3 hours, they reached the Trayamak tree. The artillery firing continued for some time and only halted after the Senapati was convinced that there will be no one alive in the colony. The King ordered a team of soldiers to go inside the colony and look for the corpse of Kumara Shatrughna to ensure that the heir is dead. The soldiers searched everywhere but they didn’t found anyone. The soldiers came back and apprised the king that the Sramans along with the child has retreated somewhere. The King ordered the troop to search for Sramans in the higher mountain side.

Night was falling, everyone was anxious about their destiny; the Sramans started the rituals to invoke the wisdom of Trayamak tree by opening the receptors of their mind. The tree spoke “there is nothing new today, we have always fought the adversaries who are bigger and mightier than us, but we have not lost until we give up the fight. Sramans are pride of Sumeru and they have demonstrated their heart by putting up a great fight against the mighty adversary today. We as human beings are only prisoners of our own imagination, and we just have to shatter our identities and tap the unlimited will of the virtue of being just a “life”, you the sons and daughters of Sumeru have the infinite power to control each and every, small and mighty organism of Sumeru, you just need to break the prisons of your identities by your collective will, and become infinite. Tonight, there will be unification of the energies of Sumeru for one great endeavor, to remove the enemy out of our territory. So make a chain of yourselves and destroy your identities which are acting as hindrance in your unification with Sumeru and its boundless resources, and become infinite and boundless.”

Everyone formed a human chain in the same state of mind, the energies started flowing through them, and a large ball illuminated in the night sky, it became bigger and bigger, and then exploded. Everyone felt something inside them has exploded, and they can now see and listen to the whole of Sumeru in their astral body inside their minds. They asserted the will to each and every living organism of Sumeru that an enemy has entered our territory and that we have to remove them from our territory. Every Sraman experienced the great movements in the Sumeru, they knew that there is mobilization of living creatures in Sumeru on a large scale.

The King and all the soldiers witnessed the large illuminated ball in the sky and its explosion; they can now assume the location of the Sramans but could not understand the phenomenon. The army started moving faster towards the location of Sramans.

One of the Sraman saw that a large group of tiny insects were moving towards them with loud humming, the humming turned into all kind of noises, and in a few moments the area of Trayamak tree was filled will all kinds of animals, Lions, tigers, rhinos, elephants, dogs, some strange mighty beasts, all kinds of birds, and beasts of every kind, and they kept on accumulating.

In the meanwhile the Kings’s army reached the area of the Trayamak Tree and attacked the Sramans. Suddenly, the whole of Sumeru went after the King and his army. The beasts were ripping apart the army like their everyday hunts; the bushes of the trees strangulated the soldiers. Soon, there was stampede in the army, and each of the soldiers along with their King was retreating to save their lives. But it was late and in a few moments the entire army was eliminated, even the tiny organisms have participated in this war against evil.

They saw that the child Kumara Shatrughna was smiling in the corner and playing with the bushes of the tree. The chief said “in every era, god sends us their prophets to connect us to the divinity resting inside us, and this child Kumara Shatrughna is one such prophet of god”. Everyone thanked the Trayamak Tree and Sumeru, but no one slept that night, everyone celebrated and immersed themselves in the glory of great mountain god Sumeru.

Next morning, the chief and all the Sramans took the child to the Kingdom of Suneha, to handover Kumara to Maharani Chintamani, who came out of her hiding from the forest, and was anointed as the RajMata to rule over the kingdom till Kumara Shatrughna matures into an able ruler. Maharani thanked the Sramans for everything that they did for the child, and offered them wealth and residence at kingdom of Suneha, but Sramans declined the offer and said that they are forest dwellers and wealth and residence in city will mean nothing to them. Sramans actively participated in the celebrations in the kingdom, and left for their abode in Sumeru after a few days.

Everyone lived happily ever after.