Dhi

Mare's Nest

His calculating eyes skimmed over the gigantic blackened expanse of land. It was truly an ugly piece of uneven landscape beside the banks of River Yamuna. Burned tree stumps stood out like sore thumbs. The charred bones littered along with grey ashes made it look more like a funeral site than a potentially inhabitable land.

His feet crunched over incinerated remains of plants and animals as he walked eastwards. The wind carrying the ashes of the dead made a feeble attempt of reminding him of the slaughter by forming a grey coat of mourning over his immaculate silken clothes. A casual dismissive gesture from the divine architect chastised the wind of it's misbehavior. It apologetically brushed away the ashes from his attire and blew towards the River to immerse the ashes.

There was no use carrying the cinders of the past. A delighted smile overtook his face as his eyes moved across the barren land.

"Perfect," he murmured seeing buildings, exquisite gardens, fountains, palaces second to only his best creation Amaravati. He saw a palace that would be called Vaijayanta on Bhulok; a palace worthy of the King of Gods. Viswakarma knew the Pandav Princes and Kampilya Kumari had a taste for finer things than the Yadus. While Dwarka was the pearl of the sea, this city would be the diamond that arose from the burned coal once called Khandavprasth.

He bent down to touch the soil. Placing a hand on the earth, he prayed to Bhudevi to open her treasuries for him.

Far away the onlookers stopped their chores to witness a once in a lifetime scenario. The Divine Architect himself was building a home for them. An awed hush fell upon the people as they watched the god bent down and pray.

Vishwakarma reverently chanted a few last salutations before standing up. The earth quaked dangerously. Scared, the people clutched the nearby bamboo posts for support. Seeing the cool gait of their Maharaj and the Rajkumars, they felt reassured quickly.

The god chuckled softly in amusement. Once again, the land shook vigorously. Long cracks appeared on the ground which expanded into numerous chasms. From them, flowed out gold, iron, coal, marble, limestone, clay and precious gems. Mounds of raw materials accumulated all over the blackened land.

As his pair of eyes moved along the land, the stones formed huge bricks. They aligned themselves to form walls. In minutes, gigantic walls of various buildings and the palace arose from the ground up like young seeds sprouting into saplings and then growing into large trees. The milk white marbles lined over the stone surface. Gold and precious gems creeped up the walls attaching themselves to various figurines forming intricate patterns. The palace walls bore the history of the Kurus and their ancestors before them.

Tiny blades of grass broke through the surface of the earth and covered the empty spaces like a plush green carpet. Various trees, their boughs heavy with fruits and flowers, grew instantaneously all over the city. Vishwakarma then turned towards River Yamuna. He folded his hands and invoked the goddess requesting her to let a part of her flow into the ponds and lakes.

The left bank of the river parted slightly to give rise to a small tributary. The waters of Yamuna sloshed into the depressions of the land filling them to that brim. Crystal clear lakes, ponds were created having fishes and various aquatic creatures in them brought in by the waters of Yamuna.

The grass parted to make wide even roads with huge shady trees on either sides which connected every house, store and the palace. In the backyard of the palace, the bricks and wood assembled themselves to form large spacious stables and sheds for the animals. In the northeast corner, huge blocks of granite aligned over each other to form temples for the palace people. The bare walls of temples molded themselves to speak of the various tales of gods and goddesses. Adjacent to it, taking up the entire southern part, series of different flower bearing plants sprung up. Roses, parijat, marigold, tube roses, jasmine and many more bloomed wafting the air with their fragrance. In the palace lake, bloomed water lilies, lotuses - white, pink and blue.