The Inseparable Princes

103. पुनर्मिलनम्

To the world, it seemed like this was truly going out of their hands. The Gods themselves were perturbed, seeing that it was their Lord, Narayana, who was somehow abandoning their Mata, the daughter of Samudra-Raja. Kubera was the first to arrive in Lanka, along with Indra, Varuna and Yama themselves. Mahadeva, too, graced the city with his presence, his smiling eyes fixed on Rama, who he knew was up to something again.

His Narayana was always like that. Mischievous. But yeah, this form of his, of Rama wasn't quite so. Maybe those plans were for the future, of a mischievous leader who was so charming that people couldn't help but adore him in some way or the other. For now, though, Rama was quite the same. Just not as mischievous to the outside world. Even then, everybody adored him. Every single soul. Except, uh, well, Ravana and his gang. But that's a different story.

Mahadeva also saw Lakshmana, their Sesha, seething. It looked like he was angry with his Lord. Mahadeva wanted to laugh out loud, but that wouldn't prove to be a great decision, surely. Sesha was angry with his Prabhu, Vishnu! Mahadeva just could not believe it. It was awfully funny to even think about, but since the situation wasn't anything of that sort, Mahadeva let go.

He saw Hanuman and the other Vanaras (who were gaping at him) and smiled at them just the way he smiled at everybody else that moment, an aura surrounding the three-eyed Mahesha, as he, along with the other Devas, watched a teary-eyed Rama stare wistfully at the pyre into which his love had walked. However, as the Gods got closer to the Earth, with Brahma suddenly appearing in his own aerial chariot (I don't know what else to call the vehicle thing!) along with the others, Rama, seemingly a little startled, folded his hands respectfully with his head bowed down.

Mahadeva shook his head subtly. Now his friend was going to pretend like he didn't know anything. He had decided that he wouldn't let Narayana go the next time he would meet him, there was going to be some teasing waiting for him. For now, however, Rama seemed broken despite the fact that it was all a pretense. That had to be changed.

"Raghuveera, why do you do this? Why are you ignoring your Sita as she walks into this pyre? Why didn't you stop her?" asked Kubera, his brows furrowed. "Do you know who you really are?" When Rama didn't reply or look up too curiously, Indra continued.

"You are Vasudeva! Don't you recognise yourself to be the greatest of all the Gods? Devadideva, you are Narayana! Bhaktavatsala! You're Lakshmikanta, Prabhu! Don't you recognise yourself to be the omnipresent Vishnu?" said Indra, astonished. Rama raised his brows innocently.

"Vishnu? I simply recognise myself to be an ordinary human, the son of Kaushalya and Dasharath. Nothing else. But, Devendra, you're telling me that I'm not just a human?" Rama was behaving like he was quite thoroughly confused. "Please tell me what my real identity is."

Brahma decided to reveal his real identity. "You're Narayana himself, the wielder of the Sudarshana Chakra, of the Panchajanya, of Kaumodaki, of Sharnga (I've mentioned his bow as Saranga in earlier chapters because that's what the translations in English said, but when I checked it in Sanskrit it said this, so-), of the sword Nandaka. You are the single-tusked Varaha. You are the protector of the universe, the one who runs it. You are the four-armed Padmanabha. You are Rishikesha, O Lord, you are Krishna. You are Upendra, Madhusudana, Sarvabhauma. Your Sita is none other than Mahalakshmi herself, Prabho!"

[I feel like I've sinned! I've written 'Prabhu!' so many times which is technically wrong, and that's not the issue... The issue is I knew that it was wrong and still didn't seem to realise I was doing it... It's meant to be Prabho in sambodhana aka salutation (is that right? I don't remember the English translation of the vibhaktis and all). But yeah. Sorry for the nonsense, that was in case you were thinking o was a typo, idk. CAN YOU SEE HOW DISTRACTED I AM? THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STUDY SANSKRIT AND COME TO WRITE A CHAPTER WHICH HAS ELEMENTS OF THE LANGUAGE. okay😅]