The preta was at the deserted crossroads. Behind it at some distance was the dark dense forest of Dandakaranya – a forest so dense that even sunlight could not pass through it. To its left in about 8 yojanas was Arang, the capital city of Dayita dynasty. To its right was a never-ending badland of deep ravines. It looked at all three sides from time to time, unable to decide which way to go.
The afternoon sun was mild but the preta felt as if it was in the scorching heat. This was a common problem all pretas faced – an acute sensitivity to temperature. It was always too hot or too cold for them. Some believed it was a manifestation of their restless starved spirit. This particular preta almost had it in control – having had to roam the Bhu-loka aimlessly for many many years. For all its depravity, it held on to a naive optimism that it would come across someone who could set it free. Hope is a good driving force but this afternoon, the preta’s hope reserves were at an all-time low.
It had not interacted with any living being for a while now. The latest curfew in the Dayita kingdom added to its woes. Some incidents had happened in the cremation grounds. The preta did not know the details but whatever happened, it frightened the humans enough to enforce strict curfews and regulated movement. Humans hardly passed by these paths now. The preta could not create its usual mischief and havoc. Time passed by very slowly.
“Humans get frightened so easily!” It murmured to itself. “One incident and they are all back in their shells! With protection charms everywhere! These humans are afraid of everything. They always want to defend themselves from things that are different from them. Pity pity, what a pity! My talent for havoc is not only being ill appreciated, it is not being utilized at all!”
It ranted thus shifting its position from here to there and back again to manage the burning sensations from the sun. The sun also created an illusory effect for the preta and it could not see the girl coming from the ravines until she reached the crossroads.
The girl looked about 9 years or so, petite and nimble. She wore a tunic, tied up with a sash and a dhoti of earthen colors. Her long hair was plaited with sheer black ribbons. The only adornment she had on her was a metal hairpin holding the plaited hair. She walked with a steady pace and crossed the preta who was hovering on her way.
The preta encountered the girl for a brief moment and felt her eyes on itself. It saw recognition in her eyes which was quickly lost. The hope reserves immediately replenished themselves. Pretas were invisible to humans. But this girl could see it! Or at least it felt so. The preta did consider the possibility it could be just its wishful thinking. But what if it wasn’t? The unlikely scenario was too good to be missed. So, it started following the girl who was walking at her steady pace towards the Dayita kingdom.
For a while, it tried to use its usual mischief methods – making scary faces out of thin air, changing the atmosphere – making it suddenly dark, accompanied by sounds of jackals and gusts of wind blowing over. The girl was unfazed and did not seem to notice any of this and kept her steady pace.
The preta was confused. Was she a human or not? It was still not able to decide.
“Hello there, little girl,” it said in a jovial tone. It received no response.
“You seem to be a charming young lady,” it continued. “The hairstyle is quite rad – really like the black sheer ribbons – the way they subtly shine in this afternoon sun – like waters of a black sea in a mystic world.”
The analogy fell on deaf ears.
“I like the silence,” went on the preta. “I can talk when there’s silence. You might hear me too. But if you were all chatty – then my voice would be lost! So this is good. This is very good!”
The girl kept walking – her steady pace unhindered. The preta was silent for a while as it observed the girl. She walked – neither too slow nor too fast, each step the same pace, every time. Such precision was not common among humans. The preta continued watching her for an hour or so. There was nothing better to do anyway. It concluded that this girl had some serious willpower.
“Who are you?” it asked unable to stop itself. “The more I think about it – the more I feel you are not human.”
“You won’t answer, I know,” it said. “Let me try to deduce it myself. I know stuff.”
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“First of all, you are not a preta,” it declared. “Because you have a physical form.” Satisfied with its reasoning, it said, “You are also not an animal because you have a human form.”
The girl continued walking but the preta imagined an eye roll coming from her. It hastened to justify itself, “It’s only when you remove the obvious, the not-so-obvious becomes visible!”
“You could, for instance, be a demon,” it continued. “Demons can transform themselves into humans. But you do not give any demonic aura. Of course, there are some skillful demons who can hide their auras completely. And I think you are skillful. So, if you are a skillful demon, why would you come to Bhu-loka disguised as a little girl. It’s not the go-to form of appearance. Quite useless in my opinion. If you were in the form of a young beautiful lady, you could entice those dumb humans and eat their flesh.”
Still seeing no response from the girl, the preta started getting fidgety and bored. It was fun when people took the bait and reacted. It didn’t necessarily want to scare the girl now – it just wanted to get some sort of reaction from her. The futility of the task became apparent each time it talked.
“This is not fair!” it lamented. “Why do I not get noticed? I should be seen! I should be recognized! I am invisible all the time. No one sees me, no one recognizes me. No one remembers me! This is the karma I have to endure for my past sins. Oh! What sins did I commit?! How long will I be a lonely preta wandering this wretched place?”
Twilight had set in by this time and the desolateness of its existence suddenly caught up. It felt weary and overwhelmed. It stopped following the girl.
“I have no name,” it said its voice shaking.
“I have no form,” it said unable to control its anguish.
“I have no one,” its voice choked with emotion.
The girl stopped on her tracks and turned around. The preta lifted up in disbelief. It worked? it thought.
The girl looked past the preta and towards the forest behind it. Dark silhouettes of a rakshasa followed by a band of corpses became more visible as they came closer. The distraught preta did not realise initially what was happening but quickly pulled itself together and rushed away from the scene to watch it from a safe distance.
The preta had seen many rakshasas in its time but this one was different. The rakshasa was draped in darkness instead of the fiery red flames they were famous for. His eyes were also pitch black instead of the usual red. His aura was dark and ominous. The corpses were rotting and had the same pitch-black eyes and dark aura.
“This is not good,” the preta muttered.
The girl took a brief moment to chart out her course of action. She loosened the ribbons from her hair as the corpses approached her. They seemed to be guided by the rakshasa’s instructions. They covered the distance in a split second and tried to overpower the girl. She jumped into the air in time and manoeuvred the sheer ribbons, which extended magically to trap the corpses from moving. She did this while she was escaping their clutches deftly hopping from one head of the corpse to another. Finally, she was able to tie them all up together.
By this time, the rakshasa reached her, attacking her with a big machette. She quickly swerved and escaped the blow and put some distance between them. The rakshasa came after her again for another blow, she got another ribbon and tried to distract it by covering its eyes. Soon after, the ribbon quickly wrapped itself around the rakshasa as the latter struggled to get free. The girl jumped into the air while removing her metal pin and thrust it towards the ground, pinning the ends of the ribbon with it and immobilized the rakshasa.
She then went to the corpses and sat cross-legged before them. Soon she floated into the air and an intricate golden mandala appeared beneath her slowly rotating in a clockwise direction. She closed her eyes and raised her right hand stretching two fingers towards the sky. The corpses seemed to burn from an invisible fire. They soon turned to dust and the ribbon came back to its owner.
She opened her eyes and jumped back to the ground and the mandala disappeared. She then went to the rakshasa and observed it at length. From all sides and angles. She had to be thorough to make the next move. Having ascertained her assumptions, she floated in the air so that she was face to face with the rakshasa. It’s whole face was covered with the never-ending sheer ribbon, which loosened a bit. The girl touched the rakshasa’s forehead gently. And the darkness started receding from the place she touched and soon from his whole body. The pitch-black eyes turned a fiery red, as well as the aura and his demonic hair.
The ribbon completely let go of the rakshasa who looked bewildered to find himself on Bhu-loka. The girl instructed him to return to the underworld. He bowed and disappeared.
“Puppets,” she said to herself as if solving the puzzle.
She found a nearby tree and sat under it to meditate. She would need to recuperate her spiritual energy. The crisis was not averted. It had just begun.
The preta came around in front of her after reassuring itself that there were no more corpses or demons in the vicinity. It looked at the girl’s serene face. It finally put together who she was, in awe it said,
“You are a god.”
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yojana – a unit of distance in ancient India, here it is taken as 12km or 8 miles
preta – a restless spirit – in this web-novel they are formless (they have distorted form in Indian and Buddhist mythology)
Dandakaranya – an infamous forest in Indian mythology where demons usually reside
rakshasa – demon
dhoti – a type of loose trousers made using unstitched cloth (considered as a male counter-part to a saree)
mandala – in this web-novel, it’s a magical circle with geometric patterns which facilitates channeling of spiritual energy