Chapter 5
Vishrava had been taken away. This hit the children hard especially Ravana. Kashyapa knew the plight the family was going through. The little girl Suppu had cried herself to sleep.
On the other hand the sniffling children and Ravana were staring at an unwanted man standing in their house. The man was Kashyapa. According to Ravana and the other children point of view, this man was the one responsible for their father getting taken. He was the man solely responsible for defeating their father. Due to this they hated this man. Apparently Kaikesi felt differently. Not only had she brought the man to the house, she had also given him, the choicest of the meat which Ravana had hunted and had also handed over their sweet sleeping sister to him. HOW COULD SHE DO THIS? Did she not see what happened outside? They were especially stunned when their mother said"Children, Pay respect to your Grandfather. He's the uncle of your father."
How could such a cruel person be their uncle? Not only had they never seen him, due to him their father was also taken away. Ravana could not accept this. He and his brothers who were of the same mind as well, just stood there without doing anything. Seeing this Kaikesi got angry. Kashyapa merely smiled and walked towards the forest outside the hut. He sat underneath the tree and started meditating carrying Suppu in his arms.
Ravana could keep still anymore and asked his mother" Mother, why is that guy still in our house. Did you not see what he did?" Hearing Ravana, Kaikesi sighed and muttered "Maybe I should start telling you children now." Hearing her mutter, Vibhisana asked" Tell us what mother?" Kaikesi looked at her children and started speaking "You see, we are not normal humans." Hearing this, the children were a little startled but didn’t look overly shocked. Kaikesi was a little surprised by this. But then again if the children got overly shocked it would be weird. They were able to do things that even the strong warriors of the village were unable to. They were able to hunt animals larger and stronger than normal. And they had just seen their father fight in such a spectacular way. This had made the children numb to any other feelings. Seeing this Kaikesi continued.
"Your father and I were born in different worlds. Your father was born in one of the most influential place in heaven. He was born into one of the seven palaces of heaven. These palaces were owned by the seven sages except for the palace of your father. His uncle was the sage but his father was the palace lord. No one complained about this though. The seven sages were very powerful. They were known as the messengers of the primal and were of different races as well. Due to this, the status of these palace members was only less than that of King Indra and his subjects and the leader of each palace were even more influential. Even Indra had to treat them with respect. Your father was born as the son of Pulastya the palace lord. The man you just saw outside was his brother Kashyapa. The seven sages rarely got replaced by others and the last one to be replacing a sage was your uncle Kashyapa. In an era there were never more than seven sages. Some of the sages aligned themselves to the gods while some remained neutral. In such a place your father was born."
"Me, on the other hand was born in the netherworld. My father Somali, your grandfather was the king there. He and I never got along well. He never really cared about me, probably because he already had ten sons and four more daughters." She laughed bitterly. Controlling herself she continued
"My mother Tataka was a yakhsa princess. She was a strong woman whenever anyone else was around. However, she was too deep in love with my father. She never went against anything my father said. My father also listened to her quite well."
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"The gods and us were always in war against each other. This was the way before I was born and probably will continue until one of either race is wiped out. Once when I had escaped from home to go to the mortal world, I was attacked by some gods. I don’t know how but the gods found out. They had sent some powerful deities as they wanted to capture a princess of the demon king. I somehow managed to escape them and they kept on chasing. Indra himself sent a red litghtning bolt which hust scraped me. Even though it had just scraped me, it injured me a lot and I started losing my powers. I somehow managed to escape into a forest which had a hut nearby. I thought that it was the end. The gods had caught up and were about to take me as prisoner. But then your father came. He was nothing special to look at first. I mean he had a handsome face, but he seemed like a normal person. The gods probably thought so as well, and when he questioned them, the arrogant gods attacked. All I did was blink my eye and all the gods lay dead before me. I fell unconscious after that. When I came to, I was lying in a bed and your father was taking care of me. I was severely wounded, so it took months of taking care before I recovered. During this time your father and I fell in love. I learned of your father's heritage and he learned of mine. I learned that he was already a married person and had a son. But I didn’t care as we were too much in love. Besides it was natural for a strong person to have many wives." She seemed to reminisce those happy times by the glazed look in her eyes.
"I then met his family who seemed to have come there to visit him. I thought they wouldn’t accept me but there was no problem at all even after they learned that I was a rakshasa(demon). I also met Illavida, who obviously didn’t like me and her son. Your father then took me to heaven as he realized I was with his child." She looked lovingly at Ravana.
"But those gods of the gods in heaven didn’t like a Rakshasa being there. Some of the other palace also disapproved this. But they couldn’t do anything to me. However things changed when they realized I was with a child. They started spreading rumors that this was a trap for the gods. That Somali the demon king had arranged for his daughter to seduce Vsihrava, so that a powerful demon would be born. Even Indra came to plead and pressure your grandfather, however he didn’t budge. In the end a compromise was made that I would be allowed to stay there until the child was born. Then I would be exiled along with the child. After that I would be free game to any god who hunted me." Hearing this, the children were enraged. She said" but your father, both grandfathers (Pulastya and Kashyapa) formed a plan to make your father and I escape as soon as you were born. Your grandpa Kashyapa himself made the enchantment to hide us for so long. Then we came to live here in this rural mountain, far from the reach of the civilization of gods or demons that is until today when they found us."
Then looking at Kashyapa she said "If that man hadn't been here today, then those gods would have targeted not only your father but us as well. They might even have succeeded in wiping is out. So you should thank him for this."
Hearing this, the children got quiet. All of them had different thoughts. Kumbhakarna who was simple minded just believed his mother and was easily convinced into accepting Kashyapa. Vibhisana, who was the calm minded and the clever one thought deeply. He realized that the man was really powerful and could easily kill them, yet he had not done so. Even though he had gotten their father captured, according to their mother it was only a matter of time and he seemed to want to protect them. May be he would even teach them those good things and powers. So he too accepted Kasyapa being there.
Ravana on the other hand was conflicted. Even though his mother told them the truth, he just couldn’t accept it. Also, hearing his mother he seemed to be the cause for the disastrous fall of his parents. Due to this he felt ashamed of himself and felt guilty. He also didn't like Kashyapa as he still couldn’t forgive him. Feeling so many emotions going through his head he felt dizzy. He suddenly got up and ignoring his mother's cries went out of the hut and ran to the forest.
In his mind he could hear only a single word "Run! Run! Run! Run!" So he ran, he decided to go away from the place so as to not be a burden to his family again and to absolve his guilt.