Yakshagni - An odyssey of unbroken devotion

The Yaksha Kingdom

The Elapsed Era:

In the deep forests surrounding the kingdom of Alaka, an exotic tribe called Yakshas lived in harmony. They guarded the three rivers of Alaka and worshipped the river Yakshagni as their deity. A benevolent tribe, the Yakshas were the custodians of the forests, the rivers, and the treasures that were buried under their land. Many of them were born magicians and were powerful shape-shifting clans. Yakshas ventured out of their forests only twice a day. Human eyes, if lucky, could see them only in the twilight before dawn or after dusk when the power of the Yakshas was at its weakest. Some of the Yaksha men were short and muscular while some were trained to be warriors and possessed the physique of fighters. The women known as Yakshis were beautiful, ethereal, and enchantingly alluring. Mischievous and unpredictable, Yakshis were generally peace-loving and wandered in the woods. However, a few of them were dark and haunted the wilderness. They sometimes attacked or waylaid weary travellers.

Yaksha Amogha was the undisputed leader of the clan. He protected them with a frightening ferocity. His wisdom, his knowledge, and his magical skills together with his acute predictions and forewarning, gave him unlimited access to the king and his ministers. Amogha's main concern was another tribe called Kinaras who often created mischief in the borders. Although the home of the Kinaras was deep in the caverns of the snow-capped mountains, some of them tried to cross their boundary and enter the forests of Alaka. Amogha's army was vigilant at all times and surprised their enemies with their preparedness. When Yakshas and Yakshis wished to become invisible, they would sweep past one with the swiftness of wind. They adhered to the rule of not venturing into the kingdom during the day or the night. Some called them the spirits of the forests while some called them the tutelary deities of the forests. Very few humans had actually seen them. It is believed that if one sets his eyes on a Yakshi, he will be enraptured by the sight. The same could not be said about the Yakshas. Only a handful of the men were handsome. The citizens of Alaka never visited the forests at night fearing the Yaksha clan.

Yakshas' way of living did not conform to other races. Their practices were different, their god was different and some of the Yakshas had no birth or death. They were created out of magic spells and dispelled when they became harmful or when their time got over. They disappeared into the woods or the river Yakshagni. While some of them were gentle spirits who shied away from human contact some others were born to mothers and lived the lives of normal humans. Yaksha or Yakshi born out of a spell possessed more tricks and skills than the ones born through a natural biological process.

As time progressed at great speed, Yaksha Amogha watched Prince Ekveer grow into a handsome and compelling young man of intelligence, charm, and strength. He evoked loyalty among followers and the people of Alaka idolized him. Stories of his exceptional qualities reached the ears of other Princes, nobles, and leaders of other kingdoms and they eagerly looked forward to meeting him. His portraits and sketches aroused passionate ardour among royal young women of neighbouring states and they constantly vied for his attention.

Yaksha Amogha was amused by the adulation that the prince commanded. But what bothered him was the liberty that the prince took to wander into the forest and the mountains. When Amogha raised this topic with the king, king Kuvera dismissed it as irrelevant and expressed his confidence that Amogha and the Yakshas would keep his son away from harm.

Amogha had a daughter called Hanneli. He named her after the prophetess he had met on his visit to a faraway land. Hanneli was his strength, his pride, and his joy. She would often sit with him to learn the great tricks of magic. He called her his own princess and she would question him time and again about the lands he had visited, greatly fascinated by the unknown.

Hanneli treated everyone with kindness and love. When she was growing up, most of the Yaksha men maintained their distance from her because she was the daughter of their leader. The Yakshi women bestowed her with affection and loved her like their own. Hanneli could sing well and every night while the other world slept, she would croon lullabies in enchanting tunes, suffusing the forests and the rivers with tranquillity. She loved to listen to stories about other kingdoms and beseeched Amogha to reveal the unbelievable secret of the river Yakshagni. Several times, she dared to step into the city of Alaka at night to verify if she was invisible to human eyes. This sometimes enraged her father Amogha and sometimes amused him. He realized that Hanneli was a free spirit who could neither be checked nor be sheltered by him or other Yakshas. But when Hanneli dismissed his words of warning, a quiver of fear seized Amogha. As Hanneli grew into a beautiful young woman, his disquiet increased. Yaksha men made a beeline for her attention and little boys looked at her with adoration.

Amogha took his task of keeping Hanneli away from the eyes of royalty seriously. He tried his best to not allow her to wander when the king or the prince or any of the nobles were present in the vicinity.

The prognosis of a doomed love between royal blood and a Yakshi plagued him time and again and the dread refused to be erased from his mind. One day while he was trying to meditate, he heard the timeless whispers of his ancestors, warning him of danger. He flinched from the imminent threat and pondered over the musings of his forefathers.

Many years ago, the curse of a queen of Alaka had rendered the Yakshis incapable of finding true love ever. The inconceivable romantic love between a Royal and a Yakshi was ill-fated, and if ever the love of a Yakshi was reciprocated by a royal descendant then the age-old prophesy demanded their submission to their fate. Not surrendering to the forewarning would lure the Great Storm that devastated Alaka once long ago.

Amogha recollected the old tale of the curse. Long ago, there had been a gentle Yakshi called Manohara. Loveliest of all Yakshis, her unusual beauty had enchanted the then king of Alaka. The king, who was married with children, had fallen in love with her. Learning about his infatuation with Manohara, Alaka's queen, and Manohara's father, the Yaksha leader then, had forbidden them from seeing each other. Unable to convince them of their true love, the king and Manohara disappeared from Alaka. No one saw them again ever. The battalion of Alaka and the Yaksha brigade searched far and wide for the missing couple but to no avail. Some said that they had escaped to Khandvas and some said that they had drowned in the River Yakshagni and some whispered that they had abandoned this world for another one. The queen grew depressed and died, her last breath cursing the Yakshis with unrequited love forever. And if any Yakshi found love in Alaka, the kingdom would be destroyed by the Great Storm that arrived once in thousand years. Manohara's father, the Yaksha leader had waited in futile hope for his daughter and the king to return. He believed that the prophecy that his daughter was aware of, would impel her to come back. His people guessed that he knew where they had disappeared but the king and Manohara never returned and the Great Storm unleashed its fury and killed everyone in Alaka. Since then, no Yakshi was allowed to mingle with the royal family.

Amogha mulled over the logic behind the prophecy but the young ones would have to surrender to their fate. If not, calamities might be the consequences.

But who could stop the inevitable from happening? Not even the Almighty!