Guruji Dandapani had called his friend and guide Guru Vishwakseni to the kingdom. Meenakshi had just turned thirteen a few days ago and her father had requested her to come back to the palace. This was the first time her horoscope was going to be made and her janam patrika written. Something that had to be done when she was 13 days old.
Meenakshi, her parents, her brother and both the gurus were seated in the guest room that had been gotten ready for Guru Dandapani. They were all seated on the floor with an elevated one foot table in front of them. Acharya Vishwakseni looked at their palms one by one and then at her parents and her brother's janam patrika. He then looked at the silent girl sitting beside him and smiled helplessly.
"I think you can go beta. You too son. Whatever it is now, I shall talk to your parents." Meenakshi nodded and bowed in respect to her Guruji, Acharya Vishwakseni and her parents and left the room. Her brother followed her suit and left behind her. Acharya looked at their retreating backs before he turned to her parents.
"Both of your horoscopes show that you have only one child and your son's fate says he has no siblings."
"What does this mean?" Meenakshi's father let out a shocked cry.
"This just means, Meenakshi's fate is bound to cease. You had a sister right, Harshavardhan?" Acharya Vishwakseni asked. Raja Harshavardhan wordlessly nodded. "Did you hate her?" Raja Harshavardhan was surprised by the sage's words. Composing himself, he shook his head again.
"I feel helpless that I couldn't do anything for her." He muttered, lowering his gaze to the ground.
"Then why couldn't you love your daughter. She could have been your sister, who wanted another chance at life through you." Raja Harshavardhan felt as if his soul had been sucked out of his body. All he wanted to do was to be dead now. He had been so immersed in getting his revenge and sister avenged that he couldn't think about simple, straight things.
Looking at his shocked, helpless expressions, Acharya continued. "Your sister had committed suicide. An atma like that doesn't attain moksha so easily. It tries to find another living body to continue living the life it had been destined to. Moreover she was a woman who belonged to this family and she had died being a nirudha. There are a lot of things other than just cremation and yearly death anniversaries that must be done to help that soul find its way to heaven."
"Is my daughter an incarnation of my sister?" Harshavardhan asked, a lining of hope coating his words.
"Unfortunately no. Maybe Meenakshi was deemed unfit to live the life she had wanted seeing the way she was treated. Harshavardhan, you can always pray, perform puja, conduct sacrifices and rituals, give away donations and perform penance to be blessed with a heir, a son. But only if you are deemed worthy, will you be blessed with a daughter. No prayer, no penance can beget you a daughter, that is how powerful a daughter is. And having a daughter is the greatest blessing any father can get. Not because her marriage brings political strength, but her mere presence blesses her father with health, wealth and prosperity. No son would be able to do that. That is one of the primary reasons we worship women in every form around us."
"What will happen to her now? Will she be okay? Nothing is wrong right?" This was Guru Dandapani. He wanted nothing more than that little girl's happiness, health and safety. But it seems like fate had other plans for her.
"No Dandapani. I don't see a life for her beyond her 21st birthday. It will be a miracle if she survives that day. I don't know how or why, but it looks like the gods themselves decided this for her after seeing her misery."
"Can't we do anything about it?" This was the first time her mother spoke.
"No, it's too late to make any amends now."
**********
nirudha: unmarried
atma: soul
La. La. La. Thank you for such an overwhelming response on the previous chapter. Since all of you wanted Meenakshi and Aditya to reunite, I shall do that for you.
Bless me with your votes and comments and you shall see the magic blossom between the two very soon.
Twenty comments on this chapter and I shall update daily for the next week.
Love you Kittens.
Bubye.