THE TRAGIC STORY OF MOHENJO-DARO

Introduction

During the reign of the Indus Civilization, there had been two groups of people fighting for the ownership of the industrialized city of Mohenjo-Daro. This city consisted of many luxuries that much of the world, during these times, did not possess. This city was also a center for trade, which made this city rather wealthy, and it had been close to an environment that was quite convenient, like having the Indus River nearby. The ruler of this great city was a Brahmin, and his name was Iraquan. Many civilizations yearned for the ownership of Mohenjo-Daro, especially the Vedins. These two groups of people had fought numerous times, but there was rarely a conclusion to the battles that favored either of the sides. Both of the civilizations had tremendous losses. There had been multiple unnecessary killings, and there had been a great decline in the amount of men, which had a severe impact on both of the Vedins and the people of the Indus Civilization.

It had been the sixth battle that had taken place, when Damyanti’s husband, Gagan, had been sent to assist in retrieving Mohenjo-Daro. The Vedin civilization had been severely suffering in the sense of the amount of able men that they had lost during the previous gruesome battles, so they had called for virtually all of the men left in the community. Knowing this, Damyanti begged her husband to stay home, but her husband did not listen.

Gagan told her, “ I must fight, my sweet love. Our community is being severely oppressed. It would be sinful not to fight. If I stayed here safe with you, I would not be following my dharma. You already know that my brother has died for our right to have Mohenjo-Daro, and I must honor him.” Gagan left his home and family without uttering any other word. His eyes were glazed over, and Damyanti noticed this new sense of serenity and confidence that she had never seen in her husband before.

A few days later, a young lad had ran to Damyanti’s home as fast as possible. He knocked on the wooden door at uneven intervals, and she immediately knew what this stranger was going to tell her by his great urgency and attire. She never even opened the door to retrieve the news. She just sat in her chair staring out of the window, expressionless, until she began to cry over the loss of her husband, whom she would never see again.

Several days later, Damyanti began to perform her daily chores, knowing that she could no longer live her life in mourning of her husband, who left in complete and utter ignorance of the situation. As she was caring for her garden, she saw the same young boy that ran to her house running to her neighbor, Harita’s, house. She was a very nice girl, but she was a silent and rarely spoke with Damyanti, after her more social husband left. Then, Damyanti started to think about how this young man was like the angel of death, destroying the lives of the families to whom he did not know. Damyanti ran back into her house, as soon as she heard the Harita’s sobs and saw the young boy just scurrying away, without comforting the poor girl. Damyanti could not allow herself to care for any other of the woman in her village because she realized that she had prioritized her own needs above her neighbors, which was quite out of character for Damyanti. She never went to Harita’s house after seeing that.

That night, Damyanti decided that she would have to go to Mohenjo-Daro, in order to gain a better understanding of why this was occurring. Therefore, the next day, she dressed herself in her most presentable sari and traversed towards Mohenjo-Daro, knowing the fantastic risk that she was taking with her actions. Perhaps she had been suffering from the loss of her husband, but her actions were ludicrous, impossible to achieve, and severely dangerous. Nevertheless, she was still capable of reaching the city and even reached Iraquan’s palace. As she was traveling through the city, she began to notice the various luxuries of the city, which were even present during a time of war. She was amazed by the various shops that lined the bazaar within the city. She seemed to be travelling through the city at a rather nice pace, considering the violent environment that was surrounding her. However, once she reached the priest-king’s palace, she was stopped at the gates. The guards told her that during such difficult times, Iraquan enforced a decree stating that only a few selected civilians could pass through. However, she persisted that she must see him. During all of this commotion, the king finally approached the gate. After seeing her this rather young woman, he told the guards that she is allowed to enter. Then, one of the guards quickly informed him that she was a Vedic.

“Nonetheless, she shall enter the palace and dine with me tonight!” he declared. He assumed that if she was so ignorant to enter his palace, then he would perhaps gain some knowledge of what the Vedics were doing. If she did not tell him anything, he would kill her worthless soul.

The gates opened, and Damyanti quickly scurried into the palace, just in case he suddenly changed his mind. They entered the dining hall, where there was already a lovely feast prepared. There, the king discussed issues as to why this tragic event was taking place, and he kept insisting that he did not wish this onto the Vedins. However, he needed to defend his people from a seemingly barbaric civilization. He did not seem to be careful with his word selection and did not pay attention to his stunning bluntness. His actions of superiority angered Damyanti to a rather high degree because he was referring to her husband, when he talked about the “idiotic civilians” that thought that they could actually gain power and end his reign.

After dinner, Iraquan decided to give her a short tour of the palace, in order to gain her trust before questioning her. She first visited his shrine, which was dedicated by his townspeople. There had been several freshly-planted flowers, several jewels, and at the center of the shrine, there had been a rather strange monument. Damyanti inquisitively asked what the monument was.

Iraquan responded, “This is my most valuable possession. It had been given to me by my men that are fighting in this war. It is a monument of me, which resembles both courage and honor, which are both virtues that I have, and that many people long for.” This response further angered her in the sense of his extreme arrogance and his ignorance in what the people fighting are actually experiencing.

The next thing that was shown to her was his infamous pool, in which she had heard of, even from her village. From its description, she had always made the assumption that it had not existed, and it was an amazing event for her to experience. After her moment of awe, she began to focus back onto what the priest-king was saying, which she found to be completely irrelevant. Then, he uttered some of the most horrid words that she had ever heard anyone utter. She could not believe that someone of such a high stature would say this.

“The last time that I had tried to swim in this pool, I was nearly killed by a spear that was thrown from that tree over there by a Vedin,” he said. He pointed in the direction of the tree, but she did not glance back. “Well, I suppose that I should have expected that from people like you. My guard came as quickly as possible and killed the man, after hearing my call. When I went over there to the man, I saw that he had something in his pocket. That incompetent untouchable had a turquoise necklace in his pocket that was even less valuable then his life. What a fool!”

Damyanti began to tighten her hands into fists. That was her husband that he had killed. Before his departure, she had quickly placed her most valuable possession into his pocket. It was the necklace that he had given her their wedding night. Then, it occurred to her that this king was responsible for her husband’s death. In blind fury, she tackled the man into his precious pool and began to drown her husband’s murderer. She could see the life slowly leaving his brown eyes. Moments later, his body was motionless, and he no longer struggled for his life. His eyes no longer had the same fire that was in them previously. She had killed him! Her hands began to shake in the water, and she started to weep. This would not have been what Gagan would have wanted. Out of disrespect and desperation, she stopped swimming. She was no longer splashing, and she slowly sank to the bottom of the pool. Her long black hair floating within the crystal blue water. The only remnants of this evening were the two dead bodies and the rippling of the once calm water.

The Conclusion

After this event, the Indus Civilization declined and surrendered to the Vedins. This had been because of a lack of leadership, and there had been much despair because of the sudden death of their once powerful leader. In conclusion, the Vedics were capable of gaining control of Mohenjo-Daro, and they reconstructed the destroyed buildings within the city, which were scarce.

THE END