Chapter 4 4. Devil's Cliff

The ingenious interweaving of light and sound is so gripping that even though Raza Singh has watched the program dozens of times, it still arouses his keen interest.All the people who have come to the cliffs have watched this show.Of course, some connoisseurs, such as Professor Sarat, will critically say that this is just a "story" fabricated for tourists.However, "anecdote" is better than "no comment"... On the opposite side of the western slope of Yakkabianla Mountain, there is a small amphitheater.The sky was already very dark, and the cliff had long been hidden in the night, but its huge figure covered the first emerging stars.At this time, there was a faint sound of low drums coming from the darkness, followed by a calm and serene voice:

"This story is about a king who killed his father and himself at the hand of his brother. Such cases are not uncommon in the bloody history of mankind. However, this king left behind The monuments that are still preserved, and the anecdotes that have been passed down for thousands of years..." In the darkness, Razasinghe took a peek at Vanner Morgan, who sat to his right.He has been fascinated by the slowly unfolding storyline.Two other guests seated on the left — longtime friends of Razasingh in foreign affairs — were also fascinated. "His name was Karidasha. He was born at the end of the first century AD in Ranapura, the city of gold. For hundreds of years this city was the capital of the kingdom of Taborobani. But, His birth was shrouded in gloom..."

The music began to grow louder, and so did the panicked melody, with drums and flutes and strings.A bright spot ignited on the steep slope of the Devil's Cliff, and it gradually expanded...Suddenly, there seemed to be an illusion window in front of the audience, revealing a world more vivid and clear than real life. world of... "A spectacular adaptation of the play," thought Morgan, and could not help but be pleased that politeness had triumphed this time over the desire to get to work right away.He saw the joy that King Balawana felt when his beloved concubine gave birth to his firstborn son; he also deeply understood the feeling in the king's heart when the queen herself gave birth to a son with greater power after only one day and night. mixed feelings.Although Karidasa is the eldest son, his qualifications to inherit the father's throne can only be ranked second.This is how the background of the tragedy is formed.

"However, in the early days of childhood, Karidasha and his half-brother Malgala had been the closest of friends. The children grew up together, and it had not yet sprouted in their pure hearts that they were rivals. not to see through the conspiracies set up around them. The cause of their discord has nothing to do with the accidental factors of birth." "Messages from various countries came to the court of King Balawana with gifts. They brought silk from China, gold from Hindustan, and weapons from the Roman Empire. One day, an ordinary hunter in the tropical jungle also Came to the capital with a tribute, and he hoped that the king's family would appreciate his gift..."

Morgan heard a round of applause around him.A small snow-white monkey sat peacefully in the arms of Prince Karidasa, surprisingly lovable.Across thousands of years... and across the mysterious, but not entirely insurmountable, gap between man and beast, it watched Morgan with its great eyes. "According to historical records, no one has seen such a monkey before; its fur is as white as milk, and its eyes are rose-colored, shining like rubies. Some people think it is an ominous omen, because the white It's the color of death and mourning. It's a shame these people's fears were vindicated.

Prince Karidasa was so fond of the beloved monkey that he named it Hanuman in honor of the mythical monkey king.Skilled craftsmen in the palace made a four-wheeled cart for the monkey out of gold. The monkey sat on the cart in a stately manner, and people pulled it around the palace for all the people there to watch and entertain. Hanuman is very close to Karidasa, and he does not allow anyone else to touch him except Karidasa.It was extremely unfriendly to Prince Margara, as if it had anticipated the hostile relationship between the two in the future.The unlucky thing finally happened, and one day, it bit the heir to the throne.

One bite is a small thing, but the consequences can be very serious.A few days later, Hanuman was poisoned...no doubt on the queen's orders.That was the end of Karidasha's childhood.It is said that since then, he has ceased to be close to people, and has no trust in anyone, and his affection for Malgala has turned into hostility. However, this was far from the only unpleasant event caused by the monkey's death.According to the king's decree, a hemispherical tomb was specially built for Hanuman. Its shape is exactly similar to the traditional Buddhist relic tower.This kind of thing has never been done by anyone, and it aroused great indignation among monks; since the stupa has always been used only to bury the mummy of the Buddha, the king's move was considered sacrilege.

Quite possibly, this was the intention of the king, since King Balawana had gradually become estranged from Buddhism.Even though Prince Kharidasa was too young to be involved in the conflict, the monks held a grudge against him.This was the beginning of the hostilities that later divided the kingdom. In the course of nearly two thousand years, we have not had any evidence to prove that this historical material is not just a very beautiful story made up.It was not until 2015 that archaeologists discovered the foundation of a small stupa at the former site of the Rana Pura Palace.The stupa itself has been destroyed.It has been looted many centuries ago.Now that twenty-first-century scholars have tools at their disposal that treasure lovers of old could never have imagined, they've used neutrino transmission to discover yet another spiritual chamber deep beneath the ancient tomb tunnel.The upper chamber is nothing more than a tombstone - a burial in disguise.In the mortuary below it still stands, where it remained for many centuries until it was sent to its final resting place, the Rana Pura Museum. "

Inadvertently, Morgan missed the next part of the storyline.Just as his soft eyes saw, the complicated royal family disputes were already at their most intense stage, but he couldn't fully discern who was fighting each other.When the clanging of weapons on the battlefield died down, Crown Prince Malgala and his queen mother were fleeing to India, while Karidasa seized the throne and put his father in prison. The reason why the usurper did not kill the old king Balawana immediately was not because of the bond between father and son, but because he believed that the old king hid the treasure for Maljala somewhere. .After a long period of imprisonment and torture, finally, Balawana was not going to hide any longer.

"I can show you my wealth," he said to his son, "get me a carriage, and I will take you there." Contrary to Hanuman, the aged king made his final journey in a wagon drawn by oxen.According to the chronicle, one of the wheels of the car was broken, and therefore creaked and creaked along the way.What surprised Karidasha was that the place where his father was going was the huge artificial lake that supplied irrigation water to the entire central country; Balawana had devoted almost his entire life to this reservoir.He walked slowly along the edge of the dam, looking at his three-meter-tall stone statue facing the lake.

"Farewell, old friend," he said to the stone statue holding the stone map of the Inner Sea. "Please take care of my inheritance." He walked down the steps of the overflow weir, and when he reached the waist-deep water, he lifted a handful of lake water over his head.Then he turned to Karidasha with a proud and dignified air. "Here, my son!" He pointed at the rippling Oasis spring and shouted, "It's right here... it's all my wealth!" "Kill him!" Karidasha, overwhelmed with rage and disappointment, ordered. The soldiers carried out the order. For the first few years, Karidasa and his entire court remained in Ranapur.Later, he moved to the deserted and remote cliffs of Yakkajara Mountain, which towers above the tropical jungle, forty kilometers away from Ranapura.Some asserted that he was looking for an impregnable fortress against the vengeance of his brothers.However, Karidasha did not use it to protect himself in the end.Besides, if Jacques Kajara was nothing more than a castle, why did he build a vast paradise around the cliffs and cost far more labor than building deep ditches and high fortifications?And why was it necessary to paint so many murals there? When the guide asked this question, the west wall of the cliff emerged from the darkness...but the shape remained the same as it was two thousand years ago.At a height of a hundred meters from the base of the cliff, a flat, plastered surface spread across the entire width of the cliff, with life-size busts of women painted in colour.They are all extremely beautiful and have the same style. Their skin was golden, their breasts were full, and they wore garments of transparent material, and all wore the same precious stones.Some of them wore tall and exquisite hair buns, while others seemed to be wearing phoenix crowns.Most people hold flowers in their hands. "At the earliest time, there were more than 200 such portraits. However, the erosion of wind and rain for many centuries has almost destroyed everything, leaving only twenty or so individuals who survived under the protection of hanging rocks picture……" The image is enlarged.With the melody of "Anitra Dance", the surviving girls of Karidasha floated out of the darkness one by one.Despite suffering from harsh weather, weathering over time and the evil hands of vandals, the girls still maintain the beauty they had 2,000 years ago.The colors are as vivid as ever; the afterglow of the setting sun has fallen over the portraits hundreds of thousands of times without tarnishing them.Neither the fairies nor the grim reaper have killed the myth of Jacques Kajara. "No one knows where they came from, and why they were painted in such an inaccessible place. According to the most widely circulated version, they are fairies in the sky, and Karidasha let them settle there in order to create a paradise for humans. It is probable that, like him, Kharidasa considered himself a god; it is also possible that he followed the example of the Egyptians and guarded the entrance to his palace with gigantic statues." The image has changed: now the viewer is presented with a small lake with the shadow of the cliff reflected in the water.The surface of the water is wrinkled and rippled, and the outline of Yakkabianla Mountain is trembling and spreading out.When the clear outlines appeared again, the cliffs had been built with jagged walls, full of bunker ports, bastions, and building spiers.Since the lens is never in focus, it is impossible to see them well.Before coming, no one has ever been able to know how to actually see the sky palace of Karidasha clearly. The last stanza reads: "Kalidasha lived here for nearly twenty years, until the end that fate had arranged for him. From the top of the cliff, Karidasha saw Marbianla's army attacking him from the north. .It is probable that he, too, considered his fortress invincible, yet did not put it to the test. He descended to meet his brothers in the neutral ground between the two armies. No one knew of their The content of the conversation after the meeting. It is only said that they hugged each other before parting; it is very likely that this is true. Afterwards, the opposing armies swarmed up to fight.Since Karidasha was fighting on his own territory, his fighters knew the terrain, so it seemed he could win with confidence.However, an accidental event that determined the fate of the people turned the whole situation around.Karidasha's elephant turned sideways to avoid a small quagmire, but the warriors mistook it for the king's retreat.According to the records of the chronicle, this blow completely frustrated the fighting spirit of the soldiers. Karidasha was found on the battlefield; he had committed suicide.Malgala became king, while Jacques Kagala was abandoned in the tropical jungle, and has been neglected for 1,700 years.

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