Not only Pakirappa but also most of the laborers and all natives would have worked hard to extinguish the wildfire if it had been caught at the KG estate since the Naga deity is incarnated in the Sacred Grove there.
The KG estate was wilder and more threatening than any other farmland in the neighborhood. It had more wild woods and forest areas than the other farmlands around. Moreover, the Sacred Grove's farther interiors made it more adventurous to visit there.
The next morning, the hill had no sign of wildfire or smoke far out there, but it had lost its green hues. Instead, it stood as though smeared in holy ash and was deeply rooted in resilience.
Chandu and Prakash had left for the KG estate. Pakirappa had been sleeping on the floor as a discarded thing among the leftovers on the floor. As soon as Senan woke him up, he got up and folded his hands at the hill in devotion and asked Senan, 'What would have happened to Ouseph? Did you hear any sound of firing from far away?'
'Could it be audible for us?'
'Surely,' Pakirappa said.
'But it would take time for the deer to arrive to eat the ash,' Senan said.
'There's a chance for him to put fire there and shoot something else in the KG estate. I don't want such intruders to enter the KG estate as hunters. They would spoil the Sacred grove, perhaps shooting some animals or the snake itself there.'
He sat back on the floor, leaning against the wall, and said, 'I had asked them to take you there. Instead, they left without letting me know.' Pakirappa looked around and also far through the woods in a desperate attempt find them anywhere there.
'You should make some offering to the deity to escape the wrath of the cobra you offended and killed.'
As Senan neither wanted to remember nor wanted to be reminded, he turned his head away, although he knew if Pakirappa had taken any such decision, he would not set Senan free without accomplishing it.
Pakirappa had promised to take Senan to the Sacred Grove in the KG estate. Since Senan had no devotion to the Naga deity, Pakirappa wanted to see if its beautiful ambiance would arouse piety in him.
Pakirappa believed that if Senan bowed his head before the Naga deity consecrated there, he would stop harming and killing the snakes. He would also adopt the way of saluting them in reverence.
Earlier, Pakirappa had told this to Chandu and Prakash, and they had promised to take Senan to the Sacred Grove. Senan refused to go with them, although he had befriended them when Pakirappa took Senan twice previously to the KG estate's cottages.
Pakirappa had always mentioned the need for Senan to visit the Sacred Grove so that he could escape the curse from the Naga deity and the escaped cobra's revenge. However, Pakirappa feared that if Senan was avenged by the Naga, it would affect Pakirappa adversely, as he had also been involved in the offense Senan committed against the snakes.
(to be continued)
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Invincible Naga
Mystery / ThrillerSenan had strange encounters with snakes, both in dreams and real life, when he was employed as a laborer in a vast farmland in the deep woods in a remote village in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, South India. Later, he finds that the snake had bee...
