The Gandhi ashram's closed for Ashura. Lizzy's on the street in heels, looking smart. "Let's go to Gulberg. Let's take a tour--a tour to humanity's evil heart. Ghodse killed Gandhi. That can't be undone. Godra, Gulberg. You can't prevent either. But you can shoot Ghodse with his own gun. Burn both sets of arsonists. Spare neither! There are very fine people on both sides. An eye for an eye makes the world go blind. On Heaven's throne, love not anger presides. In Heaven kind sayings rule the mind. But this is Hell and We, too, are God's plan. Let us punish wrong as hard as we can." [7-18-24--Ahmedabad]
Suttee comes from Sati, Shiva's wife. She cursed her father and leapt into flame. Did she err, Lizzie, in ending her life? Could she have done better in Hell's dark game? "I think that she did as well as she could. Shiva in rage cut off her father's head. What she could not do, her husband did. He danced with her body when she was dead. Remember punishment is not magic. Hell is mixed, but it, too, is comedy. Nothing in the end is truly tragic. With God, All is a Divine dramedy. You cannot conjure up dragons and towers. Better to burn than to debase your powers." [7-18-24--flight to Kochi--drawn from a book bought in the Ahmedabad airport: Mahagatha: 100 Tales from the Puranas, by Satyarth Nayak]
I descend, down to the lowest level. Lizzy is by the well, waiting for me. She twirls her sari. "I am no devil-- I'll show you whatever you want to see." "Tell me what happened to Queen Rudabai, Widowed when Begada killed her rana, Rather than marry him she plunged to die where you stand. Did she attain Nirvana?" "I'll look her up. I'm sure she's on my phone. Yes, there she is. Begada is there, too. You can see them. I hear him moan. She's stabbed out his eyes with a spike-heeled shoe. The myth's wrong. In truth, Rudabai chose Hell. She killed him and never jumped in the well." [Adalaj stepwell, Adalaj, Gujarat, 7-17-24]
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