Asha and Dara were brothers whose father, Naveen, was a noble king. The boys grew up very fond of each other, always laughing and playing together. Both were very talented and displayed extraordinary strengths. As they grew up, they began to train so that they could join in protecting their family’s kingdom.

Eventually, the two brothers both became high-ranking soldiers in their father’s army. Asha was an amazing leader while Dara was extremely skilled at planning war operations. This made the two an almost unstoppable team. No matter the enemy, big or small, as long as Asha and Dara were together they could accomplish absolutely anything.

One day, the brothers were training new recruits in the fields outside of the castle walls. While they were away from their father, one of the king’s oldest enemies snuck into their home. Anit was an extremely sneaky sorcerer who had the ability to transform into a serpent. By doing so, he was able to slyly navigate into the castle and up to the king himself.

The king was sitting in his banquet hall preparing a dinner for the new recruits and his military leaders. Anit crept up to the king’s feet and reared back. He struck at the king, sinking his fang’s into Naveen’s ankle. Poison began to pump from the snake’s glands and into the king’s veins. His hands began to seize, followed by the rest of his body. Naveen fell to the floor, writhing, as the atrocious villain slithered back out of the castle.

Several maids and servers gathered around the king as he took his last breath. One word slipped out from between his lips before his eyes lolled into the back of his head, “Anit.”

Guards ran to retrieve Asha and Dara from the fields to deliver the news of their father’s demise. Upon hearing this, both men dropped their training weapons as shock and fear filled their bodies. They made a break for the castle to see their father for themselves.

The two siblings grieved their father while comforting one another. One of the maids told them that their father’s last words were simply “Anit.” Asha and Dara locked eyes with one another and nodded, knowing just what they had to do.

Asha began rallying the troops as Dara prepared the plans for invading Anit’s territory and demolishing his army. A week later, Asha’s men were marching out of the city to avenge the death of their king. Along their march to the enemy kingdom, Asha and Dara met a strange shade.

The shade introduced himself as Gautam, a god who used to help serve King Naveen. He had heard news that Naveen was slain in his own home and that Anit was responsible. He told the brothers that he wished to accompany them and help them avenge their dad. They agreed and began their journey once again.

It took several days, but their army finally made it to the outskirts of Anit’s kingdom. Dara relayed the plan to the troops once again and everyone prepared their formations. Gautam kept the army out of sight until they were within enemy territory. Dara and his men battled head to head with the opposing forces, while Asha and Gautam snuck into the castle to find Anit and take him down.

Asha and Gautam slunk around a corner and saw Anit walking away from them. Asha was suddenly filled with adrenaline and sprinted after the sorcerer, tackling him to the ground and landing his fist hard into his enemy’s face.

The battled raged on outside as Dara and the troops slowly eliminated the others. As Dara was pulling his sword from a downed enemy, another snuck his blade between the brother’s ribs from behind. Dara fell to the earth as blood began seeping from his body into the ground.

Meanwhile, Asha and Anit were locked together landing hits on one another where they could. Asha reached for his sword as the sorcerer slipped into his serpent form and crawled up Asha’s leg.

Asha was teleported back to all of the emotions he felt as he held his father’s lifeless body. In one fell swoop, Asha swung his sword with enough force to slice the serpent in half as well as his own leg from the knee down. He looked up at Gautam in shock and the god ran to his side.

Dara’s breathing was labored. His men had managed to fight off the opposing forces and push them to retreat. As his vision began to fade he saw his brother’s face appear in front of him.

A healer, who the brothers had brought in case of something like this, told Asha and Gautam of some herbs found on a mountain across the ocean. If he were able to get his hands on the herbs, he would be able to save Dara.

Gautam patted Asha on the shoulder and said, “I will make the journey to the mountain and retrieve the herbs needed to save your brother. It is the least I can do to pay my respects to your father.” With that, the god leaped mightily into the air toward the mountain. He was able to jump off the ground with such momentum, he soared across miles and miles of ocean to reach the mountain.

Landing at the base, Gautam began to look for the herbs that the healer described. Finding none, and knowing he was in the right area, Gautam had no other choice but take it all.

In the mean time, the healer took care of Asha's leg by stopping the bleeding, cleaning it, and wrapping it.

Gautam sunk his hands into the earth and began to pry the mountain up from its base. Straining greatly, the god hoisted the mountain onto his shoulder and bounded back across the ocean to Asha and Dara.

The healer quickly retrieved the herbs he needed and made the remedy for Asha’s brother. Asha made Dara drink a liquid and immediately he began to cough and the blood stopped pouring from his body.

Gautam took a tree off of the mountain and snapped it into equal pieces so that it could be fashioned into a prosthetic for Asha's leg.

The two brothers locked each other in a strong embrace, thanking the healer and especially Gautam. Gautam smiled and wished the brothers well, “If there is ever anything you need, you know where to find me!” The shade hefted the mountain onto his back once again and was gone as quick as he came.

The brothers gathered the remains of their men and made their return back to their own kingdom. Once they were settled in, Asha was crowned king and had the tree turned into a well-fitted prosthetic. Dara led and trained the military for his brother and the two continued their journey of life together.

Bibliography:

Sister Nivedita, Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists, Link.

Author’s Note:

I took inspiration from the story of Hanuman and the Mountain from the Ramayana. In this story, there were two brothers, Rama and Lakshmana, who went to search for Rama’s wife. They met a monkey named Sugriva and helped him win his kingdom back. He offered his men to help the brothers find Rama’s wife, who had been kidnapped by Ravana afterwards. During their army’s survey of the globe, they found a vulture who knew where to find Sita (Rama’s wife). They travel to where Ravana lived and battled his army to return Sita to her true husband.

This story takes place after one of the battles between Sugriva’s army and Ravana’s. Sugriva’s men were dying and he reached out to the god, Hanuman, to retrieve a certain number of medicinal herbs from the Himalayan Mountains. Hanuman is unable to find the herbs, and instead uproots the entire mountain.

I wanted to throw my own spin on it by changing the characters and the plot a little. I stuck with the theme of having a god provide medicinal herbs by retrieving an entire mountain. He ends up saving one of the brothers from certain death and becomes good friends with our main characters. I apologize for how long it was, I had a lot of fun writing this!