Intro

Shiva sat alone, sipping on a hot cup of black tea, waiting. The tea itself was fine, nothing much to comment on. Of the gods in the Hindu pantheon, he was regaled as the most important, but don’t tell Brahma or Vishnu that; it was a sore subject for the holy trinity. The Destroyer waited as patiently as one could for Pinaka, his bow, to be brought in. Though normally it had a mind of its own and ways of moving around, Shiva did have to give it a little push here and there. The occasion on which they were meeting was rather pressing and annoying. Pinaka was broken, a concept that Shiva could not comprehend, and he needed to get to the bottom of it. How could someone just break a divine weapon? It simply wasn’t possible!

The god of dance drummed his fingers against the arm of the chair he was sitting in, still waiting. Pashupata-Astra wouldn’t keep me waiting like this… Suddenly, the large, intricately decorated door creaked open. Shiva shifted his gaze to Pinaka, who hovered in slowly, its slow movement akin to a human-like limp. He wasn’t sure how the bow even opened the door, but that was none of his concern.

“Hello,” Shiva said, dryly. “You can sit here… quickly,” he added, impatient as ever.

“Of course,” Pinaka said with a cough. Shiva rolled his eyes. It was broken, not sick. Pinaka settled into the chair across from Shiva and sighed deeply. “Where to begin…”

“From the beginning would be best.”

“Well, Lord Shiva, we met--“

“Gods, I’m not talking about me!” Shiva interrupted. “Tell me about everything that happened when I was not present.”

“Oh,” Pinaka said brightly. “That makes more sense!”

“Doesn’t it?” Shiva said sarcastically. “Please continue.”

“So, I’ll try to keep this as abridged as possible but there are three important people: Janaka, his daughter, Sita, and her husband, Rama.”

“Yes, I know who all of these people are,” Shiva said. It was clear there was not a short way out of this situation. The Pinaka was going to tell its story whether Shiva was particularly interested or not. He might as well be receptive to his old friend's story. “It has been a while though. Why don’t you start with what happened with Janaka and go from there?”

The Pinaka had been slightly hunched before, but at this, it perked up and launched into the first story.

Header source: Shiva Statue (Pixabay)