Page 85 of Tiger's Curse
I grunted, “Hmm. That question has definitely moved to the top of my list for Ren.”
We moved on to tour the House of Victory, the Lotus Mahal, and the Mahanavami Dibba, but we didn’t see anything particularly interesting or outstanding there. The Noblemen’s Palace was a place for diplomatic meetings and high-ranking officials to be wined and dined. The King’s Balance was a building used by the kings to weigh gold, money, and grains in trade, and was also used to distribute goods to the poor.
My favorite place was the Elephant Stables. A long, cavernous structure, it had housed eleven elephants in its heyday. Mr. Kadam explained that those elephants were not used for battle, but for ritual. They were the king’s private stock—highly trained and used for various ceremonies. Often, they were dressed in golden cloth and jewels, and their skin was painted. The building had ten domes of different sizes and shapes that rested on the top of each elephant’s apartment. He explained that other elephants were kept also to do menial labor and construction, but that the private stock would have been special.
A large statue of Ugra Narasimha was the last thing that we saw. When I asked Mr. Kadam what he represented, he didn’t respond. He walked around the structure, looking at it from many different angles while thinking and mumbling quietly to himself.
I shaded my eyes and studied the top of it. Trying to get Mr. Kadam’s attention, I repeated, “Who is he? He’s a pretty ugly fellow.”
This time, Mr. Kadam replied, “Ugra Narasimha is a half-man, half-lion god, though he can assume other forms as well. He was supposed to look frightening and impressive. He is most famous for slaying a powerful demon king. What’s interesting is the demon king could not be killed either on earth or in space, during day or night, not inside or outside, by neither human nor animal, nor by any object that was dead or alive.”
“You sure seem to have a lot of unslayable demons running around in India. So how did he kill the demon king?”
“Ah, Ugra Narasimha was very clever. He picked up the demon king, placed him on his lap, and then killed him at twilight, on a doorstep, with his claws.”
I laughed. “Sounds like Miss Scarlett, in the conservatory, with a candlestick.”
Mr. Kadam chuckled. “Indeed, it does.”
“Hmm, day or night, that’s twilight, inside or outside was the doorstep, and he was half human and half lion, so that covers animal/human requirement. Not on earth or space is on his lap . . . what was the other one?”
He answered, “He could not be killed by an object that was dead or alive, specifically, animate or inanimate, so he used his claws.”
“Huh. Thatispretty clever.”
“I’m impressed, Kelsey. You figured out most of those on your own. If you look closely, you can see that he is sitting on the coils of a seven-headed snake, and their heads are arching above him, hoods open, to provide shade for his head.”
I grimaced. “Uh-huh, those are snakes alright.” I twitched my arm uncomfortably and peeked over at my golden snake. Fanindra was still a hard piece of jewelry.
Mr. Kadam started muttering to himself again and spent a long time examining the Ugra Narasimha statue.
“What are you looking for, Mr. Kadam?”
“Part of the prophecy says ‘let serpents guide you.’ Before, I thought it might only mean your golden snake, but perhaps the plural is important.”
I joined him in looking for a secret doorway or a handprint like the one I found before, but didn’t see anything. We tried to be as casual as the other tourists as we studied the statue.
Finally giving up, Mr. Kadam said, “I think it might be a good idea if you and Ren return here this evening. I have a suspicion that the entrance to Kishkindha might be here by this statue.”
We brought a picnic dinner to Ren. I tore off pieces of Tandoori chicken for him, which he carefully nibbled from my hand, and told him about the different buildings we’d investigated at the temple.
Mr. Kadam explained to us that the ruins were closed to visitors at sundown unless there was a special event taking place.
“Most evenings, guards are standing watch, looking out for treasure hunters. In fact,” he elaborated, “treasure hunters are responsible for much of the destruction you see in the ruins now. They seek gold and jewels, but those things were taken from Hampi long ago. The treasures of Hampi now are the very things they are destroying.”
Mr. Kadam felt that it would be best if he dropped us off at a location on the other side of the hills because there were no roads leading into Hampi, and it wasn’t guarded as well.
“But if there aren’t any roads, then how will we get there?” I asked, fearing Mr. Kadam’s answer.
He grinned. “Off-roading is one of the reasons I bought the Jeep, Miss Kelsey.” He rubbed his hands together animatedly. “It will be exciting!”
I groaned and muttered, “Fantastic. I feel nauseous already.”
“You will need to carry thegadain your backpack, Kelsey. Do you think you can manage?”
“Sure. It’s not that heavy, really.”
He stopped what he was doing and looked at me, puzzled.
