The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter XI: Kalachakra

“Good lord, look at these markings, they must be a thousand year old!” remarked Carey as he stepped inside the ruin.

His voice echoed in the empty hallway as he took in the ambience of the place. From where he stood, the place extended into an elongated hallway with giant broken pillars and a cracked roof. The hallway extended for about a hundred meters- the path was riddled with cracked and broken granite stones with tiny plants and bushes growing out through the soil beneath them. The hallway led to a giant metallic door that was half open.

“So where is the map?” asked the Princess.

“It must be through that door,” replied Carey.

“Are you sure you want to go there?” she asked.

“Well I guess we don’t have a choice,” he replied taking a deep breath and stepping forward.

Both of them walked ahead, the Princess grabbing her sword tightly, ready to pull it out in case of danger, although she could not really understand what dangers could there be in such an old ruin but she didn’t like the vibe of the place. Carey walked towards the giant door, carefully looking at the broken murals and statues that lie on the ground. The closer he got to the door, the creepier it felt to him- what must be lurking behind that giant half opened door? He estimated that the door must have been about 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It was engraved with dancing figurines that were covered with dust and dirt. He reached the door and touched the engraving on the door and wiped the dirt off of it. As soon as he did, the face of an elegant dancer became clear, it was somehow engraved on that door, a technology that felt quite out of place for a thousand year old ruin. He looked closely at the engraving, the face looked so life like and smooth. A ray of sun hit the engraving from the cracked roof above them and Carey’s eyes opened wide when he saw that the engraving was made from a shining metal.

“Dear God! Is this made out of gold? It is, isn’t it? This is solid gold- yet no one tried to vandalize this-“he remarked.

“Something must have kept the grave diggers and looters away from this place but what could it be?” said the Princess.

Carey took off his shawl and wiped the entire engraving clean of the dirt. What he saw amazed him- it was an intricate engraving of a nude female dancer in a certain dancing position and it was drawn so precisely as if someone had measured the human anatomy down to the smallest detail.

“She’s gorgeous!” remarked Carey.

“Yes she is- what? You’ve never seen a nude woman before, hurry up now, we haven’t got all day” said the Princess.

“Yes I have seen- well never mind,” said Carey taking a step towards the crack in the door.

As soon as he did, he felt a slight breeze coming out through the crack. He tried to take a peek but he couldn’t make out anything from outside.

“I can’t see anything from here- Woah!” said Carey pushing himself against the door.

Suddenly the door began to make a creaking sound and move back. Carey tried to control himself but the door opened up magically and made a loud crashing sound. The Princess took a step back as the dust flew everywhere. Carey cried out as he lost his control and fell down on his chest as he hit the ground. He immediately picked himself up and as soon as the dust cleared, he realized that he was standing in a large empty room. The roof was broken and the sun peeped through the cracks.

“What on earth is this?” remarked Carey as he looked around at the empty room.

Something didn’t feel right to him, the roof of the room seemed to rest much higher than the roof of the rest of the ruin; it almost seemed like an illusion. His steps echoed around in the empty room and for a few minutes, he walked around the room, looking for any clue that could lead him to the map but instead he found nothing. What was strange that this room had no engravings or drawings or sculptures or signs of anything, it was really- empty!

“So? Where’s the map?” asked the Princess who had been patiently watching him wander around the room aimlessly.

“I don’t understand, the map should be here, it doesn’t make any sense,” replied Carey scratching his head.

“Maybe we’re at the wrong place?” she suggested.

“No, it can’t be, this is the right place, the Kalachakra must be here, c’mon think- think- what am I missing?” replied Carey.

The Princess tuned away to look behind her, she heard something-

“Something’s wrong outside, I hear people arguing, hurry up Mr. Carey, find the map, I think someone’s looking for us,” she said uncovering her sword and guarding the door.

“C’mon think- think- ‘on the banks of the river- floats the heavenly abode-beneath the sands of time- lies the gateway- the immortals rests! Where do the immortals rest? Where?” said Carey and stared down at his feet and then it hit him.

“Of course! The immortals rests underneath- this- this is a tomb!” he said and cleared the dirt from the floor.

Under the rays of the sun, he saw some drawings on the floor. He immediately began to wipe the floor with his shawl, the more he wiped, the more he could see the drawings and a minute later he wiped the entire center of the floor clean. He then took a few steps back and that’s when he saw it. There was a large painting on the center of the floor- it was a huge circle about six feet in diameter with another smaller circle inside it and a scary looking monster drawn at the center of it. Between the two circles was a gap of about twenty centimeters and in that gap were drawings of mountains, roads, valleys and rivers that went round across the entire diameter of the circle. Carey’s heart leapt with excitement- he did it, this was the Kalachakra Map that he had been looking for so long. He now realized that the images that were drawn within the gap of the concentric circles was the road that led to Shamballa. He wished that he had brought along a camera with him but he hadn’t. So he took out his notebook from his pocket and a pencil and began to copy the map as quickly as possible.

“Mr. Carey, we have to hurry, now! There are people outside, something’s going on!” cried the Princess who stood ten feet away from him.

“Coming!” replied Carey scribbling down the painting on his notebook as quickly as possible.

“Oh! This is incredible, this painting displays the entire road leading to Shamballa- the roads, the valleys and the mountains- amazing! It’s so detailed,”

After copying the painting on his notebook, Carey noticed something inscribed on the floor around the outer section of the circle. He removed the dirt with his hand and saw an inscription written in Sanskrit, which after a rough translation read-

“The Curse of the Immortals befalls upon anyone who uses the Kalachakra for himself,

Shamballa belongs to the entire world…”

“C’mon, we don’t have time,” said the Princess grabbing Carey by his arm and pulling him away.

“Wait, I have to finish translating this inscription,” said Carey but the Princess didn’t listen and dragged him out of the room.

As they stepped out of the room and into the hallway, they noticed a group of local people waiting for them with sticks and staffs in their hands, just outside the ruin with Ram Babu as their hostage.

“What is all this?” the Princess asked in the local language.

“You have brought upon a terrible curse upon us by stepping inside the cursed tomb, you have to pay!” replied a man from the crowd who was apparently their leader.

“You are mistaken, this is just an old ruin, there is no need to be so superstitious, we are travelers, we don’t mean any harm,” replied the Princess.

“Is that a foreigner? A white man? Oh! Great Almighty, what have you done? You have led the foreigner inside- now we are all doomed,” said the leader of the group.

Ram Babu stood there silently amongst the crowd with the mule by his side, he was absolutely terrified.

“Listen to me, let us pass, there is no need for-” replied the Princess but the crowd didn’t want to talk anymore.

“Get them!!” shouted the leader and the crowd rushed up the stairs of the ruins to attack them.

The Princess drew her sword and stood in front of Carey to protect him.

“Stay back Mr. Carey, I will protect you,” she said and took a defensive stance.

But as the crowd reached halfway onto the stairs, the earth below their feet began to shake terribly, the pillars of the monuments began to vibrate and the floor beneath them started to crack. It seemed like an earthquake was coming. The crowd stopped and screamed in fear and began to retreat, chanting holy names and cursing the foreigner.

Carey and the Princess took this chance to climb down the stairs and escape while Ram Babu stood there frozen with fear. The entire crowd scrambled in fear as the ruin began to shake violently and fall apart. The two of them somehow managed to climb down to safety. Within a couple of minutes, the ruin fell apart and came crumbling down to the ground and slowly but steadily it succumbed into the river, piece by piece. The Kalachakra map was gone, lost forever in the depths of the river Ganges.

The crowd that threatened them had already left the site and there was no one around but the three of them, silently watching the destruction of a thousand year old ruin.

“Unbelievable! The ruin is gone!” remarked Carey.

“The timing is uncanny Mr. Carey,” said the Princess as she stood beside him.

“How so?” he asked.

“It got destroyed right after you found the location and the incident protected us from the crowd!” she replied.

“Well it was actually resting upon some very loose soil,” he remarked.

“Come now Mr. Carey, don’t you see, someone is watching over you, the map was waiting for you to be found, it is your destiny to find Shamballa,” she said.

Carey took a deep breath and said nothing. He was an academic and he didn’t believe in the supernatural but somehow he couldn’t explain the timing of this incident. Nevertheless, the three of them thought it best to get out of the scene, before the officials came. Minutes later, they disappeared into the streets of Benaras…