The Myths and Legends About Ramzan

Ramzan or Id -Ul-Fitr is a Musilm festival celebrated at the end of the Ramadan, the ninth lunar month of the Islamic Calendar, the day following the appearance of the new moon. The holy month of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, is very auspicious to the Muslims the world over.

It is believed that the holy book of the Islamic faith, the Quran, came into existence during this month. Prophet Mohammad who was an illiterate person was chosen by God to be His messenger to compile the holy book. The last ten days are specially significant as the faithful watch for Lailathul Qadr (the Night of Power) during which the revelation of the book to the Prophet was completed. Apart from bringing the Muslims face to face with the hard realities of life like the pangs of hunger, thirst and deprivation, Ramzaan is an annual training period inculcating discipline and declaration of subservience to the laws of God, enumerated in the holy Quran.

The gist of this charming myth goes somewhat like this:

One day Muhammad was sitting alone in the wilderness near Mecca when the Angel Gabriel appeared to him. The Angel commanded Muhammad to read. Muhammad responded "I am not a reader." The Angel Gabriel then taught Muhammad some verses from the Quran, which Muhammad memorized

These revelations continued for 10 days. Islamic scholars believe that the first revelation occurred on the night of the 27th day of Ramadan. This night is called the Laylat-al-Qadr (Night of Power). And according to the Quran, this is when God determines the course of the world for the following year.

The receiving of the Holy Quran is to the Muslims what the receiving of the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai is to the Jews and Christians

During the Fast of Ramadan strict restraints are placed on the daily lives of Muslims. They are not allowed to eat or drink during the daylight hours. Smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting. At the end of the day the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called the iftar. In the evening following the iftar it is customary for Muslims to go out visiting family and friends. The fast is resumed the next morning

According to the Holy Quran:


One may eat and drink at any time during the night "until you can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daylight: then keep the fast until night"

The good that is acquired through the fast can be destroyed by five things -

the telling of a lie
slander
denouncing someone behind his back
a false oath
greed or covetousness

These are considered offensive at all times, but are most offensive during the Fast of Ramadan

During Ramadan, it is common for Muslims to go to the Masjid (Mosque) and spend several hours praying and studying the Quran. In addition to the five daily prayers, during Ramadan Muslims recite a special prayer called the Taraweeh prayer (Night Prayer). The length of this prayer is usually 2-3 times as long as the daily prayers. Some Muslims spend the entire night in prayer

On the evening of the 27th day of the month, Muslims celebrate the Laylat-al-Qadr (the Night of Power). It is believed that on this night Muhammad first received the revelation of the Holy Quran. And according to the Quran, this is when God determines the course of the world for the following year

When the fast ends (the first day of the month of Shawwal) it is celebrated for three days in a holiday called Id-al-Fitr (the Feast of Fast Breaking). Gifts are exchanged. Friends and family gather to pray in congregation and for large meals. In some cities fairs are held to celebrate the end of the Fast of Ramadan.

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I am the Dark Lord

Ok this aint an original work of art. I took the basic sketch of the guy in the armor with the sword from a site called artgeek, but I put my face in there myself. And I didnt have any fancy softwares to do it. The only thing I used was MS Paint that comes with your windows Operating System.

What Happened to the Saraswati

It was purported to be one of the great rivers of the Indian subcontinent, yet no trace of it exists. Well yeah there is a channel in the ground which s said to be a dry bed of the river but the river itself does not exist and it lies a bit to the south west of the Sutlej. It was said to flow from the Himalayas, or the siwaliks to be exact into the Arabian Sea. And there have even been rumors saying that the Rann of Kutch (the vast wasteland that covers the most of north eastern Gujarat) was its mouth into the Arabian Sea. It was said to have supported many ancient cities belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization.

LANDSAT PICTURE OF THE SARASWATI CHANNEL

The channel shown in this pic is about 6-8 km wide this might have been the width of the river (from Siwalik thru Kalibangan and Anupgarh to Marot); present Shatadru (Sutlej) takes a sharp turn at Ropar.

THE SARASWATI IN PUNJAB AND HARYANA

the dotted lines in this picture are the river saraswati. by the looks of it seems to have been a very large river. so the question arises, how such a large river can just disappear seemingly into thin air.

Now we know that this river was very important as it shares its name with the Hindu goddess of knowledge and music. Clearly this river did mean a lot to those who did inhabit its banks. So where did this mighty river disappear?

That remains one of the archaeological mysteries of India.

All material taken from

HINDUNET

The Gayatri Mantra

The most revered mantra in Hinduism is the Gayatri mantra. Said to be composed and written long ago by a sage by the name of Vishwamitra, the mantra is personified by the goddess Gayatri, or Savitri also known as Veda Mata (mother of the Vedas, the Vedas are the holy scriptures of the Hindu religion). This mantra is taken from the Rig Veda (the Vedas are four in number the Rig, Yajur, Atharva, and Sama, in chronological order) and is considered to be the essence of the Vedas. It is a sacred prayer to illuminate the universe and describes the unity of the multiform universe. The mantra is indicative of meditation, praise and prayer at the same time. The reigning deity of the Gayatri mantra is the Sun and the scriptures enjoin the Hindus to recite it morning noon and night to cancel out evil and bad tendencies.

While praising the Supreme Being, the chanter of the mantra meditates and prays for the rise of real intelligence within to understand creation and transcend the worldly preoccupations and attain union with the Brahman (otherwise known as nirvana or Moksha).


The Gayatri mantra is as follows:

Aum Bhurbuvaswaha
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dheeyoyonah Prachodayat

The meaning of each word in the mantra:

The first 3 lines or the first nine words describe the nature of the supreme being

Aum: The sacred symbol which is said to describe the heavens in totality

Bhurbuvaswaha: This is the compound of the following three words
• Bhuh: The earth or the physical plane of existence;
• Bhuva: The atmosphere or the ethereal or the astral plane of existence;
• Swaha: Heaven or the celestial or the causal plane of existence;

Tat: It means “that”. The supreme being is simply referred to as “that” for it evades all attempts at explanation;

Savitur: The divine powers of the sun; equated to Savitri, one of the forms of the mother goddess;

Varenyam: The best

Bhargo: Radiance, Effulgence, Illumination;

Devasya: Divine Radiance or Grace (of the supreme being)

The rest of the verse (the last line) constitutes the prayer:

Dheemahi: We contemplate or meditate upon

Dheeyoyonah: This is the compound of the following three words
• Dheeyo: The intellect
• Yo: Who
• Nah: Our

Prachodayat: Requesting, Urging Praying.

English verse form:
Aum;
We meditate on heaven, sky and earth
On the supreme spirit
Whose divine radiance and grace
Like the sun are most excellent
Constantly urging and praying
To guide and impel our intellect


The first line starts with Aum which is the sacred syllable or word as a benedictory prelude and sanction. Scientists world over have associated this age old Hindu belief that this is the sound of the universes with the background radiation that is picked up by radio telescopes. They have speculated that this might be the remnant of the big bang. Bhurbuvaswaha refers to the three planes of existence- the physical, astral and celestial.

The second and third lines describe the Brahman supreme spirit and it various attributes and qualities. It invokes the supreme spirit as an embodiment of knowledge and light. The fourth line implores the Brahma- the supreme spirit to guide, impel and enlighten us as humans.

The Story Of Lord Ganesha

Before narrating this it would be helpful if I introduce some of the gods of the hindu pantheon.

Brahma:
The hindu god of creation

Vishnu:
The hindu god of sustenance, he maintains righteousness among us humans. Whenever we did stray too far from the path of righteousness he came down on earth as one of his avatars (yes avatar is an Indian word). They are Matsya, Koorma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna and Kalki.

Shiva:
The hindu god of destruction, he is the one who dances the divine dance called the tandav, which is the eternal dance of creation and destruction.

Nandi:
Lord Shiva's steed, an ox.

Ganesha:
Also known as Vinayaka, Vighneswara, Gajanana etc. He has 108 names and is known in the west as the Elephant God.

Well. It all started when Gajasura (a demon with the head of an elephant) did pennance to be able to see lord Shiva. And since Shiva is easy to please, he appeared in front of Gajasura and said, "Demand whatever you wish for and you shall have it." To this Gajasura said that he wanted Shiva to live forever in his stomach. Thenceforth, Shiva started living in his stomach.

Then, Shiva's wife, the Goddess of beauty and health, Parvathi, went to lord Krishna (one of lord Vishnu's avatars) and sought his help to facilitate the return of her husband. Now, Krishna took Nandi, and decorated him as a show animal and went to Gajasura and set up a show for him. At the end of the show Gajasura was so pleased that he told the showman (lord Krishna in disguise) that he would grant any wish asked of him. To which lord Krishna replied, “This is no ordinary ox, he is the great Nandi who seeks his master who happens to be trapped in your belly.” It was then that Gajasura realised that the showman was actually Krishna, and that his death was inevitable. He then spoke to Shiva who was in his stomach and said, “I will set you free, but I want one favour in reurn. I want you to make it such that my head is worshipped in all three worlds (heaven, hell and earth). Then, Nandi tore his stomach open with his horns and freed his master, lord Shiva. Shiva collected the head of Gajasura and went on his way to Kailasa which is his abode.

Hearing of her husband’s return, the overjoyed Parvati decided to bathe. In those days, when this story was written, the husk of several edible pulses and gram were used to bathe with in lieu of soap. She had already applied this powered mixture on her body, before She went to rinse off, She took some of the dired powder off her body and made a small figure of a young boy. She breathed life into the figure, and left the child to guard the door while She attended to herself.

While she was bathing, Shiva returned. But the guardian at the door didn’t let him in. So he took his trishool (trident), and decapitated the kid. When She heard of this, She asked her husband to bring him back to life. So He attached the head of Gajasura to the body of the child and rekindled the life that he had taken. Thus was born their first child by the name of Gajanana (the one with the head of an elephant). In the due course of time Gajanana grew up and acquired as his steed a mouse by the name of Anindya. It is this comic and affable picture of him that has made him close to many hearts. Although many hindus have ishta devatas (favourite gods), there are very few of them who do not worship Gajanana.

Sometime in between Shiva and Parvati had their second child by the name of Kartik who is the Hindu god of war; he has for his steed a peacock. One fine day, all the gods decided that they needed one of them to exclusively see to it that no one faced any hurdles in her/his life. Kartik said that his pot bellied mouse riding brother would be unfit for the task so it should be given to him.

Then the gods decided that whoever would bathe in all the holy rivers in the three worlds (heaven, hell and earth) and return the first would be given the task. Then the crestfallen Gajanana realised that he would be unable to complete the required test, so he recited a mantra and circled his parents in a clockwise direction (this is called a pradakshina and it is an expression of devotion). As a result, whenever Kartik entered a river to bathe, he would see that Gajanana had finished his ritual and was leaving the river. It was then that he realised the greatness of his brother and withdrew his claim to the position.

On the fourth day after the new moon in the month of Bhadrapada, Gajanana was conferred with the title of Vighneswara (remover of obstacles). His devotees world wide prepared a feast for this occaision to congratulate him. He visited each house and gorged himself on all the sweets and other items prepared by them and fed some to his steed. As he was undertaking the long and arduous journey back to his abode, he cast a very very comic picture and the moon could not help himself so he laughed out loud.

Overcome by embarassment, Vighneswara failed to notice a bump in the road and tripped and fell, his belly burst and all his innards were scattered all over the ground. Parvati blamed the moon for her son’s death (the gods later revived him) and said that anyone looking at the moon would be mowed down by unfounded accusations. So all the righteous people in the world, whoever saw the moon incurred heavy sins. When requested by the other gods, She decreased the curse saying that whoever saw the moon on the fourth day after the new moon in the month of Bhadrapada without listening to the story of Vigneswara, would incur unfounded sins.

On one such day, lord Krishna (one of the avatars of Lord Vishnu, the god of maintenance) saw the moon in a reflection in a milk platter while he was drinking. He then realised that he would have to go thorugh some unpleasant ordeal or the other. And he did:

A king by the name of Satrajit had in his posession a Mani (jewel) which used to create a lot of gold each day and Krishna asked for it. Quite obviously he refused. One day Satrajit’s brother Prasena took the Mani and went on a hunting trip. In the forest, a lion saw the Mani and mistaking it for meat, killed Prasena and took it. Later, a bear by the name of Jambavan killed the lion and took the Mani from it and gave it to his daughter. The blame for Prasena’s death was laid on Krishna. So Krishna vowed to find out what happened of Prasena and the Mani.

In the forest, he found Prasena’s corpse, and a little further he found the Lion’s corpse and from there the footprints of Jambavan leading up to his cave. In the cave he found Jambavan’s daughter Jambavati playing with the Mani. When he snatched the Mani from her, she started crying her heart out. And Jambavan came there immediately to find the Mani in Krishna’s hands. Jambavan and Krishna started fighting. Twenty one days later, they were still fighting and and Jambavan’s strength started waning. He then remembered that when he helped lord Rama, he asked of him the boon to fight him, he then realised that Krishna was an avatar of the same. He begged for Krishna’s pardon, and gave him the Mani. He also realised that he would not be able to find a better man than Krishna and so he offered him his daughter in marriage.

When he returned to Satrajit’s palace with the Mani, Satrajit was so overjoyed that he not only gave the Mani to Krishna, he also offered to him his daughter’s hand in marriage.

So, Krishna, even though he was a god had to go through all that trouble just because he looked at the moon (accidentally albeit) before hearing this story on the fourth day after new moon in the month of Bhadrapada.

Disclaimer:
To some of you, this story might come across as being male chauvinistic. I have no hand in it being so. This story was originally written in sanskrik on the far side of two thousand years ago. During this period it had gone through many different translators some of whom might have been male chauvinists. It is my firm beleif that the original text was not of this nature at all.

Who Am I

WHO AM I
You wanna know
My name is Vedant
Thats all I've been told
For my knowledge of my family
Ends two generations ago
My grandparents and my parents
My parents and me
Thats all I've unraveled
Of my family tree

But is that all I am
The dead end of a lineage?
Oh no I am more
An individual in my own right

What means then
the capitalised question
the answer for to which
I haven't the faintest suggesion

Am I Just
Another name to burden your memory
Am I just another
Adition to general suffering
Or am I a person
With a purpose in life
To give and to take
All that I feel is right
How do I know
What I am for
For that I haven't been told
Prior to entering this world

Hell! I dont even remember
The time time when I arrived
How then would I know what
Those then there did profesize

Or is there a person
Behind all grand purpose
Waiting to emerge
From anonimity's darkness

I cannot answer
The question you asked
The answer will appear
When my life forms the past

Don't think that you
By me have been smitten
For I cannot read
What hasn't yet been written

Strengths, the Human Mind and the Mahabharata

I had written a rather bland morose and uninteresting article on this topic in the month of december simply titled 'STRENGTHS'. That was the result of a random tangible idea that had come out of one of my ritual tussles with insanity. That idea sparked off a chain of thoughts which when impregnated with certain inferences have transformed into the following theory:

It is true that a human being is a multifacetted creature. There are many different levels on which the human being operates. And for each of these levels we possess a separate strength. There are five different strengths that each one of us is equipped with. There is the most obvious, the physical strength which enables us to do mechanical things like lifting and moving. The greater the magnitude of this strength, the greater the ease of those operations. Then we have the slightly more subtle psychological strength which enables us to concentrate on one particular object, be it an action or an artefat. The third would be emotional strength or the ability to control ones own and at a later stage of greater magnitude, the emotions of others. Then would come the mental strength which is the power of deduction, this strength is directly linked to the level of intelligence of the person. The last and arguably the greatest of the five strengths is spiritual strength. This is the most difficult to obtain and the most difficult to practise and ascetics in India (and around the world before the christian invasion) have spent their entire lifetime in the search of this strength. At the most mundane level it entails the ability to amplify the magnitude of the other four strengths by using the energy of the soul. And at the most lofty level it entails the ability of the soul to remain alive without the help of the body for short periods of time and even space-time manipulation.

These strengths are also linked to the five elements, each one of them representing one strength. air-mental, water-emotional, earth-physical, fire-psychological and ether-spiritual.

Ether has often been interpreted as being the stuff souls are made of. But I would like to go a step further and say that ether represents quantum foam (quantum foam is the nature of space-time at the subatomic level). I can't yet explain why I make this assumption.

The five strengths are also linked to the five pandavas (the principle protagonists of the Mahabharata) in the sense that they represent the five facets of a single man. Or in more mundane terms, the five pandavas represent a single person who had multiple personalities that were bound into one integral whole. Yuddhishthira, represented the emotional strength- he never gets swayed off the righteous path by his emotions. Bhima, obviously represents physical strength. Arjuna reprensents spiritual strength, Nakula represents psychological strength as Sahadeva represents mental strength.

Then what does the relation these five have to each other have to do with the strengths? Sahadeva and the other four are not born of the same mother, thus Mental strength is not related to the other four strengths (namely physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual) as deeply as those four are inter related to each other. Mental strength, or intelligence is a direct consequence of the physical connections made between the neurons in the brain, they can be manipulated by the soul, but the connections are very much physical, tangible and material. Whereas the other four strengths pertain to the soul alone.

Then one would be compelled to ask about Karna, he being a genetic brother to the Pandavas, what strength does he signify? Yes he does signify something but definately not a strength. Karna signifies weakness. The only weakness a righteous person can fall prey to is 'obligation to the unrighteous'.

The epic called the Mahabharata is a thorough study of human behaviour told in the form of a charming story by the means of metaphors.

Antagonise the Crime Not the Criminal

I used to think that this was just another piece of philosophical bullshit. The title is a literal translation of a saying in Hindi (India's national language) which goes like 'paap say ghrina karo, paapi say nahi'.

Then I started thinking,what is a crime? Basically, a crime is an act committed by a person. Any act by a person which causes harm and/or physical discomfort, pain, suffering to one or many persons which may or may not include the perpetrator of the act which if it satisfies some or all of the conditions mentioned above constitutes a crime. So what is the root cause of a crime? Let us exclude the criminally insane from the section of people we base this discussion on for they are a small minority of the human race.

A criminal act, or any act for that matter starts as a chain of thought processes in the mind. These processes are more often than not triggered by external stimuli, and if the stimulus is negative or painful the chain of thoughts is accompanied by a desire to cause pain/harm to the person or object which is percieved as the source of the stimulus. How often have you seen a person getting angry at an inanimate object just because he/she has either tripped over it or banged some body part against it?

Then there is the case of international terrorists who more often than not are perfectly sane people. But why do they do what they do? For some reason they feel wronged by the world in general and more often than not their claim is very legitimate. When an elephant steps on the tail of a mouse it the pachyderm might be completely oblivious of what it has trodden on, but the mouse is the one which might be in excruitiating pain. The same can be said about big countries and small. The big ones might not even notice that one or a few of its actions are detrimental to a smaller country, and even if it notices, it may consider the damage done to be insignificant, but the smaller country might have lost a lot in the deal. This is what spawns terrorists. They truly believe that they are fighting for a just cause. But the case is not so when we consider fanatics, whether religeous or otherwise.

So what we need to battle global terrorism is not a gargantuan military campaign, but a hell of a lot of understanding of why those who are doing what they are doing are doing it. Once we eliminate the reason for which people wish to make war with the rest of the world, there would not be any terrorists.

I hope I am right....lol...?!

LOVE, HATE AND AWE

The problem with this world is not about the widespread nature of hate. It is the lack of love. These days in the era of gobalisation, what we feel towards our fellow humans is very much of consequence. Walk out into the street and you see people trying to rule over those around them through hate and fear and the absence of hope. But those who have really succeeded throughout history were those who ruled through love, kindness and hope.

Recently I re-read a novel by Alistair Maclean called 'The Last Frontier'. The story was set in communist Hungary which was ruled through the medium of hate and fear of the iron curtain. Their secret service called the AVO used to pick up people who did not believe in the communist ideology and dispose of them after the usual torture. The principal protagonist of the story was a British secret agent who is in search of a man called Major General Illyurin. This man who had experienced torture of the worst kind throughout his life was hell bent on peace. He headed an organisation which saved innocent people form the clutches of the AVO. He had his share of dangerous people working for him, but he ruled with love and kindness. Seeing how those under him swore by him through thick and thin started me thinking about the power of love. If hate and fear can make people work for you can love and kindness not do the same thing. Love and kindness should bring out better better results from those whom you give a task to. Fear is negative but there is a similar positive feeling it is called awe. The facial expression of those in fear and those in awe are almost the same. But those who fear try to run away from the object of their fear and hate it but those in awe tend to approach the object of their awe and love and respect it. The object of which would you like to be? I prefer awe.

Although awe is more difficult to establish, it draws people closer to you but not too close, and it also yields better results. Awe can be looked apon as a special case of love. Awe could be approximated as being an amalgam of respect and love.

Every human knows what love is but can not say as the languages lack the words to describe it, especially love to a fellow human. But love for that special someone can not be generalised since it is unique to each and every individual couple.

Pornography and the Human Race

These days it seems the idea of romance has long since made an exit from the human psyche. All the porn that we find on the net is to serve one purpose alone- to satisfy the human carnal need no matter what the cost. This notion of taking all that is available and giving as little as possible (if not giving anything at all is out of the question) has permeated well into our outlook on sex. This fact is well evident when encountered with the fact that the number of adult sites on the internet catering to BDSM and related themes is on the rise. It is this kind of outlook that has lead us to this deplorable state of affairs we find ourselves in. To realise just how sorry the state of affairs of out supposedly advanced 'civilization' is consider the fact that we now have to purchase drinking water and eventually will have to purchase water for all needs. There are even establishments in certain cities that sell oxygen rich air. These commodities that should have been free to begin with and are abundantly available on the earth are unusable thanks to none other than ourselves.

The great Mahatma Gandhi once said "Nature can provide for mankind's need but not for its greed." Rightly said that was. There has been a recent study which said that the amount of free energy available to the human being at present is unprecedented. Another study said that we are going to run out of supply of fossil fuels in the hear future- as near as 30 years hence. All these separately do not say much. But when put together and viewed as a whole they say one thing alone. WE ARE PAVING THE WAY TO OUR OWN DESTRUCTION and god forbid- extinction. Want more evidence to the way the actions of one section of our society can obliterate the ways of life of others? Read the blog called crazylaks.blogspot.com then you will see what our blind actions do to the human race.

So what does all this have to do with pornography? Very simple. We can take it for granted that porn is the medium that reaches out to the largest section of the human population. Aye, this is because by its nature pornography caters to the most primal desire of the human animal- lust. So as a medim, the makers of pornography have a duty to see to it that the human race doesnt get reduced to a tribe of selfish and greedy individuals who will hold onto their greed obstinately even in the face of inevitalbe destruction. This they should do by stressing the importance of giving along with taking. It is the least they can do for the sake of humanity.

AN ATTEMPT AT INSPIRING

I WROTE THIS FOR A VERY SPECIAL FRIEND OF MINE, GOD BE WITH HER

let not your courage fade
you have put up a good fight till date
it is such things that separate
the pretenders from the contenders
you are the latter i know
the one ahead of you is a long rough road
but this road must be taken
for going back is not your style
you will emerge victorious i know
and i will be right by your side
ignore all who tell you to stop
although they dont mean ill
but use your own powers of discretion
you will not fight this war alone
for we'll fight and we'll win

CRY OF DISPAIR

THIS IS A SONG I WROTE FOR MY ERSTWHILE BAND

MAKE SOME USE OF IT IF YOU CAN



Turned on the news today

But didn't wanna hear a word they'd say

What's goin on in the world these days

Isn't makin any sense anyway



Chaos is rulin the world

Everythin is lost in a whirl

The dark sides of our Psyches unfurl

Nuclear bombs at people they hurl



Chorus:

Tryin to make sense of this nonsense

Walkin through streets of Violence

Stop this mindless distruction

Tryin to find peace within my soul



People lookin on in dispair

As war cries fill the air

Tryin to make sense of a cold hard stare

Wonderin why n what went wrong n where



Dileneation of boundaries

As friend n foe territories

Electrified wire n heavily armed sentries

Constant reminders of the absence of peace



Chorus X 3

THE DARK LORD

The dark lord inspired
Nothing but fear
And fear for reason none
He was a kind of a recluse
And nothing of his past was known

He was called dark because
He arrived on a black moonless night
And bought the manor house
But none of those who did see him
Had ever seen his face

But those close to him knew
That he was a kind man
Though given to strange habits
That none could understand

He never had to fight a war
Even though he went in alone
The sight of his black armour and horse
Froze the hearts of his foes
With each inch of his advance
The enemy troops receded
When he'd had a word with the attacking lord
He and his troops retreated

Rumours there were of his being evil
But his subjects swore by him
For they knew in hard times as before
He'd lend a helping hand

One day as he was riding through
A forest in his domain
He'd heard the sound of merry laughter
Whose source he went to ascertain
He spied a lady of about one and twenty
About the same age as him
Sharing a light moment with some of his subjects
Though she was not one of them

When they saw the dark lord
They ran as though in fear
But she turned her steed to face him
And smiled at the hooded intruder

"Leave my land, outsider"
He wished to say to her
But the malice that he could summon at will
Wasn't anywhere near
Such was the effect she had on him
As he there defenceless stood
The only thing he could do voluntarily
Was to remove his hood

It was her turn to be surprised
As she did recognize his face
From a portrait in a book about
A mysterious long lost race
A race of lords which was long thought dead
When twelve years ago a king was betrayed
By his own general
It was said that the king was killed
Along with his whole family
And their remains burned
And ashes thrown into the sea

This was a race of kings and lords
Of which the dark lord was sole survivor

She turned and galloped as fast as she could
Back to her own domain

The dark lord went the next day
To the exact same spot
Hoping to see her again
As if by magic her heart beat faster
For she was already there

They alighted and moved toward each other
Nothing was said for over an hour
"I know your face." she said at last
Said he, "I wear a hood to hide just that."
"I ran" said he in answer to her
"I ran for days on end
I ran as long and as fast as I could
When I was a lad of nine
I dared not stop for more than a breath
For I knew I was being hunted
When I was in the dark forest
I ran out of energy and fainted
And awoke to find myself in a hut
Surrounded by worried looking people

They knew who I was but they
Had no affinity for wealth
So they decided not to hand me over
To the traitor

There I lived for eleven years
Learning all the dark arts
Of controlling peoples minds without
Their knowing of it
And putting mortal fear into peoples hearts

I came here to recalaim my rightful throne
I wear a hood so that I am not known
For who I am
Till the last moment"

They met in the woods everyday
For over a month
During which he'd added to his palace's defences
But once he brought her to his abode
And her presence
Banished all the gloom once and for all
Now this is a palace fit for a lord
But you my lady are a goddess

But one day she failed to come
He began to worry about her absence
As he was leaving his palace one morn
To go to her domain and see her
Three lords, his neighbours
Came for his help
They had lost in battle against the traitor

The dark lord's domain was small
Controlling just one town
But he was all that stood
Between the traitor
And his lady's land

The dark lord rode into battle
With his neighbours and their troops

The two armies were within sight of each other
The dark lord's forces were outnumbered
By a factor of ten
The battle began
But the dark lord rode out alone
Suddenly storm clouds gathered
Lightning bolts fell on the enemy troops
And the survivors were sucked into the soil
No one survived

Then he learned of his lady
She was the traitor's prisoner
He crushed the golden goblet in his hand
And his rage melted the gold
His breath came out as steam
He set off on foot
His lady to redeem
Np creature on earth
Moved as fast as he

As he approached the fort
The defences and ramparts
Were blown apart
By huge torandoes
And all the guards were struck by lightning

He walked in
There was his lady
And there was the traitor
With sword drawn and ready

The dark lord advanced
Looked the traitor
In the eye
And froze him
In fear
The traitor fell
To the ground
And stopped breathing.

He took his lady to his palace
They were married
And he to all
His identity revealed

He ruled for long
As a righteous king
His darkness wasn't gone
But merely hidden