Sitting under a tree, Jagan recalled recent
events involving the horsemen and how
he had handled the situation. After a long
time he could overcome the fear and act
in a decisive manner.There was a warm
glow of pleasure of having won a small
skirmish and made new friends by sharing
food with the strangers with out any show
of animosity. He was thrilled that he had
established his own identity crawling out
of shadow into broad sunlight, made a
bold statement and came on top. His
soul that was submerged in an ocean
of fear and distrust till now , finally saw
the glory of victory. He felt surely that,
he was no more carrying in his mind the
dreadful sense of perpetual threat. He
had discovered that life had a great deal
more to offer when you stand up and
hold a position than when you ran away
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fearing failure and pain. He recalled the
words of the dean of the famous TAKSHA
SEELA University , just as he was leaving
its portals hounded by his enemies who
had tracked him to that place and tried
to eliminate him. After a warm embrace
, the dean had said”never allow fear to
conquer your mind. You are destined to
do great things. A thousand good deeds
by you would redeem your glory.”But
Jagan could not conquer the gnawing fear
that tore at his vitals till yesterday .He
looked around him with wide open eyes
with new found confidence. you could
see his strength. In his muscles he could
feel more steel and in his mind there was
clarity in place of confusion.
The days passed by. Winter gave way to
spring and people began to move about
from place to place seeking work or doing
some trade.Jagan felt he too should get
involved in some activity using his extra
ordinary skills and knowledge gained at
the university. He had discovered that
overcoming fear brought a triumph of
achievement and to maintain that high
morale platform he had to be continuously
engaged in some activity. He decided that
helping people would be the best thing
he could do considering the skills and
knowledge he possessed. People trusted
him with information and he gave sound
advise on trade and commerce. People
began to respect him , his assertiveness
and the confidence he inspired. The
traders wanted his opinion about security
of tradesmen who were coming under the
attack of roaming highway robbers. They
felt if the economy was to improve, there
should be free trade and this was not
possible if the robbers were not stopped.
Jagan felt that was one area he could
engage himself. He suggested that the
tradesmen should move in convoys, so
that they could have collective security
and mutual help. The trades men were
not the fighting type , so suffered more
individually, during attack. So the concept
of convoy system and collective security
made more sense to them and they
adapted it wisely and engaged armed
men to travel along with them to offer
protection.
The highway robbers , one day , attacked
one such convoy.Apart from looting , this
time they were ruthless as some of their
own men were killed or injured by the
armed men accompanying the convoy. So
in a fit of rage, they killed , maimed and
brutalised the tradesmen, their children
and their womenfolk. The traders were
in total disarray after one such vicious
attack. They asked Jagan to help.Jagan
promised he would help.
Jagan thought, that trade was more
important for society and the robbers
seemed to be having a free run as the
king and his army were far away from
trade routes. If the robbers had to be
stopped , there should be a powerful
deterrant, which can not come from trades
people as they did not possess the skill
to mount a deterrant. Jagan had to do
this himself. He has to fight for the trades
people. But Jagan did not like to kill. If
fear of death was not there how would
it stop the robbers. He knew he had to
do some thing totally different and fearful
that the robbers would think twice before
attacking .He knew he could find a way
to put a fear with out actually taking out
a life. He remembered the conversation
with his friends around a campfire about
transfer of fear to derive pleasure. The
time had come to try that hypothesis.
Jagan smiled.
Then he came to know of another ambush
, more vicious than before.jagan saw for
himself how the people had suffered in
the hands of the robbers. He had to do
some thing. He ascertained where the
robbers had set their camp and decided
to challenge them..He saw a wild horse
roaming about in the forest. He threw a
rope and caught the horse and mounted
it like a trained horsemen. The beast
protested initially but he managed to calm
him down by his soft touch and steadying
words. Then the horse began to obey his
commands and he allowed him to pick up
speed. Jagan was not armed except for
the hunting knife that he always carried.
He would have loved a long sword today.
The horse brought him to the edge of the
forest where the robbers had camped.
The bandits had lit a great fire to celebrate
their victory and sacking of the traders
convoy. The bandits had seen him long
before he reached the campfire. They did
not know him and had no idea of what he
wanted and how to deal with him. They
saw the magnificent horse and knew that
such horses could be mounted only by
extra ordinary men
Jagan pulled his horse to a stop and he was
immediately surrounded by the bandits.
Jagan was not scared. He looked around
and shouted “where is your leader?”
There was authority in that voice.There
was menace in the way he shouted.There
was a hint of impatience too. Jagan was
sure he was not going to waste his time
engaging with underlings of the bandit
tribe. He wanted to deal with the leader.
The men shifted their position nervously
, getting ready for a fight that would
break out soon enough.Jagan shouted
again’where is he?’
A man emerged from behind a tree. He was
tall and broad and menacing. He looked at
Jagan with a hint of annoyance and lot of
impatience. He walked casually towards
Jagan , slowly extending his hand towards
him. Jagan noted that his adversary was
very strong and one to one combat was
out of question.He had to overwhelm him
very very fast. He jumped from his horse
and grabbed the bandits extended arm,
pulling him close to his body and twisted
it violently.The man screamed in pain and
even before the scream stopped, jagan
threw him over his legs and took out his
hunting knife from his waist .The huge
man was now lying on his back with his
hand still in Jagan’s fast grip. Jagan was
pressing that hand against a stone and
quickly and deliberately cut the thumb
out of that hand .This brutal and totally
unexpected attack shocked the bandit
and he screamed again as the knife cut
through his flesh.he looked at Jagan with
eyes that rolled in fear.The men around the
bandit stood stupefied. Jagan held up the
bleeding hand and the severed thumb for
every one to see and said”This is my way
of punishing you for your brutal attack
on the traders and their children.”He
made sure that every one watched
what he showed and heard the warning
issued.”Today it is a thumb, next time I
catch you it will be your neck.”He waited
for his words to sink in and then mounted
his horse gracefully and galloped away
leaving a stunned gang and screaming
bandit chief.
His heart was singing .He had done some
thing thrilling today.He didnot remain a
silent helpless witness to an atrocity. He
had acted. Acted to bring about a deterrant
against future attacks on traders and
innocent people., some thing that would
ensure security of people. This is what
a king was expected to do , punish the
criminals and protect the innocent. Even
though he was not a king of any particular
nation, He had answered his calling .He
was proud of what he had done.It did not
matter to him was that what he himself
had done was so bizarre and cruel.For him
it was a matter of judgement passed and
punishment meted out to the culprit.He
had convinced himself that what he did
was just and proper and he should not
indulge in too much of soul searching. He
held up the stump of thumb and admired
it as he would admire any memento.
He decided he would keep it with him.
He found a thorny bush from which he
extracted a long thorn.Using it as a point
he pierced the thumb and passed a thin
rope through the hole and made assort
of garland which he put around his own
neck, with the bloody thumb dangling
obscenely. He centred it and muttered to
himself ‘angulimal’. The thumb had begun
to decay in the heat and a foul smell
soon engulfed him. HE Suppressed a
rising vomit admonishing himself saying,
‘ you can not be squeamish about this
any more. Consider it as a trophy and be
happy you have some thing to showoff, for
the first good deed you did for some one
else’s sake.Angulimala , he said again, a
thousand good deed will restore your old
glory. He tried to imagine how he would
look with a mala of thousand thumbs.
The word spread fast, far and wide.
The bandits went under cover hoping
to rise again after the new menace of
Anguli mal was done away with. Some
adventurous bandits who could not stop
their campaigns because of personal
compulsions soon discovered that Jagan
had an uncanny way of turning up at most
inopportune moment , to thwart their
plans. They ended up losing their thumbs
.The traders rejoiced that some one had
taken on the bandits and taught them a
fitting lesson. The thumbs up sign became
the rage of the land. People moved around
freely with out fear. Trade flourished,
people crisscrossing the forest clearing
increased. Jagan’s garland became
more sinister looking with more thumbs
attached. Jagan ‘s heroics thrilled some
youngsters and they joined JAGAN,who
now became a leader of bandit busters,
who were now encouraged by traders
by sharing a part of their gain in their
increased trade.Thus a new team of
gangbusters started roaming. Jagan
ensured that nobody was killed, so that
people and traders knew that what
Jagan now offered by way of profession
was an insurance against being waylaid
and killed.
You can not expect professional robbers
to stop their actively permanently.
They regrouped and put their heads
together to think of a way to neutralise
the Angulimal effect as they began to
call their problem. They were now more
worried because Jagan was not alone any
more. Their chief said’Let us concentrate
on Angulimal. The others are simply
some hot blooded youngsters out for a
kick.Once Angulimal is out of the scene
they will all disappear like dew in the
morning sun. Another thing we know
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about this gent is Jagan likes to operate
alone because he has some scruples. He
does not kill. He can not allow any of the
youngsters plunge a knife in some body’s
back just for fun. He would like to keep
his reputation as a do gooder in tact. So
let us plan an ambush, so that we catch
him alone and kill him.
They planned well. It was diabolical. They
split themselves into two groups and
leaked information to jagan about where
and whom they are going to attack. The
other group went after another caravan
in the opposite direction. Jagan has to
decide one way or other as he can not
be in two places at the same time. The
robbers thought ,‘So far , Jagan has not
found our hide out , so we are more likely
to succeed in trapping him in one of the
two places”. They armed themselves
with bows and arrows and long swords ,
mounted their horses and spread out as
per plan
Jagan did not like the extended period
of lull because his youngsters were
becoming impatient as they all wanted
to go on horseback chasing away scared
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bandits wanting to keep their thumbs in
tact. So when he got the message about
a new strike, he found it was a welcome
challenge. He wondered why any one
would give advance notice and he sensed
a trap. As he was not very keen on leading
his youngsters into a trap where things
could get a little tough, he decided to go
alone advising them to ride north where a
new caravan was arriving and they may be
walking un wittingly into an ambush. The
prospect of action spurred the youngsters
.They promised Jagan , they will not be
over zealous and would fight gangsters
only when provoked as they believed that
mere presence of Jagan’s army would
stop all thiefs in their tracks.
Jagan mounted his white horse, armed
with a stick that had a metal rim at one
end. A hard blow by that end would
stop any one cold..His horse sensed his
excitement and ran eagerly to the scene
of action. Jagan stopped his horse near
a clump of trees and looked around..
On the ground he could see marks and
footprints of a dozen horses. He walked
his horse around to see if there are any
horses around. His horse sensed what
he was looking for and led him where a
dozen horses were let loose in the grass.
Jagan knew if the horses were loose, the
riders must be on foot .So jagan decided
that he would not get down from his
horse, as he knew it is difficult for a man
on the ground to attack a mounted man
and the advantage rested with the man
on the horse. This was a comfort. Slowly
he brought the horse to the centre of
clearing among the trees and as expected
the robbers dropped from the trees with
a cry of triumph. They had effectively
surrounded Jagan. All they had to do was
to kill the horse and their man would be
on the ground. They had miscalculated
as they did not know any thing about the
horse.It was a fighting horse with flared
nostrils and powerful legs. The horse
whirled around fast and lashed out with
its hind legs catching two of them as they
tried to close in on jagan from back.The
legs caught them in their chins , lifting
them up in air with necks snapping. The
swords flew up in air and jagan cought
one smartly.H e was now ready.Steel
clashed with steel and very soon the
air was thick with screams of anger and
pain as sword slashed through flesh and
bone. The horse moved expertly creating
space for his master to deal powerful
blows. Jagan handled himself with grace
and finesse and very soon he had all the
robbers lying on the ground. He had not
killed any one.They all had body wound s
and were bleeding. Once Jagan knew that
there was no more fight in them , he dis
mounted and talked to their leader.”You
all know about my warning. You thought
you could eliminate me and resume your
robbing ways. You know how I punish
those, who don’t obey me. I simply take
their thumbs”So saying he leaned and got
hold of one man by his hand”You are the
first and be happy that I am cutting only
one thumb to day, as I am going to allow
the rest of you go home. You all will any
way die due to loss of blood and no body
to dress up your wound”The man whose
hand was being held by Jagan looked at
Jagan pleading ly ,”please ,not my thumb
please I would like to die with my hand
in tact”
Jagan laughed.”Do you think I would allow
you to die. I am taking your thumb and
patch you up so nicely that you would go
around showing your thumbless hands to
all those who advocate armed robbery.
This is what happens when you disregard
Jagan’s words”
Jagan looked at his man’s face, especially
the eyes.They became dark and cloudy as
fear struck their mind. His lips trembled
and hands shook. Words wont come so
easily a feeling of numbness would be
overcoming. Jagan was very familiar
with these feelings He had been going
through similar emotions so many times
in himself To day he saw transfer of fear.
A surge of happiness saw him bring out
a cutting knife. Slowly with out showing
any emotion , he cut the thumb.the man
screamed and sobbed un controllably.
JAGAN SAID’” I will not allow any one to
die if I can help it.” His emotions changed
and he became an angel running from
man to man , attending to the wounds,
cleaning up and bandaging with forest
hemp and greens. The men watched in
awe , wondering how can a brute become
so changed. When he was finished Jagan
stood up and said , “I could have cut so
many thumbs to day. M y mission in life
is to protect, not kill. I am not obsessed.
I give you an option Promise me you will
give up this profession, I will lead you to
your horses and you can go home alive.
If you don’t , then I will carry your horses
and leave you here to fend for yourselves
“
They all promised they would not rob again
in their life as the fear of loss of thumb
would remain with them for ever. Jagan
felt happy. He added one more thumb to
his garland.He mounted his horse and
raced away from their sight