My beloved  𝓥𝓲𝓳𝓪𝔂𝓪

I send you this crystal- cocooned in a sea-shell for our little Suhotra - wrapped in lilac silk -and  writ [with a swan-feather dipped in ink made from the sweetest of jamuns, reminding me of the taste on your lips!] ...my words of love to you.

 Purple prose, you say? I stand guilty as charged - blame it on the shimmery splendour of the sunset sea!  If only I could scent you the sublime salt in the southern coastal  air! But alas my messenger is not a cloud, and on horse-back through forest and across many a field - I fear the fragrances borne will be less salubrious.  

Oh fly now to me - at least in dreams; but soon, and very soon you will sight the silver swan on my flag, as my chariot wings back to northwards to Madradesa. Perhaps you will sight me in the distance, perched on your faithful camel?

  Our sovereign my jyeshta Yuddhishthira - generous as ever - was delighted to let me gift this amethyst to you,  received during my conquest of the south on his behalf, a small token  of the tribute, laden with sandalwood and gems of all kinds, from Vibhishina, King of the lush island of Lanka. 

As you can see it is in the rough - a bit like me? [Your pearly smile, I feel]- but with a bit of polishing, its many facets shine, like the stars at night.  I am learning to navigate  by their light, in more ways than one.

  Given the dire situations our family has been through, I am eager to put my skills in astronomy and astrology at its service - but side by the sidereal, I keep nerves of steel, my sword sharp for the times ahead. 

I see better in the dark, [and as you know sometimes to your sweet annoyance that I sleep little], rather than on your sumptuous spun bedspread, preferring to lie on the rough grass, beneath the slow procession of the constellations above. Up there the Aswini graze, in the faint glow of an imminent dawn, I hear in my mind Rishi Vamadev sonorous, chanting on their chariot, charging our human spirits with an undecaying celestial vitality: 

Pra vām avocam aśvinā dhiyaṁdhā, rathaḥ svaśvo ajaro yo asti!

Oh - that we are worthy of these twin bearers of immortalising soma! In the meantime I have gathered much knowledge about the healing and the harming powers of many an exotic herb.

And that reminds me of a wine of a more earthy kind - offered to me by the Yavanas as a tribute. As I took a sip of the deepest grape from his golden goblet, laughingly the golden-curled bronzed youth handed me the crystal,  informing me that they called it 'αμέθυστος amethystos'  as it shielded the drinker from inebriation! 

So now I raise a glass to you, to my victory, my violet-eyed Vijaya - bee-intoxicated am I engulfed in your blossoms!

Tell Suhotra I bring him the scariest of masks crafted by the hands of the Kalamukhas - that should delight the little one and his friends!

your very own always

 𝒮𝒶𝒽𝒶𝒹ℯ𝓋𝒶

--

notes

Please note: This is an imaginary letter, loosely based on the Mahabharat - so references may not be accurate.