Ripudhaman remained seated for a few moments, watching the priests return to their places and resume the sacred chanting, before finally gathering enough courage to approach Karna.
The sight of his Maharaj standing among ordinary citizens, dressed in simple clothes and refusing every mark of royal privilege, had already left him unsettled, and the fact that Karna had just destroyed an entire force of Asuras without even allowing the yajna to be disturbed had made the situation even more difficult for him to understand. Still, the yajna had reached its final stage, and Ripudhaman knew that the greatest purpose for which he had arranged the ceremony was about to arrive. He therefore stepped forward cautiously and bowed before Karna.
"Maharaj, how about you join us? Please take the place of the main yajamana and complete the yajna."
Karna shook his head. "No. That would not be right."
Ripudhaman looked at him uncertainly.
"One who begins a yajna must be the one who completes it," Karna continued. "I came here only intending to be a spectator, and I will remain one until the end. The yajna was begun by you, and therefore it should be completed by you."
Ripudhaman remained dazed for a moment before slowly nodding. "Yes, Maharaj."
He then turned toward Keshivarma. "Go ahead."
Keshivarma, who had been standing almost motionless since the death of Somasura, finally seemed to return to his senses. He took his place once again before the sacred fire while Ripudhaman instructed the priests to continue with the mantras.
The yajna resumed.
For the next several hours the priests continued their chanting without interruption. Offerings were placed into the sacred fire at the appointed moments, the ancient mantras echoed across the field, and the smoke rose steadily toward the heavens. Yet while the priests remained focused upon their duties, Keshivarma found it increasingly difficult to concentrate.
His eyes kept moving toward Karna.
The Maharaj stood some distance away from the yajna ground, still dressed as an ordinary citizen, surrounded by the very people among whom he had chosen to stand. The citizens themselves could hardly believe what they were witnessing. Some had recognized him only after the battle, while others had learned his identity through whispers spreading rapidly through the crowd. Yet Karna had shown no desire to separate himself from them.
When the soldiers had erected a barricade around him after recognizing who he was, Karna had simply looked at it and ordered them to remove it.
"Let them stand freely," he had said.
And so the people stood around their king. There was no royal enclosure, no special platform, no guards forcing commoners to maintain a distance. Karna simply remained among them, watching the yajna.
Keshivarma saw all of it. He tried to concentrate upon the rituals before him, but his mind kept returning to the same thought. How could a man who possessed such power behave with so little concern for his own royal dignity?
Six hours passed.
Eventually, as the afternoon advanced and the yajna entered its final stage, the atmosphere around the sacred fire began to change. The flames grew higher, higher, and higher. Then, suddenly, the air became cool. The warmth that had surrounded the yajna disappeared almost instantly, replaced by a strange stillness. The chanting of the priests continued, but even their voices seemed to soften beneath the unnatural silence that had descended upon the surroundings.
Karna looked upward. A beam of radiant light descended from the heavens. It touched the area above the yajna kund, and within that radiance a divine presence began to manifest.
Lord Varuna appeared.
The ordinary citizens could not see his form. To their eyes there was only an immense concentration of divine light hovering above the sacred fire. Yet they immediately understood what had happened. One after another they fell to their knees and joined their palms. The vassal lords did the same.
Karna alone remained standing. He did not kneel, nor did he regard Varuna with disrespect. He simply joined his palms before the deity and lowered his head slightly in reverence.
Varuna's divine form remained visible to Keshivarma as well, for he was the principal yajamana of the ceremony and therefore had been granted the sight necessary to receive the deity's blessing.
The voice of Varuna emerged from the radiant presence.
"Human, I am pleased with this sacrifice. You have successfully completed the Ekadashaha Ahina Soma Yajna with determination and focus, even after facing difficulties at its conclusion. You did not abandon the sacrifice when it was threatened, and therefore I am pleased with your devotion."
Varuna paused. "Now speak, human. What blessing do you wish from me? Strength? Wealth and prosperity? Or long life?"
Keshivarma stared at the deity. For a moment his mind went completely blank. This was the moment he and Ripudhaman had planned for. The entire purpose of the yajna had been to obtain a blessing powerful enough to strengthen their position and eventually challenge Karna. Yet now, after witnessing what Karna had done to Somasura, Keshivarma was no longer certain that any blessing could accomplish what he wanted.
His eyes moved instinctively toward Karna. The Maharaj remained standing among the citizens, his palms still joined, watching the divine manifestation with complete calmness.
Ripudhaman noticed Keshivarma's hesitation. He moved closer and quietly whispered into his ear.
"What are you waiting for? Go ahead. As we decided beforehand, ask for the blessing for our army."
Keshivarma barely moved his lips. "Even after what you saw today?"
Ripudhaman's expression tightened. "Then ask for a powerful weapon that you can use to kill him."
Keshivarma immediately turned toward him. "What would that achieve?" His voice was barely more than a whisper, but anger and uncertainty were both evident within it. "If I kill him, what happens afterward? Hastinapura and Magadha will destroy us in revenge. I do not want to kill him merely to die afterward. I want to become the King of Anga by defeating him in war. But can these blessings help me? I am not confident anymore."
Ripudhaman stared at him, but before he could answer, Varuna's expression changed. The deity frowned.
"Human."
The single word immediately silenced both men.
"Do not make me wait for too long."
Keshivarma's body stiffened. Varuna's divine gaze remained fixed upon him.
"Speak. What do you wish?"
The sacred fire continued burning beneath them.
Keshivarma's hesitation lasted only for a few moments, but Varuna's impatient gaze made even those moments feel unbearably long.
He knew that the deity was waiting for his answer, while Ripudhaman's whispered suggestion continued to echo within his mind, and yet the sight of Karna standing peacefully among the commoners had made him uncertain of every plan they had made before the yajna began.
He could not confidently ask for a weapon to kill Karna, because he no longer knew whether such a weapon would be enough, and asking for greater strength for his army seemed equally meaningless after witnessing fifty Asuras perish before they could even launch their attacks.
At last, unable to decide what blessing would truly serve his purpose, Keshivarma hurriedly joined his palms and bowed before Varuna.
"Prabhu, I ask you to bless us with whatever you deem is good for us."
Varuna regarded him for a moment.
Then the deity smiled.
"Pleased am I by your choice to leave the matter to me rather than demanding a particular blessing. Therefore, I shall bless you with this."
Varuna raised his hand.
A strange vessel suddenly manifested within his grasp.
It was long-necked and elegant, fashioned from a material that seemed neither completely metallic nor completely crystalline, and a faint blue radiance moved beneath its surface as though something within it possessed a life of its own. Varuna gently moved his hand, and the vessel floated through the air toward Keshivarma.
Keshivarma instinctively extended both hands and caught it.
Varuna spoke.
"This is Bala-rasa."