________________
Kaveri
and
Agastya
-N the shadow of the mighty Sahya mountains lay a string of hamlets, and on the slopes, an ashram, while the peak, untouched by mortal feet, remained the abode of the gods. When Nature was liberal, the youth of these villages was the proudest on earth. Glistening in the golden streaks of the dawn, like dainty ebony dolls, the maidens, with sickles in their hands, would walk with the abandon of rain-laden clouds. The young farmers, confident of the power of their ploughs, would defy the five elements. The adolescent artisans would aim their chisels and hammers at the heavens and challenge Brahma for a contest in creation. And every shepherd boy would fit about with the swagger of the Lord Krishna, while the merchant princes would show a naive conceit and complacency, as though they were the sons of Kubera, the God of Wealth. Only the elders who had survived many famines and droughts silently invoked divine pardon. For they alone understood the message of the gods borne by the clouds.
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