“Kishkindha?”Neil echoed distractedly, still studying the torana.
“The monkey kingdom?Hanuman’s home?”Constance pressed.
“Kishkindha’s a myth,” Neil replied automatically.“Monkeys don’t have a kingdom.”
“I know they don’t have a literal kingdom, Stuffy,” Constance retorted impatiently.“But they’re all over the stonework!”
“Animal motifs appear frequently in early Indian art and architecture.”Neil bent over the base of the archway.“I wonder how deeply these foundation stones are buried.”
Constance hauled him up by the back of his waistcoat and forced him to face the arch.She jabbed a finger toward the stone simians.
“Let his midday shadow point you to the ruins of the most loyal kingdom.That’s Kishkindha—the monkeys were Rama’s fiercest allies.And now we are staring at an archway covered in monkeys!”
Neil’s eyes widened.“Oh!”
“Are we going in?”Subhas prompted.
The rest of his men lingered around him with varying expressions of amusement and impatience.
“Of course, we are.”Constance reached back and grasped Neil’s hand… which was a perfectly friendly thing to do.
His long fingers instinctively wrapped around her own, the heat of his palm warming her skin.
Constance suppressed a shiver.
Neil looked down at their clasped hands with a blink of surprise.
“Come on, Stuffy,” she ordered and dragged him through the gateway.
?
To Constance’s eyes, the ruins that followed were slightly disappointing.She had been hoping for towering palaces draped with vines, hiding secret chambers packed with treasure.Instead, tumbled piles of stone grew plucky flowers.The structures that did remain intact weren’t very large, consisting of maybe a room or two across a single story.
She bit back a sigh of disappointment.
Meanwhile, Neil exploded with excitement.
“Look at these holes in the paving stones!I’d bet my left foot a substantial wooden structure stood on this terrace.”He whirled, pointing to a few rocky squares in the ground.“And these are likely residential structures, based on their size, or maybe storerooms for the temple precinct!”
He pressed forward, hurrying through the ruins.
The trees parted to reveal the column they had glimpsed through the canopy the day before.The scale of it was even more impressive up close.Pale gold stone gleamed in the sunlight that filtered down through the trees.
Neil gaped at it with an air of astonished wonder.“The high gloss of the Mauryan-era stone polishing techniques...The lack of any base adornment…”
His eyes sparked greener with excitement as he whirled to grab Constance by the shoulders.“Connie, this is an Ashoka Pillar!”
Constance reeled from the unexpected contact.
He released her a moment later, circling the monument as he kept rambling.“Ashoka raised these after his conquest of Kalinga, when his guilt over the slaughter of the war prompted him to convert to Buddhism.Which means that somewhere on here, there’s going to be…”
He jabbed a finger at the towering shaft of stone, voice rising with elation.“An inscription!In Brahmi script!Can anyone here read Brahmi?”
He looked hopefully to Subhas.
“No,” Subhas replied dryly.
Neil visibly slumped with disappointment.
