Well now that is a suitably gloating ending. I love how unreliable our narrator is.
Snowstorms and Ice : Legends of the Kayani Empire (SILKE). A Himalayan AAR
- Thread starter fabiolundiense
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Well thank you, Captain ! Pictures certainly help follow the lives of characters, their fortunes and misfortunes. Loads of drama ! I do prefer not to draw things out though, otherwise I'd be writing a book.... And yes, I love the in-game character's point of view.
You have read between the lines, and arrived at the correct conclusion ! Stick around to see how the narrator ends up in prison, or have you already guessed?
Uhhmm... how do you mean unreliable ? Do you mean he has the makings of a serial killer ?
II. THE PRISONER’S TALE — PART THREE
With the passing of the Usurper, a collective sigh of relief could be heard across the mountains. Not that the new ruler, his clueless first-born son Pheru, showed any more disposition for decency or wisdom than his father. It was however felt that this one would at least not make war against his own people.
That was our first mistake.
Within days of assuming the mantle of power, Pheru confirmed the military alliance with a Raja of the Pala Kingdom — who happened to be his woman’s father. At the same time, his younger sister was betrothed to the son of a Thakur in the kingdom of Zhangzhung — with the stipulation that any offspring would carry that cursed Kayani name.
While these events were being celebrated, the last days of the Raja of Katyuri were playing out. Having been reduced by the Usurper to the lord of a single portion of territory, he became easy prey. Two ambitious warlords, the Maharaja of the Pratihari Kingdom and the King of Nepal, fought each other for that land. Before the winter arrived, the King of Nepal claimed victory.
As for ourselves, we returned each to his own strongholds. Pheru to Gilgit, where his woman gave birth to their first-born son the following spring ; myself to my double heritage to practise the finer arts of stealth and intrigue. So much did I learn that my own people dubbed me Kalya the Shadow. The gods, it seemed, were already foretelling my future....
Thinking to do me a service, my friends everywhere boated of my gift. Will you not take him into your service, o king ? they asked. Kalya can be as invisible as the wind, silent as a shadow ! Set him against your enemies, and all their secrets will be yours ! But the more they praised me to Pheru, the more he grew terrified of me.
Pheru’s younger brother Gurdita did not return to Gilgit. In virtue of the time-honoured custom whereby ”no son should inherit only thin air,” he had received the Raj of Uttaranchal. Not that his titles and privileges interested him ; he preferred to spend time in conversation with monks.
As another harsh winter melted slowly into the season when naked branches begin sprouting flower buds, a festival was announced to mark the inhabitants of Kangra destroying their pagan altars to embrace the teaching of the Buddha. Pheru was keen that all his vassals should honour his decrees by attending on him at every important occasion. I chose not to go to the festival in Kangra. That was my second mistake.
Barely four moons passed when Maharani Vina gave birth to a girl. Another invitation to a celebration. Again I declined. That was my third mistake.
The birthday feast was not yet over before six armed horsemen appeared on the horizon. I at once gave the order to close the mountain pass leading to my fort. From atop my own gates, I stared down at the intruders.
“Thakur Kalyanamokse, Lord of Tashkurgan and Aksu, you are under arrest for the heinous crime of parricide,” the lead horseman proclaimed. “Order of Pheru, Maharaja of Kashmir !”
Pheru had acted much faster than I expected. But did he truly expect me to simply drop all my insignia and welcome this violation of my territory ? I signalled my guards who immediately drew arrows and shot all six horsemen.
It was an unequivocal declaration of war.
A messenger was sent to Uncle Zhang, Thakur of Skardu. I knew I could count on his support. I was obliged to take my own men and flee. The plan was to combine forces with Uncle Zhang in a neutral land, and then wear down Pheru and his band. Not until reaching Kasimira did I learn that Pheru had hired mercenaries to carry out his evil plans.
It was an unfair contest. I was at least able to corner one of Pheru’s Commanders and slay him by my own hand. But as the days shortened and shadow dominated the earth, Uncle Zhang and I were captured. We were not immediately put to death. Even in victory, Pheru was afraid to touch me. Instead, he threw Uncle Zhang and me into his dungeon.
I was thirty-eight years old.
In the dungeon we were strung up like chickens for hours in a cavern where sulphur burned, then thrown onto an ice-cold floor until our teeth chattered. This was repeated for some days. I passed out eventually. When I woke, I found myself in a cell. Thirty feet overhead I glimpsed a tiny opening in the rock. My family were tending to my aching body, which was laid out on old straw. They had lit a fire.
They told me that I had been deprived of Tashkurgan — the land that the Usurper had first given to my father. Uncle Zhang had been deprived of Skardu. He was now landless. My family were allowed to visit me twice every moon. It was up to them to keep me alive. They vowed to do so.
Through them I learned that Pheru had grown greedy for land. As if that would surprise me. When spring arrived, he and his father-in-law joined forces to invade Garhwal, the tract of land between Kangra and Kurmanchal. That war of conquest lasted for as long as it took for me to be able to stand on my own two feet again : two and a half years.
In the meantime, another Prince of Kashmir was born. This time I was not invited to the celebration. Instead, the celebration was brought to me in my cell : a cut of roasted yak, complete with sweet fatty hangings. I ate half. Three or four hours later I vomited it up.
Pheru provided me with one moment of genuine mirth — although inadvertently. My family told me that a new saga had appeared on everyone’s lips. Pheru had written a poem about the conquest of Garhwal. Somehow, a copy of that poem found its way into a musician’s tent. He had put it to music. Not a day passed without it being heard six or seven times. What a laugh.
Outside my palatial quarters, life went on. Kashmir was becoming quite the metropolis. The household of the Raja of Magadha came and went frequently. After his father-in-law, Pheru’s brother-in-law was drawn into a military alliance. A princeling from a junior branch of the Zhangzhung kingdom was promised the princess Khivi as bride. He then accepted to move permanently to Gilgit.
The fourth summer of my imprisonment brought me the greatest sorrow I had as yet ever known.
Uncle Zhang passed away in his cell. I had not laid eyes on him since our capture. My family had served as messenger between us, but we were not allowed to see each other. I wept a day and a night, as far as I could tell — in the darkness of my palace, it was next to impossible to tell whether the sun had risen or had already set. He had been my true father. With his passing, I willingly let a part of myself die on that day.
Later I learned that Pheru’s dungeon held another distinguished guest : the Queen Mother of the Tomara Kingdom. She had been made prisoner during the conquest of Garhwal. After Uncle Zhang was removed, her son paid a ransom price for her freedom.
It was then that I made a secret vow : I would never let a ransom be paid for my freedom. I realised that Aksu, the land I still held in fief from Pheru, was left in peace, as was my son and heir, precisely because I was in prison. Here then I would remain. I would not walk out of here alive. In addition, by dying in my cell, I would follow in Uncle Zhang’s mortuary footsteps. It was the only way left to me to show him my filial love.
~~~
And so this Prisoner's Tale comes to some sort of resolution, in self-knowledge and clutching cold comfort in defeat.
Well said, stnylan. The journey of self-knowledge isn't over yet....
Thanks, OtakuStrategy, and welcome aboard !
II. THE PRISONER’S TALE — PART FOUR
The death of Uncle Zhang lifted a burden from Pheru’s shoulders he had not realised was weighing upon him. What he did realise was that with that enemy now gone forever, he felt more at liberty to slake the Kayani thirst for domination of the entire Himalaya.
One of the lands he had conquered, Garwhal by name, he suddenly found to his distaste. The population there were mostly of Hindustani culture. He put on a grand ceremony to demonstrate his magnanimity, and bestowed that land on one of his friends. In fact, he was ridding himself of a problem, the better to tackle another.
That problem was the land known as Suoju. It lay in the territory ruled by the Shah of Yutian. It was also the homeland of his mother, daughter of its previous Thakur. Pheru decided that his mother’s homeland should never have been separated from her. She was now a subject of Kashmir ; so should Suoju be also. When the Shah of Yutian passed away and the new Shah found himself with no allies, Pheru seized his chance.
Poor, pathetic Pheru. He led his warriors into battle and slew hundreds of men, women and children before his mother passed away. Not at all unexpectedly — she was an Ancient in Kashmir. She no longer being a subject of Kashmir, the conquest of her homeland was abandoned.
The thirst for conquest raged even more irresistibly. No miserable misdeed was too low for him not to stoop to its level. On the basis of false claims, Pheru immediately invaded the land of Shule. He enlisted the assistance of a new ally, a Duke in the kingdom of Zhangzhung, for this new criminal enterprise.
I learned to my shame that the first battle between Pheru’s warriors took place on my land, my beloved Aksu. If I had been there, I would have commanded my land to open an abyss for the Usurper’s son to fall into. It is another of my failures. Instead, Pheru claimed his first victory.
The enemy fled south. Right into the army of the Duke of Ladakh.
Then, in the midst of this war, one of Pheru’s own underlings declared his own war of conquest. Infected by the same frenzy for land as his master, he raised enough followers to challenge the king of Tomara, in the plains looking south towards the river Indus.
It was also at this time that a new king arose in the east : one calling himself the King of Nepal.
Pheru’s luck at the Battle of Aksu decided the course of the raid. It took him little more than twice twelve moons to achieve his goal. He could now call himself Thakur of Kashgar.
When my family came to visit me in my palatial prison, they were full of war stories. Persian infidels from the west, ferociously belligerent in the name of a god they called alternatively Zoroaster or Allah, were penetrating into the foothills of the Himalaya. The Shah of Khuttal, whose lands bordered on Kashmir on the west, was split by an unstoppable warrior calling himself Sultan.
For all of us, these were unwelcome tidings. The gladder tidings were that just after the conquest of Kashgar, Pheru and his ally the Duke of Ladakh quarrelled. For although the Duke had helped Pheru conquer land outside Kashmir, now it seemed that he, the Duke, should be entitled to conquer land within Kashmir.
Birds of a feather flock together....
Some time afterwards, I was removed from my palace to what my gaolers referred to as temporary quarters. This space, about one-fourth the length and breadth of my old cell, was actually lighter and warmer. It was in fact a closet in the attic of the warriors’ barracks. At first I wondered if this were not some stratagem that Pheru had imagined to have me murdered by one of his men who would later claim that he had stopped me from trying to escape. But Pheru lacked that degree of imagination. The reason for my transfer was more prosaic : he had decided to build a new dungeon. For this, my family told me, he was hailed as Pheru the Wise.
In fact, nothing had changed. The Kayani was still consumed with a lust for land. Twelve moons after my transfer, my surroundings became as calm as a monastery. The warriors went away, called to yet another war of conquest. The target this time was Lumbini, deep in the mountains of which lay a famous and revered Buddhist sanctuary. For twelve languid moons I had the barracks all to myself. My beloved wife and children visited me almost every day.
Eventually, however, the warriors returned. The holy site of Lumbini was now safe in the care of a Kashmiri vassal.
At some point during the war, Pheru’s first-born son successfully completed the rituals of manhood. It was rumoured that he had the gift of turning ashes into gold.
“Is there no limit then to the thirst for riches of the Kayani clan ?” I said to my ever-patient wife.
“And where, my husband,” she replied, “have you placed the limit to your own hate ?”
“You rebuke me ?”
“I wish that my prayers for peace in your soul be not in vain.”
“I will try to grant you your wish, my faithful one.”
Try as I might, it was no use. Soon after that memorable exchange, it was reported that the Duke of Ladakh had made his own peace with Pheru ; the two were allies once again. That piece of gossip only infuriated me. Friends, allies, vassals — was I to be forever deprived of these pleasures only because my father had attempted to rape my wife ?
At length, my sojourn as a guest of Pheru’s warriors came to an end. I was moved to my new palatial lodgings. Pheru’s new dungeon was not much different from the earlier one. Other than its slightly grander dimensions and its new geographical situation — perched on the edge of a mountain so steep it was virtually inviolable — it was the same gloom, cold and empty.
~~~
II. THE PRISONER’S TALE — PART FIVE
I had been a guest of the Maharaja for so long that some of the guards were younger than my son. They had no clue as to why I was in prison, except for what slander they heard from their elders. Their youth rendered them less adverse to talking. What they had to say, however, was uninteresting in the extreme. ”Our wise Maharaja this” and ”Our wise Maharaja that.” ”The heir of our wise Maharaja has just celebrated his wedding.” ”The Prince Bhagwant bla bla bla.”
It is easy to pardon these young men, even though their idle chatter bores me to tears. It is through them that I first hear of Pheru’s new campaign of conquest.
“It is a pity the Maharaja does not promote more peaceful relations with the neighbouring lords,” I ventured to comment.
“Our wise Maharaja only makes war against ruffians and lawless tyrants,” came the automatic response.
“Who decides who is a ruffian and tyrant ?”
That conversation went no further. Instead, I was told that a friendly lord from the kingdom of Zhangzhung — yet another one — had joined Pheru’s war campaign. Yet even with the help of that ally, Pheru could never have succeeded ; his target, the Lord of Mustang, was more wily than Pheru, and his fortress was stronger. Mercenaries had to be hired in addition.
It was a sign from Heaven. I knew it. Pheru had angered the gods with his constant wars against peaceful neighbours. His campaign was doomed to humiliating failure.
During this campaign, a feast was ordained to mark the birth of the Maharaja’s first grandchild. My family came to visit, as they always did when something special was afoot. Minus one visitor.
“Where is your mother ?”
“Mother is poorly, Papa,” one of my daughters replied.
“Don’t lie to me, girl.” I could always tell when someone was concealing the truth.
“Papa....” my son choked.
I clenched my eyes closed, tighter than any fist. The pain. My faithful one, my only beloved.
She passed away a few days later, as the moon was beginning to wane. Needless to say, I was not allowed to go to her funeral.
What is the point of being alone ? I have been Lord of the Dungeon for twenty-one years. It is time now to conclude my journey on this earth. In this, my lofty palace, I have everything I need. Mushrooms abound in this dark, damp environment. Most of them are benign, but not all. It is easy to conceal a stash of the latter, for the guards are lazy about cleanliness.
My son refuses to leave me alone. The guards allow him to sleep in this hellhole, for my sake. He does not know about the mushrooms. When he is asleep, these creatures of the shadow shall fulfill their purpose.
I have warned all my children. I have tried to teach them how to see the wolf through the sheep’s clothing, how to hear the hiss of the cobra under the music and laughter. I pray they have learned my legacy.
Death to the Kayani, or death to yourself.
~~~
III. ARCHIVES OF THE DUCHY OF LADAKH — PART ONE
Archive of the Duchy of Ladakh in the Kingdom of Zhangzhung
Section : Kashmir
In the fourth year of the reign of the great Mumar of the tribe Chakpa, King of Zhangzhung, Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, received the order from the great Mumar of the tribe Chakpa, King of Zhangzhung, to betroth herself to a son of the Royal House of Kayani reigning in the Kingdom of Kashmir. So that the illustrious tribe Draktsa should not perish, the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, stipulated that the marriage should be a matrilineal one. But before any irreversible action be taken it was ordained by the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, that spies be sent to the Kingdom of Kashir to monitor the deeds of the current ruler, Pheru, King of Kashmir, to observe whether this ruler preserved his lordship and thus continued to show himself worthy to betroth one of his clan matrilineally to Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh.
All these things Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, executed with jubilation and promptitude.
Also in the fourth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh, sent observers and spies into the neighbouring kingdom of Kashmir. Pheru, King of Kashmir was at war with Trideiöpo, Glo of Mustang, a small but powerful province on the southeastern frontier of Zhangzhung.
In the fifth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of the Warmest Nights, Pheru of Kashmir captured Trideiöpo, Glo of Mustang, and successfully annexed his province.
In the first year of the Failed Revolt of Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh, in the month of the First Snows, Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh, joined forces with her kinsman and friend, His Lordship the Count of Coqen, to depose the miserable tyrant Mumar, King of Zhangzhung. Pheru of Kashmir did not seek to take advantage of the conflict, nor to harm in any way the interests of Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh.
Also in the first year of the Failed Revolt of Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh, in the month of the First Snows, Pheru of Kashmir began a programme of more centralised rule in Kashmir.
In the second year of the Failed Revolt of Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh, in the month of the First Freezing, Prince Charat of Kashmir, son and heir of Pheru of Kashmir, presented to the Kashmiri subjects a newborn baby girl, the Princess Ramo.
In the second year of the Failed Revolt of Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh, in the month of the Hibernation, the Kush of Lumbini, vassal of Pheru of Kashmir, invaded and annexed the territory of Bishnu, Lady of Pokhara.
In the eighth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, Pheru of Kashmir failed to lead the inhabitants of Skardu onto the path of the Buddha.
In the ninth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, Pheru of Kashmir memorised the old texts of the sacred Buddhavacana in order to master the Ancient Wisdom.
In the tenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of the Sun Reborn, Pheru of Kashmir bestowed lordship of the province of Skardu on his son-in-law Nangzher the Dark, of the tribe Draktsa, son of the concubine of His Lordship Traiphü of the tribe Draktsa, uncle of Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh.
Also in the tenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, Pheru of Kashmir became the preceptor of his granddaughter the Princess Sahib.
Also in the tenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of the First Snows, Pheru of Kashmir swore an oath of alliance to Mgar Palchen, High Chief of Ngari, of the Kingdom of Zhangzhung.
Also in the tenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of the First Freezing, His Lordship Marzoban Aranemi of Kuci declared war on Pheru of Kashmir for the land of Aksu.
~~~
I wonder if Mumar has a guard behind each scribe to ensure every time his name is mentioned they remember to do so in a properly formal style
I wonder if Mumar has a guard behind each scribe to ensure every time his name is mentioned they remember to do so in a properly formal style
If he does, the guard was off duty during the years of revolt....
III. ARCHIVES OF THE DUCHY OF LADAKH — PART TWO
Archive of the Duchy of Ladakh in the Kingdom of Zhangzhung
Section : Kashmir
Section : Kashmir
In the eleventh year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Flowering, Prince Charat of Kashmir presented to the Kashmiri subjects a newborn baby girl, the Princess Tripta.
Also in the eleventh year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, Kashmiri warriors inflicted heavy damages on the warriors of His Lordship Marzoban Aranemi of Kuci.
In the twelfth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of the Sun Reborn, Pheru of Kashmir claimed victory over his enemy His Lordship Marzoban Aranemi of Kuci, whom he obliged to renounce his claim on the land of Aksu.
Also in the twelfth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, the sons of the Zoroastrian gods began to be persecuted by their kinsmen, sons of the Manichaean gods, all over the world.
Also in the twelfth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of First Fruits, Pheru of Kashmir tempted the son of a Hindu warlord to forsake the land of his ancestors and receive a foreign land in fief from Pheru of Kashmir. This same son of a Hindu warlord later embraced the teaching of the Buddha, at the insistence of Pheru of Kashmir.
In the thirteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of the Sun Reborn, Pheru of Kashmir declared war on the Satrap of Udabhandid for the fields of Bannu, claimed by the converted Hindu boy received in the Kingdom of Kashmir.
Also in the thirteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of the Sun Reborn, Prince Gurdita of Kashmir entered into conflict with Pheru of Kashmir, of which he later repented and became reconciled with Pheru of Kashmir.
Also in the thirteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Snowstorms, Prince Charat of Kashmir presented to the Kashmiri subjects a newborn baby boy, the Prince Pheru.
Also in the thirteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Running Streams, Pheru of Kashmir defeated the Satrap of Udabhandid in legitimate battle on the plains of Nandana, there where the Holy River has its source.
Also in the thirteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Harvest, Her Ladyship Vina Ajatashatru, Rani of Kashmir, passed to the next world.
In the fourteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Snowstorms, Prince Bhagwant of Kashmir presented to the Kashmiri subjects a newborn baby girl, the Princess Dani.
Also in the fourteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Running Streams, Pheru of Kashmir completed the occupation of the lands of the Satrap of Udabhandid before sharing in a repast of peace. At the end of the repast of peace, the Satrap of Udabhandid delivered the land of Bannu to Pheru of Kashmir, who delivered it to his vassal, the converted Hindu boy who had forsaken the land of his ancestors.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Shortest Nights, Prince Charat of Kashmir, first-born son and heir of Pheru of Kashmir, passed to the next world. Prince Bhagwant of Kashmir, second-born son of Pheru of Kashmir, is designated Heir.
Also in the fifteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Shortest Nights, Pheru of Kashmir deceived the Raj of Tondai Nadu of the Deccan Empire, into a matrilineal betrothal between Sahib, Princess of Kashmir and First Granddaughter of Pheru of Kashmir, and Prince Hakka of the Deccan Empire, heir to the Raj of Tondai Nadu.
Also in the fifteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Warmest Nights, Prince Bhagwant of Kashmir presented to the Kashmiri subjects a newborn baby boy, the Prince Ranjor.
In the sixteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of the Sun Reborn, Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, petitioned the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, to rescind the order to betroth herself to a son of the Royal House of Kayani reigning in the Kingdom of Kashmir, even with the matrilineal clause. The reasons expounded were as follows : the unbearable shame that would accrue to the tribe Draktsa if Ting, Duchess of Ladakh, were to wed a foreigner and bear sons outside the noble warrior caste of Kshatriya ; the unbearable shame that would accrue to the tribe Draktsa to be allied to a ruler incapable of waging war to gain land for himself ; the irreparable humiliation that would necessarily stain the whole of the tribe Draktsa if Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, were to wed a foreign prince not in the line of first-born sons. His Excellency the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, dismissed the supplications of Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh.
Also in the sixteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Snowstorms, the Satrapy of Udabhandid collapsed under irreconcilable differences amongst the local warlords. Two new satrapies were formed, Shahi in the south and Dizaid in the north. Following these events, Pheru of Kashmir hired foreign mercenaries to fight in his future war against the Satrap of Dizaid.
Also in the sixteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Waking Sap, Pheru of Kashmir declared war on the Satrap of Dizaid, claiming the mountains of Pamir.
Also in the sixteenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Shortest Nights, the inhabitants of the land of Mustang abjured their Hindu gods and embraced the teachings of the Buddha.
In the seventeenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Waking Sap, Pheru of Kashmir defeated the Satrap of Dizaid in legitimate battle in the mountains of Tashkurgan.
Also in the seventeenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of Waking Sap, it became known that Pheru of Kashmir was having very intimate, very secret relations with a temple servant.
Also in the seventeenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of First Snows, Pheru of Kashmir passed to the next world.
Also in the seventeenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, while Pheru of Kashmir lay on his deathbed, Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, petitioned the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, to rescind the order to betroth herself to a son of the Royal House of Kayani reigning in the Kingdom of Kashmir, even with the matrilineal clause. The reasons expounded were as follows : the unbearable shame that would accrue to the tribe Draktsa if Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, were to wed the descendant of a foreign prince incapable of postponing his own demise before completing his war of conquest ; the infinite benefice that would accrue not only to the tribe Draktsa but to the entire Kingdom of Zhangzhung if Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, were allowed to wed a grandson of Pheru of Kashmir, the Prince Duddul, by the will of the gods born into the tribe Draktsa, and heir to the land of Skardu in Kashmir, by which inheritance the land of Skardu would leave the Kingdom of Kashmir and come into the demesne of the Kingdom of Zhangzhung. His Excellency the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, received the supplications of Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, and granted her request.
Also in the seventeenth year of the reign of the great Mumar, King of Zhangzhung, in the month of First Freeze, Her Ladyship Ting of the tribe Draktsa, Duchess of Ladakh, was wedded matrilineally to Duddul of the tribe Draktsa — son of Nangzher the Dark, a first cousin of Her Ladyship Ting, Duchess of Ladakh — grandson of Pheru, defunct Maharaja of Kashmir.
~~~
In this dimension, Zhangzhung kings never tire of being reminded just how magnificent they are....