The Time Capsule

We usually hear the story of the fight between Ram and Ravana which is written in the Ramayana. This Ramayana was written by Ved Vyas who did his job well in describing most of the Ramayana, but there also exists- some part of the Ramayana that is mostly known by a very few people. The secret was hidden beneath mounds of sand and gravel at a particular point in the Sahara (who hid it? we’ll find out as we proceed deeper into the story). This was found by me… err okay, I am Michael Stephenson, I am an archaeologist and deeply influenced by history’s mysterious stories and committed to find the details of all the unspoken, unseen history.

There are many people out there in the world who are accredited archaeologists but the special ones are those who take it as their lives and not their jobs. Anyway…, so I found a time capsule beneath the sands of the Sahara desert while I and My few comrades had developed a theory that a very old civilization had existed in the Sahara desert which was perhaps before the Indus Valley and the Mesopotamian Civilization. We had begun excavating this site and then I found this capsule. So, listen carefully as the story gets more complicated as we proceed.

THE CAPSULE HAD A PIECE OF PAPYRUS WHICH SAID: - (it was written in heliographic language which I have deciphered)

The finder of this text, I am warning that the text which you are reading is auspicious, it is really important. I am sending this time capsule to let you know a secret event that brought the Ramayana the way it is. I am Helphergul a teenage boy of the Indus valley civilization. I was chosen for this responsibility that could have saved Hinduism or destroyed it. I was coming from a day’s work of pottering with my uncle Sacrofagel. I was returning home for a usual dinner. The sky was unusually bright considering the time which I guessed was evening owing to the time spent in pottery. The roads felt unusually rough, there was a sudden gale blowing which made it pretty difficult for a clear vision, suddenly I saw an eerie sight of a piece of cloud falling onto the surface of the earth right ahead me.

The piece of cloud shimmered and a vague form of a human with a knot of hair on top of his head, biceps bulging out from massive arms and a snake tied around his neck. ‘Helphergul,’ He said in a firm but gentle voice ‘we need your help.’ ‘Wait I said how do you know my name and what do you mean by help’ I said looking bit confused. ‘Look I am a god of Hinduism which is going to be found by Aryans who are going to ruin you civilization, but anyways let’s not go into details, so you can call me Shiva.’ He sighed as if I was boring him already. ‘But wait a bit, who..Aryans...what?’ I said looking perplexed. ‘I told you that we’ll not get into details, so I have come here for a favor that only you can do for me.’ He said. ‘Look there is the Ramayana which in future is going to be a religious book for the Hindus.

In this book Ram is supposed to be the hero as he is a God but circumstances are getting grave, the Ramayana which is actually going on in the heavens is slipping from the hands of Ram and Ravana is winning.’ he exclaimed. ‘Forget the story I said just tell me what would you give me if I do you the favor and what exactly is the favor?’ I asked getting exasperated. ‘I’ll name a country after your civilization’ He said curtly and then my vision blurred and when I regained my vision, it was very clear I felt an energy surging through me, I felt elated. Then a voice came from my head, it was the same voice but it was coming from my head, ‘I have taken control of your mind, I’ll give you instructions on what to do and follow as I say.’ Shiva said. He gave me directions.

His directions led me to another part of the civilization where I had never visited because it was a home to a superstitious ghost. ‘Hey! A ghost lives here’ I exclaimed with a shudder. ‘It is just a rumor that I caused the people of this civilization to spread so that they do not the wrong thing on the wrong time’ Shiva said. ‘What is the ‘wrong thing’?’ ‘You’ll see’ he said. He led me to a cavern which was believed to lead to ‘patal’ (hell).

Shiva led me into that cavern and magically a ball of fire which was levitating the ground appeared just beside me. He made my hands move and carve a symbol in the air which he called ‘OM’ ‘This is the symbol of Hinduism, power for Ram. This will make him powerful and win him this fight. Suddenly a howl of laughter was heard from the sky and cheers greeted by an appearance of profuse tiny lights. ‘Diwali’ Shiva sighed in my head. ‘You did a great job Helphergul, and surely a country will be after your civilization. You can now go back to rest and tell no one of today's incidence or you will be decapitated.’ He snapped his fingers and I found myself at home. So, dear finder I do not know of what Shiva said and what is Hinduism but I assume that you are from the future and you understand these terms. I wrote this story tell the future what was actually Ramayana and who made Ram win it. I hope you will find this message to as many people as possible. I also hope Shiva has actually named a country after our civilization.

THE END

I finished reading the story and gaped at it for a few seconds and then I told my comrades about how the name ‘India’ was actually derived and how had the tables turned in the Ramayana. The theory of the old civilization existing in Sahara was completely forgotten and the new theory of Ramayana was being pondered on by us.