Sealed Coin: Revelations

A tall man with black matted hair and beard wearing a grey shirt, black pants and chappals was standing outside a door. He knocked on the door and waited patiently. Asha opens the door and welcomes the guest into her house. While the man sits on a sofa in her hall room, Asha goes to the kitchen to bring water for him. On her arrival, the man asks, “Where is your husband?” “He is in our bedroom with our son, Santji,” Asha replied while serving him a glass of water. “Why isn’t he coming out?” Santji asked. “I don’t know. He has locked himself there since three days. When my son went to serve him food, he took him inside and since then I serve them both food and water but none of them have tried to come out of the bedroom,” Asha said. “Don’t they come out for even relieving themselves?” Santji asked. “No, our bedroom has a bathroom too. I am sure they are using it for their convenience. But I keep hearing my husband chanting some strange words every night. What is the problem Santji?” Asha asked. “First you sit here and explain me how all of this started,” Santji requested. Sitting on the sofa, Asha explained to him about their holiday in a village, the artifacts that they bought, about the coin, the events that took place after her son accidently removed the thread that was tied on the coin and how her husband has been behaving. “He is very obsessed about the coin and doesn’t allow me to touch it,” Asha said.

Santji calmly listened to her and after Asha finished explaining to him her dilemma, he asked, “What inscription is present on the coin?” Asha removed her mobile phone and showed him a picture of the coin. Santji, after examining the contents on the coin through the mobile phone, Santji said, “These coins which you bought from my village are truly special. There were tales in our village that our ancestors would tell us. Our ancestors told us that during their time, there was constant wars and fights between various sects in the neighbouring area. The villagers were also dragged into these fights. But our village came up with an idea that would prove fatal for us one day. They came up with the idea that a warrior’s soul, after his death, would be sealed in coins similar to what you have shown me. This was done with the belief that the future warriors who would then wear such coins around their neck would get the experience of the previous warriors and thereby not commit the same mistakes as its predecessors.

The first time this type of experiment began, it was difficult as most of the rituals didn’t have any effect as such by which a warrior’s soul could be kept within a coin and passed on to the next. But soon our saints found a way to do it. They made similar inscriptions as your coin and the warrior’s souls could be passed on to the future generations. But there was one condition. It could only be passed on to their descendants. While this experiment surely gave our village warriors an edge over other warriors, there were devastating effects too that it brought. Firstly it created a split personality of the warrior which was difficult to deal with. There were also questions as to how can the souls of the warriors with the coin be passed on as it was already mixed with the previous ones. It would create multiple split personalities which be more devastating. There were also questions as to which dead warriors should be passed on – the one who didn’t even raise his sword and died on the battle field, the one who might have won few battles but had committed war crimes and disturbed peace of other villages and then was executed or the ones who made strategic plans in battles and died a natural death.

The complexities also increased during times of peace. When there is peace, there is no need of many soldiers. That would mean that many descendants would take up other professions that would not be related to a soldier’s job. The elders had also suggested that inputs of the soldiers who had fought battles and survived was more enriching than practising this method. Eventually this method was abandoned when peace prolonged for a long time. The souls of the warriors were kept sealed in the coins and passed on from one descendant to another without any of them wearing it around their neck.

Years passed on and another war began, for which many men were needed to battle. Since we needed all the strengths for this battle, the descendants who had the coins wore them. But some of them went mad after wearing them. Some of them died after wearing them. A few survived but after going to the battle field, we lost most of our men. We lost the war. There were rumours that notwithstanding the loss of their husbands, widows decided to be burnt alongside their husbands and to be sealed with them in the coins. There were some that swore revenge and thereby their coins had to be sealed with a red thread. These red thread were bathed in river water and prayed upon in our temples before they were tied on to the coins. You have a similar coin but it was believed to be destroyed as new rulers came to rule upon us. The only way to find out which soul has possessed your husband is by asking him about it. But I must warn you, it won’t be easy to get the soul to leave your husband’s body.”

“But can you help us?” Asha asked. “Let’s see,” said Santji. He stood up and removed a book. “You must say the exact same words to call out to your husband,” said Santji. Asha stood up and nodded. “Senbure mata hurbang zintifa” Santji chanted. Asha cleared her throat and chanted the words loudly in the direction of her bedroom. She heard the bedroom door click. Her husband and son were coming out of it. “What did I say Santji?” asked Asha. “I am ready to be possessed,” Santji replied. 

More shall be revealed in the next chapter Sealed Coin: Soul Talks