I, Panchajanya — The First Cry of Victory
I am Panchajanya. Before I ever sound across Kurukshetra, I lie forgotten in the ocean’s dark belly, waiting for a destiny I cannot yet name. The Boy Who Walks Like Destiny Krishna is still young when he comes to seek me — a boy at the end of his gurukula. His guru Sandipani asks only one dakshina: “Bring back my son, lost at Prabhasa.” Even then, I sense it: where Krishna walks, lost things return, and victory begins long before battle. The trail leads him down into the ocean. The waters tremble. The Demon and the Shell Panchajana, the sea-demon who holds me, rises in fury. Some say his body is shaped like a conch. Some say he dwells inside one. Either way, I am bound to him as light is bound to darkness. Krishna defeats him with the ease of one who does not struggle — only fulfils. He opens the shell, searching for the guru’s son. The boy is not there. But Krishna lifts me instead. In his young hands, I feel something stir — the beginning of a purp...