Mohenjo Daro Story

Once upon a time in the prosperous village of Mohenjo Daro in the Indus Valley, everyone was working hard, and going about their business with no worries at all. Young Sohan was working hard in the fields on the outskirts of the village along with many other children and adults. Sohan, being a child, was bored of working all day and decided to climb the lookout tower on the far side of the big field. Sohan ran to the lookout tower and climbed all the way up to the top. He could see all around him for miles, he shaded his eyes and saw little tiny dots of moving people inside the village, and saw the big water buffaloes and cows moving throughout the fields. Then Sohan heard a faint yell behind him and turned around to see what was going on. He saw a tiny figure running out from the woods that surrounded the river. He recognized the figure as his friend Chiranjiv, and saw that he was covered in red and holding his arm, while he ran.

Chiranjiv was running for his life and screaming at the top his lungs. He needed someone to see him; he was already feeling dizzy and getting slower with each step from the loss of blood, due to the deep gash in his arm. He hoped someone was in the lookout tower and could see him running and screaming before it was too late. Chiranjiv was barely able to walk now and his head was making him sleepy, that’s when he heard the bell in the tower cling away to signal that something was wrong. After Chiranjiv had heard the bell, he collapsed and passed out.

Sohan had sounded the alarm after he recognized Chiranjiv, and everyone who had been working in the field rushed to the tower and Sohan to see what had happened. Sohan explained how he had climbed the tower and had seen Chiranjiv running from the woods covered in blood. Everyone ran to where Chiranjiv lay and two of the strongest men carried him back to the village where he could be examined by the doctor.

Chiranjiv opened his eyes and was startled to see that he was in a warm and comfortable bed instead of outside where he had collapsed. The doctors smiling face appeared over him and asked “Hey there, your awake, are you feeling ok?”. “Yes.” said Chiranjiv “but my arm is still a little sore.” “Well it will be for quite some time.” said the doctor “But for now why don’t you tell me how this happened?” Chiranjiv explained how he had went to fetch water from the river like his mother had told him too, and when he got there he noticed something huge stuck in the muddy banks of the river. Thinking it was a water buffalo he went to see if he could help it out. When he got closer he realized it was much bigger than a buffalo and shaped almost like a fish. Out of curiosity he got closer and jumped into the mud to examine the strange creature. That’s when the creature lashed out with its head and one it’s thousands of sharp teeth cut Chiranjivs arm. Chiranjiv scared to death by this monster ran as fast he could back to the village, but collapsed and assumed he was brought here by the field workers.

The doctor listened to Chiranjivs story skeptically, but decided if the boy was telling the truth then this could be a very serious matter. “Go and tell the King that he needs to come and listen to this boys story and decide for himself what to do.” Said the doctor to a boy, who Charanjiv now recognized as Sohan.

King Abhiraj came and listened to the boys story and sent out a group of his top advisors to check out the boys story. They came back sometime later all confirming some kind of giant fish with sharp teeth. The King, who is also the high priest of Mohenjo Daro, took the beast as a

blessing from the high spirits and ordered a tank to be built and the beast to be brought to it. The tank was built fairly quickly, within a matter of weeks, and a constant watch over the beast which the Priest-King said the gods had told him was a “shark”. The people had trouble trying to keep the shark alive during those weeks. Not many people had heard of a shark before, except for the few people who had heard stories from the nomadic sea people, who built ships and were attacked by these sea monsters with sharp teeth that ate human flesh. At first anyone who was sentenced to death in prison was sacrificed to the great beast, but soon those people ran out. People were confused at first, wondering what a sea creature was doing in clean water, but soon realized the gods had gifted this shark with the ability to breathe in clean water.

The king realized that this beast was a gift from the gods and he had to accept it, and it had a vast appetite, so he ordered many rams, cows, and buffalos to be sacrificed to the shark. Then came the problem of moving the shark into the tank. The King ordered the lookout tower to be taken down for supplies, and a massive stretcher of a kind to be built. The strongest men jumped into the mud, after a ram had been sacrificed to satisfy the shark’s appetite, and pushed the shark onto its back onto the stretcher. They then hefted and heaved the shark to the pool built on the far side of the city. Many people joined the procession and helped carry the massive load, until when the sun had set long ago, they finally flipped the shark into its tank.

A giant ceremony was held, and that is when the Priest King Abhiraj announced he had meditated all day and the gods had told him to sacrifice every cow, ram, and buffalo they had to the beast. Many people complained about how they would survive, since almost all of their water had been diverted to keeping the tank clean and running. The King promised to his people that the gods had said if they did this and kept the creature of the gods alive, it would bring peace and prosperity to their village for many years to come. The people reluctantly agreed.

The next morning at the crack of dawn when Sohan and his family had come to offer the beast a portion of their meat for breakfast, they saw something terrible. The shark was gone. The entire tank was empty. There was no sign of life inside the tank at all. Sohan and his family ran to the palace of the Priest King and told them what they saw. When they got their they saw all of the early field workers standing their shouting out how the irrigation pipes had burst and every single crop was flooded and destroyed. Then when the King ordered silence, Sohan spoke out and told everyone how the shark was gone from its tank. The wise King realized what had happened. He had made the drainage tunnel of the bath too wide and the shark had managed to wiggle its way through over night. Then it had escaped it the water drainage pipes which connected to the irrigation pipes. The shark gave the pipes the ice cube effect and overflowed the pipes ruining the food for this year.

The people of Mohenjo Daro were left with nothing. They had very little food and water stored after the great sacrifice, and were forced to pack up their belongings and move out and forage for food in the surrounding area. This did not work out and eventually the entire civilization had died out due to one Kings great mistake.