The Hidden Hindu

With reincarnation and split-personality theories collapsing under photographic evidence, the team speculates wildly. LSD⁹ proposes time travel, which Abhilash¹¹ dismisses. Instead, the mythology expert¹¹ unfolds the Hindu concept of four yugas: Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali, spanning millions of human years in a 4:3:2:1 ratio of divine years.

He calculates that if Om¹ was Sushen¹ in the Treta yuga and Vidur¹ in the Dwapara yuga, his lifespan spans thousands of years. When Dr Shahista³ dismisses this as unscientific nonsense, Abhilash¹¹ retaliates with calculations from the Hanuman Chalisa that pinpoint the distance from Earth to the sun at 153 million kilometres, a Vedic verse that computes the speed of light, and ancient descriptions of vimanas and solar eclipses.

Parimal¹⁰ adds that the Sushruta Samhita¹³ described surgical procedures predating modern science. Dr Batra⁴ concedes that archaeological evidence from Mehrgarh shows dental drilling 7,500 to 9,000 years ago.

The team switches tactics. LSD⁹ and Dr Batra⁴ connect Om¹ to a device that converts his brainwaves into visual projections on a screen, paired with a lie detector. When Dr Shahista³ asks about Sushen,¹ the screen fills with images of an ancient tribal village, dense forests, and a man with Om¹'s face dressed in saffron, kneeling beside an unconscious body while another man weeps and monkey-faced beings look on.

The scene matches the Ramayana: Sushen¹ attending to the wounded Lakshman as Lord Ram and Hanuman watch. Om¹ confirms he was that vaidya, living in Suchindram in what is now Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district.

He explains he has not aged since the Treta yuga. He falls ill and gets injured, but just before death can claim him, he recovers. Dr Batra⁴ erupts, calling it elaborate fantasy. But the lie detector remains silent: Om¹'s pulse is calm, his body registers no deception.

Veerbhadra⁸ travels to the mainland at night to collect the contents of Om¹'s bank lockers. He returns with two chests. Inside are copper sheets, each engraved with one of Om¹'s identities as a header, written in Sanskrit, Hindi, and Prakrit.

An ancient stone kharal for grinding herbs emerges, along with heavy finger rings, rare coins from various historical empires, and a book wrapped in leaves and a blood-stained white cloth. The book has metal covers. Dr Batra⁴ examines its pages and freezes: there are diagrams of DNA structures and gene extraction methods, millennia ahead of their scientific discovery.

Dr Srinivasan² also finds a map and a bottle of mercury. He secretly assigns LSD⁹ to decipher the map within six hours. Meanwhile, he takes the book to a hidden chamber where an old man,⁷ his true superior, resides. The old man⁷ is furious: every alternate page has been removed. The book is useless without its missing half.

Under the projector, Om¹ tells his origin. He awoke in a Himalayan hut, his body covered in stitches and wounds. His face was a ruin: one eye socket melted, his right ear missing, his skin scarred like a demon's. Three sages tended him. The senior was Kasiraja,¹² also called Dhanvantari,¹² the god of Ayurvedic medicine, who had selected ten sages to preserve the knowledge of healing.

The other two were Sushruta,¹³ his first and finest disciple, and Devdrath. A fourth, Nagendra,⁷ also served them. Kasiraja¹² named the resurrected man Mrityunjay:¹ the one who conquered death. Om¹ learned he had been dead when they found him, revived by a procedure called Mrit Sanjeevani.

He had been unconscious for 150 days. For nine more days, he could not eat solid food. Over months, Sushruta¹³ performed reconstructive surgeries on his face using banana leaves as templates, restoring his features. Om¹ stayed with them for over a year, learning Ayurveda as he recovered.

Sushruta¹³ spent each night in Kasiraja¹²'s hut, secretly compiling the Mrit Sanjeevani procedure. Om,¹ discovering the truth from the resentful Nagendra,⁷ confronted Sushruta¹³ and learned the full scope of his condition: he had fallen out of the circle of time, invisible to its passage, immune to aging and death.

On the day the sages were to disperse and return to their cities to serve mankind, Devdrath and Nagendra⁷ prepared a farewell feast. Nagendra⁷ brought kheer to Kasiraja,¹² Sushruta,¹³ and Om.¹ Kasiraja¹² tasted it, detected poison, and warned Sushruta.¹³ Nagendra⁷ attacked with a knife, slashing Sushruta¹³ and overpowering the aged Dhanvantari.¹²

Sushruta,¹³ bleeding, wrapped the Mrit Sanjeevani texts in white cloth, stained it with his blood, and thrust it into Om¹'s hands. He commanded Om¹ to run south, wait for him for a day, and if he did not appear, to protect the books with his life. Om¹ fled. He waited for days, but Sushruta¹³ never arrived. When he returned, all the sages lay dead, their bones scattered across the ground.

Following LSD⁹'s deciphered map, Veerbhadra⁸ leads a team to a cave in Sri Lanka. They find a metallic chest containing the missing half of the Mrit Sanjeevani book, along with ancient weapons: a massive bow, arrows, a golden crown, carved metallic arms, ornaments, and laboratory equipment.

As Veerbhadra⁸ reports the discovery to Dr Srinivasan,² gunfire erupts. A masked man with inhuman combat skills slaughters nine of his men. Veerbhadra⁸ flees with the book, backed by covering fire from his remaining soldiers. The attacker pursues relentlessly. A second masked figure monitors the island facility from the woods. They communicate via encrypted channels.

When the first attacker reports that Veerbhadra⁸ escaped with the book, the order comes back: recover it at any cost, kill anyone necessary. Veerbhadra,⁸ wounded and smeared in blood, boards the chopper back to Ross Island with the book clutched to his chest, unaware that his attacker is following him across the sea.

Dr Srinivasan,² horrified by the murders in Sri Lanka, storms into the old man⁷'s hidden chamber. He demands to know the book's worth and who their enemies are, threatening to freeze the entire operation.

The old man,⁷ who had seemed frail and decrepit, suddenly straightens his spine and grabs Dr Srinivasan² by the biceps, hurling him eight feet into a wall with one effortless motion. His eyes grow immense, unblinking, pupils contracting and expanding with unnatural speed. He speaks with terrifying calm: the team belongs to him, not to Dr Srinivasan.²

He has had many servants, and only those who never asked questions have died natural deaths. He gestures to the screen showing the interrogation room and the unsuspecting team members.

Dr Srinivasan² can either let them go home with unanswered questions or trade their lives for the answers he wants. Dr Srinivasan,² looking at the faces of his younger colleagues, breaks down and agrees. He leaves the chamber, wiping tears, and heads back toward the interrogation room, resolved to rectify his mistake.

As gunfire echoes through the facility's corridors, LSD⁹'s computer beeps with a coded message. Her face, once carelessly cheerful, hardens into cold professionalism. Simultaneously, Parimal,¹⁰ who has always stammered and been ignored, moves with sudden fluid precision. He approaches the sleeping Abhilash¹¹ and kills him silently.

In the washroom, LSD⁹ retrieves a hidden cache of weapons: twin automated pistols. When Dr Srinivasan² returns to the interrogation room clutching the second book, LSD⁹ shoots him in the chest without hesitation. She snatches the book and trains her guns on Dr Batra⁴ and Dr Shahista,³ warning them not to move.

Dr Shahista,³ showing courage, continues untying Om.¹ LSD⁹ shoots her. Om,¹ seeing the gun aimed at his defender, throws himself into the bullet's path, taking a hit in his back. LSD⁹ then shoots Dr Shahista³ again. She drags the bleeding Om¹ toward a hidden door in the wall as Parimal¹⁰ enters through the secret passage, armed and ready for war.

The main door to the interrogation room splinters under a tremendous kick. The man who enters is one of the faces from Om¹'s projected memories: Parashuram,⁵ the sixth avatar of Vishnu, wielding the farsaa axe and a bow. His eyes burn with divine fury.

From the hidden passage, Parimal¹⁰ emerges and opens fire. The two exchange shots as LSD⁹ drags Om¹ through the narrow corridor toward the old man⁷'s chamber. Outside, the second masked attacker, revealed as Ashwatthama,⁶ cuts through the remaining guards with his automated arrow shooter and ancient combat prowess.

Veerbhadra,⁸ realizing he has been deceived, turns his gun on Parimal¹⁰ but is outmatched. Parashuram⁵ and Ashwatthama⁶ fight their way toward Om,¹ who lies bleeding heavily. Ashwatthama⁶ finds Om¹ in the kitchen, tearing fabric to bind his wounds.

Om,¹ fading, asks why they came. Ashwatthama⁶ replies that Om¹ holds the key to the end. Parashuram⁵ places detonators throughout the facility. Veerbhadra⁸ is shot by both immortals during the crossfire and dies in Om¹'s lap, apologizing for failing to protect him.

The old man,⁷ revealed to be Nagendra,⁷ the ancient betrayer who murdered the sages, activates his escape sequence. A keypad hidden behind his screen opens multiple doors and a staircase beneath the marble floor. He gathers the Mrit Sanjeevani books and medicine, wrapping them in blood-red cloth.

With LSD⁹ and Parimal,¹⁰ he descends into a tunnel that leads to the seashore, where a submarine waits. They board and vanish beneath the waves. Parashuram,⁵ after blasting through the steel door, finds only an empty chamber with multiple corridors leading to dead ends.

The detonators ignite. The facility collapses into rubble and flame. Ashwatthama⁶ and Parashuram⁵ carry the unconscious Om¹ to safety on the rocky shore. Dr Batra,⁴ who escaped separately with Om's blood sample, LSD⁹'s laptop, and the investigation file, hides on another corner of the island, watching the destruction.

Parashuram⁵ tells Ashwatthama⁶ they must protect Om¹ now, because Nagendra⁷ will return: without a drip of Dhanvantari¹²'s blood still flowing in Om¹'s veins, the Mrit Sanjeevani procedure cannot be completed.