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Collection: Part 9 · VIDEHA MITHILA MAITHILI DISCUSSION CRITICISM SERIES PART 9
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0:00–0:04Imagine you're just walking down the street. It is a completely normal Tuesday.
0:05–0:10You know, you are thinking about your grocery list or maybe that email you totally forgot to send for work.
0:10–0:13Right. Just totally lost in your own thoughts.
0:13–0:19Exactly. And then you trip on a slightly uneven piece of pavement and you accidentally scuff your
0:19–0:23shoe against, say, the bottom step of a local church or temple.
0:23–0:26Oh, I hate that. You just feel so clumsy.
0:26–0:29Yeah, you feel a little awkward. Maybe you look around quickly to see if anyone saw
0:29–0:32you stumble and then you just keep walking, right? Because it's no big deal.
0:32–0:34Yeah, of course.
0:34–0:40Now imagine that instead of just feeling a bit awkward, the very heavens literally tear open
0:40–0:45above you. Imagine that because of that tiny, completely unintentional scuff of your shoe,
0:46–0:51a literal divine Tigris is immediately dispatched from the sky.
0:51–0:53Just zero to 100 in a second.
0:53–0:57Literally. It hits the ground with the sole unyielding mission of hunting you down and
0:57–0:58and ending your life.
0:58–1:00It sounds like a surreal nightmare.
1:00–1:02The escalation is just so abrupt
1:02–1:03it almost feels kind of absurd
1:03–1:05to our modern sensibilities.
1:05–1:09It is wildly absurd, but it is also the exact premise
1:09–1:10of what we're looking at today.
1:10–1:12So welcome to this deep dive.
1:12–1:15I am incredibly glad you are here with us listening in
1:15–1:17because today we are setting off
1:17–1:21on just an extraordinary exploration of folklore,
1:21–1:24the terrifying mechanics of ancient justice,
1:24–1:25and the supernatural.
1:25–1:26It's gonna be quite the journey.
1:26–1:28It really is.
1:28–1:30Our mission today is to unpack a single,
1:30–1:33utterly fascinating source text.
1:33–1:35We are digging deep into translated excerpts
1:35–1:38from a piece titled, Garabhan Bhabha.
1:38–1:40Right, which was written by Gijendra Thakur.
1:40–1:42Yeah, and published in the video, Ipatrika.
1:42–1:44And I have to say, it is a remarkable,
1:44–1:46heavy piece of literature.
1:46–1:48It is gonna force us to completely recalibrate
1:48–1:51how we understand, you know, cause, effect,
1:51–1:52and consequence. Oh, absolutely.
1:52–1:54We're gonna explore how a really simple,
1:54–1:58everyday accident cascaded into this overwhelming display
1:58–2:00of divine wrath, supernatural possession,
2:00–2:03and ultimately the birth of a brand new
2:03–2:04protective folk deity.
2:04–2:06Okay, let's unpack this.
2:06–2:09Because to really understand the sheer terror
2:09–2:12of that divine Tigris, we have to first understand
2:12–2:15the world the story is actually set in.
2:15–2:17I mean, if the story started with magic and monsters,
2:17–2:18we just wouldn't care.
2:18–2:20Yeah, we just feel like a standard fantasy trope.
2:20–2:21Right.
2:21–2:23The reason this text hits so hard
2:23–2:27is that the setting is profoundly almost painfully normal.
2:27–2:30That is the absolute genius of this folklore.
2:30–2:32The supernatural elements of this narrative
2:32–2:36only carry weight because the baseline is so deeply rooted
2:36–2:40in the mundane, sweaty human reality of village life.
2:40–2:41Yeah, it really grounds you.
2:41–2:42It does.
2:42–2:46The text paints a very vivid, very grounded picture.
2:46–2:48We are placed in the village of Udra,
2:48–2:50and this village is situated right
2:50–2:51on the banks of the Kamala River.
2:51–2:52Which is super important to note.
2:52–2:56Exactly. You have to understand the Kamala River isn't just like a pretty backdrop.
2:56–3:01In this region, the river is the lifeblood. It's the economic engine and the spiritual
3:01–3:05boundary of the community. It literally gives life and it takes it away.
3:05–3:11And right there nestled in the daily rhythm of this river village, we meet our central characters.
3:12–3:14And they aren't kings, right? They aren't legendary warriors.
3:14–3:15No, not at all.
3:15–3:19They are just local men who spend their free time engaged in a very physical,
3:19–3:26very ancient human activity. They wrestle. So they spend their days at the village Akara,
3:26–3:31which is the traditional wrestling arena. And the Akara is a really fascinating space
3:31–3:34in South Asian culture. Yeah. It is not just a gym where you go to, you know,
3:34–3:38lift some weights and then leave. Right. It's much more than that. It is a patch of earth that
3:38–3:43has been specifically prepared. They often mix it with oil, buttermilk, and sometimes even red
3:43–3:49ochre. It is a space entirely dedicated to physical discipline, yes. But it also operates
3:49–3:51under its own unique set of social rules.
3:51–3:54Which brings us to the specific identities of these three friends.
3:54–3:58Because the text makes a huge point to tell us exactly who they are.
3:58–4:00Yes, the demographics here are not an accident.
4:00–4:03Right, so you have Barm Fakur, who is a Brahmin.
4:03–4:07You have Ghassi Adav, who belongs to the agricultural cowherding community.
4:07–4:10And you have Gariband Bobi, who is a washerman.
4:10–4:12And this is a critical detail.
4:12–4:16In the traditional societal structure of a village like Udra,
4:16–4:21These three men occupy very different strictly defined rungs on the social ladder.
4:21–4:22They wouldn't normally just be hanging out.
4:22–4:27Exactly. A Brahmin, traditionally the priestly and scholarly class,
4:27–4:31operates under incredibly stripped rules of purity and pollution,
4:31–4:36like rules regarding who we can interact with, share food with, or even physically touch.
4:36–4:39And the dobe is on the other end of that spectrum.
4:39–4:43Right. The dobe, the washerman, traditionally deals with the physical impurities of others
4:43–4:48by washing their dirty clothes, which places him in a very different social category entirely.
4:49–4:53But in The Dirt of the Alcaja, all of that just vanities. I absolutely love this image.
4:53–4:57You have these three men from rigid, disparate social backgrounds,
4:57–5:00but when they step into that prepared mud, they are just three buddies.
5:00–5:02Yeah, the outside world just fades away.
5:02–5:05Yeah, they are sweating it out, grappling, practicing their holds,
5:05–5:09and just engaging in this raw physical camaraderie.
5:09–5:13Exactly. In the wrestling pit, the usual social hierarchies
5:13–5:19are temporarily but entirely suspended. It is just muscle, sweat, leverage, and skill.
5:19–5:23The Brahmin and the Washerman are absolute equals in the dust.
5:23–5:24It's quite beautiful, actually.
5:24–5:29It really is. And this profound sense of earthly harmony is incredibly important for the narrative.
5:29–5:34The text is taking its time to establish a baseline of normancy, of human friendship
5:34–5:40that transcends societal boundaries precisely so that the incoming disruption feels catastrophic.
5:40–5:42Looks like setting up a house of cards.
5:42–5:43Exactly.
5:43–5:48We are looking at a world that feels safe, familiar, and honestly, strangely progressive
5:48–5:53in its shared humanity, right up until the universe decides to completely break it.
5:53–5:58So you have this beautiful image of earthly harmony, but the text immediately juxtaposes
5:58–6:03the secular, sweaty space of the wrestling pit with something incredibly volatile located
6:03–6:04just a few feet away.
6:04–6:06The proximity is just so tense.
6:06–6:07It is.
6:07–6:11Akraha bordering the exact space where these men are throwing each other into the mud is
6:11–6:16Kamala May's Petey. And that proximity is the catalyst for the entire tragedy.
6:16–6:20Let's explain the Petey for a second because it's important you understand what this is.
6:20–6:24When you hear the word altar, you might think of, I don't know, a quiet table in the back
6:24–6:27of a church with some candles on it. Right, something passive.
6:27–6:32Yeah. But in this context, the Petey is the absolute untouchable epicenter of the
6:32–6:39village's worship. It is a highly sacred, consecrated platform dedicated to the Goddess
6:39–6:45Kamalami. It isn't just a symbol of the Goddess. In the minds of the villagers, it is her physical
6:45–6:52anchor to the earth. It is a zone of absolute uncompromising purity. And it exists right next
6:52–6:57to a zone of intense, chaotic physical exertion. It's literally like putting a particle accelerator
6:57–7:01in the middle of a high school gymnasium. That is a terrifying image, but very accurate.
7:01–7:07Right. So the three friends are wrestling. It's a hot day. They're exerting themselves. It's a blur of limbs and mud.
7:07–7:12And during one of these intense bouts in the heat of the moment, Garibin's foot slips.
7:13–7:17He loses his balance and his foot accidentally touches Kamala Mai's sacred paiti.
7:17–7:25The text is incredibly almost legally precise about how this happens. It explicitly uses the term Anjan Sunjan.
7:25–7:28Anjan Sunjan. What does that literally translate to?
7:28–7:33It translates roughly to an action done in complete and total ignorance. It means entirely unintentional.
7:34–7:34Okay.
7:34–7:38The text is making an ironclad case for Garibin's innocence here.
7:38–7:43There was absolutely no malice in his heart. He was not trying to make a theological statement.
7:43–7:48He was not being rebellious, and he certainly was not disrespecting the goddess on purpose.
7:48–7:49He just slipped.
7:49–7:55He was simply a man engaged in a grueling sport who lost control of his momentum for a fraction of a second.
7:55–7:59His foot made contact. That is the entirety of his crime.
7:59–8:03I mean, in any modern court of law this gets thrown out immediately.
8:03–8:09The concept of mens rea, you know, a guilty mind, is foundational to how we understand justice today.
8:09–8:13If you don't intend to commit a crime and you are not being recklessly negligent,
8:13–8:16you are generally not held criminally liable for an accident.
8:16–8:19We view intent as the soul of the action.
8:19–8:23We do. But the folklore operates on a completely different cosmological axis.
8:23–8:27The goddess Kamala Mai does not recognize Men's Reya.
8:27–8:28Not even a little bit.
8:28–8:29Not at all.
8:29–8:33The text tells us her reaction is immediate and it is absolute fury.
8:33–8:39The insult to her sacred space is deemed completely unforgivable regardless of what was in Garibin's heart.
8:39–8:41And this is where the story just explodes.
8:41–8:44Because she doesn't just curse him with a bad harvest.
8:44–8:46She doesn't give him a fever.
8:46–8:49The goddess skips the local level of punishment entirely.
8:49–8:52She essentially storms into the cosmic CEO's office.
8:52–8:57office. She goes straight to Indra's court and Indra being the king of the gods in this
8:57–9:02panty on. She goes right to the top. Right to the top. She demands retribution and she procures
9:02–9:09a divine, terrifying Tigris. She then dispatches this supernatural apex predator down to the
9:09–9:14village with one specific mission, execute Garibandobi. The sheer scale of the retribution
9:14–9:20is staggering. It is a physical manifestation of divine violence unleashed over a misplaced
9:20–9:23It is so wildly disproportionate to the crime.
9:23–9:27To go back to our analogy at the beginning of the show, it is exactly like accidentally
9:27–9:31stepping on a stranger's shoe in a crowded hallway, and instead of them yelling at you,
9:31–9:34they summon a military drone strike to obliterate your entire neighborhood.
9:34–9:38It's an astronomical overreaction by our standards.
9:38–9:39Yes.
9:39–9:42And I really struggled with this when I was reading the source text.
9:42–9:46I have to ask you, why is intention completely irrelevant here?
9:46–9:52Does this text suggest a worldview where the physical sanctity of a space completely supersedes
9:52–9:53human morality?
9:53–9:59What's fascinating here is how the text establishes a terrifying, almost mechanical power dynamic
9:59–10:01between the human and the divine.
10:01–10:04You want the divine to be reasonable, right?
10:04–10:08To be a wise judge who weighs the contents of our hearts.
10:08–10:09Exactly.
10:09–10:10We expect fairness.
10:10–10:15But in the worldview presented by this specific folklore, sacredness is not just a philosophical
10:15–10:16concept.
10:16–10:19a physical, highly volatile substance.
10:19–10:21A physical substance, like radiation.
10:21–10:24Exactly like radiation, or perhaps more accurately,
10:24–10:26an exposed high voltage wire.
10:26–10:27Oh, I like that.
10:27–10:29Think about how electricity works.
10:29–10:30If you are walking in the dark
10:30–10:31and you accidentally brush your hand
10:31–10:33against an exposed live wire,
10:33–10:35the electricity doesn't pause to run a moral calculator.
10:35–10:37Right, doesn't care who you are.
10:37–10:40It doesn't ask, did this person intend to touch me?
10:40–10:40Are they a good person?
10:40–10:42Were they just clumsy?
10:42–10:44The electricity simply shocks you
10:44–10:45because that is its fundamental nature.
10:45–10:47When the circuit is closed, the energy discharges.
10:47–10:48Wow, okay.
10:48–10:51So the peaty is the live wire.
10:51–10:54Yes, the goddess's reaction reflects a cosmic order
10:54–10:57where human innocence is absolutely no shield
10:57–10:58against divine wrath.
10:58–11:01Once a secret boundary is physically breached,
11:01–11:03the rules are structural and unyielding.
11:03–11:04It's just cause and effect.
11:04–11:05Exactly.
11:05–11:07Purity has been contaminated
11:07–11:09by the touch of a sweaty foot.
11:09–11:11Therefore, a cosmic debt has been incurred
11:11–11:14and the ledger must be balanced in blood.
11:14–11:19The text is delivering a very sobering, very frightening reminder to its original audience.
11:19–11:23In this universe, humans are fragile creatures moving through a landscape laced with invisible,
11:23–11:26lethal, divine tripwires.
11:26–11:31That high-voltage wire analogy makes perfect sense of the absolute lack of mercy.
11:31–11:36The circuit was closed, and the Tigris is a resulting shock, which takes us right
11:36–11:38back to the dirt of the Akraha.
11:38–11:42We just spent all this time establishing that the wrestling pit was this beautiful
11:42–11:47place of friendly sport, this rare zone of human equality and connection.
11:47–11:47Yeah.
11:47–11:52And in an instant, it is transformed into a life or death gladiatorial arena.
11:52–11:56It is a devastating subversion of the space, the place where Garabin trained to become
11:56–11:59strong becomes the site of his execution.
11:59–12:00And Garabin is not helpless.
12:00–12:03The text notes that he is a very skilled wrestler.
12:03–12:05He's strong, he is trained, he knows how to fight.
12:05–12:08So when this divine Tigris descends upon the village, he doesn't just cower.
12:08–12:09No, he stands as great.
12:09–12:10He fights back.
12:10–12:12showdown right there in the village.
12:12–12:14But it is the ultimate asymmetrical battle.
12:14–12:19Exactly. You have the absolute pinnacle of human physical strength. I mean a man who has
12:19–12:23spent years in the dirt mastering leverage and grappling and suddenly he's pitted against
12:23–12:30a creature fueled by pure unadulterated divine wrath. It is bone and muscle against cosmic
12:30–12:31fire.
12:31–12:33And unsurprisingly human strength fails.
12:33–12:34Yeah.
12:34–12:39It doesn't matter how many holds Garibah knows or how brave he is. The text is brutal
12:39–12:45in its brevity regarding the outcome. There's no triumphant Hollywood underdog victory here.
12:45–12:52Garibin is overpowered and he is killed by the Tigris. The human simply loses to the divine.
12:52–12:56The suddenness of it is breathtaking. One minute he is wrestling with his best friends,
12:56–13:00the next he is being mauled to death by a celestial predator just because he slipped.
13:00–13:06The inevitability of his death is the core of the tragedy here. The text wants the audience
13:06–13:10to feel the crushing suffocating weight of that cosmic asymmetry.
13:10–13:15A good man's life is extinguished like a candle in a hurricane simply because his foot was
13:15–13:16in the wrong place at the wrong time.
13:16–13:17It's just chilling.
13:17–13:22And the aftermath of this brutal event leaves the entire village of Udra an absolute shock.
13:22–13:26I mean, they just watch their friend, their neighbor get ripped apart.
13:26–13:29They are drowning in sorrow but also in terror.
13:29–13:34They are witnessing the incredibly heavy price exacted for an innocent mistake.
13:34–13:38psychological toll on the village, realizing how precarious their existence is next to the
13:38–13:41pity must have been immense.
13:41–13:45But the tragedy and honestly the injustice doesn't end with his death.
13:45–13:48In fact the disrespect shown to Garibin is just beginning.
13:48–13:50This is where it gets really dark.
13:50–13:54Because he was killed by a manifestation of divine wrath, a deep fear seems to grip
13:54–13:59the community and the normal fundamental rules of human society break down.
13:59–14:02Garibin is denied a proper burial.
14:02–14:05His corpse, the body of a man who was just hours prior,
14:05–14:07a respected friend and athlete,
14:07–14:09is unceremoniously taken and thrown
14:09–14:11into the currents of the Kamala River.
14:11–14:13And this action represents a profound,
14:13–14:16multi-layered escalation of the injustice.
14:16–14:17We have to look at the cultural context
14:17–14:18of death rights here.
14:18–14:20Please do, because it's vital.
14:20–14:22In this tradition, the funeral rituals,
14:22–14:24specifically the Cree Nation,
14:24–14:26the honoring of the physical vessel through fire,
14:26–14:28are absolutely essential.
14:28–14:30They aren't just for the closure of the family.
14:30–14:33They are a mechanical necessity for the soul
14:33–14:36to detach from the earthly plane and find peace.
14:36–14:39So by denying him the fire, they are trapping him.
14:39–14:40Precisely.
14:40–14:43By throwing him in the river like refuse,
14:43–14:46society is essentially erasing his humanity.
14:46–14:49They are saying that because he angered the goddess,
14:49–14:51he no longer warrants the basic dignities
14:51–14:52afforded to a human being.
14:52–14:54They're punishing the victim.
14:54–14:56They're compounding his horrific physical death
14:56–14:59with his spiritual and social annihilation.
14:59–15:01And this leads us to an incredibly frustrating moment
15:01–15:02in the story.
15:02–15:04I will admit, I really struggled with this part
15:04–15:06when going through the sources.
15:06–15:08So Garabin's body is floating down the Kamala River.
15:08–15:11It is carried by the currents until it eventually washes up
15:11–15:12at a local ghat.
15:12–15:14A ghat being the series of steps leading down
15:14–15:18to a body of water often used for bathing or washing clothes.
15:18–15:18Right.
15:18–15:21And working at this specific ghat is a washerman,
15:21–15:23a fellow dobe.
15:23–15:25This man is waist deep in the water,
15:25–15:29trying to scrub clothes against the stones, just trying to earn his daily wage.
15:29–15:30Just minding his own business.
15:30–15:36Exactly. And the river current pushes Gariband's heavy waterlogged corpse right into this
15:36–15:41washerman's workspace. It bumps against the stones, tangles in the clothes, and
15:41–15:43completely blocks the man from doing his job.
15:43–15:46Now the source text makes a very important distinction here.
15:46–15:51Yes, the washerman has absolutely no idea whose body this is. He is further down
15:51–15:56the river. He wasn't at the Akraha. He doesn't know this is a respected local wrestler. And
15:56–15:59he certainly doesn't know this is a victim of Kamala Mai's divine Tigris.
15:59–16:01Right. He's totally out of the loop.
16:01–16:06To this man working in the hot sun, the body is just a heavy, morbid, terrifying obstruction.
16:06–16:10It is a profound disruption to his necessary daily labor.
16:10–16:14So what does the washroom do? He doesn't pull the body out to perform last rites.
16:14–16:18He doesn't call for the authorities. He simply shoves the corpse away.
16:18–16:19He just pushes it.
16:19–16:24He physically pushes the body back out into the main current of the river to clear his
16:24–16:27area so he can get back to scrubbing his laundry.
16:27–16:32A purely pragmatic, instinctual action based on the immediate needs of his reality.
16:32–16:33Yes.
16:33–16:41And yet, the text frames this action as a grave, massive, cosmic disrespect.
16:41–16:42And I have to push back on this framing.
16:42–16:43I really do.
16:43–16:46I kept thinking, isn't the washerman just doing his job?
16:46–16:48I completely understand why you'd feel that way.
16:48–16:49I see some modern analogy.
16:49–16:53Look, if I'm at work trying to meet a strict deadline
16:53–16:55and a literal corpse floats into my cubicle.
16:55–16:57I mean, I'm not saying I just push it out
16:57–16:58into the hallway on a rolling chair,
16:58–17:00but I deeply understand the panic
17:00–17:02and the stress of the moment.
17:02–17:03To the high stress situation.
17:03–17:05This washaman has quotas to meet,
17:05–17:06he has clothes to wash,
17:06–17:08his family's dinner depends on his productivity.
17:08–17:10Why does the universe of this folklore
17:10–17:13come down so incredibly hard on this guy?
17:13–17:15Framing his action as this monumental insult?
17:15–17:18When he had absolutely zero malicious intent,
17:18–17:19He was just trying to clear his workspace.
17:19–17:22Your frustration is completely valid,
17:22–17:24and it actually mirrors the frustration we feel
17:24–17:26with the goddess in the first act.
17:26–17:28But if we look closely,
17:28–17:31the text is actually building a very consistent,
17:31–17:34albeit ruthless theological thesis here.
17:34–17:35Okay, I'm listening.
17:35–17:38It is a thesis regarding the inherent
17:38–17:40unalterable dignity of the human form,
17:40–17:42particularly the dead.
17:42–17:44So it's the high voltage wire all over again.
17:44–17:45Exactly.
17:45–17:47Remember how we discussed the PD?
17:47–17:51The text is establishing that certain things in the universe carry an intrinsic, heavy,
17:51–17:54moral weight, regardless of how or why we interact with them.
17:54–17:56Okay, so the altar and the body.
17:56–17:57Right.
17:57–17:58The sacred altar was one.
17:58–18:00A human corpse is another.
18:00–18:03Just as Garabond's total lack of intent didn't save him from the Tigris when his foot
18:03–18:07slipped, the Washerman's total ignorance does not excuse his desecration of a human
18:07–18:08body.
18:08–18:11You were saying the body itself is treated as a sacred space?
18:11–18:12That is the core of it.
18:12–18:14A human corpse is not driftwood.
18:14–18:16It is not a fallen tree branch.
18:16–18:19is not mere debris to be swept aside.
18:19–18:24In this worldview, the physical vessel that once held a human soul demands reverence full
18:24–18:25stop.
18:25–18:27Wow, there's no gray area.
18:27–18:30There are no exceptions for inconvenience.
18:30–18:34By treating the body merely as an obstruction to his daily labor, the washerman fails a
18:34–18:36fundamental test of humanity.
18:36–18:39He basically reduced a human being to the status of a nuisance.
18:39–18:40Yes.
18:40–18:44The text is highlighting a recurring, unyielding theme that runs through the very bedrock
18:44–18:51of this folklore. Our actions have profound cosmic weight, and that weight is entirely
18:51–18:56divorced from the actor's internal intent or pragmatic reasoning.
18:56–19:00Convenience just doesn't matter. Convenience does not and cannot override the sacred
19:00–19:05duty the living owed to the dead. The Washman's act of pushing the body away is a spiritual
19:05–19:10failure. It is a failure to recognize the divine spark that once inhabited that vessel.
19:10–19:14In the eyes of the cosmos, he didn't just push a heavy object. He actively participated
19:14–19:17in the continued degradation of Gariborne's soul.
19:17–19:18Okay, that reframes it completely for me.
19:18–19:21It is horrifying, but it is internally consistent.
19:21–19:23Ignorance of the cosmic law is no excuse.
19:23–19:25If you touch the wire, you get shocked.
19:25–19:28If you push a body away, you accrue spiritual debt.
19:28–19:30Exactly, the universe keeps score.
19:30–19:32Which brings us to the emotional epicenter
19:32–19:34of this entire narrative.
19:34–19:36The camera, so to speak, pans away from the men,
19:36–19:38away from the river and the gait,
19:38–19:40and focuses on Gariborne's wife.
19:40–19:42This part is so heartbreaking.
19:42–19:43It really is.
19:43–19:47She is at home going about her day when she receives the news.
19:47–19:50She is told that her husband, who left that morning
19:50–19:52completely healthy to go wrestle with his friends,
19:52–19:55has been violently mauled to death by a divine beast
19:55–19:57and that his body has been thrown
19:57–19:59into the river like garbage.
19:59–20:01The psychological devastation of that moment
20:01–20:03is just unimaginable.
20:03–20:06And the source text uses a very specific,
20:06–20:09very powerful word to describe her reaction to this news.
20:09–20:11It calls her reaction an artnit.
20:11–20:16art and nod. It is a vital concept in South Asian literature and spirituality. To translate
20:16–20:19it simply as crying or weeping does it a massive disservice.
20:19–20:21What does it really mean then?
20:21–20:27Art and nod is the sound of a soul breaking. It is an agony so deep, a wail of sorrow
20:27–20:33and injustice so profoundly concentrated that it carries a physical force. In many folk
20:33–20:38traditions an art and nod, particularly the art and nod of a devoted wife or a chaste
20:38–20:43widow who has been wronged is believed to literally shake the foundations of the world.
20:43–20:46It makes the thrones of the gods tremble.
20:46–20:50It is the ultimate expression of human powerlessness transforming into cosmic power.
20:50–20:51That's a great way to put it.
20:51–20:56In the depths of this absolute crushing sorrow and desperation, she doesn't plot revenge
20:56–20:58against the villagers.
20:58–20:59She doesn't curse the goddess.
20:59–21:00She prays.
21:00–21:04She unleashes this art not as a prayer to God, viewing the supreme divine as her
21:04–21:08last and only hurt for justice in a universe that has treated her husband with such brutal,
21:08–21:11mechanical indifference. She appeals to the highest possible authority.
21:11–21:15And here is where the mechanics of this universe surprise us again.
21:15–21:20Because of the sheer raw force of her profound grief, the universe actually stops and listens.
21:21–21:27A miracle occurs. The narrative pivots incredibly sharply here. The crushing, unstoppable weight
21:27–21:32of the divine machinery we've seen so far. You know, the unyielding rules of the PD,
21:32–21:39the violence of the Tigris is suddenly interrupted and overridden by the undeniable force of human grief.
21:39–21:44Here's where it gets really interesting for me. Because Garibond's soul is allowed to return to
21:44–21:50the mortal plane. The prayer works. It does. But there is a logistical problem. He cannot come back
21:50–21:55to life in his own body because his body has been desecrated, waterlogged, and lost to the
21:55–22:00currents of the Kamala River. Right. The vessel is ruined. So instead, his soul is permitted
22:00–22:04to cross the boundary of death and enter the body of a living person in the village.
22:04–22:10He possesses someone. He becomes what the text refers to as a bugata.
22:10–22:14A bugata or a spirit medium. This is a very common element in regional folklore,
22:15–22:19but its application here is incredibly specific and purposeful.
22:19–22:22I want to frame this for a modern context because it really helped me understand
22:22–22:26exactly what is happening here. Think about this in terms of our legal system,
22:26–22:28specifically the appeals process.
22:28–22:29Okay, I like where this is going.
22:29–22:34If the village dumping his body into the river was the ultimate silencing of a victim,
22:34–22:38literally throwing away the physical evidence of his existence and denying him a voice,
22:39–22:43then the wife's art nod is the ultimate cosmic appeal.
22:43–22:43Absolutely.
22:43–22:48She files this desperate agonizing appeal directly with the Supreme Court of the universe.
22:49–22:51And the ruling comes down in her favor.
22:52–22:56The court grants the silenced victim a microphone from beyond the grave.
22:56–22:59The living body of the medium is just the microphone.
22:59–23:04That is a brilliant analogy and perfectly captures the mechanics of the Bogota in this story
23:04–23:09Hmm in Western pop culture spirit possession is almost always demonic, right?
23:09–23:12A hostile takeover of a body that requires an exorcism
23:12–23:13Yeah, it's always evil
23:13–23:18But in this folklore the possession is strictly utilitarian and sanctioned by a higher power
23:19–23:26The soul of the dead is not given this temporary physical vessel so they can hang around visit with family or cause general chaos
23:26–23:27It has a job today exactly
23:27–23:30The possession has a singular legalistic purpose.
23:30–23:34The soul is granted vocal cords, specifically to air their
23:34–23:38grievances, to detail the exact excruciating nature of their pain,
23:38–23:41and to demand the justice that they were denied in life.
23:41–23:44It is a mandated cosmic writing of the scales.
23:44–23:45It is a court testimony.
23:45–23:49Precisely. The physical mortal body of Gerban was destroyed by a
23:49–23:52tigress and discarded by a washerman, proving the fragility
23:52–23:56of human life. But the text uses the begata to emphasize
23:56–23:59that the soul's demand for respect and justice
23:59–24:02remains absolute, indestructible, and inevitable.
24:02–24:04And it was his wife that made that happen.
24:04–24:06Yes, and it is crucial to recognize
24:06–24:09that the wife's art not served as the true catalyst for this.
24:09–24:11It proves a fascinating duality in this universe.
24:11–24:13While human intent might not matter at all
24:13–24:15when you accidentally pump into a sacred altar,
24:15–24:18human grief and righteous sorrow matter immensely
24:18–24:20to the overarching fabric of the cosmos.
24:20–24:22It's almost like her grief acts as a beacon,
24:22–24:24strong enough to pull his soul back
24:24–24:26across the boundary of death.
24:26–24:30So we arrive at this incredibly dramatic, tense scene.
24:30–24:33The entire village of Udra is gathered.
24:33–24:36They are standing before the possessed medium, the Bagada.
24:36–24:39You can just imagine the silence in that crowd.
24:39–24:40Oh, you could hear a pin drop.
24:40–24:42It is their neighbor's body,
24:42–24:45but the voice echoing out of it, the mannerisms, the anger,
24:45–24:49it is unmistakably the spirit of Garibondobi.
24:49–24:50And he has a captive audience.
24:50–24:53He does, and Garibond uses this microphone
24:53–24:55to publicly recount everything.
24:55–24:57He doesn't skip any details.
24:57–25:02He talks about the terror of his unjust death and the dirt of the Accra, the place he loved.
25:02–25:06And crucially, he talks about the ultimate degrading disrespect shown to his corpse by
25:06–25:08the washerman down at the riverbank.
25:08–25:09He lays it all out.
25:09–25:13He lays bare every single indignity in front of the people who let it happen.
25:13–25:17This public airing of the grievance is the vital first step of restorative justice
25:17–25:19in many traditional societies.
25:19–25:24The community cannot heal until they are forced to hear the unvarnished truth
25:24–25:26directly from the victim's own mouth.
25:26–25:27They can't hide from it anymore.
25:27–25:29They can no longer plead ignorance.
25:29–25:31They can't blame it all on the goddess.
25:31–25:33And they can no longer look the other way.
25:33–25:36The truth is standing in front of them.
25:36–25:38But Gariband's spirit hasn't returned just to complain
25:38–25:40and make them feel guilty.
25:40–25:42He is there to balance the ledger.
25:42–25:43He issues an ultimatum.
25:43–25:45He issues a curse.
25:45–25:47And this curse is massive.
25:47–25:49And this is where my modern sensibilities
25:49–25:51got completely tripped up once again.
25:51–25:52Because think about his targets.
25:52–25:55He doesn't curse the goddess Kamala Mai
25:55–25:57who actually ordered his death.
25:57–26:00Though admittedly cursing a major deity
26:00–26:02is probably above his spiritual pay grade.
26:02–26:03Yeah, that probably wouldn't go well for him.
26:03–26:05No, but he also doesn't just single out
26:05–26:07and curse the specific washerman
26:07–26:09who shoved his body in the river.
26:09–26:10Right, he goes much wider.
26:10–26:12He goes so wide.
26:12–26:14Garibin issues a massive sweeping curse
26:14–26:17directed at the entire Dobie community.
26:17–26:19Every single washerman in the region.
26:19–26:21The scope of the retaliation is vast.
26:21–26:24and the curse itself is incredibly specific
26:24–26:26and absolutely devastating.
26:26–26:28He declares through the medium
26:28–26:30that if the entire Adobe community
26:30–26:33does not physically go into the treacherous currents
26:33–26:36of the Kamala River, locate and pull
26:36–26:38his desecrated body from the water
26:38–26:41and perform the proper, highly respectful
26:41–26:43cremation rites, the Dasan Scar,
26:43–26:45then there will be catastrophic consequences.
26:45–26:47And what are those consequences?
26:47–26:48He says that the clothes inside
26:48–26:52every single washman's furnace, the Bhatti,
26:52–26:55will spontaneously combust and burn to ash.
26:55–26:59It is a threat of total inescapable economic annihilation
26:59–27:00for that entire community.
27:00–27:00Right.
27:00–27:01The Bhatti is their livelihood.
27:01–27:04If they burn the clothes, they are entrusted to wash,
27:04–27:07their reputation is ruined, their income goes to zero,
27:07–27:08and they will literally starve.
27:08–27:10It is an existential threat.
27:10–27:11It really is life or death for them.
27:11–27:13So I am throwing this back to you
27:13–27:14because I need this explained.
27:14–27:16Why target the whole community?
27:16–27:18Why is an entire group's livelihood
27:18–27:20their ability to feed their children,
27:20–27:23threatened over the ignorant, momentary action
27:23–27:26of literally one guy standing waist deep at a river bank.
27:26–27:28How is that anywhere close to justice?
27:28–27:31If we connect this to the bigger picture,
27:31–27:35it reveals a fundamental irreconcilable difference
27:35–27:38in how this folklore views the structure of society
27:38–27:40compared to our highly individualized
27:40–27:42modern Western perspective.
27:42–27:43Okay.
27:43–27:45In our world, guilt is strictly individual.
27:45–27:47If you commit a crime, you go to jail.
27:47–27:48Right.
27:48–27:51go to jail, your neighbor doesn't go to jail. Right. Individual accountability.
27:52–27:57But in the sociological framework of this text, the community, especially a caste-based
27:57–28:02occupational community like the Dobies, is viewed not as a collection of individuals,
28:02–28:08but as a single interconnected organism, a macro body, if you will. So they are all one entity.
28:08–28:13Exactly. When that lone washerman at the GATT pushed Garabhan's body away, he wasn't just
28:13–28:18acting as Bob the individual. He was acting as a representative cell of the entire Dobie
28:18–28:23organism. Therefore, the profound spiritual debt incurred by his act of desecration is
28:23–28:26instantly distributed and shared by everyone in that community.
28:26–28:29The burden of the sin falls entirely on the collective.
28:29–28:34Yes. The community shares in the profits of their collective labor, and they must share
28:34–28:36in the spiritual debts incurred by their members.
28:36–28:40That is just a completely different way of seeing the world.
28:40–28:42It is, and if we look at the curse itself,
28:42–28:45it is deeply, beautifully symbolic.
28:45–28:49It isn't just random destruction, it is poetic justice.
28:49–28:52Look at the elemental forces at play here.
28:52–28:54Garibin's dignity was stripped away
28:54–28:55in the element of water.
28:55–28:57The river where he was dumped, water logged,
28:57–29:00and disrespected by a man washing clothes in water.
29:00–29:01Oh, wow.
29:01–29:04The curse threatens them with the opposing element, fire.
29:04–29:05The fire of the furnaces
29:05–29:07that will destroy their livelihood.
29:07–29:09Water took his dignity, fire will take their survival.
29:09–29:16Precisely. And to resolve this terrifying elemental imbalance, he demands that they use fire positively.
29:16–29:22He demands the Dasaanskar, the sacred cremation fire. They must use the holy fire to purify
29:22–29:27and correct the profound disrespect that happened in the profane water. It is a masterpiece
29:27–29:29of elemental balancing.
29:29–29:30That is incredible.
29:30–29:35Furthermore, this explains why one man's apology isn't enough. To restore cosmic
29:35–29:42order after an insult this grave, an individual saying, I'm sorry, is woefully insufficient.
29:42–29:47The fabric of the community was torn. Therefore, the collective community must physically labor
29:47–29:51together to stitch it back together. They all have to do the work. They must share the
29:51–29:57terrifying physical burden of retrieving his rotting body from the dangerous river to
29:57–30:03reverse the disrespect. Collective guilt absolutely requires collective physical atonement.
30:03–30:09elemental framing just makes it click for me. The water, the destructive fire, and the purifying fire.
30:09–30:13It's incredibly poetic, but for the villagers standing there listening to this possessed medium,
30:14–30:20it's a ticking clock. Go the pressures on. So the community reacts. Driven by absolute existential
30:20–30:24fear of this curse, because again if those clothes burn their family starve, and perhaps also driven
30:24–30:30by a sudden deeply awakened conscience after hearing the raw agony of the spirit's testimony,
30:30–30:32the Dobie community leaps into action.
30:32–30:33They don't waste any time.
30:33–30:35They don't form a committee to discuss it.
30:35–30:37They don't appeal the decision.
30:37–30:40The men of the community literally run to the Kamala River
30:40–30:42and dive into the currents.
30:42–30:44It's physical action, immediate physical action.
30:44–30:48Yes. They searched the murky water, fighting the river that took him,
30:48–30:51until they find Garibin's waterlogged, battered body.
30:52–30:54They pull his heavy corpse out of the water
30:54–30:56and together, working as a unified collective,
30:56–31:01they perform the proper, highly respectful cremation rites.
31:01–31:06They give him the Dossan Scar, offering his body to the sacred fire so his soul can finally
31:06–31:07be released.
31:07–31:09They physically enact their apology.
31:09–31:11This isn't a verbal promise to do better.
31:11–31:13They get their hands dirty.
31:13–31:17They bear the actual physical weight of his corpse, righting the wrong that was done
31:17–31:20when their fellow washerman treated that exact same weight as a nuisance to be pushed
31:20–31:21away.
31:21–31:24They replace convenience with grueling sacred labor.
31:24–31:29And because of this massive collective physical act of atonement, the spiritual circuit is
31:29–31:31finally broken.
31:31–31:37The curse is neutralized, the crisis is averted, the furnaces remain safe, the clothes do not
31:37–31:41spontaneously combust, and the community's livelihood is secured.
31:41–31:42They balance the scales.
31:42–31:47But here is the part that I found most beautiful, most surprising about this entire deep dive.
31:47–31:50The story doesn't just end at even.
31:50–31:54It doesn't just reset the ledger to zero and everyone goes back to their lives.
31:54–31:55Right, he goes a step further.
31:55–31:59Gariban's soul finally finds the peace and release he was denied.
31:59–32:04But he doesn't just fade away into the afterlife or reincarnate immediately
32:04–32:08because of everything that happened, because of the sheer intensity of this cycle of
32:08–32:11divine injustice, human desecration, the wife's grief,
32:11–32:14and this intense community atonement, he is fundamentally transformed.
32:14–32:16It's a complete metamorphosis.
32:16–32:17He becomes Gariban Baba.
32:17–32:23He is elevated from a mortal washerman and wrestler to the status of a protective folk deity.
32:23–32:26And what is his specific divine task?
32:26–32:29The cosmos assigns him to be the eternal guardian
32:29–32:31of the Dolby community's furnaces and clothes.
32:31–32:34The irony of his new domain is absolutely magnificent,
32:34–32:35isn't it?
32:35–32:36It is stunning.
32:36–32:38So what does this all mean?
32:38–32:40If you are tracking this character arc,
32:40–32:43you have to appreciate the absolute whip last year.
32:43–32:47How does the victim of a community's ultimate disrespect,
32:47–32:50a man who, via a possessed medium,
32:50–32:53literally threatened to burn their entire livelihoods
32:53–32:59to the ground just a day prior, how does he become their ultimate immortal guardian?
32:59–33:05This is exactly where the text transcends being just a simple, scary morality tale about not
33:05–33:10bumping into altars and becomes a profound, sophisticated meditation on the nature of
33:10–33:12forgiveness and the alchemy of trauma.
33:12–33:14The alchemy of trauma, I love that phrasing.
33:14–33:18What this folklore is telling us is that when atonement is genuine, when it is truly
33:18–33:22collective and when it requires real physical and spiritual labor, it does much more than
33:22–33:26just a race of debt. True atonement is a creative force. It actually generates something entirely
33:26–33:31new. So they didn't just fix it, they built something. Exactly. Through the Dobie community's
33:31–33:34collective desperate effort to honor him, the relationship between the wrong victim and the
33:34–33:41wrong doers is not just repaired, it is fundamentally elevated. It's like a broken bone healing back
33:41–33:46stronger at the fracture site. They are bound together in a completely new way.
33:46–33:51Yes, beautifully put. Think about the psychological and sociological reality of this for the
33:51–33:56the community going forward. By facing their communal guilt head-on, by waiting into the
33:56–34:01river together and working side-by-side to right the wrong, they forged a permanent, unbreakable
34:01–34:03spiritual connection with Garabon.
34:03–34:05He's one of them again.
34:05–34:10He's no longer just a tragic victim in their history. He is the absolute center of their
34:10–34:15communal redemption. The narrative arc is masterfully, perfectly complete. A normal
34:15–34:20man who is killed by a totally innocent mistake, who suffered the ultimate earthly indignities,
34:20–34:23transformed by fire and effort into an immortal deity.
34:23–34:24It blows my mind.
34:24–34:29And the beautiful reality is that he is remembered to this day by the Adobe community.
34:29–34:35They worship Garabhanbaba as a protector against the very destruction by fire that he once threatened them with.
34:35–34:39His profound trauma was completely metabolized by the community's sincere atonement,
34:39–34:44and the resulting spiritual energy was repurposed into a permanent shield that protects them all.
34:44–34:49It is such a stunning evolution of a story. I am just blown away by the depths here.
34:49–34:50Think about where we started.
34:50–34:53We started with three friends just wrestling
34:53–34:58in the dirt of the Akraha on a perfectly ordinary hot afternoon.
34:58–35:00The most mundane scene possible.
35:00–35:02From that grounded reality, we spiraled
35:02–35:05into the sheer terror of a divine Tigris
35:05–35:08summoned from the heavens over a misplaced font.
35:08–35:10We watched a corpse float down a river
35:10–35:12only to be shoved aside like garbage
35:12–35:13in the name of workplace convenience.
35:13–35:16We saw the absolute worst of circumstances.
35:16–35:21We heard the earth-shattering art-nod of a grieving wife, a cry so loud it pulled a soul
35:21–35:26back from the void to demand justice through the vocal cords of a possessed neighbor.
35:26–35:31And finally, it all culminated in this frantic communal act of physical redemption in the river,
35:31–35:35ultimately birthing a protective god from the ashes of a senseless tragedy.
35:35–35:36It's a lot to take in.
35:36–35:41It is a massive, sweeping cinematic epic hidden inside what initially appears to be a simple,
35:41–35:43localized folktale.
35:43–35:49It truly is. It operates on so many levels, theological, sociological, and deeply emotional.
35:49–35:53And while the mechanics of divine Tigris' incurses might feel distant to us,
35:53–35:58the core lessons leave us with so much to consider about our own modern lives,
35:58–36:02specifically regarding how we view the interconnectedness of our communities
36:02–36:05and the true unseen consequences of our everyday actions.
36:05–36:11I completely agree. The themes are incredibly resonant no matter what century you live in,
36:11–36:14which makes this the perfect place to wrap up our exploration today.
36:14–36:18Before we go, this raises an important question, something for you to mull over
36:18–36:21as you go about the rest of your day. Think about the spaces you move through
36:21–36:25every single day. Think about the people you casually interact with,
36:25–36:30the obstacles you brush past, the minor conveniences you prioritize over slowing down and paying
36:30–36:36attention. The things we just push away without a second thought. Exactly. If, as this ancient
36:36–36:41text so vividly suggests our most thoughtless unintentional actions carry enough cosmic
36:41–36:47weight to summon a tigress or curse an entire community or, conversely, if our collective
36:47–36:52sweaty physical efforts at making amends have the power to turn a tragic memory into
36:52–36:54a permanent guardian spirit.
36:54–36:57How might that change the way you step into the world tomorrow?
36:57–36:59What an incredible question to leave on.
36:59–37:02Thank you so much for joining us on this deep dive.
37:02–37:03Keep looking closely at the world.
37:03–37:07Keep wondering about the hidden weight of things and keep questioning the stories around
37:07–37:08you.
37:08–37:08Until next time.

Plain text

Imagine you're just walking down the street. It is a completely normal Tuesday. You know, you are thinking about your grocery list or maybe that email you totally forgot to send for work. Right. Just totally lost in your own thoughts. Exactly. And then you trip on a slightly uneven piece of pavement and you accidentally scuff your shoe against, say, the bottom step of a local church or temple. Oh, I hate that. You just feel so clumsy. Yeah, you feel a little awkward. Maybe you look around quickly to see if anyone saw you stumble and then you just keep walking, right? Because it's no big deal. Yeah, of course. Now imagine that instead of just feeling a bit awkward, the very heavens literally tear open above you. Imagine that because of that tiny, completely unintentional scuff of your shoe, a literal divine Tigris is immediately dispatched from the sky. Just zero to 100 in a second. Literally. It hits the ground with the sole unyielding mission of hunting you down and and ending your life. It sounds like a surreal nightmare. The escalation is just so abrupt it almost feels kind of absurd to our modern sensibilities. It is wildly absurd, but it is also the exact premise of what we're looking at today. So welcome to this deep dive. I am incredibly glad you are here with us listening in because today we are setting off on just an extraordinary exploration of folklore, the terrifying mechanics of ancient justice, and the supernatural. It's gonna be quite the journey. It really is. Our mission today is to unpack a single, utterly fascinating source text. We are digging deep into translated excerpts from a piece titled, Garabhan Bhabha. Right, which was written by Gijendra Thakur. Yeah, and published in the video, Ipatrika. And I have to say, it is a remarkable, heavy piece of literature. It is gonna force us to completely recalibrate how we understand, you know, cause, effect, and consequence. Oh, absolutely. We're gonna explore how a really simple, everyday accident cascaded into this overwhelming display of divine wrath, supernatural possession, and ultimately the birth of a brand new protective folk deity. Okay, let's unpack this. Because to really understand the sheer terror of that divine Tigris, we have to first understand the world the story is actually set in. I mean, if the story started with magic and monsters, we just wouldn't care. Yeah, we just feel like a standard fantasy trope. Right. The reason this text hits so hard is that the setting is profoundly almost painfully normal. That is the absolute genius of this folklore. The supernatural elements of this narrative only carry weight because the baseline is so deeply rooted in the mundane, sweaty human reality of village life. Yeah, it really grounds you. It does. The text paints a very vivid, very grounded picture. We are placed in the village of Udra, and this village is situated right on the banks of the Kamala River. Which is super important to note. Exactly. You have to understand the Kamala River isn't just like a pretty backdrop. In this region, the river is the lifeblood. It's the economic engine and the spiritual boundary of the community. It literally gives life and it takes it away. And right there nestled in the daily rhythm of this river village, we meet our central characters. And they aren't kings, right? They aren't legendary warriors. No, not at all. They are just local men who spend their free time engaged in a very physical, very ancient human activity. They wrestle. So they spend their days at the village Akara, which is the traditional wrestling arena. And the Akara is a really fascinating space in South Asian culture. Yeah. It is not just a gym where you go to, you know, lift some weights and then leave. Right. It's much more than that. It is a patch of earth that has been specifically prepared. They often mix it with oil, buttermilk, and sometimes even red ochre. It is a space entirely dedicated to physical discipline, yes. But it also operates under its own unique set of social rules. Which brings us to the specific identities of these three friends. Because the text makes a huge point to tell us exactly who they are. Yes, the demographics here are not an accident. Right, so you have Barm Fakur, who is a Brahmin. You have Ghassi Adav, who belongs to the agricultural cowherding community. And you have Gariband Bobi, who is a washerman. And this is a critical detail. In the traditional societal structure of a village like Udra, These three men occupy very different strictly defined rungs on the social ladder. They wouldn't normally just be hanging out. Exactly. A Brahmin, traditionally the priestly and scholarly class, operates under incredibly stripped rules of purity and pollution, like rules regarding who we can interact with, share food with, or even physically touch. And the dobe is on the other end of that spectrum. Right. The dobe, the washerman, traditionally deals with the physical impurities of others by washing their dirty clothes, which places him in a very different social category entirely. But in The Dirt of the Alcaja, all of that just vanities. I absolutely love this image. You have these three men from rigid, disparate social backgrounds, but when they step into that prepared mud, they are just three buddies. Yeah, the outside world just fades away. Yeah, they are sweating it out, grappling, practicing their holds, and just engaging in this raw physical camaraderie. Exactly. In the wrestling pit, the usual social hierarchies are temporarily but entirely suspended. It is just muscle, sweat, leverage, and skill. The Brahmin and the Washerman are absolute equals in the dust. It's quite beautiful, actually. It really is. And this profound sense of earthly harmony is incredibly important for the narrative. The text is taking its time to establish a baseline of normancy, of human friendship that transcends societal boundaries precisely so that the incoming disruption feels catastrophic. Looks like setting up a house of cards. Exactly. We are looking at a world that feels safe, familiar, and honestly, strangely progressive in its shared humanity, right up until the universe decides to completely break it. So you have this beautiful image of earthly harmony, but the text immediately juxtaposes the secular, sweaty space of the wrestling pit with something incredibly volatile located just a few feet away. The proximity is just so tense. It is. Akraha bordering the exact space where these men are throwing each other into the mud is Kamala May's Petey. And that proximity is the catalyst for the entire tragedy. Let's explain the Petey for a second because it's important you understand what this is. When you hear the word altar, you might think of, I don't know, a quiet table in the back of a church with some candles on it. Right, something passive. Yeah. But in this context, the Petey is the absolute untouchable epicenter of the village's worship. It is a highly sacred, consecrated platform dedicated to the Goddess Kamalami. It isn't just a symbol of the Goddess. In the minds of the villagers, it is her physical anchor to the earth. It is a zone of absolute uncompromising purity. And it exists right next to a zone of intense, chaotic physical exertion. It's literally like putting a particle accelerator in the middle of a high school gymnasium. That is a terrifying image, but very accurate. Right. So the three friends are wrestling. It's a hot day. They're exerting themselves. It's a blur of limbs and mud. And during one of these intense bouts in the heat of the moment, Garibin's foot slips. He loses his balance and his foot accidentally touches Kamala Mai's sacred paiti. The text is incredibly almost legally precise about how this happens. It explicitly uses the term Anjan Sunjan. Anjan Sunjan. What does that literally translate to? It translates roughly to an action done in complete and total ignorance. It means entirely unintentional. Okay. The text is making an ironclad case for Garibin's innocence here. There was absolutely no malice in his heart. He was not trying to make a theological statement. He was not being rebellious, and he certainly was not disrespecting the goddess on purpose. He just slipped. He was simply a man engaged in a grueling sport who lost control of his momentum for a fraction of a second. His foot made contact. That is the entirety of his crime. I mean, in any modern court of law this gets thrown out immediately. The concept of mens rea, you know, a guilty mind, is foundational to how we understand justice today. If you don't intend to commit a crime and you are not being recklessly negligent, you are generally not held criminally liable for an accident. We view intent as the soul of the action. We do. But the folklore operates on a completely different cosmological axis. The goddess Kamala Mai does not recognize Men's Reya. Not even a little bit. Not at all. The text tells us her reaction is immediate and it is absolute fury. The insult to her sacred space is deemed completely unforgivable regardless of what was in Garibin's heart. And this is where the story just explodes. Because she doesn't just curse him with a bad harvest. She doesn't give him a fever. The goddess skips the local level of punishment entirely. She essentially storms into the cosmic CEO's office. office. She goes straight to Indra's court and Indra being the king of the gods in this panty on. She goes right to the top. Right to the top. She demands retribution and she procures a divine, terrifying Tigris. She then dispatches this supernatural apex predator down to the village with one specific mission, execute Garibandobi. The sheer scale of the retribution is staggering. It is a physical manifestation of divine violence unleashed over a misplaced It is so wildly disproportionate to the crime. To go back to our analogy at the beginning of the show, it is exactly like accidentally stepping on a stranger's shoe in a crowded hallway, and instead of them yelling at you, they summon a military drone strike to obliterate your entire neighborhood. It's an astronomical overreaction by our standards. Yes. And I really struggled with this when I was reading the source text. I have to ask you, why is intention completely irrelevant here? Does this text suggest a worldview where the physical sanctity of a space completely supersedes human morality? What's fascinating here is how the text establishes a terrifying, almost mechanical power dynamic between the human and the divine. You want the divine to be reasonable, right? To be a wise judge who weighs the contents of our hearts. Exactly. We expect fairness. But in the worldview presented by this specific folklore, sacredness is not just a philosophical concept. a physical, highly volatile substance. A physical substance, like radiation. Exactly like radiation, or perhaps more accurately, an exposed high voltage wire. Oh, I like that. Think about how electricity works. If you are walking in the dark and you accidentally brush your hand against an exposed live wire, the electricity doesn't pause to run a moral calculator. Right, doesn't care who you are. It doesn't ask, did this person intend to touch me? Are they a good person? Were they just clumsy? The electricity simply shocks you because that is its fundamental nature. When the circuit is closed, the energy discharges. Wow, okay. So the peaty is the live wire. Yes, the goddess's reaction reflects a cosmic order where human innocence is absolutely no shield against divine wrath. Once a secret boundary is physically breached, the rules are structural and unyielding. It's just cause and effect. Exactly. Purity has been contaminated by the touch of a sweaty foot. Therefore, a cosmic debt has been incurred and the ledger must be balanced in blood. The text is delivering a very sobering, very frightening reminder to its original audience. In this universe, humans are fragile creatures moving through a landscape laced with invisible, lethal, divine tripwires. That high-voltage wire analogy makes perfect sense of the absolute lack of mercy. The circuit was closed, and the Tigris is a resulting shock, which takes us right back to the dirt of the Akraha. We just spent all this time establishing that the wrestling pit was this beautiful place of friendly sport, this rare zone of human equality and connection. Yeah. And in an instant, it is transformed into a life or death gladiatorial arena. It is a devastating subversion of the space, the place where Garabin trained to become strong becomes the site of his execution. And Garabin is not helpless. The text notes that he is a very skilled wrestler. He's strong, he is trained, he knows how to fight. So when this divine Tigris descends upon the village, he doesn't just cower. No, he stands as great. He fights back. showdown right there in the village. But it is the ultimate asymmetrical battle. Exactly. You have the absolute pinnacle of human physical strength. I mean a man who has spent years in the dirt mastering leverage and grappling and suddenly he's pitted against a creature fueled by pure unadulterated divine wrath. It is bone and muscle against cosmic fire. And unsurprisingly human strength fails. Yeah. It doesn't matter how many holds Garibah knows or how brave he is. The text is brutal in its brevity regarding the outcome. There's no triumphant Hollywood underdog victory here. Garibin is overpowered and he is killed by the Tigris. The human simply loses to the divine. The suddenness of it is breathtaking. One minute he is wrestling with his best friends, the next he is being mauled to death by a celestial predator just because he slipped. The inevitability of his death is the core of the tragedy here. The text wants the audience to feel the crushing suffocating weight of that cosmic asymmetry. A good man's life is extinguished like a candle in a hurricane simply because his foot was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just chilling. And the aftermath of this brutal event leaves the entire village of Udra an absolute shock. I mean, they just watch their friend, their neighbor get ripped apart. They are drowning in sorrow but also in terror. They are witnessing the incredibly heavy price exacted for an innocent mistake. psychological toll on the village, realizing how precarious their existence is next to the pity must have been immense. But the tragedy and honestly the injustice doesn't end with his death. In fact the disrespect shown to Garibin is just beginning. This is where it gets really dark. Because he was killed by a manifestation of divine wrath, a deep fear seems to grip the community and the normal fundamental rules of human society break down. Garibin is denied a proper burial. His corpse, the body of a man who was just hours prior, a respected friend and athlete, is unceremoniously taken and thrown into the currents of the Kamala River. And this action represents a profound, multi-layered escalation of the injustice. We have to look at the cultural context of death rights here. Please do, because it's vital. In this tradition, the funeral rituals, specifically the Cree Nation, the honoring of the physical vessel through fire, are absolutely essential. They aren't just for the closure of the family. They are a mechanical necessity for the soul to detach from the earthly plane and find peace. So by denying him the fire, they are trapping him. Precisely. By throwing him in the river like refuse, society is essentially erasing his humanity. They are saying that because he angered the goddess, he no longer warrants the basic dignities afforded to a human being. They're punishing the victim. They're compounding his horrific physical death with his spiritual and social annihilation. And this leads us to an incredibly frustrating moment in the story. I will admit, I really struggled with this part when going through the sources. So Garabin's body is floating down the Kamala River. It is carried by the currents until it eventually washes up at a local ghat. A ghat being the series of steps leading down to a body of water often used for bathing or washing clothes. Right. And working at this specific ghat is a washerman, a fellow dobe. This man is waist deep in the water, trying to scrub clothes against the stones, just trying to earn his daily wage. Just minding his own business. Exactly. And the river current pushes Gariband's heavy waterlogged corpse right into this washerman's workspace. It bumps against the stones, tangles in the clothes, and completely blocks the man from doing his job. Now the source text makes a very important distinction here. Yes, the washerman has absolutely no idea whose body this is. He is further down the river. He wasn't at the Akraha. He doesn't know this is a respected local wrestler. And he certainly doesn't know this is a victim of Kamala Mai's divine Tigris. Right. He's totally out of the loop. To this man working in the hot sun, the body is just a heavy, morbid, terrifying obstruction. It is a profound disruption to his necessary daily labor. So what does the washroom do? He doesn't pull the body out to perform last rites. He doesn't call for the authorities. He simply shoves the corpse away. He just pushes it. He physically pushes the body back out into the main current of the river to clear his area so he can get back to scrubbing his laundry. A purely pragmatic, instinctual action based on the immediate needs of his reality. Yes. And yet, the text frames this action as a grave, massive, cosmic disrespect. And I have to push back on this framing. I really do. I kept thinking, isn't the washerman just doing his job? I completely understand why you'd feel that way. I see some modern analogy. Look, if I'm at work trying to meet a strict deadline and a literal corpse floats into my cubicle. I mean, I'm not saying I just push it out into the hallway on a rolling chair, but I deeply understand the panic and the stress of the moment. To the high stress situation. This washaman has quotas to meet, he has clothes to wash, his family's dinner depends on his productivity. Why does the universe of this folklore come down so incredibly hard on this guy? Framing his action as this monumental insult? When he had absolutely zero malicious intent, He was just trying to clear his workspace. Your frustration is completely valid, and it actually mirrors the frustration we feel with the goddess in the first act. But if we look closely, the text is actually building a very consistent, albeit ruthless theological thesis here. Okay, I'm listening. It is a thesis regarding the inherent unalterable dignity of the human form, particularly the dead. So it's the high voltage wire all over again. Exactly. Remember how we discussed the PD? The text is establishing that certain things in the universe carry an intrinsic, heavy, moral weight, regardless of how or why we interact with them. Okay, so the altar and the body. Right. The sacred altar was one. A human corpse is another. Just as Garabond's total lack of intent didn't save him from the Tigris when his foot slipped, the Washerman's total ignorance does not excuse his desecration of a human body. You were saying the body itself is treated as a sacred space? That is the core of it. A human corpse is not driftwood. It is not a fallen tree branch. is not mere debris to be swept aside. In this worldview, the physical vessel that once held a human soul demands reverence full stop. Wow, there's no gray area. There are no exceptions for inconvenience. By treating the body merely as an obstruction to his daily labor, the washerman fails a fundamental test of humanity. He basically reduced a human being to the status of a nuisance. Yes. The text is highlighting a recurring, unyielding theme that runs through the very bedrock of this folklore. Our actions have profound cosmic weight, and that weight is entirely divorced from the actor's internal intent or pragmatic reasoning. Convenience just doesn't matter. Convenience does not and cannot override the sacred duty the living owed to the dead. The Washman's act of pushing the body away is a spiritual failure. It is a failure to recognize the divine spark that once inhabited that vessel. In the eyes of the cosmos, he didn't just push a heavy object. He actively participated in the continued degradation of Gariborne's soul. Okay, that reframes it completely for me. It is horrifying, but it is internally consistent. Ignorance of the cosmic law is no excuse. If you touch the wire, you get shocked. If you push a body away, you accrue spiritual debt. Exactly, the universe keeps score. Which brings us to the emotional epicenter of this entire narrative. The camera, so to speak, pans away from the men, away from the river and the gait, and focuses on Gariborne's wife. This part is so heartbreaking. It really is. She is at home going about her day when she receives the news. She is told that her husband, who left that morning completely healthy to go wrestle with his friends, has been violently mauled to death by a divine beast and that his body has been thrown into the river like garbage. The psychological devastation of that moment is just unimaginable. And the source text uses a very specific, very powerful word to describe her reaction to this news. It calls her reaction an artnit. art and nod. It is a vital concept in South Asian literature and spirituality. To translate it simply as crying or weeping does it a massive disservice. What does it really mean then? Art and nod is the sound of a soul breaking. It is an agony so deep, a wail of sorrow and injustice so profoundly concentrated that it carries a physical force. In many folk traditions an art and nod, particularly the art and nod of a devoted wife or a chaste widow who has been wronged is believed to literally shake the foundations of the world. It makes the thrones of the gods tremble. It is the ultimate expression of human powerlessness transforming into cosmic power. That's a great way to put it. In the depths of this absolute crushing sorrow and desperation, she doesn't plot revenge against the villagers. She doesn't curse the goddess. She prays. She unleashes this art not as a prayer to God, viewing the supreme divine as her last and only hurt for justice in a universe that has treated her husband with such brutal, mechanical indifference. She appeals to the highest possible authority. And here is where the mechanics of this universe surprise us again. Because of the sheer raw force of her profound grief, the universe actually stops and listens. A miracle occurs. The narrative pivots incredibly sharply here. The crushing, unstoppable weight of the divine machinery we've seen so far. You know, the unyielding rules of the PD, the violence of the Tigris is suddenly interrupted and overridden by the undeniable force of human grief. Here's where it gets really interesting for me. Because Garibond's soul is allowed to return to the mortal plane. The prayer works. It does. But there is a logistical problem. He cannot come back to life in his own body because his body has been desecrated, waterlogged, and lost to the currents of the Kamala River. Right. The vessel is ruined. So instead, his soul is permitted to cross the boundary of death and enter the body of a living person in the village. He possesses someone. He becomes what the text refers to as a bugata. A bugata or a spirit medium. This is a very common element in regional folklore, but its application here is incredibly specific and purposeful. I want to frame this for a modern context because it really helped me understand exactly what is happening here. Think about this in terms of our legal system, specifically the appeals process. Okay, I like where this is going. If the village dumping his body into the river was the ultimate silencing of a victim, literally throwing away the physical evidence of his existence and denying him a voice, then the wife's art nod is the ultimate cosmic appeal. Absolutely. She files this desperate agonizing appeal directly with the Supreme Court of the universe. And the ruling comes down in her favor. The court grants the silenced victim a microphone from beyond the grave. The living body of the medium is just the microphone. That is a brilliant analogy and perfectly captures the mechanics of the Bogota in this story Hmm in Western pop culture spirit possession is almost always demonic, right? A hostile takeover of a body that requires an exorcism Yeah, it's always evil But in this folklore the possession is strictly utilitarian and sanctioned by a higher power The soul of the dead is not given this temporary physical vessel so they can hang around visit with family or cause general chaos It has a job today exactly The possession has a singular legalistic purpose. The soul is granted vocal cords, specifically to air their grievances, to detail the exact excruciating nature of their pain, and to demand the justice that they were denied in life. It is a mandated cosmic writing of the scales. It is a court testimony. Precisely. The physical mortal body of Gerban was destroyed by a tigress and discarded by a washerman, proving the fragility of human life. But the text uses the begata to emphasize that the soul's demand for respect and justice remains absolute, indestructible, and inevitable. And it was his wife that made that happen. Yes, and it is crucial to recognize that the wife's art not served as the true catalyst for this. It proves a fascinating duality in this universe. While human intent might not matter at all when you accidentally pump into a sacred altar, human grief and righteous sorrow matter immensely to the overarching fabric of the cosmos. It's almost like her grief acts as a beacon, strong enough to pull his soul back across the boundary of death. So we arrive at this incredibly dramatic, tense scene. The entire village of Udra is gathered. They are standing before the possessed medium, the Bagada. You can just imagine the silence in that crowd. Oh, you could hear a pin drop. It is their neighbor's body, but the voice echoing out of it, the mannerisms, the anger, it is unmistakably the spirit of Garibondobi. And he has a captive audience. He does, and Garibond uses this microphone to publicly recount everything. He doesn't skip any details. He talks about the terror of his unjust death and the dirt of the Accra, the place he loved. And crucially, he talks about the ultimate degrading disrespect shown to his corpse by the washerman down at the riverbank. He lays it all out. He lays bare every single indignity in front of the people who let it happen. This public airing of the grievance is the vital first step of restorative justice in many traditional societies. The community cannot heal until they are forced to hear the unvarnished truth directly from the victim's own mouth. They can't hide from it anymore. They can no longer plead ignorance. They can't blame it all on the goddess. And they can no longer look the other way. The truth is standing in front of them. But Gariband's spirit hasn't returned just to complain and make them feel guilty. He is there to balance the ledger. He issues an ultimatum. He issues a curse. And this curse is massive. And this is where my modern sensibilities got completely tripped up once again. Because think about his targets. He doesn't curse the goddess Kamala Mai who actually ordered his death. Though admittedly cursing a major deity is probably above his spiritual pay grade. Yeah, that probably wouldn't go well for him. No, but he also doesn't just single out and curse the specific washerman who shoved his body in the river. Right, he goes much wider. He goes so wide. Garibin issues a massive sweeping curse directed at the entire Dobie community. Every single washerman in the region. The scope of the retaliation is vast. and the curse itself is incredibly specific and absolutely devastating. He declares through the medium that if the entire Adobe community does not physically go into the treacherous currents of the Kamala River, locate and pull his desecrated body from the water and perform the proper, highly respectful cremation rites, the Dasan Scar, then there will be catastrophic consequences. And what are those consequences? He says that the clothes inside every single washman's furnace, the Bhatti, will spontaneously combust and burn to ash. It is a threat of total inescapable economic annihilation for that entire community. Right. The Bhatti is their livelihood. If they burn the clothes, they are entrusted to wash, their reputation is ruined, their income goes to zero, and they will literally starve. It is an existential threat. It really is life or death for them. So I am throwing this back to you because I need this explained. Why target the whole community? Why is an entire group's livelihood their ability to feed their children, threatened over the ignorant, momentary action of literally one guy standing waist deep at a river bank. How is that anywhere close to justice? If we connect this to the bigger picture, it reveals a fundamental irreconcilable difference in how this folklore views the structure of society compared to our highly individualized modern Western perspective. Okay. In our world, guilt is strictly individual. If you commit a crime, you go to jail. Right. go to jail, your neighbor doesn't go to jail. Right. Individual accountability. But in the sociological framework of this text, the community, especially a caste-based occupational community like the Dobies, is viewed not as a collection of individuals, but as a single interconnected organism, a macro body, if you will. So they are all one entity. Exactly. When that lone washerman at the GATT pushed Garabhan's body away, he wasn't just acting as Bob the individual. He was acting as a representative cell of the entire Dobie organism. Therefore, the profound spiritual debt incurred by his act of desecration is instantly distributed and shared by everyone in that community. The burden of the sin falls entirely on the collective. Yes. The community shares in the profits of their collective labor, and they must share in the spiritual debts incurred by their members. That is just a completely different way of seeing the world. It is, and if we look at the curse itself, it is deeply, beautifully symbolic. It isn't just random destruction, it is poetic justice. Look at the elemental forces at play here. Garibin's dignity was stripped away in the element of water. The river where he was dumped, water logged, and disrespected by a man washing clothes in water. Oh, wow. The curse threatens them with the opposing element, fire. The fire of the furnaces that will destroy their livelihood. Water took his dignity, fire will take their survival. Precisely. And to resolve this terrifying elemental imbalance, he demands that they use fire positively. He demands the Dasaanskar, the sacred cremation fire. They must use the holy fire to purify and correct the profound disrespect that happened in the profane water. It is a masterpiece of elemental balancing. That is incredible. Furthermore, this explains why one man's apology isn't enough. To restore cosmic order after an insult this grave, an individual saying, I'm sorry, is woefully insufficient. The fabric of the community was torn. Therefore, the collective community must physically labor together to stitch it back together. They all have to do the work. They must share the terrifying physical burden of retrieving his rotting body from the dangerous river to reverse the disrespect. Collective guilt absolutely requires collective physical atonement. elemental framing just makes it click for me. The water, the destructive fire, and the purifying fire. It's incredibly poetic, but for the villagers standing there listening to this possessed medium, it's a ticking clock. Go the pressures on. So the community reacts. Driven by absolute existential fear of this curse, because again if those clothes burn their family starve, and perhaps also driven by a sudden deeply awakened conscience after hearing the raw agony of the spirit's testimony, the Dobie community leaps into action. They don't waste any time. They don't form a committee to discuss it. They don't appeal the decision. The men of the community literally run to the Kamala River and dive into the currents. It's physical action, immediate physical action. Yes. They searched the murky water, fighting the river that took him, until they find Garibin's waterlogged, battered body. They pull his heavy corpse out of the water and together, working as a unified collective, they perform the proper, highly respectful cremation rites. They give him the Dossan Scar, offering his body to the sacred fire so his soul can finally be released. They physically enact their apology. This isn't a verbal promise to do better. They get their hands dirty. They bear the actual physical weight of his corpse, righting the wrong that was done when their fellow washerman treated that exact same weight as a nuisance to be pushed away. They replace convenience with grueling sacred labor. And because of this massive collective physical act of atonement, the spiritual circuit is finally broken. The curse is neutralized, the crisis is averted, the furnaces remain safe, the clothes do not spontaneously combust, and the community's livelihood is secured. They balance the scales. But here is the part that I found most beautiful, most surprising about this entire deep dive. The story doesn't just end at even. It doesn't just reset the ledger to zero and everyone goes back to their lives. Right, he goes a step further. Gariban's soul finally finds the peace and release he was denied. But he doesn't just fade away into the afterlife or reincarnate immediately because of everything that happened, because of the sheer intensity of this cycle of divine injustice, human desecration, the wife's grief, and this intense community atonement, he is fundamentally transformed. It's a complete metamorphosis. He becomes Gariban Baba. He is elevated from a mortal washerman and wrestler to the status of a protective folk deity. And what is his specific divine task? The cosmos assigns him to be the eternal guardian of the Dolby community's furnaces and clothes. The irony of his new domain is absolutely magnificent, isn't it? It is stunning. So what does this all mean? If you are tracking this character arc, you have to appreciate the absolute whip last year. How does the victim of a community's ultimate disrespect, a man who, via a possessed medium, literally threatened to burn their entire livelihoods to the ground just a day prior, how does he become their ultimate immortal guardian? This is exactly where the text transcends being just a simple, scary morality tale about not bumping into altars and becomes a profound, sophisticated meditation on the nature of forgiveness and the alchemy of trauma. The alchemy of trauma, I love that phrasing. What this folklore is telling us is that when atonement is genuine, when it is truly collective and when it requires real physical and spiritual labor, it does much more than just a race of debt. True atonement is a creative force. It actually generates something entirely new. So they didn't just fix it, they built something. Exactly. Through the Dobie community's collective desperate effort to honor him, the relationship between the wrong victim and the wrong doers is not just repaired, it is fundamentally elevated. It's like a broken bone healing back stronger at the fracture site. They are bound together in a completely new way. Yes, beautifully put. Think about the psychological and sociological reality of this for the the community going forward. By facing their communal guilt head-on, by waiting into the river together and working side-by-side to right the wrong, they forged a permanent, unbreakable spiritual connection with Garabon. He's one of them again. He's no longer just a tragic victim in their history. He is the absolute center of their communal redemption. The narrative arc is masterfully, perfectly complete. A normal man who is killed by a totally innocent mistake, who suffered the ultimate earthly indignities, transformed by fire and effort into an immortal deity. It blows my mind. And the beautiful reality is that he is remembered to this day by the Adobe community. They worship Garabhanbaba as a protector against the very destruction by fire that he once threatened them with. His profound trauma was completely metabolized by the community's sincere atonement, and the resulting spiritual energy was repurposed into a permanent shield that protects them all. It is such a stunning evolution of a story. I am just blown away by the depths here. Think about where we started. We started with three friends just wrestling in the dirt of the Akraha on a perfectly ordinary hot afternoon. The most mundane scene possible. From that grounded reality, we spiraled into the sheer terror of a divine Tigris summoned from the heavens over a misplaced font. We watched a corpse float down a river only to be shoved aside like garbage in the name of workplace convenience. We saw the absolute worst of circumstances. We heard the earth-shattering art-nod of a grieving wife, a cry so loud it pulled a soul back from the void to demand justice through the vocal cords of a possessed neighbor. And finally, it all culminated in this frantic communal act of physical redemption in the river, ultimately birthing a protective god from the ashes of a senseless tragedy. It's a lot to take in. It is a massive, sweeping cinematic epic hidden inside what initially appears to be a simple, localized folktale. It truly is. It operates on so many levels, theological, sociological, and deeply emotional. And while the mechanics of divine Tigris' incurses might feel distant to us, the core lessons leave us with so much to consider about our own modern lives, specifically regarding how we view the interconnectedness of our communities and the true unseen consequences of our everyday actions. I completely agree. The themes are incredibly resonant no matter what century you live in, which makes this the perfect place to wrap up our exploration today. Before we go, this raises an important question, something for you to mull over as you go about the rest of your day. Think about the spaces you move through every single day. Think about the people you casually interact with, the obstacles you brush past, the minor conveniences you prioritize over slowing down and paying attention. The things we just push away without a second thought. Exactly. If, as this ancient text so vividly suggests our most thoughtless unintentional actions carry enough cosmic weight to summon a tigress or curse an entire community or, conversely, if our collective sweaty physical efforts at making amends have the power to turn a tragic memory into a permanent guardian spirit. How might that change the way you step into the world tomorrow? What an incredible question to leave on. Thank you so much for joining us on this deep dive. Keep looking closely at the world. Keep wondering about the hidden weight of things and keep questioning the stories around you. Until next time.

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