Many thousands of years ago, an urban civilization of singular caliber arose along the fecund banks of the Indus and Sarasvati Rivers. Growing rich on maritime trade, Melukhha steadily expanded until it covered a quarter of a million square miles—twice the geographical area of the contemporary kingdoms of Egypt and Mesopotamia. And yet, after impressive epochs of peace and prosperity, and well before the consciousness of the Sakya Prince Gautama rose into enlightenment in the sixth century B.C.E., this jewel of the ancient world simply vanished.

Archaeologists have uncovered the remnants of Melukhha in territory now controlled by both India and Pakistan; the ruins reflect a civilization that had reached an extraordinary level of material, scientific and spiritual evolution, where momentous events flowered before fading away, in the manner of all transient things.

Who or what destroyed this thriving river metropolis? A cataclysmic yoking of elemental forces? Barbarians who scaled high mountains to raze her to the ground? Or was it Rudra, the Wild God himself, who, incensed with her rulers for misusing the serpent fire, obliterated her? Yes, the mystery of Melukhha remains, still haunting curious minds.

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