There was something almost emotional in the way Gavaksha repeated the word. His eyes remained upon Karna for several moments before he slowly lowered himself to his knees.
"Greetings, O Suryaputra."
Karna immediately stepped forward and caught Gavaksha by the arm before the Vanara could remain kneeling.
"Please stand, Mahodaya."
Gavaksha looked at him.
"I merely helped you make a Shivalinga," Karna said. "By sheer coincidence, it happened that you were the person cursed here. There is no need to show me such respect."
Gavaksha slowly rose again, but there was a thoughtful expression upon his face.
"I think it is fate, not coincidence, Rajan."
Karna did not immediately answer. He looked toward the Shivalinga, remembering the strange sequence of events that had brought him to this riverbank in the first place.
He had only intended to return to Champa after attending the yajna.
He had noticed a man attempting to make a Shivalinga, stopped because the first one had collapsed, and decided to help him.
He had never expected to meet a Vanara who had fought in Rama's war, nor had he expected Mahadeva to appear before him and grant a blessing to the Shivalinga.
Too many unusual things had happened in too short a time.
Yet Karna had learned long ago that there were some events which could not be understood immediately, no matter how much one thought about them. Perhaps Gavaksha was right. Perhaps it was fate.
Gavaksha suddenly took a deeper breath and looked at Karna with a different expression. The gratitude remained, but now there was curiosity mixed with something resembling anticipation. "Rajan, you have claimed to be a disciple of Bhagwan Parashurama. If that is true, then I expect you to be a strong Maharathi." Karna's eyebrows rose slightly. Gavaksha continued, "In that case, if you would not mind, can you fight with me?"
Karna stared at him.
"Fight with you?"
"Yes."
Karna could not help being surprised by the unusual request.
Only moments ago, this man had been thanking him for freeing him from a curse, and now he was asking for a fight. Karna studied Gavaksha's expression, trying to determine what lay behind the request.
There was no visible hatred in his eyes, nor any intention to harm him. It seemed almost as though Gavaksha wanted to satisfy some personal curiosity that had remained with him for years.
"Why?" Karna asked. "Why do you want to test my strength?"
Gavaksha smiled.
"I will answer that question if you defeat me."
Karna remained silent for a moment.
Then he nodded.
"Very well."
He looked at Gavaksha's empty hands and then at his own bow.
"However, you do not have a weapon, so it would not be fair for me to use my bow either. We can use our fists, or we can wrestle."
Gavaksha's expression brightened.
"Wrestling, then."
They moved a little away from the Shivalinga, careful not to disturb the sacred place they had just created.
The river continued flowing beside them, its water making a steady sound against the shore, while the afternoon air carried the faint smell of wet earth and the leaves moving gently above them.
Karna rolled his shoulders once, feeling the familiar looseness return to his body. He had trained in many forms of combat under Parashurama, and although the bow remained his preferred weapon, hand-to-hand combat was not something he had neglected. If anything, he was quite skilled in bare-handed close combat even more than with swords and spears. Still, looking at Gavaksha made him realize that this would not be an ordinary wrestling match. It made him think of his duel with Jarasandha.
Except that this one looked even stronger than Jarasandha.
The Vanara was enormous.
Eight feet in height.
His arms were thicker than the trunks of some young trees, and his shoulders carried the kind of strength that came from a body built for physical combat rather than refined martial technique alone.
Standing before him, Karna looked almost like a young boy standing beside a mountain of flesh and muscle.
Yet Karna did not feel intimidated. He had fought beings considerably larger than himself before, and physical size had never been enough to determine the outcome of a battle. Strength mattered, but so did balance, timing, movement and the ability to understand one's opponent.
Karna stepped into position.
"The one whose back touches the ground will be the loser."
He looked directly at Gavaksha.
"Do you accept this rule, Gavaksha Mahodaya?"
Gavaksha nodded.
"I accept."
Karna took a breath and loosened his stance.
"You may begin."
Gavaksha moved.
Despite his enormous size, he was astonishingly quick.
His foot struck the earth with a heavy thud as he charged forward, his massive arms opening as he attempted to seize Karna and overpower him through sheer strength.
Karna watched the movement carefully, waiting until Gavaksha was almost upon him before shifting his weight.
At the last moment, he turned his body sideways and spun away from the grasping arms, feeling the rush of air against his clothes as Gavaksha passed beside him.
Karna caught his arm.
The difference in size was almost absurd.
Gavaksha's arm felt like a thick pillar beneath Karna's grip, and for a fraction of a moment Karna felt the sheer physical strength contained within the Vanara's body. Gavaksha began turning back toward him, expecting perhaps to wrench his arm free, but Karna had already adjusted his footing.
His expression became serious.
He tightened his grip.
"Har Har Mahadev."
Karna turned.
The movement began from his feet, travelled through his hips and shoulders, and finally reached the arm holding Gavaksha. The Vanara's enormous body suddenly lost its balance. His feet left the ground.
For one brief moment, the eight-foot-tall Vanara was completely airborne.
Karna continued the rotation.
Then he released him.
Gavaksha's body came crashing down onto the earth with tremendous force.
The ground shook beneath the impact.
Dust rose around them.
Karna released his stance and stood calmly, watching the enormous Vanara lying upon the ground.
Gavaksha looked genuinely stunned.
What just happened?
He remained on the ground for several moments, staring blankly at the sky above him.
His chest rose and fell heavily as he tried to understand what had just happened.
He had lost.
Not after a long struggle, not after being gradually overpowered, but in a single movement.
He had charged forward, expecting to seize Karna and test the strength of the famed disciple of Parashurama, and within the next instant he had been lifted from the ground and thrown upon it.
Gavaksha slowly turned his head and looked toward Karna, who was still standing where he had been, apparently just as surprised by the ease of the movement as Gavaksha himself.
'How?' Gavaksha wondered.
He knew he had not used his full strength.
He had wanted to test Karna first, and perhaps that had been his mistake, but even then, he could not accept that his skills had become so dull after years of remaining trapped in that cursed form.
He had fought countless battles in his youth.
He had stood among warriors who were compared with Maharathis.
He had served Sugriva and fought in the war of Lanka itself.
His body might have changed through the curse, but his instincts had remained.
Yet Karna had defeated him before those instincts had even properly awakened. Perhaps it had been Karna's unexpected movement.
Perhaps Gavaksha had simply underestimated him. Whatever the reason, the result remained unchanged. He had lost.
Gavaksha rose slowly, brushed the dust from his arms and chest, and then walked back toward Karna. Instead of saying anything immediately, he lowered himself onto one knee.