Chapter 151 Temple Reconstruction Part: 3

151 Temple Reconstruction Part: 3

The next day, Arjun was summoned to the palace. Upon his arrival, he was informed about the decision made by Vijay. Hearing the decision, Arjun was very happy as a lot of resources were used to feed these prisoners. Arjun had pleaded with Vijay many times before to execute them to save costs, but Vijay had always denied his request. Because of this, Arjun always thought that Vijay was still a little soft-hearted. However, today he got to know that Vijay was only fattening the pig before slaughtering it.

He happily left the palace and went to meet the branch headquarters of the jail division under his ministry.

Upon arrival at the jailer division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he met with Director Verma, the person in charge of all matters related to the jail affairs.

Verma used to be a police officer in Bangalore town, but when he displayed his prowess and confronted the nobles in the kingdom, he was promoted to a higher post. Due to his excellent talent, he was also assigned to deal with the criminals in the city. With his ingenious methods of interrogation and a positive attitude, he climbed up the ranks to reach the post of Director of the Police and Jail division.

Verma, who was informed about the fates of these criminals, was also overjoyed as it was a constant challenge to stay alert at all times, especially when the staff under him was limited. Observing this, the criminals in the jail became more and more unruly. They were so uncontrollable that every week there were at least 4 to 5 escape attempts made in every single jail across the empire. However, he couldn't execute them, only catch them back and re-arrest them.

He was perplexed about why His Majesty ordered not to execute them, but upon receiving the recent orders, he fully understood. A smile crossed his face as he saluted Arjun and drafted his orders.

Soon, his orders reached various jails across the Empire where the criminals were housed.

"Wake up, maggots! It's finally time to work!"

"Bang!"

Shouts rang out in a jail cell as the constable tasked with staying watch woke the prisoners up with a loud voice, hitting a sleeping prisoner with the back of his musket. The prisoner who was struck expressed his dissatisfaction as he began to glare at the constable.

As for the Divya Vishnu Prasad Mandir, which is to be constructed in Kandy, Sri Lanka, Vishwakarma added in a lot of his own ideas as the base and let his disciple Vajra Karma take the lead in completing this historic project. Vishwakarma would have loved to be in charge of this project alone, but unfortunately, he had a lot of work to deal with. Despite knowing very well that this new temple was going to be a historical temple that would last through the ages, he readily gave up the power to his disciple as he still knew the priority.

Regarding the talent of his disciple, Vishwakarma felt immense pride, recognizing that Vajra surpassed him in skill. Lately, Vajra had been unusually active, claiming to receive unique ideas and insights ever since their meeting with His Majesty. Eager to experiment with his newfound concepts, Vajra was relentless in his pursuit. Unable to contain his excitement, he even enlisted the help of a few servants to construct a small mock building, allowing him to test various ideas.

Some of Vajra's ideas even captivated Vishwakarma, making his eyes light up with admiration. There were aspects in the model he made that even a seasoned architect like him did not consider. Also, the senior architects who were initially skeptical about Vajra taking on such a crucial role, after seeing the model, even the most stubborn architects were now convinced, witnessing the ingenuity displayed in Vajra's models. Taking all of this into account, Vishwakarma made the decision to entrust the monumental mission to his talented disciple.

The artisans of Vijayanagara became in demand again as the temple construction needed thousands of craftsmen. Craftsmen from various parts of the Empire signed up, enticed by the high salary.

To all these craftsmen, Vishwakarma also organized a sort of exam to weed out the mediocre from the best. This recruitment even reached the new territories of Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Sri Lanka. The artisans in these places were very excited as they were jobless because prior to the Vijayanagar Empire, their previous kingdom did not support or encourage indigenous craftsmanship. This led to them having no or reduced customers. They had been going through life doing some menial labour. Now, learning that their own temples would be reconstructed and rebuilt, they signed up readily.

The worker problem was also solved as the road construction in the new territories was coming to an end. While the main highways were still being constructed and would take a while longer, the small inter-town roads were completed, and being gravel roads, they were easier than the cement roads built between the cities.

While a lot of workers went home to farm and raise the cattle they earned, still, a small chunk of workers decided to re-enlist for the temple construction project, thereby increasing the speed of construction further. But the large number of manpower also increased the cost required, but this is all for the future.

In a large auditorium in the capital,

"Let's use 'Amma' for mother," a scholar suggested, emphasizing its similarity in languages such as Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and many others.

After giving it some thought, most of them voted in support of the proposed change.

The development of the new Bharati language was progressing well, as scholars utilized a voting system, as suggested by Vijay, to determine words and settle disputes, streamlining the process for efficiency.