The courtiers met again that evening and concluded to
dissolve the court until the resolution of the ongoing confusion. The confusion
was caused by the Amatya’s claims that their beloved emperor was not really
there and that he never was.
For long the courtiers had grown accustomed to the modus
operandi of the court – which admittedly did seem a bit peculiar to a visitor
but somehow not to the courtiers themselves. What was peculiar about this court
was that the emperor never spoke to the courtiers and vice-versa. The emperor
(they claimed) sat on the throne behind a veil and nobody ever looked beyond
the veil. They attended the court dutifully and carried out their responsibilities.
They did all that in the name of the emperor. He however never gave them any
direct instruction or took any update in person.
The Amatya was always a bit uneasy about this arrangement
and had tried to point out to some courtiers the real mechanism of the
operations of the court. He claimed that someone or other always temporarily
usurped the throne in the name of the emperor and directed others. It just
seemed at the time that this itself was the decree of the emperor. What was even
more intriguing, each of these usurpers themselves believed that they were
usurping at the behest of the emperor.
There was the recent case of the Mahamantri taking centre
stage and telling the Senapati to gather the troops for defence on the southern
border. Then there was a time last week when the court clown entertained
everyone for hours. Everyone hoped (but could not find out) that the emperor
enjoyed the performance as well!
Amatya claimed that he came to the court early one day and
opened the veil. Lo and behold, there was no emperor. There was no throne.
There was just empty space. He put the veil back again to avoid shocking the
courtiers.
One by one, they looked inside the veil and came back
shocked – there was no emperor!
How are we to run the affairs of the court, they asked each
other. Nobody had a good idea. Hence they dissolved the court for the time
being, to look for answers!