Kalinga, the fantasy fiction Telugu language film, is all about a young man and his search for something that belongs to him. It is a weird story of a strong, resilient man who isn’t afraid of the unknown and never stopped himself from going after it. So, what happens to him in the end? Does he find out what he had set out for? Let’s find out.
Spoilers Ahead
What was the tale of Goddess Prathyangira Matha?
Kalinga starts with a story from mythology, which many have grown up hearing from their grandparents. Prahlad’s father, Hiranyakashipu, was killed by the Narasimha avatar of Lord Vishnu. However, Narasimha’s power could not be controlled, and to fight him, Lord Shiva’s avatar Kalabhairava was sent. As the fight intensified between the two powers, Lord Shiva turned into an eagle while Narasimha turned into a two-faced wild bird. To end the fight between the two powerful forces, Goddess Prathyangira Matha was called in. She was known for her power, force, and might, and she dissolved all of Narasimha’s power to become a goddess with the face of a lioness. Goddess Prathyangira Matha was known for destroying evil forces, and the village the movie was set in was showing signs of its presence. Only time will tell if Goddess Prathyangira Matha will help destroy the entity that was creating havoc in the village.
Why did the King leave his home?
The village was cursed with evil spirits as the men and women used to hear a distinct voice, which either turned them into cannibals or forced them to brutally kill themselves. The villagers approached the King, asking for a solution, as many of their loved ones were getting affected by the alleged curse. The distressed King had a word with an old bedridden lady who we assume could be his mother or grandmother. The King, after his conversation with the elderly lady, was seen leaving his palace and going into exile into the forest. The King crossed a turmeric-laden log of wood with his horse, and he was not seen since then.
Centuries later, in the current timeline, a group of men were carrying a dead body. The leader of the group came across the same log of wood with turmeric all over it, and he stated it was the village ritual to abandon the mortal remains of a male figure in the forest. He also stated they had to leave the place within two minutes of crossing the log of wood. The body was left at the edge of the forest after quick rituals, and it was immediately consumed by an entity.
Was Linga getting vivid dreams?
Linga was one of the villagers whose job was to distill liquor for the villagers, a business he was running with his friend Muthi. Linga was also known for standing up against bullies for the people of the village. However, he kept having vivid dreams about kings, wars, and treasures regularly. Linga was an orphan who was in love with a local girl named Padhu. He had tried confessing his feelings for her several times, but received no straight response from her.
What were Bali and his brother up to?
Bali and his brother were the village heads who lived a long life this way. Bali and his brother were powerful people in the village who had many men at their disposal who would force villagers to give up on their lands. He was also a serial rapist, and would go after many local women. One such attempt of his was thwarted by Padhu. Bali’s attempt to sexually assault Padhu was stopped when Linga came to her rescue. Padhu was impressed by Linga’s intentions, and she declared her love for him after he saved her from Bali and his men.Â
Did Linga and Padhu get married?
Padhu and Linga were in love, and the latter intended to get married to her. Linga approached her father along with Muthi and his father and asked for her hand in marriage. Her father was not impressed with the proposal, as he stated that Linga lived off selling cheap liquor with Muthi. An agitated Linga let her father know he had two acres of land in his name. Padhu’s father pointed out the land had been mortgaged by Linga’s father many years ago. Linga made her father promise he would let Padhu marry him if he was successful in getting the land back. Bali’s older brother was aware of the clash between Bali and Linga. Linga approached the village head to ask for the two acres of land back, but it led to a heated discussion.Â
The village head was acting all generous when he offered two extra acres of land to Linga. Linga heartily accepted the offer, as this was more than he had expected from the village head, who was known to be ruthless. Linga and Padhu got married soon after he got his land back. The village head let Bali know that the extra two acres of land was a part of the cursed forest. The village head felt Linga would not last if he decided to venture into the forest.Â
Why did Linga and Muthi venture into the forest?
Linga, soon after his marriage to Padhu, had to find out more about the extra two acres of land he’d been given by the village head. That land was a part of the forest, which was near their village. Even though many rituals were conducted on the borders of the village after sundown, Linga was the only one who did not believe in the superstitions about the curse of the forest.
As Linga and Muthi ventured into the forest, they crossed the infamous turmeric-laden log, which meant their lives from then on were in danger. Neither of them were aware of how hazardous it would be for them to walk in the forest without any serious protection. Linga’s dreams about the cave and the weapons intensified in the forest. He also began to hallucinate his wife in many places. Muthi was petrified, but she and Linga were not affected by any curse. Linga now could hear voices in his head that eventually overwhelmed him. He also remembered the death of his grandfather in the woods when he was a child. Linga, as a young kid, was told about the steel suitcase, which he inherited from his mother. His grandfather stated he was of a royal lineage, and that the book inside the suitcase would provide him with answers to all his problems. This could indicate that the King who walked away from his palace to live in exile in the forest could be Linga’s ancestor. His family may have faced peril and destruction the moment the king left his family to save his people and kingdom. Linga finally found the suitcase in the forest which he had been looking for since his grandfather’s passing, and he got his hands on the book to find out the reason behind his vivid dreams.Â
What was the history of the Kalinga dynasty?
On reading the book, Linga found out about the curse that befell his family. Linga learned that his ancestors, King Machiraju, followed by his son Bailudu of the Rudragiri Kingdom, were hungry for power and wealth and waged many wars against the rich kingdom of Kalinga. Eventually, when Bailudu became the King, he used his evil powers with the help of a dark magic sorcerer to create a demon-like creature named Asura Dakshi. Asura Dakshi helped in defeating the Kalinga Kingdom, and Bailudu’s army raided their wealth and deity. A while after the defeat, an evil curse was placed on them, which was followed by Asura Dakshi feeding on human flesh by killing the people of the Rudragiri Kingdom.Â
Bailudu’s wife, on meeting Giri Maharishi, asked for a permanent solution to put an end to the genocide. Giri Maharishi stated his family should establish the deity Prathyangira Matha on the borders of the village and seek forgiveness. The deity would protect the kingdom for a while. After one hundred twenty-two years, the cave where Kalinga’s wealth and their deity were kept had to be returned. Along with that, a self-sacrifice from a member of the royal family would help the village keep Asura Dakshi at bay.Â
Bailudu’s wife, Queen Shakuntala Devi, lived a long life with this solution until the King approached her when Asura Dakshi’s attacks intensified many years later. As the solution was offered, the King walked away from his palace and sacrificed himself, which partially solved the problems of the Rudragiri Dynasty, whose descendant was Linga himself.
What Happens To Linga?
On his way to get his hands on the weapons, wealth, and deity of the Kalinga dynasty, both Linga and Muthi were confronted by the Asura Dakshi, who was ready to attack them and devour their flesh. Both of them had come across the skeletal remains of several people as they had entered the forest, but Linga and Muthi were unaware of the presence of this entity, which had been living in the forest for centuries. As the task assigned by Giri Maharishi was only half complete, Linga wanted to finish the work by following the orders mentioned in the book. However, there was no clarity on the log of wood, which had turmeric all over it. Linga may have realized he needed to fulfill the task as it would end the guilt of the brutality inflicted by his ancestors upon the Kalinga dynasty. They were already facing the brunt of creating a demon-like creature.
Linga was confronted by Bali and his men in the cave, who wanted to kill him and Muthi. Bali, just like his brother, was the personification of classist men who thrive on the power they received by punishing people under them. In the name of offering loans, they took away the lands and chose to rule over them by harassing them. Bali and his brother had killed many who chose to revolt against them. The whole idea behind offering the extra two acres of land to Linga was to make sure he would die in the forest. Bali was here to kill Linga, but he and his men were attacked by Asura Dakshi. Bali was immediately killed by Asura Dakshi as the entity devoured his flesh, which was a reenactment of Narasimha ripping open Hiranyakashipu’s body. Bali’s men were killed one by one by Asura Dakshi, all while Linga readied himself with the sword he’d recovered from the cave. By the powers bestowed on him by Prathyangira Matha for attempting to rectify the mistakes of his ancestors, Linga killed Asura Dakshi and saved Muthi.
Kalinga ended with Linga now in possession of all the generational wealth his family had acquired by defeating the Kalinga Dynasty. The man not only had his land but money and gold at his disposal. The end credits of the movie stated that the Asura Dakshi did not die as it gave itself a new body in the same cave where it had lost its physical form. This would mean the entity grew powerful over the years, which was why it could not be killed easily. It tried to enter the body of a villager, but a sorceress stopped that from happening. The same sorceresses had given Padhu an auspicious black thread, which saved Linga and Muthi from evil spirits like the Asura Dakshi, and kept them alive.Â