The Diary of a king: Maharana's untold story

1544He continued to stare at the huge portrait of his mother, without batting an eyelid. She had sacrificed a lot, she had jumped into the holy flames of jauhar and was no more. And right now, he needed her, needed her more than anybody else on this planet. "What should I do ranimasa?" he asked, as his eyes stung with impending tears. "Since the day you left this aboard, things have become bad here."Sniffing back his tears, the young king sighed in exhaustion. Shutting his eyes, he seemed to harden his face, make up his mind and silently walk back into the durbar. "I've decided to hand over the keys of this holy fort to Sher Shah Sur." He announced in a firm compelling voice. "No Ranaji!" Exclaimed one of the chieftains. "This can't happen! We shall fight till our last breath hukum!""There shall be no war." Announced the king once more. "Chittor has yet not recovered from either the battle of Khanwa nor

"The camp is ready." Announced the soldier. Ajabde gave him a curt nod accompanied with a thank you and entered the tent, tying the white overall over her lehenga. "Has the battle begun?" asked Saubhagyavati in a soft voice. "There's still an hour left." She replied, "I'll meet daata and dadabhai, and be back." Saying this she left. Riding her horse, she reached her father's tent, where all the armaments were kept, a few miles away from the medical camp. As soon as Kunwar Pratap had seen the girl entering the pavilion, he hid himself behind the tent desperately hoping that he wouldn't be spotted. Taking a peek in the tent he gritted his teeth thinking, why is a girl here? Go...go...go soon before I get caught...."You should be at the medical camp." Said her father, his brows pulled into a scowl. "Since maasa isn't here to do your tilak, I came here." She said without beating around the bush.&n

"Take care." Pleaded an anxious Hansabai hugging her daughter and Saubhgyavati. "Don't skip your meals, don't mess around if there are problems, don't...""Maasa," smiled Ajabde gently holding her mother's hands. "Don't worry about us. Take care of yourself and daata." Touching her father's feet and taking his blessings, both Saubhgyavati and Ajabde got into their palanquins while Aachraya Raghavendra mounted his horse. At the first rays of dawn the little party set off on their journey to Kashi. Though the two girls were eager to learn, somewhere both of them were apprehensive if they'd be able to live all alone in a strange place. "Guruji," mumbled Ajabde from her palanquin. "Should we halt for a while?" he asked glancing at her. She shook her head in denial and asked, "Guruji...is it alright to be afraid?"Aacharya Raghavendra smiled at the girl saying, "Have you noticed the deers in the forest?"

"I see..." mumbled Aachraya Raghavendra nodding his head sceptically. Something like this is quite expected from Kunwar Pratap. I would be surprised if he wouldn't decide to take sanyas. Thought the guru. "How do I convince him out of this?" asked Maharani Jaivantabai sounding desperate. "Exactly, dadabhai has completely gone into devotion!" added Kunwar Shakti. His voice had the sound of tremendous irritation. "Devotion isn't bad, but devotion used as a medium of escape from your duty is bad." Replied Aachraya Raghavendra. "Don't worry about him; when the time is right he'll come out of it.""But Aacharya ji..." "Don't worry maharanisa," reassured the guru with a gentle smile. "When all human methods don't work, it's only Eklinji's hand that guides a man's path. Just trust him.""Khamma ghani guru..." she immediately stopped seeing that he had visitors. "I apologize, I'll come later.""No it's alright." Replie

"Alms!" exclaimed Kunwar Pratap looking at his mother. "Yes. I need to offer Eklinji bhog today." Said his mother with a straight face. "There's a village nearby, go there and get something." "Yes." He replied and left. Immediately Maharani Jaivantabai turned towards the Shivling and began praying desperately, that the plan would succeed. For a moment she wondered which mother would voluntarily send her child into danger and here she was doing exactly the same thing, hoping that he'd come out of his comfort zone. Walking around the village, Kunwar Pratap began asking for alms. Some shunned him away and others simply said they had nothing to offer him. Embarking ahead his eyes went on his brother and Ajabde who were walking around the market. "We need to get the map." Muttered Kunwar Shakti under baited breath. "Every Afghan soldier carries a map with them to guide them around this place. Do you know to pickpocket?"