Part 4: Surja and Prithvi - A tale of Samay (Sun and Earth - A tale of Time) This is an incomplete tale of a story I plan to write soon. This tale is a tale so old. The tale that brings difference between what is reality and what is fiction. This brings a change. A change and a chance that was not given to those whom could have used to make their nation, their motherland much greater than it is. This is a chance to show that had /she/ been given a chance the world would change for the better. The palace of Sapadakshala praised the cries of the two women who lay on their beds within their rooms, bearing the pains of a soon to be mother. To be exact the year was 1166 AD. The palace walls of Sapadakshala were acting as a fortress for the royal family, where two women, both from different families sat within their rooms, their screams echoing through the entire palace and those noises could be heard by the citizens of the kingdom. They prayed for the woman who was their queen, Karpuradevi, ignoring the cries of the other woman who was all but a maid. King Someshvara was however, within the palace. And he was not so foolish to ignore the cries of the other woman, who happened to be his sworn brother's sister. A maid, but then again, she was his wife's personal maid. Their cries had been going on for ages, with no end to it. Until at the stroke of midnight, as the 21rst of May turned to 22nd of May, two cries from either chamber came out. One of the women clad in jewels and silk saree, and the other of the woman who was clad in simple red and white Tant saree. For those of you who do not know what Tant is, it is cotton, known for its lightness and transperency. And with their cries of the final push came the cries of none other than the two children who were born to the palace after such a long time of having no heirs. The queen, Karpurnadevi had a son. And the maid, Chandramallika Devi had a girl. The son, the son of king Someshwar. So strong was he. Strong to defeat hundred elephants in a go. WIth a skin so tan that even the sun shied away when it looked at him. The king's pride and his beloved heir, Prithviraj. The daughter, although without a father grew up in the presence of the king and the queen, for her own mother had given up her life to bring the daughter one. She was raised as good as a lady of the kingdom of Sapadakshala. As good as a wealthy princess. With eyes like deers, that held onto the entire sky within, the hands that could pull the strings of a veena or hunt a deer with a bow and an arrow. The daughter of Chandramallika, who was as strong as the sun, was none other than Surjamallika. And together their family was complete. Or so. When Prithviraj was only 5 and so was she, she was framed. But it was her beloved friend Prithviraj who aimed the sword towards the enemy, even if he could barely hold it, and it was a wooden one, stood up for her. Protected her. Such tales filled the palace, and one could hear the maids and the queen alike giggle about how they were destined to be together. Then King Someshwara passed away when they were barely eleven, and poor Prithviraj became the king with his mother as regent. The court had already started to look for a bride. And the queen had started to look for a groom for Surjamallika. After all at that time younger girls were married off to much older men. And her fate would have been no different. But then she fought against the very woman who had raised her. The child did not wished to be married. She wanted to fight, to protect, to live as a warrior. To be accepted as a strong and capable woman. And Karpurna Devi was such a fool to the child's whims, how could she say no to the dearest child? She didn't. She didn't find him a groom any more, but Surja's one love, from whom she shied away often had found himself a bride. No, he had found three women to keep himself enraptured with. He had found his true love in the form of Sanyogita whom was the daughter of Jaichand the king of Kannauj. His mother had found him two consorts, one being the princess of mount Abu, Ranima Ichichhini Panwar, and Maharani Shashivrata who was to be his main wife. Surja could no longer look at Prithvi with the same eyes. Those soft gazes that they once shared, those loving words that they whispered to each other. The dancing around and the singing together. The sparring together, and studying together. And even the late night talks that they shared. All of it shattered within a matter of time. With no way to figure out why or how, Prithviraj had to steal glimpses of his foolish damsel who with the tide of time was changing. From a girl to a woman, from a damsel to a warrior and from a heartbroken child who had been rejected by her first crush, into a woman that would not only woo the enemy king into his fall, but also the men who surrounded the entire tale of Prithviraj himself.
