Ilaa - A Brave New World

The Complete Story!

Close to the city of Paithan, in a small village called Sauviragram, which lay along the banks of the great river Godavari, lived a woman named Ilaa. Being cotton farmers, her family was well to do, but not among the richest in their area. It was the harvest season, and cotton had to be picked from the plants. The wholesalers and traders from Paithan would be arriving in just a few weeks, carrying gold and goods for barter. They would exchange what they carried for the cotton that the farmers grew. The bales of cotton had to be ready in time! Work was at its peak! But Ilaa was not to be found in the fields. She wasn't working. Instead, she was sitting by the banks of the great river Godavari.'I am sick of this!' she grunted loudly. Irawati, a fellow farmer working nearby heard this and asked, 'What happened?' 'Do you think we are born to do this? This job is so monotonous and day by day I am growing insane due to this!' 'Okay, throw your basket in the river and swim to other side and join king's army''You are just like my mother, Ira', Ilaa said with a lower voice. 'Just like her!' 'When I was a kid, all I was said to was that I am a girl, I am going to grow up, become a pretty young woman, meet a fine young man, have beautiful children of my own and lead a happy life. I am not a kid anymore, I am 21 now, I have my own dreams' 'So, what else do you aspire?', asked Irawati. 'I am interested in weaponry, I know how to wield weapons. What's wrong if I aspire for an career in the same?' 'What are you talking Ilaa?' 'Yes, Kulvir kaka, my neighbour used to take me to King's arsenal where he used to work.' 'Your Aai - Baba allow you to go ?' 'No, not now, he used to take me when I was 8 - 9 years old, when Aai - Baba were busy in farms.' 'Leave all that Ilaa, You are a woman, please understand this' 'So what? When I am good at something, why am I not allowed to do that?' 'Have you ever heard of a woman joining army? Have you? stop your crazy ideas and join me at the fields!' 'You won't understand Ira' 'You are not understanding the reality, and also do you know that Shivaji Maharaj is visiting Paithan to take blessings before he can visit Jalna, this saturday all the people of our village are going to Paithan to have a look at Chatrapathi, we will be staying there overnight till Maharaj departs next morning, so lets finish off the work, as we cannot work on that day' Both of them joined others at the fields and started working.

'So Ilaa, did you get the news?', asked Ilaa's father Dhumkethu munching his Roti at the dinner. 'Which news Baba?' 'This year we are getting double the price for our cotton as most of it will be exported off shores by The Mughals' 'Thats a good news Baba, we have already plucked all our cotton and now are just left with spinning of cotton yarn'. 'Yes, but we are given instructions from dalals that the yarn should be thinner than usual and there should be 22 yarns in one bundle rather than 9!' 'We will do it Baba.'

Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj halted at Paithan while proceeding to Jalna. While for the outsiders it seemed to be a normal pilgrim visit and halt by Chatrapathi, Shivaji Maharaj had his own plans. After visiting the Tomb of Sant Eknath, Shivaji organised a small meeting of his famous Astha Pradhan in one of his 7 identical tents. Peshwa, the Prime minister started the proceedings of the meeting, ' Namaskar, Today we are here to discuss our future plans of increasing our Army strength. Maharaj would like to say some words before you project your views.' 'Before asking you all for suggestions, I want to say that strengthening the army doesn't necessarily mean increasing the number of soldiers; we want to increase our artillery power, the number of slings, catapults and bows. I chose Paithan for this meeting because I wanted secrecy for this meeting, which was impossible in Raigad as we are aware of Mughal spies, nothing should go out of this tent.....Senapathi, you can continue', Shivaji told. 'Maharaj, from our spies we acquired some information that Aurangzeb will be waging war with an army strength close to half a million, which is thrice our army strength. Our Arsenal is not strong enough and I have a list of requirements for the soldiers, which we are awaiting Amatya to sanction', Senapathi responded. Amatya, the finance minister added, 'Maharaj, with the gold collected from the lagaan and the gold we are getting from our exports, we are building the new fort on the Deccan side for better protection' Shivaji added, 'Amatya, The Great Maratha Empire is not confined just by the boundaries of the fort. People away from fortress are also our citizens, we have to protect them, Channel a new source of resource for Gold for our artillery needs.' Sumant, the Foreign minster said, ' Maharaj, I have information that the Mughals have held a British trader as captive who knows the secret of making super thin fabric which is very in demand in the continent of Europe. This could mean a good deal for us if we could free him and make him work for us or with us''Sumant, What is authenticity of this information?' '100 percent Maharaj!' 'What is the name of the trapped Englishman?' 'Nicolas Aslop' 'Good, So we will get him out of captivity and get his secret for our benefits.' 'Sir, He is an Englishman, How can we trust him?', interrupted Mantri, the interior minister. 'These Englishmen mean business, we will make him an offer which he cannot resist, I will take it from here, Senapati, take this list and get me these by morning, we are leaving Paithan by early morning'. 'Okay Maharaj', Senapati took the list from Maharaj's hand. 'The meeting is adjourned for now, you can proceed for rest.', Peshwa concluded the meeting.