Samsāra

Chapter Twenty-three

This chapter gave me a whole lot of trouble, I couldn't decide on how to approach it for a long time. I ended up writing it from Maharani Snigdha's point of view. I hope you Enjoy it.

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Maharani Snigdha was born thirty-five years ago to then upapradhana of Jyuveld. A foppish man kept in his office because of how effective he was at obeying orders from those superior to him. He was a slow, quiet man who doted on his garden and his household, especially his newly born daughter. To those left of his servants, they remembered him as a kind master who was slow to rebuke and eager to praise. To his daughter, he and her mother were the first stepping stone to taking power.

Ever since Snigdha could remember she was fascinated with power. Her dhai ma often told her tales of the Mahabharata, of the great Arjuna, of great men and their deeds. She was disappointed when dhai ma focused more on those great men, but she did not want to hear those stories. She wanted to hear about Draupadi, later Panchali, the common wife of the Pandavas; she craved stories about the mighty and terrible Kali; the goddess Saraswati; the goddess Durga. Dhai ma gladly provided those tales when asked and stoked the flame of hunger in the girl.

Snigdha wanted to be powerful; Snigdha wanted to be great; Snigdha soon learnt being a woman in this world was severely limiting and she soon found herself being boxed into a corner. Marriage to the mahamantri’s first grandson. She fought against it with the the ferocity of a tiger. She threatened to kill herself, tore her clothes, shaved her hair; locked herself in her room and starved herself until her parents gave up.

When Snigdha emerged, she came with deep loathing for her parents and their lack of power. She hated her mother for giving her father a daughter instead of a son, her destiny would have been different if she had been born a boy. She would have been trained in the way of the Kshatriya. But she was trapped in a weak shell while her mind was of a Kshatriya. She detested her father for being spineless and unable to make decisions without another prodding his back. He was like a horse responding to the crack of a whip. But she concealed her hate in her breast and resumed eating, her hair grew back, new clothes were bought and her parents were relieved. Night after night, Snigdha prayed to Kali and Durga to show her the way of her destiny. One night, she dreamed of a cobra spilling his venom into her father's drinking cup and knew she had been shone the way. She poured libation to the king of nagas.

It was at this time that the old maharaja died and his son Ujwal was installed as raja with many pomp and splendour after many festivities. His father had never been an effective king or generally loved, his amatyas despised him, his people were indifferent about him. A month after a rather protracted period of mourning, Ujwal was crowned king. He was much more popular with his people that his father had been, a mighty warrior, a fierce drinker and a ladies man. With the sabha, he was viewed as another prospective puppet. It was widely known in the palace that Ujwal cared nothing for law or ethics or statecraft; he loved hunting and wenching. The true power was once again going to lie with the mahamantri and those he chose to share it with.

On the day of Ujwal’s coronation, a tragedy befell the house of upapradhana. Snigdha had walked in to find her parents blue and very very dead. She went berserk, she tore at her hair, scratched her face and arms, screamed a shrill woeful tone; rolled in the ash left behind for the morning's cooking and dashed out of the compound with the servants calling to her. To some, she looked like a mad woman wearing finery, to others, she was running for her life.

Snigdha had a destination in mind, the coronation. This was the last task she had planned, if all went smoothly she would begin her ascent to power. Her screams of deep pain attracted the attention of many, including the new king, before they even saw her. The crowd hastily parted for the swaying and bloodied figure to move towards the platform.