Uttara's Life

This is part of the "Uttara Series" You will find under the Mahabharata. The series is also available on Wattpad.

Parikshit has returned triumphant from the hunting expedition. He came to his Grandfather and sought his blessings. "Pranipat. I have returned triumphant, and as per your instructions, I met with Maharshi Jaimini and sought advice."

" What did he say, Putra?"
" He was pleased to know my idea on rewriting and reviving the lost Gyan of the Vedas."
" God Bless You, my child, at this age, you talk more gravely than we, reminds me of your father." Adhirathi Arjuna's face grew sad at the memory of his son. " Go see your Mother. She is waiting."

In the Andarmahal, Queen Uttara sat surrounded by her mothers-in-law and maids. The gossip was about the marriage of the Prince. Uttara had asked the elders to look for a bride. She wanted to do away with her duties towards her family. Thirty-three-year-old Queen Uttara was feeling old. She had now spent most of her life alone in the crowded palace. She wanted to be free and engage herself in spiritual bliss. Her social life was like a cage for her now. Parikshit rushed in and hugged her.

" You have come back, Putra? What is this wound?" The mother in her grew concerned.
" It is nothing, Maata, just a scratch, from the thorns of the forests."
" Daasi, bring in the medicines, Quick!"

Seeing his mother concerned made him smile. His smile made her feel that it was his father smiling at her as she cleared his wounds. Her mind travelled back eighteen years to a terrible memory and a promise, " I will be with you forever." Gathering her thoughts, she told her son, "It's time, dear. I have asked your grandfather to look for a suitable bride for you."

" But mother? Bride? Marriage?"
" Why not? You are eighteen, and your father got married at sixteen."
" Because people were unsure of the future, whether he would be alive to give an heir."

Her son's answer startled her. She remembered that his father had actually not wanted to cause her this sorrow; he wanted to spare her this life. Draupadi came up to the worried Uttara, " Don't worry, let him meet the bride, he will be ready, he is like his father, reluctant to change." Uttara nodded in silence with a smile.

The wedding was a grand affair. Uttara gifted all the jewellery that she had worn only six months after her wedding to her new daughter-in-law. The churamani shone brightly as Uttara prayed to God about her deepest fear. Let her life not be reflected in her Daughter-in-law. May they be together. Uttara's prayers were answered as they lived in peace and had their first child. Uttara held her grandchild, " Janmejaya, one who wins over life." She called him. Her first grandchild. The future. She was sad that the Pandavas could not see this, as they had already left for heaven.

She arranged a grand feast in the palace of Hastinapur. She was happy. Parikshit was holding his son in his arms. He was smiling at his baby. The scene filled her heart. She remembered how much his father wanted to do this. How much he wanted to hold his baby and teach him. Uttara's eyes filled with tears. She ran away from the crowd and into her chambers and drew out a chest. In it were clothes and jewellery. She took out a crown. It belonged to him.

" Arya, see your grandchild is born. Our Parikshit can do what you dreamt of. All because of your sacrifice." She was in tears.
"Maata?"
" Putra Parikshit. Why did you come here?"
" Why did you come away, Mother?"
" I was just..."
" Isn't that father's crown?"
" Yes, I was just... I have something to tell you."
" Yes, maata?"
" Your father had a dream."
" What is it, Maate? Tell me, and I will fulfil it."
" He wanted to hold you in his arms and teach you."

Parikshit was shocked at this. His heart sank. He had always heard of how valiant his father had been; this side of him was unknown.

" He used to talk to you every day through me. He wanted the best for you. He would have been so happy today to see Janmejaya."
" Maata, I don't know what to say."

" Putra, take this crown. Give it to Janmejaya when he understands what this means. Tell him about his grandfather. Make him a valiant man."
" Maata, you will be there to teach him, he will learn as I learnt..."
" No, my Putra, Tomorrow at Pratakal I will leave."
" Leave? Where Maata?"
" To Maharishi Vyasdev's Aahsram."
" But why?"

Uttara smiled at her son. Only if he knew how lonely she had been, how her fight had been, how life had seemed like a cage at times.

" Because it's time I leave my social life and live in a hermitage, till death. But don't worry, your news will keep arriving there, and you can come to meet me."
" I will bring Janmejaya too; he should know his grandmother like I knew mine."
" But ..."
" And I am sorry you did not have a normal childhood."

Parikshit said nothing. He had always seen his mother quiet and composed. This side of her was different.

Uttara left for hermitage, where she got news of her son's several marital ties and the birth of his six other sons. She never returned to the place that stole her life for the sake of thrones. She was happy with her heritage. Peace was at her side at last. Her life was at last not involved in wars anymore. She was Happy.

Chandra's Choice: The Story of Dhruvasvamini

More often than not, the private lives of kings and the existence of their queens remain in the words of bards rather than those of chroniclers. Dhruvasvamini is no different, even after being the queen of the golden age of the Indian Subcontinent. She appears in the Basarh Clay Seal as the mother of Govinda Gupta (attributed as a sibling of Kumara Gupta I) and the queen wife of Chandra Gupta II or Vikramaditya. Except for one mention of Dhruva Devi, as she is popularly known, she remains a mysterious character in the Gupta lineage, with a side mention in the dynasty’s history. Visakhadatta, a famous poet and playwright, who later wrote DeviChandraGuptam as the play capturing the life of Chandra Gupta II, captured Dhruva Devi as one of the protagonists of his story. Although some scholars attribute Visakhadatta to be under the patronage of Chandra Gupta II himself when he wrote this story, many historians debate the literary work as a historical fiction written much after his time. Tru...

Rakhi Tales

A Rakhi to the Enemy: The year was 1535 CE. The Rajmata of Mewar, widow of Rana Sanga, was in a dilemma. On one hand was an attack from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat as a threat to her capital, Chittorgarh, and the throne of her beloved teenage son Vikramaditya. On the other hand, there was the son of her husband's archenemy, Humayun, who could be of some help. Rani Karnavati wrote a letter to Humayun, who was in the east at that time. Along with it, she sent a Rakhi, a thread of brotherhood, asking him, as a sister, for protection against the enemy. But the road was too long, and time was of the essence. Humayun arrived at Chittorgarh, in response to her letter, keeping his end of the bargain but a little late. Rani Karnavati had already performed the Jauhar. They never met. Humayun established Rana Vikramaditya on the throne of Mewar, as he had promised as a brother, and returned to his post. Two dynasties, political rivals and sworn enemies, from Sanga-Babur to Pratap-Akbar and even R...

The Thirteenth Night

This is part of the "Uttara Series" You will find under the Mahabharata. The series is also available on Wattpad. The night of the Bhadra Amavasya saw a funeral pyre in the Pandavas' camp. Wails of the ladies filled the air as the young brave heart was turning into ashes. The ashes lit up a celebration in the Kauravas' camp. Duryodhan, Dushyasan, Shakuni, and Jayadrata all succeeded in their mission. Breaking the Pandavas' backbone, killing their favourite son. Karna joined in the celebrations reluctantly; he had released the boy from the pain. The face kept coming back to him. After all, he was his nephew. He shut his eyes in pain. The air tonight seemed cursed. The pyre burning made the teenage widow run towards it. She had no hope of living without him. Life was already tough; each day, he went to war with a smile on his face. She had already lost her brother. Now she had none to return home to her. "Stop!" His mother pleaded between the wails. "...

The Cortege That Shook The Raj: Kanailal Dutta

10th November, 1908 Around late morning, a procession of lacs made their way through the streets of Calcutta (Kolkata), India. Some were chanting “Vande Mataram”, others blew conch shells, and Ululation filled the air. Flowers were being showered from all directions, and garlands made their way through the crowd, being thrown at the procession in the middle. Bhagwat Gita and Ananda Math (Novel by Bamkim Chandra) were offered. No, this was no “ Sobha Jatra ” or celebration. There were no religious festivities either. That dawn, the Alipore Jail, which opened only two years back, witnessed the hanging of Kanailal Dutta, a twenty-year-old member of the “Jugantar Dol”, an anarchist group that was set up primarily by Aurobindo Ghosh (Later Rishi Aurobindo), his brother Barindra and their associates. Kanailal hailed from Chandannagore, and although he was not present in most of their meetings in Kolkata, he was still one of their early members from Chandannagore, then a French province. ...

The Emperor's First Wife

Rukaiya Begum Ruqaiya Sultana Begum was born to Babur's second surviving son, Hindal Mirza, and his wife, Sultanam Begum, in 1542 C.E., merely a few months after Hamida Banu gave birth to the heir Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar. She was well-versed in Persian, Urdu and Arabic and was attracted to poetry and music. Being a proud descendant of the Timurid clan, most of Rukaiya's childhood was spent in Kabul, near the Bagh E Babur, built by Babur himself. From early childhood, she had seen the struggle of her family to regain their lost power in Hind. In 1551 C.E., just after her father died young at a battle for Humayun, leaving her and her mother in the harem of the emperor, it was Hamida Banu who wanted the marriage of Rukaiya to her first cousin, Akbar. Theirs was the first in-house marriage of the Mughals, soon to be followed by many more in the generations to come. At the mere age of nine, she had married the crown prince, and when Humayun won back Lahore, she was fifteen. At...

Etched In Stone

This historical short story is a fictitious account of Ashoka, the Mauryan Emperor and his first wife Devi, who finds no place in Magadhan History. There is another fiction about her in the blog as well. This story stemmed from a merge of two ideas, one was to mention the cave inscription found in Saru Maru that mentions Asoka spending some days there with his lover (presumed to be Devi), the other idea of how if words did not immortalise a lot of battles and achievements, the names of many great men would be lost in time. The prince stood on the edge of the cliff, looking at the horizon. Dawn arrived as the birds started leaving their nests, wings fluttering, eager to discover the world. He looked up at them, the thought of once again going back to exploring the length and breadth of his state making him feel a little restless as he eyed his healing wounds. He was left to die; his enemies wished so. Yet by some miracle of fate, as if his purposes were yet to be fulfilled, here he was ...

The Reva Cries

Roopmati had watched the troops leave. She had stood behind the chief queen as she traditionally bid goodbye to her sons. She had waited for the Sultan to come to her. He did. He was confident that the sudden advancement of Akbar’s foster brother, Adham Khan, could be curbed. It was not war, just precaution. He reassured her. Malwa would never bow to the Timurids. And he would not let anything happen to her. To Her. Roopmati felt suffocated by her husband’s affectionate hug. She felt trapped in the scrutinising eyes of all the people in the palace. Angry, blaming eyes. She tried to pace herself and sing, but her voice cracked in fear. Her melody was drowned in tears. Every evening, a messenger would come to the chief queen with the news of war. Roopmati was kept in the darkness. She was not told about anything. She knew the rumours. She was a witch. A temptress who caused doom to the Sultan of Malwa. She was a spy of the enemy planted in his life to destroy him. She wondered if he came...

Maharana Pratap: The Sun of Mewar

Many of you have read my fan fiction as well as historical representations of the life and times of Maharana Pratap Singh of Mewar. I provided small details of his life in many articles. But never have I ever made a separate historical post on him. It is very difficult to put together his life without the help of folklore because historical evidence is scarce. This one was requested, and hence here it goes. Needless to say, this one is very special. This is a blend of history and folklore. Leave your love. ❤️ Background and Birth: The year was 1540. Mewar was under a cloud of uncertainty. Banbir, their ruler for four years now, was a very incompetent ruler who always spent his time in luxury, drinking and dancing with girls. The crown prince Udai Singh was rumoured to have been killed by him. Chittorgarh was in darkness. Around March 1540, Mewar once again saw hope as some trusted generals, along with Kunwar Udai Singh, attacked Chittorgarh, taking Banbir by surprise. He was soon t...

Nawab E Bengal

Background: Nawab Alivardi Khan was ruling Bengal at the peak of Nawabi rule, expanding his strong empire. He had successfully suppressed the Marathas and had given a strong message to the British East India Company’s rising influence at Calcutta. Highly aware of the British Colonial policies across the globe, Nawab Alivardi Khan was strict with his policies and stronghold over Murshidabad, the then capital of Bengal (including present-day Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, and Bangladesh). He had two daughters and no sons. Amina Begum was the elder one, followed by Ghaseti Begum. Amina had three sons with her husband and courtier, Ahmed Khan. The second son, Mirza Mohammad, fondly called Siraj-Ud-Daulah (light of the country)by his grandfather, was born in 1733C.E. He was his grandfather’s favourite because he was born while he won over the Marathas. Alivardi Khan never let the “fortune child” of the family out of his sight. Siraj grew up accompanying...

Brothers and Sisters of Mahabharata

The Mahabharata, one of the greatest epics of Hindu mythology, not only recounts tales of valour, destiny, and dharma but also reveals intricate relationships between siblings whose lives shaped the moral and political fabric of the narrative. The bonds between brothers and sisters in the epic are diverse: marked by affection, rivalry, loyalty, and sacrifice. These relationships, though complex, embody the human emotions that transcend divine lineage and royal blood. Satyavati and Her Lineage Satyavati and her brother Matsya were born from a miraculous union between a Cursed Nymph in the form of a fish, Adrika and the King Uparichara Vasu, whose semen the fish had consumed when it fell in the river. They were discovered by their adoptive father, King Dusharaj, the ruler of the fishermen, and thus came to be known as Matsya Santan , meaning “children of the fish.” When the king found out about the twins, he claimed the male child as his heir and gave the girl, Satyavati, to the fis...

A Journey To Discover Life

Search This Blog