A Journey To Discover Life

Note: This piece is a work of fiction based on folklore, and the Prithviraj Raso, an epic saga by Chand Bardai, who happened to be the court poet of Prithviraj Chauhan. The dates corresponding to wars, names of people and places are, however, historically fact-checked from various sources, including the works of Todd (semi-historical), The  Amir Khusrau and contemporary sources like R.C.Majumder. The incidents are fictionally woven. Rai Pithora Around the year 1140 A.D., Ajmer was ruled by Anangpal of the Tomara Dynasty. Delhi was the seat of power of the Sultanate, which was a constant power struggle for them. He managed to capture briefly most parts of west Rajputana, and present-day Haryana and Punjab were also part of his kingdom. The old king had a son and two daughters. His concern grew as his son Surya was not talented enough to rule Ajmer. His youngest daughter, Princess Karpuri Devi, was married to Someshwar Chauhan of the famous Chauhan clan. Their son, Rai Pithora, helpe...

  This is more of a personal account of one of our family stories, and the reason we are ardent devotees of Lord Shiva. We mythologically trace our roots to the age of Ramayana, as descendants of Sage Vasistha's lineage from Sage Saktri, while historically we have records of our immediate family as early as the time of Babur and that of our ancestors from Kanauj. Family Origins: This was Gaur Banga or Bengal. My forefathers lived in the Jessore district of present-day Bangladesh. They were descendants of Shaktri, the son of Ved Vyas, whose family lived in Kanauj, U.P., and we are direct descendants of Sage Vasistha, who taught Rama the Vedas. The Shaktri clan travelled from the Vasistha Ashram near the River Beas to Kanauj in UP ( Present Uttarakhand) to teach and practice medicines there. They were Vedic-age Vaidyas. They were learned people of the Brahmin class trained to cure difficult diseases. Pandit Saktridhar Sen and his family were invited to King Adhisur's court in Ben...