This part might be depressing for many of you but please be patient with me and hang around. Things always turn out for the best...
PART-6 (II):
Continued from PART-6 (I):
Arnav went through the book to find information on the person that intrigued him the most. The hard-headed astute businessman sat down in a lone section of a museum reading up on the history of Sheesh Mahal in relation to one particular Khushi Gupta.
'The lives of Ministers of Gwalior' by Anton Black:
Arnav smiled at himself. "This needs to be done", his mind was set, "There is no other way"
Written by a British Historian fascinated by Indian History, the book talked about the different ministers through times in the court of Gwalior. Their lives, how they treated the royalty and how they were treated by the royalty along with many pictures and references.
A singular mention of 'Rajendra Gupta' alerted Arnav purely due to his last name.
"Rajendra Gupta was the minister of defense in the early 18th century. His stratagems and exploits helped protect Gwalior from Local and European invaders. The Nawab was so pleased that a palace by name 'Sheesh Mahal' was given to him as a gift.
The tragic story of Khushi Kumari Gupta: (this was accompanied by a few of Khushi's pictures)
Rajendra Gupta's only daughter- Khushi Kumari Gupta received the Mahal from her father as a birthday gift on her 15th birthday. Though being his daughter, Rajendra Gupta ensured that she was taught most of the skills of war that a son would be expected to learn including single combat, sword fight, horse riding along with music and arts. Khushi was known to be a beautiful, witty, strong, independent young woman.
Being an ardent lover of nature, she was enthralled when presented with 'Sheesh Mahal' as it was bordered by deep jungles, and close to nature. It is said that Khushi hated the hustle bustle of cities and preferred to stay close to villages and forests due to their sheer simplicity of life. Khushi was always found visiting the Mahal with her close younger cousins (the daughters of her fathers sisters) and her governess.
Even though girls younger to her were married during that time period, Rajendra Gupta waited for a fitting suitor to request his daughter's hand in marriage. In addition, Khushi was given complete freedom to pursue her interests and hobbies.
(The rest of the portion is obtained from snippets and extracts of her cousins' and some friends' statements)
It is said that when Khushi was 18 years old, while boating, she was caught in a flood of Ganges river near Kannuaj. Unable to escape the force of water, she was almost killed in front of her cousins, when a man 7-8 years older than her, rescued her risking his life. It was Ananth, a son of a rich trader in one of the villages, Komalpur, surrounding Lucknow.
Thanking him for his generous help, Khushi invited him over to Sheesh Mahal. Gradually their friendship changed into love, and Ananth could be seen meeting Khushi quite often at the Mahal confidentially with her cousins' help. Ananth and Khushi were deeply in love with each other and consummated their relationship.
Within a few months, Khushi found out that she was pregnant with Ananth's child. Ananth realized that it would not be easy to get his father's approval for their marriage due to differences in their social and communal status. Ananth married Khushi in secrecy. Wanting to let her father know and convince him for their wedding, Khushi left to Gwalior with her cousins. Ananth went back to his village to try the same with his father.
Khushi was unable to tell her father owing to his hectic royal duties. She waited for an opportune moment to speak to her father. In the meanwhile, the Prince of Marwad, who had been a royal guest at the court saw Khushi and was besotted by her beauty.
Being an artist himself, he drew a painting of Khushi and sent it to Rajendra Gupta as a gift requesting her hand in marriage. Rajendra Gupta was ecstatic about the alliance since Prince of Marwad was a suitor worthy of his daughter.
The alliance was set and Khushi's wedding with Prince of Marwad was fixed. Khushi was heart-broken. She told her father about Ananth and their love. Rajendra Gupta was livid and threatened his daughter that he would end Ananth and his family if she refused the wedding with the Prince. The court was very happy with the wedding as it would ensure a positive association of Gwalior with Marwad. Khushi was scared to tell her dad about her pregnancy as she was worried that her baby would be killed.
Ananth's family refused the alliance with Khushi, equally vehemently. So, he sent a message to her through his friends that they would elope to avoid her impending marriage. On the day of wedding, Khushi eloped with Ananth into the jungle. Rajendra Gupta was furious about his daughter's betrayal. He sent men to find her and get her back.
On the other hand, the Prince of Marwad could not tolerate his bride running away from the marriage. He took it as a huge insult, and in a rush of anger burned the entire village of Komalpur including the family of Ananth. Only a lucky few were able to escape the disaster in the village.
When Ananth and Khushi came to know of this tragedy through his friends, they were devastated. They rushed back to Komalpur to find the once peaceful and lush village in a horribly ruined state. The village had a temple of a demigoddess that was attended by a tribe of worshippers. The entire family was killed except the old matriarch.
The matriarch uttered a curse on Khushi that just like how she was alive and suffered the pain of her loved ones demise, Khushi would live forever without any death to suffer the pain of loss of her loved ones. For the complicated type of magic to set the curse into motion, she needed Khushi's blood to be spilled. Just as she reached Khushi with the knife, Ananth stepped in to protect his wife and got stabbed by it. Khushi couldn't see Ananth dying, hence begged the old lady to revive him.
The matron asked for Khushi's blood in return for Ananth's life and complete secrecy of her curse. Khushi could not tell anyone from her mouth regarding the curse. As Khushi gave her blood, Ananth was revived but was left unconscious. Since Khushi loved nature, she was exiled into the forest due to the curse. Because Ananth had stepped in the first time when the curse was uttered, and his blood was spilt, it is said that, he was also bound by a part of the curse.
Deeply distressed, Khushi had to leave Ananth in the care of his friends and went into the forests as bound by her curse. Rajendra Gupta was traumatized when he heard from Ananth's friends regarding what had happened to his daughter. He truly repented for not accepting her love, and went searching for her and finally found her, sick and alone. Khushi had lost her baby. She couldn't come out of the forest due to the hex of the old lady. Rajendra Gupta tried hard by getting many holy men and saints to get rid of the jinx, but nothing worked.
Finally, one of the holy men tried lessening the impact of the curse with his austerities. The old lady was brought by force and ordained to give a remedy for the malediction she had placed on Khushi. She declared that only Ananth could help Khushi pull out of her curse. He would be the one to figure out a way to lift the curse. Since Sheesh Mahal was the place where their baby was conceived, and where their secret marriage had happened, that would also be the place where the curse could be broken. The curse would start its effect as soon as Ananth or his future incarnation would step into Sheesh Mahal. If the curse was not broken within 90 days of Ananth or his future incarnation entered Sheesh Mahal, the curse would rebound and kill him again.
As the time passed, Khushi lost Ananth, her father, her cousins and their friends. She was left all alone. It is said that she still roams in the wilderness surrounding Lucknow"
As Arnav completed reading the section in the book, he put his head back on the chair and closed his eyes.
He reminisced the incidents with Khushi; all that he had read about her, all the conversations they had, her expressions, the twinkle of mischief in her eyes and the desperation in them. A part of him felt that not everything was fitting in. He closed his eyes and contemplated for a long long time...
After a lot of deliberation... It stuck him then... He knew exactly what to do and where to start with...
...PART-7 LATER...
Edited by SillyLisa - 8 years ago
Kumkum Bhagya
Anupamaa
193