I loved the episode from beginning to end with the same level. Be it Jodha praying in front of Kahna or Shaguni Bhai at Amer praying in front of Kali Maa. The one was mediator and a manipulator (Kahna) while the other one is a protector and at times a punisher (Maa) the way every maa loves her children when they are in right path and punish them when they leave or deviate from the right path and chose to go wrong or wrong others for his own survival.
Jodha was down with her spirits drained out both mentally & physically, mentally as Jalal is in the war field with bare minimal support and he had to fight his own people even if he chose not to and physically as her body is changing to accommodate the new arrival and it is taxing on her health with nausea. But still she was shown in front of the god praying why he puts her always in cross roads when she start thinking her good days are around. Now she has everything she wanted in life, a loving husband, dotting MIL, caring sisters and token of her love life in her womb. Had it been some other day, she would have been not even allowed to turn her side, claiming it might hurt her child but now she could not even show the symptoms to any as it will cause damage to the already dampen moods of her family who are concerned for those who have gone to war field. Here she has to put in a strong & smiling face for the outer world even if her inners are crying out for the company of her soulmate. It is her responsibility to console his mother that her son will come back soon with victory. It is her responsibility to assure his other wives that they should not worry for their suhag as he is strong enough to tackle the enemy force with his tricks and will return unhurt and they should not worry even if had been captured by enemies as they can't hurt him. It was her responsibility to assure her child that he will meet his father when he comes out of his confinement and his father will be eagerly waiting for his arrival and will embrace him instantly. She has to reassure herself that she should not go weakling and cause damage to her unborn who is going to be the apple of everyone's eyes. At that moment Salima Begum come to her to give her some additional courage which is needed at the moment and she assures her that her God will not leave her hands in the middle roads.
On the other side at Amer we could see that Sahguni bhai had symptoms that something worst is going to happen in the near future though it can't be deviated from its way as it was decided by fate, at least the survivors will be the ones who are strong enough to go against the storm or against the roaring tsunami waves. So it looked like she will alert the palace and instantly the Amer troops will start towards Agra and might attack the Kabul Army from other side. Since we have also aware that Man Singh has successfully won the war against Reva, he along with some of the acquired army might meet Abul Mali's army from another side. The missed out army part of Atgah Khan and Munim Khans might cover the gap respectively from their sides and Todarmal and his team will go up to the hideout of Jalal. Te ladies will confront Abul Mali and his limited army with their instant weapons be it a sword or an Arrow or spatula or some spices used in the kitchen.
Alas, Salima had not even completed her words, there was message that the enemy army is almost approached their camp and in real big numbers which their few women soldiers may not be able to tackle. But as we could thought Hamida Banu took hold of the situation and said let's try to stay confined and tackle them as best as we can. No sooner than she finished her words, Abula mAli was at the threshold shouting see what I have brought for you ladies, the reminders of your Shehensha who dies in my hands and he threw the bundle which contained Jalal's few belongings. All were literally shattered seeing Jalal's armor and sword, the same sword which never parted from Jalal's hand ever. On seeing that Hamida was about to collapse but as a Mallika she had to hold her stance for the sake of the younger ones but Ruqu could not bear the sight. May be she had been presented with such scene even in her childhood where she would have seen the reminders of her near ones on their death. Jodha had tough time digesting what she was witnessing while Jalal's parting words were ringing in her ears continuously. No sooner than Salima and Ruqayya started crying and thought it would be better for them to swallow poison then get into those hungry, lusting wolves waiting outside, she collapsed to the ground and was shocked to watch what was going on around her and finding it difficult to console herself as she could not even gave her husband the good news which he had been longing to hear all through his life. It just reminded me of Uttara the wife of Abhimanyu who was declared pregnant on the day her husband went into the dense warzone and his chances of returning were none as the enemies target for that day was him. Poor girl could not enjoy the news of her pregnancy as she got the news of her husband's death on the same evening.
Abul Mali didn't leave them to mourn to their hearts content, he called out saying their King is dead and he will be the new king from now on and whatever belong to the deceased king now belongs to him and that means even the Harem. So all the wives of Jalal will be his wives from now on and it would be better for them to get ready to welcome their new owner rather than mourning for that one coward who died a heinous death by going on his knees to beg for his life. We could see some rays of hope in Jodha's eyes the moment she heard those words of Abul Mali who kept emphasizing on how Jalal cried for his life while dying. That's it, she sprang on her legs and said, no, our king is alive and lets not die by drinking poison and she even assured Hamida, Salima, Ruqu and Maham who thought she went into trance on hearing jalal's death and that is why she is blabbering on Jalal being alive. May be all the Mughal had been receiving such death news time and again and followed by the dead bodies. They were aware that Jalal had a small army which was not competent to fight against the vast Kabul army and also they were aware of the fact that whenever an enemy captures the king, they will never keep him alive for long and they had got the news of Jalal's capture hours before. But for Jodha Jalal's parting words brought new life to her and she said Just see what we have got as token of Jalal's death, just the armor and his sword. Had Abul Mali been successful in killing Jalal, would he lose the chance to showcase his victory by throwing Jalal's dead body and instead of his armors? Would he have left the chance to behead Jalal and presented that head to them as token of his victory rather just the headgear. Would he not have sent us Jalal's Hands which had punished him time and again instead of just his sword? Added to all these which clearly tells us our king is alive, just hear what Abul Mali is blabbering, he is telling our king had gone on his knees to beg for his life and do you ever believe that our king was so weak to go on his knees and ask someone to spare his life. No ways, his parting words were, he will return with his victory and if by chance he dies, he will die a warriors death and never will his knees tough the ground and the last word on his lips will be Allah and here this creature is blabbering our shehenshah was asking for his life by going on his knees. Will you believe that he could do such thing? No right, my husband will never bend in front of any creature so, it is crystal clear that he will come to save us.
In the meanwhile we have to do our best to hold our territory by fighting for our safety and that is required till he reaches us. She was confident and her blood started boiling with each word uttered by Abul Mali, I could see the same level of steeliness in Hamida Babu's eyes. To be frank with I was thinking that it may be Hamida who might ask her DILs to fight for their safety and show that dirty person that Shehenshah Jalaluddin Akbar's wives are not weak and they can take care of their modesty on their own. For that they don't require a creature like him to give shelter. But alas, we could hear Maham and the other Begum Nafeesha telling that it is not so easy to fight the well-equipped army of werewolves on their own as neither have they had strength to fight those demons nor they have weapons. And they still were in favour of drinking poison and end their life than losing the virtue to those brutal soldiers.
But Jodha was confident and was determined to fight for their safety and for their king and for their sultanate's name and fame. As a Rajput by birth, she has the strength and sharpness and urge to fight and so was the case of others who were the descendants of Babur who will never succumb to any external force. With that she picked up the blood stained sword from the belongings of Jalal with an ease and with a determined strength that can end the universe if needed. And while holding that sword, she conveyed her mindset that never to think woman as a weak gender, she can spread peace and at the same time, she can punish, she can feed the men and at times, she can even behead them with her mere knife (sorry to add some weapons they may think later to use), she is capable of enhancing a dynasty and if it calls for she can eradicate any dynasty. So lets not think ourselves weak, let us do our part and let the Shehenshah and his soldiers do their bit.
Jaya wonderful post... Jodha has to be strong right from hearing her pregnancy she had to keep it secret for sultanate sake, she has to console & keep giving Jalaal support and confidence that he will win this war and then she in her room praying & question to GOD her Kanha to give her the strength to face it..
When she saw the warrior dress of Jalaal will blood strains she couldn't believe that what she saw was real & just shocked her with still hearing the last parting words of Jalaal... When AM blabbered how Jallu died bending down knees begging for life, she knew her husband will never bend down & his last words will be ALLAH.. She has that faith that her husband will comeback till that time she has to fight against that vultures outside..She took the sword of Jalaal, now she is going to show them that she is fight rather than taking poison, as she is determined that her shehansha will come anytime soon to save them..
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