Chapter Forty-Five:
At a distance from both camps,
A few fully hooded figures covered from top to bottom in black flitted here and there taking cover in the areas of the grassland that were thick and full of tall reeds of grass. They took positions in such a manner that they could observe whatever was happening in Chitrakut before they could report or take further decisive action. The dacoits were speaking among themselves,
Bandit 1: Sardaar, should we attack them or report to Rajkumar Dhananand?
Bandit Leader: No not now! Buddhi brasht ho gayi kya theri? (Has you gone mad?) Both the groups are still awake. They are in sufficient numbers too to overpower us. So we might have to wait for them to retire to bed before we indulge in plunder and murder.
Bandit 2: Par Rajkumar Dhananand ko toh suchith zaroor karsakthe hain! (But we could inform Rajkumar Dhananand all the same!)
Bandit Leader: Yeh kya Maharaj Chandragupt ka sainya hai kya ki tum Kumar ko suchith karoge? Yeh toh aam banjaron ka aur varthakonka kafila lagtha hain. Kuch bhi suchith karne seh pehle hume aur jaankari haasil karni hogi. Hamare sare admiyon ko aane ke liye sandesh bhejo aur phir in donon kafilon ke sare or pheljao aur mere sanketh ki prateeksha karo. (Is this Maharaj Chandragupt's army that you are going to inform the Prince? They look like a troop of ordinary gipsies and a merchant caravan. Before informing anything we need to gather more information. Send a message for all our men to join us and spread out in all directions surrounding these two caravans and wait for my signal.)
Bandit 1: Theek hai Sardar. Aur sab ke aane ke baad hume kahan chupna chahiye? Ithne sare log honge toh zaroor hume koi dekhlega! (Alright, Chief! And after everyone comes, where should we all hide ourselves? There are so many people out there, so there is a chance that we could be spotted by one of them!)
Bandit leader: Do you see those big effigies of Ravan, Kumbhakarn, Indrajeet, and Mahiravan? Hide behind them. Nobody will see you. Looks like there is going to be a performance of Ram Leela. Everyone will be engrossed in that. They will hardly notice anything amiss around them. They will burn these effigies all together at the end for the Ravan Dahan. We will have ample time before that to carry out our plans. None of them look like trained fighters. So, if we succeed in maintaining the element of surprise, we can very easily indulge in pillage and plunder, and decamp from here unscathed.
Before the Ram Leela in the back stage,
The performance was about to begin in a short while. Chandragupt was giving parting instructions to a captain and the group of soldiers under him before going on stage, "Keep your eyes and ears open. Send a few of our men for a detailed reconnaissance and inspection of this entire area and the areas surrounding. If you observe any suspicious or dangerous activity at any particular place, I want you to signal it to me like this..."
Chandragupt explained in a very low voice the danger signals they would be using, when, where and how. The captain responded in the affirmative to all this. Chandragupt continued, "I cannot remain longer than this from the stage. In the event of anything untoward happening, you will divide yourself into three divisions. One division will cordon off and shield all the civilians and lead them to a place of safety and remain in guard for them. One division will follow Maharani Nandini and her instructions. The other division will follow mine."
The stage was a temporarily erected structure open on all three sides while the fourth side was reserved for the performers to rest in between the acts until the time they were needed on stage for their particular scene. All the musicians were seated on stages with their instruments. Since it was their intention to disguise themselves as wandering performing gipsies, one of the captains had the presence of mind to bring a few props like this for the sake of plausibility and verisimilitude of the characters they were playing.
That actually came in handy now. The stage was lit by lamps at the borders which illuminated the whole performing area. It was decorated with silken shawls, curtains and other drapery which made the stage look extremely colorful. Everybody among the cast and crew was armed to the teeth with bows and arrows, swords, knives, maces, lances and spears which were camouflaged and disguised to look like fake weapons generally used as props for such performances. Even the musicians and back stage helpers on stage were equipped with catapults and others alternate sorts of arms and arsenal which could be put into use if required.
The stones and boulders for depicting the scene where Lord Ram constructs a dam across the sea to reach Lanka were kept to one side of the stage. Beside them, several arrows whose heads were wound with pieces of cloth dipped in oil were placed in readiness for the Ravan Dahan. The rest of the troop who weren't there either in the cast, crew, or the back stage intermingled themselves unobtrusively among the civilians and spectators and stood at vantage positions which would make it easier for them in the event of a dacoit scare to just surround them and cordon them off before leading them to a place of safety. But now they were just a few spectators among the many civilian spectators.
And the show began! The Sutradhaar introduced his characters...
Gaadha yeh athi Paavan ;
Shuru hua ek Pakshi ke Karan! (A legend so pristine; it began because of a bird!)
...
Chandragupt was enacting the role of Sri Ram while Nandini was enacting that of Mata Sita. As the Bala Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda, Aranya Kanda, Kishkindha Kanda scenes of the Ram Leela concluded, everyone broke into the chorus "Ram Ram Jaya Rajaram, Rama Rama Jaya Sitaram" which was occasionally interspersed with shouts of "Siyavar Ramachandra ki Jai!" The instruments too joined the crescendo making it a really divine experience for the beholders.
The scene where Lord Ram was sending all the Vanars in search of Sita in all directions came. Just when he was talking to Hanuman about this mission, the sound of a koyal (cuckoo bird) cooing came twice from four different directions simultaneously. Chandragupt ears instantly stood up in attention to quickly take in the directions from which they were coming.
This was the signal he and his men had agreed upon in the event of danger. They were coming from four places around the stage. To be precise, they were somewhere near the huge effigies of Ravan, Kumbhakaran, Indrajeeth and Mahiravan. He examined them closely and carefully and came to the conclusion that there was some sort of movement or activity going on behind these effigies. But he could see nothing. It could also mean one thing. The dacoits were using these effigies as a cover.
Desperate situations called for desperate remedies. He knew when they were planning to halt in the grasslands of Chitrakut that there were many possibilities of such a scare. As a matter of fact, by choosing to disguise as a troop wandering gipsies, he had deliberately played for it. What he had not counted on was the merchant-cum-civilian caravan exactly turning up at the same spot.
His original plans and intentions though unchanged required some bit of alternation and rethinking in terms of execution. Now that he had received the impending danger signal from his reconnaissance and inspection team, he had to put his entire army including Nandini on a standby mode but at the same time without alerting the dacoits to nab whom was his express intention in halting at Chitrakut.
The Ram Leela though not part of his original plan had come in very handy. All of them, including his soldiers and civilians had been fully awake. So, even if the worst came to the worst, they would be able to evacuate all the civilians to a place of comparative safety. Moreover, he was able to keep his men armed and ready without rousing the least bit of suspicion in the dacoits. Had they been suspecting them in the least degree, some of them would have immediately decamped from there to relay the news to Dhananand's scouts in the forests of Bhavanagiri which wouldn't have suited him in the very least.
He spoke as though a part of his scene in the Ram Leela in a very loud and commanding voice audible to everyone, "Savdhan...Hanuman! ...Sab Savdhan! ...Shatru ab hum sab ke nikat hain! ...Hamara lakshya hoga Ravan, Kumbhakaran, Indrajeeth aur Mahiravan!..."
A split-second timing after this, Chandragupt bellowed, "Prathighat!" as he jumped the stage and rushed headlong towards the effigy of Ravan with his soldiers and captains who were in disguise following in quick succession. The other soldiers and captains divided themselves into three more groups and diverged towards the other three effigies.
As though acting on a cue, the division standing among the spectators sprang into action cordoning off the commoners forming a protective cover with their shields and started evacuating them from being caught in the crossfire between the gang of dacoits and their army.Nandini's division of the army joined her.
The leader of dacoits recognized by now that this was no common band of wandering gipsies but a well-trained and well-oiled military machine capable of working with pinpointed precision, accuracy and deadly impact. It was a pre-planned military raid. The way they had pulled this elaborate deceit on all of them by lulling them into a false sense of security while all the while pulling them deeper and deeper into the trap astonished him.
They had presented a very attractive and inviting bait in the first place. Even if they had the least idea, he and his men would have kept out of harm's way and instantly informed Rajkumar Dhananand and sought his help and support. But the very thought did not occur to him when he observed such soft and inviting targets. It looked as though the hunter and hunted had suddenly exchanged places. All along, he had been thinking that he and his men were going to turn predators and run amuck among the two caravans while in reality, they were literally going to run through them.
He had to instantly find a weak link somehow if he and his men were to escape from here alive. That was when he observed that the leader of one of the army divisions was a lady. If only they could take advantage of that by attacking her and her division so that, the leader and the division lead by him whom were rapidly advancing towards him would be forced to go to her help and that of the division led by her.
He turned to his men said, "Rain arrows on that division of the army led by the lady! Keep them continuously and persistently under attack. Their comrades will definitely try to help them. We can make use of that diversion and escape from here."
All the men instantly brought in their shields and defenses to form a temporary defense. But they could not remain like this forever. They had to get out of danger. Observing Nandini and her division of the army continuously under fire, Chandragupt was in a fix. He had to launch the offensive if he had to annihilate and destroy his enemies. He couldn't afford to retreat or back track at this point. Neither could he stand by and watch Nandini and her division get slaughtered in the bargain.
As he stood undecided neither advancing nor retreating, only one thought was running though his mind, "Nandini if I come back to help you, all this effort will go waste. But neither can I stand by and see you getting into danger. It was because I knew such situations would happen in the battlefield that I did not want you to come along with me. Please help yourself!"
Nandini saw what was happening. The dacoits were trying to weaken them by attacking her and her division. She and the other soldiers and captains held up the shields and swatted the rain of arrows descending upon them from all sides with their swords. They had to do something immediately and decisively. She closed her eyes for a fraction of a second to take in the entire situation and decide what she must do.
They had to fend for themselves! Chandragupt could not and should not turn back at this juncture. But what could she possibly do? What? Her own mind provided her the answer to this question instantly. Take cover! Yes, they ought to take cover! But where? It was an open grassland! The tents were pretty far off. They couldn't make for them from here without resulting in heavy casualties.
Where else? That was when her eyes went behind her to the elevated platform they had constructed for the sake of the Ram Leela and the big wall of boulders and stones for the dam construction scene. The stage could be used as a sort of trench while the boulders and stones like a wall to protect and shield themselves while counter attacking from under and behind.
Nandini, with an unwavering glance not the least bit hesitant or afraid, with quiet command and self-composure to the army division who were looking up to her for guidance, "Get under and behind the stage. Some of you can hide behind the boulders and stones kept to the side of the stage. That is the only place near us where we can rush for cover in this otherwise open grassland and simultaneously counter-attack."
The entire division ducked and took cover under the stage, behind the stage, and behind the boulders and stones kept for the Ram Leela scene of building the dam. Chandragupt cheered aloud and clapped his hands in excitement and appreciation for the brilliance of this military tactic of Nandini and his comrades. He looked behind to catch Nandini's eye for a milli second before he charged ahead towards the dacoits to destroy them with feline quickness and a leonine grace.
He was terribly relieved now. It was as though a terrible weight had been lifted off him. There was nothing to hold him back now. When asked to choose, he would no doubt have gone to protect Nandini and her army division, but all the same, he would have regretted if the dacoits got off the hook because of this. All his efforts would have gone waste.
Nandini rattled orders to her men, "Keep firing arrows on the dacoits. Maharaj and his division are very close to them. They will break ranks in a few minutes. We have to keep helping them without exposing ourselves to danger."
Soldier: Maharani we are running out of arrows! What shall we do now?
Nandini: If there is a will, there is a way! Don't you see these stones, boulders, curtains and drapery all over. I should imagine that a few of you could wrap them over like this with the curtains and try swinging them with long arm so that they land in the enemy ranks.
They started raining the dacoits with stones and boulders like this which descended upon them like hail from the sky. Suddenly, observing that Chandragupt and their soldiers were very close by the enemy ranks and could also get hurt by the boulders and stones hurled in that direction, she held up her hand to ask them to stop this until her further orders.
That was when she observed the arrows kept for the Ravan Dahan. This would do the trick. The dacoits had taken cover behind the effigies. So, if they were able to bring down the effigies, all the men hiding behind them would be burnt to cinders. Nandini quickly signaled the sharp shooters in her army division to take down the effigies with the fire arrows kept for Ravan Dahan. Many dacoits who were standing in proximity to the effigies went up in flames.
The others including their leader had instantly backed off and started running away from there. Chandragupt and his men had broken ranks with the enemies and hot hand to hand and face to face fighting erupted throughout the grasslands. Nandini and her division had done their job. They had softened the enemy targets with their attack and smoothened the advance of Chandragupt and his division towards the dacoits. Now there was no need to expose either herself or her men to immediate danger.
Chandragupt and his division looked more than adequate for them. If at all, the men who were fighting were tiring and in need of replenishment, she and her division who were apparently fresh and not tired could immediately spring into action. But the need for that never arose. Chandragupt and his division ran amuck among the dacoits. They made mincemeat of them in a comparatively short while. Most of them had been killed and the rest had been captured and taken into custody. None of them were given even the minutest opportunity to escape.
The leader of the merchant caravan and the civilians were sitting in a big tent temporarily erected by the soldiers guarding them. They hustled close to each other, fear gripping their vocals at what they had seen outside just a short while ago. They were thankful for all these men sitting watch over them and guarding them.
Their own fighters had proved to be a bunch of completely incompetent nincompoops who needed saving themselves. All of them knew by now that this was no ordinary band of gipsies. They all felt sheepish that they had been asking this band to perform the Ram Leela. All the same, they ought to acknowledge that they hadn't seen a better Ram nor Sita in their lives before this.
Feeling bored the leader of the caravan started fingering the wallet containing the newly minted gold and silver coins which he had promised to the leader of the gipsies in return for the performance. He knew they weren't gipsies. But who were they? One of the coins rolled out and fell on the ground. The impressions on the coins seemed very familiar. That was when he realized that it was their own Ram and Sita embossed on the coins. So it meant that, the people with whom he had spoken so familiarly and also brashly were the king and queen of Magadh, Maharaj Chandragupt and Rani Nandini.
It was almost dawn now. After having disposed off all the dacoits and capturing the rest, Chandragupt and Nandini rejoined the civilians and the leader of the merchant caravan to reassure them that everything was alright. As soon as, the merchant caravan leader saw them, he ran outside and fell on Chandragupt's feet speaking in a stammering and incoherent voice, "Maharaj, Maharani, please forgive me! I didn't know that both of you were the king and queen of Magadh. Forgive my earlier impertinence!"
Chandragupt spoke, "Don't worry! I am not here to punish you. Both of us came to reassure all of you that everything is alright. We did not take either your words or behavior amiss. But this experience should have taught you a lesson that you shouldn't behave rudely with anybody however humble he or she is. You should learn to respect a human being as a human being, however big or small."
He turned to the rest of the people in the tent and said, "You can all return to your tents for the night. I and my men are there to protect you. Rest assured!"
One of the civilians chipped in, "What do we have to fear when we have Maharaj Chandragupt and Maharani Nandini nearby to protect all of us!"
While another expressed her gratefulness, "We are really grateful to both of you for saving our lives. Thank you Maharaj! Thank you Maharani!"
All the rest of the people in the tent joined the chorus and began thanking Chandragupt and Nandini.
Chandragupt: You need not thank me for having done my duty. It's almost dawn now. If all of you are ready to resume your journey, a few of my soldiers will escort you from here to a place of safety after which you can resume your journey to Suvarnagiri.
Leader of the Caravan: We will do as you order us Maharaj. (Aside) Better to be out of this place as fast as possible!
Chandragupt: And one more thing! None of you will not speak anything about the night's occurrences outside for some time until the situation in Magadh settles down. You will not blabber anything or gossip about this outside Chitrakut. It is often our irresponsible words and actions which cause us trouble and warn our enemies. I hope I can expect that much of responsibility from all my citizens. Can I?
All the civilians: Yes Maharaj! Yes Maharaj! We will not breathe a word of what happened here at Chitrakut outside!
Chandragupt: Now if you will excuse both of us, I and Maharani Nandini have a number of things to attend to.
Chapter 46: Page 92
Edited by shailusri1983 - 8 years ago
Bigg Boss 19
