Raksha Bandhan

It was half past midnight and the city of Thaneswara was covered by a blanket of silence. The palace guards were pacing the corridors in heavy footsteps to ward away any mischief makers on their path. On any other normal night, they would have already huddled under the Bodhi tree to steal a quick nap before day-break. However, on special nights like those they had to be extra vigilant. 

Princess Rajashri was being married off to the King of Kannauj, Raja Grahavarmana. The troops of the Raja entered a couple of days earlier and it was only few hours since the Raja arrived in person. It was a grand view to see the royal entourage of four hundred horses and thousands of foot soldiers encircling the royal elephant which carried the King. “A humble wedding for the status of a King”, the King of Thaneswar said in his address to the people. Given to the burning lanterns from the royal court, the King did not seem to retire to his chambers. “Marriage meant a big thing even for royal families”, thought the guards. 

Bypassing the meagre thoughts and the strict vigilance of the palace guards, a young boy was up to mischief in the royal chambers. With his tender hands steadily tracing the hilt of his sword, he was making quick yet stealthy steps towards the women quarters. That was not the first time he was taking that route in the dark but somehow the strict vigilance managed to bring a drop of sweat to his forehead. He had been ruling out the concept of stealing from his mind since last week but his time was running out soon. If he doesn’t get hold of his treasure that night, then he would forever lose sight of it.

Determined with the newly arising thoughts of self-justification, he carefully split ajar the doors of the Princess’ chambers. Thanking his stars he walked across the sleeping gatekeepers. “These women will never learn to stay vigilant”, he gave an authoritative sigh and made way to the wardrobe. As he walked closer to his treasure, his eyes twinkled at the prospect of mischief-making. For past one week he was being kept away from the princess. Her importance grew overnight with the entry of the King of Kannauj. Royal courtiers came to see her every day and petty inmates like him were shooed away from her place. But who could stop him now? In the day time he might be a young price to be shooed away by his mother but in the wake of darkness he was no less than a burglar up and about to loot his sister of her most valued treasure. 

Suppressing a chuckle at the thought of burglary he absent-mindedly searched his clothes for keys but much before finding the right key, he noticed that the wardrobe was unlocked.  As he surprisingly stared at the unkempt ornaments and pearls, he noticed that the secret locker was open. He looked around in suspicion to see if there was a real attempt at burglary but he knew quite well that none other than the royal members could enter the royal fortress in ease. Much before his racing thoughts could halt at a specific conviction, he heard a faint muffle sound from the balcony. He ran in haste to see if it was her and his heart didn’t resume functioning until he saw her all alone in the balcony, huddled in a chair, head between knees and hands cuddling around them. 

“Shri”, his voice startled her. In a moment she was up and alert and in the next she was once again lousing in her chair on seeing the source of the voice. “Why are you crying?” he asked innocently trying hard to speak against the tightening lump in his throat. He didn’t know why he felt so sad on seeing her cry. Emotions rarely crept between them. They were two like poles which always repelled due to extreme similarities. Looking at his innocent eyes which betrayed welling up emotion, Shri managed to feign courage. She changed into her role of an elder sister and as a matter of fact answered him, “I am getting married Harsha”. 

“I know that you are getting married but why are you crying?” his young annoyance sparked a smile on her face. 

“Because I will be leaving the kingdom within few days and I may not return to this palace again”.  

“But where will you go? Mother never said this to me! You are not going away with that King of Kannauj, are you?”

“Yes my dear young brother and I shall go with him on that huge elephant of his”, her cunning wink annoyed Harsha further. 

“Then why aren’t father and brother fighting him if he has come to take you away?” Harsha had a long way to go to understand the ways of the society.

“Because daughters are born to strengthen one’s ties with the neighbours and marriages are alliances which broker a deal of peace between two overlords”, the moment she completed her sentence she knew her words would not reach his mind. She was waiting for another ignorant query when Harsha suddenly stood up and said, “Do you want me to fight him for you?”

That moment his face no longer reflected a young innocent prince on a debate with his elder sister. He was a warrior born to fight for his rights and his family and for once she knew that he would be there to save her whenever life posed a threat to her existence. With pride she rejected his offer and pacified his anger by explaining him the ways of the society. They thus chit-chatted till day break and finally before he left, Shri gave him his most-wanted treasure, his Raksha Bandhan. 
She was made to tie it to him post which they had been constantly challenging each other for it. The last time he stole it from her he kept it hidden in her wardrobe. She barged into his chambers one morning but could not find any trace of it. Finally she overheard him saying to his friend that he hid it in her chambers so as to keep her attention away from it. Since then she held it as a prized possession keeping him away from her chambers. The moment she saw him in the balcony she knew that he had come for it. It was he who could make her cry and laugh at the same time and for him she could walk to any length of the world. 

In a couple of days the marriage took place and as expected Princess Rajashri was taken away on the big royal elephant as the Queen of Kannauj. Harsha stood staring at her holding back his tears. It was the first lesson that life taught him. As she left the palace walls, his sister had simultaneously taken away his childhood from him. He understood that relations aren’t permanent. People come and go in your life, it is you who matters the most. Over a period of two years since she left, he grew up into a sensible teenager. His skill at arms had excelled and he was slowly being introduced into the royal affairs. Life was about to stabilise on a matured path when one unfortunate night father breathed his last. 

The atmosphere was laden with grief and the kingdom fell into chaos. Harsha's elder brother, Rajyavardhana, immediately took over the reign and started preparing his ranks for a battle any time soon. He knew that Shashanka, the King of Bengal was waiting to take over Thaneswar for many years and in such times of chaos, opportunity knocks the doors of the enemy with vigour. While the kingdom of Thaneswar was fervently preparing to defend its borders from attack, another shocking-news hit the palace as a jolt. Shashanka had diverted his troops towards Kannauj and defeated King Grahavarmana in a battle. After killing the King of Kannauj, he took away his wife, Queen Rajashri to arouse the attention of the young blood of Thaneswar. 

His strategy had worked and soon Rajyavardhana was on his way to Bengal on a mission to rescue his sister. He was unexpectedly stopped by the King of Malwa en-route and killed in a battle. The events had taken place in such haste that Harsha had no time to better understand the ways of the world before he took over the reins of the Kingdom at the age of mere sixteen. 

However life had taught him better lessons much before he experienced the verge of adolescence. In such times of pandemonium, it is noted that wisdom plays a better role than experience. Harsha knew that he couldn’t take over Shashanka in haste. He had to save his sister before raging a face-to-face battle with the King of Bengal. “Corner your enemy before you attack him”, her words kept repeating in his mind. He took time to stabilize his kingdom and then strategically brokered alliances with the neighbouring kingdoms. As he carefully cornered the King of Bengal, word came to him that his sister was set free and she chose to resort to the Vindhya forests. 

He at once knew that it was a stint to divert his attention from the battlefield. He managed to stay unmoved by the news and brought up the discussion within members of his close quarters during the night. Once the news got confirmed, he immediately set to the Vindhya mountains in disguise while making no noise about his mission in public spaces. For many days he roamed around the forest in disguise living on the meagre game that he managed to procure when he felt extremely hungry. 

On one such occasion, he found a pile of logs heaped in the centre of a clearing. Something was amiss about the way the pile was arranged. He was trying to figure out the missing link when he heard a shrill cry from afar. He was quite sure that the voice did not belong to her but whoever it was he knew she was in danger. He immediately rode in the direction of the cry and within no time he crossed the path of a troop of bandicoots dragging a woman onto a palanquin. The woman seemed to be rich and elegant. According to his fair understanding, the palanquin belonged to her. But where were the palanquin bearers? They might have fled on seeing the bandicoots. “This country needs to be reformed”, he made a mental note as he fought the tribal troop. His skill at sword-fight was unbeatable and within no time he chased them out of sight. As he strained his mind to figure out a way to send the woman to the city, he noticed a search party coming in their direction. The woman was reunited with her people and Harsha was invited by them to accompany them on their journey. 

That night he was resting in the caravan of the merchants. Sleeping under the huge banyan tree a sudden thought woke him with a start. He immediately dressed up and took off on his horse in the direction of the pile of wood that he came across in the morning. As he sped in the forest, the thought became clearer in his mind. It was not a mere pile of woods but a pyre. Its flat top was supposed to hold a body and the mud channel dug around the pyre was an attempt to stop the fire from spreading into the forest. Whoever it was that set the pyre was doing a grave mistake. In the depths of his heart, he knew it was her. 

“How would she stop the air from spreading the fire?” his young annoyance resurfaced at the thought of his sister. He let a faint smile pass his lips as he gently caressed the Raksha Bandhan on his wrist. As he neared the place, he realised that the pyre was already lit. He increased his pace while simultaneously breathing hard to urge his heart from skipping a beat. He almost collapsed on to the floor as he reached the clearing. The lump left his throat as he saw her filling water through the mud channel. She looked around in a start and on seeing him, moved one step behind towards the pyre. She glanced at the clouds and the thunder bolt that followed her sight answered his unasked question. 

“When you were waiting for the rain to douse the fire after your work was done, then why did you construct a mud channel?” his question seemed to loosen her tightened nerves.

“Because it is advisable to always have an alternate plan”. She answered in a confident tone.

“But you had not time to think of an alternative to death”, his affectionate irritation brought realisation in her.

“I did have an alternate plan”, she answered with a cunning smile which was supposed to infuriate him further.

As he stood there in confusion, she walked closer to him, held his face in her palms and said, “I trained a young warrior to rescue me in the face of death”. 

They held each other in embrace for the first time since they have known life and the clouds showered in joy at the reunion of a long-separated bond of innocent love. 

After rescuing his sister, Harsha defeated Shashanka in a battle and chased him from his lands. He ruled a huge kingdom which expanded from Gujarat to Bengal and Punjab to Central India, the largest kingdom after the Gupta period.

Note: But for the names and a few factual details, the entire story is fictional and holds no factual claim or evidence of any sort.