Rest House at Pachamalai Forest
Anagha stared at Princess Chamundeswari, her dark gaze expressive of her revulsion. All their plans to travel by themselves had fallen by the wayside when Queen Naganandini insisted on sending not one, not two, but ten soldiers along with them during their trip to Thanjavur. Or maybe it was chief minister Marthanda Bhupathi. Anyway, it did not really matter as both the brother and sister worked in tandem. And it was obvious that their single-minded goal was to do away with the princess.
There was a well-sprung carriage for the princess and three horse carts—one for the princess’s luggage and another which carried the provisions and extra stock of weapons. Anagha could not help wondering sarcastically if they were leaving for a battle. A third cart held a cage for Manu as some of the soldiers were wary of the tiger roaming around freely. What if it bit into their flesh while asleep? Pandiyan had warned his men regarding the same.
In the end, it was a fairly big cavalcade that left the fort of Azhagapuri in Kongunadu on Wednesday morning; with Chamundeswari riding on Rahu, Anagha sitting in the carriage at the princess’s insistence and Manu riding on top of his cage; the soldiers riding on horses, loosely spread around the four vehicles.
There was very less opportunity for the two women to speak during their ride till the time the sun went down in the west and they reached a resting house in the middle of Pachamalai forest. Finally, the two of them settled down in the quarters allotted for the princess.
“I do not even know which of them are trustworthy,” said Anagha, finally breaking her angry silence.
“Does it matter?” asked Chamundeswari, her voice bitter. “I would not trust any of them, Anagha. Looks like most of them can be purchased for a few coins of gold. And you know only too well that Marthanda Bhupathi is in charge of our treasury. Grr!” She threw her arms up in the air as she walked back and forth across the length of the room. “And Vishnurayan is supposed to be meeting us at the temple. What will he do? I hope he will not show himself.”
Anagha had no such worries. She knew for a fact that her husband was always extra cautious. Otherwise, how could they have kept the young princess safe from the predators during all these years? “Your Highness, you must not worry about Vishnu. He knows how to take care of himself.” She could not help the note of pride that crept into her voice.
Chamundeswari had reached the furthest wall of the long room by now. Making a turn, she walked back towards Anagha even as she spoke, “You are right, Anagha. Vishnu would know how to keep himself safe. But…! I have a good mind to chop off the heads of all these fools,” she fumed. The princess did not like anything or anyone who stopped her from achieving what she wanted.
Anagha could not help laughing. While Chamundeswari was well trained in warfare, she was not one to kill people in cold blood. The princess was too warm hearted for that. “Could you really do that, My Lady? Chop off the soldiers’ heads, I mean,” she asked, her voice shaking with more laughter.
Chamundeswari stopped in her tracks to glare at her maid, or at least tried to. But her mouth automatically stretched into a smile before she began to laugh as well. Falling back on a comfortably cushioned chair, she slapped a hand to her forehead even as she shook her head. “No, I suppose not. But how I wish I could. Why did they have to come along?”
Anagha sighed. “They did not really have a choice, did they?”
“Hmm… you are right, Anagha. How do we handle all this now? I am sure Vishnurayan has a plan which is why he wanted us to go to Thanjavur. I do not think he is going to show himself when the soldiers are with us. Do you think we both or maybe even one of us can get away and meet him in private?”
Anagha stared at the far wall, her mind circling around the possibilities. “I do not think it will be really safe for you to try to meet him alone, Your Highness. I can give it a try.”
Once again, Chamundeswari could not help feeling vexed at her hands being tied. She simply could not stand the non-action. But was there really a choice? She had a responsibility towards Vishnurayan and Anagha who had helped keep her alive all this long. And then there was what she owed the people of Kongunadu as their princess. They lived such pathetic lives under the aegis of the present queen and chief minister. She had to survive the next few months before her seventeenth birthday when she would be crowned queen.
She spoke now. “You are right, Anagha. You should try to meet Vishnurayan somehow and find out what his plan is. And it can only happen when I am performing on stage. That is the only time, with everyone’s eyes on me, will I be safe. Just in case one of Pandiyan’s soldiers is targeting me.”
Anagha paled on hearing Princess Chamundeswari’s words. “You cannot mean that, Princess,” she said in a shocked whisper.
“Can I not? Why do you think Marthanda Bhupathi insisted on sending his men with us?”
“My Lady, it is best I remain on stage with you. I will try to go meet him later. That will be for the best.” Anagha was clear where her priorities lay. A smile spreading over her plump face, she asked, “Have the soldiers not come along with us for our safety?”
Chamundeswari rolled her eyes to the high ceiling and back to her maid. “I know you do not believe that any more than I do.”
Both women spent a restless night even though the beds were extremely comfortable. Chamundeswari could not help recalling that day when she found out about her parents’—King Someshwara Thevar and Queen Srivalli—deaths in the palace fire.
She had been four years and was returning from a hunting trip along with Vishnurayan and Anagha…
The four-year-old Princess Chamundeswari was half asleep when the horse cart driven by Vishnurayan reached the fort just as the sun began to slide down in the western sky.
Anagha had a gentle smile on her face as she watched the little girl sitting in her lap. In spite of her sleepy state, Chamundeswari’s right hand was lying on the tiger cub’s head. The active cub had also settled down in the bamboo basket as if the rhythm of the horse cart acted like a lullaby.
When they had taken the little princess hunting in the Pachamalai forest surrounding the Azhagapuri fort, Vishnurayan had come across a dead tiger with a small cub. For all they knew, there might have been more cubs. But only this male cub, which was probably a few weeks old, was trying to suckle from the mother without any success.
The cub had been scared when it caught sight of people, running around to stand behind its mother’s big body.
Catching sight of the cub, Chamundeswari clapped her hands and jumped down from her perch on Vishnurayan’s shoulders. “Tiger, little tiger! Come here!” She opened her hand to gesture towards it invitingly.
The curious cub stepped over its mother’s body to walk to the small girl and sniffed at her hand.
“Pour some of the porridge in a clay vessel and bring it,” Vishnurayan told his wife in a whisper.
Anagha nodded before following her husband’s orders. Placing the bowl in front of the cub, the three of them watched it sniff at the vessel, the small tail swishing back and forth. In the beginning, it refused to have the porridge. After a brief while, probably realising that there was really no choice, the cub licked its way hungrily through the porridge, running its tongue thoroughly over the bottom of the vessel, licking it clean.
Chamundeswari laughed in delight as she reached out a finger to run over the cub’s head. “Soft!” she said, her body quivering with delight. “Can we take it home?”
Anagha gave her husband a startled look. The cub was so small now, the size of a domestic cat. But it would soon grow into a full-sized tiger which would not hesitate to kill people. What would they do then?
Vishnurayan thought quickly on his feet. If left in the forest, the cub was bound to perish with its mother already dead. But it could be trained to become the princess’s pet. And if fed well on deer meat, it might be stopped from becoming a maneater. And for all he knew, the tiger might become the perfect bodyguard the princess needed.
“We can do that, Princess! Let me get a basket,” said Vishnurayan, walking back to their cart. The cub was already half asleep as it lay down against its mother’s still warm body.
Chamundeswari clapped her hands once again, jumping up and down in excitement. “I will call it Manu,” she declared to Vishnurayan who returned with a bamboo basket. Her mother had told her the story of Manuneedhi Chozhan—an ancient Chozha king—and she absolutely loved it; deciding that the king’s name was perfect for her pet. Vishnurayan bundled a blanket of soft cotton with which he lined the basket. Lifting the cub gently in his hands, smiling when he felt its purr, he placed it in the makeshift cushion.
The princess watched in fascination, her golden eyes shining in delight when the little cub curled into itself before going into a deep sleep.
Once Anagha, Chamundeswari and Manu were settled in the cart, Vishnurayan quickly skinned the dead tiger with a sharp knife and rolled the skin deftly before tying it to the top of the cart. He washed his hands and knife in the small stream that ran on one side before getting into the front of the cart and riding it in the direction of the palace.
“Amma will be so happy to meet Manu,” said Chamundeswari the moment she woke up, rubbing a hand over her eyes.
“That she will,” said Anagha, smiling. “Do you want to drink some water, Your Highness?” she asked.
“No, no. I do not want anything. When will Manu wake up?” she asked, peering into the basket at the sleeping cub.
Before Anagha could reply, Vishnurayan stopped the cart and jumped out, drawing their eyes towards him.
“Something is wrong,” he told Anagha before walking to the gates of Azhagapuri fort which were shut and padlocked. His heart beating like a jungle drum even as his stomach heaved when a strange fear overtook him, Vishnurayan walked over to knock on the gate.
“Who is this?” asked a stranger’s voice before a small window positioned at shoulder level opened.
“I am Vishnurayan, a palace servant. And who might you be?”
“I am Mohanan, a soldier working under Pandiyan, the commander-in-chief of Kongunadu. And who else is there with you?”
Vishnurayan hesitated. Pandiyan? When did he become the commander-in-chief of Kongunadu? Frowning at the soldier who was waiting for his reply, he said, “Her Highness Princess Chamundeswari, along with her maid, Anagha.”
“Wait a minute!” The window was shut before he could hear the gates being opened noisily. “Why did not you say the princess was with you, man?” asked Mohanan in an anxious whisper even as he glared at Vishnurayan.
Vishnurayan shrugged. “From when did the gates of Azhagapuri remain shut for visitors? We are not at war with anyone, are we?”
Mohanan shook his head.
“Then?” asked Vishnurayan, his voice commanding as he looked at the sentry’s bowed head.
“Do you not know?” asked the sentry, looking up at the servant who was not only taller than him, but wider as well. His gaze was wary.
“Know what?” asked Vishnurayan, trying to control his voice that shook even as anxiety churned in his stomach.
“The king…” Mohanan paused, looking around to see if anybody else was listening to them. Except for the four soldiers who were stationed on the fort wall that was ten feet high, there was nobody else within hearing distance. “The king and the queen… their palace… the…”
A thoroughly impatient Vishnurayan caught hold of Mohanan’s tunic and lifted him up in the air to bring his gaze to the level of his own. “Will you get to the point, you fool! What about the king and queen?”
“There was a fire last night and both of them were burnt to death.” Mohanan spoke in a rush, spitting the words out quickly, even as his eyes rolled in fear. The huge manservant looked capable of killing him with his bare hands, thought the sentry even as his spear fell from his trembling hand down to the ground with a clatter.
“Hah!” Vishnurayan dropped the sentry unceremoniously, uncaring that Mohanan fell on his behind. His hands went to his cheeks, even as his eyes almost popped out of his forehead, in horror. The Queen! The King! Both gone! Murdered, definitely! And that was exactly what Naganandini and Marthanda Bhupathi had been discussing the other day. Queen Srivalli had sensed that her daughter, Princess Chamundeswari’s life, might be in danger and had sent the girl away with her trusted servant. But she must not have foreseen that her own life and the king’s, had both been in peril as well.
Oh my God! Vishnurayan was not aware of the tears pouring down his cheeks as he turned blindly towards the cart where his wife awaited him anxiously.
“What happened?” asked Anagha, her gaze wide as she looked at her husband’s face. She had never seen him cry, not in the ten years she had been married to him.
Vishnurayan slapped his hands on his forehead as he suddenly howled in pain. Manu jumped to its feet, coming wide awake at the startling noise while Chamundeswari stared at Vishnurayan, her small eyes rounded in shock.
Her motherly instinct kicking in, Anagha pulled the little girl into her arms, reaching out to place a pacifying hand over the cub’s head even as she stared at her husband. What could have happened? “Is Queen Srivalli alright?” she asked in a loud whisper. Had Vishnurayan not been worried about the queen when they left on this trip?
Vishnurayan shook his head, crying all the louder. “The king and queen are no more,” he shouted, his voice hoarse.
Anagha’s arms tightened protectively around the princess. Am I hearing right? She frowned at her husband, hoping that he would tell her differently. “That is not true,” she said, her voice insistent.
Vishnurayan shook his head first before he gave a nod. “It is.” He got into the cart and touched his whip to the horses’ flanks, guiding them through the gates, tears continuing to pour down his face. His mind racing, he could not help wondering: What is going to happen to the little princess? How can she be kept safe from the evil brother and sister?
He quickly drove the cart towards the queen’s palace, reining in the horses when he saw the charred remains of Queen Srivalli’s palace.
Anagha gasped, unable to believe her eyes. It was only yesterday morning that her husband Vishnurayan had picked up Princess Chamundeswari from this very palace before taking her on the trip to the forest. How was it possible that the whole palace—one which was so beautiful and well maintained—set on two floors, had been completely gutted down?
The two of them were too shocked to notice Chamundeswari jump out of the cart and run towards the blackened area. “Amma! Amma! Where are you?” she called out loudly in her childish voice as she ran across the ground, not realising that the palace that had been her home was not there anymore.
Princess Chamundeswari sat up on her cot with a jerk as she came back to the present…
She had lost both her parents overnight and she had been barely four years old. While Vishnurayan and Anagha had never said much in words, Chamundeswari had always been aware that her life was in danger. She had taught herself to remain alert at all times; while she pretended to be affectionate and friendly not only with her stepmother, Naganandini, but also the woman’s brother, Marthanda Bhupathi.
Her instincts screamed to drive a knife through their hearts, but Chamundeswari had taught herself patience. And it was all because of Vishnurayan that she knew every nuance of warfare, even while she pretended to be an innocent princess who was also meek and submissive. Over the years, she had even managed to garner Queen Naganandini’s affection. So much so, that the queen took her side many a time when Bhupathi tried to stir trouble. Which truly was a feather in Chamundeswari’s cap.
But all that was in the past. The princess was going to be seventeen years in three months. In his will, King Someshwara Thevar, had declared her his heir and that she was to be crowned the Queen of Kongunadu when she turned seventeen in case of his demise before that.
While Queen Naganandini enjoyed her position, she was definitely not happy that it was a temporary one. And Chamundeswari knew only too well that the queen or the chief minister would go to any lengths to make sure that it was a permanent position. After all, they had had no qualms about murdering both the king and queen to achieve their target, had they not? What was to stop them from murdering her as well?
Which is why Vishnurayan was travelling all over the Chozha empire to find someone strong and powerful enough to keep Princess Chamundeswari safe until her coronation.
Chamundeswari jumped down from the bed. No! She was not going to let Bhupathi thwart their plans. Not ever!
