Part 11

Next Day:

Ratanpur:

Anjali came to the temple to offer prayers to Devimayya.

"I heard Bade Malik came back" asked the elderly priest.

"Haan Pundit ji. He came yesterday evening" said Anjali.

Pundit nodded his head.

"I will bring him in the evening" said Anjali, then taking leave from him came out of the temple..

She saw Ramu who is being fed by sugarcanes.. Ramu is eating them with great delight. She stood there looking at Ramu with a smile on her face.

"Di" came a sickening voice from behind.

Recognizing the voice, Anjali's smile flattered and she turned towards the owner of the voice.

There stood Shyam Malik with the most sickening smile on the earth. He came near her.

"How are you Di ?" asked Shyam.

Anjali turned away her face.

" What happened Di ? Why are you not answering me ? You can call me Chote if you want" said Shyam.

Anjali glared at him angrily.

"Ok Ok.. I know you won't call anyone Chote other than Arnav" said Shyam, " Well, I heard that Arnav came yesterday evening.. How is he ??"

"You don't need to worry about him" said Anjali in a rude tone.

"Uffo Di. How can I not worry about him ?? After all he is my younger brother.. Haan, ofcourse he is younger to me only by three months but still he is younger" said Shyam, " Sometimes when I think about him, I will feel very bad. My brother became widower at such an young age. What will happen to him now ?? Will he marry again or not ?"

"You don't need to worry or feel bad about my brother.. His family is still alive to think about him" said Anjali and left from there leaving a smirking Shyam.

Few decades earlier:

Raizadas are the well known people for the 20 villages around Ratanpur. They were the Zamindars and famous for their loyalty.

It was the time Ratan Singh Raizada's hierarchy was going on.. He was a strict and kind hearted man. Everyone respected him whole heartedly.

Pratap Singh Raizada is the only son of Ratan Singh Raizada. He got all his qualities from his father. He was a good son to his father.. He lost his mother in his young age..

Raizada family were huge devotees of Devimayya. The temple in Ratanpur was built by their ancestors and they looked after it.. There is a tradition in Raizada family.. When the elder son of Raizada family attains marriage age, they will arrange a special puja/homa and prays to Devimayya to select a suitable bride for their family who will carry on the legacy. After performing puja, the priests will keep the flower garland whole night in front of Devimayya with the temple closed. The next morning, all the girls in the villages who have attained marriage age are made to stand in the temple.. The elephant, which will be treated as the child of Devimayya will select the suitable bride by keeping the flower garland around her neck. The next day, the marriage will be performed.

Though this appears to be silly to this generation, the truth is that whoever were selected by Devimayya proved to be perfect bride for Raizada family..

The time came for Pratap Raizada's marriage. Ratan Singh Raizada decided to bring a bride to Sheesh Mahal by going through the tradition. But Pratap Raizada didn't want that. Reason is Pratap Raizada is already in love with Subadhra Malik who is also from one of the Zamindar Family..

Subadhra Malik is the only daughter of Shashank Malik, Zamindar of Rampur which is few kilometers away from Ratanpur. Since she is the only daughter, Shashank Malik made her part in his administrative affairs going against the societal norms of those days. In one of the casual meetings, Pratap Raizada met Subadhra Malik.. He fell for her beauty and brain while she fell for him.. Both loved each other..

When Pratap Raizada confessed about his love to his father, Shashank Raizada straight away denied it.. He wanted bring Bahu by following their tradition only. Even Pratap Raizada was no less. He was adamnant of marrying Subadhra.

Finally Shashank Raizada's mother, Kamini made a peace between father and son.

" We will conduct the Raizada tradition like everytime for DIL. Ask Subadhra Malik to participate in it.. If she is really eligible to become Raizada DIL, then she will be selected. If she is not selected, then that means she is not meant for you. You have to forget her" Said Shashank Raizada's mother..

Without any option left, Pratap Raizada agreed.

He informed the same to Subadhra Malik who fumed in anger.. She felt insulted that she has to stand like a normal person along with other girls to marry Pratap. But she agreed for the sake of her love.

On the day of the ceremony, all the eligible girls of Ratanpur are standing after performing puja to goddess.

Pratap Raizada and Subadhra Malik are hell nervous thinking about their future..

Soon, the ceremony started. The priests handed over the flower garland to the elephant which is treated as child of goddess.

The elephant took the garland on his trunk and started towards all the girls.. Everyone are waiting with bated breath especially Raizadas..

Finally the elephant went near Devyani Sharma, who is the daughter of accountant of Raizada family and kept the garland in her neck selecting her as the bride of Raizadas.

The villagers cheered happily while Raizadas felt happy.. Kamini knew Devyani personally and secretly wished her to be their bahu as Devyani is known for her sweet nature.. Pratap and Subadhra were shocked..

Shashank asked Devyani's father his daughter's hand in marriage to which Devyani's father agreed..

Shashank, then announced about marriage which happens next day in Raizada Mansion.

Dejected, Subadhra left from there angrily. She can't digest the fact that she lost to a mere commoner.

The marriage of Pratap and Devyani happened on a grand scale much to the dismay of Pratap Raizada.. Though Pratap Raizada tried to run away from marriage, his father and grand mother made all his attempts futile. Finally Pratap Raizada is married to Devyani.

After marriage, Pratap was forced to accept Devyani as wife but never loved her.. Devyani who knew about Subadhra adjusted to her new life. Everyone in the house loved and respected her except her husband.

Soon, Pratap Raizada started to build a new Mahal at the end of the village much to the surprise of everyone.. When Shashank and Kamini asked him about it, he didn't opened his mouth. They thought he want to be away from them, so he is building it..

But when they all came to knew why Pratap is building the Mahal, they were shocked.. Pratap is building it for Subadhra Malik to live.. Pratap and Subadhra were having an affair behind everyone's back and soon he shifted Subadhra to newly constructed Mahal which was named as Lal Mahal.

Devyani was shattered hearing about her husband's affair. Kamini and Shashank felt sorry for her..

Then one day, Devyani got pregnant making everyone in the Sheesh Mahal happy. Doctor announced she is one month pregnant. They thought that Pratap will change now and leave Subadhra. But the more worst news came that Subadhra is three months pregnant..

Subadhra gave birth to a son at the end of nine months and Devyani gave birth to a son after two months of Subadhra's delivery..

Subadhra's son is named as Raghu while Devyani's son is named as Amar Singh Raizada.

After the birth of her son, Subadhra came to Sheesh Mahal claiming to accept her son who is the first heir.. Kamini clearly denied giving any rights to Raghu as he is not legitimate son of Pratap Raizada.. He is an illegitimate and an illegitimate child never gets and rights.. Fuming in anger, Subadhra left from there but never gave up..

Subadhra started to pressurize Pratap for the rights of her child who became annoyed of her..

Three years later, Devyani gave birth to Manohar Raizada much to the annoyance of Subadhra who couldn't become Pregnant again..

Few years went away, Shashank and Kamini left this world. Pratap Raizada is very fond of his son Amar Singh Raizada.. He is the apple of Pratap's eyes..

Soon, a ceremony was held and Pratap Raizada declared that Amar Singh Raizada is the next heir of Raizada family..

Subadhra Malik was agitated hearing this and she fought with Pratap.. But Pratap didn't budge with it and made her clear that Raghu can never be his heir as he is a play boy and doesn't fit to be Raizada heir..

After two months, Pratap Raizada died of heart attack and Amar Singh Raizada took the responsibilities in his hands.

Devyani thought to make Amar married as he attained marriageable age.. So, she asked him about his opinion and informed him about Raizada tradition.. But Amar was already in love with Ratna, who is Devyani's friend's daughter..

Devyani was left in dilemma.. She can't deny her son's love nor her family tradition.. Finally, after thinking about it a lot, she decided to make her son's love successful.. She doesn't want another girl to suffer just like her in loveless marriage.. So, she went against the tradition of her family and decided to make Amar and Ratna married..

Knowing her decision, the elders of the village and head priest of the temple warned her not to commit such a mistake but she didn't budge and was firm in her decision..

Soon, Amar Singh Raizada and Ratna Singh Raizada were married.. After six months, Manohar Raizada is also married to Manorama who is Pratap Raizada's friend's daughter..

Hearing about the marriage of Amar and Manohar, Subadhra too made her son Raghu married to one of the girl from her home town. No one from well known came forward to give their daughter to Raghu as he is an alcoholic.

Within an year of marriage, Anjali was born to Ratna Raizada. When the news of Ratna's pregnancy reached Subadhra, she was worried and agitated.. She cursed her daughter in law, Kamala for not getting pregnant.. But when Ratna gave birth to Anjali, she felt relief..

When Anjali turned one year old, Ratna became pregnant again.. Even Kamala too became pregnant two months prior to Ratna..

After nine months, Kamala gave birth to a son.. Subadhra felt very happy and named the child as Shyam.

Ratna too gave birth to Arnav but due to complications in pregnancy, she died during delivery leaving Raizadas shattered especially Amar who loved Ratna to the core.

Soon after six months of Ratna's demise, Amar Raizada too died in an accident.. Subadhra's joy knew no bounds hearing it.. She came to Sheesh Mahal and tried to persuade everyone to make Raghu as the heir. But Devyani Raizada, who became strong in all these years made all the plans of Subadhra fail.

Subadhra, then challenged Devyani that she will make her grandson Shyam as the heir of Raizadas one day.

After five years, even Raghu too died due to his excessive habit of Alcohol.. So, Subadhra Raizada brought up her grand son Shyam with lot of venom in his heart for Raizada and greed for Raizada throne..

When Arnav achieved 18 years, Devyani announced him as the heir of Raizadas..

When the alliance of Meera came, Devyani and Anjali thought about it and said yes forgetting about the tradition of Raizadas..

It was only after Meera's untimely death, the elderly priest reminded her about it.. From then, Devyani felt guilty that the deaths of Amar- Ratna and Meera happened as she neglected the Raizada tradition..

So, now she wanted to rectify her mistake by bringing Raizada bride through the Raizada tradition and make her grandson's life filled with happiness.

Thanks to those who have all voted and commented on previous update.

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