"What type of punishment is this, Maharaj?"

Raani Yamini asked as Maharaj Jagadeesan stood there to bid farewell to his nephews and sons.

"As a king I punished him, as his Kakashree, I guided." He replied shortly. Yamini's mouth tightened at his nonchalant attitude.

This morning Guru Pranacharya arrived at the palace with his son, Viresh as he had been summoned by Maharaj Jagadeesan. The king of Amvasthapuram had given the responsibility of educating the hundred and five Rajkumars to him. They would stay in the ashram of Guru Prana for the next twelve years. Thus, Ranakrit's punishment would be fulfilled and he would also gain the guidance he needed.

Rajkumar Jayaditya and Rajkumar Durdharsh also agreed with it. And as for Raani Yamini when she objected Maharaj Jagadeesan had offered to search another Guru for her sons. But she refused and relented as there was no Guru better than Acharya Prana. And she didn't want her sons to fall behind.

Dharmesth, Prabal, Abhayam, Nirmay and Sarvaay, every kumars took their elders blessings one by one. The Kaushavas also one by one took everyone's blessings. At last, Ranakrit came to seek Maharaj Jagadeesan's blessing.

"Thank you." Ranakrit muttered softly to him.

"You don't need to thank me. I would rather prefer for you to learn your lesson from this." Maharaj Jagadeesan said calmly. He had wanted Ranakrit to understand what it could cost him if he acted without thinking. That's why he didn't tell anyone that he actually intended to send him to gurukul, and not separate his brothers from him. The uncertainty and fear of losing his family was both the real punishment and lesson for him.

Ranakrit nodded as he understood it and replied addressing him as something that he never had before.

"I will always remember this lesson, Kakashree."

***

As all the Rajkumars came to Guru Prana's ashram, they settled in gradually. The Kaushavas settled in easily as they were accustomed to living on bare minimals and doing their own chores. Dharmesth quickly adapted. Abhayam was excited to start learning weaponry. The only whining ones were the twins. They were clearly not enjoying staying here without their mother and sisters. As the youngest ones and Maharani Nivedita's favorite children, they were showered with love and affection by her. And coming here, leaving her behind was hard on them as they missed their mother terribly.

"Come on! How long will you guys keep sulking?" Abhayam asked in frustration as Nirmay and Sarvaay sat beside the river sadly.

"You two are already weird faced and now you're sulking! Do you realize how much weirder you look?" Prabal exclaimed making the twins frown.

"Don't say anything about my looks, bhrata Prabal!" Nirmay objected being offended.

"I know how to cheer you up!" Abhayam said as an idea hit him. "Look there!"

The rest three looked at the way he was pointing at. But it was only Prabal whose eyes sparkled with excitement as they saw a mango tree filled with riped mangoes.

"Mata used to cut those and equally distribute it between us." Sarvaay muttered with a gloomy expression which matched Nirmay.

"Come on! I'll get those for you two and also cut those." Abhayam said getting up.

"Yes. And I will distribute it between you." Prabal said nodding eagerly.

"Which means we will get only the seeds." Nirmay commented blandly. Sarvaay snorted hearing him. But both got dragged with Prabal and Abhayam to the tree. The three of them tried to pick fruits unsuccessfully for sometime before Abhayam decided to use his somewhat decent archary skills. Unfortunately, his aim missed more than it hit.

Abhayam's mood soured more as he heard someone snorting at another one of his failed attempt. He turned to find Vivardhan and Agamya leaning against a tree.

"What!" Abhayam snapped at them.

"Nothing! Just enjoying your poor show at archary." Vivardhan replied smugly.

"You don't even know how to lift a bow properly and you're calling my archary poor!" Abhayam retorted angrily.

"So what! My brother here knows it better than you." Vivardhan replied smugly refusing to back down. But Agamya's mouth fell open at the blatant lie as he stared at Vivardhan.

"Really?" Abhayam asked, raising his eyebrows in challenge. "Why don't he show us then?"

"Of course! He can." Vivardhan said nodding his head and giving a side glance to Agamya who frowned at his brother in displeasure. "Go for it, Agamya!"

Agamya glanced at the spectacular gazes of the four brothers before focusing on Vivardhan again who was pleading with his eyes for him to comply. Agamya came forward slowly and took the bow from Abhayam reluctantly. He glanced at Vivardhan one last time before aiming at the tree.

Five pairs of eyes looked closely as he released the arrow.

And missed the target widely.

Abhayam looked smug and probably would have said something but a loud noise caught their attention. The noise of something shattering. The six boys went a little ahead to look and saw something that stupefied them.

Agamya's mouth fell open again in surprise. There, a few distance away, his arrow was sticking from a tree bark. But that wasn't the surprising part. The surprising thing was the arrow had hit a girl's thick braid and pierced her to the tree.

The same way it had happened previously. And the girl was the same one too!

"Her!" Agamya gasped in surprise. What was this girl doing here in the ashram of Guru Prana?! The others were surprised too. They moved towards the girl as she was struggling to free her braid unsuccessfully. It was the earthen pot which she held that had shattered as the arrow pierced her hair.

"What are you doing here?" Agamya asked after he broke the arrow and released her.

The girl stared at him and the other curious boys fearfully.

"Did you not hear me? What are you doing here? And who are you?" Agamya asked again harshly as she only kept staring.

"What's your problem? Can't you talk?" Agamya was annoyed at her constant silence.

"Pranali!"

All the six curious and annoyed eyes turned to Viresh who came calling her.

"Mata is waiting for you. What are you doing here?" Viresh asked the girl. The girl, Pranali in reply said nothing and glanced at Agamya and the others before lowering her gaze.

"Go to Mata." Viresh told her noticing the boys. Pranali ran away from there without saying anything.

"Do you know her?" Abhayam asked him as she was gone.

"Yes. She's my sister." Viresh replied.

"But we did not see her here in the last few days." Prabal said wondering.

"She was away with Mata. Both has returned this morning." Viresh replied and then narrowed his eyes as a thought crossed his mind looking at the broken earthen pot and arrow.
"Were you troubling her?"

"No! Why would we?" Vivardhan replied hurriedly as the rest kept glancing at Agamya who was looking here and there awkwardly.

"Don't you dare go anywhere near her. Or else--" Viresh left the sentence incomplete with a threatening look on his face. The six of them gulped and glanced at each other sheepishly.

"Is she always so silent?" Agamya couldn't help but ask. The other day too, she did not speak even a single word. A sad look came over Viresh's face before he masked it quickly with a hard one.

"She can't speak. She's mute."

***

"You can't become an archer, son. Step aside." Guru Pranacharya said to Dharmesth after hearing his reply for the question he asked.

"Ranakrit, come forward." Gurudev called him and instructed to hold the bow properly.

"What do you see?" Guru Pranacharya asked him as he aimed for the eye of the earthen bird placed on a branch of the large tree.

Ranakrit didn't reply for some long moments and then with a sigh put down the bow causing Guru Pranacharya to frown.

"Archery isn't for me gurudev. When I hit, I want to cause the destruction right with my bare hands." Ranakrit said with an unreadable expression on his face.

Guru Pranacharya was surprised with his reply and kept staring at him with narrowed eyes for sometime before he gestured for him to step aside.

Prabal came next. As he too was asked to aim, he answered that his eyes saw only the fruits hanging from the tree. As he was sent back, Ranak came in next.

"Gurudev, itne sundar pakshi par nishana sadhke, ise nasth kyu karna?mujhse nehi hoga yeh!

(Gurudev, why to destroy such a beautiful bird by aiming at it? I can't do it!)"

"Ranadhrist." Guru Pranacharya called in next as Ranak sidestepped. Ranadhrist came forward and aimed for the bird, but before releasing the arrow, his eyes moved towards Ranakrit out of habit.

"Stop!" Guru Pranacharya stopped him as the move did not escape his eyes. "Step aside."

Vivardhan came in next and broke the arrow while trying to aim it. He too sidestepped. One by one the other Kaushavas came forward to try to aim correctly, but failed. An excited Agamya came and followed the instructions of Guru Pranacharya, but missed the target by an inch hitting the bird's head instead. He went to stand beside Ranakrit being disappointed and the turn of Abhayam came.

"What do you see?"

"Only the eye of the bird, gurudev." Abhayam replied focusing on his target. Now that caught Guru Pranacharya's attention as he instructed Abhayam to release the arrow. In the next moment, everyone was astonished to see the arrow had indeed pierced the eye of the bird. A satisfactory look came over Gurudev's face as if he had finally found what he was searching for.

"Good. You have the potential to become an excellent archer, putra." Guru Pranacharya praised Abhayam which soured Agamya's mood further.

Here, as Guru Pranacharya stood before Abhayam with a smile, an arrow passed from between the two of them and pierced the eye of the bird, dissecting the arrow of Abhayam in two parts.

For a few moments, even Guru Pranacharya was rendered speechless in shock with everyone else before he frowned and looked at the way the arrow had come from. He saw a young man, no more than the age of twenty standing there.

"Who are you?" Guru Pranacharya asked with speculation, observing him from head to toe.

"My name is Rudradev, Guru Pranacharya." He replied politely and said with folded hands. "I have come here to become your disciple. Please take me under your tutelage."

"You appear to be a shudra." Guru Prana commented with a frown.

"Yes, Gurudev. I belong to the Shudra caste. But I love archery! And, desire to become a great archer one day." Rudradev replied with a smile.

Guru Pranacharya's eyes softened for a moment before his face hardened again.

"I will not accept you as my disciple. Go away." He said.

"But why not, Gurudev?" Rudradev asked with a disheartened expression.

"Go away!" Guru Pranacharya said again dismissing him.

"But you did not answer Gurudev. Why can't he become your disciple?" It was Ranakrit who asked this coming forward. Guru Pranacharya's mouth tightened.

"Ranakrit, we should not question our Guru's decisions." Dharmesth said to him.

"Without questioning, how can we learn? And my question is not for disrespecting Gurudev, rather I want to understand the reasons only." Ranakrit said looking at Guru Pranacharya.

"He is a Shudra. And weaponry is for Ksatriyas only. His castes are not allowed to learn or practice battle skills." Guru Pranacharya replied harshly.

"According to that, shouldn't brahmins only ask for alms and seek spiritual freedom?" Rudradev asked mockingly, hearing his words. Guru Prana glared at him.

"You're comparing yourself, shudras to us brahmins?!"

"No. I am just trying to say that just because our caste generally doesn't learn weaponry, doesn't mean, we don't have any right to learn it."

"You're right. You don't have any right to learn weaponry. That's for Ksatriyas only. You should concentrate on your own work."

"And who are you to tell me this, Guru Prana? Who are you to decide I can't learn weaponry? God has not differentiated between us humans. Then why are you doing so?"

"We live in society. And to live here, we have to abide by the rules that are meant to bring balance only. By the rules set by the society, shudras cannot learn weaponry. And you will have to accept it."

"I refuse to accept it. And I refuse to accept such a society."

"No one cares for your acceptance unfortunately. It is you who needs their acceptance to survive."

"I need no one!" Rudra said angrily with determination. "And as for this society accepting my words?"

He took a few steps closer to Guru Prana and stared straight at his eyes as he made a promise.

A promise to Guru Prana.

A promise to this biased society.

And a promise to himself.

"There'll be one day!

One day when not only this society where you live,

but the entire Aryavarth will accept my words as the ultimate rule."

***