Sunday 26 May 2019

RaaRaa-24 - Bajarana

Some thousand years ago....
somewhere in Coastal area....
In the state of Masaka....

There was a small village, near the city of Mamba. The name of village was Jupiitaka. Inside the village, there was a small forest. In that forest there lived a sage whose name was Bajarana. Bajarana ran a small school inside that forest. He himself taught the students about the concepts of  Architecture, Astronomy, Mathematics, Geography and Philosophy. There were more then 20 students in the school. 

Bajarana was a tall and handsome person, having perfect masculine figure. He had a long beard with moustache. His command over the subjects were excellent. From the overall personality he seemed to belong from a royal family. Within few years his popularity increased. His school strength increased from 20 to 200 pupils. Still he managed to teach them all. 

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It was the reign of Queen Masumati at that time, in the holy land of Masaka, the land of Lord Raaga. She proved herself as a perfect administrator. She encouraged small entrepreneurship for self sustainability. She built a lot of temples and dedicated them to Lord Raaga. She encouraged the research in the fields of Architecture, Astronomy, Mathematics, Geography and Philosophy. She herself was an expert in Archaeology, Architecture and Astronmy. She mixed all these concepts and introduced archaeoastronomy in the curriculum of various schools. Beside all these, she was also an expert in Tantric philosophy. All the things were going smoothly. No internal war, no theft or murder cases registered within 5 years. One fine day, a messenger came in her assembly and revealed her that Pulu kingdom was making plans to attack Masaka. Pulu kingdom was established by king Pulu in the south of Masaka. Pulu kingdom was a powerful kingdom, having latest weapons and cavalry. Masumati got worried and declared high alert in the state of Masaka.

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One morning all 200 pupils, after finishing their daily routines, gathered in the prayer hall. The prayer hall was an open air theater.  They all started meditation and then chanted mantras of Lord Raaga. Suddenly some anti social persons of the village came and started beating the students. They all were 10 in numbers and drunken.  Bajarana got furious. He shouted but those goons refused to stop. In the next moment, there was an attack on them from the top. Bajarana was flying in the sky and throw some stones on them. With this act of their master, some students also got courage and started beating them. Within few minutes they all ran away from the premises. After some time all the students calm down. Bajarana himself did the first aid and asked them about today's learning. They all hesitated. Then Bajarana told them about two important aspects of life. First "if we all united nobody can defeat us." Second "Never try to attack any person but if somebody attacks you, there is no harm if you attack them to protect yourself." This heroic activity of Bajarana spread in the entire Masaka like a fire.

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The next day, Masumati arrived with her convoy in the ashrama of Bajarana. She inquired herself about the incident. All the villagers were gathered in the ashrama and surprised with this act of their Queen. They never expected such kind of gesture from her. masumati ordered her home minister to look into this matter and arrest those miscreants as soon as possible. She also briefed Bajarana about the possible war with Pulu kingdom. Bajarana assured all possible help to her. 

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Suddenly one day, Pulu declared war on Masaka. Masumati never expected such an early war. She called Bajarana. Bajarana told his students that since the war had been declared, he had to close the ashrama permanently. They all requested him not to close it. Bajarana then appointed Minumpa as the new master. After this Bajarana went to Masumati. He had several meetings with the Generals along with Queen. He made strategies and told them to implement these in the war. that war was very dangerous. On the very first day, Masakans had to face a heavy loss. On second day, Masakans got success in killing several Generals of Pulus. On third day again, Masakans, lost their spreme commander. On fourth day, Bajarana took charge himself and destroy the army of Pulu. Bajarana was attacking the army from the sky. Pulus were surprised. In that attack, they lost their King. Pulus were defeated. Pulu kingdom was taken over by Masakans. Bajarana told Masumati that although the Pulu kingdom was now part of Masaka, but instead of ruling such a big state, she must give them the status of autonomy. In this way she can have a direct control over them. Masumati agreed and appoint a king in the Pulu kingdom. In this way, Pulus now became a feudatory republic, under the state of Masaka. 
Bajarana played an important role in the war. He applied special weapon of bajra on them, while attacking from the sky. And Pulus never expected such kind of attack. 

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After this, Masumati offered the top General post to Bajarana. But he politely refused. He told her to arrange a barber. Barber arrived in the palace and shaved his beard and then Masumati recognized him. He was none other then his own brother, JATAMANU. He told Masumati that he will be available to save and protect his motherland, Masaka, whenever required. Masumati told her not to leave the palace. But BAJARANA/JATAMANU did not utter a single word and started his journey to another unknown place.

Ashish Kumar Nayak
Ashish Sarangi

RaaRaa-23 - GiriGada

Some one thousand years ago....

In the state of Masaka...

The capital city Masakanagari....

King Raagaputa was having his grand assembly in his palace. The main issue was again the kingdom of Bayawi. The secret services minister got a report few days back, from his agent that Bayawi was planning to have a war again, with Masaka. This time, they were doing a lot of planning and preparations as they target one year of time. Lot of brain storming was done by the chief minister, Manidaitya. And today, he was going to present the report to the King Raagaputa in front of whole eminent personalities of the state including the tribal leaders. 

King Raagaputa arrived. He was tall and dark with a thick mustache along with beard. His physical qualities made him furious and yes he was. His father, King Rumenanku, was an ardent follower of Lord Raaga and so he gave the name Raagaputa means son of lord Raaga. 

Assembly started. Manidaitya gave his presentation about the possible attack that Bayawi was planning, which lasts for near about two hours. After that there was a huge silence in the assembly hall. All eyes were looking at King. King understood the situation and said that nothing was to be worried about and requested all to go to their respective places. Manidaitya was surprised. Assembly  was dispersed by the King.

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Bayawipura....

King Kutapati was making the strategies for the upcoming war with his ministers. He was desperate to win Masaka, his long time desire. He send his secret agents to Masaka to know their strategies five months back and now on the basis of their reports he was making all strategies. He told all his ministers to do whatever they want to but at any cost they have to win the war. He told them to have trained elephants, bulls and lions too for that war along with the foot soldiers.

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King Raagaputa called Manidaitya. Raagaputa told him to bring some papers also. Raagaputa drew the following on that paper and told Manidaitya, "Since we are having lots of hills, you must try to make several Girigadas. We are having a time frame of one year but better stick to six months. And tell all the architects that we want all this infrastructural developments within stipulated time." Manidaitya was understand this move of the King. He nodded and told accordingly to the chief architect of the state. Chief architect called his team and told them to develop all these as soon as possible.

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Raagaputa also called his wife, Kasavati, along with the defense minister and told her to prepare a specialized army of female warriors who will ride the lions. The defense minister was hesitated first on listening this but after watching the enthusiasm of  Kasavati, he agreed. Kasavati selected 25000 ladies and divided themselves into the factor of eight. So, Kasavati will be the supreme commander having eight commanders and those eight commanders will have eight deputy commanders under each of them. The deputy commanders will have eight sub commanders and so on. Kasavati selected eight hills where Girigada was located. All the hills were having 100 kms distance and located in eight different directions. They also had five different rivers between them. Intrestingly all the Girigadas were seems to be replica of each other.
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War broke out....

King Kutapati was standing with his army. He was not aware of the latest developments that took place in the state of Masaka. He attacked one Girigada. A fierce battle took place which ultimately result in victory for Kutapati. He marched ahead. Again, he faced another Girigada. After a long battle, he ultimately won that also. Then third, fourth, fifth and sixth. Kutapati and his army were exhausted now. He faced strong resistabce from the Masakans in the seventh Girigada. That battle took place for four days. in that four days almost more then half of his army were destroyed. He send a messenger to Bayawi for more army and weapons. The eighth Girigada was the mighty one, not in size but in terms of military power. He faced an unexpected army in that. Within two days, he lost all his chief commanders and faced a major loss. In the evening he sat alone on the bank of a river in a depression mood. He was tired. Suddenly he saw a nobleman and went upto him. He asked him about his future. He asked him that about how many Girigadas were still there. He told him that it was an unexpected war. He never expected the Masakans to be so strong in the guerrilla war. That nobleman told him that he will never win this holy land of Masaka and better to accept the path of Lord Raaga and surrender. Kutapati calculated in his mind. It took him one year to prepare for this war. But within twelve days, his army was destroyed and it will take another three days to have another set of army with weapons. So he surrendered within next day and accepted the path of Lord Raaga.

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The Masakans were in joy. The mighty army of Kutapati was destroyed. The strategy of Raagaputa won. Kasavati asked Raagaputa about the strategy of Girigada. He smiled and replied that it was all made to save the great temple of Lord Raaga in the port city of Maput....
Jaya Raaga

NB: The concept of Girigada was still prevalent in the state of Masaka and after some thousand years researchers found some Girigadas having same names. 
Disclaimer: This is a fictional story. No relation with history.

Ashish Kumar Nayak
Ashish Sarangi