The Chronicles of Mahishmati

The sky was crystal clear and soft music was being heard. Birds were chirping merrily while the people joyfully went about their daily tasks. The palace was looking majestic and had not succumbed to the ravages of time.

It was a pleasant morning. Just then, the wails of a newborn was heard! The royal family was pleased!! They promptly gave gifts to everyone who visited the palace to see the mother and the newborn. The people were so happy that festive celebrations were held! The boy was named Ashwath.

Around the same time in the house of a wealthy but prestigious family, the wails of a newborn was heard! The relatives were happy and blessed the mother and the newborn. The newborn was a girl and was named Deepa.

Meanwhile, Ashwath always had visions of having seen the palace in an earlier time. He remembered vague faces and even knew by heart the names of the portraits that were there in a large room at the top of the palace. He had met them before, yet was seeing them for the first time. So he often asked his parents who the people in the portraits were. They would say “Your forefathers who ruled this great land for centuries before the Europeans came to India” The land was a metro city and a heritage city, Mahishmati.

Similarly, Deepa had a longing to visit Mahishmati since her childhood for reasons she herself didn’t know. She often felt something was void. She had an unexplained feeling that she had lost something valuable and important and would find that in Mahishmati. She was a history and archeology student. She was fascinated by the past and the rich cultural heritage of the country.

Ashwath would also have dreams of being stabbed in the back at the age of 25! Not to mention that he had such visions when he was only 20!

He knew that something was void but didn’t know what. He lived in the 21st Century yet had memories of living with the people in those portraits at a time prior to the arrival of Europeans.

Deepa wanted to complete her studies and go to Mahishmati to find out what she really wanted. She remembered vague faces and even felt a close connection to some names in her history textbook. She felt as though she knew them and lived with them in another era.

She knew she lived in the 21st century yet had such visions. She particularly found the history of Mahishmati interesting. She liked the story of that king who was bought up as a commoner, slayed the wicked emperor of Mahishmati (who not only happened to be his fathers murderer but also happened to be his uncle) and became king. This was the same with Ashwath.

Deepa and Ashwath ‘remembered’ that Kunthala and Mahishmati were two separate kingdoms once upon a time. This was even before they studied this fact!

A few years passed by. Both of them continued having strange visions from the past.

Deepa landed at Mahishmati International Airport after finishing her studies. She was determined to find out what urged her to visit this land so much. She had landed a job in Mahishmati, to her immense joy.

During the weekend, she would travel Mahishmati and visit historic sites. She went to a place called Kunthala and saw two large statues. She immediately recollected them! She knew from the depth of her heart that she knew the people whose statues were standing!

Ashwath had also visited Kunthala that day. He too had vivid memories of the people whose statues were erected. Then his glance fell on Deepa. She too looked at him.

A strange connection happened instantly, as though an electric current passed through both of them. They thought they knew each other, not in this life, but in a previous life.

Instantly they became friends. Ashwath took Deepa to the palace and introduced her to his parents. This was his habit, introducing every new friend he made to his parents. He also had a habit of making his friends stay at the palace for a few days at least once during their friendship.

Deepa looked at the palace with wide eyes! Just like Ashwath had felt in his childhood, she too felt she was familiar to this place despite visiting it for the first time. She recognised the people in the portraits by name and she was right!

Their friendship grew. They felt a deep connection with each other which they didn’t know the reason for. Ashwath asked Deepa to stay in the palace and go to work rather than stay in a tiny PG near her workplace. She agreed reluctantly as she felt she might be troubling Ashwath.

She got used to living in the palace rather sooner than any other friend of Ashwath had in the past! Her friendship with Ashwath grew stronger as days passed by.

When Deepa’s parents visited her, they were shown the royal palace too. They were happy that their daughter, otherwise a shy girl who never made many friends, had made such a good and trustworthy friend.

When they left, Deepa was unhappy. She knew she would miss them again. Ashwath decided to cheer her up so he played his favorite music. He himself didn’t know why he liked that ‘ancient’ music but he always played it whenever he felt unhappy or someone he knew felt unhappy. The music he played would often cheer up everybody who heard it.

Deepa was awe-struck for a moment! She was hearing it for the first time yet it sounds so familiar! (Check the music Bahubali plays at the end of Dandaalayya <Tamil- Vandhai Ayya; Hindi- Jay Jaykara> song)

That instant turned out to be the realization moment! Deepa was Devasena in her past life. Ashwath was Amarendra Bahubali in his past life! They remembered scenes from their past lives in the form of visions and dreams all these years!

They stared at each other as their eyes welled up. They were madly in love by then. They were, by now, convinced that they were Bahubali and Devasena, had lived before but for less than a year!

They then remembered the statues at Kunthala which were those of Devasena’s elder brother Jayavarma who was the last ruler of independent Kunthala, and that of Kumaravarma, a warrior and close friend of senior Bahubali.

They rushed to the top floor and stared at the portraits again. There was Shivagami, Bhallaladeva, Amarendra Bahubali, Devasena and even their son Mahendra Bahubali. There was a family photo of Ashwath as a baby with his parents and grandparents.

In that room, they had tears of both joy and sorrow. They had received all memories of their past lives such as how they met at Kunthala, what happened after they went to Mahishmati and the rest of what happened till their respective deaths in their past lives.

Deepa rushed to Ashwath as she sobbed. With her head on his chest, she remembered her struggle as Devasena and was glad that she was reunited with her past life lover and husband.

Ashwath too was glad. He embraced her warmly even as he too wept. He had lived a short life in his past life and couldn’t even meet his son (Amarendra was was killed during his sons birth).

They decided that they get married and live together, something they couldn’t do (Bahubali was killed by Kattappa in the first year of his marriage with Devasena).

Ashwaths family and Deepas family were happy and so were the people of Mahishmati. The wedding took place with great pomp and splendour. Deepa continued her job while Ashwath continued taking care of the palace and the Mahishmati University that was run by his family. It was founded by Surendra Bahubali’s son, Veerendra Bahubali.

Ashwath and Deepa lived happily together and were blessed with a son too. On the day of delivery they had another vision in which their son from their past lives, Mahendra Bahubali would be reborn as their son in the current life!

The boy was named Madhava. Madhava had memories of his past life even before being shown the portraits as an infant. He remembered everything and knew that a secret dream from his last life as Mahendra Bahubali, that of living with his parents, had come true.

We discussed about Mahishmati after Mahendra in the previous post. We learnt that Mahendra Bahubali’s descendant, Surendra Bahubali and his posterity would live in the Mahishmati palace but wouldn’t rule.

This story is the continuation of the previous one, Mahishmati after Mahendra. This is set in modern day Mahishmati. I felt Amarendra should live happily with his wife Devasena and their son Mahendra in a future life. That was why this post was written. For more information, like, share, comment and follow me.