It was her turn today to receive the exclusive shower of attention from her beloved. The beloved who exerted his rights to share his affections with an entourage of lovers as per the norms. All of whom he possessed with all his might but none of them had the right to claim even the tiniest chunk of him exclusively. Wasn’t that unfair? But the way each of them looked at it, it seemed like all of them were privileged and blessed to be a tiny minuscule of an option in his life.It was a jungle out there. And the fittest survived trampling over the rest of them to claim that highly inaccessible part of him that eluded each of them. She admired her own reflection in the mildly stagnant green waters of the pond. Her golden mane shone in pride. What was it in her that was different from the rest? Nothing, actually. After all each one of them were there with him for their beauty, brains and pride. Pride – for knowing the fact that they were a breed apart. It was a pride that raged above the din of the roaring breeze. An arrogance that reflected in the dark fluid pools of large brown eyes rimmed as though they were born with kohl streaks. A seething arrogance that came as a heritage to the royalty.
She wished to be the sole lioness to stand proudly by her lion, basking in the glory of his heroic conquests, being his only pillar of support in helping him rip apart enemies with all the fieriness their union could exude.
Lost in the medley of wishful thoughts and passionate daydreams, her reverie was suddenly interrupted by the coarse crunch of dry leaves that his burly feet stepped on. Maharani Simhasini the twelfth queen of Maharajah Vanaraja Singham, adjusted her sheer veil to cover her bejeweled head, sitting resplendent in her richest finery as her mighty king walked up to her royal chambers to abide by his once-in-a-month ritual of spending the night with one of his many queens
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What would have women in those times felt I wonder sometimes….Sharing ones love is not easy …
You bet Naba! It sure is not easy to share one's love.
yeah. I agree with Naba! Its beyond my comprehension to understand how they possibly put up with it!
Yes Swathi, goes out to say how much women went through ever since then.
Such a grotesque custom this was, but the queens seemed pretty satisfied back then. Weird. I love the way you've brought out her wistfulness.
True that Tulika, the queens actually thought they were privileged to be a part of the picture. Thank you 🙂
Beautifully written – you really made me feel for her. Well done!
Thanks Laurel. Glad you liked it 🙂
Very well penned and the narration makes it a winner from start to finish. A beautiful interpretation, indeed:)
Vishal, you're always so generous with good words. Thank you 🙂
It's so unfair but then they were okay with it back then. The narration seemed to be on parallel lines because of the analogy which gave a very nice touch.
Really Keirthana…women sure did put up with lots back then. I'm glad the narration struck a chord with you.
Is that really so? I had no idea it was like this for lions! Poor lionness: I feel for her! By the way, I loved some of the words you used to hint your subject: I noticed! 😉 <3
Elly, the lion and lioness have been used as an analogy – if you read the last part of the post, it was actually an Indian queen I was referring to with regards to ancient practices of bigamy.
I wonder how the queens of that era would have felt.. the kings and their many wives. It must be heartbreaking. I loved your style of storytelling, specially the royal description of the lioness.
Hey, thanks Raj. Isn't it weird that these queens had the arrogance of lionesses in spite of being so helpless and dependent when it came to the rituals of bigamy?
Very interesting narration. And great descriptions too. I guess we won't be able to really understand the mental processes of people from times past by using our present mental models of morality and societal practices. These things change over time and place leading to changes in our mental and moral preferences too. So that's it I suppose 🙂
You're right Beloo. It is difficult to decode the thoughts and attitudes of the people from the past using our current mindset. Nevertheless, life sure wasn't as simple as we assume it was, back then.