❝"I refuse!", was her deafening scream. The temple full of people stood in silence. He watched her, taken aback at the audacity, but not out of his icy cold composure.
He took a step towards her.
"Step back! Step away-"
He yanked her by her wrist...
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Aviram :
"I, AVIRAM Raghuvanshi..", My voice trembled slightly. But I knew, there was no route to escape, no going back. I gulped nervously, drawing in a deep breath.
With my head bowed down, before the ancestral statue of Lord Ram and Goddess Sita, I knelt.
"Go ahead, Bhaisahab.", Vinay said standing right behind me.
We were in the interior of the ancient abandoned part of the palace. This used to be the main Puja room. The place where my ancestors had once stood. This was where I had been crowned the Raja of Jodhpur.
And this was where I was going to give up on the title.
Purohit ji stood in silence. He was not just unhappy, but also angry.
"You cannot give up on your duty as a Raja! You cannot give up on your Raj Dharam for a woman!", He had shouted at me, enraged.
Yet, I did not find the will to watch Devika go through any more humiliation and pain.
She was not in the palace. The servant had already asked her to reach the Gurukul Academy, she would be finally taken in.
I looked up at the statue of gold. The idol, centuries old, beamed back at me.
Forgive me. Forgive me for breaking the law.
The Lord seemed to look at me with the same kindness that he always did. I was dressed in the royal dress today. The sherwani of gold zari, the crown of the King, the ancestral mukut on my head.
"I, Aviram Raghuvanshi..", I stared, "In my complete senses, give up on the throne of Jodhpur. I give up on all rights to political decisions and I give up on all the privileges of the king."
I stood up.
Santosh walked down before me. His eyes forcefully lowered. I knew he too thought I was a fool in doing this. That I was breaching the code of law by doing this.
I removed the crown from my head. I felt like a part of me had been stripped off me. Drawing in another deep breath I kept it on the brass plate before me.
"With this, Aviram Raghuvanshi, has given up on his throne.", Purohit ji said. His tone gave away his displeasure.
I stood in silence for moments. Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.
"Son, always follow the Raj Dharma. You are a king before anything else.", My father had said as he lay on his death bed, holding my hand. "I will..", I had replied sobbing.
And yet, today, I was breaking that promise. I had become the rule breaker.
I took a step back, folding my hands before the statue.
"Now, there shall be the crowning of the new king.", Purohit ji said.
I turned to glance at Vinay. His face beamed. Of course, this was his dream. His vengeance for the years of being called the 'dirty blooded'. I had never degraded him, yet I was the one who paid the price of my father's disregard of him.
