In my Devil's Arms

Riya asked Manav to drop her at Shiva temple. The agitation and angst that she was feeling ; she doesn't want to face him now.

Memories came rushing back to her.

Flasback

"You b* tch", he slapped her. " You want to be a courtesan. I will make you one".

He tore off her clothes.

" No sahib. I am your wife", wailed Gunjan.

" Wife and you..huh", he pulled her to the main hall. His commanders were in the room.

" No Sahib. No sahib", she tried to cover herself.

" Reshma didi. I", she said.

But Reshma just shrugged.

He wiped out her vermillion and pulled her Mangalsootra from her neck.

" No, no", she cried.

" I am not enough for you han. You want multiple men", he screamed.

" Reshma didi is lying Sahib", she cried.

" I just.."

He slapped her again then.

In front of all the men standing there on that ground he took her violently. She writhed and cried in pain. Shame and disgust engulfed her. By the time he was finished she has passed out.

" From now on she will be a courtesan in my palace", he declared.

Flasback ends

Riya cried her heart out.

" Shiva why did you make me fall in love with that despicable man again", she complained.

She started cleaning the discarded idol. Memories won't leave her.

Flasback

King Ranjeet Singh stood in front of her smiling cruelly.

" Oh look isn't it the woman who sold her body for few pieces of gold", sneered Dheeraj.

She tried to put her veil but king Ranjeet pulled it off.

" A fallen woman like her in our auspicious temple", he roared. " She plan to sully even Shiva.

" No please", said the girl.

" Temple is a pure place", said one of the priest.

" It is for virtuous men and women", said the another.

" A woman who walked over the grave of her son and her husband's feelings for the riches", said Lakhan looking at Gunjan in disgust "Has no place here."

" Leave courtesan", said the head priest.

They all wished for a favour with the new king.

" Sahib I beg you. Don't do this to me", she said weakly.

In response he hit her puja thal( worship plate). Sandal, rice flowers and fruits spreaded everywhere.He cruelly crushed a flower with his leg.

" You forgot", he said to her. " Shiva does not accept stale flowers".

" THROW HER OUT",roared the new king.

Men rushed to pick her up.

" Don't you dare", came a tigress's voice.

" Nobody insults a woman in front of me".

A young woman was rushing towards them.

She was Rajeshwari a.k.a. Rajjo the youngest of Pundit siblings.

SHE WAS HOLDING AN UNSHEATHED SWORD.

" Don't ", she cried again.

" NOBODY TOUCHES HER. I DARE YOU. I SWEAR ON GODDESS BHAVANI. I AM CAPABLE OF KILLING".

Like a warrior she stood holding the sword in a slanting position.

" Look at one fallen woman defending the other", said Dheeraj.

He suspected she too was r*ped that day when king Baldev attacked their village. She was found uncoscious under a rubble her clothes torn. He never touched he after that.

" Really", she scoffed. " So only us women fall dear husband. What about men like you? You sleep with many women. Doesn't that make you a fallen man too? "

" Shut up witch", he said.

" That happens when you don't leash them", said Kishan. His wife Radha died that day. After being molested by king's men she killed herself.

Tears welled in Rajjo's eyes thinking about her. She was with a child.

" You will pay. You all will pay", she cried.

" Rajjo shut your mouth", shouted Ranjeet " Or else..."

" Or else what brother", she cried in misery. " You will humiliate me the same way you humiliated your wife. Publically", she sobbed "I am ashamed that I am your sister".

" Take her away", he said to one of his sister -in -law.

" No need", she screamed.

She picked Gunjan up. Gunjan looked lifeless. " You are a devi Gunjan. A pure soul. Those who shunned you are Sinners and Devils. They will be punished by Shiva. If there is a next birth I pray Shiva to make me your sister.I know you will protect me better than these men".

The girls hugged each other and cried.

The only other person who supported her was a young priest. He was pundit Agnisharma.

" Please I beg you all to consider . Let her come and visit. All are same in the eyes of Shiva. She can come in the wee hours of morning when no one else comes", he said.

" Are you tempted Agni", said Adheer. He was the younger brother of Ranjeet's bother-in-law.

Agni shook his head.

" Giving a person right to worship the Lord is not temptation. Temptation is betraying your own for material gains."

Adheer betrayed his brother Roop who was against killing Queen Meera and yer young three year old son. He and Nandini planned to let them escape but Adhher's betrayal hit them hard. Roop was killed in an ambush with Srikant's soldiers and Nandini died of heartbreak later on.

" You are getting tempted Agni by a vile woman", said Lakhan.

" Temptation my friend was when you forced yourself on that young innocent queen.

QUEEN MEERA AGAIN

She was Lakhan's Kryptonite. Queen Meera was one of the wives of king Baldev. Her parents married her off to get his protection. Mostly she was ignored by the king. One of their few encounters led to her son and then king kept his distance from her. She led a lonely life. On the other hand Lakhan was widowed at a young age as his wife perished in an epidemic. Baldev appointed Lakhan as Meera's bodyguard. They became friends and she developed a deep bond with him.

He used to think

"Maybe in some other life we will be together"

They fell in love but their love was forbidden. None of them said a word to each other or anyone else.

When Ranjeet was about to kill her child Lakhan held her back.

" Let the filthy blood die", he said. " I will give you many more sons".

" You despise me. YOU ARE NOT THE MAN I THOUGHT YOU WERE", said a grieving Meera as Ranjeet impaled her son with a sword.

" I HATE YOU".

Lakhan's ego was hurt. He forced himself on the young queen. This shock was too much for her. She lit her son's pyre and jumped in it. Her dying words to Lakhan were.

" I am sorry I loved a monster".

Lakhan was waiting for his own death since that day. He left after hearing Agni's words.

" In no way you are fit to be Shiva's disciple", said Kishan to Agni. " You defend a fallen woman".

" The ones who fall are not them but us my friend", clarified Agni. " We think of them as our slaves, our property. But they are our good fortune. Shiva lied at Kaali maa's feet to quench her anger. I hope you think of something same".

" Radha chose to kill herself", said an emotional Kishan.

"Would you have accepted her after the violence she suffered", asked Agni.

" You are crossing a line", said Kishan.

His wife's death deeply pained him. His love for her was obsession of which he was never cured of.

" Beating a woman crosses lines my friend", Agni said calmly.

Yes in his possesive nature Kishan use to beat her.

" Probably that is why she chose death", said Agni.

Agni advocated hard for Gunjan. But he was young and people feared Ranjeet. Priests preferred favours.

" Shiva this is the world you created", said a remorseful Agni to his Lord.

Gunjan was banned from the temple. She could not eat or drink properly for days. She lost weight. Dark circles gathered below her eyes. Her face and skin paled.

BUT THIS WAS NOT THE END OF HER PLIGHT. Or the end of sins Ranjeet committed against her.

Gunjan stood in king's court without a veil in tight transparent dress. Men were ogling her.

" I have married princess Lopmudra today", Ranjeet smirked cruelly at her. Dance to celebrate our happy married life Chandbai. Earn your bag of gold".

Her will to live ended that day. Her soul left. She became just a body waiting for the doom to claim her.

Gunjan danced her pain out. In that dance she poured her heartbreak , all her love, her emotions and her life's vitality.

Gunjan truly became Chandbai that night.

Flasback ends