Deep beneath the damp, dimly lit subterranean royal prison of Junagadh, a literal battleground of Kurukshetra had materialized! The two co-wives—Queen Arohi and the prisoner Sushila—had lunged at each other like rabid dogs upon the dusty floor, fighting and pulling each other's hair like lunatics. One was clawing at the other's cheeks, while the other twisted her saree pallu and bit down forcefully with her teeth. With bloodshot eyes, venomous abuses, and shrill screams, the entire prison had transformed into a terrifying arena of devastation.
Prince Prafulla had been standing there speechlessly all this while, watching this hideous drama with shock and utter disgust. But when the situation slipped completely out of control and the brawl between the two co-wives threatened to turn into a river of blood, Prafulla could not remain still for another second. Adjusting his royal garments, he took a massive leap and landed right between the two lunatics.
Seizing both of them tightly like a ferocious beast with his two hands, Prafulla pulled them apart—"Let go! Mother, let go! Younger Mother, let go, I say!"
Summoning every ounce of strength in his body, Prafulla grabbed Arohi by the waist and yanked her away from Sushila's vicious claws. Sushila lay panting in the dust of the floor, spewing vile poison from her mouth. Without wasting another second, Prafulla locked his grip around Arohi's hands like a heavy iron chain and dragged her up the dungeon stairs toward the royal palace above.
In a harsh and stern voice, Prafulla shouted, "Mother, walk straight from here! You don't need to stay in this rotten pit of hell for another single moment!"
Arohi was seething with extreme rage; her hair was disheveled, and her saree pallu trailed along the ground. Twisting and thrashing like a lunatic to free herself from Prafulla's grip, she yelled, "Let go, Prafulla! Let me go, I say! Today I will suck the blood of that devil witch with my own hands! Don't you stop me!"
But paying no heed, Prafulla practically hoisted Arohi into the air and dragged her straight to the Queen's lavishly decorated chamber. Bringing her inside, Prafulla gave Arohi a forceful shove inward. Before Arohi could steady herself on the floor, Prafulla slammed the massive, heavy teakwood door shut from the outside and locked it securely with a spear and heavy chains!
The moment she was locked inside the chamber, the blood in Queen Arohi's head surged straight to a thousand degrees Celsius! Running like a maniac, she began kicking and pounding fiercely against the closed door with both hands and feet—"Thump! Thump!" The wooden door trembled continuously!
From inside the room, Arohi screamed with a fierce roar, "You wretched, good-for-nothing Prafulla! Open the door! Open the door, I say, Prafulla! How dare you possess such audacity, you rascal, to grab your most revered mother by the hand and lock her up inside her own room like a dog? Open the door, I say! Today I am going to kill that low-born wretch, that rotten gutter-worm Sushila! How on earth did she get the nerve to lay her filthy hands on a supreme Queen like me? I won't let her go today! I'll strip the skin right off her back! Open the door, or I'll smash this door down and annihilate you along with it!"
Arohi's terrifying screams, the sound of kicks against the door, and extreme abuses echoed from inside the room. Standing outside, Prafulla let out a heavy sigh and slapped his forehead. Paying no heed to Arohi's screaming and leaving her manic curses behind, he quickly descended the stairs and returned to the dungeon below.
What Prafulla saw upon returning to the prison made his blood boil! King Aditya was still kneeling on that filthy, damp stone floor, clutching his head with both hands, sitting mute and motionless like a stone statue! As if the entire world could turn upside down and it wouldn't matter to him at all!
Stepping forward, Prafulla stood right before Aditya with the roar of a tiger and said, "Father! Have you completely lost your mind? Or has your intellect gone off to graze grass? Why are you sitting here in this dust with your head bowed and your hands on your head? You are sitting here enjoying the spectacle, yet you couldn't step forward even once to rescue Mother? Can't you see how Mother was fighting like a maniac? And here you are, sitting with your mouth agape like you're watching a theatrical drama!"
The moment such harsh and bitter words directed at his own biological father left Prafulla's lips, King Aditya jerked his head up violently. Both his eyes flushed red with rage and humiliation.
Aditya roared through gritted teeth, "Shut up, you boy! Close your filthy mouth right away! How dare you possess such audacity and nerve, you rascal, to stand before me and speak to me with such insults? I am your father! So you rescued your mother and younger mother—what supreme, heroic deed do you think you've accomplished, let me hear? Have you turned into some great warrior hero or what?"
Right at that moment, Snigdha, standing nearby, clutched the pleats of her silver saree with one hand, twisted her face hideously, and chimed in, "Oh, Prafulla! You've said the exact right thing! Absolutely spot on! This old father of ours always loves to sit with his mouth agape watching spectacles! Instead of managing his own wives, he sits in a corner enjoying the circus! He has no capability to do anything useful whatsoever!"
Hearing such bitter words from his most cherished daughter's lips, Aditya suffered a severe blow to his heart. He looked at Snigdha with pained and intensely angry eyes.
Trembling, Aditya said, "You... how could you utter such filthy words to your own biological father in front of everyone, Snigdha? Is this your supreme education?"
Tossing her hair and placing her hands on her hips, Snigdha mocked him, "I did right! I've done right a hundred times over! If you act too wicked and babble nonsense, I'll lock you up in the dark dungeon next door right along with that younger mother Sushila, understand, old man? Now get lost from here! Don't come preaching wisdom to me, measure your path!"