Khilji Hospitality

The next day was the day of Holi…

As per usual, Maharawal Ratan Simha ordered his people to celebrate Holi with splendour. He did not want to show weakness in front of people inside the fort.

Allauddin Khilji and his subordinates looked from their Army camp towards the fort with Angry expressions. Malik Kafur looked at the fort and said,

"What are these people… instead of showing fear, they are celebrating Diwali and now Holi too…"

Seeing that his siege was going nowhere and his soldiers are becoming increasingly uneasy because of the lack of food and water, Allauddin decided to send his envoys to the fort of Chittod.

All of his commanders agreed upon Alauddin's idea except one. Aacharya Raghav Chetan, a traitor from Chittod who told Alauddin about Rani Padmini and also showed him the safest route to the fort of Chittod.

He tried to pursue Alauddin to change his mind and instead directly attack the fort of Chittod. But, Alauddin did not listen to him and eventually sent Malik Kafur as his envoy to the fort.

Immediately, Malik Kafur left the Khilji camp and entered the fort of Chittod. All Rajputs looked at him with hatred but still made a way for him and escorted him towards the King's Darbar.

---

Inside the King's Darbar,

Malik Kafur looked at Maharawal Ratan Simha and said, "I salute to the Maharaja of Mevad… We understand that mevad will not bow before us and are ready to talk peace with the kingdom of Mevad…"

Maharawal Ratan Simha calmly looked at him and said, "we will accept peace… but it will be on our terms…"

"First term, Alauddin will remove his army from Mevad…"

"Second term, Peace talks will happen inside the fort of Chittod. If Alauddin wants peace talks, he had to enter the fort of Chittod unarmed..."

After hearing the conditions, Malik Kafur left the fort and headed back to the Khilji camp.

The same day, the Khilji army left the encirclement of Chittod and retreated back to Delhi leaving behind only a thousand soldiers to protect Alauddin.

Aarv took this opportunity and left the fort of Chittod with his 100 subordinates. His destination was to reach mountain ranges near the village of Mala Khera (Present-day name…).

The village was located between the cities of Jaipur and Alwar and the only way to reach Delhi passed through the village. Aarv choose this place because it had a strategic advantage as the only village inside the vast desert of Rajasthan.

It took them a day to reach from Mevad to the village of Mala Khera. He knew that he had very little time to spare, so he quickly took his soldier towards the mountain ranges at the back side of the village.

"Quickly set up traps…"

He ordered his instructors to set up traps on the road while he himself ventured deep inside the forest. His aim was to find a certain plant inside the forest.

After looking for a while, he found the tree he was looking for. The tree was an Indian ber ( Indian Jujube ) tree. Besides having the best survivability in the desert, the Ber tree had other uses as well.

In Atharv Veda, It was mentioned that the raisin from the Ber tree was one of the ingredients in creating liquid poison that can be applied to Arrows as well as other cold weapons.

Aarv quickly collected raisins that were forming on the bark of ber trees. He then took the poison powder he created in the forests behind the fort of chittod and mixed them together by applying heat.

He was especially careful not to inhale any of the fumes that were coming from the solution. After 15 minutes, the solution turned pitch black.

'Success…!'

Aarv looked at the black solution with a grin as he carefully removed the solution from the flames to let it cool down.

Later when he came back down from the forest, Aarv quickly gathered all the arrows and applied the poisonous solution to the arrowheads.

'All the preparations are done… Now it's time for us to wait for the enemy to show up…'

Aarv thought as he looked at the distant road which was leading towards the kingdom of Mevad.

---

While Aarv was waiting, things inside the fort of Chittod were escalating quickly. Allauddin Khilji had already visited the fort of Chittod and now invited Maharawal ratan Simha to visit his camp for a meal.

He said, "We have seen the hospitality of Mevad. Now it's time for us Khiljis to show our hospitality…"

Maharawal Ratan Simha accepted the invitation and left the fort of Chittod towards the camp of Allauddin Khilji. His subordinates, as well as Maharani Padmini, did warn him about the possibility of treason but he said that he will be fine and wait for him to return.

The next day,

When Maharawal Ratan Simha reached the Allauddin camp, he told his subordinates to stop and went inside the camp alone. As he entered the camp, he saw Allauddin sitting on his throne alone. Not a single person was inside the camp except for the two of them.

When Alauddin saw the king of Chitrtod, he quickly got up from his throne and went towards him.

"We have a guest… come… come.."

As he said that he escorted Maharawal Ratan Simha to his seat. He then stepped away from Ratan Simha and clapped his hands in a rhythm.

As soon as the sound came, the Khilji soldiers who were hiding right beside the camp entered the camp while drawing out their swords. They pointed their swords towards Maharawal Ratan Simha and waited for their sultan's orders.

Maharawal Ratan Simha looked at all the scene unfolding while keeping his cool… he then turned his head towards Alauddin Khilji who was grinning from ear to ear and said,

"I see.. So this is the so-called Khilji's hospitality…"

Alauddin laughed at Maharawal Ratan Simha's remark and said,

"I will do anything to achieve my dream…. CAPTURE HIM…"

All the Khilji soldiers went towards Ratan Simha to capture him…