Seven Lives Together-The Mughal Warrior

  ‘Hooghly!’ Purujit asked, ‘This is a part of Mughal Empire. Who is the enemy here?’

  ‘Maybe the Portuguese,’ Anil replied, ‘No doubt they have gotten permission from Akbar to set up a city here. They are not that simple and straightforward as they have portrayed themselves to the Emperor. On the other hand, the Navy of the Emperor is like a child’s toy compared to their Navy.’

  ‘You shouldn’t degrade the ability of the Mughal force,’ Madan tried to correct him.

  ‘I am not demeaning. I am just telling the truth which Mughal should be aware of.’ Anil defended himself.

  ‘Let him continue,’ Purujit said.

  ‘Mughal Navy sails only in rivers. At the most, they have sailed in the coastal waters of Bay of Bengal. On the other hand, Portuguese Navy has hundreds of large sized ships who sail around the world. They chose the location Hooghly when Akbar gave them a choice. Why? Because they knew Hooghly is remarkably close to the Bay of Bengal and their large ships can easily come to this city. They might have amassed sufficient weapons and soldiers around.’

  ‘They are just traders,’ Madan told, ‘why a group of traders will gather weapons and soldiers?’

  ‘The king of Portugal is not a trader,’ Anil countered, ‘trading may a pretense for setting up a base.’

  ‘I agree with you Anil,’ Purujit said, ‘they might have a much powerful Navy, but our Emperor will not send a small army with just hundred soldiers to conquer a city. So thinking of attacking the Portuguese at this stage is without question. We will stay here tonight till the time we get further instruction or provisions. In the worst case tomorrow morning we will continue to Hooghly to purchase food supplies.’

  Everyone in the ship rejoiced at this decision. The theory of a Portuguese revolt against the Mughal was quickly forgotten. The idea of visiting a Portuguese city (even without going to Portugal) thrilled all. They can see how a white guy looks like. There is also scope to buy foreign stuff to take to their families back home.

  At around midnight, someone knocked the door. Iqbal and Rafiq woke up. Anil was standing outside their cabin.

  ‘Is there anything wrong?’ asked Rafiq.

  ‘No, please come I will show you something.’

  Both followed Anil to the deck. Purujit was talking to a strange man. He was tall, muscular, cleanshaven. His clothes were totally unfamiliar to them. There was a sword in a sheath hanging to the left side of his waistband. There was also a gun hanging to the shoulder. He was wearing a cocked hat. Both Purujit and the man were talking seriously. The moonlight combined with the lamps was reflecting on his face.

  ‘This is a white man- a Portuguese soldier.’ Anil told slowly without pointing his finger as if they were watching some strange animal in a Zoo.

  ‘Very much like us,’ commented Iqbal, ‘only bit fare.’

  ‘Yes, he is also a human being,’ Anil said, ‘other than their skin tone and hair colour, we are all the same.’

  ‘Does Purujit know his language?’ asked Iqbal.

  ‘No,’ Anil replied, ‘he must have known our language.’

  Purujit looked at this side and came towards them, ‘Sorry brothers, I was about to come to you both.’

  Iqbal and Rafiq didn’t say anything but just stared with frightened looks.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Purujit assured, ‘your security will be taken care of. We have finally gotten the orders from the Emperor. The operation is scheduled tonight, now.’

  ‘What operation?’ Iqbal was aback.

  ‘I can’t elaborate in detail, but you both need to accompany us.’ Purujit told them.

  Iqbal and Rafiq gave a puzzled look.

  ‘Don’t worry. You are not going to do any fighting job,’ he assured, ‘we have enough highly trained commandos to handle this.’

  ‘Commandos! What is that?’

  ‘They are some specially trained soldiers who can engage in circumstances different than a conventional war field,’ Purujit explained, ‘they will also take responsibility for your maximum security.’

  Purujit’s words; they were most reliable.

  Both the ships now were anchored in the middle of the river close to each other. Few small boats were unloaded from the battleship as well as ‘Nagin’. There were two ropes attached to two separate pulleys. One end of the ropes was tied to both ends of the boats. The sailors held the other end. They were slowly releasing the ropes till the boat is placed on the water. In spite of the pulleys, this was a tough job. In normal circumstances, they would make lots of useless, verbal sound help in releasing their pain. Tonight they have been strictly ordered to maintain absolute silence. The pain in holding the ropes with the weight of the small boats could be clearly seen on their faces. Once the boat touched the water, few commandos with their arms; i.e. Daggers, swords and swivel guns got off with the help of a rope ladder. Then the boat was released from the rope and they started sailing in the moonlight towards the river bank. Purujit ordered them to stay near the river bank till he joined. One after one, five boats were loaded with the commandos. The last boat carried Purujit, Iqbal and Rafiq. They reached the river bank which was on the outskirts of Hooghly. All the commandos were prepared.

  They moved slowly in three different groups. Purujit instructed them to communicate in sign language. About half kilometres away there was an isolated building. The building had three floors. The perimeter walls were high enough to be compared to the walls of a small fort. The back side of the building was facing the river. The gate was on the other side of the bungalow. The gap between the backside of the bungalow and the river was about five hundred meters, which was full of bushes: a perfect place to hide. It seemed that the property had been chosen for its remoteness, to keep it hidden from the general public. It looked like a ten to fifteen years old house: before the Portuguese started settling in Hooghly. As the city of Hooghly flourished because of Portuguese traders, the distance between the city and this abandoned house reduced gradually during last few years.

  One officer went slowly to check if there was any surveillance near the front gate. There were two, but they were asleep. Probably the guards were there for years and had never experienced any intruder. They were not expecting surprises to disturb their peaceful sleep. Another commando tried to find out from the top of a tree and scanned the property in moonlight. He informed there were no guards besides the two at the front gate. Too many people means increased chance of leaking the story about what was happening in.

  Ropes with hooks were thrown across the high boundary wall. Commandos entered the property without making any noise. Few remained outside with Purujit, Iqbal and Rafiq. The two were of course just the odd spectators. Two commandos slowly went to the sleeping guards and tied their mouth and hands. Once enough commanders were in and took the position around the building, one from each side sent light signals to Purujit. Four cannons were kept ready to shoot. One was aimed at one of the main doors, to break it open. The others were kept facing the sky. Purujit gave signals to the cannon operators. Four cannons fired at the same time, one breaking the gate open and all making the roaring sound took the inmates aback. Without any delay, the commandos rushed into the building.

  For some time, there was chaos inside. The sound of attack, counter attack, the screaming of men and women filled the calm and quiet place. Purujit was positive but was still looking uncomfortable. After some time, the massive front gate opened, and screaming sounds stopped. A light signal came from one of the top floor windows. Purujit along with Iqbal, Rafiq and four commandos entered through the front gate. The inhabitants were either captured or killed. Still the situation was not entirely out of danger. One commando informed that one room on the top floor was still locked from the inside. There was a woman inside, screaming and weeping. The commandos suspected that there were men inside and kept the woman just as a shield. Purujit was quickly scanning all the dead bodies and captured people to find out who could be the enemy there: so strong that even the a
ll powerful Emperor Akbar would take cognisance of him. He couldn’t get any clue. There was no time to get them to disclose who their leader was. Probably the main accused was hiding on the top floor room behind the locked door and the woman shield. The commandos knew Purujit’s strict criterion ‘Do not hit women.’ No one was daring to break into that room.

  Purujit was now clear the enemy knew his way. Either he had ever worked with him or had gathered details about him. He was now in a dilemma. The main enemy was obviously in that room. He was not clear whether his estimate was right, but there was clearly a woman inside the room. Just one woman as everyone can hear the cry of only one woman. He stood for a while, took a deep breath and ordered not to break that door open, just keep an eye on it and close all the exit routes. How long can someone confine in a room? He must come out. It might take hours or a day, not days. He went to the lower level to examine the entire house. Both Iqbal and Rafiq were on the lower floor. They were nervously watching the spectacle of bloodshed and capturing of enemies. In their imagination about a war, they had seen battle fields. Vast expanse of open fields with thousands of soldiers, horses, elephants and cannons. They had never thought that there could be war inside a house. And this fight was unquestionably unique and also highly sensitive. Otherwise, why an Emperor would take so much personal attention and send an esteemed and trustworthy commander like Purujit. Even Purujit didn’t know till now who this person was.

  Iqbal’s attention was diverted by the periodical scream of the woman confined on the top floor. He was feeling as if he were still in deep sleep on the cosy bed inside Nagin and this was just a horrible dream. He felt something strange and ran to the top floor, near to the closed room. The commando guarding the room tried to stop him. He had nothing in his hand. He saw a piece of steel shaft and attacked the commando. The commando never expected attack from Iqbal who was there in just bare hands and didn’t know use of any weapon. Before he could realise anything, Iqbal’s attack made him unconscious. Iqbal started harping on the door with the steel shaft and broke it open. He rushed inside before other commandos realised and rushed towards the room. Iqbal pulled the open door and broke into the room when suddenly he tripped over somebody and fell down on a pool of blood. The woman was screaming again, ‘Don’t dare to come to me, I will kill you.’ He looked at her, ‘Nadirah, my sister. What are you doing here? I have found my sister. Purujit, Rafiq, my sister is here. Please help me.’

  Both Purujit and Rafiq came there running but stopped near the dead body lying face down. Nadirah was holding a dagger with blood dripping from it. Her eyes were also looking red like blood, hairs scattered, dress torn and blood all over her body.

  ‘Quiet,’ Purujit ordered, ‘who is this?’

  A commando turned over the dead-body.

  ‘This is Niyaz,’ Nadirah now cooled down seeing her brother, ‘I killed him. There was another guy here. He was trying to control me. He jumped out of the window and ran away.’

  ‘Who is he?’ asked Purujit.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she replied still holding the dagger in ready position.

  Two commandos ran outside to catch the escaping man. Other soon joined them.

  Purujit ordered, ‘I want him alive.’

  The man was trying to hide in the bushes, but light of the full moon didn’t let him hide properly. He ran towards the river followed by the commandos. The guy was obviously extremely strong physically. Even the well trained commandos found it difficult to keep pace with him, but they still followed. The man jumped into the river and started swimming. Commandos quickly jumped into two different boats and followed. He swam by the side of the river for a distance but soon got tired, when the boats of the commandos reached and captured him.

  Purujit and Rafiq tried to cool-down Nadirah. She knew Purujit exceptionally well. After all, he was her husband’s boss.

  Commandos brought the man to Purujit with his hands tied on the back.

  ‘Wasim!’ Purujit was surprised, ‘you scoundrel! How can you even think of revolting against the Emperor?’

  Wasim didn’t reply, just looked down. His game was over. Purujit ordered to keep him in lock up and produce him before the Emperor. He had committed the sin against the Mughal Empire. Only Akbar the Great could determine his fate.

  Wasim was taken to the warship. There were two makeshift prisons on the bottommost floor. Other accomplices were taken into custody and were kept temporarily in Hooghly.

  Niyaz, after abducting Nadirah kept her in a place in Varanasi (modern Benares). Immediately after reaching there he got the message from his brother Wasim to continue to Hooghly. There was an abandoned house outside Hooghly since long, made by some local landlord. Actually it was situated in a busy locality. When Portuguese got permission from Akbar to choose a location for setting up a business centre and a township, they chose Hooghly because of its strategic location. The township was built at such a position that it was few miles away from this old bungalow. The economic activity in Hooghly increased, attracting many people from the nearby areas. Portuguese brought some key officials only, sailors and guards cum soldiers for their trade hub. Building the infrastructure required lots of workers from the surrounding areas. Even many traders migrated to Hooghly as they got opportunities for improving business. Many traders got opportunities to export their goods to Europe through the Portuguese. They also imported goods from Europe for supply in India. The economic boom made the newly developed Hooghly city extremely crowded. At the same time, many villages from the outskirts of the city became almost half or full abandoned due to migration to the city. The locality near this old bungalow became almost deserted, and it was sold at throwaway price to the agent of Wasim for conducting his anti-Empire plans.

  The houses of the village were deserted by people all of whom migrated to Hooghly. Almost all the houses were destroyed due to lack of maintenance. Few were occupied by the guards and servants who were brought from distant places and didn’t know what action was going on there. All the servants were illiterate and didn’t even know who was Wasim. The village was not intentionally kept in pristine condition. Bushes and weeds were allowed free reign. Few years of systematic and planned neglect converted an otherwise beautiful village into a mini jungle. Even the only large bungalow bought by Wasim’s agent was successfully hidden by allowing creepers to expand on all the walls and compound walls. The road connecting to the village was destroyed so that any outsider would not even remotely think of going for sightseeing. The only pier used before for boats was given a deserted look though they were still used at nights. Boat and ferries sailing in the river alongside the village couldn’t see the changes. In fact, the economic growth in Hooghly, because of Portuguese traders, successfully took the attention away from this site and Wasim almost got a fortress for his dream kingdom. The castle was successfully guarded by bushes, creepers and ignorance of outsiders about the presence of any intelligent living being there. Very few trusted attendants were asked to go to the city to buy provisions for the inmates. They usually travelled at night, stayed at a house in a busy locality, and conducted their activities. Without fail, they returned to Wasim’s mysterious castle at night only to avoid any doubt.

  The night Niyaz reached Varanasi with Nadirah in his captive; the same night he left for Hooghly leaving her under the attention of few maids and most trusted bodyguards. The bungalow was situated near Ganga in Varanasi but was almost hidden by tall compound wall. The building was one time used as a cantonment house cum prison in the early period of Mughal dynasty. The area was more than five acres. It was extremely difficult for outsiders to see what was going on in and more difficult for the inmates to communicate with the outside world. Nadirah didn’t cry. She didn’t want to show Niyaz’s servants that she was afraid. She was not allowed to go outside her room and was twenty four hours under close surveillance.

  Niyaz was in Hooghly for giving shape to Wasim’s vision of an independent kingdom, an independent and sovereig
n Allahabad of Wasim Khan Dynasty. The dream was still a distant dream, but the brothers were confident of the in-fights or would be in-fights within the Moghul family. As Akbar was ageing, there were chances of disputes between princes; Saleem, Murad and Daniyal for the Mughal throne. This practice was particularly popular among Muslim rulers in India. Wasim and Niyaz were hopefuls to enter into deals with at least one of the princes and in return ask for an independent sovereign state of Allahabad. They were engaged in arranging funds and amassing weapons privately before the family disputes became known. Everything was moving as per plan except the sight of a rift among the Mughal brothers and a possible contact with any of them.

  Niyaz was getting impatient as his newly acquired, rather kidnapped, prized possession was not with him even for few moments as he had to rush to Hooghly leaving her behind in Varanasi. As per the first plan he was supposed to go back after few days. When days became weeks, he made another plan. Nadirah was brought secretly to Hooghly. The vessel carrying her arrived near Hooghly during day time but came to the deserted looking dock after there was enough dark to provide cover to the activity. When she was being taken from the ferry to the hidden fortress, Purujit’s Nagin and the warship was already in the middle of the river. Niyaz’s boat was returning to Varanasi when small boats carrying commandos were about to start for their operation. Niyaz’s men in that vessel saw something different but couldn’t report to Niyaz. They were returning to Varanasi and were never expecting such an attack at midnight.

  Nadirah showed no sign of resistance. She was quiet. Her smiling face was the symbol of acceptance of the situation. Most of Niyaz’s prized catches first tried to escape or hinder his advances before surrendering to him. For the first time in his life, the woman he had kidnapped was surrendering willingly even before he could touch. Maids gave the happy news that Nadirah was in the dressing room and was in an excellent mood. Niyaz, for the first time in his life, felt to be loved by a beautiful woman. He also dressed up properly so as to impress her in the first meeting.

  As soon as he entered into her room and closed the door, the worst fate of his life happened. Purujit’s cannons roared mercilessly ripping apart the silence of the night. Niyaz was already inebriated. He couldn’t know what was happening and was just shocked at the roaring sound. Nadirah didn’t miss that moment. She took out the knife hidden in her clothes and stabbed him mercilessly with all her energy amidst his howling, till finally he succumbed and fell down. Wasim was on the ground floor when he heard his brother’s scream. He ran to see what happened, without even guessing in his wildest dream that a woman could attack his monster like brother. Nadirah was trying to escape from the room when Wasim arrived. She retracted back into the room when Wasim forced himself in and bolted the room from inside. Nadirah tried to attack him with the bloodstained knife. Wasim was also properly armed and tried to take control of her. He was not under alcohol like his brother and could have easily disarmed her. The attack of the commandos and the resulting chaos distracted him. Before he could decide what to do, Iqbal broke the door open. He was shrewd enough to get the escape route by quickly jumping from the window rush towards the river.

  Rebellions were not new to the Mughal Empire. It was the practice of the Mughal authority to keep eyes on the activities of all the officials whether they were loyal or not. Any minor unusual activity ringed the bell and kept under constant observation. Wasim’s move was being continuously reported without his knowledge to the Mughal administration. Niyaz’s criminal activities were also continuously reported.

  Nadirah started the journey home with Iqbal, Rafiq and Purujit. Nagin reached Allahabad. Iqbal requested Purujit to accept his invitation and be his guest for few days. Unfortunately, Purujit couldn’t accept his invitation as he was supposed to go for another mission. They were safely sent to their homes. Nadirah was tearful when she said goodbye to Purujit for all his help. Purujit also praised her for her courage to face and attack Niyaz.

  Misfortune does not come alone. When Iqbal was thinking that his grief was over, the worst happened. Ashfaq Khan came to Allahabad in their absence to take Nadirah back and heard all the news about her abduction. He was never sure about her return. To make the situation simple and easy, he announced that he has given talaq (divorce) and went back. Fortunately he didn’t take the little girl Saira with him. Iqbal was anticipating this but not so soon. He was also confident that Purujit could settle between them and his sister’s married life would become normal again. He was also equipped with all the evidence that Niyaz died a stray dog’s death even before touching his sister.

  Nadirah was composed. She was mentally prepared to take on the situation. She decided to bring up Saira alone. Finance was never a problem. Iqbal’s business and properties were enough for all of them. It was a man’s world. She was determined to teach Saira in all aspects of life so that she could fight if required. Saira was given the training at home. She was also trained by professionals in horse riding, sword fighting and using a bow and arrow.

  Ashfaq’s two sons Ayaaz and Kareem were always eager to see their only little sister and kept on visiting Allahabad as often as possible. Ashfaq was also extremely fond of his baby girl but was reluctant to accept Nadirah. He was never expecting that she would come back from Niyaz’s den when he proclaimed talaq (divorce). Then he realised he had actually punished her without her fault, but couldn’t muster the courage to face her. When Saira grew up, he occasionally sent his men and brought her to Bharatpur. By the time she became an adult; she was not only a beautiful woman but a strong fighter also. Now she has been paired with Suraj for hunting game against her own brother Ayaaz.