Ancient India

On a sunny morning of summer vacation, the cousins Amberly, Janice, Riley, Ash and Avery were hanging out with Amberly’s friend Aaradhya. Aaradhya was from India and knew several languages which included Marathi, Hindi, Kannada and Telegu. They were all playing hide and seek when Aaradhya found something disturbing in Amberlys room. There was a large circle drawn on the floor with a button in the middle. Aaradhya called everyone immediately. They were all curios and excited as well and hence decided to step in it, Amberly pressed the button and the circle was immediately closed. The ground began shaking and everyone fell down, when they woke up they were in a completely spectacular place. The people there were wearing beautiful dresses which the cousins had never seen but Aaradhya realized that they were wearing traditional Indian dresses. People were selling gold, precious gems, jewels on the streets. Everyone were amazed. Suddenly 2 guards came and ordered them to get in a chariot in Marathi, since Aaradhya knew Marathi, she translated it to English. They all got in it and were admiring the beauty of the place. Beautiful temples, landscapes, markets and much more. Aaradhya started speaking and snapped everyone back to reality. She said she was extremely worried if they would be stuck here forever. The cousins were even more worried after hearing that. Then the chariot stopped and they arrived in front of a beautiful but simple palace, they entered the palace which was full of positive energy and traditional sculptures. They were brought in front of King Chhatrapati Shivaji who was the greatest king of the time. He was wearing royal Maratha clothing with a turban. Then he started speaking in English and said that he knew why and how they were here. He also said that he knew the way out and that they could go back to their homes after spending 5 days there. Everyone requested him to find a pace to live and he agreed to give shelter, food, and classes for them since they were kids. The kids went to their room and sat their in shock. The India that was described in textbooks and social media were nothing compared to the real ancient India. After some time they went out to find a friendly man sitting there. Then he called them out by their names, they were ecstatic how could someone they dont know, know their names. They questioned him about how he knew their names, then he said that he had been waiting for them. Everyone were even more confused. Then the old man started telling a story. Once Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj traveled to the Mughal court of Aurangzeb at Agra fort. Things went badly. Shivaji felt insulted and was placed under heavy guard. Escaping seemed impossible. But Shivaji Maharaj came up with a clever plan and pretended to be ill and hence began sending out big baskets of sweets and gifts in large sacks to temples and holy men. Then Shivaji Maharaj and his son slipped past the guards in one of the sacks and escaped which shows the clever tactics of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The kids were fascinated to hear this story but before they could even tell a word, the old man disappeared. By the time the time the story was finished, the kids were called for dinner. Once the entered the dinner hall, they noticed that the table was full of Sattvic food. They all had to sit cross legged on the floor. Servants brought large metal plates filled with steaming rice, dal, bhakris and many sweets, they started eating on a banana leaf but the cousins were waiting for a spoon and fork. Aaradhya noticed this and told them that they had to eat by hand. She guided her friends in each and every step as they had never eaten by bare hands. They all were in love with the food and ate till their stomachs were completely filled. They all kept complimenting the food which made everyone very happy. After that they returned to their rooms and slept peacefully. The next morning they were woken up very early to attend a class as Chhatrapati Shivaji would never let a kid miss their education, not even for a day. They all went to the class which felt very peaceful and quite. They learned about the four Vedas in Hindu culture namely Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajurveda and AtharvaVeda and some shlokas with their meanings. After chanting the shlokas, their minds felt very calm and relaxed. After a nourishing breakfast, they decided to go out and have a look at the markets and temples. The street was filled with various precious goods unlike the information in textbooks and social media. The ancient temples had inscriptions written all over it and sculptures soo beautiful that they had neve seen a more beautiful place than this. All this beauty had fascinated them. Then they went to the palace for dinner. Since they ate local food there for lunch , they were starving. As usual a feast was waiting for them. after eating till their fullest they decided to take some rest. The next day, they were woken up early as usual . They went to the class and settled down. They learnt in detail about the ” Samudra Manthan ” and the different avatars of lord Vishnu. It fascinated the kids. After a curious and interesting lesson, they had a healthy breakfast and decided to visit Varaha Swamy temple( avatar or lord Vishnu ), once they reached the temple , they explored the inscriptions and sculptures and went to take darshan, The idol was divine and beautiful, just as they were about to leave, Riley said that the earth on lord Varaha Swamy’s snout was round but at this time people from abroad believed it was flat which means India was the first country to know that the Earth was round especially it was known thousands of years ago. Everyone were shocked and immediately made it their mission to prove to the whole world that India was the first country who knew that the earth was round. Once they returned to the palace they decided to attend the puja of Maa Tulja Bhavani. The pooja went smoothly and the experience was the most divine experience they ever had. They had a small amount of prasada but it filled their stomachs to its fullest. Just as they were about to sleep, the old man was sitting there again and he called them for another story, the kids loved stories and hence agreed. Once Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was stuck in the Panhala fort. Maharaj decided to make a plan to escape. At night, he sent some people with a person who looked like him in a chariot. The enemies who had not seen Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj thought that the person was Chhatrapati Maharaj and went behind them. As soon as they left Maharaj left with a small group of people to the Vishalgad fort. At the Ghodkind’s pass, his commander Bhaji Prabhudev stayed back and fought bravely until Shivaji reached safely. But he sacrificed his life to rescue Shivaji which shows that he was the bravest and the most loyal to Shivaji. After hearing this, the kids were sad and shocked because of the strength of Bhaji Prabhudev, just as they were about to search for the old man, he disappeared again. The kids went to their rooms and slept still thinking of the brave commander. The next day, they woke up early as usual and went to their class but today the Guru decided to tell them a story about Nalanda university. Nalanda was a big university with thousands of scholars living there, the university had libraries, rooms classrooms and many other things. One day a ruler came to Nalanda as he was extremely sick but he said that he had to get well without eating any medicine, everyone thought that he couldn’t get well without having medicine but a scholar there stepped up and said he could help him get well just by reading a book, then the scholar gave him a book to read. After 2 months, the ruler was feeling well again. Everyone were extremely shocked and asked the scholar how he healed the king, the scholar said that he had applied medicine on the pages of the book so when he touched the page and touch his gums to turn to the next page, the medicine gets into his body. Everyone praised the scholar for his intelligence. The kids were extremely shocked by the scholars intelligence. After some time , the kids decided to take a walk across the palace . They were shocked to see bright flowers and a green environment existed without any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Once it was evening , the kids decided to go out for a while but Riley started coughing a lot. The kids decided to ask a cookfor help. The cook gave her honey mixed with tulsi, ginger, vasaka and pepper. The cough was soon reduced. After some time, they had their final but the tastiest dinner there, thanked everyone for helping them for 5 days and finally went to sleep. The next morning they woke up after a deep sleep. When they woke up they were in their rooms again. They had realized that people only see the flaws of India but not its achievements.