A Slave who became Emperor Chapter 10

The forest of Chitrakuta was a dense evergreen forest . It had a variety of trees and animals . There were rare medicinal plants also available in the forest . The Sanjeevani plant, which is a very rare plant, known to have properties to cure every ailment and extend lifetime was rumoured to be spotted here .

Chitrakuta also served as a residence to learned sages and numerous tribal sects . There were beautiful lakes, small hills, and abundance of greenary . Chitra kuta was part of Magadha empire . The tribal chiefs of Chitra Kuta were responsible to maintain peace and harmony in the forest . Laws of Magadha followed decentralization of power . Since it is a vast empire, the governance was difficult . Each village had a head . Eighteen villages were united as one province . All the heads of the villages reported to the head of the province . Three provinces formed a state .

. In the same way, the tribal chiefs were governing the forest under the authority of Magadha . It was Samyukta's idea to train the tribal people how to trade . Tribal people considered forest as their mother . They used to bring in fire wood, sandal wood, honey, coir etc and trade them for money in the local market of Manipura every week . This helped the tribals to earn good amount of money . There were two sects of Tribals in Chitra Kuta . The Gonds and the Gharwals . They lived in Harmony .

They also practised agriculture . They used to clear bits of forests to grow food grains . Similarly their secondary source of income was through selling animal products like milk, meat and eggs . They had abundance of cattle . One ferocious lion suddenly started attacking their livestock and this is leading to huge losses . Many goats, cows and buffaloes were taken away by the lion over the last few months . They tried to solve the issue but they were not equipped enough in terms of weaponary . Hence they visited Manipura and seeked the emperor's help .

The three hunting parties started moving . They reached the point where three different ways were marked . The three of the leaders chose one path each and proceeded in the marked path . Princess Samyukta and Pinaka were leading their team closely followed by Prince Karan and others . Prince Karan was trying to ask various questions and strike a conversation with the princess . She answered his questions to the point without extending the conversation . She was polite . The other nobles wanted to woo her too, but they couldn't find a way to do so .

The path was well marked by the soldiers . As they went deep into the forest, the path became narrow with abundance of trees and thick bushes . The path became so narrow that only one horse could fit in the path at one point of time . Pinaka was now leading the party, followed by the Princess and others .

Pinaka stopped suddenly . He found tracks of the lion . He stopped and got down from the horse . Then he studied the tracks . Samyukta followed suit and she too was keenly observing the tracks . The tracks were huge, they were not older than a day . The marks left by the claws were deep . Pinaka then said, 'we are looking for a huge lion . The claws are deep seated . The marks left couldn't be older than a day, there is a high chance that we could come across the lion very soon . '

Samyukta said, 'noble sons, request you to stay vigilant . Every step from here is tricky . Lead your horses on' slowly the path became wider . Everyone was silent . They were moving forward cautiously .

All of a sudden, they heard a blood curdling roar . Samyukta and Pinaka looked at each other and said, 'we will see the lion shortly . People who are skilled in archery, request you to string your bows, draw your arrows and wait'

Suddenly there was a slopping sound . & Prince Karan fell down a quagmire . There was another roar from the lion . This was a louder and more ferocious roar!

Chapter end