The town of Junnar at the base of fort Shivneri was dazzling by the sunlight coming from the west. few distances away from Junnar, the cavalry of Shahaji was resting under mango trees. Shahaji-Raje ( AN - 'Raje' is like a title of respect which is used after name for nobility)
with little Sambhaji standing under a thick mango tree. although noon was almost over, there was no wind. even tree leaves were still. night's cold temperature had not risen yet. everyone's attention was going towards the path between many mango trees. no one was in sight. as time was ticking, Shahaji-Raje was getting unsettled.
"Father, Mother has arrived!". Shambhu-raje said.
"Where?" Shahaji-raje asked while raising his head.
Shahaji-raje looked in the direction in which shambhu-raje had pointed. amid sunlight, dust clouds were visible on the horizon with the cavalry in front. slowly the sound of horses tapping was clear. as the mango trees came nearer, the cavalry's speed decreased. horses stopped. three horses came forward.
a slight smile appeared on the tired face of Jija-bai after seeing little Shambhu ( AN - 'bai' means 'Lady', so its like 'Lady Jija' )
Jija-bai got off the horse with the help of a maid. her face was red because of tiredness and her eyes were teary. Three months pregnant Jija-bai wiped the sweat from her face and stood in front of Shahaji-raje.
"if we keep going like this while stopping a little in between then it won't be a problem for your father to catch up to us"
"you go first."
"but what about yourself?"
"I don't think I can handle the remaining journey"
"then how can I leave you like this in middle..."
"our vyahi¹, Vishwas-rao² is near, I can go there... I'm safe if you're safe, time is valuable."
"Shahaji-raje angrily said, this is all your father's fault. what am I to do about it? I too am capable of continuing the enmity between the Jadhav's and the bhosle's.
"what can I say," Jija-bai said.
"we will do as you suggested, if your father has some empathy towards his own blood then he will escort you back, otherwise keep you. your Destiny and you. I don't have time to think about this. Say, is this decided?"
Jija-bai held her tears back and turned towards her horse.
the news went to Junnar. Shahaji-raje's vyahi Vishwas-rao himself came to meet; he escorted Jijau and Shahaji-raje to his mansion. after arriving at the banquet, Shahaji said.
"Vishvas-rao, we are truly ashamed to have troubled you"
"Raje, don't say such things. we received the opportunity to be of some use to you by fate, this I truly believe. we will take care of the lady with our lives!"
"We wouldn't have come if we didn't believe in this. We cannot stay anymore, Shambhu-raje, Should we leave? or you would like to stay?
hiding from Jijau's gaze, Sambhu said. "I will come"
"Good!" shahaji-raje said.
"won't it be possible for the child to stay for some days? after everything is over he can leave."
"see, Vishvas-rao. The child is in danger, but not us."
"I didn't mean to say that," Jija-bai said hurriedly.
"we will take Shambhu, he has to do a lot of things in the future. we will leave Balkrushna Hanumante, Sankroji Neelkanth, Sonojipant Korade with you. some soldiers too. after everything is settled, we will come for you. take care of your health.
While Shambhu was going to touch his mother's feet³ Jijau embraced him dearly. Shambhu got himself out of his mother's embrace. Jijau had no words to say, she was engraving her son's image in her eyes. the image got hazy when her eyes teared up. after wiping her eyes, she saw Shambhu going alongside Shahaji-raje out of the mansion. without looking back.
Jija-bai cleared her eyes with the hem of her sari⁴. Vishwas-rao's wife Lakshmi-bai took Jija-bai inside the mansion but the sound of horse tapping was still ringing in the ears.
1 - vyahi means the in laws of one's son or daughter.
2 - 'rao' is used for one's male relatives.. it is used by grown ups in Marathi language.
3 - in indian culture, we touch the feet of our elders, teacher and parents as a show of respect.
4 - sari is the Indian traditional clothing for females
side note - 'raje' literally means 'king' in Marathi. but at that time people were simple minded so even the general were called as 'raje'. similarly, I used 'Queen' for Jijabai once. the same logic goes there.
( I understand that it might be confusing, so let me know if you want me to change this )