Ahilyabai (& udaykiran)

A courtier said haughtily, A letter has come stating that many Rajput kings have turned against the people of the South. They slander us, calling us robbers! The Marathas who hoisted the flag of religion to all corners of Hindustan; the Marathas whose goddess built temples, ghats, roads, and dharamshalas from Badrinath, Kedarnath, and Kurukshetra in the north to Mathura-Vrindavan, Kashi, the Nizam and Tipu kingdoms of Rameshvar, and from Dwarka and Somnath to Jagannathpuri, and established drinking fountains for the thirsty; the goddess who arranged for the Ganges water to be sent to the temples of pilgrimage sites; the goddess who could not tolerate Ahilyabai. Anger spread across her face. Enough, enough, she rebuked. How many times have I told you never to call me a goddess. Dont flatter me. Then she said softly, The people of all India are the same. The hatred lies only among kings and nawabs. Under the guise of criticizing each other, they denigrate each others territories. This territory is small and bad, ours is big and good; they are savages, we are superior; the poison of this discrimination will one day send us all to hell. This novel reveals utter chaos everywhere; utter oppression in the name of governance; the people in a miserable state; religion bound by superstitions, fears, and traditions; justice had neither power nor faith. What Ahilyabai did in those difficult circumstances of such a timeand she did a lotis memorable. This historical novel, based on the life of Queen Ahilyabai, is a masterpiece by Babu Vrindavanlal Verma.