News:Prabhat

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2023

Nov 03: Archaeological find solves mystery of Prabhat's 'Lost Princess'

By Simhala Sunna | 3 November 2023 — 16:43 (UTC+1)

A depiction of Parvati Bhagat in one of the scenes from "The Princess of the Steppe".
BHAGYA, Prabhat — The captivating story of "The Princess of the Steppe" could be very far from what really happened.

A team of archaeologists from the Archeological Survey of Prabhat and the University of Indarapur has discovered an ancient Devanagist monastery in Bolukkia, in the west of the country. The discovery, which was announced on November 2, has been described as "transcendental" for the understanding of Prabhat's history, since it implies an answer to one of the best-known historical enigmas: the mystery of the “lost princess” of the Bhagat Dynasty, whose fate has never been known since its collapse.

The matha (monastery), dating back to the 5th century, was found thanks to LiDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) technology, in a relatively good state of preservation. The monastery is located on a hill on the banks of the Raddil River. The main building of the monastery is a rectangular temple that measures about 30 meters long and 10 meters wide. The temple is surrounded by a meditation hall and a library. In the temple, archaeologists have found a life-size statue of Khare. The statue, which is made of sandstone, is in good condition. In the meditation room, archaeologists have found an altar with remains of offerings. The altar is decorated with reliefs of scenes from the Epic of Raksanaka. In the library, archaeologists have found a collection of texts written in Sanskrit. The texts are written on clay tablets and are in good condition. Archaeologists believe that the monastery was abandoned in the 10th century, for reasons yet to be elucidated.

However, the greatest discovery was not the monastery itself, but the chronicles found on clay tablets that narrate a lost fragment of Prabhat's history, which is nothing more nor less than the fatal fate of Parvati Bhagat, the one known as the “lost princess” or the “wandering princess”, which has inspired the famous novel “The Princess of the Steppe” by Prabhati writer Vijay Rohi. As the official story goes, when the Sharabha army marched towards Pascatyana and murdered Mangalesha II (the last emperor of the colossal Pascatyan Empire) and his family, the emperor's youngest daughter disappeared from the city. At that time, King Somanatha Sharabha ordered his troops to find the princess throughout the kingdom, fearing that she could organize a movement to regain the power that belonged to her as the only survivor of the Bhagat Dynasty. However, the princess could never be found by the Sharabha soldiers.

From this moment on, the story begins to ravel, and folk legends emerge as protagonists. One of the legends transmitted to our times is that the princess was poisoned and was found dead by some peasants who threw her into Lake Devana. Another legend tells that she escaped on a ship to the north, eventually arriving to Kodeshia where she would appear at the court of the Chou dynasty serving the local emperor until her death. However, the most famous of these popular legends (and the one that serves as inspiration for the famous novel) is the one that tells that Parvati entered the Rendoshian Desert, where she formed a band of skilled horse raiders that would travel throughout the steppe attacking commercial caravans until they reached Cagayan, where they drowned while trying to cross the Kamarband River.

The texts found would narrate a completely different story from those previously stated, as they declare that the princess fled to this monastery where she was received and hidden by the local priests to prevent her from being found and possibly executed by the Musuruni troops. There she would live a monastic life dedicated to the worship of Khare, as the texts detail that she performed with admirable devotion, until an event narrated in one of the texts would mark her fatal destiny:

The lady conceived a baby with one of our priests. This was an offense to our leader Raghavudu, who also had premonitions of the bloody war that would break out in our land if her dynasty survived. Enraged, Raghavudu went to look for the woman, who was in the gardens collecting tea leaves, and murdered her with several stab wounds to her belly. The woman remained for a few minutes bleeding completely in silence, until she and her son surrendered to death.

This shocking outcome may be very discouraging for admirers of Rohi's book, which is compulsorily taught in Prabhat public schools. However, historians agree on the verisimilitude of this version, as it fits with other similar folk legends that narrated her exile to Musuruni lands. The Minister of Culture praised the work of the archaeologists, calling their discovery “a renewing impulse to discover the mysteries of our rich history.” The ancient monastery was declared a historical and cultural heritage site by the Bolukkia government, and many of the artifacts found will be exhibited at the University of Indarapur.