The following day early morning. Ever since the arrival of the instructions for the first test sent by those two shrewd rulers of the Junagarh kingdom, Aarohi and Aditya, a secret and strict preparation had commenced within the interiors of the royal palace. The Maharaja himself sat and arranged all the plots flawlessly. Aditya and Aarohi had indeed written about a room for temptation in the letter, but this foreign Maharaja of ours, utilizing his own sharp intellect, personally placed a royal wooden table inside that room. And upon that table, he arranged beforehand a vial of potent sleeping medicine, two strong ropes for tying hands and feet, and a black cloth for blindfolding. The Maharaja thought to himself, "If there is any sin within the mind of that stranger boy, he won't be able to commit anything in front of two other people. Therefore, this rope, cloth, and sleeping medicine are kept, so that if he wishes, he can satisfy his lust by feeding medicine to or tying up those two old women. Let's see how the lad handles this massive temptation!"
After a short while, the Maharaja commanded his four trusted guards, "Go, guards, escort Rupanjan honorably from his well-decorated chamber. Today is the first test of his life!"
The moment the Maharaja's command was received, the guards marched with the sound of heavy boots straight to Rupanjan's chamber. Rupanjan had then only just arisen from his bed and was adjusting his attire. The chief guard said politely, "Rupanjan Babu, the Maharaja has summoned you for the first test. Please proceed with us toward the underground secret chamber of the royal palace."
Without hesitating for even a single moment, Rupanjan wrapped his shawl around himself and walked with calm steps alongside the guards. Passing through long corridors and royal staircases, they arrived at a deserted and silent wing of the royal palace. There, in front of a massive wooden door, the Maharaja himself was standing. Seeing Rupanjan, the Maharaja flashed a sliver of a mysterious smile and said, "Come, Rupanjan! This very room you see, you must remain confined inside this room for an entire day and a single night today. There shall reside three other human beings with you in this room. Tomorrow early morning, this door shall be opened again. Only then will it be known whether you have passed or failed this test!"
Without uttering a single word, Rupanjan nodded his head calmly and stepped inside that massive room. The moment he entered inside, the Maharaja locked the heavy iron chain and padlock of the door from the outside. Not only that, the Maharaja stationed an extremely shrewd and trusted spy of his right outside the window of that room in an unseen corner, so that the spy could clearly see and hear every moment's scene, every word, and every action from the outside, and later provide a flawless description of it to the Maharaja. Setting all arrangements firmly, the Maharaja returned to his own chamber.
The moment the door closed inside the room, Rupanjan observed the surroundings thoroughly. The environment of the room was extremely strange. On one side was a beautiful, well-decorated bed, and right beside it on a wooden table were kept that sleeping medicine, rope, and the black cloth for blindfolding. In another corner of the room sat a thin, ailing elderly mother, looking as though she hadn't put even a single grain of food into her mouth for the past two days due to the pangs of hunger. Right beside her sat a bone-dry, loud-mouthed, and terrifyingly angry-looking quarrelsome old woman. And standing in the middle of the room was a supremely beautiful, young woman—wearing a royal saree, with intense magic in the gaze of her eyes and a crooked smile of temptation upon her lips.
Paying no heed to any side, Rupanjan sat down calmly on the floor in a corner of the room. But that beautiful girl had arrived precisely to allure him! Seeing that indifference of Rupanjan, she took two steps toward him in a magical posture. Shifting the veil of her saree slightly, she held her own leg in an extremely dramatic manner and said in a pampered voice, "Ogo Rupanjan! Look over this side a little, go! Look, something has suddenly pierced my foot! It is hurting terribly, go!"
Saying this, the girl deliberately pulled her saree up to her knees and displayed her fair leg right before Rupanjan's eyes. She began to try and edge even closer to Rupanjan.
Witnessing such tantrums and cheap temptation of the girl, Rupanjan covered his two eyes with his hands. Roaring in a grave voice with ultimate annoyance, he said, "What are you performing all this? Do you not feel shame? Lower this saree this very instant! You haven't found me to be such a cheap boy! There is no place for any other woman in my heart. I have loved only one person deeply in this life, and I will marry her alone as my wife! Stop all these cheap dramas of yours before me!"
Despite hearing such a stern rebuke from Rupanjan's mouth, the girl did not back down. Bursting into giggles, she came even closer and said, "Aha re, my devoted lover man! I know you love only her and want to marry only her. But in this world, love is only for a few days, go! And besides, whatever you perform with me right now inside this closed room, that love of yours cannot even come to know! She is not coming here to see. So do not think so much, do not ponder so much. Come to me, come very close..." Saying this, the girl practically clamored to touch Rupanjan.
Right then, from the corner of the room, that quarrelsome old woman bared her teeth-gnashing face and screamed in a hideous voice, "I say, O devil wench! Why are you clamoring so much to see a male like that? If you have such a great urge to perform those filthy deeds, then state it directly! Why are you granting that lad the opportunity to act like a saint?"
The moment he heard such explicit and filthy words from the old woman's mouth, Rupanjan turned absolutely crimson with shame. His two ears grew hot, and his entire body began to tremble with rage. But there was no restraint on the old woman's mouth; she kept spewing venom continuously. Glancing at Rupanjan while dancing her hideous eyes, the old woman spoke again, "Oma! I can barely survive witnessing the lad's shame! I say, O lad, does it even work to feel shame upon seeing a female like that? In this full youth, if you want to come, come to me! Try taking a chance on me a little! No matter how old I look, no matter how elderly the body appears, from the side of the heart, I too am still a pure youth, re! Come, come, perform a little playful pastime with me first, then you may proceed to that beautiful girl!"
Hearing this extreme obscenity of the old woman, even that beautiful girl pricked up her ears and said in annoyance, "Arrey, keep quiet, Dida! Why are you uttering such filthy words from the middle, tell me? Why would he go to you? He will love only me, you just watch!"
Flying into an ultimate rage now, Rupanjan pointed his finger toward the table kept beside the bed and roared, "Silence, all of you! Absolute silence! If either of you brings another single useless word to your mouth, do you see the cloth and ropes kept on that table? I will tie both of your hands, feet, and mouths securely together with those right now! Then not another single word will be able to emerge from your mouths!"
Hearing about the rope and cloth from Rupanjan's mouth, that shrewd, beautiful girl played a dramatic move. Looking toward the table and whispering with a wink of her eyes, she said, "Yes, Rupanjan! Those cloths and ropes are indeed the symbols of our love, go! You do one thing, tie the eyes, hands, and feet of those two old women securely with that cloth and rope. And not only that, the potent sleeping medicine kept on that table, you can force them to drink that too! Once they consume it, they will remain completely asleep for an entire day, they will fall asleep like logs this very instant! Thereafter... thereafter, you and I are completely alone inside this room! Besides, there will be no one to place an obstacle between you and me!"
Saying this, the girl clapped her hands in a voice filled with intoxication and, swaying her waist, began to catch a hideous song— "This night is yours and mine... you are beside me, I am beside you... you will place your hand on my body, I will place my hand on your feet and speak words..."
Hearing such an out-of-tune and strange song of the girl, Rupanjan could not restrain his anger and suddenly burst into laughter instead. Casting a sliver of a crooked smile at the girl, he said, "Truly! Your head is completely gone! You cannot even compose a single song properly? Will you learn from me how to compose a song and how to sing it?"
Saying this, Rupanjan caught a wonderful, beautiful melody in his grave yet extremely sweet voice. He began to sing an extraordinarily beautiful song from his heart and, alongside it, also recited an excellent, emotional poem. That divine and sweet melody of Rupanjan's voice seemed to purify the filthy air inside the room in a single instant. Hearing that excellent weaving of his song and poetry, those two old women inside the room, along with that beautiful girl, became completely spellbound. Forgetting their hostility, they all clapped together and uttered in unison, "Bravo, Rupanjan! Bravo! We did not even know that you could sing such beautiful songs and knew such beautiful poetry!"
Halting his song, Rupanjan said with a grave face in a single flash, "I certainly know! However, there was absolutely no necessity for the three of you to combine and praise me by performing such tantrums to hear this quality of mine! Alright, whatever, you people gossip whatever you like among yourselves now, please do not torment me anymore, let me perform my own work."
Right then, sitting in the other corner of the room, that first helpless elderly mother, who was trembling with the pangs of hunger, said in an extremely faint and weak voice, "Baba go... I haven't been able to put even a single grain into my stomach for the past two days, go! My body is feeling terribly bad, my head is spinning. Will you people kindly keep quiet a little, Baba? This clamoring is no longer tolerable."
Hearing her pathetic words, that quarrelsome second old woman twisted her mouth according to her nature and said, "I say, O wench! If you haven't received food for two days, what shall we do? How is this even possible, re? Whatever, when they arrive to deliver the King's delicious food in the afternoon, gulp it down to your fill! For now, go to that side and sleep quietly! And if not, swallow a gulp of that sleeping medicine kept on that table and sleep like a corpse! When the food arrives, I myself will call and wake you up. Do not perform tantrums coming between us now!" Saying this, the old woman turned her face toward Rupanjan again, eager to speak.
Letting out a deep sigh then, the first old woman lay down facing the wall. On the other side, the beautiful girl rebuked that quarrelsome old woman and said, "I say, O Dida! You have aged, why are you loving him and performing such tantrums by addressing him by the name 'Roop, Roop' tell me? Does all that suit you at this age?"
Flying into a rage then, Dida said, "You devil wench! You sit quietly in your own place! Do not speak words in my mouth!" Thereafter, the old woman turned her entire toxic gaze back toward Rupanjan. Seeing that calm and grave form of Rupanjan, the old woman's body was practically burning. Swaying her waist and advancing toward Rupanjan, she made a gesture of spitting and said, "Hey, Roop-Roop! Do not think that if you sing such beautiful songs, I will go mad in your love! I would never go mad in the love of such a filthy boy in my entire life, re! What do you think of yourself in your mind, yeah re? Is your character even alright? You are singing grand songs coming here, which means a massive amusement has awakened inside you from within, isn't it re lad? An urge to have a little fun has awakened inside you, fun backside... I will deliver a kick to your face, devil!"
Hearing such atrocious and filthy abuses from the old woman's mouth, Rupanjan's fist clenched tight, and his teeth began to grind. But the old woman did not stop; she began to speak even more aggressively, "Do not think that because I have grown old, I am weak, re lad! I will deliver three or four kicks to that backside of yours and straighten you out! Detaching this arrogant head of yours from your body, I will play football in the courtyard, football! Delivering a slap squarely on you, I will shove this old hand of mine inside your throat, then I will see how that beautiful throat of yours emits songs again! Oh dear father, oh dear father! The moment he saw a young, beautiful girl, the urge to flirt arose within him! Why did such an urge for singing arise in you, you devil? Why do you have such a great urge upon seeing females? Catching you by the roots of your hair and dragging you along, I will leave you on the streets of the eunuchs!"
The old woman now began to raise extremely objectionable points regarding Rupanjan's parents. Wagging her finger, she said, "Are your parents even alright, re? Your parents were surely involved in some illicit relationship, and it is as a result of that sin that a devil like you was born! Those parents of yours were also pure devils, and you yourself are a massive devil! One whose own birth has no certainty, he arrives here to sing grand religious songs! Four kicks should be delivered to your face and two kicks to your backside! Oh dear father! Seeing the son of such a low-born makes me feel like cutting and tearing everything into shreds and throwing it away entirely! You are a pure, filthy insect of the drain!"
The old woman continuously kept speaking such ultimate, atrocious, and filthy words regarding Rupanjan's parents and his birth. Rupanjan's inner self-respect and patience had reached an absolute threshold by then. Hearing such defamation in the name of his parents, tears of blood seemed to emerge from his eyes. Leaving his seat and trembling violently with rage, he stood up. He practically raised his hand to strike that old woman! The situation grew so extreme that it appeared Rupanjan would choke the old woman's throat this very instant.
But right then, his honest education and patience awakened within Rupanjan's mind. Grinding his teeth, he somehow lowered his raised hand. He thought to himself, "Had this been a man or anyone else, I would have slammed him thrice on the ground, thrashed him thoroughly, and thrown him out of this room! How does she possess the courage to utter such massive, hideous words regarding my parents, regarding their sacred relationship? But no matter what, she is an extremely elderly woman. Raising a hand against aged people is not my value. I am enduring this extreme humiliation solely by placing my faith upon God." Pondering this, Rupanjan let out a heavy sigh and sat down calmly on the floor again, closing his eyes.
Seeing Rupanjan fall silent in this manner, the quarrelsome old woman advanced another step forward. Bringing her own face right in front of Rupanjan's face and making a mocking face, she said, "What re, lad? How did you fall absolutely silent all of a sudden? Has someone urinated into your mouth, re yours? Or has someone defecated into your mouth out of fear and departed? Whatever you have kept trapped inside your mouth, bring it out a little, let us hear!"
Saying this, the old woman practically rushed and brought her two eyes very close to Rupanjan's mouth, inspecting thoroughly to see if there was indeed anything there. Thereafter, she returned to her place again, growling in extreme rage. On the other side, standing outside the window, the Maharaja's shrewd spy became thoroughly astounded in his mind witnessing all these scenes inside, this unbelievable patience of Rupanjan, and his remaining calm even in the face of his parents' humiliation. Inside the room, that terrifying ordeal of the first day kept continuing incessantly.