Marriage with Sukira, The Tribal Princess

Two of them moved forward, tied my hands behind my back, and took me through a narrow cleared lane in the dense jungle where a wooden throne was placed.

All seated themselves on the rocks carved out as chairs and stools, and I was tied to a huge banyan tree just by the side of the throne.

A few minutes later, I could hear the beat of the trumpets, interrupted intermittently by the growls of wolves. All the men seated on the rocks stood in honor as the tribal chief was arriving.

A dark tall muscular man, about 50 years old, appeared from the forests, carrying a gigantic dagger by his waist, surrounded by around 10 more tribals. He seated himself on the throne and gestured for others to take their seats. He had already been briefed about the incidents.

After a long yawn, he said-

‘So you are the one who saw Suzuki’s daughter naked while bathing?’

So the name of the man at whose house I had spent the night before was Suzuki.

Already frightened by his gigantic physique and swinging dagger, I gathered some courage to murmur like a goat-

‘Lord, my King, it was unintentional, I did not know about the bathing spot behind the hamlet, I was just looking for them when I reached the waterfall. But I did not see her nude, just her bare back, and then I rushed to the yard, you can ask her?’

His angry looks intensified.

I continued- ‘ Lord, kindly forgive me, it was unintentional, and it won’t be repeated, I will leave for my camp today itself.’

The tribal King discussed something in whispers with Suzuki and other elderly men. The atmosphere was very calm and serious. I could only be guessing what was conspiring.

A few moments later, the King said –

“You cannot be forgiven, if I forgive you, it will set a very wrong precedent. Unlike your deteriorated urban culture, in our society, only husbands can see their wives naked, no one else. You deserve stringent action.

You will be beheaded today at dusk.”

I started crying in despair, unable to fathom the situation I started shouting for pardon. The King leaned toward Suzuki who was still standing by his side and discussed something in an inaudible voice.

The King after a discussion with Suzuki-

‘There is a way out. Since only husbands can see women naked in our culture, you will have to marry her as you have already seen her bare body, and live with us forever, become a member of our tribe.’

I started crying in pain again- ‘No, I cannot do this, I have to return to my camp, family, my parents, pls forgive me, Lord,I cannot marry and settle here’.

The King reacted angrily- ‘We gave you a way out, but it seems you deserve punishment’.

Then he handed over his dagger to one of his bodyguards he said-

‘Chop off his head right now’.

I do not remember what went through my head at that time, probably marrying was a better option than getting beheaded.

I started shouting again- ‘I will marry, I will marry her and settle here forever, please don’t behead me’.

The King announced- ‘Tonight you will be married to SUKIRA, as per our rituals and traditions. You are our royal guest now’.

For the first time, I came to know the name of my to-be-wife, Sukira. It was a beautiful name.

He ordered his men to untie my hands and prepare for the evening ceremony. The meeting was adjourned, and the King receded to the dark jungles with his trumpeters.

Dusk had fallen, I was draped in a green yellow shawl and a wooden crown atop my head.

Sukira appeared at the marriage spot, her half-covered torso in red and yellow, crown of fresh leaves and flowers and jewelry made of beads and bangles carved out of ivory.

We both seated beside each other on banana leaves with fire and an altar in front of us. A priest-like man performed rituals and recitations in the tribal language. Half an hour later Sukira was my wife, officially.

Trumpets and drums started playing, and the young boys and girls of the tribes started dancing around the fire, I and Sukira too were forced to dance. More than thirty goats were sacrificed at the altar and roasted in the fire for the feast.

After the marriage ceremony, all the tribals retired to their huts and I was taken to a newly made mud hut, colored fresh in blue and red, and the fresh leaves thatched roof gave it a distinct odor. The walls were decorated with red and white wild flowers.

Sukira, my wife, already sitting on the cot was looking more beautiful than ever. She had always been beautiful. I was impressed by her looks the first time she appeared in front of me the day before when I had knocked on the door. I had no clue that destiny had planned my marriage with her.

Disturbed, silent, calm,I went and seated beside her.

I said –

‘Sukira, you know that whatever happened in the morning was unintentional, I had no such malice in my mind, I was just looking for your father to help me in reaching the campus’.

Sukira, after a brief pause-

‘I know it’s not your mistake. My scream was a reflex action. I was helpless as no one would lend an ear to me, the decisions here are taken by the King and the assembly, we have to abide by them.’

After a pause, she forwarded a cup with her mehndi-covered soft hands – ‘Please have the drink’.

I- ‘No, thank you, I cannot drink it’.

Sukira- ‘Don’t worry, it’s made of coffee beads which people in nearby town drink. I got them arranged specially for you.

I- ‘But how did you get the coffee beads in this jungle?’

Sukira- ‘I know that you did not like the soup yesterday, nor the cake. I paid money to the visiting school teacher in the adjacent hamlet to fetch it from the city’.

I was touched by her gesture, but I was not able to digest the fact that she was my wife and I would have to spend my whole life in the jungle with the tribes.

It had already been 2 days since I had been missing from my surveying camp and my friends and Professors would be either searching for me or assumed that I might have been consumed by a leopard and would never return.

Sukira –‘ I know you married me due to fear of being beheaded, you don’t like me.

I did not reply. I was simply bewildered at my fate, but somewhat enjoying the fragrance of her body, she was sitting too close. I was looking into her deep eyes, she was trying to figure out my emotions and ease my mind.

Sukira-‘May I know your name, after all, you are my husband now.’

I whispered- ‘ Ishaan Sharma’.

Sukira smiled for a moment and then went into silence.

Sukira– ‘ I know that you do not want to live here, nor do you like me as a wife, I can feel your pain’.

This time I replied, touched by her kind words. After all, she too was in a similar condition to mine, married to me without consent.

I- ‘ I like you, you are too beautiful and kind, but I cannot accept you as my wife, nor I can live here lifelong’.

Silence prevailed in the hut for an hour. Feeling tired, I leaned back by the wall on the cot.

Sukira too lay down by my side. I could feel her agony, but we both were helpless.

Sukira leaned towards me and whispered in my ears-

‘ I can help you escape from here and get back to your home and family’.

Astonished at her offer,I asked – ‘But how, there are guards all around the hamlet ‘.

Sukira- ‘Leave that to me, I know the way out.‘

I- ‘And what about you?’

She did not reply and her sad expressions were easy to decipher.

I continued-‘ You can get married to someone else, maybe you love someone from your tribe, good for both of us’.

She was still as silent as a lake.

My curious face prodded her to speak up-

‘No one will marry me now, in our traditions we get married only once, even if the husband leaves. I will have to live my life alone in this new hut,I cannot live even with my father now, that’s our culture.’

I did not know what to say, I was wooed by the sacrifice she was going to make for me, just for my sake, so that I could get back to my camp and then my family, my usual life, while she would have to live all her life all alone with no one to love.

What’s a life without love? No more than an emotionless dead body.

How could I leave her like that, but I could not have stayed there too. For the first time, I felt her as my wife. I hugged her. I could feel her warm body, her soft supple cheeks, and the fragrance of hairlocks, I was falling in love with her nature and beauty.

I whispered- ‘You are my wife Sukira’.

For the first time, I had truly accepted her as my beloved. How could I not?

I – ‘I cannot leave you,I will take you with me. I will return to take you with me to my world, forever.

Sukira leaned against my chest and rested her head on my chin, we cuddled each other for some time.

A few moments later, she distanced herself all of a sudden and said-

‘You will have to leave early morning before the guards wake up. They go to sleep at 4 in the morning.’

I nodded in agreement with a heavy heart. The whole night we both shared our lives with each other.

An epitome of beauty, elegance simplified, she seemed to be far more captivating than the urban glow and bloom, all combined. I did not want to sleep that night.

The night, witness to my marriage with Sukira was fading away, and so were her hopes.

Early morning, she woke me up and guided me through the sparsely populated hilltop village of the tribes. As soon as we reached the muddy road, carved by the side of a range, she stopped all of a sudden.

‘Now you have to go all alone, I cannot go beyond this. Just keep walking till you find a stream, cross the stream and move east through the bushes till you see the highway. I have never been beyond that, but I know that’s the way to the town, from there you can easily reach your camp’.

Tears were rolling down our cheeks, radiating red with the orange sun rays falling on our faces.

She was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was the queen of the jungles. Untouched by the harsh urbane culture, the purity of the mountains and lakes all imbibed into that one female, Sukira, my wife.

I had to leave. No more I feared for my life,it was for the sake of Sukira. I had to rush, to return one day.

Just before I would move, she handed me two cakes of oats and a small bamboo box, with a few wild flowers tied at the top.

And whispered in my ears-

“Don’t come for my sake, come for yourself, only if you wish to, only if you really love me Ishaan, I will wait for you, lifelong”.

For the first time she had taken my name, and I could feel the love in her words.

With a heavy heart, departing from my wife, I replied –

“I will return for you, for my wife, for Sukira”.

She smiled, with a sense of disbelief.

I had nothing to offer save a departing kiss on her forehead and a promise to come back. We both faded from each other’s views as I made my way toward the stream, and she rushed toward her hut.

I reached my engineering camp by evening. It was our 3rd-year of winter camp. I could sense worry, and despair on my friends’ and Professors’ faces, my family too had been informed about my disappearance, after all, I had been missing amidst the dense jungles for the last three days. I narrated the ordeal to everyone, except that I was a married man then. I did not tell anyone about my wife, Sukira.

The promise I made to Sukira remains unfulfilled, with each passing year portraying the disbelief I saw in her eyes, just before departing.

Sukira knew then and there that I won’t return.

Even I knew, might be !