SCENE (13) – JAUNPUR ABOUT TO ATTACK PANDUA, GANESH NEGOTIATES WITH ALAM
Setting:
- Ganesh’s council chamber. Night.
- Maps spread across a low table. Oil lamps flicker.
- Generals stand uneasy. Messengers wait.
GENERAL
Jaunpur’s banners have crossed the river.
GANESH
How many?
GENERAL
Enough to erase Pandua while the city is still arguing.
GANESH
Jaunpur would not march without justification.
GENERAL
They come to liberate the Muslims of Bengal—at Nur Qutbi Alam’s request.
TRIPURA
Then this is no longer only Jaunpur’s war.
GENERAL
No. It is being framed as a moral summons—from Pandua’s Muslims.
TRIPURA
So the city’s screams reached Alam.
GANESH
Alam would not do this lightly. He must have been petitioned.
TRIPURA
—and he answered.
GANESH
Nur Qutbi Alam would not do it at all unless he believed restraint had failed.
GENERAL
Ibrahim Shah Sharqi does not move armies for rumor.
TRIPURA
He moves them for legitimacy.
GANESH
And Alam has given him that.
TRIPURA
Then this war cannot be won on the field.
GANESH
Our soldiers fight at the border; rebellions will fight inside the capital.
TRIPURA
Then Pandua will fall before Jaunpur arrives.
GANESH
We protect the capital, the palace is exposed.
GENERAL
Then what remains?
GANESH
Negotiation.
GENERAL
Surrender?
GANESH
No. Submission to reason.
I must speak to Alam myself.
TRIPURA
Yes.
I will go with you.
GENERAL
He will demand proof.
GANESH
Then I decide what I am willing to sacrifice for this land.
TRIPURA
You may not return unchanged.
(GANESH does not answer. He looks at the map—Pandua surrounded.)
GANESH
This kingdom cannot survive a war blessed by conscience.
TRIPURA
And if he refuses peace?
GANESH
Then history will record that Bengal burned because a king mistook force for authority.
GENERAL
If Jaunpur advances?
GANESH
Then I will stand unarmed before the man who taught them to march.
TRIPURA
This is no longer about victory.
GANESH
No. It is about permission.
(GANESH goes to NUR QUTBI ALAM’s khanah. TRIPURA is with him.)
(A quiet Sufi lodge. Sparse. No throne, no banners.)
(Nur Qutbi Alam sits cross-legged.)
(RAJA GANESH and TRIPURA stand—unarmed.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You come late.
GANESH
I come before annihilation.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Jaunpur is already walking.
TRIPURA
Make them stop.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Why should I?
GANESH
Because Bengal will burn.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
It already is.
TRIPURA
You encouraged this.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
No. I responded to screams that went unanswered.
GANESH
Tell me what ends it.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
End persecution.
GANESH
I will restrain it.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Restraint is not justice.
GANESH
Then say it plainly.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Bengal must return to an Islamic state.
GANESH
That is impossible.
TRIPURA
Absolutely not.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Then war is honest.
GANESH
There must be another way.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
There is.
You.
GANESH
Me?
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Embrace Islam.
Not privately.
Not symbolically.
As ruler.
TRIPURA
No.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Faith does not negotiate with marriage.
TRIPURA
And power does not survive betrayal.
GANESH
If I convert, the Hindus will revolt.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Then you will learn what justice costs.
And who will be asked to pay it.
GANESH
You leave no room for negotiation.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You closed all doors before entering here.
This is the only one still open.
Jaunpur is marching to close it.
TRIPURA
This meeting is over.
(Tripura turns sharply.)
Come.
(Ganesh hesitates. Then follows.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
(to himself)
Kings arrive seeking mercy.
They leave carrying math.
(Tripura does not look back.)
(Ganesh does–only once.)
(Lights fade.)
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