Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

4th May 1658

Quality inspector Uday was not the only one looking forward to reading the new novel they had just bought. A researcher called Raghavendra Kulkarni was eagerly unpacking the novel he had bought in his apartment in Chikmagaluru. A businessman’s daughter, Priyanka Deshmukh, had gotten into her comfy clothes and sat on the bed, holding the new novel she had bought, written by her idol Kavya Devaraya. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The English language teacher Edward Harrington, at BIT Kozhikode University located in Chera Nadu, was sitting in the comfort of his private dorm room, unpacking the novel his students had recommended to him.

Four different people, in different occupations and located in different parts of the empire, were unified in their curiosity and anticipation to read the new novel written by Her Majesty the Empress.

The book was flipped open, and a majestic waterfall was illustrated on the first two pages, side by side. The waterfall looked like something that would only exist in mythology, where gods, titans, and mythical creatures live.

Uday, who had already caught a glimpse of this image and had been constantly disturbed by its misty silhouette appearing in his mind, was once again mesmerized by its beauty. Although the image was in black and white, it still greatly shocked him to his core.

Raghavendra, Priyanka, and Edward had more intense reactions. The reason they bought the book was either due to word-of-mouth recommendations or being fans of the author. So, this was the first time they were seeing the illustration, which meant the impact they felt from the image was several times greater than Uday’s, who had been mentally prepared.

"Wow!" Raghavendra exclaimed.

"So pretty," Priyanka’s eyes lit up as she covered her mouth in amazement.

"Oh, Lord Jesus!" Edward’s mouth was wide open, and his body shivered as he stroked the fine print with an expression of disbelief on his face.

Even without reading a single word, the novel had already captured the full attention of not only the four current readers but tens of thousands of others who had bought the book.

Flipping the page, the first part of the story started with the introduction of a woman dressed in luxurious attire, the kind that only a royal could wear. The woman was unusually carrying a baby in her arms, but as the readers continued, they discovered that this woman actually had three arrows stuck in her back. She was injured and in a bad state.

The image of a regal queen, backstabbed by her enemies while caring for her kin, immediately appeared in the minds of the readers. The contrast greatly intrigued them.

The woman carrying the baby suddenly stopped and took a few steps back. To the surprise of the readers, her enemies did not stop pursuing her.

The enemies, a few masked men, were surprised to find that the bloody footprints had disappeared after a certain point. But unexpectedly, before they knew what had happened, one of the masked men was struck in the neck from behind, which made his body collapse to the ground without any resistance.

The two other masked men reacted and immediately moved forward to subdue the woman, but she did not show any weakness. She ducked down and thrust her dagger upward at a man who had come too close. He was unprepared, and his throat was cut open. Before the last man could react, the woman, with great difficulty, threw the man with the cutthroat toward the last enemy.

The last man was startled and hurriedly sidestepped to avoid his comrade. Just as he was relieved that he had escaped danger, he was surprised to find that his neck had been stung by what seemed to be a needle. Before he could process what was happening, he fell unconscious.

The woman, who was holding a small pipe only a few inches long, tossed the pipe aside, which she had picked up from her attacker when he got too close and limped toward the unconscious man. She decisively picked up the sword on the ground and lodged it into the man’s throat.

Not caring about the bloody mess her hands had become, she looked up at the majestic waterfall with pain on her face, but she proceeded forward with grit. Unfortunately, God was not kind to her; she slipped and fell down the only rock platform.

"Oh no," Uday exclaimed.

"Ahhh!" Priyanka screamed.

Edward was left speechless as he took a breath and proceeded to read.

The woman went downstream with the river; she could not resist the currents even with her unusually strong physique. Finally, knowing that she had no chance to live, her eyes filled with determination. She found a rock in the middle of the current that stopped her from going any further downstream and took its support.

As she pressed her back against the rock, it drove the arrow deeper into her body, causing her to spit out blood, but she remained unusually calm. Her eyes burned with fire as she looked up at the gigantic waterfall.

"Parameshwara, for the sins I have committed, take my life, but..." The woman picked up the baby in her arm with one hand and placed it on top of her head. "For the mother waiting for her child, this baby should live. For the empire of Mahishmati, the baby should live!" With a final roar, she screamed at the top of her lungs as she lifted the baby high into the air. "MAHENDRA BAHUBALI SHOULD LIVE!!"

As she said that, the water currents continued to unleash their might on her broken body until she could no longer hold on. Her legs crumbled, and she collapsed onto the rock bed, her face Submerged into the water. But perhaps it was her sheer will and unbreakable determination—her outstretched hand refused to crumble like an iron platform forged out of the will of God.

The baby remained atop the river in the majestic glow of the rising sun.

The description of the scene literally sent shivers down the spines of the readers. They could feel the weight of each and every line, imagining the story playing in their heads like a dream.

"Amazing," Edward murmured in a low voice. He was someone who had read a lot of books since childhood and was always engrossed in reading, which was the reason he mastered the Bharatiya language so quickly. Previously, he had read the two books Her Majesty had written, which he liked very much.

But *Bahubali: The Rise of Shiva* was the only book that gave him such a feeling of realism; he could almost picture the story in his mind just by reading the first chapter.

*SOB!* There were already a few tears streaming down Priyanka’s cheeks. She was inherently a very sensitive woman who got easily emotional from the slightest stimulation, and the determination and struggle of the woman in the novel greatly touched her soft spot.

The story continued. In the morning, a few tribals spotted a human hand submerged in the river.

The tribal chief and his wife were alerted, and they were briefly surprised after seeing the baby on top of the river.

"Hey, what are you staring at? Go on, rescue the baby!"

The tribal chief strongly ordered a man who was skilled at swimming in the river. The man swiftly dived into the water, swam closer to the drowned woman, and took the baby from her hand.

As soon as the baby was lifted from her hand, as if the woman’s destiny had come to an end, her hand dropped down. It momentarily pointed toward the top of the waterfall before sliding fully into the raging river, completely losing the leverage of the rock and flowing downstream with the current.

The man tried to hold on to the woman, but he couldn’t get close enough since he was holding the baby. In the end, he gave up and went back to meet his tribal chief.

The matriarch immediately took the baby into her arms and carefully cradled it with great care.

Later, while scouting the area for unusual things, the tribe found three dead bodies brutally killed right under the waterfall. They immediately realized that these men were out to kill the woman and the baby. The woman had cleverly killed the three of them with a few strikes.

More surprisingly, they discovered a hidden cave that led to the top of the waterfall, right next to the dead bodies.

"Since the woman died pointing toward the top, maybe she meant for us to take the baby there," the tribal chief guessed.

But instead of approval, he received a scowl from his partner. "Shut up, idiot. These people wouldn’t even hesitate to kill this innocent baby that was just born. Who knows what else is waiting for us up there?"

"This baby is the gift I received from Lord Shiva because we don’t have a child. So from now on, I will raise this child as my own, and I will not take no for an answer."

To Be Continued...

P.S. Parameshwara is a Sanskrit word that literally means "highest supreme ruler". It is a compound of the words parama meaning "supreme" and ishvara meaning "lord"