#kumar varma

As a child, Kumar Varma’s eyes are never dry: whether it is because the other children are teasing him, or because Father’s favorite hound is ailing, or simply because he woke to a stomach-ache, always he wails about one thing or another. Sumitra despairs of him; but Mother only laughs and says that he’s using up all his tears early, the better to laugh his way through adversity later. 

(When, in the last minute of his life, he realizes he’s damned two of the people he loves best, he dies with dry eyes.)

--

Certainly, Baahubali decides, the farmer girl he and Bhalla met on the road to Singapuram has been remarkably kind and helpful (...and clever, and strong, and beautiful)--but this is ridiculous. He may not be as acquainted with the customs of commoners as she, but he is fairly certain that a disguise as a prosperous merchant, even one all too fond of his drink, does not necessarily require quite so much....padding.

(Bhalla, who’s snickering in the corner, is naturally  no help.)

Absolutely agree on the Sivagami thing (which though is part of such an established downward spiral on her part that I can’t figure out a way to eliminate it :/ I think the overall point was supposed to be that having lost her previous sounding support system in Baahu and Kattappa, Sivagami was more vulnerable to Bijju and Bhalla, but we never really see their relationship - from her standpoint- that well established in the movie prior, so I can’t figure out a divergence point for it, meh.)

1. The best thing, Kumar Varma thinks, of being around Baahubali is that he has already humiliated himself thoroughly. With anyone else, he might fear being exposed as a fool, his prowess as a facade, but with Baahubali--what could possibly be worse than treating the Crown Prince of an empire as a bumbling servant? No, no, nothing he does will ever outdo that offense; and so it is a relief to know he can thoroughly be himself and be done with it. 

2. That is why, when he arrives in Mahishmati for the coronation, Kumar Varma is careful to assure the Queen Mother that of course she need not worry about seeing to his amusement; why, he knew she and Prince Bhallaladeva must be very busy, and so would be perfectly happy to spend all his time with Baahubali alone. No need for them to trouble themselves, no need at all!

The Queen Mother’s face is--well, it can only be called stony. “I shall tell the Second Under-secretary, then, that his services as guide and companion will not be needed,” she replies, and Kumar Varma does not need to see Baahubali’s slight wince out of the corner of his eye to deduce that she is offended. “The Second Assistant Under-secretary, that is.”

And--ah. Why should the Royal Family of Mahishmati show all their guests around the city themselves? He should have thought of that. 

“Foreign dignitaries have said worse things to her before,” Baahubali says bracingly later.

“Oh? And--and she forgave them?”

“I--Well--No. But content yourself with this: vultures need not peck out your eyeballs.”

3. “And these statues--” Baahubali stops the chariot atop a dusty plain, not unlike every other dusty plain that surrounds this gods-forsaken kingdom “--were built by one of my ancestors three hundred years before.”

Kumar Varma stares dubiously up at the behemoths, situated by the battlefield for no purpose he can see. “I don’t suppose he was ah, short of stature?”

Baahubali shrugs, but Devasena raises her eyebrows in agreement: certainly this long-dead King must have been compensating for something. 

4. Devasena clucks her tongue sympathetically. 

“A quarter-hour,” Kumar Varma intones, “about the mechanics of the city sewers alone. With diagrams! And hand gestures!”

She smiles. “It grows endearing with time,” she tells him, and--apparently it’s true. Love does render one a little mad. 

5. Despite it all, when it comes time for Kumar Varma to depart, Baahubali embraces him gratefully. “Your presence was a great comfort,” he says, and Kumar Varma shrugs and tries not to seem too pleased with himself.

“Well, I had to,” he blusters. “We’re family, after all.”

Baahubali’s smile does not fade, precisely, but something in his eyes flickers; and belatedly Kumar Varma remembers that a man so recently disappointed in his relations could hardly find a compliment in such words. He tries to apologize, but cannot seem to come up with any fitting words; before he can, though:

@luminouscassian wanted Kumar Varma, pink!

At first it is easy enough to imagine, if not to achieve: all Kumar Varma wants is to earn Devasena’s smile, perhaps even her respect, and live up to the fine paintings of himself that he has already commissioned. With such encouragement, he can’t fathom why he disappoints himself so; perhaps if he talks himself into confidence, he might manage it after all. 

His dreams grow simpler yet: all he wants to is stay here, just as he is (the very embodiment of all the forest’s creatures, could you imagine? Him!) with these new friends he has made. Wonderful men, both, blessed with golden tongues; and Kumar Varma thinks they will do very well in Kuntala, very well indeed. 

It doesn’t last, however, and his wishes become more complex than he has ever known them: He wants Devasena back home in Kuntala, husband and child in tow, where they might be safe; he wants all the anger and indignation around him to cool. He wants to persuade them to see sense and accept his sister and brother-in-law’s luxurious presents; he wants to defend them against all ills.

Amarendra

Done HERE!

Bhallaladeva

(Canon! Bhalla, not Crack! Bhalla, who can be narrowed down to being fussy about his clothes, Hating the Great Outdoors, and snarking constantly about his idiot brother, sister-in-law, and nephew). 

1. The rope-cutting scene aside, I actually don’t think Bhalla started off wanting Amarendra dead–I think he’d have been quite content to be King, and have Amarendra safely given some dull responsibility, were it not for the fact that the people (and what’s worse, Sivagami) never could quite help being drawn to Amarendra insted. It’s what leads him to try next to get Amarendra exiled; and it takes Amarendra proving that he will “always live as a King” for Bhalla to finally push for his death. 

2. I’ve said this before, I’m quite sure, but Bhalla being made Commander-in-Chief is not a punishment, but rather playing to his strengths. He is more goal-oriented than Amarendra, who tends to look at the big picture instead, and thrives, I think, off the satisfaction of reaching an accomplishment. Giving him a clear endpoint like “defeat that army” is far kinder than solving the thousands of tiny problems of an empire would have been. 

(Bhalla strikes me as a very disinterested King who allowed his father and his advisors to do whatever they wanted in most departments except the army. This, I suspect, is why Mahishmati’s economy is in such dire straits by the time we see it twenty-five years later.)

3. There is no way Shivu would have defeated Bhalla in his prime. 

4. Probably another repeat, but Bhalla and Devasena hate each other so because, in many ways, they’re so similar: they’re both highly intuitive and far more suspicious of others than say, Amarendra, but even aside from their morality, they clash in terms of their general approach to the world: Devasena is outspoken and forthright, while Bhalla is silent and snarky, and both think the other is dreadful. 

5. He loves his brother and mother, and always will; even if it would be a thousand times easier not to. The best part of him with regards to will and wisdom dies with them, and by the end, he is a tired husk of a man. 

Bijjaladeva

1. He’s angry at the world–always angry. From his perspective, he’s entirely justified in his actions, and often that’s the most difficult part of writing him: because he just has a very unpleasant headspace to explore. 

2. RoS says differently, FWIW, but I see Bijjaladeva as having been born with his shriveled arm–expecting to be made heir nonetheless and brutally disappointed when he wasn’t. To have it be the result of an accident makes it seem all the more like he’s correct in that his parents did just demote him because of his disability–whereas if he always had it and might possibly still have been made King despite it, it adds more weight to Kattappa’s argument that it was because of his overall terribleness. 

3. Bijjaladeva would have hated him anyway, but Amarendra looking exactly like Vikramadeva absolutely does not help. 

4. Bijju both hates Sivagami and relies on her to protect him from the hatred of the court: he knows this makes him a hypocrite, and it manifests itself as even more vitriol against her, even as in court, he competes with Kattappa for her approval and admiration by way of their (quasi-adopted, in Kattappa’s case) sons. 

5. Bhallaladeva is the one person Bijju loves absolutely in the world, and the one person who he destroys absolutely. That is his tragedy. 

Kumar Varma

1. He adores Devasena, but not necessarily romantically: instead getting her to marry him is more a badge of her approval that he thinks might make him think better of himself. 

(It’s not, of course, and Devasena knows this: the only person who can improve Kumar Varma’s self-esteem is Kumar Varma himself.)

2. He’s always been ashamed of his inability to protect and provide for his older sister, as Devasena does her brother, which is largely the reason behind his obnoxious overcompensation–and why it resolves once he defends his sister from invaders, rather than anyone else. 

3. He’s drawn to both sexes, always has been, and no one in Kuntala really cares. Regardless, even in continuities where he  survives, he never does marry (with an exception for him entering a marriage of convenience with Bala in the Ambika Baahubali ‘verse.)

4. He admires Amarendra, but let’s be honest: Kattappa is his BFF. (He called Kumar Varma an entire jungle full of animals! What’s not to love?)

Devasena, fending for herself

Jayasena is with her more often than not, but even the King of isolated Kuntala must travel; and when he does, he always leaves Devasena behind as regent. 

At first, it is a terrifying thought that the entire population’s lives rest in her hands; but then, as the moments drag on, and the palace does not spontaneously catch fire nor the river run dry simply because she is in charge, Devasena relaxes. It is not so very different than an ordinary day, after all: and she tells herself that, again and again, until her brother is home again at last. 

Avantika, school

It is Queen Sumitra who decrees that the children of the camp must learn their letters and numbers. The Chief sees no need for it; they can just as easily learn to leave behind signs and symbols to communicate with each other, but Sumitra persists. They are raising Kuntala’s future, after all, not savages, and as always, her husband relents.

Avantika sees the Queen’s lessons as only one more challenge to overcome. She must always be faster to learn, quicker to write, first to shout the answer; and when Queen Sumitra gently chides that the others will not progress if she does so, Avantika can’t see what that has to do with anything. She does not have the time to wait for the others to catch up–doing so will only get them all killed, or so the Chief always says. All that matters is she do the best she can, and let the others fend for themselves. 

The Queen looks horrified to hear of this; they will speak of it later, she says, when she returns from the raid she means to lead into Mahishmati. 

Except she doesn’t. Avantika learns that Queen Sumitra had gone back to help, when she ought not to have, and look where it had gotten her. She sniffles, but does not cry, and from that day on, there are no more lessons. 

Kumar Varma, comfort food

“Only meats and pulses build muscle,” warns his sister, but Kumar Varma refuses to mind her; is he to give up warm idlis, too, in this fool’s quest to prove himself worthy?

(The short answer is “Nidhana”! But because I’ve been meaning to pin down that backstory:

* Kumar expects Baahubali to be distressed to hear of his brother’s unfilial nature— to raise a hand to his own father!—but he does not expect to see his friend’s face go grim, or Devasena’s turn pale.

“I can trust my father’s brother for one thing alone,” says Baahubali slowly, “and that is to care nothing for my wellbeing. Do not take your men to the King’s chambers, Kumar; you’ll find nothing but disaster waiting for you there.”

* Devasena insists he leave for Kuntala at once—“It’s too dangerous for you here, if you’ve caught their eye” she tells him—but Kumar protests that the baby will be born so soon. Devasena scowls in response and swears if that’s what keeps him here, she won’t let him so much as look at the baby if he doesn’t leave at once. That forces his hand where nothing else will, and Devasena breathes a sigh of relief.

* She has no less difficult a time convincing her ladies-in-waiting to flee. “You’ll need us now more than ever,” says Madhavi, apparently appointed their spokeswoman, and Devasena struggles to explain that while they might face difficulty for her sake, she will not allow them to face whatever danger Bhallaladeva has in mind. Finally a compromise is negotiated; her ladies will stay for the first few months after the baby is born, to help care for him or her, and to allow Devasena time to regain her strength, and afterwards they will be escorted by Kumar Varma back to Kuntala. All, that is, except for Lakshmi; when Devasena attempts to argue, Lakshmi only shrugs and says, “You know, Crown Princess, that I have nothing for me there.”

* Baahubali watches her like a hawk for the next few days, apparently convinced that the shock of the news will have an adverse effect either on the baby or on her. It’s adorable at first, but rapidly annoying; Devasena exacts petty revenge by pretending to go into labor at least twice a day. This backfires somewhat, when her pains come upon her in earnest, and Baahubali’s reaction is to remain skeptical.