#saciva

Mahishmati Katha Charcha- Week 6- 10/15/2018- 10/22/2018.

Fic of the week- Saciva by @avani008

Review by @witchofmahishmati

First of all, you need to know I’m just going to love everything Avani writes without holding back because she delivers it all with so much surprising detail and exceeds our expectations in each one of them. Just like this story— about Saket and Sivagami, which I swear is a relationship dynamic that never even struck me as important enough until now. And as always, the compelling narrative convinces me that it must have been indeed canon at one point cause it answers most of our questions about Sivagami herself. Especially the ‘why did she react so insensitive at Baahu’s defiance against her?’ We get a wonderful explanation for why everything happened the way it did. More than Baahu’s defiance, more than Devasena’s insolence, more than the fear of losing her beloved son, it was the fear of Baahu’s betrayal that scared Sivagami the most. And what better way to explore it than put a deeply neglected character Saket, front and center, and leave it all to reveal itself. I really loved how Avani provides a motivation for Saket’s betrayal— love. Or being denied of the person he loved to be exact. Which once again plays into the Amarsena equation perfectly. 

But you know what surprises me the most? Her punishment for him. To me, it almost felt even worse than what she dealt out to Amarendra in the hands of Kattapp. And yet, this is Sivagami we are speaking about and it doesn’t come off as a shock any more. She is Bhalla’s mother for a reason, after all. 

Thanks to Avani, Saket gets a well rounded character sketch that we never got a glimpse of in the movies. And remember the flinch he does when the kalakeya leader was talking/insulting them? He might have betrayed mahishmati but his respect for the queen mother, despite the circumstances, was obvious. I love how avani has tapped into this dynamic and has a added such rich detail to this character.

People, go read the story right away. You’re missing out on something incredible if you haven’t read this yet. Just like me who took so long read it!!

Review by @carminavulcana

“Holy Toledo and a half!” was the phrase that came out of my mouth after reading this. I love every one of Avani’s Baahubali fics and this one is no different. In her typical poetic style, she cleverly sets the stage for Saket’s betrayal. And as usual, she does justice to his backstory as the catalyst for one of the most important parts of the Baahubali saga.

The relationship between Sivagami and Saket tells us quite a bit about why Saket ultimately betrayed Mahishmati. He, who was brought in because everyone around Sivagami believed she needed a secretary, a right hand man of the sorts who would ease some of her administrative burden; he who was determined to prove his worth to her; he, who recognized the value of ambition—it is quite understandable that his betrayal was rooted in something far more illogical and incomprehensible than plain, old greed or coercion.

It was rooted in love, ego, scorn, and humiliation—a potent cocktail of emotions that should be hard to tackle in 1,000 words but not for Avani, who weaves her stories on the loom of human psychology and its fickle, transitory nature.

Arguably, some of my favorite parts in the story were certain sentences that utilized metaphors effortlessly.

1.       So she welcomes their preferred candidate, a provincial stripling who appears barely cultured enough to wield a pen, much less have the wit to wage war with it, as one must. 

2.       A fate he does not entirely deserve, perhaps, but she must thank him, after all: he has taught her the dangers of ignoring the first signs of defiance, of allowing vipers to nest in her breast. Once, yes, but no more–after all, she has never needed to learn a lesson twice. 

The second sentence is heavy with undertones of prophecy, mostly, because we all know how Sivagami single-handedly destroyed several innocent lives including her own because of a viper that nested in her breast, a viper she fed from her breast when he was a baby, and one that she didn’t recognize for its venomous nature until it was too late.

However, this story is not about that. This story is about Sivagami’s relationship with one of her vital subordinates. And probably the best (and the worst) part of her is revealed in what she does with him in the end.

Her cruelty truly knows no bounds and Saket (or what will remain of him after the Kalakeya are done “welcoming” the new ambassador from Mahishmati) is going to be a flesh-and-blood testimony to it.

Avani’s stories always make me think, they make me see the Baahubali universe as a real place, perhaps in an alternate universe’s history, and they also force me to acknowledge the discomforting lived experiences of the common people in medieval India. Saciva is no different. If anything, it is more heartbreaking because it is impossible to see how things might have gone down differently without fundamentally changing the personalities and motivations of the principle characters in the story.

And that is also what makes this story so beautiful. It has a ring of reality to it. And reality usually ends in compromises, bad choices, broken promises, and tragic outcomes which could have been prevented but weren’t.

That’s All Folks! Go read the fic and join in the discussion. Stay tuned for Tuesday. The next fic of the week will be revealed on Tuesday because I’m traveling for two days and I forgot to bring the ziplocks with me. Also, we are done with all the reviewers in cycle one so all the names will be added back to the ziplock and cycle two will begin. If you want to be included in any (or all of the ziplocks)– Fic of the week, author of the month, reviewers– please let us know.