It was late afternoon, when Shri Ram had finished ploughing the entire land. He offered a plate full of gold coins to the farmer, which was four times the price of his land.

"Kripiya yeh Rajkiya Anugrah swikar kare." Shri Ram said.

"Aap dhanya hai Samrat." The farmer said accepting the plate of gold coins and touching his forehead to it.

The bugles were blown and drums were beaten as the most important part of the festival had been completed.

"Chakravarti, ab aap Indra-pujan kare." Vasisth said.

And so Shri Ram went to the extravagant podium where sacrificial priests had already taken their seat, making preparations.

Once Shri Ram was seated, and beside him the golden idol of Devi Sita was placed, the priests conducted the yagya while the Sutas present there chanted the mantras from Rigved, with great eloquence.

"ॐ सहस्त्रनेत्राय विद्महे वज्रहस्ताय धीमहि तन्नो इन्द्रः प्रचोदयात् ||" The Sutas chanted as Shri Ram gave ahuti to the fire on the instructions of the priests.

By the end of the yagya, the Kaushalya Nandan prayed to the king of gods to shower his grace in the form of rain, the mighty and benevolent Indra was pleased and water droplets started falling from the sky.

"CHAKRAVARTI SAMRAT RAM CHANDRA KI JAI !"

"DEVRAJ INDRA KI JAI !"

The people cheered joining their hands, revering their emperor and the king of gods. Meanwhile, the guests were busy looking between Rameshwari and Mrunmaye, who would occasionally keep stealing glances of each other.

To them it seemed as though the competition to win over the princess was going to be tougher than they had imagined, it was clear that the princess had already set her eyes on somebody.

But these were the proud royals and nobles who weren't going to give up with putting their luck on a trial.

And not only them, there were several princesses who had deemed Mrunmaye to be a fine eligible bachelor, but while gazing at him they had seen that his gaze was also fixed on Rameshwari.

It seemed as though an interesting hidden rival had begun between the royal men and Mrunmaye and between the princesses and Rameshwari.

As soon as the festival had concluded, and all had retired, the princess ordered their attendants to get them ready in the most beautiful manner whilst the royal men rushed to Shri Ram to make a demand.

"Batayiye, hum aapki kya sewa kar sakte hai ?" Shri Ram asked.

"Sewa nahi Samrat, hum toh aapse ek avsar chaahte hai." A king said.

"Kaisa avsar ?" The Kaushalya-nandan asked.

"Hum apne Rajyo se, Rajkumari Rameshwari ke liye anek upahar laaye hai. Hum keval unke samaksh woh prastut karna chaahte hai." A crown-prince said.

To the scion of Raghus, it was quite clear that these gentlemen were asking for a chance to impress his daughter and woo her. And because they were of noble birth and nature, he deemed it to be good idea.

"Awashya. Kal pratah mai upahar prastuti ka prabandh karwata hu." Shri Ram said.

"Aap bade dayalu hai Samrat." They all said with joined hands.

□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□
A/N

Aye Haye.... Ram banaye jodi ko todne ke liye swayam Ram ki madad le rahe ? 🤣🤣

Btw here's an art of Mrunmaye looking at Rameshwari at Vasant-utsav -