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avani008 · 6 years

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And a final set of DVD Commentaries!

From “Praveśaka”

“It’s the mercury,” he announces as he approaches, taking her hands into his own. “It’s attached to the spokes of the wheel, and as the wheel tilts, the mercury tips over, and its weight propels the wheel forward!”

THIS IS MY FAVORITE CONVERSATION IN THIS FIC, SO WE’RE GOING TO LISTEN TO ALL OF IT (Sorry!)

But it took me so long to figure out Bhaskara’s Wheel was the obvious mechanical puzzle to use here: you are all lucky that we didn’t end up with “Amarendra is mystified by a cotton gin” because there are....not a lot of famous ancient Indian machines whose mechanics are available on the internet.

She laughs. She can’t help it; his exhilaration is infectious.

Devasena finding Baahu’s engineering dorkiness endearing is probably one of those Avani-fic markers, and I don’t even care.

And, she considers, an advantage not to be missed.

“You said you had seen one in Ujjain,” she murmurs, gaze demurely lowered to their clasped hands.

casually prolonged handholding is one of my favorite shorthands for romance.

Only a flash of white in the periphery of her vision lets her know her words do not pass unnoticed. “I did,” he says. “A pleasant visit. One of the places I most wished to see.” That’s just as well; Ujjain would be quite a journey to have to make from Kuntala and back.

The subtext of this conversation is not “cool places Baahu has been” or even “where is Baahu from.” As seen by the fact that Devasena’s first thought is to consider what a long journey it would be from Kuntala and back, it’s her trying out the thought of settling down in wherever he’s from.

“A man who doesn’t have the good sense to jump out of the way of an angry bull he won’t fight off can’t have been around many before.”

I’m fairly certain Amarendra’s never been around any animals that aren’t horses and elephants. Devasena’s the farm girl here.

He smiles again. His fingers are warm around hers, and as familiar, callouses and all, as her own. “We keep more milk cows in the city. Slower. Sweeter in temper.”

For once, Devasena doesn’t rise to the bait.

“Kodumanan?” Devasena asks hopefully. They say the iron foundries there craft the best swords to be found in all the world, and she's always wanted to try one herself.

Devasena is every bit a weaponry dork as Amarendra is an engineering dork. I’m a little sad she never gets to make it to Kodumanan in canon.

“Good wine there,” and he chuckles, perhaps at a personal joke, perhaps because he knows exactly why she wants to see Kodumanan without having to be told,

This is super embarrassing, but while writing this fic, I was so in-depth in Devasena’s perspective, I’m still not sure what the heck Amarendra finds so many here. Is it just that Devasena’s like “YAY SWORDS!”? Did Kattappa get horribly drunk at Kodumanan and it was the most hilarious thing Baahu’s ever seen? WHO KNOWS.

“Not as good as that of Singapuram.”

She pulls away. ”Singapuram?”

Again, the subtext isn’t “how dare you set foot inside Singapuram,” it’s “Are you insane, Singapuram is no place to settle down and raise a family!!!”

“I was only there in search of someone,” he adds hurriedly. “It wasn’t for long.”

By this point in the conversation, Amarendra’s caught on to its half-joking, half-serious nature. But that’s why he definitely wants to make it clear he’s not from there and she certainly won’t be expected to spend say, family vacations out there.

Devasena refuses to be pacified. “I hadn’t heard that Singapuram ever hosted anyone except thieves and murderers.” She considers. “And ladies of low repute.”

“They’re really much friendlier once you get to know them.”

“Especially the ladies of low repute?” she retorts, and he shrugs.

Most of this is just spite at the fact that so many meta jokes/macros have Devasena getting mad over “Manogari” and I....don’t think she’d really care? I honestly think that from her perspective, it’s in the past, and she’d respond to any suggestion that Amarendra would never step out on her with laughter.

It’s strange; all the romances her ladies-in-waiting so read feature heroines who would descend into incoherent jealousy at such provocation, leaving their unfortunate lovers to trail behind them babbling apologies.

This is true. Just read any work of Sanskrit poetry/plays.

Devasena feels no such impulse. It’s enough to know he couldn’t possibly look at any other woman the way he is looking at her now. It’s enough to know no one has looked at her in such a way before. She never wants to look away.

That said, she is a little naive here, a little dreamy, but I’d argue part of the appeal of Amarendra/Devasena is that they make this sort of over-the-top romance work somehow.

“Devasena,” he says, voice deeper than before, as though she is always Devasena to him and never Crown Princess, before reaching for her hands once more.

I’m about 50/50 with what he was about to say here. This is clearly a romantically charged moment, and part of me wants to say he’d declare himself; and then, taking into consideration that they’ve just had this intense conversation about where he’s from, he might have been about to admit everything to her early.

In canon, Amarendra only calls her “Devasena” after his identity’s been revealed, but even otherwise, he seems to save it for more serious occasions, with “yuvarani” in lighter moods. It might be a little off to have him say it early, but I like the contrast here.

He’s done nothing but clear his throat, apparently wondering where to begin, when she hears footsteps from the stairs to the wall.

and

He doesn't ask anything. He doesn't ask anything so pointedly that she feels compelled to add: "I refused another proposal of marriage. She disapproved."

This scene exists because otherwise Amarendra’s assumption in canon that “Devasena refused Mother’s proposal because she loves me!” comes off as bizarrely arrogant and entitled, almost. (I mean, maybe she just didn’t like the dude the proposal was for. Maybe she just doesn’t like Mahishmati. Come on, Baahu!)

"Ah."

"Perhaps not as kindly as I could have. But--" she breaks off, frustrated, seeking the right words. "It is impossible for me to marry a man I do not respect, a man who doesn't respect me. Who doesn't want me as his right hand as he will be mine. Who doesn't want me."

Also Amarendra just....randomly having Kattappa ask for Devasena’s marriage, and her only blushing and smiling -- after all the hullabaloo later about a woman’s right to choose, seems....off to me. Unless, like me, you imagine a preceding scene with Devasena literally dropping “MARRY ME YOU FOOL” anvils at poor dumb Amarendra.

Who isn't you, she does not have to add. It is not the most important thing about yesterday's proposal — Queen Mother Sivagami's careless arrogance still stings at her soul — but it is what she most wants him to know.

I stand by the fact that I don’t think that in canon Devasena’s refusal of the proposal stemmed from any loyalty to “Shivu”--I think she’d still have reacted in exactly the same fashion even had she never met Amarendra. But I did want her to misrepresent it slightly to Amarendra here, so that, as I talk about above, his later reaction to Kattappa’s news makes sense, at least to me.

As I see it, he’s still a little confused here, and then, when Kattappa lets him know that this mystery proposal was (supposedly) for HIM, well, it’s just a sign from the heavens that this was MEANT TO BE.

Mahishmati and its anger is her concern; his should be nothing but answering the challenge she's delivered.

A lot of “Pravesaka” is a back and forth between Amarendra and Devasena, so obviously she does think of this as one last challenge.

She binds Vasu's leg in silence. When she looks up at last, her stranger's eyes are wide, as though she has offered him a gift greater than any he would have dreamed of.

I don’t think Amarendra expected her to be so genuinely uncaring of social status to actually agree to marry him. Yes, they talk about earlier, but that could just as easily be a joke. This isn’t. He knows that.

He swallows, says, "Devasena. If — "

This, unlike the earlier segment, is 100% somewhere where my!Amarendra was definitely going to admit all to her. She’d effectively just proposed, and I don’t think he would have thought it was fair to keep her in the dark at that point. But sadly canon must go on, and so Vasu wakes up, right on schedule.

Vasu stirs and opens his eyes blearily.

#baahubali #dvd commentary #pravesaka #for the record the dvd commentary meme will stay open indefinitely #i always love doing them #so if there's any other fic any fandom that you want to know about #any length too #just drop it in the ask box!

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