The king of Tripura, Raja GobindoManikya abolishes the practice of animal sacrifice when he sees Aparna, a young girl, who earns her livelihood through singing, lamenting the loss of her pet goat to this insensible ritual. This causes a furor in the kingdom especially amongst the simple & God-fearing common man. Raghupati , the Royal priest ,driven by his ego tries to establish his supreme authority over the rest in every matter concerning religion. Hence, angered by the king’s decision wants to punish & humiliate him. He tries to influence and deceive everyone into believing the grave consequence if sacrifice is banned. He plays with the emotion of the queen Gunabati who yearns for a child, by making her believe that sacrifice would please the Gods and she would be blessed with a child – thus causing a rift between the king and the queen. Then he tries to take advantage of the General Nayanray’s allegiance to the Royalty and provokes him to assassinate the king but the fearless general, though uncertain of the king’s verdict, surrenders his position rather than his honour thus preventing Raghupati to achieve his revenge. Raghupati eyes the cowardly Nakshatraray, and after weaving a false dream & convincing Nakshatraray that he would be crowned the King of Tripura if Gobindomanikya is murdered, tries to instigate him.
Jaysingha, a Rajput by birth & of Royal descent, is brought up by Raghupati as his own son – tutored by Raghupati, he serves the Goddess and has an undisputed faith on the deity and his mentor. But torn between his allegiance to the King and the Royal priest, he stands bewildered as he is the witness to the absurd conflict between the two.
Jaisingha develops affection for the lonely Aparna, who urges him to break himself free from the shackles of Raghupati’s evil plans so that they can live a life of happiness- far from the clutches of the barbaric world of ritulas and the conflicting minds and ego . But the distressed Jaisingha is torn between the inevitable ties of affection and reverence to Raghupati and urges Aparna to leave him with his destiny and go away. But the scheming Raghupati exploits Jaisingha’s loyalty by asking him to vow before the diety that he would murder the king and get the royal blood as the Goddess’s offering. Torn between devotion, faith,integrity, his responsibility towards the father-figure and duty towards the king, Jaisingha is broken trying to find the path of righteousness. The only path left to him is sacrificing himself – thus satiating the Goddess with royal blood, offering Raghupati his much-cherished sacrifice and saving the noble king. It is the ‘Bisharjan’ or sacrifice of the innocent in order to feed the insatiable thirst of the Evil.
