Apart from a late-night interruption by ghosts clamouring for a story, nothing substantial happened. Prashant had the bodyguard uncle buy a horse for him; he doesn't care about performance, only that it should be white, broadly built and look regal. Anyway, he won't be playing the role of a knight in this world anytime soon. The most he needs is an animal who is willing to make a deal with him; he will provide it with a place to live, a secure life and freedom in return for an occasional 'riding' experience. Apart from this, Prashant is sure that nothing significant will happen anytime soon. One might ask what about the Ponzi schemes and cheat armies? Well, all his generosity will achieve in the short term is letting the townspeople know that there is an outsider nobleman who is into the spiritual stuff.
The region, the Deccan, is currently under sultanate rule. Many factions within it are vying for power. Their conflicts were so intense and over-the-top that even this land, which is always flooded with diverse polities at any point in time, called it the "Sultani chaos and Asmani chaos". The chaos was caused by feuding polities during this period, and by general moods of the weather, monsoon especially. The fact that sultans got a prominent place next to the monsoon in this old land in the minds of people says they were doing whatever they were with gusto, something not seen before.
This doesn't mean that it's only these people who are fighting. One has to consider that the number of outsiders, be it Afghans, Turks, Abyssinians, or Persians, is incredibly minuscule compared to the natives. At most, they are in the order of a hundred thousand, whereas the total population of the region is well in the millions. What happened was a classic tale of general chaos in the land and the rise of a martial culture. While it might be compelling to take the side of natives and blame others for the mess, one has to remember that once wildfire starts, no matter its dry grass or wet wood, everything is fueling the same fire even further. Exothermic process on a larger scale, regardless of what caused the initial reaction, and if that's not how actual reactions work? Well, it's an emotional story about history, not chemistry. Who cares, the only chemistry everyone loves is between hero-heroines.
Lengthy exposition of how things happened: Prashant's tuition edition
"Mic check, Everything began in the past. India, being incredibly isolated from the outside, meant all regions had breathing room to develop their own culture. The Deccan, furthermore, was away from any land boundary with other cultures outside the subcontinent. It was sometime in the 1200s that the Deccan was invaded by Islamic powers, which had conquered the northern river plains, from Sindh to the Ganga and Bengal. A contiguous corridor of conquest in relatively plain, incredibly fertile lands gave them enough resources and impetuous to push further into the interior of India. The invading groups, in particular, were Turks, with their superb horse archery and military doctrine.
Deccan too fell, and the people submitted to their overlordship. But here came the Indian twist, due to the immense population, diverse geography, distinct cultures, and language barriers, they couldn't rule all by themselves. So the usual Indian practice of take subjects rather than actual rulership. So, Turks from Delhi kept the local rulers and just asked for tribute. Although this was often incredibly brutal and involved lots of human suffering, and I'm being incredibly insensitive in chalking all to a simple transaction between power, systems of administration and fusion of culture, sometimes one has to take a view from the top, to have a coherent story to understand what the hell happened.
The political subjugation and chaos meant that many local elites chose to stay in their capitals and fortified posts. They delegated their traditional roles to others in return for sharing some of the power. One such power was administering villages, which, as you can guess, fell to a known faction. Maratha chieftains emerged as local village links between people and the elites in cities. So the quartet of Patil (landowners), Deshmukh (tax collector), Kulkarni (correspondent), and Joshi (priest, astrologer) emerged as the new power base at the bottom. In return, they got to keep some power, and the original elites got their job done from safety. Decades went by, the political situation in the entire subcontinent changed, and now there was a chance to set up regional autonomy once again. And then they did, just that the 'they' in this case were not the native elites, rather, for historical reasons, this land was ushered under the rule of the 'local' Deccani Sultanate, a mix of Persian, Afghan, and Turk people as the ruling class.
But this still didn't solve the fundamental problem; the new rulers were absolute minorities, newly established breakaway kingdoms in this foreign (for them) land. Anyone can understand that the chaos is not going to stop anytime soon. Full game of thrones, alliances, bribes, treacheries, marriages, assassinations, looting, expeditions. Everything. The lack of people to fight made them use some of the locals as their goons. The Maratha chieftains, deriving their power from the village economy, were suited for this job. Not full-blown commanders, but as NCOs almost. Officers who command absolute bottom-tier soldiers, but serve under the command of the new ruling class and their foreign generals. And now came an incredible level of wars, chaos, and a power game. Northern Deccan had a sultanate and its internal factions, the south had their local autonomous kingdom, just in their case it was a native dynasty that came on top, the Vijaynagar Empire. Gujarat, on the west coast, was a wealthy Islamic kingdom separate from the ties, but ready to make a move. Just to have mandatory attendance, even Europeans were present in this period, almost fighting a battle involving tens of thousands.
And so the chessboard is set. International mercenaries, vestiges of ancient native rule, and new hot-blooded culture ready to make their mark. Of course, not all was just killing. One way to get people to accept your rule was the patronage of arts, architecture, philosophy and humanism. But overall, this is an age of crossroads that happily accepts its road toll in blood. Walking over the dead bodies of your enemies was an entirely valid strategy for this chaotic era. So it didn't matter if the one holding the sword was Islamic or one of the Indian religions, of native ancestry or a proud descendant of some powerful steppe warlord. Everyone had a lot to gain by winning in bloodbaths. The fact that I haven't come across any situation of oppression, where a modern person can validate their existence by criticizing the wrongs, simply means I have yet to see this region fully. "
Long story short, the world outside is scary, let's see if Prashant bids his own rule to be a demon they can't fathom or a saint the land desperately needs.