[3] DD, a senior officer in the Archaeological Survey of India, and JB, a businessman now living in the US, have been inseparable friends since childhood.

When JB returns to India after a long stay in the US, he asks for DD's daughter Sonia's hand in marriage for his son Vicky.

Around this time DD receives word that the lead archaeologist, Kishore, on his current project (an excavation in a small hamlet called Sangramgadh) has mysteriously disappeared.

Mahesh reviews Kishore's notes and learns of a local baba (wise old man in the village) who seems to know a bit about the situation.

Those who leave Sangramgadh assuredly meet financial or personal ruin outside and those who stay are plagued by the suffering of a bleak and hopeless existence.

The baba once visited the ruins of the old palace and summoned the atma, whereupon it appeared and commanded him: if the village must be freed from her thrall, they must bring her her Suryavanshi (a prince born of the Sun dynasty).

This manuscript, written by the ancient Rajguru (royal preceptor) of Sangramgadh, chronicles the events surrounding Suryalekha's death, which took place a thousand years earlier.

When her mother arranged for various princes to visit her, she subjected them to her tests of bravery i.e. single combat with a bunch of her trained villains (gladiators, man-eating leopards, and a terrible cannibal, bred to destroy human beings).

Eventually, warrior Suryavanshi Vikram Singh' (this character is loosely modeled on the Norse hero Thor) took up her challenge and valiantly destroyed all her minions.

Unable to bear the disgrace of this dishonorable act (albeit in defending the honor of the royal princess), the Rajguru resigns himself to the andha kuan (dark palace dungeon) for the rest of his life.

The Rajmata (queen mother), pronounced a curse upon Suryalekha's atma: it will forever remain confined to the palace and never attain salvation.

Sonia, in the meantime, finds the outer garden where there is a large painting of the Rajmata and the final page of the Rajguru's manuscript with the incantation to defeat Suryalekha.