It is a sumptuous film. And the director has every right to create his version as he has many factors to consider from investors to the public making the movies hit. Those that want to portray another Bajirao are free to do so. Not that Iamcarrying a candle for the film nor Hindi cinema staying truthful to history. The end was a sob drama for janta consumption, who doesn't like lovers who die or killed off at the end?, It has been done ad nauseum in poetry, literature, film As for a great Hindu nationalist, history is written and tweaked depending who is writing it. In my research for Moda Goa, it was as if. history writers were writing about different events depending on the victorious or loosing sides At this time of Hindu pride,it is natural for some to push the cause for Hindu Nationalism W
Sent from my iPad Wendell Rodricks, Campal, Panjim. GOA 403001. INDIA. Off tel: +91-832-2420604, Shop tel: +91-832-2238177 Off email: [email protected] On 22-Dec-2015, at 3:00 AM, Goanet Reader <[email protected]> wrote: > http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/aakarvani/bajirao-the-great-hindu-nationalist-thats-only-in-the-movies/ > > Bajirao the great Hindu nationalist -- That's only in the movies > Aakar Patel in Aakarvani | India | TOI > > I think I'll write about Bajirao Mastani today. I have not > seen the movie, nor do I intend to (only one Gujarati makes > the cut as director of watchable pap and that is neither > Sanjay Leela Bhansali nor Sajid Nadiadwala, but Manmohan > Desai, a true master). However, I have read Bajirao Mastani's > reviews and one of them said to my alarm, that the film > "explores the romantic side of 18th-century Maratha general > Bajirao Ballal Bhat, who fought and won 40 battles against > the Mughals with an aim to create a unified Hindu kingdom or > Akhand Bharatvarsha". > > Whoa, hold it right there. First, the Marathas only > ever wanted a Marathi kingdom for themselves. It > was not unified, hardly *akhand* and never Hindu. > The Marathas were despised by other Hindu rulers, > and disliked by non-Marathi Hindus as well, as > history shows us. > > Bajirao and the Marathas campaigned for one thing alone, and > it was called *chauth*. It meant a fourth of all revenue from > other kingdoms, no matter what the faith of king and subject, > and at collecting this Bajirao and the rest were efficient. > > Maratha extortion caused Jaipur's Ishwari Singh to commit > suicide in December 1750. Sir Jadunath Sarkar (the Manmohan > Desai of our historians) writes of what followed in his > four-volume classic, *Fall of the Mughal Empire*: "On 10 > January, some 4,000 Marathas entered Jaipur... (and) > despising the helpless condition of a king propped up by > their arms, seemed to have behaved towards Jaipur as a city > taken by storm. Suddenly the pent-up hatred of the Rajputs > burst forth; a riot broke out at noon, and the citizens > attacked the unsuspecting Marathas. For nine hours slaughter > and pillage raged." > > The Marathas first invaded Bengal in 1742. Of their > behaviour, the *New Cambridge History of India* tells us that > "all authorities, both Indian and European are agreed". A > contemporary writer calls them "slayers of pregnant women and > infants" and Sarkar has recorded their gang-rape of Hindu > women, inexplicably stuffing the mouths of their victims with > dust and breaking their arms and tying them behind their > backs. The only Indian to try and protect his subjects > against the Marathas incidentally, was the Mughal governor > Ali Vardi Khan. So much for Akhand Bharat. > > But I must say that the Marathas did not behave > differently from any other ruler or warrior > community, and the idea of a unified Hindu > sentiment exists only in the imagination of those > who get their history from the movies. > > What the Marathas did striking north from the south, the > Sikhs did in the opposite direction (they called their > extortion 'rakhi', or protection, and it was 10% for all > Indians). It is undeniably true on the other hand that the > Marathas were originals. > > It is important for this romance between Bajirao and Mastani > that she knew how to ride well because there were no > palanquins and howdahs travelling with the Marathas as there > were with the Mughals. > > The Marathas were the Mongols of South Asia, always > on horseback, and with no infantry and no giant > camp behind. Even the scavengers who followed them > around, the bargis, rode. When the monsoons ended, > the Maratha army, about 40,000 men, rode across the > Narmada and Tapi, the border that marked off the > Deccan, and attacked 'Hindustan'. > > Shivaji always organised this on a particular day: Dussehra > (Bal Thackeray continued this tradition of declaring war on > other Indians with his fiery Dussehra speeches). After the > death of the peasant king, power passed to the Brahmin > peshwas of whom the best was Bajirao. As the Mughal fighting > ability and finances (the two being interchangeable) declined > after Aurangzeb, the Marathas began penetrating increasingly > into hitherto unknown territory in the north. It was the > young Bajirao, then only in his teens, who determined, > rightly, in one of these raids that the Mughals had gone soft > and could no longer defend the realm. > > From this point on, the Marathas began holding > ground instead of just taking their horses back. It > is why we see Marathi names like Holkar and Scindia > and Gaekwad in parts of India they do not naturally > belong. Everyone grabbed what they could and held > onto it, there was no Hindu or Bharat angle to any > of it. > > Bajirao had one good battlefield victory, against Chin Qilich > Khan, first Nizam of Hyderabad. It was a positional win, > meaning the arrangement of Bajirao's force gave no space for > Khan and he gave up without much fighting. Like chess. > > A similar situation came in Panipat, when Abdali positioned > the Marathas out. Bravely, the Marathas chose to fight and > were slaughtered. Scindia (Jyotiraditya's ancestor) and > Holkar, it may interest the reader, fled the field, and the > man who helped Abdali with supplies ensuring his win was Ala > Singh. Abdali rewarded him by making him Maharaja of Patiala, > Captain Amarinder Singh's ancestor. > > Can you spot any Hindu or nationalist angle to any of it? No, > because it exists only in the movies. > -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. > Goanet annual year-end meet in Goa: if you're reading this, you're > eligible to join us! Dec 28, 2015 @ 11 am Fundacao Oriente, Panjim > Confirm your participation with a short email to [email protected] > -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Goanet annual year-end meet in Goa: if you're reading this, you're eligible to join us! Dec 28, 2015 @ 11 am Fundacao Oriente, Panjim Confirm your participation with a short email to [email protected] -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
