By: Barnali Bose ( Associate Editor-ICN Group )
CHANDANNAGAR: Today as I flipped through the pages of an old album, I came across photographs that pleasantly reminded me of our visit to ‘The Land of the Brave Rajputs, Chittorgarh in Mewar’ and it ignited my thought process in relevance to the currently prevailing controversy on ‘distortion of facts’ by the producer of Padmavati.
History, it is to be noted, is written and not auto-saved in the arena of the ancient and medieval past. Much of ancient history is assumed, as it has mostly been inferred from the analysis and interpretation of archaeological remains.The minutest details are not possibly recorded in history.
Rani Padmini has been and will always be revered and admired for her valour and beauty by lovers of History and otherwise. There is an anti-thesis that also suggests that the stories woven around the Queen are a figment of the Sufi poet, Malik Muhammad Jayasi’ s imagination.
I had visited the ruins more than once, three decades ago.The palace of the Queen seemed to echo the tales of honour and sacrifice, that Mewar so deeply symbolises. However, except for the enthusiastic chatter of the tourists, a mysterious silence now pervades the area.
The recent pandemonium about whether the film Padmavati is historical or not is debatable. Rajput women in general have always been considered to be epitomes of sacrifice and bravery. I also remember having read the story of the faithful nurse ‘Panna ‘daima’ who sacrificed the life of her own son, Chandan to save the Rajput Prince Rana Udai Singh, the founder of the beautiful city of Udaipur.
The people united in arms against the release of the movie appear to consider themselves to be the sentinels of Rajput History. What we should remember is that Sanjay Bhansali’s film is a commercial movie and not a documentary on the Queen of Chittor. Art is to be admired for Art’s sake and not be stifled by our views of Right and Wrong unless there is a gross misinterpretation or distortion of facts.
