Padmavati row: We choose our history to suit our narrative
Mainstream history agrues that queen Padmavati belongs to fiction. Oral history says she belongs to its stories. Padmavati, thus, seems to exist somewhere between history and mythology. For the lack of evidence, folk tales are not considered reliable history. But then, myths have a history of their own, passed down as they are from generation to generation by a section of the society.
However, imagine a character who takes over not just the entire historical consciousness of their times, but also the present public discourse. Padmavati, among many others, is one such character.
Those debating Padmavati’s history today know of no other queen who committed jauhar along with her. Padmavati was not alone. As many as 18,000 women – numerous queens, princesses, priestesses, servants and kshatriya women – burned themselves along with her. Does anyone remember their names?
It is said that Alauddin Khalji killed 30,000 people in a day. Those people didn’t die in a bomb blast or earthquake. They were martyred on the battlefield. Were defeated, yes, but fought well before the defeat. So does their life, their sacrifice not hold any value? Does history talk of the sacrifice of these warriors? Is martyrdom to save your country not as great as jauhar to preserve your honour?
Is it so negligible that we don’t know the names of any of these warriors? These martyrs have been reduced to nothing more than numbers – statistics of those dead.
Inside and outside Chittor Fort, an entire world must have existed, comprising people from numerous castes and communities. What happened to all of them after the war? Who killed them or enslaved them? Were they judged patriots or traitors? History is silent about them, neither names nor mention.
Only the Rani’s story is history. She is the heroine of stories and for those who believe those stories, a character to be worshipped. Why so? Is it because she was a queen that her sacrifice becomes greater than others? Or is it because she was a great beauty, which makes her jauhar more valuable than that of other princesses, people, communities? The scorching flames do not differentiate between the skin of a queen or servant, nor does the pain of burning recognise royalty and commoners.
Court history only recognises the stories of kings and queens. Literature is afflicted with the same tendency. For the longest time, both were limited to the births and sacrifices happening inside palaces.
Distraction from important issues
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film has made Padmavati a subject of discussions again. For some, this is an opportunity to play around with historical stories, for others it is a question of community pride. And all this is taking place at a time when the country has just marked a year of demonetisation and people are worried about the road ahead.
The common man is still struggling with the GST. Their complaints have affected the government to such an extent that several rules have been changed recently. After all the tweakings, GST is hardly what it was initially touted to be - good and simple tax.
Thousands of labourers gathered in Delhi for three days, waiting for the government to hear them out. No one came to listen to their demands. As this article is being written, thousands of farmers from across the country are waiting to go back to their states after protesting at Parliament Street. Some don’t have the money for tickets, some for food. Youths asking for jobs have absolutely no one to listen to them.
And behind the Padmavati row have been eclipsed those issues that should have been discussed ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections. The “Gujarat model” had been chosen as the development model for the country in the 2014 elections. Therefore, the Gujarat elections hold significance for the entire country. These issues and the ground realities of Gujarat should have been held up for the entire country's scrutiny. But that is not happening.
What has taken over prime-time discourse instead is Padmavati. Those lost in oblivion so far have suddenly come out to debate the queen of Chittor. News anchors who know little about history or society are shouting up a storm on the issue. Some are milking airtime by advocating Bhansali. The character of Padmavati has once again distracted people from all other problems and issues.
This is a reality for Padmavati, both for the times she supposedly belonged to, and at present, when people have willingly let other issues get eclipsed for her sake. A nation battling many other, real problems is instead focusing its energies, to the extent of engaging in violence, on a movie.
Undoubtedly, this is the "jauhar" of public discourse, historicity as well as rationality.
(Translated from Hindi by Yashee.)