Book Review [122] : Shreeman Yogi

When i was kid i used to read random books on great Indians. Those days UP board had 'Hamare Poorvaj' (Our ancestors) book in syllabi of class VI, VII and VIII to educate young students about our great ancestors, i am not sure whether this book still exists or consumed by the fire of  skewed 'Secularism'; There were chapters on Shivaji, Hyder Ali, Chandbibi, Rani Durgawati, Rani Laxmibai, Bheeshm Pitamah, Shershah Suri, Guru Gobind Singh etc, well those days were different days. I first read about Shivaji in one of those books and since then i have become a great admirer of Shivaji. 

'Shreeman Yogi'  (originally written in Marathi) by Ranjit Desai is a great historic novel on the life of Shivaji Raje. It is mammoth in size and each of its 992 pages are drenched with the sacrifices of Raje and his people. When there was no independent Hindu kingdom south of Narmada and when the Hindus of India were persecuted in major part of the country and when their temples were desecrated as a matter of routine that time Shivaji Raje ignited the fire of resistance against the tyranny of Mughals and Adilshahi.

He was born in a rich and powerful family of Bhonsles and related to another powerful family of Jadhavs on maternal side but he and his mother were abandoned by Shahji Maharaj in the hostile estate of Pune under the guardianship of Dadoji Kond-dev. He learned the heard way under Dadoji and started dreaming about an independent state when he was barely in his teens. He started his remarkably ambitious mission by first conquering the Torana fort. He became the master of Sahyadri before his 30th birthday. He successfully countered the hostilities of Siddis, Mughals and Adilshahi and founded a solid Kingdom in western Maharashtra.

The books tells in details how Shivaji Raje built his team and filled them with the ambition of founding an independent state. The way he overpowered the treachery of Afzal Khan has become a subject of countless ballads. His chivalrous conduct with the most beautiful daughter-in-law of Subedar of Kalyan does not have any comparison. He did that in an age when women prisoner of war were either inducted in the harem of the conquerors or were sold in slave markets. 

Mata Jijabai was the most brave and intelligent women of medieval India. Had there been no Mata Jijabai, certainly there would have been no Shivaji. She inculcated in him the feeling of independence and chivalry from his very childhood. The seed that was sown in the hostile land of Pune became a mighty Chhatrapati by 1674. Mata Jijabai died within a month after the coronation of Shivaji Raje in 1674.

As they say King is as great or bad as his followers and Shivaji had very loyal and brave followers - Yesaji Kank, Tanaji Malsure, Bajiprabhu Deshpande, Moropant, Anaji, Firgonji, Shiva Mahala, Jiva Nai, Prataprao to name a few.

The book covers in minute details the Purandar treaty with Mirja Raja Jai Singh and the escape of Shivaji from Agra under the nose of barbaric Aurangzeb. The General who was not defeated by even the most mighty generals like Shaishta Khan or Afzal Kan, was undone by the family intrigues. 

Highly Recommended (9/10)

Book Review [121] : India - A Wounded Civilization

'India - A Wounded Civilization' is second masterpiece of Sir V S Naipaul's Indian trilogy. Written during emergency period, it is a commentary on the classical Indian concept of taking refuge in security of fatalism and quietism in times of challenges and flux.

A single invasion can shatter the confidence of any great country, India has faced countless invasions over the last 1000 years and its soul has taken drastic beatings. India had had faced invasions since time immemorial but those invasions were defeated in the end and the invaders were integrated without any trace of their originality. No one in current India identifies him/herself with Shakas, Pahalvas, Hunas or Kushanas; their probable lack of religion or high culture made them weaker against Indian civilization but the situation changed after the advent of Muslim civilization. Now the invaders had a culture and a more egalitarian religion and this resulted in a very complex relations between the invaders and the conquered people. The conquered India was finally beaten to dust by the 'superior' western civilization; the deadly mix of Hindu quietism and Muslim stagnancy only helped the charge of the Anglo - Saxons invaders.

Singing glories of ancient civilization and not doing anything to build upon it has become a hallmark of contemporary India. We spend our energies, time and resources in protecting cows instead of enhancing their productivity. We sing and love the ancient Sanskrit literature but can we single out any great piece of Sanskrit literature produced by Indians in this century. Nowhere in the world poverty is idolized and nowhere in the world only the past is considered a perfect solution for all the evils without any innovation and without any plan for future. No country has receded culturally and geographically as India and this receding has been going on without any break for the last 1000 years. For Invaders India has always been India but for Indians India has always been an agglomeration of castes and religious groups and it does not look like changing. We have been decaying and continue to decay.

Highly Recommended (9/10)

Book Review [120] : An Area Of Darkness

I am a big fan of Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul and this admiration does not come without any reason. I have read his many books - 'India: A Million Mutinies Now', 'Among the believers - An Islamic journey' and 'An Area of Darkness' and found them as concentrated doses of a very high level intellect.His books make a direct connect.

 'An Area of Darkness' is a commentary on India of our grandparents i.e. of 1960s. India, that was struggling to stand on her feet and people who were fighting to breathe air of a country after centuries of foreign subjugation. A country without any native aristocracy (specially in northern plains) for centuries always mimicked the traits of the foreign conquerors. First India mimicked the dress, language and culture of Turks, followed by Mughals and in the last India got completely transformed in the mimicry of British. It can be seen in clubs, golf courses, army mess etc. Even in current era we love to mimic the Americans. No civilization was as ill-prepared to face invasions, no civilization was as prepared for plunder and destruction. India fails to learn from her own agonies and from her own slavery perhaps it has much to with the fatalist attitude conditioned in the minds of its millions over a period of many centuries. 

Whenever India gets time for revival, she gets into the ancient habit of reviving the past, instead of adding new glories to the glorious civilization of the old. What is our contribution to the achievements of our ancestors, its cipher! We love to replicate them most often blindly. In India things never get abolished, they only get absorbed in the collective consciousness of the millions. 
Naipaul covers his experience of Indian bureaucracy in a subtle humorous way and a lot remains unchanged even today. His coverage of 'Amarnath Yatra' is too realistic and his stay in Srinagar hotel is too dramatic. He also exposes the ugly stereotypes that some north Indians have of south Indians. He also covers open defecation , the filth, the poverty with a pure mind of an unbiased critic. 

This book is the first of many books written by Naipaul on India. He came from England/Trinidad to visit country of his ancestors in 1962 with high hopes but left it calling it 'An Area of darkness'. In these 53 years we have not achieved much and if another Naipaul visits India now, his conclusions wont be much different. 

Highly Recommended (8/10)

Book Review [119] : Shivaji And His Times

'Shivaji and his times' is one of the finest works of indefatigable Jadunath Sarkar. It is a remarkable biography of Shivaji based on letters, memoirs and contemporary records without exaggerating his deeds or misdeeds. 

When the bigotry of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb was crossing all the limits of barbarism itself that time the Maratha country was glowing in the adventures and audacity of Shivaji. It was tough to establish a Kingdom even in normal times and it was almost impossible to establish a Kingdom in face of fierce opposition of the great Mughal Empire and powerful Kingdom of Bijapur. Shivaji founded the first Hindu Kingdom north of Tungabhadra 350, years after Yadavs of Devagiri, by fighting on all fronts against Mughal Empire, Bijapur Kingdom, Siddis of Janjira and Danda-Rajpuri and fellow Maratha chiefs. He was the most liberal ruler of India. When Aurangzeb was imposing notorious Jizya tax on Hindus and destroying Hindu temples, Shivaji was granting alms to people of all religions. He never molested Muslims and never desecrated their places of worship. His conduct towards captured women was equally just and for this even his bitter foes admired him. 

He was military genius and great strategist. The way he outmaneuvered Bijapuri general Afzal khan has now become subject of ballads, his escape from Mughal confinement is equally legendary. He was ably supported by a great generations of generals and administrators like Moropant Pingle, Tanaji Malsure, Suryaji Malsure,  Bajiprabhu Deshpande, Netaji Palkar, Pratap Rao and others.

After his death in 1680 his Kingdom faced brutal invasions by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and Marathas took some time to defeat these invasions and transform their Kingdom into a powerful Empire reaching to the banks of Indus. 

As they say behind every successful man there is a woman and in case of Shivaji that woman was honorable Jijabai, a great mother who gave this country a nation builder.

This book is also full of stories and i would like to mention one such story:

(Shivaji was conversing with Qutb Shah, the king of Golconda Kingdom in late 1670s)

To Qutb Shah's question, "How many famous elephants have you?"
Shivaji answered by parading several thousands of his well-built Mavle infantrymen and saying, "These are my elephants."
Mockingly, Qutb Shah asked:
“Will they fight with our elephants?”
Shivaji said: “Let us put them on the field tomorrow.”
The next day, Qutb Shah had his most ferocious elephant brought, and fielded him in the grounds of Golconda. Shivaji Maharaj asked one of his men, Yesaaji Kank, to fight with the elephant. Yesaaji threw his blanket on the ground, and jumped into the arena with a sword in hand. He cut off the trunk of the elephant and killed the elephant.

Highly Recommended (10/10)

Book Review [118] : Tamas

Mid 1940s were the most violent years of India when neighbors looted, killed, converted and raped neighbors, friends betrayed their friends and when  men and women were reduced to the base animals in spirits as well as in forms. More than a million were killed, about 15 million people were forced to vacate their homelands and about hundred thousands women were abducted and raped. The two great religions were used by fanatics of all shades to unleash the barbarity of human spirit. Centuries ago invading armies used to commit these kind of atrocities but in 1946/47 these were perpetrated by the common people confirming 'banality of evil'. There have been many films, stories, poems etc produced on this tragic event of human history. Some films are really good like 'Khamosh Pani', 'Garam Hawa', 'Pinjar' etc. 

'Tamas' written by Bheeshm Sahni is one such narrative on partition riots in Rawalpindi though written about 25 years later. It shows how common people were made to believe that their own neighbours were their enemies.  How politicians did nothing to prevent the impending riot. How government machinery did nothing to put the culprits behind the bars and take preventive action. How a village got divided in two religious groups ready to cut the throats of others. It was true then and it is true now. Its an often repeated tragedy and we have not learned even after killing so many people in these riots. Every year or so major riot takes place in India though killings do not reach extremes of 1947 but even a single killing is a blot on all of us. Indian state stands strong but riot is an outcome a mere symptom of the underline fissure that continues to divide great Indian society based on religion.

Highly Recommended (10/10)

Book Review [117] : House of Shivaji

Jadunath Sarkar (1870 - 1958) was one of the greatest Indian historians of modern era. His works on Mughal and Maratha history have not seen any parallel. His seminal work 'House of Shivaji' covers in details the rise of the Bhonsles from  'petty' chiefs to the sovereign Kings accompanied by the rise of Maratha nationalism against the depredations of Mughals. 

This work is primarily based on the imperial letters, contemporary historians, letters and memoirs of Europeans. The letters are quoted in details and they make delightful read.  Two of the greatest obstacles in the path of Maratha resurgence were inter-caste and mutual rivalries among the Maratha chiefs. Prominent Maratha chief Lakhaji Jadhav Rao was against marrying his daughter Jijabai to the son of an upstart Bhonsle, Maratha Brahmins refused to coronate Shivaji because he was not a 'Khsatriya',  Shambhaji faced a continuous revolt of the Brahmins because of his 'haughty and bloodthirsty nature', tussle between Chitpawan Brahmins and others after the release of Shahu etc. One of the greatest Maratha General Santaji Ghorpade was not killed by Mughals but by a fellow Maratha, Shambhaji was captured by Mughals with the help from Marathas and there are so many such cases.

Despite of these structural issues the Marathas faced the entire might of Mughal Empire with an unparalleled ferocity. After the barbaric execution of Shambhaji (1689) no one would have thought that Maratha people could rise again but they did and they did so brilliantly that Mughal Empire surrendered all its authority before them in matter of few decades (by 1720). 

Its a must read book for any lover of Maratha history. 

Highly Recommended (9/10)