Discovery - Bengali Literature

Last year was my year with Bengali literature - especially those created in 18th-19th century. Considerable part of which is, obviously 'nationalist literature', if we have to categorise them. Bengali authors learnt writing prose from colonising Europeans, adopted the structure of novels following their way but their content was of course, indigenous.

And as I was looking at the content, I was amazed to find that many of Bengali novelists found their content not only based on stories from Bengal, but also on stories from other parts of the country. Some authors found patriotic heroes in Mughal rulers of past centuries, whereas some others reintroduced stories from Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Some of them successfully created fictional novels and plays keeping history only at the core while some of them tried to combine history and fiction together. 

Ramesh Chandra Dutta (August 13, 1848 – November 30, 1909) was an economic historian, translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata, an ICS by profession and a novelist who believed in combining history and fiction. To him Shivaji Maharaj and Rana Pratap became the symbol of patriotism. He designed two fictions based on the backdrop of the era of these two national heroes. 

We have to remember that these tales of Maharashtra and Rajasthan were told by a Bengali author holding high administrative position, who might not have in depth knowledge of Maharashtrian culture but had a romantic vision of the rocky and harsh western part of the country that had fought for resurrection of Hindu empire removing the Mughals once. The author tried to fill the gap with illusive sketches of commoner’s lives, where the fictional characters sometimes seem more Bengali than Maharastrian or Rajasthani. 

Readers also need to remember that these historical fictions were written in 19^th century. This was an era of romanticism as well – the novelists not only had a romanticised vision of the motherland, but of every aspect of life. E.g. in the Novel 'The dawn in Maharashtra' -  story evolved around one legendary incident in Indian History – capturing of Chakan fort by Shivaji’s small but efficient force from the mighty Mughals. But it starts with a romantic anecdote and also ends with the same emotion – romanticism that flows through the entire history of human civilization, steers all human activities between life and death.

The beginning of the novel, interestingly is difficult to be differentiated from a history book. 

Enjoy the first chapter :)

“Clap your hands in applause,

And hold the flowers in your folded hands,

As the sun rising in the east –

Smiles seeing you at the day-break.” - Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay

Mohammed Ghuri conquered Northern part of India around the end of twelfth century AD. The Mohammedans were contented almost a century after acquiring that vast and rich patch of land; did not take an attempt to conquer Southern part of India crossing the high wall like mount Vindhyachal and the deep trench in forms of Narmada river those separated south from north. Finally, by the end of 13^th century, Allauddin Khilji, the invader from Delhi, crossed the river Narmada leading an army of eight thousand soldiers. He besieged Devgarh, the capital of a Hindu State without a warning. The prince of Devgarh reciprocated leading a large army, but the Hindu force was defeated in the fierce battle. The Hindu king was forced to make a peace treaty paying large sum of money and a district called Ellichpur. Later, when Allauddin became the Sultan of Delhi, his commandant Malik Kafur attacked South India thrice, unsettling and to some extent devastating the area between Narmada to Kanyakumari.  Devgarh and other Hindu states were forced to surrender to Mohammedans from Delhi.

In fourteenth century, Mohammed bin Tughlaq took an attempt to transfer his Capital from Delhi to Devgarh, and modified its name to Daulatabad. But annoyed by his wild behaviour, both Hindus as well as Islamics in southern India went against the Emperor. Hindus established a large empire building its Capital in Vijayanagaram while Islamics established a separate Islamic state in Daulatabad. In course of time, Vijayanagaram and Daulatabad became two major states in South India. The Emperors of Delhi did not take up an effort to acquire the southern part of the country for another three hundred years.

Even though saved from Delhi’s aggression, Southern Hindu states were not completely free from danger. They had the Islamic Daulatabad as neighbour. Hindu cultural spirit was already seeing decay at that time. On the other hand, the Islamic were not only growing powerful but also started flourishing culturally. Following the rule of history of civilization, the mightier started wiping the powerless out. Eventually, Daulatabad increased in size and then separated into three Islamic states – namely Bijapur, Golkonda and Ahmednagar. All three joined hands in a fight against Vijayanagaram and crushed that kingdom in the war of Talikota in 1564. The Hindu rule was thus extinguished in South. Bijapur, Golkonda and Ahmednagar became extensively dominant. In course of time, Hindu kings in Karnat (Karnataka) and Dravida region were also defeated by them.

Again in 1590, Emperor Akbar took an effort to bring South India under Mughals of Delhi. Both Khandesh and Ahmednagar were defeated by his army in his lifetime. His grandson Shahjahan got hold of entire Ahmednagar before 1636. So, by the time this story evolved, only Bijapur and Golkonda remained two independent and dominant Islamic states in South.  All the others became part of Mughal Empire.

We need to recognise the role Maharastrians played during these political turbulences. Hindus enjoyed a fair status even in the Islamic states of Bijapur, Golkonda and Ahmednagar. The administrative decisions of the Islamic states used to be dominated by old Hindu ideology. Every state was divided into Sarkars and Sarkars into Parganas. True, Islam followers used to be appointed to rule those Sarkars and Parganas in many cases, but tax was mostly collected and sent to treasury by Maharashtrian Hindus. Maharashtra is located in hilly region; numerous forts were built on the hilltops throughout the land. Islamic Sultans did not mind entrusting Hindus with the task of controlling those forts.  As a result, many Maharashtrian Killadars (fort-keepers) maintained their respective forts with the revenue earned from Jagir (estates) granted by the Islamic rulers. Apart from these fort-owners and Deshmukhs, many Hindu Mansabdaars used to be recruited by Sultans. They lead hundred, two-hundred, five hundred, one thousand or more number of soldiers. They were duty-bound to join hands in wars leading those soldiers whenever ordered by Sultan. He used to  award them a grant of rent-free land to meet the expense of those soldiers.

Under Bijapur Sultan, Chandrarao More was a leader of twelve thousand foot-soldiers. Being directed by the Sultan, he conquered all kingdoms between rivers Neera and Barna; and the pleased Sultan awarded him that tract of land as Jagir for very less tax. Chandrarao’s descendants, gaining the title “Raja”, ruled over that territory till seventh generation after him. Similarly, Rao Naik Nimbalkar family ruled the Phaltan region for generations as Deshmukh. Influential Maharashtrian families ruled Mallari, Muswar, Kapusi, Mushola, Jatta and Wari as subsidiary under Bijapur Sultan. Fighting against each other was also not uncommon. Conflict within family can be considered most horrible among all kinds of conflicts. But most of the prominent royals in the hilly regions of Konkan and Maharashtra frequently kept themselves busy in combat against family members. We may come to the conclusion that bloodshed is not always bad; on the contrary, this sometimes appears to be good omen. Exercise makes our body healthier and farmer. Similarly hard work, disturbance and disaster help building the nation stronger. Hence the dawn in the life of Maharashtrian nation brightened the Indian sky long before the arrival of Shivaji.

Jadhavrao and Bhosla were two prominent states under Ahmednagar Sultans. There was no other dominant family in Maharashtra like Jadhavraos of Sindh khed. Many consider them to be scions of the old royal family of Devgarh. Bhoslas did not stand exactly at the same level with Jadhavraos, but was no doubt another powerful clan. We should mention here that Shivaji’s mother came from the Jadhavraos and his father from the Bhoslas.

Picture from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia