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HomeOpinionThe battle over Padmavati is pointless, but a win-win for all its...

The battle over Padmavati is pointless, but a win-win for all its participants

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For the Hindu Right, the controversy over the film keeps the akhand jyoti of Hindu-Muslim conflict burning at a time when election season is beginning to pick up.

Facts about Padmavati

Padmavati is a mytho-historical character first brought to life in a book on mystical love composed in Avadhi by a Sufi poet, Malik Muhammad Jayasi, in 1540. The book tells an allegorical tale. Even the historical characters, like Alauddin Khalji (r. 1296-1316), in this tale are not meant to be taken literally.

In this tale, Prince Ratan Sen represents mystical love whereas Khalji stands in for the sinful and baser instincts of unrequited desire. Padmavati as the princess of Simhaldveep (Ceylon) is the elusive object of both their desires. Khwaja Jayasi painted her irresistible and transcendental charms in enticing poetry.

Reality of Padmavati

Facts, however, seldom exhaust the reality. Over the last 470 years, versions of this love tale have circulated in Rajasthan and elsewhere in north India as part of everyday lore and overlaid with layers and layers of meanings. It is futile now for professional historians to fight off the spectre of Padmavati with the antidote of bare facts.

Historians need to trace the ways in which each generation appropriates popular stories and retells them in the language and concerns of its own. It is this process of casting the stories afresh that keeps them relevant in all times.

The movie

I have not seen the film, and hence cannot say anything definite about it. However, if it is another retelling of the story of Padmavati, then it is as good as any other retelling.

If you disagree with the contents of this retelling, the ‘traditional’ answer is to counter it with a retelling of your own – whether of this story or that of another!

The protests

One must distinguish between the protesters’ assertion that Padmavati is real, not fictional, and their insistence on making the Sinhalese princess carry the burden of the gendered purity of Rajput pride.

Would the Karni Sena or other such organisations have a problem if a Rajput prince was shown dancing with a Khalji princess?

Politics

It is curious that the political rant by Hindutvavadis does not account for the fact that in most of the retellings of the story, Padmavati is shown as a ‘foreign’ princess, though cast as a bahu of an ‘Indian’ household. As such, she is a figure imminently comparable to Sonia Gandhi!

A win-win situation

Is it incidental that this controversy actually benefits all the vocal participants on each side? For the film, it brings massive publicity in terms of tinsel time for free.

The Karni Sena can publicly flaunt its Rajput muscles and revitalise its constituency. For the Hindu Right, it keeps the akhand jyoti of Hindu-Muslim conflict burning at a time when election season is beginning to pick up.

And for the media, it is another reason to keep away from issues of health, education, and livelihood.

Pankaj Jha is a history professor, LSR College, University of Delhi

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1 COMMENT

  1. Thats a perfectly written article without showing any biases towards any group. What failing in this situation is the law and order , some random people giving death threats publicly and police not doing anything about it.

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