Posted:
Hi Everyone,
This is my first thread here, on this forum. I have been following the Chittor Battle Saga track but never thought I would make a thread about it.
Today's episode, however, was very different, very gruesomely violent yet paying tender tributes to the martyred warriors of Mewar. I couldn't watch the battle scenes completely. But I finally watched the episode till the end for just one reason. As each hero of the 3rd siege of Chittor fell, whether it was Rawat ji, Isar Das Chauhan, Todia ji or my all-time favorite firebrand warrior, Patta, a glowing ode was recited for each of them.
The words reflected the incredible love for Mewar and Kunwar Pratap that these loyal samants had till their last breath. I do not believe the real heroes that day ever felt a twinge of disappointment that Kunwar Pratap was not there to guide them nor witness their heroic deeds against the Mughals. It is my firm belief that they were glad that Kunwar Pratap was safe somewhere and so was the future of Mewar in his able hands, whatever the outcome of the Chittor battle.
The direction is getting better with each episode and the characters / scenes look increasingly real. Looking at the episode today, I had the eerie feeling that this must be how the real war was, with the Mughals overpowering the Rajputs through their sheer numbers and treacherous warfare tactics. The elephants were conspicuous by their absence but the heroes were felled by other unethical means, sometimes by a lance and sometimes by the gun.
But of valour and the sheer determination to save the fort somehow, anyhow, there was no want. Surrounded by the enemy, wounded badly, but still carrying the fiery spirit of the warrior in them. The Rajput commanders stood tall and faced the enemy squarely with unblinking eyes, challenging them to combat in their noble tradition. But the invading soldiers had no compunctions in striking from the back or impaling someone high up on the fort gate.
In the background, choreographing this tandav of destruction was the Mughal Emperor Akbar, seated coolly and supervising the assault on the fort and its defenders. I have to give it to the actor who plays Akbar in this show. In this track, he has made Akbar come alive. He has made the ruthless and savage Akbar believable and convincing. This Akbar is fully capable of ordering a brutal massacre of thousands of innocent civilians without feeling a twinge of remorse.
Raja Surajmal, the fictional representative of the Rajputs who supported Akbar, is equally convincing in the way he is unable to watch the atrocities being committed against fellow Rajputs but is too afraid and sold-out to say anything out loud.
But, unquestionably, the episode belonged to the bravehearts who happily sacrificed their families and their lives for their matrubhoomi Mewar. The incantation of Jai Mewar was on the lip of every fallen hero, as he breathed his last, his hands caressing the earth that was dearer to them than heaven itself.
As Rawat ji said, janani janma bhumischa swargadapi gariyasi --- one's mother and motherland are superior to heaven.
RIP all the brave soldiers of Chittor who preferred to have their heads cut off than bend them in shameless servitude before anyone other than Eklingji.
The following words are from the Ode of Remembrance, an ode taken from the poem "For the fallen" by Laurence Binyon. {This poem was composed in honour of the British casualties in the opening phase of the 1st WW on the western front. } Dedicating this verse to the martyrs of Chittor:
They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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