I read it again because of you, and I loved it just as much as after I had finished it. It was such a classic episode that the post practically wrote itself. Now, of course, I am in a marubhoomi, and I have to dig very deep for any inspiration.
Your comments in red are very perceptive,and they reinforce my conviction that Jodha will be ahead of Akbar in any sense only in the title of the film and this serial. She is far more limited by every possible measure.
Shyamala Aunty
Originally posted by: Sandhya.A
Dear Aunty,
Last night I read your post on epi:87: The Gordian Knot
I am at a total loss of words to express how much I admire your insight into the depth of the Kali-Mandir Episode and the unparalled parallel you have drawn between the incident and that of the Gordian Knot. This is a very precious post.
When I saw the episode, I was very much impressed by Jalal's matha-tekna and believed that it was a broad-minded and magnanimous act on his part to fulfil his agonized wife's sankalp. Also I was still annoyed at Jodha's non-apologising for the narnaal-fiasco and further annoyed at her continued rant about the temple's lost glory without for a moment thinking about the inner strength and conviction he had displayed by bowing before a Hindu Idol. I had started disapproving of her character from precisely this point. Her total lack of perceptiveness and sensitivity and him being full of it made their characters such a contrast. This was not the first time either. Their respective handling of Rahim during Ruqaiya's MC was proof enough for it. But Jodha's lack of appreciation of this gallant gesture was appalling.
But you have seen' something beyond gallantry in this deed aunty... a vision for the Hindustan of his dreams, a wish of acceptance by the people by accepting them himself. It took a long time for the concept to sink into me fully when I read the post.
To us, born and brought up at a time when secularism is a part of our constitution and a very much preached and followed (mostly) practice , Jalal's matha-tekna might sound just remarkable. But when we think of it in terms of the 16th century, it was more than exceptional and extraordinary. It was a time when religion was the identity of a person. There were so many divides, even in Hinduism there wasthe Shaivite-Vaishnavite divide, the Sagunbhakthi-Nirgunabhakthi dhaaras, Raambhakthi-Krishnabhakthi dhaaras, and people belonging to individual sects found it difficult to overcome the divide and accept each other. Here is a Mughal Emperor who wanted to unite them all under one rule and wanted to be accepted by all of them whole-heartedly not as a conqueror but as their ruler. For them to blend with him, he had to blend with them first. He did cut through the Gordian Knot of discrimination and differences in one go.
That bow in submission uplifted him to great heights. What strength of mind, what purity of thoughts, and what an exceptional vision he must have had to unite the people and see the entire population of the land he wanted to rule as one and equal, and to see his God in theirs, and himself as a part of Hindustan. No wonder the whole of Hindustan saw Akbar as theirs. Whatever was the Epiphany to Akbar in reality, this scene as picturised in the serial was phenomenal. And the actor, unsurprisingly excelled.( And Aunty, the butprasti issue you predicted also followed a few episodes later)
The courage of his convictions: There is a perceptible hesitation, for no one should underestimate what this gesture costs him. What he is about to do would be taken as butparasti (idol worship), specifically forbidden in Islam. If anyone had spread the word across the Mughal sultanate that their Shahenshah had paid obeisance to a Hindu but, there would have been an uproar, and not only among the maulvis. Even decades later , when he had long been the all powerful Emperor Akbar, his initiative to found a syncretist religion merging Islam and Hinduism, the Din-e-Ilahi, had attracted widespread criticism. Now he is, as yet, nowhere near that level of unquestioned domination, so the risks are that much more.
Still, he does not hesitate, for in Jodha's troubled and angry gaze, he sees not just the woman whose acceptance he craves, even if only subconsciously as yet, whose barely veiled hostility hurts him like nothing ever before.
He sees the whole of the Hindustan that he wishes to unite under his rule, not by brute force,but thru willing acceptance. Na ki shamsheer ki dhar se, par rishton ke reshmi dhagon me piroke.To win the heart of this Hindustan, he knows now what he has to do. For them to accept him, he has first to accept them.
Jalal already has the breadth of spiritual vision, the inner clarity, that lets him see his Allah in the Devi. Not many even today, anywhere in the world, are able to do that, for all the current politically correct patter about accepting all religions. And in the 16th century, when Protestants and Catholics were massacring each other and burning each other at the stake all over Europe and in England, for the Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammed to demonstrate such purity of thought, such innate humanisn, was nothing short of a miracle.
And this is not just because of Jodha, for even if she might have been the catalyst for this specific act of his, she is not the sole motivation for it. It is about something infinitely bigger and grander, Jalal's vision for this vast land that he hopes to rule one day in peace and prosperity.
Epiphany: the Gordian knot untied:
Slowly, he goes down on his knees, his face once more upturned to the Devi's. There is the same questioning look, the mute appeal to Her. Is he asking Her whether She will accept him?
He bends down to the floor and pays obeisance to the Devi, his forehead at Her feet, and kisses the ground in the gesture of submission that is traditional for him. As he rises, his forehead is stained red with the kumkum.The Devi Maa has blessed him. His prayers have been answered. His sins, both those committed knowingly and those committed in his name, but unknown to him, have been forgiven.
In that one gesture of self-surrender to the Universal Divine, which he is able to perceive in the alien Devi Mahakali, in that act of submission to this Divine heedless of his ego, Jalaluddin Mohammed becomes Akbar.
Aunty, I read this almost half a dozen times to understand what you expressed and I think I have .
I do not know if Jodha understands the true import of this, of what he has done and why, or of what it has meant for him to do it. Imagination was never her strong point.
But what she says next, in the precap, with a resurgence of angry tears, about the despoiling of the temple and the looting of the Dev Maa's sacred aabhooshan (jewellery), seems to indicate that she does not understand. For it is in the same hostile, bitter tone in which she was earlier mentioning her sankalp. The sense of dismay with which he asks as to who had committed that shameful act conveys nothing to her, for she never has ears for the nuances in what he says, not to speak of what he means but does not say.
No hope expecting understanding from this blinkered woman to whom nothing matters more than what she believes is right, at least as of now. The day she begins to see and understand Jalal for what he is it will be enlightment for her. Even when she does, she could never equal him. If she provides him with the care he longs for, it would be more that what could be expected out of her.
Scene of the day: The relentlessly hyped face to face encounter between Jalal and Pratap. It was so stagey and affected, and so obviously meant to impress us that it was almost amusing. The wooden faced Pratap did not disappoint me, never departing from the flat monotone which characterizes all his utterances. Jalal was of course far more nuanced and subtle, but Rajat had no one and nothing to play off, and there was only so much even he could so with that scene.
Finally, I almost expected a large announcement at the bottom of the frame when they were eyeing each other : YAHAN, SHAHENSHAH JALALUDDIN AUR MAHARANA PRATAP, US SADI KE DO MAHAAN HASTIYON KA AAMNA SAAMNA HUA!
Yes it was...such a build up to such a damp face-off.🤣
Reading these posts and rewatching the episodes does bring out the striking difference in the quality then and now.Coming to today's precap, it is exactly how I wanted it to be. I only hope that it doesn't turn out to be someone's dream.
CID
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